Writing course assignment( letter and memorandum)

Writing Studies General Grading Rubric

Grade Ranges Below 50 50-60 60-70 70-80 80-90 90-100

Grades in this range identify assignments with problems sufficiently severe and/or pervasive that they significantly compromise

bility to communicate. Grades in this range generally indicate ONE or more of the following characteristics: 1. Plagiarism. 2. Failure to follow the assigned topic. 3. Severe systematic problems

Grades in this range identify assignments that, while generally acceptable, have AT LEAST ONE of the following characteristics:

a significant global deficiency (mistaken audience, inconsistency in purpose)

several major problems (see list below)

numerous minor problems

Grades in this range tend to be fairly common in writing courses. These grades identify a generally good performance on the criteria listed below with minor problems of various kinds throughout the assignment or in more than one category.

These grades may also be given to assignments that contain some minor mistakes, or even a very small number of more significant ones, provided that other outstanding attributes compensate for them.

More common than 90+ but still relatively rare, assignments in this range demonstrate the same features as those in the upper range (clear purpose; coherent and cohesive writing, varied prose style), but to a slightly lesser degree or with a few minor problems.

Grades in this range are very rare, and identify assignments that show considerable originality and unusual skill in addressing an audience, accomplishing a purpose, using an appropriate style, choosing an appropriate document design or format, and proofreading thoroughly.

Please note that these descriptions are guidelines only, and do not cover all situations.

Evaluation criteria Category Description of a major problem in this category Purpose

Audience Coherence

Cohesion Style

Grammar Proofreading

Format Citation

an unclear, vague, weak, or otherwise problematic thesis statement inappropriate linguistic register; incorrect assumptions about background knowledge of reader problems with paragraph length/structure lack of connection between ideas, paragraphs lack of sentence variety, awkwardness, faulty sentence structure sentence boundary errors: fused sentences, comma splices, sentence fragments typos, misspellings, and so on common enough to significantly slow down the reader poor document design for technical writing assignments; incorrect essay format problems with proper citation format, scholarly procedure

Revised August 2013