Sometimes new students
are apprehensive about their first grade because they are not sure of the
FBCS grading criteria. Whether or not you are a new student we ask that
you just relax and enjoy your work. If you follow these guidelines, you
will without any doubt receive at least a 94% "A."
When you receive a
textbook from the office, it will be accompanied by a Testing Procedure
sheet. Depending upon the course, you may also receive a test folder. Because
of these reasons, we recommend you purchase books only from the office.
The Testing Procedure will clearly define the criteria for presentation.
To receive the highest grades you must follow the procedure carefully.
In addition to the Testing Procedure the following information is published
for your use.
The following represents
our expectations:
1.
You are a college or seminary student. We expect work that is typical of
that standing.
2.
Always provide a heading exactly as outlined in the testing procedures.
3.
Insure that your responses to questions and your essays are grammatically
correct.
Check your spelling – some even fail to run the spell check function
of their word processor. If you don't have this function, ask a friend
or family member to proofread for you.
Keep one main thought per paragraph.
Keep sentences short for clarity. Long sentences can confuse the
reader. Learn to be concise and eliminate unnecessary words and cliches.
Example: Instead of "In the Bible we find that Moses, as a man of God,
led the Israelites through, so to speak, unprecedented hardships."
You could say, "Moses led the Israelites through unprecedented hardships."
Use proper punctuation. Carefully and correctly use quotation marks,
periods, commas, etc. Open and close your parentheses. Insure that periods
follow complete thoughts. Most word processors include grammar checkers.
Use proper capitalization. Capitalize personal pronouns only when
referring to deity. Example: when referring to God, Jesus, or the Holy
Spirit, use He, Him, His, Lord, Master, etc. Do not capitalize personal
pronouns otherwise. Notice the following examples: President Church – Dr.
Church is the president. Deacon Jones – the deacon is Mr. Jones.
The president of the United States – President Clinton.
Do not end sentences with prepositions. Instead of "This is the
page I took my response from." Use "This is the page from which I took
my response."
4. Answer the questions
as they are asked. If it asks about one theological area (i.e., eschatology)
do not focus on another (i.e., pneumatology). At times your response
may necessitate crossing over into other areas for clarification; however,
do not dwell too long in that area, but return to the main topic of the
question.
5. We encourage original
thought, however, when providing a view or opinion contrary to course material,
it is of great importance that you justify your stance. To justify
your stance we mean to provide information to support your claim from the
Bible and/or additional outside references.
6. Here is a
tip for receiving a higher percentage "A" on your papers; use outside reference
materials. This shows initiative and determination to receive full benefit
from your studies. Be sure to credit the source in your footnote or bibliography.
7. Using material
that is authored by another without giving proper credit is called "plagiarism."
Even an attempt to hide the author's words by rearranging them is still
plagiarism. You may use direct quotes or paraphrases if they are handled
correctly. When using a direct quote the following guidelines must
be followed. If the quote is five lines or less you must use quotation
marks. For direct quotes of more than five lines you must set them
apart from your text by indenting five spaces on the right and five spaces
on the left. This is called a block quote. When you quote or paraphrase
the words of the author you must give credit to the author in footnotes
or a bibliography. Words in quotes or paraphrases are not counted as a
part of the total word count of your essay.
8. Penalties
for plagiarism: Plagiarism is not only unethical, it
is a violation of copyright laws. Many colleges require immediate suspension
of students who are caught plagiarizing. The policy at FBCS is as follows:
First offence carries a minimum requirement of reworking of the complete
course and a disciplinary probation period of 6 months. Second offence
carries the same penalties as the first plus a drop of two letter grades
for all work done at FBCS (example: a student with an overall "B" average
will be dropped to a "D" average). The third offense is permanent suspension
from FBCS. If you do not understand
these guidelines, please contact the office for clarification.
CFM-FBCS
Form
Copyright 1998, Concepts of Freedom Ministries, Inc.
