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Focus and Organization               

1.        Is tailored to the appropriate audience

2.        Focus is maintained throughout and is clear to readers

3.        Follows a logical pattern that supports the main idea (inductively or deductively)

4.        Includes paragraphs unified around a topic related to the main idea/focus; establishes logical progression within and between sentences and paragraphs (coherence)

5.        Provides necessary metalanguage: uses transitional words, phrases, and sentences when necessary to connect the paper’s elements, ideas, or details, allowing the reader to follow the writer’s points

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20 pts.

Comments

Opening

a)        Introduces the paper's focus without relying on overgeneralizations, captures the reader's attention, and prepares the reader for the paper

b)       Clearly defines/establishes the focus (main idea), provides a thesis, and forecasts organization, if appropriate

c)        Captures the reader’s attention and prepares the reader for the paper

Closing

a)        Gives readers a sense of appropriate closure, which, depending on the essay's audience and purpose, may include: briefly summarizing the main idea, synthesizing points of significance, and suggesting future possibilities and applications

b)       Answers "So What?"

Reasoning

1.        Includes a logical progression of sophisticated ideas that support the main idea   

2.        Critically analyzes relationships between ideas

3.        Evaluates the credibility of source material. Assesses the strength of others' reasoning, when appropriate

4.        Draws reasonable conclusions

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20 pts.

Development

1.        Discusses each idea to the extent appropriate for the essay's audience, resisting the urge to bounce from idea to idea without sufficient treatment

2.        Introduces counterarguments and considers alternative views, when appropriate

3.        Resists overgeneralization     

4.        Uses details to support and purposefully develop the focus (not randomly inserted), consistently imagining the same reader

5.        Skillfully integrates sources in quotations, summaries, and paraphrases:

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20 pts.

a.        Used to support student writer's focus (not as filler)

b.        Reputable and appropriate sources chosen, when required

c.        Block quotations used sparingly and appropriately

d.     Introduced well and significance explained

e.     Excessive quoting avoided in favor of careful synthesis

Style and Language

1.        Is appropriate for the audience and subject

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15 pts.

Sentence-level issues:

1.        Varies sentence structure as appropriate

2.        Avoids excessive simplicity in favor of sentences involving coordination and subordination

3.        Uses effective parallel structure

4.        Does not overuse "to be" verbs, nominalizations, or prepositional "strings"

5.        Remains consistent in point of view and tenses

Word-level issues:

1.        Is correct in terms of diction and usage (28b)

2.        Avoids wordiness and cliché

3.        Shows sensitivity to gender, ethnicity, religion, class, nationality, and disability

4.        Offers effective sensory detail and figurative language

Grammar and Mechanics are consistent with Standard English.

(Numbers refer to chapters in The Brief Thomson Handbook.)

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of

15 pts.

Format: Format, references, and citations follow MLA style or other professional style, as agreed upon with the instructor.  Includes: margins, heading, spacing, page numbers, parenthetical citations (including surrounding punctuation), block quotation format, and Works Cited page.

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End Comments

(see back or essay

for more comments)

Final Grade: