1 Wilkes University Passan School of Nursing Graduate Program Grading Rubric for Written Assignments Category Unacceptable Acceptable Good Excellent Introduction 0 Does not adequately convey topic. Does not delineate subtopics to be discussed in the body of text in the assignment. 5 Briefly conveys topic and delineates subtopics to be discussed in the body of text in the assignment. 10 Clearly conveys topic and delineates subtopics to be discussed in the body of text in the assignment. 15 Strongly conveys topic and delineates subtopics to be discussed in the body of text in the assignment. Focus and Sequencing 0 Content is not related to topic and logically organized into subtopics; many transitions are unclear or nonexistent. 8 Content related to topic; material present within subtopics; and some transitions linking subtopics and main topic. 14 Content clearly related to topic; logically organized within subtopics; and clear transitions linking subtopics and main topic. 20 Content strongly related to topic; strong organization and integration of content within subtopics; and strong transitions linking subtopics and main topic. Support 0 No scholarly, peer- reviewed support of topic; supporting materials are not published within 5-7 years, as appropriate. 8 Limited scholarly, peer- reviewed support of topic; most supporting materials are published within 5-7 years, as appropriate. 14 Clear scholarly, peer- reviewed support of topic; supporting materials are published within 5-7 years, as appropriate. 20 Strong scholarly, peer- reviewed support of topic; supporting materials are published within 5-7 years, as appropriate. Conclusion 0 No summarization, synthesis, or insightful discussion of topic conclusions. New information is introduced into the conclusion. 5 Summarization with some synthesis and insightful discussion of topic conclusions. Some new information is introduced into the conclusion. 10 Clear summarization with synthesis and insightful discussion of topic conclusions. No new information is introduced into the conclusion. 15 Strong summarization with synthesis and insightful discussion of topic conclusions. No new information is introduced into the conclusion. 2 Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation 0 Substantial grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors detracting from the assignment. 3 Occasional spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors detracting from the assignment. 7 Minimal grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors not detracting from the assignment. 10 No grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Writing Mechanics 0 Writing mechanics include many awkward or unclear passages and informal tone not consistent with formal scholarly work. 3 Writing mechanics include awkward or unclear pas ...

1. 1
Wilkes University
Passan School of Nursing
Graduate Program
Grading Rubric for Written Assignments
Category Unacceptable Acceptable
Good Excellent
Introduction
0
Does not adequately
convey topic. Does
not delineate
subtopics to be
discussed in the
body of text in the
assignment.

2. 5
Briefly conveys topic
and delineates subtopics
to be discussed in the
body of text in the
assignment.
10
Clearly conveys topic
and delineates subtopics
to be discussed in the
body of text in the
assignment.
15
Strongly conveys topic
and delineates
subtopics to be
discussed in the body
of text in the
assignment.
Focus and
Sequencing
0
Content is not
related to topic and
logically organized
into subtopics; many
transitions are

3. unclear or
nonexistent.
8
Content related to topic;
material present within
subtopics; and some
transitions linking
subtopics and main
topic.
14
Content clearly related
to topic; logically
organized within
subtopics; and clear
transitions linking
subtopics and main
topic.
20
Content strongly
related to topic; strong
organization and
integration of content
within subtopics; and
strong transitions
linking subtopics and
main topic.
Support

4. 0
No scholarly, peer-
reviewed support of
topic; supporting
materials are not
published within 5-7
years, as
appropriate.
8
Limited scholarly, peer-
reviewed support of
topic; most supporting
materials are published
within 5-7 years, as
appropriate.
14
Clear scholarly, peer-
reviewed support of
topic; supporting
materials are published
within 5-7 years, as
appropriate.
20
Strong scholarly, peer-
reviewed support of
topic; supporting
materials are
published within 5-7

5. years, as appropriate.
Conclusion 0
No summarization,
synthesis, or
insightful discussion
of topic conclusions.
New information is
introduced into the
conclusion.
5
Summarization with
some synthesis and
insightful discussion of
topic conclusions. Some
new information is
introduced into the
conclusion.
10
Clear summarization
with synthesis and
insightful discussion of
topic conclusions. No
new information is
introduced into the
conclusion.
15
Strong summarization
with synthesis and

6. insightful discussion
of topic conclusions.
No new information is
introduced into the
conclusion.
2
Grammar, Spelling
and Punctuation
0
Substantial
grammar, spelling,
and punctuation
errors detracting
from the
assignment.
3
Occasional spelling,
grammar, and
punctuation errors
detracting from the
assignment.
7

7. Minimal grammar,
spelling, and
punctuation errors not
detracting from the
assignment.
10
No grammar, spelling,
and punctuation errors.
Writing Mechanics 0
Writing mechanics
include many
awkward or unclear
passages and
informal tone not
consistent with
formal scholarly
work.
3
Writing mechanics
include awkward or
unclear passages and
informal tone not always
consistent with formal
scholarly work.
7
Writing mechanics
include minimal

8. awkward or unclear
passages but are
consistent with formal
scholarly work.
10
Writing mechanics are
consistent with formal
scholarly work.
APA Style
0
Substantial errors in
APA style based
upon the required
APA manuals listed
on the course
syllabi.
3
Occasional errors in
APA style based upon
the required APA
manuals listed on the
course syllabi.
7
Minimal errors in APA

9. style based upon the
required APA manuals
listed on the course
syllabi.
10
No errors in APA style
based upon the
required APA manuals
listed on the course
syllabi.
AMERICAN LITERATURE BEGINNINGS TO 1820 PERIOD
INTRODUCTION OVERVIEW
Questions of Identity
· European colonists such as John Smith justified their seizure
of Native American lands with citations from the Bible. When
Native Americans such as Sagoyewatha gained access to the
sphere of print, in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries,
they questioned the relevance of Christianity to Native
communities with their own religious traditions.
· J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur and other early American
writers characterized North America as a melting pot where
individuals with diverse views could come together to form a
new people. However, his best-known work, Letters from an
American Farmer, also attests to the exploitation and exclusion
of Native and African American peoples from this vision of
unity.

10. · Similarly, Washington Irving wrote of the American
Revolution in retrospect, questioning the efficacy of political
change in transforming American culture from its British roots
into a more equitable inclusive alternative.
Exploring Origins
· Most of the earliest surviving writings about the Americas are
narratives of discovery. These narratives chronicle the
processes of conflict and exchange that shaped interactions
among European, Native American, and African peoples.
· The arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Western
Hemisphere in 1492 led to the enslavement of the Taino and
other Native peoples. Enslavement and the transmission of
infectious diseases—especially smallpox—decimated
indigenous communities.
· Natives were not merely victims, suffering decline. Many
Native groups made strategic alliances both with European
colonizers and with other Native groups to consolidate
advantages. Many Natives were resourceful in resisting,
transforming, and exploiting the cultures that Europeans were
imposing on their original landscape.
· As enslaved Native laborers died in stunning numbers, the
Spanish colonizers introduced African slavery to America. By
the middle of the sixteenth century, the Native population had
been almost completely displaced by African slaves in some
Spanish colonies. Thus, the destruction of one people was
accompanied by the displacement and enslavement of another.
· Enslaved Africans brought their own cultures of origin with
them across the Atlantic. Figures and language from these
African cultures were preserved even as slaves converted to
Christianity and used biblical tropes to advocate for freedom.
Literary Backgrounds and Consequences of 1492
· The printing press drove European expansion into the
Americas, disseminating promotional tracts advertising the
riches of New World landscapes.
· An enormous variety of languages were spoken and written
first in Europe and then in North American settlements,

11. including, among others, French, Dutch, Walloon, Spanish,
Scandinavian, Portuguese, Gaelic, German, African languages,
and, of course, Native American languages.
· Native Americans largely relied on memory, rather than print
technologies, to preserve language and culture. But the knotted
string of quipu, the shellwork of wampum belts, and painted
animal hides could be read aloud in the same way that
Europeans read printed sermons or sang broadside ballads.
· English eventually became the lingua franca of the United
States, but French and Spanish explorers provide our earliest
European accounts of life in North America.
Literary New England
· The English settlers who established Plymouth Plantation in
1620 (later known as the Pilgrims) and the English Puritans who
established a settlement in Boston in 1630 shared a wish to
purify Christian belief and practice. The Pilgrims advocated
separating from the established Church of England, while the
Puritans hoped to purify it from within. By 1691, the Pilgrims
had been subsumed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the
two groups merged.
· Puritans and Pilgrims accepted John Calvin's doctrine of
election, holding that God had chosen, or "elected," before their
birth those he would save and those he would damn eternally.
While the doctrine of election can seem harsh, there was also
joy in Puritan life, often as a result of meditations on Christ's
redeeming power.
· In the seventeenth century, Puritan churches administered the
sacrament of communion only to those who had become church
members by standing before their minister and elders and giving
an account of their conversion. This process contributed to the
Puritans' sense of being a special, or chosen, few—a concept
that John Winthrop gave voice to when he exhorted the
immigrants to the Bay Colony to live as a shining example to all
other peoples, "a city upon a hill."
· The stability of British America was threatened first by
conflicts with Native peoples in the Pequot War of 1637 and

12. King Philip's War of 1675, then by conflicts with New France
during King William's War and the French and Indian War.
· The patriarchal religious culture of New England was
challenged by Anne Hutchinson in 1637 and by female
preachers from Rhode Island and Pennsylvania teaching Quaker
doctrines in Massachusetts. The Salem witch trials of 1692 saw
the execution of almost two dozen women accused of
communing with the devil.
Enlightenment Ideals
· Enlightenment thought supplanted religious ideas with
scientific and philosophical theories but did not lead to
secularization. Instead, thinkers like John Locke and Isaac
Newton sought to resolve conflicts among Christianity, science,
and philosophy. Philosophers proposed that society should be
held together by sympathy and sociability rather than religious
authority.
· Eighteenth-century writers such as Sarah Kemble Knight,
William Byrd, and Alexander Hamilton examined the natural
world. Individuals who found evidence, in nature, for a supreme
organizing force were known as Deists.
· The writing of Jonathan Edwards inspired a series of
transatlantic religious revivals known as the Great Awakening.
Edwards argued that the Calvinism of Puritan New England w as
compatible with the new ideas of the Enlightenment; his
writings emphasize emotion and the creation of sympathy.
· African and Native American writers, including Samson
Occom, Phillis Wheatley, and John Marrant embraced the Great
Awakening, finding greater opportunity for spiritual
participation in the new evangelical culture of the eighteenth
century.
Pursuing Happiness
· British taxes led to colonial protests that culminated in the
Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson, John
Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. Essays written by Thomas
Paine, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison
helped persuade British colonists cum American citizens to

13. work for independence and to accept the Constitution of the
United States.
· Women writers, including Abigail Adams, Annis Boudinot
Stockton, Judith Sargent Murray, Susanna Rowson, and Hannah
Webster Foster argued for the rights of women in this new
republic. The novel offered an opportunity to present social
critiques under a veil of fiction.
· African and Native American writers protested that the new
nation failed to live up to its ideals of freedom and an equality
of opportunity. Slavery became increasingly important to the
nation's economy, and Native Americans were systematically
displaced from their traditional homelands.
· Benjamin Franklin came to be seen as the embodiment of the
new nation and its values, an aspirational symbol of economic
and cultural progress yet to come. By 1820, American literature
had come to mean something more specific than the writings
about a New World and new peoples sent back to Europe by
explorers. American literature now meant poems, stories,
novels, plays, essays, and orations produced by authors who
lived or were born in the United States of America.