BOOK REVIEW ESSAY

Criteria

Excellent

Good

Acceptable

Marginal

Fail

APA Format is used correctly

Format is correct

All headers, page numbers, spacing, subheadings, citations and references

Most of the headers, page numbers, spacing, subheadings, citations and references

Most of the headers, page numbers are not used, spacing is a problem, subheadings are not used, citations are used incorrectly, references are not in order and do not match citations

Brief Overview of the Film/Book

Complete overview of the contents of the book or film, including the major focus or plot, main characters, arc of the action, beginning, middle, and end.

Almost complete overview of the contents of the book or film, including the major focus or plot, main characters, arc of the action, beginning, middle, and end.

Basic overview of the contents of the book or film, including the major focus or plot, main characters, arc of the action, beginning, middle, and end.

Overview does not include all aspects of the focus or plot of the book or movie, limited mention of the beginning, middle, or end

Very limited overview of the major points or focus of the book or movie

Criteria

Excellent

Good

Acceptable

Marginal

Fail

Explanation of the Sociological Concepts and Comparison of Concepts to Book or Movie

Shows a clear understanding of the material and is able to compare and contrast the information from the text/discussion. Also, is able to relate the information read or viewed to material learned in the course and/or to personal experiences. Indicated specific incidents in the book/movie relating to concepts

Shows a general understanding of the material but did not have nuanced comparisons to the text/discussions. Was able to relate the information to materials learned in the course and/or to personal experiences. Indicated only a few incidents that related book/movie to concepts

Attempts to make connections between the information presented in class/text but may fall short of clear connections. Shows a basic ability to relate the information from information read or viewed to what was learned in class. Indicated only one incident that related book/movie to concepts

Does not establish the obvious connections between the concepts in class/text but does try to relate it to learned information or personal experiences.

Does not attempt to make any connections between information in text/discussions or to information learned in the course.

Organization

The ideas are organized logically and flow smoothly from one idea to the next.

The ideas are organized but the transitions sentences are not used effectively.

There is a lack of organization of ideas which interrupts the flow of the paper.

The lack of organization results in redundancy of information resulting in poor flow of ideas.

There is no organization. Just a series of long quotes or ramblings.

Criteria

Excellent

Good

Acceptable

Marginal

Fail

Writing Mechanics

(grammar, spelling, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, noun-pronoun agreement, establishing and using abbreviations correctly, etc.)

There are so few errors in writing mechanics that there is not disruption in the flow of the paper.

Occasional errors in writing mechanics but they do not represent a major distraction to the paper

The number of writing errors begins to distract the reader from the purpose of the paper.

Several mechanical errors cause a major distraction from the purpose of the paper.

The errors are so frequent that the purpose of the paper is obscured.

Reference Page

Format was correct—author(s), year of publication, title of article in lower case, name of journal, volume, number, pages

References listed in alphabetical order and the formatting is correct.

Either alphabetical listing or format was not correct.

Did not list in alphabetical order or format correctly.

Length of Paper

Met the required page length of the paper.

Does not meet the required page length of the paper.

Criteria

Excellent

Good

Acceptable

Marginal

Fail

Comments

APA Formatting-Title Page, headers, margins, spacing, headings, font, citations

6

4

3

2

1-0

Section I: Brief Overview of the film/book (content of the book/film, major focus, main characters, beginning, middle, end

8

6

4

2

1-0

Section II: Explanation of the Sociological Concepts using texts & research articles.

10

8

6

2

1-0

Section III. Actual scenes in the movie or passages in the book that depict each of the three concepts presented in Section II

8

6

4

2

1-0

Section IV. Conclusion-recap of main points in paper

6

4

3

2

1-0

Organization (ideas are organized contributing to the flow of the paper)

4

3

2

1-0

Writing Mechanics (proper use of subject-verb agreement, noun-pronoun agreement, establishing abbreviations, sentence structure, wording, no contractions, fragments, etc.)

6

4

3

2

1-0

Section V: Reference Page (alphabetical and formatting); Quality of articles

6

4

3

2

1-0

Criteria

Excellent

Grade

APA Formatting-

6

Section I: Brief

8

Section II: Sociological Concepts

using texts & research articles.

10

Section III. Actual scenes

8

Section IV. Conclusion-

6

Organization

4

Writing

6

Section V: Reference

6