History Question

Excellent

Essay has a clear, concise, and insightful thesis that directly addresses the prompt and lays out a central claim. Introductory paragraph effectively introduces the thesis with relevant historical context.

Good

Essay has a thesis that is clear, but may not adequately address the prompt. Introductory paragraph introduces the thesis, but there may be issues of clarity and/or relevance to the thesis.

Needs Improvement

Thesis is either missing or lacking in clarity. Thesis may be entirely unrelated to the prompt. Introductory paragraph is not effective.

No Marks

Excellent

Paper is well organized, includes an introduction, several body paragraphs, each of which supports the thesis in some way. Topic sentences are effective mini-arguments that point the reader towards the ‘main point’ of the paragraph.

Good

Paper is fairly well-organized. It has a good introduction and body paragraphs. But there may be issues with one or more paragraphs and/or their topic sentences.

Needs Improvement

Paper is not well organized.

No Marks

Excellent

Essay is well-written, clear, specific, and has less than 2 grammatical errors. It has been clearly proofread

Good

Essay is generally well-written with few grammatical errors to distract from the argument. However, there are enough issues to suggest it was not proofread enough.

Needs Improvement

Grammatical errors and unclear writing make it difficult for the reader to follow the main argument and analysis.

Poor

Essay is full of grammatical errors, sentence fragments, run-ons, etc., that distract the reader from the main argument. Essay was clearly not proofread.

Excellent

Essay includes effective and specific evidence from throughout the book. Evidence is used to support the topic sentences and the main argument. Quotes are sprinkled throughout the paper. Everything is properly cited

Good

Essay includes evidence from most of the book, but there may be issues with relevance and/or specificity. Essay does not include enough quotes and/or quotes presented are not relevant to the prompt.

Needs Improvement

Essay does not include enough relevant evidence from the book. Evidence presented may be confined to only a handful of pages. There are multiple issues with the evidence (or lack thereof) presented.

Poor

Paper has virtually no relevant evidence from the book.

Excellent

Paper meets all assignment requirements, including word-limits, citations, style, etc.

No Marks

Essay does not meet all the assignment requirements