Essay Assessment

-- Essays that receive an A grade have the following qualities:

bullet Titles allude to the slant of the essay;
bullet Essays, excluding the non-revised in-class essay, show substantial revision; revisions show that the author has considered audience, purpose and style, so it teaches the reader.
bullet Formatting is consistent throughout, with the writer's name, dates and other pertinent data.
bullet Essays
bullet have a controlling thesis,
bullet show an understanding of paragraph unity,
bullet include transitions between and within paragraphs,
bullet use level one abstractions,
bullet depict a mastery of vocabulary in diction and style,
bullet portray audience awareness,
bullet contain minimal surface errors,
bullet are free from any major grammatical error,
bullet capture the reader through writer's involvement.

These essays show the care and concern writers have taken to prepare and showcase their best work.

B (3.0)

--Essays that receive a B grade have the following qualities:

-- Title gives indication of slant of essay.
--Essay, excluding the non-revised in-class essay, shows revision; revisions attempt to show that the author has considered audience, purpose and style, so it teaches the reader.
--Formatting is consistent throughout, with the writer's name, dates and other pertinent data.
--Essays attempt to
have a controlling thesis,
show an understanding of paragraph unity,
include transitions between and within paragraphs,
use level one abstractions,
depict a mastery of vocabulary in diction and style,
portray audience awareness,
contain minimal surface errors,
are free from any major grammatical error,
capture the reader through writer's involvement.

These essays show some concern that writers have taken to prepare and showcase their work.

C (2.0)--Essays that receive a C grade have the following qualities:

--Titles are general without slant.
--Some revision has been done; yet the writer does not show an understanding of the revision process, so surface error correction and minor details have been added, rather than a reworking of the essay.
--Formatting is not consistent throughout, with the writer's name, dates and other pertinent data.

--Essays attempt to

have a controlling thesis, but unclear unity throughout
show an understanding of paragraph unity,
include transitions between and within paragraphs,
use level one abstractions in at least one or two body paragraphs,
depict a minimal mastery of vocabulary in diction and style,
portray novice audience awareness,
contain some careless surface errors,
contain a major grammatical error,
capture the reader through writer's involvement.

These essays do not usually showcase a writer's care and concern, rather they portray an array of skills of a novice writer.

D(1.0)-- Essays that receive a D grade have the following qualities:

--Titles are missing.
--Little or no revision has occurred.
--Formatting is haphazard throughout, with no care about location of the writer's name, dates and other pertinent data.
--Essays may lack
a controlling thesis,
an understanding of paragraph unity,
transitions between and within paragraphs,
level one abstractions,
a mastery of vocabulary in diction and style,
audience awareness,
control and mastery of sentence structure.

These essays lack the care and concern a writer should have taken to prepare and showcase their work.

F(0)-- Essays that receive a F grade may have the same attributes of a D essay as well as

--failure to follows procedure,
--revision of an in-class writing,
--plagiarized work or a general lack of care and concern.
--lack of proofreading, and a plethora of mechanical and/or grammatical errors.

Go to Evaluation for elaboration about point system.

Contents within this site are copyrighted by both the author of essays and/or Jan Strever.
The contents within these pages are solely those of the author and S.C.C.
should not be held responsible.  ©1999-2009
Last revised: November 19, 2009 by Jan Strever -- jstrever@scc.spokane.edu
Personal site:  http://www.js.spokane.wa.us/

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