Required Research Essay Criteria (English 1A SLO-aligned assignment)
Sources: Students must research and cite from at least five sources; three of them must be different types of sources as follows:
- At least one source must be from an ECC library database.
- At least one source must be a book, anthology or textbook.
- At least one source must be from a credible website, appropriate for academic use.
- The essay should not rely on any one source for most of the information; instead, it should use multiple sources and the student should synthesize the information found in them.
- Students must document sources in MLA format, cite them in the body of the paper, and formulate a works cited page (which does not count towards the minimum page count).
Please remember:
- The research paper should present a thesis that is specific, manageable, and debatable. In other words, the thesis should offer a clear position, stand, or opinion that will be proven with research.
- The student should analyze and prove the thesis, using examples and quotes from a variety of sources.
- Students must use MLA Format for the document, in-text citations, and Works Cited page.
- Students must integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analyze and/or explain each quotation.
- Students must sustain thesis support, use transitions effectively, and use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
- The essay must be logically organized and focused.
- The essay should be a minimum of 5 to 7 pages (excluding Works Cited), and longer page requirements are encouraged as this allows students to practice for the types of assignments encountered at four-year institutions.
Six-Point Rubric: Scoring Guide
Based on a six-point scale, your paper will earn scores based on the following:
6/A/100-90% Shows the writer has fully understood the assignment and demonstrates clear competence in writing with intelligent insight and impressive organization, voice and editorial skill
A paper in this category will contain most of the following:
- Effectively addresses the writing prompt including all of its tasks and criteria
- Is well organized and thoroughly developed
- Is focused, coherent and unified
- Uses insightful and well-integrated support, including in-text documentation when required
- Demonstrates sentence variety and a range of vocabulary
- Is free from grammatical errors taught to date
- Follows MLA format well
5/B/89-80% Shows that the writer has understood the assignment and written an effective response to it
A paper in this category will contain most of the following:
- More than adequately addresses the writing prompt including all of its tasks and criteria
- Is overall well organized and developed
- Uses appropriate and integrated support, including in-text documentation when required
- Demonstrates a degree of sentence variety and proper word choices
- Is generally free from grammatical errors taught to date
- Follows MLA format
4/C/79-70% Shows that the writer has understood the assignment and written a satisfactory response to it
A paper in this category will reveal most of the following:
- Addresses the writing prompt adequately but may slight a task and or criteria
- Is generally organized and satisfactorily developed
- Uses sufficient and generally acceptably integrated support including in-text documentation when required
- Demonstrates proper sentence structure throughout most of the paper and contains few erroneous word choices
- Displays occasional difficulty with grammar errors taught to date, but reveals an overall satisfactory understanding of the rules taught.
- Follows MLA moderately well
3/D/69-60% Shows that the writer has marginally understood the assignment but has written a less than effective response to it. This is not a passing paper.
A Paper in this category will reveal more than one of the following problems:
- Attempts to address the writing prompt but may altogether neglect a task and slight others, and may not meet one or more criterion of the assignment
- Is relatively unorganized and or inadequately developed
- Uses insufficient and some unacceptable support which is often poorly integrated
- Demonstrates a lack of knowledge of sentence structure and uses some poor or erroneous word choices
- Has a pattern or an accumulation of errors in grammar issues taught to date
2-1/D-F/59%- Shows limited competence in writing and leaves little doubt whether the writer understood the assignment and may also reflect less than adequate effort.
Is substandard in many ways.
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