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Additional Evaluation Criterion for an A Paper

Essays that earn a passing grade (D, C, or B) come in on time, handle the subject, audience, purpose, thesis, specific examples, transitions, grammar, and MLA documentation.

The additional criterion that often identifies writing which works at the A level is that it exhibits creativity, perhaps by: 

• Using a simile or metaphor 
• Referring to a line of music, literature or popular saying 
• Using figures of speech or other wordplay to express ideas in new ways. 

Past students, in addition to meeting all of the standard criteria, have shown originality by employing one or more imaginative strategies effectively in their essays to deepen meaning. The touches listed can often occur in the essay's

• title,
• introduction, and
• conclusion, and thus, also enhance the organization. 

Garth Brooks' "The Dance" can illustrate the difference that creativity adds. 

What does Garth Brooks Have to Do with It?

What does Garth Brooks have to do with A-level writing? His 1992 release, "The Dance," when played on the radio, features lyrics that seem to be about a love relationship which has ended. Part of it goes,

The lyrics indicate that the singer is reconciled -- he has come to terms with the fact that it's over. The words suggest that the song may be one way of letting the relationship go. One student commented that the song captures the idea that "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." By themselves, the lyrics seem nothing more than a good-love-gone-wrong country song.

It generates only a few minutes of class discussion and stimulates only minimally. 

The award-winning music video, though, features film footage of

• John F. Kennedy,
• Martin Luther King, Jr., and
• the seven astronauts who died in the Challenger explosion, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

Others who appear are

• rodeo rider Lane Frost,
• country singer Keith Whitley
• actor John Wayne.

After seeing the video, students often comment that it goes beyond the love relationship indicated in the lyrics. It suggests a whole view of the whole of life (repetition intended). One put it this way: "The video says, 'You only live once; but if you live well, once is enough.' " Such a message seems to speak on a deeper level of humanity.  It generates a lengthy, more profound discussion.

In the same way, an essay that executes effectively in the areas of thesis, support, organization, grammar, and documentation works as does the song on the radio. It does the job.

The essay which adds creativity, though, comes alive on a profound, more universal and, perhaps, more significant level. Thriving, the interaction between the reader and text takes on a life of its own. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

An example of an essay that analyzes a film and works at the interactive level for many readers can be seen here.