Grading Criteria Used to Evaluate Essays Written for Writing Proficiency Program Assessments

Click here for a PDF version of the WPP Grading Criteria.

Readers will use the following criteria to evaluate your Writing Proficiency essay(s):

ARGUMENT AND JUDGMENT

The Essay

• Addresses the prompt.
• Communicates a focused purpose to an academic audience.
• Constructs a well-developed and coherent argument.
• Provides appropriate support for judgments. 
•  Gives appropriate consideration to alternative perspectives or evidence.
• Successfully interprets purpose(s) and focus of the article.
• Engages challenging ideas in the article.
• Demonstrates how knowledge gained from the article supports judgments.

• Does not dismiss evidence provided in the article without adequate justification. 

WRITING SKILLS

The Essay

• Appropriately introduces the reader to the main idea.
• Includes final paragraph(s) that provide(s) closure consistent with the main idea.

Its paragraphs

• Use content which consistently supports the thesis or main idea.
• Signal new ideas, sub-ideas, or emphases.
• Consistently maintain relationships or connections between the ideas they develop.
• Are developed enough to consistently keep readers focused on the thesis or main idea.
  

Its sentences:

• Within each paragraph connect clearly and consistently to the main emphasis of the paragraph.
• Develop relevant ideas by building on content from preceding sentences.
• Within each paragraph connect clearly to the meaning of sentences that come before and after.
• Use relevant diction and stylistic conventions appropriate for junior-level university writers.
• Are free of spelling errors which consistently distract the reader.
• Are free of grammatical errors which consistently distract the reader.