Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am writing to appeal my second essay for my MICR451 course, Selected Topics of Viral Pathogenesis, directed by Dr. Raptis. The assignment was relatively straightforward: answer your three assigned questions and include a unique figure prepared by the student to explain any of your responses. There was no rubric or marking scheme associated with the assignment. As this was our second essay for the course, I used my feedback from my first essay, which was marked by Dr. Colpitts, to improve my writing and construct a better argument for my paper. The graded essay by Dr. Colpitts clearly illustrated where I lost marks and areas to improve.

Similar to assignment 1, the topic for the second essay was focused on an idea that we briefly touched upon in class but did not further investigate. The first assignment focused on an assigned anti-viral drug for COVID-19 (my topic: Arbidol), and the second assignment was centered around different vector systems for vaccine/gene therapy, mine being adenovirus vectors. I followed a very similar procedure in completing my second assignment: analyze relevant primary research articles to effectively answer the questions and build a strong argument. For my unique figure, I used the same platform to create my illustration as I did the first time around, BioRender. As I was not content with my academic standing in the class to date, I truly attempted to put forth the best product possible, which included peer reviews from other students in the class and in my program.

A week after submission, I received my graded assignment back with little feedback; ¿¿60, low, no diagram, lots of terms not explained¿. Throughout the graded paper, there were no clear deductions on where I lost my marks. Instead, the professor made various markings (symbols) throughout the document without explaining cause behind it. What especially stood out to me was the ¿¿no diagram¿ at the top of the page. I immediately addressed this issue with the instructor saying that I respected her decision but would appreciate some clarity as I had a figure present on the fifth page. The professor replied saying ¿¿There is no diagram explaining at the molecular level how the vector was constructed. Or what purification was done, based on what¿. I found this to be frustrating as the assignment description did not specify the desired contents of the figure. I believe that this portion has been substantially under-evaluated.

Due to the lack of direction and feedback provided by the professor, I do not believe that the grade I received was an accurate representation of my submitted work. The instructor disregarded some aspects of my paper. Additionally, the marker noted that some of the information I provided was incorrect, despite having multiple strong references supporting my statement. Furthermore, the instructor highlighted that some terms throughout my paper were not defined. Normally I would agree with this statement, however, throughout my university career, I have been taught that when writing a scientific paper, that I should assume the reader contains the same understanding as any individual in my class. As these terms were common ideas that we had discussed in class, I feel as if they should not be recorded as an item that needed to be defined. Though I do agree with some of the comments, I feel as if the grade as a whole is unwarranted.

Thank you for your time.

Spencer Abbott