UNIV 112

Fall 2016

Jackson

Unit 3 Ethical Reasoning Essay Grading Rubric

Core Assignment: Compose a 1400-1700-word researched argument essay in which you present and support your answer to a hidden/underexplored ethical question of your own devising. Your essay must show the research and ethical reasoning that led you to your answer.

F / D / C / B / A
Ethical Situation / Incomprehensible. / Very unclear and/or not really an ethical situation. / Adequate ethical situation. Largely clear. Perhaps not very hidden. Some stakeholders identified / Good, interesting, underexplored ethical situation. Concrete dilemma. Major stakeholders identified. / Excellent, insightful, surprising ethical situation. Concrete, sophisticated, and very interesting dilemma. Major stakeholders identified.
Introduction and Main Claim / Incoherent. Very unclear what the essay will be about. Incomprehensible or missing main claim. / Introduction is confusing. Vague or non-debatable claim. / Introduction is largely clear, though not particularly interesting or motivating. Claim is adequate but a bit too general or specific. / Introduction clearly indicates topic of the essay. Claim is thoughtful and appropriately focused. / Introduction strongly indicates topic of the essay. Strongly hooks (motivates) the reader. Main claim is highly interesting, strikingly focused, and insightful.
Reasons / Reasons omitted and/or incoherent. / Reasons present but either incoherent or fail to support main claim. / Adequate Reasons. Support the main claim. / Good Reasons. Clear and vivid support of main claim. / Terrific Reasons. Clear, insightful support of main claim.
Evidence / Evidence largely omitted and/or incoherent. / Efforts at using textual evidence: but passages poorly chosen and/or inadequately analyzed/explained. They don’t support the Reason. / Adequate evidence: solid passages chosen; support the Reason; adequate analysis connecting passage to the Reason. / Good evidence. Well-chosen passages of text. Good support of Reason. Good analysis of the passages. Clear explanation of how they support the Reason. / Strong evidence. Very well chosen passages of text. Strong, insightful analysis of the passages. Very clear, sophisticated explanation of how they support the Reason.
Acknowledgments & Responses / No A/R to be seen. / Weak, not very pertinent A/R. Perhaps Responses are omitted. / Adequate A/R. Relevant questions raised and responded to. / Thoughtful A/R. Real and significant questions raised and responded to well. / Excellent A/R. Insightful, significant questions raised. Responses are equally significant and insightful.
Ethical Standard(s) / Missing. / Unclear, incoherent. No clear reference to an ethical standard. / Adequate and mostly clear reference to an ethical standard. / Clear use of an ethical standard as basis of your argument. / Excellent use of ethical standard(s). They are clearly used as the basis of your argument.
Research Sources / Little or no research done. / Some research, but inadequate to the project. / 6-8 adequately chosen sources. Adequate grasp of those sources. At least 2 scholarly sources. / 6-8 well chosen sources. Good grasp of those sources. At least 2 scholarly sources. / 6-8 very well chosen sources. Very good grasp of those sources. At least 2 scholarly sources.
Citations / In-text citations and/ or references page missing. / In-text citations and references page present but incoherent or very sloppy. / In-text citations and references page present but occasionally hard to follow. / In-text citations and references page present, mostly coherent and accurate. / In-text citations and references page present, coherent, and accurate. Generally follow correct form.
Form and Mechanics / Sloppy errors make reading compre-hension difficult. Too short. / Many errors slow reading compre-hension. Too short. / Some errors, not many. Enough to lose some credibility with the reader. / Very few errors—nothing that interferes with comprehension. / Almost entirely error free.

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