assignment is designed to increase your knowledge of one major early American writer; to enhance your research, synthesis, and documentation skills; and to develop information literacy. Focus on one of the authors

FORMAT

· A: Project meets all formatting requirements as provided in the instructions. (50 points)

· B: Project meets formatting requirements; only one minor error. (45 points)

· C: Project meets formatting requirements; only two minor errors. (40 points)

· D: Project contains three formatting errors; missing element. (35 points)

· F: Project contains four formatting errors; two missing elements. (30 points)

· F: More than four errors; little attempt to meet formatting requirements (15 points)

SOURCE QUALITY & USE

· A: Student uses excellent critical, relevant sources; student successfully synthesizes, integrates, and introduces. (50 points)

· B: Student uses critical, relevant sources; student synthesizes, integrates, and introduces, but quoted material is a bit abrupt or awkward. (45 points)

· C: Student uses relevant sources but a few sources are not as critical; may rely too much on introduced quotes and does not integrate or synthesize as well. (40 points)

· D: Student uses acceptable sources, but has more than one encyclopedia source; may rely too much on quotes. (35 points)

· F: Student relies on sources that are not critical and/or has ONLY encyclopedia sources; does not demonstrate sufficient ability to synthesize; relies too heavily on sources/quotes. (30 points)

· F: Student uses Wikipedia, Shmoop, eNotes, or other inappropriate sources. (15 points)

SOURCE DOCUMENTATION

· A: Student’s citations and W. Cited page are included; no documentation errors. (50 points)

· B: Student’s citations and W. Cited page are included; a couple of documentation errors. (45 points)

· C: Student’s citations and W. Cited page are included; a couple of in-text citations may be missing; several documentation errors. (40 points)

· D: Student leaves out several in-text citations; W. Cited entries not on a W. Cited page; numerous in-text citation/documentation errors. (35 points)

· F: Student makes numerous, significant citation and/or documentation errors. (30 points)

· F: Student fails to include citations or W. Cited page; does not demonstrate understanding of MLA documentation. (15 points)

CONTENT REQUIREMENTS

· A: All sections are included. All meet the minimum length requirement. (50 points)

· B: All sections are included; one section is short of the min. requirement or has more quoted material than student’s words. (45 points)

· C: All sections are included, though two sections are short of the requirements or have more quoted material than student’s words. (40 points)

· D: A section is missing; multiple sections fail to meet requirements or have more quoted material than student’s words. (35 points)

· F: Two sections are missing; multiple sections fail to meet requirements. (30 points)

· F: Little attempt to follow instructions or meet requirements is evident. (15 points)

GRAMMAR/MECHANICS & STYLE/TONE

· A: Assignment has no instances of 1st/2nd person, except on reflection. There are almost no grammatical errors. (50 points)

· B: Assignment has a few style or grammatical errors. (45 points)

· C: Assignment has numerous style or grammatical errors. (40 points)

· D: Assignment has considerable style or grammatical errors. (35 points)

· F: No attempt at checker or find function OR significant grammatical errors. (30 points)

· F: No attempt at checker or find function AND significant grammatical errors. (15 points)

*NOTE: InfoQuests may not always fit a single grade’s description.

GRAMMAR KEY: WL = word-level; Punc = punctuation; SS = sentence structure; AC = awkward construction