GRADING INFORMATION

COURSE EVALUATION:

Grades are based on student essays, quizzes, exams, research work, attendance, and participation. The student must satisfactorily complete a research project or exercise in order to pass the course. Failure to turn in any one project results in failure of the course. No paper with four or more sentence boundary errors will receive a passing grade.

Grading Criteria

The general criteria for evaluation essays are as follows:
 
A=Outstanding, B=Above Average, C=Average, D=Below Average But Passing, F=Failure
 

A: (30-35) Meets the requirements of the assignment and presents an outstanding perspective on it. The thesis might be exceptional or the material used to support it may be highly inventive. The organization is logical, the prose is cohesive and clear, and only one or two minor technical errors are found, such as an occasional typo. The prose is stylistically interesting, containing a varied and skillful sentence structure and effective word choice.
 

B: (25-29)Meets the requirements of the assignment and builds upon a solid unified thesis. The organization is logical, prose is cohesive and clear, and adequate evidence is presented. Sentence construction is skillful with no major problems. Only one or two lapses in consistency of presentation occur. Technical errors are few and relatively minor such as misplaced commas or poor word choice.
 

C: (20-24) Meets the requirements of the assignment. The thesis is generally clear, although does no more than rely upon ideas often presented about the subject. The concepts may be disorganized, and evidence may be insufficient. Some ideas may lack development or be unsupported. Several technical errors are found, and a few of them may be serious: faulty agreement, run-on sentences, garbled constructions. On the whole, the C paper is still understandable and contains some good points.
 

D: (17-19) Fails to meet the requirements of the assignment adequately. The thesis may lack clarity, and the evidence presented in its support may be insufficient or poorly presented. The organization is not clearly presented. Many errors are evident. Sentences are so poorly constructed that they interfere with meaning. The D paper does show some understanding of the subject and an effort to establish and support a thesis.
 

F: (16 and below) Fails to meet the requirements of the assignment. The thesis is never established or lacks unity. The organization is illogical, and transitions between ideas are insufficient. Support for ideas is scant. Technical errors are numerous. Sentences are incoherent because of construction. The paper shows little understanding of the subject.A paper that meets criteria for a higher grade but that contains four or more sentence boundary errors (fragment, run-on, or comma splice) will receive a 16 (F) as a grade.

Analytical Assessment Guidelines

Your papers will be graded according to the seven characteristics appropriate for the course. Each paper will receive a rank from five to one (high to low) in each category.

1. Thesis: The thesis is well stated, complete, based on the text or texts the authority is analyzing or responding to and well supported throughout the paper.
2. Organization: Ideas have a logical sense of arrangement; readers expectations are met; thesis statements and topic sentences seem well thought out and placed.
3. Development: Relevant material is used; the material is based on source material, either from the text or other sources (if appropriate); a variety of ideas are well supported and explained which include examples from the text.
4. Richness of Ideas: A great deal of thought and analysis has been used to come up with interesting connections and ideas about the text; a variety of literary terminology has been explored and presented to investigate the text.
5. Logic of Ideas: The conclusions reached are based on the text or on textual clues; the support and examples explain the ideas for which they are used.
6. Diction and Syntax: The author has used good word choice, careful use of literary terminology, sentence variety, and interesting language expressing the appropriate ideas.
7. Mechanical Conventions: Spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, sentence structure, documentation and other editing concerns have been carefully addressed and corrected before the final draft is turned in for the final evaluation. Students who have more than four (4) sentence boundary errors will earn no more than a 16 (F) for the paper.