1. How to Submit Forum Posts and
Graded Writing Assignments

2. Think of the forum like a Discussion Club on the internet.
You can discuss assigned topics and let other students
reflect on your opinion.

3. You can see all the posts that other
students have written. You should
read through what the other
students have said.
• If you disagree or have a different
point of view, you can reply to their
post. If you have a totally new
idea, you can write your own direct
response to the question.

4. Some weeks you will be given a question to answer or
statement to discuss with other students on the portal.
For example:
“All children should stay in school until they are 18”
The question might be: Do you agree or disagree with
this statement? Please support your opinion with
relevant information.

5. Forum Post Criteria:
Criteria (Perfect Score is 25/25)
5 Points
4 Points
3 Points
2 Points
Composition
and
Organization
Paragraph has a clear main
idea, and an identifiable
beginning, middle and end.
Either the main idea is unclear The main idea is unclear and
or the beginning, middle, and the beginning, middle, and end
end of the paragraph are not of the paragraph are not easily
easily distinguished.
distinguished.
The main idea or beginning
middle, and end of the
paragraph are not present.
Supporting
Detail
Sentence(s)
Paragraph has three or more
supporting detail sentences
that relate back to the main
idea.
Paragraph has two supporting Paragraph has one supporting
detail sentences that relate
detail sentence that relates
back to the main idea.
back to the main idea.
Paragraph has no supporting
detail sentences that relate
back to the main idea.
Written
Expression
A variety of sentence
structures, transition words,
and vocabulary are used
accurately.
Sentence structure, transition
words, and vocabulary show
some variety.
Sentence structure and
vocabulary is limited.
Uses repeated phrases and
patterns and vocabulary is
limited.
Relevance
and
Understandability
Paragraph is understandable,
Paragraph is difficult to
Paragraph is very difficult to
Paragraph is understandable
accurately addresses the
understand and does not
understand, does not address
but either doesn’t address the
question and does not stray off
address the question or strays the question, and strays off
question or strays off topic.
topic.
off topic.
topic.
Mechanics
and
Grammar
Paragraph has no errors in
punctuation, capitalization, or
spelling.
Paragraph has one or two
Paragraph has three to five
Paragraph has six or more
punctuation, capitalization, or punctuation, capitalization, or punctuation, capitalization, or
spelling errors.
spelling errors.
spelling errors.

6. Each of Your Forum Posts Should:
 Be relevant
What you write should focus only
on the assigned topics.
 Have supporting statements
When you give your opinion, you
must provide evidence or examples
to support your ideas.
 Be logically organized
There should be clear connection
between sentences. Also, always
use a topic sentence!

7. AN EXAMPLE OF A BAD POST

8. “ All children should stay in school until they are 18”
Education is important for students in order to improve their
knowledge. More education will improve the lives of the
people and they will get better jobs. The people who do not
attend school will have less knowledge and will not get a
successful career. It is good for the people to have more
students in the country. Improving knowledge is a useful skill
all across Asia.
What do you think about this post?

9. “ All children should stay in school until they are 18”
Relevance:
- Not directly related to the topic
Education is important for students in order to improve their
knowledge. More education will improve the lives of the people and
they will get better jobs. The people who do not attend school will
have less knowledge and will not get a successful career. It is good
for the people to have more students in the country. Improving
knowledge is a useful skill all across Asia.
Unsupported Statement
- Gives opinion with no
examples or evidence
Organization:
- No connection to the other sentences

10. EXAMPLE OF A GOOD POST

11. “ All children should stay in school until they are 18”
The age to leave school is different in many countries around the
world, but I do not think staying on until 18 is a good idea. Extra
years of education will deny children opportunity to start work early
in more practical or vocational jobs that do not require any more
formal education. For example, many countries in Europe, such as
the UK, have 16 as the leaving age for school . They have the options
to leave and start work, or to continue studying. This choice is of
great benefit to society and can allow different types to people to
pursue their own careers earlier in life. For these reasons, I believe
that keeping children in school for longer can damage their future
and the working society of a country.

12. “ All children should stay in school until they are 18”
Relevance:
- Directly related to the topic
The age to leave school is different in many countries around the world, but
I do not think staying on until 18 is a good ideas. Extra years of education
will deny children opportunity to start work early in more practical or
vocational jobs that do not require any more formal education. For
example, many countries in Europe such as UK has 16 as the leaving age for
school. They have the options to leave and start work, or t to continue
studying. This choice is of great benefit to society and can allow different
types to people to pursue their own careers earlier in life. For these reasons,
I believe that keep children in school for longer can damage their future and
the working society of a country.
Organization:
Supported Statement:
- Includes topic sentence,
- Gives opinion with examples or
supporting sentences, and a
evidence
conclusion along with good
transition signals

13. How to Access the EPOP Forum

14. Login to the student portal and go to your enrolled course page. Scroll
down to the appropriate week and look for the forum link in the
“Assessment” section
Click on the forum link to see the assigned topic and to
view other students’ posts

15. Click on these two links to view the
useful presentations “What is a
paragraph?” and “Basic Paragraph
Construction”
The assigned topic for the
current forum assignment
is displayed here
Click “Add a new discussion topic”
to post your opinion on the topic
Responses that have already been posted by
other students are displayed here

16. Enter the subject/topic of
your forum post into the
“Subject” field
After clicking “Add a
new discussion topic,”
you will see this page
Type/Copy and Paste your ideas in this space!
Once you have written your
paragraph, click “Post to forum”
to submit your response

17. After posting your opinion to the forum, you will see this page
Students' Posts
Individual student’s post
By clicking on each individual post, you can see the opinions of your fellow students
By clicking “Reply,” you can respond to your peer’s opinion/post

18. Check the portal regularly to see if
anyone has replied to your post or
if there are any new posts that you
are interested in responding to.

19. Other Graded Writing Assignments
You have just learned how to post to the EPOP Student
Forum. Throughout your course, you will also be
assigned several graded paragraph and essay
assignments. The process for submitting these
assignments is the same as that by which you post to
the EPOP Student Forum.

20. Good Luck!
If you have any concerns or technical problems, do not hesitate to
contact EPOP team:
Michael: epopasia@gmail.com
Sokha: sokha.epopasia@gmail.com
Kyi Min Han: mm.epopasia@gmail.com
Sandar: sandar.epop@gmail.com