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