-Papers-
Grade: A• Your topic is specific, focused and well thought out.
• Your thesis is clear and the organization of your paper is logical, coherent and organized.
• You effectively apply a theoretical concept, or concepts, from the course in your analysis.
• You make effective use of primary and secondary research to supplement your argument and lay out your position.
• Your resources are appropriate for a college level course and are appropriately cited.
• Your writing is free of spelling and grammatical errors.
Grade: B
• Your topic is focused and well thought out.
• Your thesis is clear but the organization of your paper could use some work.
• You make use of a concept or concepts from the course, but they need to be better explained and/or situated within your analysis.
• Your research is adequate but you primarily relied on course assignments without doing extensive research.
• Your resources are appropriate for a college level course and are appropriately cited.
• Your writing contains a few spelling and/or grammatical problems.
Grade: C
• Your topic is not entirely clear and is either unspecific or only loosely connected to our coursework.
• Your thesis is not pronounced and your organization needs considerable work.
• You make reference to a theoretical concept or concepts from the course but you do not explain them well or use them effectively.
• You did the bare minimum of research for your paper and the materials do not contribute a great deal to your argument.
• Your resources are appropriate for a college level course, but are not appropriately quoted, cited or integrated into your paper.
• Your paper does not include a formal bibliography or list of works cited.
• Your paper needs to be proofread for spelling and/or grammatical errors.
Grade: D
• Your topic is either too vague or only loosely connected to our coursework.
• Your paper does not have a clear thesis and/or is poorly organized.
• You do not make a clear connection between your topic and a theoretical concept or concepts from the course.
• You paper is not well researched and makes no reference to reading materials assigned during the semester.
• Your resources are not appropriate for a college level course and are not appropriately used (or cited) in your paper.
• Your paper does not include a bibliography or list of works cited.
• Your paper has numerous spelling and grammatical errors.
Grade: F
• Your topic is unclear and/or unrelated to our coursework.
• Your paper suffers from a lack of clarity and/or organization.
• You make no clear connection between your topic and any theoretical concepts from the course.
• Your paper demonstrates a general lack of research.
• Your resources are inappropriate for a college level course, i.e. are most likely taken from random sites on the Internet or have little intellectual relevance to our course.
• Your paper suffers from a variety of spelling and grammatical problems and is clearly not proofread.
• Your paper does not include a bibliography or list of works cited.
Grade: Zero
• You either did not turn in the assignment or plagiarized material in your paper.
-Presentations-
Grade: A• Your presentation was well prepared and well delivered.
• You clearly laid out your argument and gave an excellent synopsis of your paper.
• You made sure to define and/or explain your topic with specific reference to the theory (or theories) you utilized in your paper.
Grade: B
• Your presentation was generally good but could have been better prepared or organized.
• You gave a pretty good synopsis of your paper and your argument.
• Your description of the topic and/or the concepts used in your analysis was effective, but could use some work.
Grade: C
• Your presentation was mediocre, meaning it was not that well prepared and did not provide a substantial amount of detail, background or context.
• You adequately described your topic but did not properly explain your argument or the concepts used in your analysis.
Grade: D
• Your presentation showed a general lack of preparation and provided your audience with only a vague overview of your topic and your argument.
• You failed to make any clear connection between your topic and any of the concepts we discussed this semester.
Grade: F
• You presentation was not prepared and it is clear that you did not take this aspect of the assignment seriously.
• You did not provide a clear description of either your topic, your paper, or any of the concepts from our course.
Grade: Zero
• You did not deliver your presentation and did not provide me with any legitimate (documented) excuse for doing so.
