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General Grading Guide

A Students working at this level engage fully every assignment, well beyond the minimal level, and demonstrate a willingness to examine their own thinking and assumptions. All work reflects a level of thinking far beyond the obvious and the superficial. Students come to class fully prepared to discuss assigned readings and to participate actively in all phases of the course. All assignments are submitted on time and all make-up work from authorized absences is managed in a timely fashion. Obviously, all work is the student's own.
  • Student's essays contain few, if any errors in sentence structure and coherence, and they develop fully an interesting, insightful, tightly focused argument. They provide the reader with clear support and argumentation that fully justifies the author's conclusions, and they are written in a style that is both felicitous and sophisticated. Their arguments are both complex and fully developed.
  • Reading journals indicate not only the questions and problems a student has while working with a text, but also an honest attempt at logical answers and solutions. In addition, the journals provide a full and rich argument on the student's reading of the text. Finally, the conference with me about the journals is consistently focused on the reading skills emphasized in class.
  • All conferences are led by the student and are focused on the reading or writing skills identified in class.
B Students working at this level competently engage every assignment, often beyond the minimal level, and consistently attempt to examine their own thinking and assumptions. The majority of the student's work reflects a level of thinking beyond the obvious and the superficial. Students come to class fully prepared to discuss assigned readings and to participate actively in all phases of the course. Most assignments are submitted on time and most make-up work from authorized absences is managed in a timely fashion. Obviously, all work is the student's own.
  • Student's essays contain few, if any, errors in sentence structure, and they develop a clear, coherent argument. Support and explanation of that argument, however, are insufficient either to convince the reader completely or to make clear how the author reaches his or her conclusions. The essays' arguments may also be somewhat general and/or incompletely developed.
  • Reading journals indicate not only the questions and problems a student has while working with a text, but also some attempt at logical answers and solutions. In addition, the journals provide an adequate argument on the student's reading of the text. Finally, the conference with me about the journals is somewhat focused on the reading skills emphasized in class.
  • All conferences are primarily led by the student and are focused on the reading or writing skills identified in class.
C Students working at this level do not yet engage every assignment and inconsistently demonstrate a willingness to examine their own thinking and assumptions. Only a minor portion of the student's work reflects a level of thinking beyond the obvious and the superficial. Students come to class minimally prepared to discuss assigned readings and to participate actively in all phases of the course. A majority of assignments are submitted on time and most make-up work from authorized absences is managed in a timely fashion. All work is the student's own.
  • Student's essays are fundamentally sound at the level of sentence structure and diction, but their arguments rely too heavily on assertion. Specific support is either unclear or missing, and the focus of the essay may stray from its stated argument to make a more general and unrelated point. There may also be problems in coherence, complexity, or in the overall development of arguments.
  • Reading journals often indicate the questions and problems a student has while working with a text, but make only minor attempts at logical answers and solutions. In addition, the journals provide only an opinion of the text, not a supported argument on the student's reading of the text. Finally, the conference with me about the journals is not fully focused on the reading skills emphasized in class.
  • All conferences are led by the student with some help, but lack consistent focus
D Students working at this level seldom engage any assignment and consistently demonstrate an unwillingness to examine their own thinking and assumptions. The student's work reflects a level of thinking that is obvious and superficial. Students come to class ill-prepared to discuss assigned readings and to participate actively in the course. Some assignments are submitted late; some assignments are missing completely. Make-up work from authorized absences is missing or seriously late. Obviously, all work is the student's own.
  • Student's essays contain problems at the level of sentence structure and diction. They are marred by repeated mechanical errors and/or awkward constructions that obscure the essay's meaning. Argumentation here relies almost completely on assertion, with no clear support or development, and gives little or no analysis. Paragraphs contain weak or no coherence and/or focus.
  • Reading journals might indicate the questions and problems a student has while working with a text, but seldom attempt logical answers and solutions. They often deal with only a portion of the text or address the entire text on only a surface level (perhaps offering a plot summary or personal connections to a story line or character). In addition, the journal provides only broad judgmental statements on the text, not a supported argument on the student's reading of the text. Finally, the conference with me about the journals is unfocused and ignores required discussion of particular reading skills.
  • Required conferences are sometimes ignored by the student or the student is not prepared to discuss the reading or writing skills identified in class.
F This level of work is obviously unacceptable. Work is often not submitted, or the student may completely ignore the requirements of the assignment, or the student is in violation of The University of Texas at Austin academic integrity policy.


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