1. You need to complete this task in strict accordance with the detailed Requirements/Guidelines.
Dr. Hromadka Louisiana State University
For each section: A+ = 20 | A = 19 | A-/B+ = 18 | B = 17 | B-/C+ = 16 | C = 15 | C-/D+ = 14 | D = 13 | D- = 12 | F = 11 & below
GRADING RUBRIC FOR EXPLORATORY ESSAY (Adapted from the “General Grading Rubric”). VOCABULARY & MECHANICS (20%) An “A” essay employs a variety of interesting and relevant words and mostly avoids errors in spelling, capitalization, word form, word choice, use of articles, and the misuse of idiomatic expressions, collocations, and forms of emphasis like italics and quotation marks. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “B” essay may have a few errors in vocabulary but not enough to distract from the writer’s main ideas. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “C” essay may have enough errors to distract from the writer’s ideas or a very repetitive vocabulary that makes the writing boring and sometimes difficult to understand. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “D” essay has many serious, distracting errors in vocabulary that frequently make the writer’s ideas unclear and ineffective. ——————————————————————————————————————— An “F” essay demonstrates the writer’s lack of understanding of how to use words in college-level writing. There will be many errors of many different kinds resulting in confusing, unclear sentences and paragraphs throughout the essay. GRAMMAR & PUNCTUATION (20%) An “A” essay uses a variety of sentence structures to maintain the reader’s interest and avoids most errors in using the conventions of grammar and punctuation to organize sentences, including comma splices, run-on sentences, fragments, inappropriate verb tenses, and errors subject-verb agreement and pronoun agreement. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “B” essay may have some errors in grammar and punctuation, but the writer communicates her ideas clearly and efficiently. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “C” essay may have enough errors in grammar and punctuation to distract from the writer’s ideas, and it may also rely heavily on very basic and repetitive sentence structures. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “D” essay has many serious, distracting errors in basic sentence structure and using punctuation appropriately. These distractions make the writer’s ideas unclear and ineffective. ——————————————————————————————————————— An “F” essay demonstrates a failure to understand the basic conventions of formal English grammar. Many serious errors occur throughout the essay making it very difficult to understand and inappropriate for college-level writing.
Dr. Hromadka Louisiana State University
For each section: A+ = 20 | A = 19 | A-/B+ = 18 | B = 17 | B-/C+ = 16 | C = 15 | C-/D+ = 14 | D = 13 | D- = 12 | F = 11 & below
ORGANIZATION (20%)
An “A” essay has a focused topic but is not “thesis-driven” (i.e., it is not designed to support an argumentative claim). The essay explains problems, questions, and alternative viewpoints associated with the topic in logically organized paragraphs, including introductory and concluding paragraphs that help to guide the reader as well as topic sentences, concluding sentences, and transitions. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “B” essay is missing some of the organizational strategies that help to make a writer’s meaning clear. It may support inappropriately argumentative claims, but its ideas are presented in a logical way and take account of some of the problems, questions, and alternative viewpoints required by the assignment. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “C” essay may be confusing because of a lack of the structural and transition strategies that help to guide the reader. The paragraphs in a “C” essay may be presented in an illogical order or have an unclear relationship to the rest of the essay. The essay may also present an incomplete exploration of the topic or be inappropriately organized around an argumentative thesis. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “D” essay has many serious structural problems and, as a result, the writer’s main ideas are often unclear, difficult to understand, or inappropriate to the assignment. ——————————————————————————————————————— An “F” essay fails to use effective strategies for organizing ideas at the paragraph and essay level. Structural problems throughout the essay make the writer’s ideas confusing and inappropriate for writing at the college level. EVIDENCE & SUPPORT (20%) An “A” essay has clear subtopics with many relevant details and a variety of different types of support, including information from at least five reliable outside sources, of which at least three are academic sources. All of the information from outside sources is clearly and correctly cited. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “B” essay may have some paragraphs that need more detail or different kinds of details, and it may have some errors in citation format. Overall, the essay uses relevant supporting details and at least five appropriate sources with mostly clear and correct citations. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “C” essay cites enough sources but lacks an appropriate level of detail, or it relies heavily on just one kind of supporting detail or one source. Information from outside sources is sometimes incompletely or confusingly cited. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “D” essay uses inappropriate supporting details, too few sources, or lacks enough detail to explain and illustrate the writer’s ideas. Information from outside sources is incorrectly and inconsistently cited. ——————————————————————————————————————— An “F” essay fails to provide enough relevant details to explain the writer’s ideas, and information from outside sources is frequently cited incorrectly or confusingly.
Dr. Hromadka Louisiana State University
For each section: A+ = 20 | A = 19 | A-/B+ = 18 | B = 17 | B-/C+ = 16 | C = 15 | C-/D+ = 14 | D = 13 | D- = 12 | F = 11 & below
IDEAS (20%) An “A” essay is creative, thought-provoking, engaging, and analytically complex with a strong sense of purpose. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “B” essay has ideas with most of the features of an “A” essay, but probably not all of them. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “C” essay provides appropriate information and analysis but is somewhat predictable or lacks complexity. ——————————————————————————————————————— A “D” essay is confusing or its ideas are insufficiently developed. The essay may be too short or fail to meet some of the other basic requirements of the assignment. ——————————————————————————————————————— An “F” essay is confusing, simplistic, possibly incomplete, and lacks a clear sense of purpose.