Grading rubric for response papers
Adam Johnston
Response papers should be roughly 2-3 pages in length (double spaced, typed) and should explicitly address a posed question or theme, utilizing the readings and discussions from the course. The response papers give you an opportunity to reflect on the readings of the course, prepare for the following week of class, clarify your own thinking, and simply work on your own writing skills. Each paper will be given a grade of either a 4, 3, 2, 1, or 0, as follows:
Score |
Evaluation |
0 |
Paper was not completed. You were skiing and/or studying organic chemistry instead. |
1 |
Paper was turned in, but with very minimal effort. You had a rough week. |
2 |
Paper addressed the question, but not in depth and did not show as much reflection as was expected. It did not consider any readings that were assigned. |
3 |
This paper answers a question and/or has a focused theme and is well presented. It is complete overall, although you may have been able to go into more depth or incorporate readings/discussions more. |
4 |
This paper is excellent, not only answering a question, but also reflecting deeply about your own views and how they compare/contrast with readings/discussion. This paper is free of any major typo/grammar/spelling errors, and is especially easy and interesting to read. |
It is anticipated that letter grades will be assigned to mostly correspond to a 4.0 scale (i.e., A = 4, B = 3, etc.), but this may be reevaluated in light of the instructor’s general grading tendencies and student performance over the course of the semester.