These guidelines are intended
to help you as you write your papers for this class. Please feel free to speak
with me if you have any questions about them. Also, if you have questions about
your work I will be happy to talk with you during office hours or by appointment.
Remember that your grade will be affected if you submit your paper after it
is due; see the course syllabus for details.
One quick note: I will
often know what you are trying to say in your papers (we may have even discussed
your thesis and other parts of your paper during office hours), and I will often
think that your argument is an excellent one. However, when I evaluate your
written work, my goal is to focus exclusively on the paper you have submitted
to fulfill the assignment. It may help to think about the process this way:
when I evaluate your written work, I am reading your paper, not your mind. What
counts are the words on the page.
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Superior Essay: A (90-100%)
In addition to basic requirements, this essay also deals with a challenging
topic. The writer clearly articulates his or her argument and supports his/her
thesis with relevant and thoughtfully analyzed passages from the text. Such
a paper is lucid, elegantly written, well-organized, and free of errors. It
shows intellectual insight into the topic; demonstrates a consistently superior
ability to handle language; smoothly and correctly integrates relevant specific
details (quotes) from the work(s) being discussed into every element of the
discussion.
Above-Average Essay: B (80-89%)
Organization and depth of analysis are what most characterize a paper in the
"B" range. It makes a worthwhile point about the text(s) under study
through careful argumentation and analysis. It separates the different strands
of the argument and explains how those strands relate to and support each other.
Close readings and quotations from relevant passages back up each element of
the argument. There are smooth transitions between points. This is an essay
that shows a good, strong understanding of the text and is, for the most part,
written well. In addition to meeting basic requirements, this essay uses suitable
sources; integrates and documents sources appropriately; displays a more sophisticated
style; is free of almost all technical errors.
Average Essay: C (70-79%)
The paper makes some good points and demonstrates an understanding of the text(s)
under study, but the argument may not be well-organized or backed up by a close
examination of the text(s). This essay meets all criteria of the assignment;
deals with a significant topic; follows an acceptable pattern of organization;
has a clearly stated thesis idea; demonstrates adequate style; uses sources
although perhaps in perfunctory ways; may not be precise in integration and
documentation of sources; may have some technical errors. Grammatical errors,
particularly comma splices, sentence fragments, subject-verb disagreements,
and verb tense shifts will tend to put an otherwise fine paper in the "C"
to "D" range. Absence of a thesis will certainly keep a paper in the
"C," or more likely, the "D" range.
Below-Average Essay: D (60-69%)
This essay attempts to address a particular subject, but it may lack a thesis
or have a thesis which the writer fails to argue. In other words, the paper
does not have a central argument, and the reader will be confused about what
the writer aims to accomplish. In the absence of an organizing argument, the
paper may be hard to follow in a number of places. This essay may be marred
by awkward writing, or the writer may slip into long stretches of plot summary.
A "D" paper may also (though not necessarily) have a number of basic
misreadings of the text. Or it may have enough errors its prose to distract
the reader from the writer's points. Such mechanical errors may in and of themselves
put an otherwise okay paper into the low "C" or "D" range.
Failing Essay: D (<60%)
In this paper, there may be no evidence of serious engagement with the text(s)
under study. If the paper demonstrates a writer's engagement with the text(s)
but is marred by so many errors in mechanics that it is hard to make sense of
parts of the essay, it may also be in the "F" range.