Expos Director Hopes Report Will Encourage Better Grading

The director of Harvard's Expository Writing Program said yesterday he is developing plans to broaden the effectiveness of his program and "make writing more important" in courses throughout the College.

Richard C. Marius said his concerns that grading methods at Harvard often ignore students' poor writing, and that graders do little to develop writing skills, prompted him to begin a report on the Expos program to Dean of the Faculty Henry Rosovsky, which he will complete this summer.

Marius's report will aim at making writing a larger part of all student work by training section leaders in Core courses to critique papers, having the Expos office monitor their work, and assigning Expos teachers to live in Houses as resident tutors.

While most faculty members interviewed yesterday felt Marius' proposals could improve students writing, many doubted that a mandatory program for section leaders would work if begun without their approval.

Layzer Skeptical

"It won't work to require section leaders to take mini-courses on writing if they don't feel the need," explained David Layzer. Menzel Professor of Astrophysics, who heads two Core science courses that emphasize written work.

Rosovsky said yesterday that he "likes the kind of program Mr. Marius is trying to encourage" but refused to comment on the proposals until he reads the entire report.

Other faculty echoed Rosovsky's optimism over Marius' report, in spite of the extra burdens it could place on section leaders.

Wallace T. MacCaffrey, chairman of the History Department, said a workshop conducted by Marius for History tutors last September had been "helpful and illuminating" in demonstrating constructive techniques for grading students work.

MacCaffrey Enthusiastic

"It's the job of [our] department to teach writing." MacCaffrey said, explaining that "when writing isn't crystal clear, it's usually because ideas aren't crystal clear in the head."

Expos teacher Lawrence A. Weinstein has held several similar workshops for interested section leaders this year, emphasizing grading techniques that do not "demoralize" students.

Weinstein explained that few section leaders understand when to grade papers as a "judge," by merely evaluating its quality, and when to grade like a "doctor," by prescribing ways to improve an essay.

Several student consultants at the Writing Center--a student-advising program administered by the Expos office--agreed yesterday that, as Susan M. Hack '82 put it. "It is good to get the issue of writing itself in the air."

Hack added that the grade and comments a student receives on a given paper "depends as much on a reader as on your own writing."