UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS

FACULTY OF ARTS & LETTERS

Department of Philosophy

Rubric for Essay Questions

NEEDS
UNSATISFACTORY COMPETENT EXEMPLARY
CATEGORY (1 POINTS)
IMPOROVEMENT
(4 POINTS) (5 POINTS)
(2 POINTS)
Difficulty to identify,
Easily identifiable,
inconsistently Unclear, buried, poorly Promising, but may
interesting, plausible,
Thesis maintained, or provides articulated, lacking in insight be unclear or lacking
novel, sophisticated,
little around which to and originality. insight or originality.
insightful, clear.
structure paper.
Generally clear and
Evident,
appropriate, though
understandable,
may wander
Generally unclear, appropriated for thesis.
occasionally. May
Unclear, unfocused, unfocused, often wanders or Essay is focused and
have some unclear
disorganized, lacking in jumps around. Few or weak unified. Words chosen
transitions or lack of
Structure & Style unity, transitions abrupt transitions. Does not
coherence. Does not
effectively. Excellent
or confusing, context provide sufficient transitions between
fully appreciate
unclear. information, explanation points. Anticipates
reader’s need for
and context for readers. reader’s need for
information,
information, explanation
explanation &
and context.
context.
Argument is clear and Arguments are
Little attempt to offer
usually flows logically identifiable, reasonable,
support for key claims Arguments of poor quality.
and makes sense. and sound. Clear
Logic & or to relate evidence to Weak, undeveloped reasons
Some counter- reasons are offered in
thesis. Reasons offered offered in support of key
Argumentation may be irrelevant. Little claims. Counter-arguments
arguments support of key claims.
acknowledged, Author anticipates and
to no effort to address mentioned without rebuttal.
though perhaps not successfully grapples
alternative views.
addressed fully. with counter-arguments
Sentence structure,
Several problems with Some problems with grammar, Correct sentence
sentence structure, sentence structure, punctuation and structure, grammar,
Mechanics grammar, punctuation, grammar, punctuation, and spelling strong punctuation and
and spelling. spelling. despite occasional spelling.
lapses.
TOTAL