English 802 Portfolio Grading Criteria

A reminder: Your ENG 0802 portfolio will be graded both by myself and the English 802 committee (a group of other English professors.) Portfolios are graded in a committee to ensure objectivity and a diverse range of perspectives. Below is the grading criteria that will be used when assessing your portfolios. Grades are up to the discretion of the committee. The other assignments you completed throughout the semester-- such as short analysis exercises, discussions, etc-- will be factored into approximately 30% of your final grade. Please do not forget that a passing portfolio is required in order to receive a passing grade in the class. If you do not receive a passing grade on the portfolio, you cannot pass ENG 0802. Please let me know if you have any questions.

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A-range portfolios demonstrate facility in making nuanced, original, and well-researched arguments addressed to the course theme. The writer accurately represents others’ ideas and constructs subtle and complex arguments in relation to others’ ideas in all three papers. The writer demonstrates full awareness of academic audience in all three papers, the papers are well-organized and the research is well-integrated. There are virtually no errors in syntax, grammar, mechanics, usage, style, and documentation. The portfolio demonstrates that the writer has improved over the course of the semester, and it is clear that the writer worked hard to revise and edit their papers. The writer is reflective about their progress and demonstrates an excellent understanding of their own writing process and development as a writer.

B-range portfolios demonstrate facility in making thoughtful and well-researched arguments addressed to the course theme. The writer accurately represents others’ ideas, with only minor exceptions, and constructs clear and sometimes complex arguments in relation to others’ ideas in all three papers. Occasionally, the writer may make reductive or black-and-white analyses in one or more of the three papers, but these are minor and do not negate or seriously undermine the arguments. The writer demonstrates good awareness of academic audience in all three papers, and the papers are generally organized well and the research is nicely integrated, though one or two sources may be not credible. There may be a few errors in syntax, grammar, mechanics, usage, style and documentation, but none of these errors impede the reader’s understanding of the writer’s arguments. The portfolio demonstrates that the writer has improved over the course of the semester, and there may be indications that the writer of the portfolio worked hard to revise and edit their papers. The writer is reflective about their progress and demonstrates solid self-awareness about their development as a writer.

C-range portfolios demonstrate that the writer is making good arguments addressed to the course theme. Research for the arguments is generally done at an adequate level, meeting requirements for the assignments, and the writer may show some difficulty in connecting research to their own arguments in one or more of the papers. There may also be one or more papers in which some sources are not credible. The writer accurately represents others’ ideas, though the articulation of these ideas may be limited or confusing in one or more of the three papers. The writer demonstrates some awareness of academic audience in all three papers, and the papers are organized well enough to follow the arguments, but the organization of one or more of the papers may be reductive, simplistic, confusing, and/or under-developed. Sometimes C-range portfolios contain one or more papers that include padding or sections in which the writer has made leaps of logic. There may be one or more papers in which there are serious errors of syntax, grammar, mechanics, usage, style and documentation, but these errors should not seriously undermine the comprehensibility of the arguments. The portfolio demonstrates that the writer has improved over the course of the semester, but there may be indications that the writer of the portfolio did not pay close enough attention to revision or editing of all three papers. The writer is at least somewhat reflective about their progress and development as a writer, but it may be lacking in quality and possibly quantity.

Failing (D and F) portfolios demonstrate an inadequate ability to make arguments addressed to the course theme. Research for the arguments is generally done at a basic or level, possibly meeting requirements for the assignments. But with respect to research, the writer cannot adequately connect others’ ideas to their own arguments in one or more of the papers. There may also be one or more papers in which the required number of sources is missing and/or in which sources are not credible. The writer has not represented others’ ideas correctly in one or more of the three papers, and it is likely that the writer makes reductive or black-and-white analyses. The writer may demonstrate some awareness of academic audience, but there are serious organizational problems in one or more of the three papers that make it difficult or impossible to follow the arguments, and one or more papers includes simplistic, confusing, or under-developed ideas. One or more of the three papers may not show basic formal achievement in sentence structure, transitional words and phrases, appropriate pronoun use, and other elements of writing necessary for full comprehensibility of the writer’s arguments. The portfolio may demonstrate that the writer has improved over the course of the semester, and the papers may show considerable improvement from first drafts, but the writer may not yet be able to revise or edit well enough to complete the papers at a C-range or above level. The writer may be reflective about their progress, but it is lacking in quality and possibly quantity. Sometimes, failing portfolios themselves are inconsistent and contain two passing-level papers and one failing paper, but in these cases, the entire portfolio receives a failing grade because all three papers must be at or above a C- grade to pass the course.