An A-B paper will: 

• examine a specific issue which is debatable

• provide ample background so the reader can understand the writer’s discussion

• clearly state the writer’s position in a thesis statement

• include logical reasons which support the writer’s position

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

• anticipate and refute or accommodate counterarguments at appropriate times in the essay

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

• have an appropriate tone

• carefully and correctly document outside sources

• 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: 

• examine a debatable issue which may be a bit too broad

• need a little more background so the reader can understand the writer’s discussion

• state the writer’s position in a thesis statement which is a bit vague or which is poorly positioned

• include reasons which do not clearly support the writer’s position

• occasionally need more evidence or analysis to support the reasons

• anticipate and refute or accommodate counterarguments in awkward sections or do so ineffectively, only going through the motions

• follow an organizational pattern which is sometimes slightly confusing for the audience

• have a tone which is sometimes inappropriate

• make occasional mistakes documenting outside sources

• 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: 

• examine an issue which is too broad or not debatable

• fail to provide background so the reader can understand the writer’s discussion

• have no clearly stated thesis statement or waffle on the issue

• have vague reasons a reader could not list

• need much more evidence or analysis to support the writer’s reasons

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

• only list opposing views but not deal with them

• have an organizational pattern with no logical progression

• have an inappropriate tone which might alienate the audience

• fail to document outside sources

• 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