Grading Rubric
- You must complete all assignments to receive credit for this course. Your final grade will be based on your papers, class participation, final project, and on the good faith with which you have performed all assignments and attended class and conferences – all counted about equally.
- In general, grades may be considered along these terms: A=truly exceptional work, in both form and content. B=good work. C=adequate work. D=marginally adequate work. F=inadequate work, in both form and content. One of the problems with articulating standards for paper grades is that there are too many variables to account for all possibilities. No template, therefore, is absolutely reliable.
- Below is a set of reasonably accurate descriptions of what A, B, C, and D papers look like:
- “A”-range essay (excellent–and therefore, by definition, rare): ambitious, and also succeeding at what it tries to do. Thesis is clear and interesting, agenda is compelling and clearly articulated, style is admirable, structure is graceful, tone is confident, argument is nuanced and plausible, taking into account potential opposition and reflecting honest, studious, and generous examination of ample evidence. Such an essay usually teaches me something, and no intelligent reader in another part of the world would know you had written it because you were required to. An “A” essay is, among other things, one in which the writer makes the assignment her own.
- “B”-range essay (good): also ambitious, yet not completely successful; or, alternatively, not ambitious in its motivating questions but completely successful in addressing them. A “B”-range essay typically features excellent ideas but is vulnerable to significant questions regarding its expression of agenda, its analysis, its transitions, or its clarity. Sometimes the thesis is inspiring, but not expressed as well as it might be. Structure is plausible, but often could be improved.
- “C”-range essay (not bad): often has basic logical or rhetorical problems in the articulation of thesis and agenda but reflects some sense of what these might be. Sometimes the thesis is hard for the reader to determine; sometimes it isn’t arguable in full; sometimes it’s too obvious, or simply repeats the thesis of source material, or isn’t conducive to a motive for the reader to read; sometimes the structure appears to inhibit the progress of the argument; and sometimes the analysis doesn’t follow from the evidence, or the thesis doesn’t follow from the analysis. Serious problems in syntax and grammar (which usually result in problems in logic) may also lower an otherwise “B”-range paper to a “C”.
- “D”-range essay: fails to address the expectations of the assignment, but does deal with some aspect of it.
