1. For a grade of "A," a student’s work must articulate clearly a
thorough and comprehensive understanding of the themes, topics, and
historical problems in question. Where the questions call for it (most of
the time) students’ essays must reflect an understanding not only of what
happened, but of how and why it happened (cause and effect), and not
only of what the author of the class readings said, but what those
reading mean, and their significance in furthering our understanding
of the historical themes and problems discussed in class. Book reviews must
elucidate and explain the author’s interpretation. Essay exam answers should
answer the question asked completely, or discuss the problems or
questions in the assignment thoroughly and completely, in the form of
a persuasive and clearly articulated argument with a thesis, evidence
for and explanation of that thesis, and a conclusion. Essays should cover
all of the relevant evidence from the material discussed in class.
Factual inaccuracies should be absent or very few in number, and writing
should be well-focused, organized, and coherent. The writing in papers and
take-home exams should be proofread thoroughly and contain few or
no errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax, and style. Research
papers should be well documented with properly formatted footnotes or
endnotes, and a properly formatted bibliography when the assignment calls
for one.
2. For a grade of "B," a student’s work articulates a clear
understanding of the themes, topics, and historical problems in question.
Where the questions call for it (most of the time) students’ essays must
reflect an understanding of what happened, and essays will also
discuss how and why it happened (cause and effect), although less
thoroughly and persuasively than in the case of an "A" paper. When
discussing assigned class readings or works under review, students will
attempt to analyze not only what the author of the readings said, but
what those readings mean. Book reviews must elucidate and explain the
author’s interpretation. Essay exam answers should answer the question
asked, or discuss the problems or questions in the assignment, in the form
of an argument with a thesis, evidence for and explanation of that thesis,
and a conclusion, and most of the relevant evidence supporting the
answer should be included. Factual inaccuracies should be few in number, and
writing should be well-focused, organized, and coherent. The writing in
papers and take-home exams should be proofread thoroughly and contain
few errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax, and style.
Research papers should be well documented with properly formatted footnotes
or endnotes, and a properly formatted bibliography when the assignment calls
for one
3. For a grade of "C," a student’s work articulates some
understanding of the themes, topics, and historical problems in question.
Where the questions call for it (most of the time) students’ essays will
reflect clear understanding of what happened, and contain some, but
inadequate, discussion of how and why it happened (cause and effect).
When discussing assigned class readings or works under review, students will
analyze what the author of the readings said, sufficiently to show
that the student has done the reading, and include at least some discussion
of what the reading means. Book reviews will state the author’s
interpretation, although they will discuss it inadequately or incompletely.
Essay exam answers will answer the question asked only partially, or discuss
some of the problems or questions in the assignment, although they will
likely lack a thesis, and contain inadequate supporting evidence. Factual
inaccuracies should still be few in number, and writing should be coherent
and show some evidence of organization. The writing in papers and take-home
exams should show some evidence that it has been proofread and
contain a moderate number of errors in spelling, punctuation,
grammar, syntax, and style. Research papers should contain some
documentation with properly formatted footnotes or endnotes, and a properly
formatted bibliography when the assignment calls for one
4. For a grade of "D," a student’s work articulates a poor or
incomplete understanding of the themes, topics, and historical problems in
question. Where the questions call for it (most of the time) students’
essays will reflect a weak understanding of what happened, and little
or no comprehension of how and why it happened (cause and effect).
When discussing readings in class or works under review, students will
attempt to analyze what the author of the class readings said, but
will fail to discuss, or discuss poorly, what those reading mean.
Book reviews will lack an explanation of the author’s interpretation. Essay
exam answers will answer the question asked incompletely, or discuss the
problems or questions in the assignment inadequately, and lack an argument
with a thesis. Evidence for and explanation of that thesis, or the
conclusion, will be lacking and little of the relevant evidence
supporting the answer be included. Factual inaccuracies will be numerous and
the writing will lack focus, coherence, or organization. The writing in
papers and take-home exams will not be proofread thoroughly and
contain numerous errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax,
and style. Research papers will be poorly documented and footnotes,
endnotes, and/or bibliography will be incomplete or improperly formatted.
5. For a grade of "F," a student’s work articulates a little or no
understanding of the themes, topics, and historical problems in question.
Where the questions call for it (most of the time) students’ essays will
reflect poor understanding of what happened, and little or no
comprehension of how and why it happened (cause and effect). When
discussing readings in class or works under review, students will analyze
poorly what the author of the class readings said, but will fail to
discuss what those reading mean. Book reviews will lack an
explanation of the author’s interpretation and discuss inadequately the
subject of the book. Essay exam answers will not answer the question asked,
or fail to discuss the problems or questions in the assignment. They will
ramble, lack an argument and contain little or none of the relevant
evidence supporting the answer. Factual inaccuracies will be plentiful, and
the writing will lack focus, coherence, and organization. The writing in
papers and take-home exams will not be proofread and will contain
numerous errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax, and style.
Research papers will be poorly documented and footnotes, endnotes,
and/or bibliography will be incomplete or improperly formatted.
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