Criteria for Evaluating an Essay Department of Languages — Sandhills Community College Name: Section Number:
EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION OF IDEAS
Introduction (10 points) The Little, Brown Handbook (TLBH), Chapter 4d-1 Focus the reader’s attention on the subject of the essay in a thorough paragraph of thought-provoking sentences leading effectively into the thesis statement. If the thesis is not stated, as in a narrative or argument that implies the main idea or builds to the main point in the conclusion, provide background or use other devices to stimulate interest in your subject and provide a direction for your essay.
Thesis (10 points) TLBH, Chapter 2b Option 1: Clearly, specifically, and interestingly state or imply the main idea that the essay will explain or support. Option 2: If appropriate, build to the main point stated or clearly implied in the conclusion. An essay with a mark of "0" for this category will receive no credit.
Development (40 points) TLBH, Chapter 4c Thoroughly support or explain the thesis or build to a logical conclusion in a series of vivid, interesting paragraphs, fully developed with facts, examples, reasons, narration, description, comparison, cause and effect, process analysis, or other appropriate methods. An essay with a mark of "0" for this category will receive no credit.
Expression (10 points) TLBH, Chapters 23 and 37-39 Use precise language, varied sentence beginnings, and varied sentence patterns to express ideas.
Unity (10 points) TLBH, Chapter 4a Make each sentence in a paragraph adhere to the main idea of the paragraph; make each paragraph adhere to the main idea of the essay.
Organization and Coherence (10 points) TLBH, Chapter 4b/4e Arrange ideas in a logical order; use transitions and other cohesive devices to link ideas effectively within and between paragraphs.
Conclusion (10 points) TLBH, Chapter 4d-2 Logically complete the development of the thesis or build to the main point of the essay.
Creativity and Revision—Little, Brown Chapter 3a-f Up to 5 extra points may be awarded for creative expression and up to 5 points for significant improvement through revision.
EFFECTIVELY WRITTEN SENTENCES  (2 points deducted per error. See chapters in TLBH.)
Excessive Major Errors: Four or more of any one of the following types of sentence or grammar errors will result in no credit for the essay: fragments (17), comma splices (18), fused sentences (18), and subject-verb disagreement (15a).
Sentence Structure: Avoid errors in subordination (24), coordination (24), and parallelism (25); fragments (17) and comma splices (18); and fused (18), incomplete, or awkward sentences (22).
Grammar and Usage: Avoid inappropriate verb or pronoun use (14), subject-verb or pronoun-antecedent disagreement (15b), unclear pronoun reference (19), misplaced or dangling modifier (21), inappropriate shift in person or tense (20), redundancy (39), imprecise language (38), or incorrect usage (38).
Spelling and Capitalization: Avoid errors in spelling (41) and capitalization (33).
Punctuation: Avoid misuse or omission of the apostrophe (30), brackets (32d), colon (32a), comma (28), dash (32b), ellipsis (32e), exclamation point (27c), hyphen (41d), parentheses (32c), period (27), question mark (27), quotation marks (31), semi-colon (29), slash (32f), underlining (34), or italics (34).
ESSAY GRADE:  A=100-93  B=92-85  C=84-77  D=76-70  F=69-0