Assessment Standards for essays, papers, reviews, reports
and other formal writing

 

Points/grade	Content
4/A	Demonstrates excellence in grasping key concepts Able to agree or disagree or otherwise make reasoned value judgments Provides ample evidence of support for opinions Readily offers new interpretations of material discussed Recognizes and controls for bias, both one's own and that of one's sources
3/B	Shows evidence of understanding most of the major concepts Skilled in basic level of support for opinions Offers an occasional divergent or original viewpoint Some recognition and control for bias, both one's own and that of one's sources
2/C	Has mostly shallow grasp of the material Rarely takes a stand on issues Offers inadequate levels of support Fails to recognize bias, one's own and/or that of one's sources
1/D	Shows no significant understanding of material

 

Points/grade	Expression/Composition
4/A	Uses complex, grammatically correct sentences throughout paper Expresses ideas clearly, concisely, cogently, in logical fashion Uses words that demonstrate a high level of vocabulary Has rare misspellings, punctuation, grammatical errors
3/B	Sentences are generally grammatically correct Ideas are readily understood but show signs of disorganization Some transitions between concepts are missing There are occasional misspellings, punctuation and/or grammatical errors
2/C	Poor use of language garbles much of the message Only an occasional idea surfaces clearly Language is disjointed There is overuse of the simple sentence and repetition of words Paragraphs are often unrelated to each other
1/D	Writing is largely unintelligible Paper is too short to reasonably discuss the issue under consideration

Points for both rubrics will be added together to calculate overall grade for assignment:

   1 = "F"
2-3 = "D"
4-5 = "C"
6-7 = "B"
   8 = "A"