Comparative Massacre Essay – Frontiers 2015
Total: ________
Category
Grade -- Mastering (18-20)
Developing (17-16)
Emerging (16-14)
Understanding
and Applying
Content
Demonstrates sophisticated, accurate and insightful
understanding of each of the 3 massacres and does a nice job
situating all 3 in their historical context and applies that
understanding by way of the analysis/evaluation to the thesis
Evaluation
Sources and
Perspectives
Skillfully explores the complexity of the issues by including
excellent detail of the different source bases available for the
massacres and discussing details of why perspectives in each
massacre might vary
Demonstrates accurate
understanding but not overly
deep understanding of all 3
massacres; superficial treatment
of historical context; and applies
that understanding at least
partially by of analysis and
evaluation in the essay to the
thesis
Explores the complexity of the
issues but is less analytical for
one of the massacre’s source
base and struggles with
discussion of perspectives
(leaving some out)
Analysis
Dualist
Interpretations
Shows excellent ability to compare and contrast all of the
massacres and deconstructs the story of each by adeptly using
the dualisms and the availability of evidence.
Shows some ability to compare
and contrast the massacres but
misses the nuances of the
evidence for dualisms (or misses
a dualism).
Create
Thesis
Creates a thesis that contains an idea that provokes the reader
to think and that holds the essay together and allows for
sophisticated analysis;
Develops ideas completely to form a unified whole (returns
frequently to restate the argument); Sustains control over a
thesis/controlling idea throughout the essay.
Displays some creative thinking;
Thesis or main idea is consistent
and controlled but may not be as
focused, arguable, and welldeveloped as those in top
category; may lose sight of the
thesis in places – or thesis may
leave out part of the essay’s
prompt.
Mechanics
and
Organization
(-1/2pt per
capitalization,
spelling error,
Writing is fluid and clear; language sophisticated; individual
voice/style evident; no first person or confused verbs; almost
no mistakes in spelling/punctuation/capitalization; well
organized so that each section transitions into the next and all
sections are obvious; paragraphs and sentences logically flow
one to the next
Writing is fluid but some ideas
unclear; language is basic;
individual voice/style hard to
discern; some first person and/or
verb confusion; a few spelling,
capitalization, and punctuation
Demonstrates superficial
and somewhat inaccurate
understanding of 1 or more
of the massacres; misses
significant portions of
historical context; struggles
applying the understanding
by way of analysis and
evaluation to the thesis
Superficially or
inadequately recognizes the
complexity of the
sources/perspectives for
more than one of the
massacres and largely
ignores the issues of
sources/perspective.
Shows only superficial
ability to compare and
contrast the massacres and
misses the nuances of the
dualism interpretations
completely.
Lacks evidence of creative
thinking and the essay is
more of a “report” than an
analysis;
Thesis or controlling idea is
limited, confused, partially
developed, and/or not
arguable, and only
addresses the prompt
somewhat.
Writing is quite choppy;
ideas are unclear because of
grammatical mistakes and
organization is so poor that
the paper does not logically
flow.
Any
essay
earning
less than
a C- will
be
rewritten.
and missing
requirements –
see below)
Requirements
Comments:
12 pt font
page numbers
correct citations
meets MIN pg requirements
mistakes; organization is solid
but at times sentences do not
build and/or paragraphs do not
logically transition into one
another.