The document provides guidelines for effectively evaluating writing assignments, including clearly outlining the purpose and requirements of assignments, providing models and grading rubrics, and focusing feedback on key areas for improvement. Teachers should explain assignment goals, give detailed instructions and grading criteria, discuss sample papers, and limit comments to one or two most important issues to address per paper. Grading should balance evaluation of content and writing mechanics.

1. Evaluating Writing Assignments
Successful writing assignments depend on preparation, careful and thorough
instructions, and on explicit criteria for evaluation. Although experience with a
given assignment will suggest ways of improving a specific paper in class, the
following guidelines should help you anticipate many potential problems and
considerably reduce your grading time.
I. Purpose
Explain the purpose of the writing assignment.
II. The assignment
A. Provide complete written instructions.
B. Provide format models where possible.
C. Discuss sample strong, average, and weak papers.
III. Evaluation
On a grading sheet, indicate the percentage of the grade devoted to content and
the percentage devoted to writing skills (expression, punctuation, spelling,
mechanics). The grading sheet should indicate the important content features.
Five Principles
As you think about creating writing assignments, use these five principles:
• Tie the writing task to specific pedagogical goals.
• Note rhetorical aspects of the task, i.e., audience, purpose, writing situation.
• Make all elements of the task clear.
• Include grading criteria on the assignment sheet.
• Break down the task into manageable steps.
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Checksheet 1:
Have I
• written out the assignment so that students can take away a copy of the
precise task?
• specified the audience and purpose of the assignment?
• included my grading criteria on the assignment sheet?
• given students models or appropriate samples?
Checksheet 2:
1. Is the assignment written clearly on the board or on a handout?
2. Do the instructions explain the purpose(s) of the assignment?
3. Is the assignment stated in precise language that cannot be misunderstood?
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2. 4. Is the due date clearly visible? (Are late assignments accepted? If so, any
penalty?)
5. Are the grading criteria spelled out as specifically as possible? How much
does content count? Organization? Writing skills? One grade or separate
grades on form and content? Etc.
6. Does the grading criteria section specifically indicate which writing skills the
teacher considers important as well as the various aspects of content?
7. What part of the course grade is this assignment?
8. Does the assignment include use of models (strong, average, weak) or
samples outlines?
Focus your commenting energy
• remember that students can only take in so much information about a paper
at one time;
• writers tend to feel overloaded quickly by excessively detailed feedback
about their writing;
• commenting exhaustively on every feature of a draft is counter-productive;
• too many comments can make student writers feel as if the teacher is taking
control of the paper and cutting off productive avenues for revision;
• peer review is excellent way to enhance your students' writing experience
• typically, it is recommend that teachers comment in detail on the one or two
most important features of a paper, determined either by your criteria for the
assignment or by the seriousness of the effect on a reader of a given paper.
Sample policies on grading grammar versus content
Form:
Your paper should contain from 1,500 to 2,000 words, or about five to seven
pages. The paper must be typewritten, double spaced, and bound. Neatness is
essential.
A Check List of Points to Consider:
I. Mechanics
Neatness. Is your report clean, neatly organized, with a look of professional pride
about it?
Spelling. Two points will be deducted for each misspelled word.
Grammar and punctuation. Five points will be deducted for each sentence which
uses improper grammar or punctuation.
Form. Is your paper in the proper form?
II. Content. . . .
NB! – be careful with assigning points for errors – you will have to mark
and count them all
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3. Use a grading sheet
Grading comment sheets or checksheets give teachers and students two
advantages over free-form grading:
• Even if you decide to use a simple checksheet that ranks students'
performance on each criterion on a 1-10 scale, students will be able to see
quickly where their strengths and weaknesses are as writers for this
assignment.
• Grading sheets, particularly checksheets, typically save teachers time. Even
composition teachers don't comment exhaustively about each criterion for
each assignment; they can comment at some length on just one or two
points (typically the major strengths and the major weakness) and then rely
on the checksheet to fill in for less crucial areas of the paper.
Grading Sheet 1
Strengths Weaknesses
I. Introductory paragraphs
A. Lead-in
B. Thesis (narrowed topic + clear
stance)
II. Body paragraphs: (Effective
transition, clear focus,
development with details, clear
transitional words) A. Body
paragraph one
B. Body paragraph two
C. Body paragraph three
D. Body paragraph four
E. etc.
III. Conclusion
IV. Punctuation, grammar,
style, spelling
Grade for essay: ___________
Revision Instructions:
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4. ***
Grading Sheet 2
These are the areas in which your paper is
strong weak
Thesis
Development
Paragraphs
Sentences
Grammar
Word choice
Punctuation
Style
General Grading Criteria: Composition 1xx
Very Consistently, clearly and effectively communicates it purpose to its
Good audience in all areas of writing: Consistently clear focus, sufficient
development, and coherent in terms of organization and style. The
ideas are also well thought-out and worthwhile.
Good Strong in most areas, but intermittently deficient in one area of
containing minor problems in more than one area. For instance, the
essay may be strong in all areas but have some problems with
audience contact, portions may lose focus or be underdeveloped, or
there may be some distracting inconsistencies or errors in style
(coherence).
Fair The essay generally does the main job of the assignment--so it
maintains its purpose. But it's either intermittently deficient in two
categories or consistently deficient in one. For instance, there may be
intermittent problems with both audience contact and development, or
the whole essay may be consistently underdeveloped.
Poor The essay is consistently deficient in two areas--for example,
consistently unfocused and underdeveloped to the degree that the
deficiencies undermine the purpose of the essay. An unfocused and
underdeveloped essay, for instance, would not be able to convey its
message to a reader in any significant way. The essay could also have
enough serious problems in a combination of areas that the purpose is
undermined. It could also miss a major portion of the assignment--like
an essay which has no connection to the assigned topic.
Very poor This is an essay that either was not turned in, or is so deficient in so
many areas that it might just as well not have been. Or, it could be an
essay which completely misses the assignment altogether.
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5. 7 Tips for Evaluating Student Writing
1. Respond to the content first, not the mechanics, of each paper you read.
Sometimes we spend more time looking for errors than ideas.
2. Respond positively and personally where possible.
Caring is the necessary first step to actually writing better.
3. Comment critically on one item at a time. Once you see that a paper has
multiple problems, it may be a good idea to single out one or two conceptual or
organizational problems for comment, suggesting that the other problems will be
dealt with on subsequent drafts.
4. Be specific when you comment on problems. Point out exactly what you
object to but without necessarily correcting it yourself; that way the writer has
something concrete to go on when he or she turns attention to revision.
5. Learning to critique is a part of learning to write. Include peer evaluation
where you can in your class. Learning how to be critical is part of learning how to
write yourself.
6. Discuss samples of good and bad writing with your class. Bring the
students into the evaluation process, trusting them to have voices and make
reasonable judgments.
7. What is said includes how it is said: Don't split grades. It is important to
quit separating ideas from the language in which they're expressed.
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