Evaluating and Responding to Student Writing

Teaching Writing

Written assignments require students to think critically, to practice developing a sustained line of reasoning, and to engage actively with course materials. Thoughtful, constructive feedback is crucial to helping your students develop as writers and thinkers.

Grading Criteria for Written Work

As with all graded assignments, TAs should discuss the grading criteria for each written assignment with the course instructor. Instructors typically have established metrics by which each assignment should be evaluated. They may provide a formal rubric that TAs are expected to use, but if no formal rubric exists, TAs may want to construct their own based on the grading criteria provided by the instructor. Using a rubric speeds up the grading process and provides a blueprint for giving students feedback.

Common criteria for grading and commenting on written assignments include:

• The strength and clarity of the essay's thesis statement or argument.
• How well the essay supports its claims with evidence. Is the evidence well-documented and well-explained?
• How nuanced the essay's claims are. Does the essay consider alternative interpretations?
• How clearly the essay is written. Is it easy to read? Free of mechanical (grammatical, syntactic, spelling) errors? Are there transitional sentences or "signposts" between sections of the argument?
• How well-informed the essay is about the relevant research or literature in the field.

Feedback on Written Work

Specificity matters. The more specific the feedback, the more equipped students are to improve their writing. For example:

Acknowledge disciplinary distinctions and generic conventions. Students who are skilled at writing in one discipline may have difficulty writing in a new discipline, and students may have difficulty writing new genres. Making disciplinary conventions explicit at the assignment stage is an excellent way to teach students to be aware of their readers. One way to do this is to have students read and dissect an exemplary text in the field to see how language is used, evidence marshaled, and arguments made.

Direct students to grammatical rules and the principles of good writing. TAs should resist the impulse to simply correct the mechanics of students’ writing, but instead encourage students to learn the principles behind good syntax, grammar, etc. TAs may want to make grammatical and syntactical comments on one paragraph to give students an idea of the kinds of changes required. TAs can also refer students to grammar reference guides, such as: Strunk, William, Jr., and E.B. White. The Elements of Style. 4^th ed. New York: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37134/37134-h/37134-h.htm.

Timing Considerations

Written assignments can take more bandwidth to grade than other assignments. To ensure that they are approaching each written assignment with enough bandwidth to grade them fairly, TAs should split up grading over several sessions or days and take frequent breaks.

TAs who play an active role in planning assignments might consider building both drafting and revising stages into their assignments to foster their students’ writing development. Structured opportunities to revise written work offer students the chance to put feedback into action.

While TAs may feel inclined to read drafts ahead of due dates to provide guidance, they should be aware that this can be very time consuming. To limit the additional time this can take up, TAs may wish to set a boundary of how much time they can devote to reading drafts and refer students to the Writing Center for more detailed assistance.