English 251:  Introduction to Literature

Criteria for evaluating answers to questions on exams.

There is a more extended version of these remarks.  You may wish to consult it for explanations in detail.  There is also a checklist for writing assignments you may find useful in the later stages of drafting an out-of-class essay.

These criteria apply to both the short answers for the in-class portion of the exams and to out-of-class writing assignments.  Some of them present more of a challenge in doing the latter.  Organizational strategy and quality transitions, for example, are especially important indices of insight in out-of-class essays, where the assumption is that the writer has ample opportunity to reflect and revise.

As to the question you choose to answer:

• Do you insightfully detect the issues it raises?
  
• Do you address those issues in a forthright way?
  
• Did you stick to the question as written?
  

As to the facts of the story that you mention:

• Do you formulate them in a definite and clear way?
  
• Do you get the facts straight?  I.e., are your representations of them accurate?
  
• Are the facts you introduce relevant to the issues that the question you've chosen requires you to address?  (If so, is that relevance clear?)
  

As to the interpretive inferences you bring forward in the course of your answer:

• First of all, of course, there have to actually be some!  Are there any?
  
• Are the interpretive inferences you make relevant to the question you are addressing?  (If so, is their relevance clear?)
  
• Do you unify your interpretive inferences - that is, do you integrate them within some overall focus?  And is what you say coherent?
  • Do you proceed by an intelligible (logical and relevant) organizational strategy?
  • Do we consistently see logical and insightful transitions?

    For explanation in detail, consult the extended version of these remarks.

  Return to the general page on Examinations.

  Suggestions, comments and questions are welcome.  Please send them to lyman@ksu.edu .

      Contents copyright © 2000 by Lyman A. Baker. 

Permission is granted for non-commercial educational use; all other rights reserved.

      This page last updated 18 February 2000.