Grading Scale for Essay #1:



All essays are graded in the four areas below. Your job is to become familiar with these criteria, so much so that you can identify where in your writing they are present and/or absent. Achieving "minimum standards for writing proficiency" in each area means earning a "B" on an essay. Exceeding minimum standards in each area means earning an "A."

Paper 1 Grading Scale

1-2=fails to meet minimum standards for writing proficiency; 3=approaches minimum standards for writing proficiency; 4=achieves minimum standards for writing proficiency; 5=exceeds minimum standards for writing proficiency

CONTENT:

1 2 3 4 5 X 3= ________

(15 pts)

  • Provides substantive and relevant development of ideas
  • Provides logical, accurate, and sufficient level of detail
  • Creates appropriate college level, academic tone
  • Avoids plagiarism; uses paraphrase and quotes skillfully
  • Demonstrates an in depth understanding of the ideas in the assigned reading and critically evaluates/responds to those ideas in an analytical, persuasive manner.
ORGANIZATION

1 2 3 4 5 X 2 = ________

(10 pts)

  • Creates a clearly identifiable introduction, body, and conclusion.
  • States a clear thesis and provides identifiable, focused topic sentences
  • Provides unified paragraph structure--each paragraph develops only one central idea.
  • Provides coherent paragraph structure--writer employs cohesive devices such as transitional phrases within and between paragraphs
LANGUAGE USE

1 2 3 4 5 X 4 = ________

(20 pts)

  • Avoids errors in sentence boundaries such as fused sentences and sentence fragments
  • Demonstrates mastery of coordination and subordination of English clauses
  • Demonstrates mature sentence style by employing sentence combining
  • Avoids word usage errors in verb tenses and word forms
  • Avoids word usage errors in subject-verb agreement, number, word order, word choice
  • Avoids word usage errors in articles, pronoun usage, and prepositions
  • Employs a mature, college-level vocabulary (varied, sophisticated, and unrepetitive word choice);
  • Employs imaginative/literary uses of language (analogy, metaphor)
MECHANICS

1 2 3 4 5 X 1 = ________

(5 pts)

  • Follows formatting/length instructions for the assignment
  • Proofreads the essay for correctness: avoids errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphing.
  • Writer uses quotes appropriately and where required

TOTAL SCORE: _____

NOTE:The grade scale you see here is the one I use for all essays you'll write this quarter. The only aspect that will change from essay to essay is the number of points assigned to each writing area (Content, Organization, Language Use, and Mechanics).


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