English 201 Grades and Grading Criteria
Find the overall breakdown of your semester grade and the weighting of its component parts on the English 201 scorecard. Outlined below are some pertinent Citadel grading policies and my own general criteria for grading of specific assignments.
Grades on individual
assignments
I assign letter grades with qualifiers—A-, B+, C-, D+, F, etc.—on
most individual assignments and accordingly-scaled numerical grades expressed
as fractions on all assignments throughout the semester as noted on the
scorecard, with the upper term of the fraction indicating the number of
points earned and the denominator indicating the total possible points for
the assignment. For instance, you may get a C+ 7.8/10 on an assignment to
indicate that a C+ gives you 7.8 of the 10 points maximum.
Your semester
grade
For the course as a whole, The Citadel awards only letter grades without qualifiers
(pluses or minuses):
A for "superior," B for "very good," C for "satisfactory/acceptable," D for "marginal," or "barely passing," and F for "unsatisfactory."
Grading criteria
for "smaller assignments"
By "smaller assignments" I mean all graded work other than the two
formal papers and the midterm and final exams.
In grading most of the smaller assignments, I evaluate your work with two primary criteria in mind: 1) most importantly, the extent to which it meets and follows the assignment's intent, and 2) the level of effort indicated by your work.
Your grade on some smaller assignments will be a purely quantitative matter of how many errors you make and avoid. With the "Quotes and documentation exam," for instance, your grade will reflect how carefully you follow the very precise "QD" rules for citing and documenting quotations and other source material correctly. If you put the effort into learning and following the "QD" basics, your grade on this exam should be strong.
With other smaller assignments such as reading quizzes and critical responses, your grade will depend mainly on your careful attention to what the assignment asks you to do and on your effort. For many reading quiz questions, for instance, there will be no one "right" answer, and you will get full credit for any answer clearly indicating that you have read the material closely enough to provide a reasonable answer, whether or not yours is the specific answer I had in mind when making the quiz. With critical responses, I will not nit-pick too much on matters of grammar and mechanics but will instead focus primarily on how directly and thoroughly you address the given topic. Persistent or flagrant weaknesses in the writing will affect your grade on critical responses to some extent, but the effort you make in offering sincere and insightful observations on the readings will have the greatest impact on your grade for each critical response.
Grading criteria
for midterm and final exams
"Short answers" (explaining the significance of specific passages):
In the short answer segment of each exam, I consider mainly how well you explain
the thematic significance of each passage—that is, I evaluate
how well you demonstrate an understanding of the importance of the passage
in conveying the entire work's most important insights on the human condition
or in supporting the work's guiding, fundamental "messages" or themes.
With short answers, I take for granted that you can identify the passage,
so in order to score well on short answers, you must go well beyond simply
indicating that the passage comes from a particular work and is spoken by
this or that character.
Your relative success on the short answer portion of every exam will have the largest impact on your exam grade overall. It has been my experience that short answers are usually the "make or break" section of my exams. Students who a) do the reading initially, b) attend and participate in class discussion and take notes, and c) study by reviewing all the passages emphasized in class tend to do well on both this portion of the exam and on the essay(s). Those who neglect items a), b), or c) tend to do poorly. You would do well to review these sample questions and answers as you prepare for any of my exams:
Sample short answer questions:
Identify and explain
the significance of the passages in 2-4 sentences. (You will have some
choice on an actual exam: as in your choosing 6 passages from a possible 8
total, e.g.)
1. "She said all a body would have to do there was to go around all day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn't think much of it."
A+ answer (5/5 pts. credit):
In this passage from Huck Finn Huck is reporting Miss Watson's description of heaven. The passage is significant because it shows how naive Huck is at the beginning of the novel: he says he wishes he could go to hell just to get away from her, and he is glad that he and Tom Sawyer are likely to be in hell together. The passage is also significant because Huck's later decision to risk hell for rescuing Jim from slavery echoes this scene and shows a much more mature and informed understanding of heaven and hell than he demonstrates at this early point in the novel.
F answer (1/5 pts. credit):
This passage is from Huck Finn where Miss Watson is describing heaven to Huck.
2. "What I mean is—he thinks I'm sort of—prim and proper, you know! [She laughs out sharply.]"
A+ answer (5/5 pts. credit):
Here Blanche tells Stella what Mitch thinks of her (Blanche) in A Streetcar Named Desire. The significance of the passage is that it shows how Blanche is a manipulative liar: she presents the false illusion that she is a "prim and proper Southern lady" to Mitch and everyone else in hopes of getting Mitch to marry her. She thinks Mitch's believing her false image is funny because she knows how truly false it is. Skank!
F answer (1/5 pts. credit):
This passage is spoken by Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. She is talking to Stella about how prim and proper Mitch thinks she is.
3. "She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."
A+ answer (5/5 pts. credit):
This passage is from Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," and the Misfit is talking about the grandmother after he kills her. The passage is significant because it supports the story's central theme of God extending grace in surprising and sometimes violent ways. The Misfit highlights the ironic point that the grandmother, who was a dingbat usually, actually behaves like a good Christian woman when he is about to kill her. She shows sympathy for her murderer when she treats him like her son and reaches out to comfort him—the implication is that she would have been a truly good woman if she had had such moments of stress all the time.
"Almost D" answer (2/5 pts. credit):
The Misfit says this. I don't remember the story too well, but I think it involves John Smoltz and Andruw Jones, and of course, its central theme is that the Atlanta Braves are the baddest team in baseball.
Exam essays:
I try to be understanding in regards to examination pressure and time constraints
when grading exam essays, but I do still expect essays on exams to be effective
in overall focus, structure and development. Typically, I do not expect introductions
and conclusions to be so thoroughly developed in exam essays as in formal
essays written outside of class, and I am usually more forgiving with matters
of grammar and mechanics. But by and large I expect your exam essays to meet
the most important criteria for formal out-of-class essays as outlined below,
with the notable difference that I would not expect exam essays to include
quotations from either primary or secondary sources, and I do not typically
impose a minimum word count on essays in exams.
Grading criteria
for formal essays
As a student eligible for enrollment in English 201, you have presumably already
demonstrated proficiency in writing effective college-level essays. The following
criteria indicate my particular expectations in formal papers in English 101
and 102. My expectations for your papers in 201 may be slightly higher in
terms of content and perceptive critical thinking, but I will generally follow
these guidelines in evaluating your essays at the 200-level as well.
Matters of course: the bedrock
basics.
In order to receive a passing grade:
An essay must first and foremost address a viable topic, meaning that if you are given a specific assignment for the essay, your paper must address the assigned topic squarely, directly, and fully. In the absence of a specific assigned topic, the essay must set up and address a topic genuinely worthy of exploration at the college level. We will deal with this issue later in the semester, but here's one quick "for instance": a beautifully written paper proving that Hester Prynne is treated harshly in The Scarlet Letter for her sin of adultery would receive a quick F because the point is too obvious to need elaboration: any reader of the novel would know that Hester is treated harshly simply from reading the book. Your essays should develop a thesis that will enlighten your readers: you should present and develop significant argument or analysis that goes beyond simply stating the obvious.
The "A" paper:
My expectations for "A" work on formal essays are high. I believe A essays
should be truly exceptional work. Beyond satisfying each of the "bedrock
basics" listed above, I expect an A essay to do each of the following:
- Present and develop a viable thesis in thoughtful and convincing fashion.
- Show exceptionally impressive critical thinking, including careful, thoughtful consideration of audience, especially of opposing perspectives for topics calling for argumentation.
- Maintain focus tightly on the stated central topic throughout.
- Support each primary claim with effective and convincing evidence.
- Have unified, coherent, and well-developed paragraphs throughout, including the introduction and conclusion.
- Be engaging and interesting to the reader.
- Communicate at both the paragraph and sentence level with coherence, precision, clarity, and exceptional correctness in grammar, diction, and mechanics, following the established conventions for formal academic writing as indicated in the "Simple Stuff," "Nuggets," and "Quotes and Documentation" handouts.
Essays in the "B" range generally satisfy most of the expectations for "A" work outlined above—for me, a "B" essay is very strong work, definitely above average. What usually distinguishes B papers from A papers is one or more of the following:
- Minor problems in maintaining tight focus on the stated central topic or thesis.
- Notable but not terribly damaging lapses or weaknesses in critical thinking or logic.
- Minor problems in paragraph unity or development, including the introduction and conclusion.
- Minor problems in supporting major claims with effective evidence in body paragraphs.
- Persistent problems in minor matters of grammar, mechanics, convention, or diction.
- Minor problems with "major" errors in grammar.
"C" essays usually present and develop a viable thesis in reasonably convincing fashion, with generally solid writing at the local level in terms of grammar, mechanics, diction, and convention. A "C" paper is usually acceptable work in the main, with one or more of the following areas of weakness:
- Structural problems, including
- Minor problems in overall focus—e.g. paragraph(s) that stray slightly from the stated central topic or thesis.
- Relatively minor problems in paragraph unity (sticking closely to one main point per paragraph).
- Only marginally effective development of any paragraph(s), including the introduction or conclusion.
- Significant weaknesses in logic or critical thinking, including weak or unconvincing primary claims and obvious weaknesses in considering audience or opposing perspectives in argumentation.
- Inadequate or significantly faulty evidence for primary claims in body paragraphs.
- Significant, persistent problems in diction, grammar, style, mechanics, or convention.
- Appreciable patterns of "major" errors in grammar.
Essays in the "D" range are only marginally acceptable. They usually have significant and troubling weaknesses in one or more of the following areas:
- Major but not fatal problems in addressing the assigned topic squarely or fully, or in establishing a viable central focus when the topic is of your own invention.
- Major but not fatal problems meeting assignment requirements or following instructions.
- Significant and damaging flaws in logic or critical thinking, in the thesis or central focus or in primary individual points of analysis or argumentation.
- Problems in fundamental structure at the global or paragraph level, including:
- Problems in coherence between the introduction and/or conclusion and the body of the essay.
- Significant troubles in paragraph unity and coherence.
- Significant troubles in paragraph development, including introductions and conclusions.
- Damaging and persistent problems at the local level of the writing, especially, but not limited to, persistent "major" errors in grammar.
- Glaring and substantial neglect of guidelines and conventions indicated in the "Simple Stuff," "Nuggets," and "Quotes and Documentation" handouts.
An "F" indicates clearly unacceptable work. Most often I assign "F's" on essays that fail to satisfy all of the "bedrock basics" listed above: in viability of topic or overall focus, meeting assignment requirements, adequate development, minimally effective paragraph structure, or minimally acceptable standards in grammar and mechanics. Additionally, the following can be grounds for failure:
- Grossly flawed logic or critical thinking—to the extent that the essay as a whole is weakened to the point of being simply unacceptable.
- Grossly inadequate support or evidence for primary claims—to the extent that the essay has no chance at being even minimally persuasive or convincing.
- Substantial and egregious neglect of stated guidelines and conventions indicated in the "Simple Stuff," "Nuggets," and "Quotes and Documentation" handouts.
- Major problems in syntax and sentence structure, beyond the "major errors," of such a glaring nature as to make the writing unacceptable as intelligible college-level English prose.
- Plagiarism of any sort: intentional or unintentional, and to any extent—in the most flagrant and comprehensive cases, and also in isolated minor instances.