Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I received a B on my papers and am very confused because I followed all the instructions to get an A as outlined in the rubric. I also received a 79, which is 1 away from Extensions. I am very discouraged as I worked very hard on these papers and I thought I applied a lot of critical thinking skills to the questions in order to receive an A. I believe my essays have been substantially under evaluated. I am a fourth year Political Studies student used to writing essays all the time and given the lower caliber expectation of a P level course, especially a Physics course where the purpose of the essay was to demonstrate critical thinking of the questions posed, I believe that my essays merit a higher grade.
I have thoroughly read the rubric and believe I have satisfied the requirements outlined under Extensions (80-100). I even used exact phrases out of the possible example section under this category. I also think I went beyond the requirements as far as the research I did for these essays as outlined in my bibliography. I do not think I answered these questions in the most obvious ways, but rather showed evidence of careful reflection and creativity while also applying analytical skills. I also went to the writing centre with the specific intention of assuring that my ideas were expressed clearly and after some review I left feeling confidence with their comments and feedback on my papers.
Furthermore, The only comment throughout both papers was that I did not provide enough examples. I was arguing in the first essay, while providing a lot of support, that I think the scientific community would benefit from public scrutiny. When you ask to provide an example, I indicated in the previous sentence that this can be achieved through forums of criticism, I do not think that getting into what specific types of forums that would entail would benefit my point at all, especially given the limited word count. In the other section of the first essay where you ask for an example I indicate in the previous sentence that because an objective piece of knowledge requires all relevant perspective, scientific knowledge produced predominantly by white, middle class males, cannot be objective without appealing to the perspectives of the marginalized. Again, in the second essay when you ask for examples I think my explanation of the Darwinians strategy to prevail over the orthogeneists is, in and of itself, an example of the thesis I am trying to defend, that scientific reasoning needs to reply to objections to strengthen its theories. Even if the need for further examples can still be defended, I do not think that would lower my grade to a B given the content and clarity of the rest of both of my papers. As a student currently applying to fourteen law schools it is very important to me to earn the grade I strongly believe I deserved.
Paula Klink, who I understand is a new marker for this course, marked my paper. She also told me it is her first time marking an arts essay style course. She kindly took the time to do an informal re-read with me, but did not think the assignment merited a higher grade. I was wondering if for this formal process if I could have the professor of the course, Boris Castel, re-evaluate the essay, rather than Paula Klink.

Some questions I considered:

Is this a critically thought out essay with unique examples and research from high quality sources like academic journals, not the first link on a google search (Extensions).
- In my first essay I used 8 high quality sources and in my second essay I used 7 high quality sources. Many of these sources include research from world-renowned philosophers and scientists including Sarah Harding, Helen Longino, Thomas Kuhn, David Hume, Karl Popper, and Ingo Brigandt. These are definitely not sources that first appear on Google, but instead I had to apply critical thinking skills to understand how the theories of these successful scholars related to my essay topics.

Are your arguments easy to follow Is your essay easy to follow Is it clear to the reader that is what you are doing Are your points easily and clearly made to the reader Not only are my arguments easy to follow, but I also even explicitly number my arguments in a lexical and logic ordering that's easy to follow in both essays. This essay will unfold my first arguing, Second, I will argue, Third, I will argue. To make my arguments even easier to follow I actually have sub-headings for my paragraphs that match the lexical ordering of my blueprint in my introductory paragraph.

Do you explicitly state your thesis Definitely. I clearly state in both essays what I am arguing and follow my thesis will a concise blueprint about how I convey my points.

Does all the information in the essay support your thesis Yes, each sub-heading of the essay supports the thesis, and the points within each paragraph in turn support their sub-heading.

Do you require the reader to make assumptions, or do you explicitly state your connections I explicitly state my connections in both essays by explaining how each paragraph leads into the next and relates to form a logically cohesive argument.

Do you cite information properly (or at all) Yes.

Do you have basic grammar/spelling errors that would have been caught by proofreading (or at least the spell checker) No.

Do you significantly extend your knowledge what is written to new concepts, ideas, examples or experiences Yes. In my first essay I not only acknowledge the problem of a lack of scrutiny on scientific knowledge, but I also use my politics background to brainstorm possible remedies such as public forums to help scientists remain accountable to the public. In my second essay I think that critically thinking about how the allocation of funding dedicated to scientists research and the lack of scrutiny that is often considered when allocated funding is definitely extending my ideas to touch on new examples.

Are your examples or concepts relevant to the question Are they accurate and consistent Yes. In the first essay I discuss examples such as the need for scientists to appeal to the needs and perspectives of the marginalized, to the need for political authority over the scientific community, and to the need for attention to the allocation of funding dedicated to different public issues. In the second essay I appeal to the example of the Darwinians versus the orthogeneists, to Popper's falsification theory, and to a comparison between philosophy and science.

Do they demonstrate depth and breadth of knowledge Yes. I also use many sources to support my points.

Is this up to university writing standards Definitely, especially for the caliber of a P level course. Many of the concepts I applied in this essay are a collaboration of topics I have learned throughout politics and philosophy courses in the first, second, and third and fourth years of my undergrad.