Teacher Resources: Grading Criteria

A range:

Often an A paper has one or two "B" or even "C" moments, but they do not significantly detract from the overall force of the paper.

• PROJECT
  • An A paper does all the good things that B-level papers need to do, but an A paper is usually distinguished from B range work because the student understands his or her own project from the beginning and clearly represents that understanding to the reader. It moves through its own project step by step, though some of the positions of individual paragraphs may be more carefully worked out than others.
  • An A paper develops and presents its independent ideas persuasively throughout the paper.
  • Sometimes a paper achieves an A because a student develops a thoughtful and well-defined interpretive approach and an awareness of his or her own position in relation to the positions of the assigned essayists.
    
• WORKING WITH TEXT
  • A papers are distinguished from B-level work by student-centered connective thinking that engages with the ideas in the readings. The paper presents the sustained development and effective articulation of a position that is related to ideas in the readings, while it is not reducible to relationships readily identifiable in the readings.
  • A papers generally develop projects that cut across the readings in unanticipated ways.
    
• ORGANIZATION
  • The organization is logical, fluid, and clear.
    
• PRESENTATION
  • Presentation errors must be minimal.