Professor Alisse Theodore
Email Address: alisse@umich.edu

One quick note: I will often know what you are trying to say in your papers (we may have even discussed your thesis and other parts of your paper during office hours), and I will often think that your argument is an excellent one. However, when I evaluate your written work, my goal is to focus exclusively on the paper you have submitted to fulfill the assignment. It may help to think about the process this way: when I evaluate your written work, I am reading your paper, not your mind. What counts are the words on the page.

An "A" Paper
An "A" paper does much more than fulfill the assignment. It moves beyond the bounds of the assignment, surprising the reader and compelling her to consider the paper's topic in a new light. The writer clearly articulates her argument and supports her thesis with relevant and thoughtfully analyzed passages from the text. Such a paper is lucid, elegantly written, well-organized, and free of errors. An "A" paper takes intellectual risks: the topic is a challenging one to present, and the treatment of that topic is thorough and insightful.

A "B" Paper
Organization and depth of analysis are what most characterize a paper in the "B" range. It makes a worthwhile point about the text(s) under study through careful argumentation and analysis. It separates the different strands of the argument and explains how those strands relate to and support each other. Close readings and quotations from relevant passages back up each element of the argument. There are smooth transitions between points. The argument is strong enough to withstand the most obvious opposition, and the paper responds, if necessary, to potential counter-arguments. This is an essay that shows a good, strong understanding of the text and is, for the most part, written well. There may be handful of rough spots in the writing, but there are no serious grammatical errors. A "B" paper does not take the risks or surprise the reader as does an "A" paper, but it nevertheless constitutes a substantial achievement.

A "C" Paper
This essay may demonstrate a pretty thorough understanding of the text but be weakened by a number of problems with awkward expression, or it may be fairly well-written but miss a number of significant points in interpretation. The paper makes some good points and demonstrates an understanding of the text(s) under study, but the argument may not be well-organized or backed up by a close examination of the text(s). The paper's argument may therefore be superficial, simplistic, or flawed. There may be contradictions within the paper or very obvious counter-arguments the writer has not considered. The prose may be confusing; transitions between paragraphs and/or ideas may be weak or lacking. Grammatical errors, particularly comma splices, sentence fragments, subject-verb disagreements, and verb tense shifts will tend to put an otherwise fine paper in the "C" to "D" range. Absence of a thesis will certainly keep a paper in the "C," or more likely, the "D" range.

A "D" Paper
This essay attempts to address a particular subject, but it may lack a thesis or have a thesis which the writer fails to argue. In other words, the paper does not have a central argument, and the reader will be confused about what the writer aims to accomplish. In the absence of an organizing argument, the paper may be hard to follow in a number of places. This essay may be marred by awkward writing, or the writer may slip into long stretches of plot summary. A "D" paper may also (though not necessarily) have a number of basic misreadings of the text. Or it may have enough errors its prose to distract the reader from the writer's points. Such mechanical errors may in and of themselves put an otherwise okay paper into the low "C" or "D" range.

An "E" Paper
In this paper, there may be no evidence of serious engagement with the text(s) under study. If the paper demonstrates a writer's engagement with the text(s) but is marred by so many errors in mechanics that it is hard to make sense of parts of the essay, it may also be in the "E" range.