Grading Descriptions for Giles’s ABAC Composition Classes
A 90-100
B 80-89
C 78-79
D 60-69
F 59 or below
Standards for Evaluating Final Drafts of Essays
The first considerations in evaluating a paper are rhetorical: content, development, organization, sentence structure, diction, appropriateness to assignment and audience, and fulfillment of assignment (length, number of sources, etc.). After evaluating these elements, graders consider errors in mechanics or usage.
Superior (A)
Content: An original, significant idea clearly defined and supported with concrete and relevant detail addressed to a specific and well-defined audience. The writer succeeds in fully engaging the reader’s interest. Development: Essay progresses by clearly ordered stages; there is development with originality and consistent attention to proportion and emphasis; paragraphs are coherent, unified, effectively developed; transitions between paragraphs, when needed, are explicit and effective. Sentence Structure: Sentences are skillfully constructed (unified, coherent, forceful, effectively varied). Diction and Mechanics: Clarity and effectiveness are promoted by consistent standard usage, mechanics, spelling, and a precise and ample vocabulary. There are very few, if any, and only very minor, errors.
Good (B)
Content: A significant idea clearly defined and supported with concrete and relevant detail, although at times the paper may lack the ability to fully engage the reader’s interest and details may occasionally be commonplace and predictable. The addressed audience is specific and well-defined. Development: The essay progresses by clearly ordered stages, with only occasional, if any, lapses. The paper is developed with originality and consistent attention to proportion and emphasis; the paragraphs are coherent, unified, effectively developed; transitions between paragraphs, when needed, are explicit and effective. Sentence Structure: Sentences are skillfully constructed (unified, coherent, forceful, effectively varied). Diction and Mechanics: Clarity and effectiveness are promoted by consistent standard usage, mechanics, spelling, and a precise and ample vocabulary. There are occasional minor errors.
Satisfactory (C)
Content: Central idea is apparent and supported with concrete detail, although detail may be occasionally repetitious, sketchy, or commonplace. There is a specific audience but not clearly defined (the writer has not fully considered their needs, expectations, prior knowledge, and attitude on the subject matter). Development: Plan and method of essay are apparent and fulfilled satisfactorily, although they are developed with occasional inappropriate emphasis; paragraphs are unified, coherent, usually effective in their development; transitions between paragraphs, when needed, are clear but mechanical. Sentence Structure: Sentences are correctly constructed but lacking in distinction. Diction and Mechanics: Satisfactory vocabulary and usage; writing meets standards of Standard Written English with no more than occasional lapses from standard usage, mechanics, spelling, etc.
Poor (D)
Content: Central idea is unsupported with concrete and relevant detail. The writer largely ignores the audience or writes only for himself or herself. Development: Plan and purpose of essay are not apparent; the thesis is underdeveloped or developed with irrelevance, redundancy, or inconsistency; paragraphs are mostly incoherent, not unified, or underdeveloped; transitions when needed are unclear, ineffective, or absent. Sentence Structure: Sentences are occasionally incoherent, fused (run-on), incomplete (fragment), monotonous, or not unified. Diction and Mechanics: Communication is obscured by frequent deviations from standard usage, mechanics, and spelling, inadequate vocabulary.
Failing (F)
Content: Central idea is lacking or confused, or does not meet the demands of the assignment. There is no consideration of audience. Development: The paper shows no evidence of plan and purpose, but seems to be only a collection of information of personal opinions that the writer presents in journal form. There are no connections between the ideas and no sense of a unified whole working for some effect on the readers. Sentence Structure: Sentences are mostly incoherent, fused (run-on), incomplete (fragment), monotonous, or not unified. Diction and Mechanics: Communication is obscured by too frequent deviations from Standard Written English usage, mechanics, spelling, or inadequate vocabulary.