Teacher Resources: Grading Criteria

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Grading Criteria Glossary
These grading criteria use either terms that are unique to the Rutgers Writing Program, or general terms that we define specific ways. This glossary is meant to introduce you to these terms, and to provide contexts for you to connect them to terms you may already be familiar with.

Project
A student's project is what he or she wants to achieve in the paper. A student creates a project by contributing to the conversation raised by the texts read for class. One essential skill in defining a project involves locating a larger context in which students can use the relationship between two or more texts as support for their own ideas. One of the signs that a paper has a project is the creation of new or independent ideas that are affiliated with the assignment question, but generated from the writer's unique attempt to answer that question. Ideally, students should articulate their paper's project in the introductory paragraph; however C-level papers often have the work of a project in the body of their paper, but not an articulation of it in the introductory paragraph. We define these unspecified projects as emerging.

The articulation of a paper's project can be thought of as analogous to argument; however, we avoid the language of argument because it suggests contention and leads students to a win or lose, prove or disprove mentality. Arguments tend to remain trapped in the texts, as students use one author to prove another author right or wrong. In contrast, the representation of a student's project incorporates a much broader sense of what a paper can and should accomplish. Students may be asked to stake out their position, make an argument, or have a thesis as a way to articulate their paper's project in the introduction. While these terms are not interchangeable, they all share a focus on a writer's ability to define their project's goals, assumptions, and concerns. The paper's organization helps students define and develop their projects. (See more about a paper's organization below.)

Part of this project may be an action horizon. Action horizons imagine possibilities and solutions to the problems and issues of the text. The most effective action horizons avoid simple solutions ("we should just ban biotech") because they realize that simple solutions are not realistic; rather, effective action horizons recognize the complexity of real world problems and work through the texts to imagine new possibilities.

For more on the action horizon you can read Kurt Spellmeyer's essay "Teaching the Action Horizon" on The New Humanities Reader website. Go to http://www.newhum.com and click on "Notes to Teachers" to find the essay.

Working with Text
Working with text refers to a variety of textual protocols students use to support their projects. A key part of working with text involves textual responsibility. Being responsible to the text involves referencing, paraphrasing, and quoting assigned readings when they relate to a student's project. Textual responsibility also means taking into account what an author has said-students, for example, who ignore parts of an author's text in making their own claim are being textually irresponsible.
A student will need to discern when to reference or paraphrase and when to quote. Some textual evidence provides students with examples: this evidence can often be referenced or paraphrased. Some textual evidence provides students with concepts or ideas: this evidence should usually be quoted. Crucial to the concept of working with text is the idea that students should treat their own ideas as a text at play in the conversation. In this way students will need to think connectively. Connective thinking works on two levels: students should connect or relate their own ideas to their textual evidence and also, at times, relate ideas among texts in support of their project. Traditionally, the Writing Program has used the term connection to denote close work with texts through effective use of quotation; the concept of "thinking connectively" extends this idea. Thus we want to stress that connection is only one form of working with quotation, and working with quotation is only one form of connection.

Organization
Often strong papers use the organization of individual paragraphs to develop their project. This organization comes at several levels: within a paragraph, between paragraphs, and within the paper as a whole. Students should express, explain, and explore a central claim in each paragraph. The paper's paragraphs should connect logically to each other. In addition, the paragraphs should all work toward developing and supporting a paper's project.

Presentation
Student papers need to employ correct grammar, clear diction and syntax, proper mechanics (like punctuation), and correct spelling, including the use of apostrophe. Students along with the aid of teachers or tutors should define patterns of error in their work. "Patterns of error" is a term we use to refer to recurrent errors in a student's writing.

Papers should be formatted with 1 inch margins, use a standard font, and have page numbers.

A student will also need to follow citation conventions, as described by the instructor, the Writing Program, and the university. The words and ideas of others need to be attributed to them throughout the paper. A student should identify the source of quotations, the source of paraphrased ideas and facts, and author, title, and context of every source text.

All papers need to be proofread before they are turned in.

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