The Writing Program grades holistically by evaluating the student's essay as a whole, balancing its strengths and weaknesses, in order to arrive at an overall grade.
Grade of A: An essay that earns an A demonstrates a high degree of competence and meets the following criteria:
? Presents an argument that responds to the writing assignment thoroughly and insightfully
? Demonstrates a nuanced understanding of the assigned texts
? Is very well focused, organized, and developed at the essay level, integrating assigned texts and/or research
? Is very well framed and developed at the paragraph level, including effective assertions, analysis, and textual evidence
? Demonstrates strong facility with language, using effective vocabulary, syntax, and sentence variety
? Demonstrates strong control of the grammar, rules of usage, and mechanics of standard English
Grade of B: An essay that earns a B is written in a clearly competent manner and meets the following criteria:
? Presents an argument that responds to all of the elements of the writing assignment effectively and thoughtfully
? Demonstrates a solid understanding of the readings
? Is effectively focused, organized, and developed at the essay level, integrating assigned texts and/or research
? Is effectively framed and developed at the paragraph level, including appropriate assertions, analysis, and textual evidence
? Demonstrates good facility with language, using appropriate vocabulary, syntax, and sentence variety
? Shows good control of the grammar, rules of usage, and mechanics of standard English, but may have some errors
Grade of C: An essay that earns a C demonstrates adequate competence but is limited in one or more of the following ways:
? Presents an argument that responds to the writing assignment adequately, but may be somewhat limited
? Demonstrates a competent, though sometimes superficial, understanding of the readings
? Is adequately focused at the essay level, though the paragraphs could be more effectively organized or explicitly connected and the assigned texts and/or research could be better integrated
? Is thinly developed at the paragraph level, inconsistent in its inclusion of assertions, analysis, or textual
? Demonstrates satisfactory facility with language, but may have limited control of syntax and minimal sentence variety
? Demonstrates adequate, though sometimes inconsistent control of grammar, usage, and mechanics
Grade of D: An essay that earns a D approaches competence, but has one or more of the following flaws:
? Presents an argument that is unclear or seriously limited in its response to the writing assignment, or does not present any argument
? Demonstrates an inadequate reading, or a misreading of the texts
? Is unfocused, disorganized, or underdeveloped at the essay level
? Is inadequately developed at the paragraph level, lacking assertions, analysis, and/or textual evidence
? Demonstrates errors in the use of language or syntax, which may interfere with meaning
? Demonstrates errors in grammar, usage, or mechanics, which may interfere with meaning
Grade of F: An essay that earns an F lacks competence, since it has one or more of the following flaws:
? Fails in its response of the writing assignment
? Is incomplete/severely underdeveloped
? Contains severe grammatical or syntactical errors that persistently obscure meaning
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