| Abstract: |
This paper proposes a new method for the objective
evaluation of student work through the identification of
original content in writing assignments. Using WordNet as
a lexical reference, this process allows instructors to track
how key phrases are employed and evolved over the course
of a student’s writing, and to automatically determine and
visualize the point at which the student’s language first
demonstrates original thought, phrased in their own,
original words. After sketching the method for isolating
“points of originality,” the paper provides a method for
visualizing the resultant information. By visualizing
otherwise subjective information in a way that is
objectively intelligible, the goal provides educators with the
ability to monitor student investment in concepts from the
course syllabus, and to extend or modify the boundaries of
the syllabus in anticipation of pre-existing knowledge or
trends in interest. |
