Essay Evaluation Guidelines

Rhetorical Strategy

• Who is your audience? (Who would most disagree with your thesis?)
• What is the best approach and tone to use with this audience?
• Does the essay use a delayed thesis or forthright thesis? Why?
• Is the writing too biased?
• What Audience is most likely to disagree with your point of view?
• What is the best way to convince them?
• Does the essay consider other points of view?
• Does the essay  avoid inflammatory language?
• Does the essay  provide good reasons to agree with your views?
• Does the essay  provide good reasons for doubting the opposite viewpoints?
• Does the essay avoid using the informal pronoun "you"?

Thoughtful Analysis

• Are your own ideas clearly stated throughout the essay?
• Do you rely too heavily on the sources?
• Do you evaluate information from the sources?
• Do you show how the information is valid?
• Do you explain the sources’ facts and ideas in your own words?
• Do you show why statistics and other study results should be trusted?
• Do you carefully show how support and thesis are connected?

Thesis/Focus

• What is the thesis?
• Is the thesis clearly stated?
• Is the thesis too broad or too narrow for a short paper?
• Could the thesis be elaborated further on?
• Is every part of the essay relevant to the thesis?

Support/Detail

• Do you have enough examples?
• Could the essay give more details?
• Is support vague?
• Is support too general?
• Is the support clearly connected to the thesis?
• Is the support primarily factual? (Statistics are not facts.)
• Could the essay be more specific?
• How relevant is the support to the thesis?
• Is all support relevant to the thesis?
• Is any support missing?
• Do you explain how experts reached their conclusions?
• Are you as specific as possible?
• Do you have enough illustrations?

Organization

• What organizational pattern does your essay use?
• Where is the thesis located? Why is it located there?
• Does each paragraph have only one idea?
• Is there an order to the paragraphs? What is that order and is it the most effective order?
• Does each paragraph clarify one idea?
• Is each paragraph coherent
• Are all your transitions smooth?

Clarity

• Do the sentences consistently match characters to subjects and actions to verbs?
• Have you deleted words from your sentences that mean little or nothing?
• Have you deleted words from your sentences that repeat the meaning of other words
• Have you deleted words from your sentences whose meaning a reader can infer?
• Have you replaced phrases with a word when the word is enough?
• Changed negatives with affirmatives?
• Do the sentences get to the subject, then to the verb, then to the object quickly?
• Are the sentences free from long introductory clauses?
• Do the Sentences avoid wordy subjects?
• Does the essay deal with the complexities of the issue?
• Is the analysis vague and superficial?
• Does the essay need to consider another point of view?
• Does the make sense to others?
• Does the ideas follow from the facts?
• Does the essay avoid clichés and generally trite language?
• Does the essay show why the ideas that support the thesis should be accepted?
• Does the essay avoid vernacular or if needed does it make meaning clear to a general audience?

Incorporation of Sources

• Did you choose to summarize, paraphrase or quote your source? Why did you make that choice?
• If you chose to quote the source, does the quote strongly support your thesis/argument? Is it something that can't be paraphrased or summarized effectively in your own words?
• Do you show clearly how the sources reflect your own thinking?
• Do you show your reader why the source is credible?
• Do you clearly show why the source supports your thesis?

Quality of Sources

• What is the argument/point/thesis/conclusion of each source?
• What evidence or details are being used to support the conclusions?
• Do you agree or disagree with the conclusions?
• Does your bias affect your perception of the source?
• Does the source present a fair and balanced picture?
• Is the publication subject to review by others?
• What is the publication's reputation?
• What is the author’s expertise?
• Did you avoid citing reference works like dictionaries and encyclopedias?