Grading Criteria

In grading written work, I ask the following questions:

1) Does the work successfully meet the requirements of the assignment? Does it address all aspects of the question or prompt posed?

2) Does the work successfully integrate course material? Does it bring in key concepts from course materials and discuss/analyze/criticize them in such a way that it is apparent from what’s on the page that the student thoroughly understands the important concepts discussed in class?

3) Is the work well organized ? Does it contain a clear thesis in the introduction? Is the body of the essay or paper organized around key points that support the thesis? Does it use evidence from readings and lectures to provide support for these key points? Is there a concluding section of the essay or paper that reminds the reader of the thesis, how it’s been supported, and why it’s important?

4) Does the work give credit to the ideas and concepts upon which it builds? In take-home assignments, has the student consistently followed a citation format that allows the reader to understand where these ideas came from? In in-class assignments, are there sufficient references within essays that it’s clear that the student knows where the ideas discussed came from?

5) Is the work written in proper English, with good style, grammar and spelling?

Click here to see descriptions of typical answers in each grade category.