DEH ALUMNI TALK: “Essay Grading Guidelines: A Flipped Approach to Help Students Write Stronger Essays”
The Department of English and Humanities at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) organized a talk on December 19, 2021, with Shamael Mortuza, a highly accomplished alumna of the department. The talk, “Essay Grading Guidelines: A Flipped Approach to Help Students Write Stronger Essays,” focused on providing guidance to students to improve the quality of their academic writing.
Shamael Mortuza recently graduated with an MA in English Literature from Queen’s University, Canada. She earned her BA in English and MA in English Literature and Cultural Studies from University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB). Ms. Mortuza worked as a Teaching Assistant during her time at Queens. Instead of discussing dos and don’ts of academic essay writing during her talk, she took an interesting approach by sharing her grading criteria with the students. She discussed elaborately what teachers look for when reading student papers. Next, she delved into the characteristics of a student paper from each letter grade, A to D. Ms. Mortuza, in this interactive session, emphasized the importance of the thesis statement and recommended that it be controversial. In her words, “it needs to be something interesting and something that invokes curiosity…and it also needs to be something that is original.”
In this talk, she also discussed her responsibilities as a teaching assistant at Queens, and how she managed her time as a student as well. During the Q/A session, Ms. Mortuza answered several questions regarding organization of academic papers, proofreading, stress management, and more. The Pro-Vice Chancellor of ULAB, Professor Shamsad Mortuza, and Head of the Department of English and Humanities, Associate Professor Ms. Arifa Ghani Rahman also shared valuable academic writing tips and practices. The event was coordinated by the ULAB English Zone Supervisor K. Rubaiyat Tasmia and hosted by Razin Saleh Alam, a student of the department. The program ended with a vote of thanks by Ms. Arifa Ghani Rahman, Associate Professor and Head of Department.
