Essay Grades

Content

Organization

Word Choice

Mechanics

“A” essay (in all categories):

Central idea clearly defined, developed with care and originality; supported substantially and concretely.

Essay progresses in clearly ordered stages; transitions effective; paragraphs and sentences coherent.

Fresh, precise, appropriate to purpose of essay.

Conforms to standard usage, or only rarely diverges from it in respect to grammar, punctuation and spelling.

“B” essay (in all categories):

Central idea clearly defined, supported sufficiently and consistently.

Essay’s purpose consistently clear; transitions effective; paragraphs and sentences coherent.

Clear and carefully chosen

Only infrequently diverges from it in respect to grammar, punctuation and spelling.

“C” essay has at least one of the following problems:

Central idea trivial or too general; development overemphasizes one point at the expense of others, or is repetitious or incomplete.

Purpose apparent, but incompletely carried out; or paragraphs ineffectively developed; or transitions too abrupt; sentences sometimes ineffective.

Occasionally inappropriate, vague, or incorrect.

Occasionally diverges from it in respect to grammar, punctuation and spelling.

“D” essay has at least one of the following problems:

Central idea poorly thought out; developed and supported inconsistently; may contain irrelevant material.

Purpose not always apparent; paragraphs sometimes poorly developed; transitions sometimes unclear; sentences sometimes incoherent.

Inappropriate or vague enough to get in the way of the reader’s understanding.

Fairly frequently diverges from standard usage in respect to grammar, punctuation and spelling.

“F” essay has at least one of the following problems:

Central idea unclear, undeveloped

Purpose not apparent; paragraphs incoherent; or undeveloped; transitions lacking; sentences incoherent.

Inappropriate, vague or incorrect.

Frequently and seriously diverges from standard usage in respect to grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Adapted from Manual for Elementary Composition, Indiana University department of English (out of print).