content: can improve on:

____    Setting forth a main theme synthesizing the assigned reading material.  The theme should demonstrate genuine personal reflection and insight.  The theme should also demonstrates a very good understanding and synthesis of the major ideas in the source material.

___    Supporting the main theme by analysis of the essential elements used by the writers of the assigned reading material.  Errors in the substantive interpretations of this source material should be minimal.

____    Using and including specific references to the assigned reading materials that contribute to the development of the theme. Ideas in the source material should not taken out of context in order to give superficial support to the writer's own interpretation.

____    Conveying  an understanding of the framework for reasoning that the course is building.

____    Developing the paper with appropriate and specific details, examples, quotations, illustrations, anecdotes, and the like. These are drawn from class readings, class discussions, personal insight and from other appropriate source material.

writing: can improve on:

____    Organizing the paper. The paper should be  coherent and  well organized so that from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph the main theme is well developed and supported.  Appropriate transitions link the parts of the paper.

____    Conveying ideas in meaningful terms.  There are no overly general or unnecessarily abstract wording that are unintelligible to the reader.  Superficial jargon and unnecessary "padding" should be absent.  The paper should not rely upon lists of items when interpretation is called for.

____    Observing rules in grammar, punctuation, spelling, word usage, and sentence structure.  Editing should be more complete.

____    Using footnotes (or endnotes) appropriately to document quotations or major ideas attributed to particular writers.  An acceptable and consistent style must be used for footnotes (or endnotes).

ssn:  _______-______-_______        name:  ________________________

grade:  __________                assignment:___________________
    grade scale:

Remember learning is a process. By following the suggestions on the front of this page, your understanding and enjoyment of the course material will likely increase and your grade is very likely to improve.

A=90% or higher (A-=90-92%)  Papers in this category respond fully to the assignment by both analyzing and synthesizing the source material with understanding, creativity and reflection.  A main theme is well developed and well supported.  Writing is coherent, meaningful, and virtually free from errors in mechanics, sentence structure, etc.

B=80% (B- = 80-82%, B+=87-89%)  Papers in this category reflect a fairly good understanding of the assignment although they may not be as thorough as an "A" paper in the analysis and synthesis of source material.  The integrating idea may not be as thoughtfully or carefully developed as an "A" paper.  Writing is not overly general or abstract and is largely free from serious errors in mechanics, etc.

C=70% (C-=70-72%, C+=77-89%)  Papers in this category show difficulty managing the assignment.  The main integrating idea may not be sufficiently developed and/or supporting analysis is thin. There may be some errors in interpretation of source material and/or source material was not always utilized appropriately. There may be problems with the writing that make the paper difficult to read; the writer may have needed to spend more time composing his/her thoughts and editing.

F=less than 70%  Papers in this category are largely unresponsive to the assignment.  Source material is not adequately analyzed and/or synthesized.  The writer's main idea is generally unclear and difficult to follow.  Many errors are made in the interpretation and/or utilization of source material.  Writing may be incoherent and/or serious errors may be made in mechanics, sentence structure, etc.  

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