There have been many comments suggesting that Samantha’s essay at OU failed to meet the assignment criteria, and that this alone justified the zero she received. For clarity, we verified the expectations directly with Samantha. The assignment required only a reaction to the article—nothing more. The requirement was for her to express her thoughts, and she did.
Nowhere in the rubric was there any requirement for empirical evidence, citations, or references of any kind.
By the standard outlined in the instructions, Samantha’s essay met the criteria for at least a passing grade.
We also confirmed this with the rubric issued by the TA.
Aside from turning nothing in or missing the deadline, it would be impossible to fail this assignment.