.Grading represents closure for a writing task. Grading is fairest when it reflects the process of research, drafting, getting feedback, and revising.

EXAMPLE:

Professor Henry Shaw's system (Cornell, 1984)


In grading "thesis papers" ... I ask myself the following set of questions:
  • Does the paper have a thesis?
  • Does the thesis address itself to an appropriate question or topic?
  • Is the paper free from long stretches of quotations and summaries that exist only for their own sakes and remain unanalyzed?
  • Can the writer produce complete sentences?
  • Is the paper free from basic grammatical errors?
If the answer to any of these questions is "no," I give the paper some kind of C. If the answer to most of the questions is "no," its grade will be even lower.

For papers which have emerged unscathed thus far, I add the following questions:

  • How thoughtful is the paper? Does it show real quality?
  • How adequate is the thesis" Does it respond to its question or topic in a full and interesting way? Does it have an appropriate degree of complexity?
  • How well organized is the paper? Does it stick to the point? Does every paragraph contain a clear topic sentence? If not, is another kind of organizing principle at work? Are the transitions well made? Does it have a real conclusion, not simply a stopping place?
  • Is the style efficient, not wordy or unclear?
  • Does the writing betray any special elegance?
  • Above all, can I hear a lively, intelligent, interesting human voice speaking to me (or to another audience, if that's what the writer intends) as I read the paper?
Depending on my answers to such questions, I give the paper some kind of A or B.

See John Bean, Engaging Ideas, 264.

Please choose one of the samples of student writing below and grade it; explain why you chose the piece, and what criteria you have for giving it the grade you did.

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