Matters of Life and Death

Fall 2004

Analytical Essay Grading Rubric

Each essay is graded on the basis of 20 points, broken into 4 categories:

Engagement with the ideas from the reading:

5 = fully engaged (discussing relevant points, presenting them accurately)

3 = pretty engaged (mentioning some relevant points, but leaving some out, or presenting them somewhat inaccurately)

1 = not so engaged (only superficial treatment of points from the reading)

"So what?"

5 = fully developed (finds the larger significance of the issue and presents it clearly)

3 = somewhat developed (brings out some ideas that point toward larger significance)

1 = not so developed (no real discussion of larger significance)

Organization:

5 = clear and logical (thesis easy to identify, clear how other claims support thesis)

3 = somewhat clear (thesis less obvious, some points not clearly connected)

1 = not so clear (not clear what thesis is, no clear logic to the presentation, lots of unconnected or incoherent points)

Mechanics:

5 = excellent (good spelling, grammar, punctuation; word choice is apt, and sentence structure leads to clear presentation of ideas)

3 = fair (some systematic problems with sentence structure, spelling, grammar, punctuation.)

1 = poor (enough problems with sentence structure, spelling, grammar, and/or punctuation that the reader can't follow the content).

HOW TO INTERPRET YOUR GRADE:

*Use to identify areas that need work (1 or 2 in a category means you need to work harder on it; 3 means a bit more attention could make a big difference)

*A rough conversion to letter grades: A-range (18-20), B-range (15-17), C-range (12-14).  But, for the first analytic essay, I'm expecting lower marks and will scale the grades accordingly.

*You may rewrite one of your first two analytical essays to improve your mark (and the essay, of course).  However, you aren't required to do a rewrite.