Essay Evaluation
Here you will find how your essays will be graded. This is an evaluation grid that has
been developed with the help of many English teachers here and at other schools who agree
that a common criteria is important to essay grading. Please review the essay evaluation handout I have posted to help you make sense of
this. Make a hard copy for yourself, so that when you receive my evaluation back on your
essay, you can try to understand what your strengths and weaknesses are.
Remember writing is a skill; some of us have had a lot of practice -- others have not.
Try not to be too discouraged if your essays are not receiving the grades you would like.
Instead use the grid to help you understand where you need to focus your energies to
become a better writer. Also, I always allow you to rewrite each essay once, except
in-class ones of course, so that you may increase your score by ten points.
| ESSAY EVALUATION |
CONTROLLING IDEA/UNITY/THESIS |
| Excellent -- 5 points |
Good -- 3 points |
Needs substantial revision -- 1 |
| Clear and focused; supports well-stated thesis |
content too broad; does not indicate direction; leans towards fact only;
unsophisticated-3 point thesis |
unclear; content/thesis conflict; no position |
ORGANIZATION |
| Excellent -- 5 |
Good -- 3 |
Needs substantial revision -- 1 |
| Clear transitions; meaningful ordering of ideas within paragraphs and within the piece
as a whole; introduction and conclusion frame essay |
interrupted flow of ideas; ineffective introduction and/or conclusion; rhetorical
strategies not consistently used; weak transitions |
ineffective or unclear ordering; no logical progression of thought; lack of
transitions between ideas. |
DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT |
| Excellent -- 5 |
Good -- 3 |
Needs substantial revision -- 1 |
| Sufficient, relevant supporting details; piece teaches the reader; ample specificity |
support is evident but sparse paragraphs lack adequate development |
inadequate, irrelevant details. |
EXPRESSION |
| Excellent -- 5 |
Good -- 3 |
Needs substantial revision -- 1 |
| Specific vivid vocabulary; sentence variety; appropriate diction; language supports
purpose |
little sentence variety; minimal mastery of vocabulary use; inaccurate or little
subordination/ coordination usage; parallelism problems |
cliche´s; diction use. |
WRITER ENGAGEMENT |
| Excellent -- 5 |
Good -- 3 |
Needs substantial revision -- 1 |
| Creative thinking; considers audience response; relies upon looking at old ideas in
a new way |
shows some "voice" some creative ideas |
minimal writer involvement; no "new" ideas |
MECHANICS |
| Excellent -- 5 |
Good -- 3 |
Needs substantial revision -- 1 |
| Demonstrates mastery of conventions |
a variety of errors; spelling, punctuation, run-ons, capitalization, subject/verb
agreement pronoun reference, fragments, etc. comma splices, |
errors impede understanding |
