Evaluation of Essay Assignments
Five basic criteria:
1) Introduction: tell me what you are going to say (10%).
- grade - how to earn it
A - strong, interesting, grabs attention
- B - sets up the thesis and purpose well
- C - vague thesis statement, lacks purpose
- D - little introduction, no purpose unclear
- F - no introduction
Comments: Does the reader know what will be addressed? What's the point
of the paper? Why should I be interested in reading it?
2) Body and Thesis: unity, coherence, development, accuracy
(40%)
- A - clear, logical, detailed, concise and accurate, illustrated as
specified
- B - well structured and thought out, but needs revision
- C - sufficient, but still needs a lot of work, not illustrated as specified
- D - doesn't follow directions, thesis never developed
- F - unclear, inaccurate, doesn't address the assignment, isn't geographical
Comment: Is there enough background information and is it accurate?
3) Organization and transitions (20%)
- A - well written, flows well, writer tells me where they're going
- B - basically sound, understandable
- C - reader gets lost, choppy, jump from idea to idea
- D - first draft, didn't proofread the final hard copy
- F - illogical, incomprehensible, painful to read, written today at
dawn
Comment: Have you followed a clear line of argument or description throughout?
4) Conclusion: reiterate what you said (10%).
- A - good punchline, ties it up, natural closure
- B - sufficient closing, recapitulates point
- C - weak punch line, no clear purpose
- D - reader left stranded
- F - no clear ending
Comment: Does the reader know why s/he read the paper? What are the lasting
impressions you want to leave?
5) Citations (20--100%)
- A - many sources synthesized throughout the essay
- B - proper citation form
- C - few sources and citations
- D - inaccurate citations, padded bibliography (listing sources you
didn't use)
- F - no citations or bibliography, plagiarism (could count as 100%)
Comment: Did you give credit to all your sources?
Grade breakdown
Introduction |
10% |
Body and Thesis |
40% |
Organization and transitions |
20% |
Conclusion |
10% |
Citations |
20--100% |
TOTAL |
100% |