philosophy paper

Writing Evaluation Student Name:

Prof. David W. Cheely Assignment:

A (Excellent)

____Thesis Statement: The Introductory paragraph presents a clear and focused summary of the position to be developed in the paper.

____Explication: The writer demonstrates an excellent understanding of the arguments/position of the author through a clear and concise explication of the ideas to be considered.

____Interrogation: The writer presents a specific critical analysis of the author’s position.

____Declaration: The writer explicitly declares his/her stance with respect to the author’s ideas - thesis.

____ Elaboration: The writer raises a strong objection to his/her own thesis and elaborates upon his/her thesis in response to this objection.

____ References: The writer makes use of relevant textual citations and smoothly fuses these citations into the paper without breaking the flow of the argument.

____ Grammar: Few, if any, grammatical errors. Sentences read smoothly without being overly wordy. Appropriate word choices.

B (Very Good)

____Thesis Statement: The Introductory paragraph presents the thesis; however, the thesis seems somewhat muddled and unclear.

____Explication: The writer understands the arguments/position of the author; however, the explication of this understanding wanders from the text at times.

____Interrogation: The writer’s critical analysis of the author’s position lacks precision.

____Declaration: The writer presents his/her thesis well, but the thesis is off-target and/or unclear.

____ Elaboration: The writer raises a solid objection to his/her thesis, but the writer’s response to this objection does not improve the strength of the thesis, or generate further questions.

____References: The writer makes use of references; however, the cited material is forced and seems to chop into the flow of the paper.

____Grammar: Minor grammatical errors. Sentences are somewhat wordy and wandering. Word choice is sometimes questionable.

C (Average)

____Thesis Statement: The Introductory paragraph merely implies a thesis.

____Explication: The writer presents a limited understanding of the arguments/position of the author.

____Interrogation: The writer’s critical analysis of the author’s position is superficial, unconvincing, and un-supported.

____Declaration: It is difficult to tell what the thesis of the paper is and/or its relation to the author’s position.

____Elaboration: The writer makes use of a straw-man objection that does little to elaborate upon and strengthen the writer’s position, or generate further questions.

____References: The writer uses far too many references such that it is difficult to tell if the writer understands the text or not, or the writer fails to employ appropriate references to the text.

____Grammar: Far too many grammatical errors. Sentences, word choice, and word economy make it difficult to follow the writer’s arguments.

D (Substandard)

____Thesis Statement: The writer fails to state a thesis in the introductory paragraph.

____Explication: The writer misunderstands the arguments/position of the author.

____Interrogation: The writer fails to critically analyze the author’s position.

____Declaration: The writer does not present a thesis, or the thesis presented is unrelated to the author’s position.

____ Elaboration: The writer fails to consider a possible objection.

____ References: The text is never referenced, or improper citations methods are used.

____Grammar: There are major grammatical errors present. Incomplete Sentences, poor word choice, and bad word economy make it nearly impossible to follow the writer’s arguments.

F (Failure)

____Plagiarism: The text includes plagiarized material – the student must meet with me to explain, in lieu of possible F for the course.

____ Formatting: The paper was formatted in a manner as to subvert the minimum length requirement.

____ Late Paper: Each day the paper is late equals a 3-point deduction (from original grade) until failure – an F equals ZERO points earned.

Comments:

POINTS EARNED (out of 50):_______________________