by Maxine Rodburg
Courtesy of Harvard University
Expository Writing Program

These are the standards I adhere to when I grade essays. Pluses and minuses represent shades of difference, as do split grades (e.g. B-/C+). I assign grades on the evidence of the essay submitted, not on effort or time spent.

A Excellent in every way (this is not the same as perfect). This is an ambitious, perceptive essay that grapples with interesting, complex ideas; responds discerningly to counter-arguments; and explores well-chosen evidence revealingly. The discussion enhances, rather than underscores, the reader's and writer's knowledge (it doesn't simply repeat what has been taught). There is a context for all the ideas; someone outside the class would be enriched, not confused, by reading the essay. Its beginning opens up, rather than flatly announces its thesis. Its end is something more than a summary. The language is clean, precise, often elegant. As a reader I feel surprised, delighted, changed. There's something new here for me, something only the essay's writer could have written and explored in this particular way. The writer's stake in the material is obvious.

B A piece of writing that reaches high and achieves many of its aims. The ideas are solid and progressively explored but some thin patches require more and/or some stray thoughts don't fit in. The language is generally clear and precise but occasionally not. The evidence is relevant, but there may be too little; the context for the evidence may not be sufficiently explored, so that I have to make some of the connections that the writer should have made clear for me.
OR a piece of writing that reaches less high than an A essay but thoroughly achieves its aims. This is a solid essay whose reasoning and argument may nonetheless be rather routine. (In this case the limitation is conceptual.)

C A piece of writing that has real problems in one of these areas: conception (there's at least one main idea but it's fuzzy and hard to get to); structure (confusing); use of evidence (weak or non-existent; the connections among the ideas and the evidence are not made and/or are presented without context, or add up to platitudes or generalizations); language (the sentences are often awkward, dependent on unexplained abstractions, sometimes contradict each other). The essay may not move forward but rather repeat its main points, or it may touch upon many (and apparently unrelated) ideas without exploring any of them in sufficient depth. Punctuation, spelling, grammar, paragraphing, and transitions may be a problem.
OR an essay that is largely plot summary or "interpretive summary" of the text, but is written without major problems.
OR an essay that is chiefly a personal reaction to something. Well-written, but scant intellectual content--mostly opinion.

D and F These are efforts that are wildly shorter than they ought to be to grapple seriously with ideas;
OR those that are extremely problematic in many of the areas mentioned above: aims, structure, use of evidence, language, etc.;
OR those that do not come close to addressing the expectations of the essay assignment.