Assignments

Book Review

Peer-editing Guidelines

Passage Analysis

Peer-editing Guidelines

Literary Analysis

Peer-editing Guidelines

Midterm Exam

Final Exam

Participation

Paper Grading Standards

In grading papers for this class, I will use the following criteria:

A Confident, persuasive written expression
An original approach to the work in question
A strong thesis statement that is arguable and interesting
Exemplary in the clarity and organization of its argument
Engaging to its audience in a manner that commands attention
Consistently good use of evidence in support of your contentions and in accordance with MLA format
Nearly flawless mechanically (format, spelling, grammar)
 
B Clear written expression with a few minor breakdowns
Somewhat original approach to the work in question
A strong thesis statement that is arguable and interesting
Well-organized argument that signals its structure to readers by way of effective transitional sentences
Good use of evidence to support your contentions and in accordance with MLA format
Only a few mechanical flaws
 
C Satisfies the basic demands of the assignment
Generally clear though with some breakdowns
Makes a clear argument about the meaning of the passage
A thesis statement that is arguable and interesting
A well-organized argument
Use of evidence in support of your contentions and in accordance with MLA format, though not consistently
Several mechanical flaws, but not so many that they confuse the meaning of your paper
 
D Almost satisfies the basic demands of the assignment
Numerous breakdowns impairing the clarity of your argument
Thesis statement is either not arguable or is uninteresting
Argument has minimal organization
Use of evidence to support contentions is wildly inconsistent and/or not in accordance with the MLA format
Numerous mechanical flaws interfering with paper clarity
 
F Does not satisfy the basic demands of the assignment
Unclear writing style
Lacks a thesis statement
No clear argumentÑseemingly random arrangement of ideas
Mechanical flaws throughout the paper
No use of evidence to support the argument
Plagiarized work