English 201

SUMMARY

GRADING STANDARDS ENGLISH 201

To place these standards into the larger context of the class, first look at “Grading Standards” in our Resources module, which go into detail about the overall standards for our papers, including the research paper.

Because our summary assignment is different from our other assignments—summarizing another writer’s ideas rather than your own--the criteria needs to reflect that difference.  For example, in a summary it’s more important that your thesis be accurate to the original than sophisticated, since you’re stating someone else’s ideas.  Rather than “evidence,” you’re summarizing the “Main Points” of the selected essay for category II.  Plus a new category is added at the bottom, that focuses specifically on requirements for a summary: that you use your own words rather than the author’s, that you maintain the order of the original essay, etc. 

CRITERIA:

I. THESIS

1.   Is accurately  stated at the beginning, with attribution to author and title

2.    Is well focused

II. MAIN POINTS

1.    Main points are accurate

2.     Main points are concise

3.       Main points are clear

III. ORGANIZATION

1.  Paragraphs unified

2.   Paragraphs coherent

3. Transitions clear and flowing

IV. VOICE

1.    Is formal

2.     Is objective

V. STYLE

1.    Uses precise diction

2.     Avoids wordiness/cliches

3.     Uses sentence variety

4.   Maintains summary conventions

VI. MECHANICS

1.  Punctuation

2.  Grammar

3. Spelling

VII. SUMMARY/PARAPHRASE

1.   Uses own words

2.     Maintains original order

3.    Provides opinion paragraph

4.    Fulfills assignment