So I got back my Case study for my philosophy 2d03 class and totally thought the mark was unfair. My TA clearly marked harder than other TAs because I helped my friend write hers with similar points AND and edited their essays AND SHE GOT BETTER THAN ME (she has a different TA). So I for sure want to appeal and I need to write a page about why I think I deserved a better mark. I already wrote about specific problems my TA came up with and I showed my side and how it seems correct. I want to add a couple more sentences of why I deserve a better mark, because truly I believe I do, but what should I say to make a good arguement? Any ideas?

thx!

Who are you appealing this to, your TA or your prof?

Also, helping a friend with their paper, editing it and having similar points does not end up in your favour.

Agreed. Helping friends in the same class seems like a good idea in theory but you have to be careful.

Usually I'll only help edit and look at their structure, grammar etc. I don't like to help with ideas etc when I'm in the class b/c I have my own paper to write and giving the same ideas I'm going to use would be wrong, and giving them worse ideas would be wrong. You could end up in a lot of trouble in terms of academic dishonesty. It could be seen as improper collaboration on an assignment that is supposed to be individual.

im appealing to my TA...and its not like we wrote the exact same things its a philosophy class and we were discussing....but anyway i need to know what i can write to make it sound good that i think i deserve a higher mark because i truely worked really hard on it and i thought i would do much better...any advice would greatly be appreciated...plus its worth 25% of my final mark thats why im stressing so much :(

thanks

Originally Posted by maryam17

So I got back my Case study for my philosophy 2d03 class and totally thought the mark was unfair. My TA clearly marked harder than other TAs because I helped my friend write hers with similar points AND and edited their essays AND SHE GOT BETTER THAN ME (she has a different TA). So I for sure want to appeal and I need to write a page about why I think I deserved a better mark. I already wrote about specific problems my TA came up with and I showed my side and how it seems correct. I want to add a couple more sentences of why I deserve a better mark, because truly I believe I do, but what should I say to make a good arguement? Any ideas?

thx!

If you're taking a philosophy course and need help writing a good argument, maybe you did get the grade you deserve? Honestly, philosophy TAs are hard and that course is cross listed with religious studies who I have noticed do mark a bit easier. The reason why they mark easier is because they're looking for different qualities in the paper. Second year grades mean very little. Read over their comments carefully and move forward. Your friend has the evident disadvantage. Work harder to perfect your papers now that you have some solid constructive criticism from TAs. People always freak out and want a grade change before they even realize why they DID deserve that grade. It's not your TAs, it's you. The sooner you realize that the sooner you'll learn.

If you can't come up with reasons on your own why you deserve a higher mark than you probably don't to be quite honest.

I know you were seeking help in coming here but we haven't read your paper, we don't know how the course is being run and we don't know what the expectations for the paper were. We can't just give you blanket statements to justify why you should have gotten a better mark, you need to give legitimate reasons for why you think your paper lives up to the expectations set out for the course.

Also just because your friend has an "easier" TA as you've put it doesn't actually mean your paper deserves a higher grade. It could be that her paper just deserves a lower grade. Just because you're annoyed about that doesn't mean your appeal is going to work. Believe me, I know about uneven TAing and being frustrated over how a friend got a higher mark in the course b/c their TA is too soft. That doesn't mean my work actually warranted a higher mark, its just the way the cookie crumbles.

One day you'll probably get a higher mark on a paper than you actually deserve and it will balance out.

Read the comments. If you still have a case, then go ahead. With papers, I think some TAs choose to mark you relative to the class. May be that TA marked all amazing papers, who knows? At least that's how it was with first year psych. :(