A |
• intriguing & relevant opener
• thesis is clear, concise & decisive
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• conclusion restates or paraphrases thesis
• conclusion briefly goes through the body of evidence |
• evidence is provided in a rational chronology
• connections between evidence and thesis are explicit
• connections between paragraphs
• topic sentences are clear & concise
• one topic per paragraph |
• quotes are properly integrated and cited
• examples are relevant and properly explained
• sufficient analysis
• concepts are appropriately used and relevant
• sufficient evidence is supplied and cited to back up claims |
• few grammatical & spelling errors not caught by spell check
• interesting & appropriate word choice
• appropriate page length
• adheres to MLA format
• contains a proper works cited page
|
B |
• uninteresting but relevant opener
• thesis is fairly clear but may not be decisive or concise
----------------------
• conclusion vaguely restates thesis
• conclusion does not adequately go through the body of evidence |
• evidence is provided in a fairly rational manner, however, it could be adjusted
• connections are not always explicitly present
• connections between paragraphs are not always evident
• topic sentences are not always clear
• paragraphs may occasionally contain multiple topics |
• quotes may on occasion be awkwardly placed or not appropriately explained/integrated
• relevance of examples may not be evident or properly explained
• gaps within analysis may occasionally occur
• concepts are not always integrated properly or not explicitly connected to thesis
• insufficient evidence or not cited |
• minimum grammatical & spelling errors not caught by spell check
• occasional inappropriate word choices
• appropriate page length
• adheres to MLA format
• contains a proper works cited page |
C |
• weak opener
• unclear thesis & may not be decisive or concise
----------------------
• conclusion does not restate thesis
• conclusion does not go through body of evidence, or introduces new evidence |
• evidence is provided with little to no clear rationale
• connections between evidence and thesis are not explicit
• topic sentences are not clear
• paragraphs regularly contain multiple topics |
• inappropriate quotes or misplacement (or too few)
• irrelevant or excessive examples without explanations (or too few)
• light analysis
• irrelevant concepts without explanation (or concepts are conspicuously absent)
• claims are often not backed up with evidence or not cited |
• serious grammatical & spelling errors (including ones that would have been caught by spell check if used)
• often contains inappropriate word choices
• page length is shorter than requested
• minimal MLA format errors
• problems with works cited page |
D
&
F |
• no opener
• unclear thesis & indecisive or wordy
----------------------
• conclusion lacks relevance to thesis
• conclusion does not refer to evidence or introduces new evidence |
• illogical chronology
• lacks connections between evidence and thesis
• lacks connections between paragraphs
• topic sentences are not clear
• paragraphs contain multiple topics |
• lacks appropriate quotes (or excessive quotes)
• lacks relevant examples
• little analysis
• lacks content-specific terms and concepts
• claims are not backed up with evidence or cited |
• serious grammatical & spelling errors (spell check was not used)
• inappropriate word choice throughout paper
• MLA format was not adhered to
• serious problems with or no works cited page |
