Grading+Rubric


 * ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS: GRADING RUBRIC**

FORM

All essays must be typed, double-spaced, with standard margins, on 8 ½” x 11” white paper. All citations must follow the format recommended by Kate Turabian or The Chicago Manual of Style.

CRITERIA

Superior (Grade: A)
 * Addresses a well-defined, significant, thoughtfully selected topic or question.
 * Addresses the question fully and explores the issues thoughtfully.
 * Shows substantial depth, fullness, and complexity of thought. Goes beyond the obvious. Offers illuminating insights.
 * Demonstrates clear, focused, unified, and coherent organization.
 * Is fully developed and detailed.
 * Evidences superior control of diction, syntactic variety, and transition. May have a few minor flaws.
 * Flawless footnotes.

Strong (Grade: B)
 * Addresses a well-defined, significant topic or question.
 * Clearly addresses the question and explores the issues.
 * Shows some depth and complexity of thought. Demonstrates recognition of important ideas.
 * Is effectively organized.
 * Is well-developed, with supporting detail and good citation technique.
 * Demonstrates control of diction, syntactic variety, and transition. May have a few flaws.

Competent (Grade: C)
 * Addresses a clearly defined topic or question.
 * Adequately addresses the question and explores the issues.
 * Shows clarity of thought but may lack complexity. May tend to rely on the obvious and the cliché.
 * Is organized.
 * Is adequately developed, with some detail.
 * Demonstrates competent writing. May have some flaws.
 * Minor flaws in footnotes.

Weak (Grade: D)
 * Addresses an ill-defined or ill chosen topic or question.
 * May distort or neglect parts of the question.
 * May be simplistic or stereotyped in thought. May be essentially uninformative.
 * May demonstrate problems in organization. May be aimless.
 * May have generalizations without supporting detail or detail without generalizations. May be undeveloped.
 * May show patterns of flaws in language, syntax, mechanics, and citation.

Incompetent (Grade: F)
 * Failed attempts to begin discussing the topic.
 * Deliberately off-topic papers. Failure to understand the topic.
 * Papers so incompletely developed as to suggest or demonstrate incompetence.
 * Papers wholly incompetent mechanically.
 * Seriously flawed or absent footnotes.