ESL 302/English 330 Scoring Guide
6 Clearly demonstrates competence in writing on both the essay and sentence levels
though it may have occasional errors. An essay in this category will:
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Be well-organized and well-developed--effectively addressing the writing task
Use appropriate details to support a thesis or illustrate ideas
Show unity, coherence, and thorough development of the thesis or main idea
Demonstrate some sentence variety and appropriate word choice
5 Demonstrates competence in writing on both the essay and sentence levels though it will
have occasional errors. A paper in this category will:
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Be generally well-organized and developed but may have fewer details than a "6" paper
Perhaps address some parts of the task more effectively than others
Show unity, coherence, and thorough development of a thesis or main idea
Demonstrate some sentence variety and range of vocabulary
Display skill in language usage but may have more errors than a "6" paper
4 Demonstrates adequate competence in writing on both the essay and sentence levels. A
paper in this category will:
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Be adequately organized
Address the writing adequately but may slight parts of the task
Use some details to illustrate ideas
Demonstrate adequate but sometimes inconsistent skill with sentences and grammar
Possibly contain some errors that occasionally obscure meaning
3 Demonstrates developing competence in writing but remains inadequate on
either the essay or sentence level or both. A paper in this category will:
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Be inadequately organized or developed
Fail to support or illustrate generalizations with appropriate or sufficient detail
Display an accumulation of errors in sentence structure and/or grammar
Display a noticeably inappropriate choice of words or word forms
2 Suggests incompetence in writing. A paper in this category will:
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Address the topic but possibly fail to organize or develop it
Use little or no detail or irrelevant specifics
Display serious and frequent errors in grammar or sentence structure
Display serious problems with focus
1 Demonstrates incompetence in writing. A paper in this category will:
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Be badly marred by serious and persistent writing errors
Be unfocused, illogical, incoherent, or undeveloped
Reveals the writer's inability to comprehend the question.