Defining Expectations | Rubrics | Paper Load | Do Grades Motivate Students?
Sample Student Papers | Additional Resources
Approaches to Grading
Grading is universally the least enjoyable aspect of teaching writing. Not only does it seem to stop the process of writing – offering a summative judgment rather than a formative assessment – it often comes to dominate our reading of student work. These difficulties have led many composition instructors to postpone grading as long as possible, offering students multiple chances to revise their work before a final evaluation. Portfolios are one method of deferring judgment until the end of the semester (individual essays are commented on but not graded until the final portfolio is submitted). Some professors recommend withholding the letter/number grade until students read and digest the written commentary (grades are recorded separately and only presented to students in optional writing conferences).
Whatever grading method you adopt, the challenge is to align your students' expectations with yours. Helping students understand the criteria according to which you will judge their writing – even asking students to develop the language and categories for assessment – will lessen frustration all around.
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Defining Expectations
The process of defining criteria for “good writing” is one that can be shared with students. Asking students to define the criteria and choose successful examples from their own (or published) work can be a useful exercise in aligning expectations. Whether or not you ask students to help you define the categories of assessment, they will appreciate a clear account of how you will be evaluating their work. Some instructors hand out a sample student paper (used with permission from a former student) or a fabricated example and discuss its evaluation with their students. Combining this kind of exercise with peer reviews and self-assessments reinforces the importance of the criteria you have established. This website includes several documents that define the qualities of strong writing:
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Using Rubrics
Explicit statements of your grading criteria can be very useful. A writing rubric that specifies the categories of assessment - and, perhaps, defines levels of success in each category - can help students identify their strengths and weakness. Instead of assessing a paper holistically, you can use a rubric to focus on particular writing skills - pointing out, for example, that the evidence in a paper is compelling but that the organization is confusing and detracts from its overall success. This approach has the added advantage of demystifying the grading process for students.
Rubrics may be designed specifically for each assignment (in which case it is very helpful to provide them along with the assignment sheet so students know from the outset how their work will be evaluated) or for the entire course. If you are using a standard rubric, consider making it a part of your peer or self-evaluation processes with students. The more students work with the criteria you have established, the clearer they will be about your expectations.
- > SAGES Writing Rubric (Word Doc)
- > Kim Emmons' "Grading Rubric" and "Grading Chart" (Word Docs) - The "Grading Rubric" explains each of the criteria on which an essay will be graded; the "Grading Chart" is a form to be filled out for each paper, with spaces for comments on each of the criteria.
- > Mark Bassett's "Grade Chart" - This grading rubric was adapted from sample rubrics posted by the SAGES
Program; by Kimberly Emmons, Director of Composition; and by Mano
Singham, Director of the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education. Please borrow freely.
- > The Critical Thinking Rubric (Washington State University) - This site offers a concrete set of criteria on which to judge "critical thinking." The site includes a rubric, a project history, and an extensive set of resource materials.
- > SAGES Portfolio Feedback Form (Word Doc)
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Handling the Paper Load
Grading and responding to student writing takes a lot of time. While rubrics can help you save some time (by structuring your responses), there is no single solution to this problem. But you might consider one or more of the following strategies:
- > Set a timer – Some instructors find that the kitchen timer helps keep them on track. Set the timer for 15-20 minutes and try to keep your time per paper within that limit.
- > Skim the paper first – Glance through the entire paper to determine your priorities for commenting. This will be easier if you have already set specific goals for the assignment. If the key skill you have worked on in class is making a strong argument, focus your reading and responding on the argument of the paper.
- > Choose 1-3 items to comment on – Students cannot absorb pages and pages of commentary on a single piece of writing. Instead, address a few key concerns – perhaps two larger issues about argument and evidence and a mechanical/usage problem – and give students specific guidance on how to improve the next essay. (Be sure also to let students know what they are doing well, so that they can repeat it next time!)
- > Use conferences to convey feedback – Some instructors find that conferring with students for 15-20 minutes is more efficient than writing extended comments.
- > Ask students to do a self-evaluation – This provides you a place to start in your evaluation of the essay. If a student admits to having rushed the conclusion, you need not expend effort pointing out all of its flaws.
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Do Grades Motivate Students?
The questions of when to grade students' work and what work should be graded formally are two of the most difficult to answer. Current university culture attaches a lot of importance to grades, and students are not immune to the pressures of GPAs and other measures of their performances. Given these pressures, students may be likely to attach little importance to an "ungraded" assignment. There are, however, good reasons not to grade, at least not every draft of an essay. Some perspectives to consider:
- > Mano Singham encourages his students to think not of drafts of papers, but of versions. Taking the compuer software analogy further, his students are expected to "release" (turn in) the first "version" in a form that is "ready for public consumption" - the program should run; the paper should be complete. Version 2.0, however, responds to user (reader) feedback and fixes identified "bugs" (errors or limited features). This terminology might help students re-learn the definitions of "draft" and "revision."
- > Assigning a percentage of the final essay grade to the rough draft will certainly encourage students to take it seriously. (For some, it might even cause fear or writer's block. For others, it might be the needed incentive to begin the process before 3:00 a.m. the night before the due date.) If you want to grade first drafts, you might consider giving a grade that counts for a smaller percentage (10-20%) of the final essay grade.
- > Leaving first drafts ungraded - with extensive narrative feedback only - allows students to take more risks in their first drafts, to experiment and even to get the whole assignment "wrong." Such risks may eventually pay off for students - in terms of their investment in the finished product and/or in learing the conventions of the academy (and your classroom). Thus, not grading early drafts can help students explore the topic without fear of negative consequences. (On the other hand, students may not take comments as seriously if they are not accompanied by a grade.)
- > Consider assigning a portion of the grade to revision - how much did the paper change from version to version? This rewards students who make great improvements, and it also encourages really strong students to do more than simply "copy edit" their original drafts.
- > For an additional perspective on this issue, see James Lang's "Failing to Motivate" (Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/29/2004).
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Sample Student Papers
We are working to provide samples of student writing with instructor commentary and grades. This feature is not yet available. Back to the Top
Additional Resources
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