A. Excellent - a paper in this category
- Addresses the assignment thoughtfully and analytically, setting a challenging task.
- Displays awareness of and a sense of purpose in communicating to an audience.
- Establishes a clearly focused controlling idea.
- Demonstrates coherent and rhetorically sophisticated organization; makes effective connections between ideas.
- Provides clear generalizations with specific detail, compelling support and cogent analysis.
- Cites relevant sources and evaluates their validity, effectively integrating them into text when appropriate.
- Displays superior, consistent control of syntax, sentence variety, word choice, and conventions of Standard English.
ESL/Dialect Guideline: Grammatical errors are rare and do not interfere with overall effectiveness of paper; occasional imprecision in word choice or usage may occur.
B. Strong - a paper in this category
- Addresses the assignment clearly and analytically, setting a meaningful task.
- Addresses audience needs and expectations.
- Establishes a clearly focused controlling idea.
- Demonstrates clear and coherent organization.
- Provides clear generalizations and effective support and analysis.
- Cites relevant sources, effectively integrating them into text when appropriate.
- Displays consistent control of syntax, sentence variety, word choice, and conventions of Standard English.
ESL/Dialect Guideline: Some grammatical errors may occur throughout the paper but do not interfere with overall effectiveness; occasional inappropriate word choice or incorrect usage may occur.
C. Adequate - a paper in this category
- Addresses the assignment with some analysis.
- Addresses most audience needs and expectations.
- Establishes a controlling idea.
- Demonstrates adequate organization.
- Provides support for and some analysis of generalizations.
- Cites appropriate sources, adequately integrating them into text.
- Displays adequate control of syntax, sentence variety, word choice, and conventions of Standard English; errors do not slow the reader, impede understanding, or seriously undermine the authority of the writer.
ESL/Dialect Guideline: Grammatical errors, inappropriate word choice, or incorrect usage may occur throughout the paper but rarely interfere with effective communication.
D. Seriously Flawed - a paper in this category
- Addresses the assignment inadequately.
- Shows insufficient audience awareness.
- Strays from the controlling idea or the idea is unclear.
- Displays formulaic, random, or confusing organization.
- Lacks generalizations, or provides generalizations with inadequate support or analysis.
- Fails to cite sources or cites and/or integrates them inappropriately.
- Shows deficient control of syntax, word choice, and conventions of Standard English; errors impede understanding.
ESL/Dialect Guideline: Serious and frequent errors in grammar, word choice, or usage hinder communication.
E. Fundamentally Deficient - a paper in this category
- Fails to address assignment.
- Demonstrates a lack of audience awareness.
- Lacks a controlling idea.
- Lacks organization or organizes illogically.
- Displays inability to generalize, analyze, or support ideas.
- Fails to use outside sources or misuses the texts of others.
- Shows inadequate control of syntax, word choice, and conventions of Standard English.
ESL/Dialect Guideline: An accumulation of serious and frequent errors in grammar, word choice or usage prevent communication.
Guidelines for Evaluating the Writing of ESL/Dialect Students: The writing of ESL/Dialect Students should be held to native speaker standards for content and addressing the assignment. However, because certain types of errors persist in ESL/Dialect writing even at an advanced level, some accommodation for ESL/Dialect features is appropriate.
