ECE-Department Rubrics for MS Final Examinations These Rubrics are to serve as a guide for the MS Student Final Examinations. Scoring should be between 1 – 4, with 4 being Exceptional,
and 1 being Deficient. Each committee member should provide an independent score. The average score of all committee members is to be
entered on the MS Final exam checklist.
Quality of Writing Quality of Oral Pre‐
sentation Quality of Research Exceptional 4 Written in clear idiomatic English. Clearly states objectives. Provides motivation & background (properly referenced). Excellent organization of ideas and concepts. Excellent validation of proposed research. Draws clear conclusions. Enjoyable to read. Satisfactory 3 Written in good idiomatic English. States objectives. Provides motivation & background. Relevant works are properly referenced. Clearly presents ideas and concepts. Validates work. Draws conclusions. Clear, well organized, and motivational oral presentation. Good eye contact. Engaged the audience. Excellent depth of content. Clearly states & demonstrates objectives. Places research within a broader context. Clearly presents research in an understandable manner. Shows a mastery of the topic. Draws excellent conclusions. Coherent oral presentation. Good eye contact. Presentation is well organized. Clearly states objectives. Shows how the research has fulfilled the objectives, and draws good conclusions. Overall, shows a good understanding of the topic. Well defined thesis. Demonstrates an excellent understanding of the context of the thesis topic and existing methods. Excellent development of evidence with data and analysis to prove or validate thesis. Discussion of critical assumptions, contrary findings and alternative interpretations. Draws conclusions that supports thesis and discusses implications. Well defined thesis. Good understanding of the thesis topic and existing methods. Good development of evidence with data and analysis to prove or validate thesis. Discussion of critical assumptions. Draws conclusions that supports thesis and discusses implications Marginal 2 Deficient 1 Writing is acceptable. Non‐
trivial number of grammatical errors. Objectives stated. Provides some motivation & background. References are mostly adequate. Ideas and concepts are mostly coherent. Written in poor English. Objectives are not clear. Inadequate background or Motivation. Poor organization. Inadequate presentation of ideas and concepts. Acceptable oral presentation. Presentation is mostly organized, but could be improved. Objectives stated, but could be more distinct. Presentation of research is fair, but could be improved (too scant, or too verbose). Demonstrates a base level understanding of the research topic. Thesis is mostly acceptable. Shows a baseline understand‐
ing of the thesis topic and existing methods, but not with much depth. Weak evidence with some data and analysis to prove or validate thesis. Draws conclusions that adequately supports thesis. Difficult to understand. Poor eye contact. Disorganized presentation. Does not demonstrate a clear understanding of the topic. Objectives are unclear. Conclusions are weak. Weakly defined thesis. Poor understanding of the context of the thesis topic and existing methods. Inadequate arguments. Little data or analysis to prove or validate thesis. Weak conclusions. Sloppy. ECE-Department Rubrics for MS Final Examinations Ability to Field Technical Questions Ability to Perform Creative Research Exceptional 4 Clear understanding of questions and their context. Coherently and succinctly provides answers to the understanding of audience with strong technical evidence backing response. Satisfactory 3 Understands questions and has a satisfactory understanding of their context. Coherently provides answers with sufficient technical evidence backing response. The student has the ability to The student has the ability to think creatively and to independently derive think creatively and to find cogent solutions to existing problems. solutions to existing problems, Has broad foundation of knowledge that but with some guidance from allows the student to think out of the others. Fairly broad in thought. box. Self motivated to contrive novel With encouragement, motivated and unique ideas. to explore novel and unique ideas. Marginal 2 Mostly understands questions. Has the ability to communicate answers to a majority of questions. Deficient 1 Often misunderstands questions. Poor ability to communicate a clear answer or solution to questions. Some ability to think creatively and to find solutions to existing problems, but with significant guidance from others. Fairly narrow in thought. Nominal motivation to explore new ideas. Little creativity is exhibited by the student’s research.. Ideas are mundane and predictable, or it is evident that the student relies on others for creative thought. Lacks motivation.