ESSAY #3—PROBLEM/SOLUTION ESSAY
Paper Proposal: Nov. 18
Full Rough Draft: Nov. 22
Final Draft: Nov. 29
Assignment:
Write about an issue or problem that affects you and/or your peers in a community to which you
belong—your home, family, work, school, neighborhood, or cultural group. You should spend the
majority of the essay describing and analyzing the problem itself and working to convince your
reader that it is a significant area of concern. The essay should avoid offering potential solutions
until you reach your conclusion.
The goal of this essay is to explore a problem in detail before trying to find a solution. When we are
confronted with problems, we often look immediately towards a solution—it feels better to be able
to fix things as soon as possible. However, if we jump directly to finding a solution, the complexity
of the problem itself can be lost. You will need to convince your readers that the problem you
discuss is indeed a problem. Explain what the problem is, what may have caused it, and why it
matters. Your audience needs to care about the problem before it can consider a proposed solution.
Through tone, information, recognition of opposing ideas, and personal experience and connection
with the problem, you need to establish your credibility and believability as a writer. You can
support your proposal with personal experience, observation, examples, and/or interviews.
Expectations:
The essay will be 4-5 pages, double-spaced, in Times New Roman font with 1” margins.
Purpose: The purpose of the assignment is to
 help you to define a problem affecting a community or group to which you belong.
 give you practice developing your argumentative skills in an applied and more immediate
way.
 provide you with a method to more actively and effectively engage in shaping your
individual lives and communities.
Criteria: The essay should
 demonstrate that a specific problem exists;
 have a central focus/thesis;
 have a clear, logical structure with smooth transitions between ideas, sentences, and
paragraphs;
 use well-chosen examples that support and develop the thesis in the body of the essay;
o define an appropriate audience for the proposal and use evidence and claims that will
appeal to that audience. In thinking about your audience, you may want to consider
the following questions: what are their values? What does this audience know about
the problem? What kind of personal or emotional responses might members of this
audience have to the problem?
 anticipate counter-arguments to your analysis of the problem
 propose a solution or solutions to the defined problem that is based in a careful and detailed
analysis of the problem facing the community (Conclusion!)
Criteria
Analysis
Excellent—4.0-3.5
Includes a variety of
engaging and specific
evidence. Thoroughly
analyzes the material by
answering the "so what?" or
“Why should we care?”
question for every piece of
evidence that she provides.
All claims are specific and
supported by evidence.
Explores the ideas presented
(the problem) in full. 27-30
pts.
Points
/30
Thesis and
Topic
Sentences
Comments
Points
/ 20
Comments
Style and
Mechanics
Ideas are expressed in clear,
engaging prose. The writer
uses specific and vivid
language. The sentence
lengths and types vary, and
word choice is appropriate
throughout. Demonstrates
attention to audience and
purpose. No grammatical,
proofreading, or mechanics
errors. 27-30 pts.
Points
/ 30
Organization
Comments
Points
/20
The thesis statement and
topic/bridge sentences are
specific and arguable,
answering the question,
“So what?” or “Why should
we care?”
18-20 pts.
Ideas are organized in a clear
and logical fashion in
relationship to each other
(within paragraphs) and to
the paper as a whole.
Transitions are clear and
effective. Includes an
engaging and informative
introduction and an inventive
and thorough conclusion. 1820 pts.
Comments:
High—3.4-2.5
Includes a variety of useful
evidence. Analyzes the
material, answering the "so
what?" or “Why should we
care?” question for most
pieces of evidence that she
provides. Most claims are
specific and supported by
evidence. Explores most of
the ideas presented, but some
of the ideas remain
underdeveloped. 24-26 pts.
Average—2.4-1.9
Includes evidence, but evidence
sometimes lacks variety or fails
to add substance. Begins to
analyze the material by
answering the "so what?"
question for some evidence, but
significant evidence remains
unanalyzed. Some claims are
specific and supported by
evidence; others remain
unsupported. Many ideas remain
underdeveloped. 21-23 pts.
Minimum—1.8-0
The essay contains
insufficient evidence.
The material is not
adequately analyzed; the
text fails to answer the
"so what?" question for
crucial pieces of
evidence. Most of the
claims are not specific or
supported by evidence.
The essay does not
adequately develop the
ideas presented. 0-20
pts.
Most versions of the thesis
statement and topic/bridge
sentences are specific and
arguable, answering the
question, “Why should we
care?” The argument is
effective most of the time,
but it is unclear or underdeveloped in a few places.
16-17 pts.
The thesis and topic/bridge
sentences are specific and
arguable at some points but
unclear at others, or they
represent a statement of fact
rather than an argument. Some
topic sentences are repetitive
or unclear. 14-15 pts.
The thesis and topic
/bridge sentences are
difficult to identify
throughout the paper.
The thesis fails to
answer the question,
“Why should we care?”
Topic sentences are
misleading or unclear.
0-13 pts.
Most of the ideas are
expressed in clear, readable
prose, but a few sentences are
difficult to understand. The
writer uses many sentence
types, but sentences could be
more effective. Most word
choice is appropriate.
Demonstrates attention to
audience and purpose.
Infrequent grammatical,
proofreading, or mechanics
errors. (Errors do not disrupt
the clarity of the text.) 24-26
pts.
Some ideas are expressed in
clear, readable prose, but many
sentences are awkward or
difficult to understand. Uses the
same sentence type throughout.
Many word choices seem
inappropriate. The relationship to
audience or purpose is sometimes
unclear. There are some strong
sentences but more than 2-4
sentence structure problems.
Grammatical, proofreading, and
mechanical errors sometimes
impede flow or clarity. 21-23 pts.
Most of the prose is
difficult to read. Does
not demonstrate an
understanding of
audience and purpose.
Frequent sentence
structure problems.
Sentence level,
grammatical, and
mechanics problems
seriously impede the
clarity of the text. 0-20
pts.
Ideas are organized in a clear
and logical fashion in
relationship to each other
(within paragraphs) and to the
paper as a whole. Most
transitions are clear and
effective, but a few are
confusing. Includes an
appropriate introduction and a
thorough conclusion. 16-17
pts.
Although ideas are generally
organized in a logical fashion,
some sentences or paragraphs are
unorganized or unrelated to the
main idea or paragraph.
Transitions are often lacking,
leaving the reader lost. Includes
an adequate intro. and/or
conclusion. 14-15 pts.
Discernible organization
is minimal or
nonexistent.
Underdeveloped or
missing introduction
and/or conclusion.
Minimal or no transitions
between paragraphs. 013 pts