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Grading Standards
for Short Essays
In General:
Complexity and range
of analysis, significance of conclusions, logic and coherence of arguments,
etc. are the focus of my grading. However, rhetorical development and
writing style are inseparable from these features.
Essays should be
free of spelling and grammatical errors. Use the spelling and grammar
checkers on Microsoft Word 6.0 before you print your final draft of
the essay. Note that the spelling checker will not catch homonyms used
out of context. Also note that since the grammar checker is designed
for business writing it will suggest that you change some sentences
and phrases (because they are long, for instance) that are quite acceptable
for academic analysis.
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The A essay
exhibits these strengths:
1 Has a controlling sense of purpose.
2 Synthesizes information, draws inferences and makes analogies which
show insight into the topic.
3 Maintains a consistent awareness of audience.
4 Has unified organization with an engaging introduction, graceful transitions,
and a substantial conclusion.
5 Has a clear thesis developed thoroughly with specific details, examples,
reasoning.
6 Uses precise word choice and appropriate and effective variation in
sentence structure, emphasis, and figures of speech.
7 Is free from serious errors in standard English and from common stylistic
weaknesses (ineffective use of passive voice, inexact word choice, inappropriate
shifts in tense and person, wordiness).
8 Further, the A paper is often distinguished from the B paper by a
more assured prose style, more creativity in form or content, more subtlety
in
rhetorical strategy.
The B essay
exhibits most of these strengths:
1 Has a controlling
sense of purpose and a consistent clarity of exposition.
2 Synthesizes information, draws inferences and makes analogies which
show insight into the topic.
3 Maintains a consistent awareness of audience.
4 Has unified organization with an engaging introduction, graceful transitions,
and a substantial conclusion.
5 Has a clear thesis developed thoroughly with specific details, examples,
reasoning.
6 Uses precise word choice and appropriate and effective variation in
sentence structure, emphasis, and figures of speech.
7 Has few if any serious errors in standard English or stylistic weaknesses
(ineffective use of passive voice, inexact word choice, inappropriate
shifts in tense and person, wordiness).
The C essay
exhibits these characteristics:
1 Displays a sense or purpose, which may not be consistently met.
2 Is logical, but rarely presents distinctively insightful or thought-provoking
perspectives.
3 Displays a sense of audience and usually addresses that audience.
4 Is organized well enough to be easily readable, with a beginning,
middle, and end.
5 Has a clear thesis, reasonably developed with some specific details
and examples.
6 Has adequate but undistinguished word choice and sentence structure.
7 Contains almost no serious errors in sentence boundaries, grammar,
punctuation, and spelling.
The D essay
may exhibit some but not all of the following weaknesses:
1 Fails to rise
above the obvious in content, substitutes repetition for development,
or relies too heavily on a secondary source.
2 Lacks a clear or appropriate sense of audience.
3 Has lapses in clarity.
4 Has lapses in organization; shows weakness in introduction, transition,
and/or conclusion.
5 May have a single subject but no controlling idea.
6 Lacks variety in sentence structure and/or precision of word choice.
7 May have several errors in Standard English: mixed construction (confused
sentences) sentence boundary errors: run-on sentences, unjustifiable
sentence fragments, comma splices, agreement error (subject/verb; pronoun/antecedent)
inappropriate shifts in tense, voice, mood, punctuation errors and excessive
misspellings.
The F essay
exhibits some of the following weaknesses:
1 Lacks substantive
content.
2 Lacks any consistent sense of audience.
3 Consistently lacks clarity.
4 Lacks unified organization; lacks adequate introduction, transitions
and/or
substantive conclusion.
5 Lacks a clearly-defined thesis and/or a controlling idea.
6 Has frequent errors in Standard English (see list for D paper, item
7).
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