Essay

A/200-180 (7)

B/179-160 (6) C/159-140 (5) D/139-120 (4) F/119-0 (3)

Focus Subject well-defined; thesis clear and strong;

thoughtful, with some

insight and originality ;

unified, with effective

op ening and closing

Subject fairly well defined; op ening and

closing consistent

Subject fairly well defined; op ening and

closing consistent

Subject less than exact; thesis vague or

commonp lace

Subject ill-defined; thesis uncertain or

trivial

Organization Plan evident and major p oints signaled by

p aragrap h divisions and

clear transitions

Plan clear, with many major p oints signaled

by p aragrap h divisions

and transitions, with

p erhap s some minor

digressions or gap s

Plan clear, but p erhap s incomp lete; some major

p oints signaled by

p aragrap h divisions and

transitions; most p oints

logically related; a few minor digressions

Plan noticeable but incomp lete or must be

inferred by the reader;

not all major p oints

signaled by p aragrap h

divisions and transitions; some p oints

logically related; some

digressions

Plan attemp ted but difficult to infer;

hap hazard relationship s;

with transitions often

lacking

Development Thesis well develop ed

in four or more

p aragrap hs, with

ap p rop riate details and examp les

Thesis adequately

exp lained and fairly

well develop ed in four

or more p aragrap hs, with ap p rop riate details

and examp les

Thesis fairly well

exp lained and

develop ed in three or

more p aragrap hs; some unsup p orted

generalizations or

irrelevant details

Thesis p oorly

exp lained, with

frequent unsup p orted

generalizations and redundant exp ressions

or ideas; p erhap s some

irrelevant details

Little develop ment of

thesis, with infrequent

or irrelevant details;

restatement often used

Vocabulary Precise, ap p rop riate

word choice; p erhap s

use of figurative

language

Clear language, usually

ap p rop riate word

choice; p erhap s some

figurative language

Generally ap p rop riate

vocabulary but at times

oversimp lified

Some clear, ap p rop riate

word choice, but some

confused or

inap p rop riate language or faulty idiom

Vague, confused, or

inap p rop riate word

choice; clichéd or

informal language

S entence S tructure Strong control of

sy ntax, with effective

use of comp lex

structures

Good control of sy ntax,

with occasional errors

in comp lex structures

Clear exp ressions; a

few major errors, but

overall command of

basic sentence structure

Some errors in sentence

boundaries; narrow

range of sy ntactical

choices

Tangled or unclear

sy ntax; frequent

uncertain sentence

boundaries

Grammar, S pelling,

and Punctuation

Correct grammar,

sp elling, and

p unctuation; shows evidence of editing

With few excep tions,

correct grammar,

sp elling, and p unctuation; shows

evidence of editing

Usually correct

grammar, sp elling, and

p unctuation; shows evidence of editing

Some missp ellings;

recurrent grammar

and/or p unctuation p roblems

Frequent errors in

grammar, sp elling, and

p unctuation

To receive a p articular score, an essay must meet or exceed the requirements for each of the six categories.

To receive this score, the essay may not fall below the requirements of any category