What it's for
The DAG Builder is an educational tool. Students (or trainees) construct a graph that walks through a structured analysis — claim at the top, evidence and reasoning beneath, conclusion at the bottom. The seven steps are:
- Identify the claim
- Gather evidence
- Evaluate the evidence
- Connect evidence to reasoning
- Build the argument chain
- Consider counterarguments
- State the conclusion
Each step becomes a node type on the canvas. Nodes connect with directed edges. The result is a graph that an instructor can grade — rubric-based, node-by-node.
Creating a DAG assignment
- Go to Wigmorean → DAG Builder → Assignments
- Click New Assignment
- Enter the prompt students will see (the question they're analyzing)
- Set which node types are required (e.g., "at least 3 evidence nodes, 1 counterargument")
- Attach a rubric — per-node scoring criteria
- Publish
The canvas
Students open the assignment and see a blank canvas with a palette of seven node types on the left. They drag nodes onto the canvas, click to name them, and draw edges by dragging from one node's output port to another's input. The canvas enforces acyclicity — you can't draw an edge that creates a cycle.
Autosave runs every 15 seconds. Students can close the tab and come back without losing work.
Submissions
When a student clicks Submit, the canvas state is frozen and the submission appears in the instructor's queue. Submissions are sorted by oldest first; instructors can filter by student, status, or assignment.
Grading
Open a submission and the grading view loads with the rubric panel on the right. Click any node on the canvas and the panel shows the relevant rubric criteria — score each one, add comments, move to the next node. When every criterion is scored, the total computes automatically. Click Return to student to send feedback.