An A-B paper will:

• address a specific audience related to the writer (job, organization, group)

• define the problem (background, seriousness, significance) so the reader can understand the writer’s discussion

• write about a local problem and not a global one

• clearly state the writer’s solution

• explain with logical reasons how and why the solution will solve the problem

• have reasons that are “audience based”

• support the writer’s reasons with clear evidence and analysis

• anticipate and refute or accommodate counterarguments at appropriate times (especially those associated with cost and feasibility)

• refute at least one alternative proposal in a fair, effective way and show why writer’s solution is better than the alternative

• follow an effective organizational pattern which is appropriate for the audience and has a logical progression

• have an appropriate tone and avoid moralizing or editorializing

• include paragraphs which are coherent, unified, and effectively developed 

• contain a variety of skillfully constructed sentences

• promote clarity and effectiveness with standard usage, mechanics, and spelling; and a precise and ample vocabulary  

A C paper will:

• address a specific audience but one not clearly related to the writer

• define the problem (background, seriousness, significance) so the reader can understand the writer’s discussion but lack some important information

• write about a problem which is a bit too large in scope for the essay

• state the writer’s solution but lack some detail

• explain with some logical reasons how and why the solution will solve the problem, but not completely explain

• have reasons that are somewhat “audience based”

• support only a few of the writer’s reasons with clear evidence and analysis

• anticipate and refute or accommodate counterarguments at appropriate times (especially those associated with cost and feasibility) but miss one important one

• refute at least one alternative proposal but not in a fair, effective way or fail to show why writer’s solution is better than the alternative

• follow an organizational pattern which is appropriate for the audience and has a somewhat logical progression

• have a somewhat appropriate tone and but occasionally moralize

• include paragraphs which are sometimes incoherent

• contain sentences which are not always grammatically incorrect

• might contain a couple of major errors contain sentences with inconsistent use of standard usage, mechanics, spelling  

A D-F paper will:

• not address a specific audience related to the writer (job, organization, group)

• fail to define the problem so the reader can understand the writer’s discussion

• write about a global problem which is too large to solve

• state the writer’s solution in a confusing way

• neglect to explain with logical reasons how and why the solution will solve the problem

• have reasons that are “writer based”

• fail to support the writer’s reasons with clear evidence and analysis

• fail to anticipate and refute or accommodate counterarguments at appropriate times

• neglect to refute at least one alternative proposal

• follow a confusing organizational pattern

• have an inappropriate tone

• include many paragraphs which are incoherent

• contain sentences which are often grammatically incorrect

• contain many major errors

• contain sentences with very inconsistent use of standard usage, mechanics, spelling