Evaluation Criteria

The following are general criteria for submitting written work--not all components necessarily apply to all assignments. See the specific grading rubric and guidelines for each assignment for more clarification.

Category	Strong	Good	OK	Weak
Clearly Stated Thesis	Clear, focused, and specifies central problem to be explored	Focused and specific	Vague and not relevant to topic	None
Organization	Information in logical, interesting sequence which reader can follow.	Author presents information in logical sequence which reader can follow.	Reader has difficulty following work because author jumps around.	Sequence of Information is difficult to follow.
Content & Knowledge, Critical Thinking	Author demonstrates full knowledge (more than required).	Author is at ease with content, but fails to elaborate.	Author is uncomfortable with content and is able to demonstrate basic concepts.	Author does not have grasp of information; author cannot answer questions about the subject.
Grammar, Spelling, and Neatness	Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors. Work is neatly done.	Presentation has no more than two misspellings and/or grammatical errors. Work has one or two areas that are sloppy.	Presentation has three misspellings and/or grammatical errors. Work has three or four areas that are sloppy.	Work has four or more spelling and/or grammatical errors. Work is basically illegible
Use of Wiki Tools: image, links, etc.	Creative use of images and hyper-links integrated into presentation.	Good use of images and links, but treated as "add-ons."	A few relevant hyperlinks, but no focus on developing an online presentation.	Limited--no real effort to explore the wiki functionality
Bibliography	ASA format (full version), and three sociological sources beyond assigned class readings and notes.	Bibliography included, but not ASA and/or only two outside source, as well as corrected referenced class materials.	Attempt at including bibliographic references, but only one sources beyond required readings and notes	No bibliography or outside sources
Appropriate use/integration and citation of sources	Work displays the correct number of references, appropriately integrated into the essay.	Citations and integration of source material was completed correctly, but limited development.	Work does not have the appropriate number of required references and/or has minimal integration of outside sources	Work displays no citations or use of outside sources.

Source: Till, Karen. Project Two Grading Criteria, Geography 1301. Department of Geography, University of Minnesota. 02 Jan 2003.

The student developing critical thinking skills does the following:

1. Identifies and summarizes the problem/question at issue
2. Identifies and presents the students' own hypothesis, perspective and position as it is important to the analysis of the issue
3. Identifies and considers other salient perspectives and positions that are important to the analysis.
4. Identifies and assesses the key assumptions
5. Identifies and assesses the quality of supporting data/evidence and provides additional data/evidence related to the issue.
6. Identifies and considers the influence of the context * on the issue.
7. Identifies and assesses conclusions, implications and consequences.

Source: Judith V. Boettcher, Judith. (judith@designingforlearning.info). "E-Coaching Tip 27: A Rubric for Analyzing Critical Thinking." http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/tips/tip27.html. (accessed: December 31, 2009).