English 113
Davis Oldham
Essay Rubric
This handout expands the list of a successful paper’s features with a detailed set of tasks for each,
showing how it can be accomplished. This is what I will use in grading your essay.
Please note: Many of these tasks (have a clear thesis, maintain focus on that thesis throughout the paper,
provide evidence and explain that evidence) are standard expectations for persuasive essays in college.
Besides explaining what I expect to see in your work, they also reinforce the instruction you should
already have had, and should continue to have, in how to write effectively for college classes.
Discuss the form of the work.
Thesis statement clearly identifies a formal feature of the work. (This will be either
lineation/rhythm, metaphor/imagery, or sound correspondences, for the first, second, and third
paper, respectively.)
The paper explains the formal feature—what it is and its role in the work. Typically this is done
briefly in the introduction or early in the body of the paper, and developed throughout the body.
This formal feature is a major focus throughout the paper.
The paper demonstrates understanding of this formal feature and, by implication, of formal
properties in general.
Relate form to content, including the feeling of the poem(s)
Thesis statement clearly asserts a relationship between the formal property that is its focus and an
important aspect of the meaning.
The paper explains your understanding of the content (meaning). Typically this is done briefly in
the introduction or early in the body of the paper, and developed throughout the body.
The relationship between form and content is a major focus throughout the paper.
The paper demonstrates understanding of how a formal property or way of writing can be used to
convey or create meaning.
Give specific examples from the poem(s) that illustrate the form and how it relates to the content
Illustrations are accurate (quotations are correct, basic facts are accurate, etc.).
The paper cites sufficient illustrations from the text to support the thesis.
Illustrations are relevant to the stated formal property and its relation to theme.
Illustrations are representative—not isolated examples but typical ones that accurately represent
what the text as a whole is like. Atypical examples are used if necessary to bring out significant
features of the text that are important for a thorough understanding.
Explain how the examples work (how they support the theme being described)
The paper explicitly links individual illustrations to the point they are intended to support.
The paper explicitly links the point of individual paragraphs to the thesis.
Explanations work by linking the illustration to the point or thesis with analytical language. For
example: The short lines and frequent enjambment create a feeling of hesitation that establishes
the speaker’s groping toward expression. “Short lines,” “enjambment,” “feeling of hesitation,”
“establishes,” and “speaker” are all analytical terms that bring out formal features of the work.
Have a thesis—a single, unified point about the relationship between form and content, to which
every part of the paper relates.
The thesis is stated clearly early in the paper (typically in the first two paragraphs).
Every paragraph helps to support the thesis, by discussing the relationship between the theme(s)
and the specific formal feature that is its focus, and considering examples or counter-examples.
The main idea of the thesis is reiterated (re-stated) at key transitional points in the paper, typically
using key terms from the thesis statement in the introduction.
English 113
Davis Oldham
Be between 1,100 and 1,500 words. I am more lenient toward papers that are over the maximum than
those that are under the minimum, for the simple reason that a short paper is less likely to say much.
Grammar
The expectation is that you have mastered basic rules of grammar, spelling, punctuation and so on and
that your papers will carefully observe these rules. Significant problems in this area will affect the overall
grade, even if the content is of a high quality.
Here are some of the most common errors that you should watch out for, with illustrative examples.
Comma splice: Two complete sentences joined by a comma, rather than by a conjunction (and,
but, or, etc.) or semicolon (;), or separated by a period.
o Example: I went to the store, I bought some milk.
Run-on: Two complete sentences with no separating punctuation.
o Example: I went to the store I bought some milk.
Fragment: Part of a sentence, punctuated as if a complete sentence. Fragments often result from
separating subordinate clauses from main clauses. Others result from simply leaving out a key
element, such as subject or verb.
o Example 1 (separate subordinate clause): I bought some milk. Which was why I went. The
second “sentence” is a fragment.
o Example 2 (missing element): What did I go for? Some milk. The second “sentence”
lacks a verb.
Punctuation errors include incorrectly used punctuation and missing punctuation.
o Example 1 (missing punctuation): “Papa always sat in the front pew for mass Kambili
says on page 4. This is missing the closing quotation mark and a comma after “mass.”
o Example 2 (missing punctuation): Kambili, the narrator portrays herself as very shy.
There should be a second comma after “narrator.”
o Example 3 (misused punctuation): I went to the store and got some milk; which was not
even what I planned on getting. The semicolon (;) should be a comma.
“Usage” means using a word correctly, according to its definition and part of speech.
o Example: The store was really abundant. “Abundant” means there is a lot of something.
A better usage would be, Products in the store were abundant.
Ungrammatical sentences are sentences whose parts do not fit together properly.
o Example: By going to the store took a long time. You don’t often see this error in short
sentences like this, but it’s pretty common in longer sentences where the author loses
track of where the sentence started, and ends up somewhere else.
For details on these and other issues, see my Writing Links page at
http://www.shoreline.edu/doldham/Writing%20Resources.htm