An "A" paper does the following without exception:

· a thesis clearly stated and creatively developed that in one way or another addresses the "development of the American novel" baseline assignment

· development strategies that might include argument, illustrative quotations,
analogy, examples, or other means to persuade/convince the reader of the thesis

· an orderly progression from start to finish

· a satisfying conclusion

· a writing style appropriate to an upper-level English major class

· adherence to MLA format and documents all sources

· a smooth integration of these sources into paper's body

· has no editing errors

· is turned in on time

· is interesting (beware of the "voiceless")

A "B" paper attempts all of the above but is less successful.

A "C" paper falls off the mark more often than a "B" paper does and has more HOC problems.

A "D" paper has some serious problems with both HOC's and LOC's.

A "F" paper is sorely lacking in all HOC areas and maybe even in LOC's too.

 

HOC = Higher Order Considerations

LOC = Lower Order Considerations