Grades in First-Year Writing

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A Paper

A paper in the A range combines a strong or distinctive voice with style and insight and strong reading. The ideas may be original, but are not necessarily so; the paper shuns platitudes, easy answers, and pat conclusions. We may place a paper in the "A" range for some combination of the following reasons:

• As a reading, the paper works "with and against the grain," balancing the writer's own opinions and experiences with engagements with the assigned text(s);
• The paper demonstrates not only a thorough but an exceptional (though not necessarily what we would consider perfect) understanding of the reading(s). It goes well beyond the partial understandings achieved in class discussions, and often there are insights or approaches to the readings that surprise us, notice what we have overlooked, teach us new ways of reading.
• Quotations from texts are often closely woven into the writer's text; where there are longer block quotations, these are set up carefully before and after with the writer's own commentary. These quotations are correctly punctuated and smoothly integrated into the paper.
• The paper overall works towards conclusions that go beyond the points made in the body of the essay. We might say that the writer's agenda at once honors the assignment or task and exceeds it. The essay "points" to more than the assignment imagined.
• There is an effort to break out of the constraints and predictability of the five-paragraph theme - for example, by complicating the assignment's question(s); by raising further issues on the basis of an initial argument and its support; by extrapolating to other readings and/or experiences in ways that do more than simply add more "support" to an initial claim; by making not one but a series of claims, each with illustrative materials leading to further points; by including a personal narrative that illuminates the discussion in new ways.
• There is an effort to work against what William Coles calls "themewriting" a generic style that says predictable things or echoes commonplaces. The style seems both precise and fresh, thoughtful and surprising. In the best A papers, we sense the writer is (sometimes self-consciously) working not to be simplistic or reductive: there may be careful qualifications, subtle asides, acknowledgments of the limitations or problems inherent in a line of argument, attempts to look at a statement more than one way, a recognition of productive ambiguities in what is being said and/or quoted.

Overall, A papers may strike us as both easier to read and denser, richer, than papers in the rest of the range. We often feel drawn into the discussion, want to talk back to the issues raised, be in conversation with this writer: the text isn't a way of closing down a subject, but of opening it up.

Sometimes we will want to give a paper an A- when it is not completely successful in what it attempts, but we feel nevertheless not only that much of what it does is excellent but that such excellence is not a fluke, that what the writer has attempted could be sustained and controlled with more experience and practice.

It is sometimes tempting to give a paper an A if it demonstrates excellence in one of these ways, e.g., it offers an unusual and exciting interpretation of a reading. An A grade, however, should indicate overall excellence of performance, even considering that not all A papers will be excellent in the same ways.

Papers in the A range may contain a few grammatical errors, but they are of the sort that can be easily ignored or tolerated, given the overall richness of the writing and obvious engagement with the reading.

B Paper

Papers in the B range strike us as better-than-average responses to what we've assigned. They are not only well organized and generally smoothly written but show a thorough grasp of what is called for and a generally solid understanding of the reading(s). We may place a paper in the B range for some of the following reasons:

• As a reading, the paper may work both "with and against the grain," but one or the other strategy is more likely to predominate - often, the first. That is, B papers are less likely than A papers to treat readings as opportunities for "talking back" and/or forming original ideas that call for further thought and exploration.
• B papers often, then, treat readings as a matter of comprehending and fleshing out what might be said about another text, extending but perhaps not overly complicating or questioning directions taken in class discussions. Nevertheless, there is a sense that the reading is thorough and solid: there may be instances of confusion or of silence concerning challenging sections of the text under discussion, but still, we get a sense that the writer understands the overall shape, strategy, and general point, not just as a series of parts or as a source of one or two points to be discussed separately from the whole.
• The paper engages quotations from the reading(s), although these are likely to remain intact, that is, an entire sentence is quoted or a whole passage block-indented. Transitions or links between the writer's words and the quoted ones are present but may not be gracefully done or add more than, "Here X says" There may be some difficulties with punctuation, and perhaps also an awkwardness of style where quoted words are woven into the writer's text - although it is not unusual for papers to attempt such weavings, especially late in the quarter.

The paper overall may work towards conclusions that we can predict from the body of the discussion, even from its introduction. We might observe that the writer's agenda honors the assignment by doing it very thoroughly, or that the paper imagines a slightly different way of doing the assignment. Or the paper may strike out in a new direction but not achieve A level work: the promise of the strategy is not carried through, or only a portion of the paper seems insightful or different, or the strategy is carried through but in ways that seem less subtle or surprising than we'd find in an A paper. We may see opportunities for insights or complications or questions that the paper does not raise.

There is an overall strategy/pattern (e.g. problem/solution, question/answer) that is carried through the paper steadily and, for the most part, successfully. The paper can sustain a much longer and fuller discussion than the five-paragraph theme. It is not unusual, however, for "B" papers to have moments that are not up to the quality of the whole - awkward transitions, say, or quotations given insufficient commentary. If the paper moves towards extended discussion of source texts or towards personal narrative, getting back to the main thread of discussion may become a problem; "getting off on a tangent" is a possibility that worries the B writer the most. (A writers may see tangents as welcome opportunities; C writers have learned to avoid them.)

The freshest moments in the paper may be in the "body"; introductions and conclusions may still seem summarizing remnants of the five-paragraph theme, or echoes of the assignment's language.

Overall, "B papers strike us as generally easy to read: there may be moments of confusion or stylistic awkwardness or syntactical tangles, but we feel the writer understands what has been read, has a purposeful strategy and has carried it out, and has left us with a richer (if not necessarily different or exceptionally insightful) set of ideas than were created in class discussion.

Sometimes we will want to give a B- to a paper that has a number of the above qualities, but which stumbles badly in some way: the overall organizations fall apart partway through the paper, the block quotations are simply dropped in without enough set-up or commentary, the writer "gets" the reading but somewhat reduces its points or is too selective about what is discussed, etc. Any grade in the "B" range, however, should indicate a performance that is overall well done and clearly above our minimum expectations for passing work, even considering that not all B papers will exceed those expectations in exactly the same ways.

The paper in the B range often contains grammatical errors that annoy, but are forgivable when measured against the paper as a whole. However, a paper in the B range with a high number of grammatical errors may make a teacher waver between the B and C grade, and opt for a B- or C+.

C Paper

Often C papers are unimaginative or feel a bit thin; however, they have a discernible and generally organized overall structure, a consistent strategy for engaging the reading(s) appropriate to the assignment, and a style which, while not typically subtle, is suited to college-level writing. We may place a paper in the C range for some of the following reasons:

• As a reading, the paper may treat the text(s) as material to be summarized, or as sources for supporting the writer's point. Often, however, C papers do not venture far from what was discussed about readings in class; or if they strike out in another direction, it is in the service of a fairly simple and obvious interpretation of the text. Often the C paper suggests a writer and reader who is most at home with what is familiar and easy to understand. Some C papers seem to want to move beyond the familiar and to raise questions or issues other than were raised in class, but cannot find ways to make the readings successfully serve those purposes.
• The reading of the text(s) in question may seem generally accurate but also superficial or reductive - the most obvious points that can be made, with little qualification. The discussion may misread some of the text, though not in ways which jeopardize the paper as a whole. The paper may give little or no account of the overall point of the reading, its trajectory or purpose, or if it has a general point to make about the reading, it may nevertheless discuss only a few sections without indicating much about how they relate to the whole.
• The paper dutifully responds to the reading(s) with summary, paraphrase, and quotation, but often, quoted materials are simply dropped uncut into the text, without sufficient integration and commentary. Sometimes C papers seem much more engaged with the writer's life and ideas than with the readings, which are gestured toward more than engaged.
• The paper has a generally consistent overall pattern and strategy, though it may be weak in some sections and have insufficient, awkward, or missing transitions among its parts. The paper may feel like a somewhat longer version of the five-paragraph theme: summary, body, more summary or, perhaps, a moral tag or exit line in place of a real conclusion.
• Development of points in a C paper may be by means of addition: quotation, summary, and storytelling to support (rather than explore) ideas; less rarely do we see careful analysis, questions of sources, new connections, or further synthesis. The C paper is likely to feel thin because of a claim/support structure; patterns such as "problem/solution" or "statement/questioning of its assumptions" are much less typical of work at this level.

Overall, C papers may be easy for us to comprehend in general, but beyond that, portions may be hard to follow and/or we may be left with questions or a sense that not enough was said for us to feel involved as readers. Sometimes we will want to give a C to a paper that might have been a B had not something attempted gone seriously wrong: a great insight left too undeveloped, a promising strategy not carried through. This may be a sign that a writer who could have earned a B did not put the time or effort into the work; the paper reads like a draft of what might have been "good" work.

Any grade in the C range, however, should indicate a performance that is adequately done and that clearly meets minimum expectations for passing work, even considering that not all C papers will meet those expectations in exactly the same ways. If a paper seems seriously confusing, disorganized, or unable to do what the assignment calls for, it should not be given a passing grade even if portions of it show effort or seem adequate. The paper in the C range often contains grammatical errors that annoy and distract, yet are almost, but not quite, forgivable when measured against the paper as a whole.

C- and D Papers

We may place a paper in the C- or D range for some of the following reasons:

• It gestures towards the minimum asked for by the assignment, but seems to understand the assignment only partially - for instance, it summarizes a reading's position but does not then go on to address other questions about it, or it summarizes rather than offers a critical analysis of a work of literature.
• The discussion seems seriously confused about what was read for instance, there is no recognition that in memoir an older writer looks back on a younger self who is not the "I" narrating he story; or there is a misreading of an essay's central line of argument, not just its more obscure of difficult points.
• The paper gestures towards quotation, but not enough the make the writer's point; or the connections to what the writer wants to say are hard to perceive. The balance between how much of the paper is quotation and how much the writer's words seems notably off.
• There is some hint or effort at a strategy or overall purpose and design, but this is not carried through; the paper switches purpose and strategy, or the discussion wanders off, or whole sections of the paper seem hard to relate to other sections. The paper may not have enough development to meet the minimum length the assignment calls for, or, less often, it may ramble on without knowing how and where to end.
• Grammatical errors are either so numerous or so fundamental, or both, that they interfere with reading the essay.

F Paper

Papers in the F range are difficult to deal with because their problems often stem from very different sources. An F may result when a paper wildly departs from a specific assignment. This is not a case of risk-taking, but may be the result of a refusal, or an inability, to deal with the reading on which the assignment is based. But once again, one must be cautious in attempting to account for such papers without consulting with the writer.

The F paper at the other end of the spectrum, like a paper in the D range, may make an attempt to deal with the reading, but consistently fails to quote or to explicate or to develop a position or point of view. As a result, such a paper does not meet the required number of pages for the assignment.

A paper in the F range often contains grammatical errors that overwhelm the content and make it difficult to read.

F, of course, also signifies absence: no paper, no grade.