Unit 2 (Research Proposal & Annotated Bibliography) Grading Rubric

An A paper…

· Is written with a tone and in a vocabulary appropriate to an academic audience;

· Explicitly identifies a specific issue as the focus of research;

· Offers thorough, informative background information about this issue that shows evidence of research and evaluation;

· Identifies specific difficulties the writer has encountered so far in the research process;

· Includes strong annotations that do all of the following:

o Include Works Cited entries in proper MLA format;

o Include a brief summary of the source’s subject matter;

o Identify the author’s thesis statement and the author’s identity/credibility;

o Assess the source’s likely usefulness to the writer’s research and include specific reasons for that assessment; and

o Mention or discuss some rhetorical devices used by the author;

· Meets the page requirement and follows MLA formatting guidelines for font, size, spacing, margins, etc.; and

· Is virtually free of errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, usage, etc.

A B paper…

· Is generally written in a tone and with a vocabulary appropriate to an academic audience, with perhaps a few lapses;

· Clearly identifies a specific issue as the focus of research;

· Offers informative background information about this issue that shows evidence of research;

· Identifies specific difficulties the writer has encountered so far in the research process;

· Includes strong annotations that do all of the following:

o Include Works Cited entries in proper MLA format;

o Include a brief summary of the source’s subject matter;

o Identify the author’s thesis statement and the author’s identity/credibility; and

o Assess the source’s likely usefulness to the writer’s research and include reasons for that assessment;

· Meets the page requirement and follows MLA formatting guidelines for font, size, spacing, margins, etc.; and

· Is generally free of surface errors.

A C paper…

· Has frequent lapses in the general academic tone and/or vocabulary;

· Identifies a specific issue as the focus of research;

· Offers background information about this issue that shows evidence of research;

· Identifies difficulties the writer has encountered so far in the research process;

· Includes annotations that do all of the following:

o Include Works Cited entries in proper MLA format;

o Include a brief summary of the source’s subject matter (though this summary may be the main focus of the annotation at the expense of other information);

o Identify the author’s thesis statement and the author’s identity/credibility; and

o Assess the source’s likely usefulness to the writer’s research;

· Meets the page requirement and follows MLA guidelines, etc.

· Has some surface errors, which may at times be distracting.

A D paper…

· Fails to achieve a tone or vocabulary appropriate to an academic audience;

· Identifies a subject matter but not a specific issue for research;

· Offers unclear, insufficient, or confusing background information;

· Fails to identify difficulties so far encountered or does so too vaguely;

· Has annotations that fail to meet one or more of the criteria for “C” annotations;

· Does not reach the page length and/or does not follow MLA formatting guidelines; and

· Has numerous surface-level errors, which may often distract from meaning.

An F paper…

· Does not meet minimum requirements; or

· Plagiarizes.