1/9/22, 8:10 PM Argument Paper Scoring Guide

https://courserooma.capella.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/PSYC/PSYC3002/211000_10x/Scoring_Guides/u06a1_scoring_guide.html 1/1

Argument Paper Scoring Guide

Due Date: End of Week 6
Percentage of Course Grade: 20%.

CRITERIA NON-PERFORMANCE BASIC PROFICIENT DISTINGUISHED

Write an
introduction with a
clear thesis
statement to
introduce the
arguments.

26%

Does not write an
introduction with a
clear thesis
statement to
introduce the
arguments.

Writes an introduction that
does not include a clear
thesis statement or does
not introduce the
arguments.

Writes an
introduction with
a clear thesis
statement to
introduce the
arguments.

Writes an introduction with
a clear thesis statement
and introduces the
arguments with a clear link
to the next paragraph.

Apply psychological
principles to the
creation of
arguments.

28%

Does not apply
psychological
principles to the
creation of
arguments.

Applies psychological
principles to the creation of
arguments in a way that is
vague or unclear.

Applies
psychological
principles to the
creation of
arguments.

Applies psychological
principles to the creation
of arguments using
psychological terms.

Write a conclusion
with a statement of
point of view and
implications.

26%

Does not write a
conclusion with a
statement of point
of view and
implications.

Writes a conclusion that
does not include either a
statement of point of view
or implications.

Writes a
conclusion with a
statement of
point of view and
implications.

Writes a conclusion with a
statement of point of view
and implications, and
includes assumptions.

Address assignment
purpose in well-
organized
paragraphs,
incorporating
credible sources,
accurate
paraphrasing, tone,
and citations.

20%

Does not address
assignment
purpose in well-
organized
paragraphs,
incorporating
credible sources,
accurate
paraphrasing,
tone, and
citations.

Addresses assignment
purpose in unorganized
paragraphs using
questionable sources,
paraphrasing that contains
phrases from the original
source, inappropriate tone
for the audience, or
citations that are not
correct.

Addresses
assignment
purpose in well-
organized
paragraphs,
incorporating
credible sources,
accurate
paraphrasing,
tone, and
citations.

Presents a focused
purpose through strong
organizational skills.
Presents evidence
through strong
paraphrasing/summarizing
and appropriate tone and
cited resources.

ARGUMENT PAPER

G U I D E
S U C C E S S

Step-by-step guidance for success in your written assignments
A faculty created supplement to videos and other resources.

C O M P E T E N C Y B A S E D E D U C A T I O N

I N T R O D U C T I O N
Capella’s “competency-based” system focuses the educational curriculum on the knowledge,
skills, and professional dispositions learners need to be successful. When you complete a
written assignment, it is graded based on a Scoring Guide designed to measure Scoring Guides are the key to success and competencies that you display in that assignment. Your performance on each of the Scoring
Guide criteria is measured as either Distinguished, Proficient, Basic, or Non-Performance. earning good grades on assignments
Rather than earning letter grades which may be subjectively determined by faculty, your
performance and grade is always measured against a Scoring Guide describing the
competency levels for each criterion measured. This increases objectivity and fairness in

Address your Scoring Guide criteria at the Distinguished grading, and contributes to your Competency Map where your competencies are recorded.
level for best grades and the strongest Competency Map

Capella University’s Competency Map is a visualization of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and
professional attributes a learner has demonstrated in their courses. Capella’s faculty, in
collaboration with industry professionals, have identified the competencies learners will need
to be successful in their career and aligned their course curriculum with these competencies.
Employers will want to see evidence of how individuals have displayed the skills they are
seeking in a candidate. The Competency Map can help you to identify the skills you are
learning in each course as well as how your work is measuring up to the standards of your
profession, to show evidence of your qualifications during the job search process.

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U 0 6 A 1

A R G U M E N T
P A P E R

DO VIDEO GAMES HELP OR HARM CHILDREN?

SCORING
GUIDE &

TEMPLATE
PAPER

S E C T I O N 1

REVIEWING THE DOCUMENTS FOR THIS
ASSIGNMENT

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ARGUMENT PAPER SCORING
GUIDE

THE FOUR SCORING GUIDE CRITERIA FOR
THIS ASSIGNMENT

Although the Argument Paper is worth 20% of your
final course grade and it is the only written “paper” in
the course (not a worksheet), it contains only four
competencies represented in the Scoring Guide.

The primary focus of these criteria is writing skills.
To do a good job on this assignment you need to
create a strong introduction with thesis statement,
apply psychological principles to your arguments,
write a strong conclusion with critical thinking
components of point of view and implications, and
craft the entire paper using the POETS writing skills
of Purpose, Organization, Evidence, Tone, and
Sentence structure.

SELECT VIEW SCORING GUIDE IN YOUR COURSE ROOM FOR ACCESS TO
THE SCORING GUIDE DOCUMENT

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ARGUMENT PAPER TEMPLATE

A MULTIPAGE TEMPLATE WITH BUILT IN
GUIDANCE IN A BLUE FONT

The Argument Paper Template is required for
use on this assignment. It will save you a lot of
time and effort, it provides you with proper APA
style settings (e.g., fonts, headings, proper
spacing, and other stylistic issues), and it makes
grading your paper much easier when everything
is in the right place with the right formatting!
That’s a win-win situation for faculty and learners!

Strong guidance is provided throughout the
template in a blue font. Follow this guidance
carefully, and when you have completed each
section of your paper and are satisfied with your
work, you then delete the blue font information so
it does not become part of your final paper.

If you accidently delete portions of the template,
you can always download a new template from
the course room. It is a good habit to save your
work regularly while you are typing in case of an
unexpected power failure, accidental deletion, or
other crisis. Protect your work so you don’t have
to reconstruct it later.

THE PAPER TEMPLATE PROVIDES DETAILED GUIDANCE TO HELP YOU
CREATE THE BEST PAPER POSSIBLE IN THIS COURSE

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STEP BY
STEP

S E C T I O N 2

HOW TO COMPLETE THE PAPER USING THE
SCORING GUIDE

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The Introduction section of your paper is composed of three elements that are explained in detail in the blue font
of the paper template. CREATE A STRONG

INTRODUCTION IN THE PAPER
TEMPLATE

USE OF THE PAPER TEMPLATE IS REQUIRED
FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT

The first element addresses the purpose of your paper, the “P” in the POETS writing skills model. The second
element addresses your thesis statement. This is your position on whether video games help or harm children.
Research evidence is provided that supports both sides of this debate, but you must decide to defend one side
or the other, not both sides! That is why your thesis statement must be clearly stated. Guidance on creating the
thesis statement is provided in the Baggett (2017) article linked from the template and the course room. The
final element provides a brief introductory sketch of your arguments to support your thesis statement. This third
element also serves to provide a clear link to the next paragraph in your paper.

You are required to use the paper template because it will insure that you are meeting many of the scoring
guide criteria, using APA style, and meeting some of the POETS writing skills. Importantly it will allow you to
focus your efforts on providing the best written content without having to be concerned with how to organize a
formal paper in APA style.

1. CRITERION 1
The Introduction to your paper addresses Scoring
Guide criterion 1 and by following the blue ink
guidance, you will create several paragraphs, or
elements, that explain the purpose of this paper, your
thesis statement reflecting which side of the effects
video games have on children argument, and then a
very brief overview of the arguments that support
your thesis statement. This may achieve the Proficient
level for this criterion.

3. DISTINGUISHED LEVEL
To achieve the Distinguished level on this criterion
you need to provide a clear thesis statement which
introduces your arguments AND provide a clear link
(transition) to the next paragraph or section of the
paper. This addresses the Organization element of
the POETS Writing Skills.

2. TEMPLATE INTRODUCTION
You may write directly into the template and the blue
font will remain until you delete it. Some learners
prefer to craft their paragraphs in a separate Word
document and then copy and paste their paragraphs
into the template. The important point is to follow the
blue ink guidance, meet the Scoring Guide criteria,
and delete the blue font guidance before submitting
your paper for grading.

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PRESENT ARGUMENTS &
COUNTERARGUMENTS IN THE

PAPER TEMPLATE

ARGUMENTS AND COUNTERARGUMENTS ARE
THE HEART OF YOUR ARGUMENT PAPER

Your thesis statement in the Introduction tells the reader what your position is in the debate, whether video
games help or harm children. In the second and third sections of your paper you will present your arguments and
address counterarguments to your position.

Your arguments are the research that support your thesis statement, or position, in this debate. If your thesis is
that video games are bad for children, then you will provide a summary of several research articles that reveal
evidence to support this position. Include psychological principles or terms as suggested in the blue font material
of the paper template. Your goal is to present sufficient psychological research evidence to convince the reader
of your position so that the reader comes to the same conclusion as you.

There is research evidence available to argue the opposing view to your position. An informed professional, or
good debater, addresses opposing research in the counterarguments section. Here you provide a summary of
several research articles that reveal evidence contrary to your position and explain the limitations of that
research or reasons why these counterarguments are not sufficient to change your position or conclusion.

Your goal in these sections is to present evidence to support your position, and poke holes in the evidence
provided by research from the opposing position. This requires good research and argumentation skills.

4. CRITERION 2
In the next two sections of your paper you present
your Arguments and Counterarguments in greater
detail to support your thesis statement. These are the
sections of your paper that address Scoring Guide
criterion 2. You must “apply psychological principles”
to the creation of your arguments because this is a
psychology class. Some examples of psychological
principles and terms are provided in the paper
template section on Arguments.

6. DISTINGUISHED LEVEL
To achieve the Distinguished level on this criterion,
arguments and counterarguments must apply
psychological principles using psychological terms
(e.g., Greitemeyer (2018) reports that violent video
game play increases aggression in the player but
also in the player’s social network.)

5. ARGUMENTS &
COUNTERARGUMENTS
Here you organize the research findings that support
your position or thesis statement. You must include
citations to this evidence for credibility (e.g.,
Research by Greitemeyer (2018) indicates that
violent video games…). The same applies to your
summary of opposing research in counterarguments.

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CREATE A STRONG
CONCLUSION IN THE PAPER

TEMPLATE

SUMMARIZE YOUR POINT OF VIEW TO
PROVIDE A COMPELLING CONCLUSION

BASED ON THE EVIDENCE

The Conclusion section of your paper is where you present your final summary of the evidence for your position
and address the implications of your findings.

Implications are what follow from your position and your evidence. If you conclude video games harm children,
implications may include children avoiding video games, reducing time spent in games, or only using video
games where evidence reveals no harm. If you conclude video games help children, are you implying children
should play them freely and constantly, or could there be limits on video game use based on research evidence?

Assumptions are the things we take for granted as being true. If the reader assumes “video games” always
include violence or are only academic games to teach spelling or math, that may skew their point of view.
Clarifying these assumptions can help the reader consider alternative points of view and conclusions based on
your evidence. For example, one conclusion might be that video games may help or harm children based on the
content of the game, the people present when playing the games, and other factors supported by evidence.

7. CRITERION 3
The Conclusion section of your paper addresses
Scoring Guide criterion 3. In addition to the blue font
guidance in the paper template, you will need to
provide a conclusion with your point of view (your
position or thesis statement), implications of this point
of view, and address assumptions following the
guidance at the top of this page.

8. CONCLUSION
Your conclusion section of the paper is where you
pull everything together and interpret the evidence
you have reported. It may be possible for readers to
to interpret the evidence differently from your
interpretation or conclusion, so be as clear as
possible in summarizing your final conclusions in this
argument.

9. DISTINGUISHED LEVEL
To achieve the Distinguished level you must address
the critical thinking elements of point of view,
implications, AND assumptions. In addition to the
information provided at the top of this page, Chapter
4 of the Paul & Elder Critical Thinking text provides
even further guidance on these terms.

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USE POETS WRITING SKILLS
THROUGHOUT THE PAPER

TEMPLATE

DEVELOP YOUR POETS WRITING SKILLS
THROUGHOUT YOUR CAPELLA CAREER

Criterion 4 requires that you use the POETS writing skills
throughout your paper. The POETS acronym reminds us
that sound writing begins with a clear Purpose or intent to
focus our writing, strong Organization so your writing
flows naturally from one point to the next, use of credible
and scholarly supportive Evidence to add credibility to your
writing, use of a professional Tone in your writing that
avoids casual language or slang, and strong Sentence
Structure especially in your paraphrasing.

Further guidance on the elements of the POETS model is
available through the Capella Writing Center accessible
through the Campus intranet.

10. CRITERION 4
Your entire paper is the basis for Scoring Guide
criterion 4 which assesses your use of the POETS
writing skills. Each paragraph you write is an
opportunity to demonstrate your writing skills in these
five areas. Strong use of the POETS model will
improve your professional writing and your
professional credibility.

11. ENTIRE PAPER
From your introduction through your arguments and
counterarguments to your conclusion section and
reference list you will apply the POETS writing skills.
The entire paper template is organized for your use in
APA style. All you need to do is apply POETS to the
paragraphs you write and insert into the template.

12. DISTINGUISHED LEVEL
By using the basic POETS skills throughout your
paper you may earn the Proficient level for this
criterion. To achieve the Distinguished level you need
to demonstrate strong organizational skills, strong
paraphrasing and summarizing, a professional tone
appropriate for your peers, and citations and
references to your sources of evidence.

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C H A P T E R 2

A P A S T Y L E

LEARN THE BASICS OF HOW TO FORMAT YOUR WORK IN APA STYLE

CITATIONS &
REFERENCES

CHEAT
SHEET

EXAMPLES OF APA STYLE APPLIED TO SOME FIRST COURSE RESOURCES
S E C T I O N 1 The Cheat Sheet is provided to give you a visual image of APA style applied to citations and references for some

common First Course materials and resources. All of the references published in the course room are formatted
YOUR STARTING POINT FOR APA STYLE in APA style so you may copy and paste those into your discussions posts, worksheets or papers as you use

them. First Course is where you learn the basics of APA. Mastery of this style is for graduate education.

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APA STYLE
FORMATTING

MODULE

DOWNLOAD THE FREE 20-PAGE PDF

S E C T I O N 2 Beyond the Cheat Sheet, the next best document to download and have available for your course work is this
free APA Style manual from Capella. Many of the most common style and formatting issues are addressed in this
helpful PDF document. Go to http://www.capella.edu/interactivemedia/WritingProgram/transcripts/APA.pdf

A GREAT RESOURCE TO LEARN THE BASICS to access the document.
OF APA STYLE IN FIRST COURSE!

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C H A P T E R 3

P O E T S
W R I T I N G
S K I L L S

POETS IS THE BASIC WRITING SKILLS PROGRAM USED BY CAPELLA

POETS
WRITING

SKILLS

S E C T I O N 1

LEARN THE BASICS OF THE POETS MODEL TO
STRENGTHEN YOUR PROFESSIONAL WRITING

PROFESSIONAL WRITING USES THE POETS CRITERIA
Many First Course learners write at the level learned in high school education. At the university level your writing
skills may need further development to meet the standards for professional writing. The POETS model used at
Capella provides a useful acronym and reminds you of the importance of writing with a clear Purpose, to write
with strong Organization that flows for the reader, to provide citations and references to credible or scholarly
supportive Evidence in a professional Tone using proper Sentence structure. Learning the POETS skills is a
developmental process that you strengthen over time with deliberate practice.

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