Grading Essays

How do I grade papers/essays?

When grading papers/essays, use the following four-step process:
When the assignment is given:
-Figure out what the purpose of the assignment is, and generate grading criteria based upon that purpose.
-Share the criteria you decide upon with your students: hand it out in class, and post it on your door.
-Provide models of your grading criteria to your students.
When the assignments are turned in:
-Quickly overview a percentage of the papers to get an overall sense of how the group did on the assignment.
-Skim some papers that you feel are representative of the range of quality in the student work.
-Use these papers to start four piles: High, Medium High, Medium Low, and Low.
Digging into the grading:
-Always use a pencil on your first run through: as you develop your sense of how the students did, you will probably go back and fine-tune the papers you graded first!
-Having separated the papers into piles (high, medium, low : not letter grades yet), do an initial read through and assign a preliminary, holistic grade based upon a general impression of the work. Don't get bogged down in details yet, short of marking a plus (+) or minus (-) in the margins next to issues that strike you.
-Now re-read each paper for how it addresses the criteria you identified for the assignment. Two papers may address the same criteria differently. Focus first on what the paper does, before you get to what it doesn't. After a sympathetic read, give it a critical read, marking up the paper to the level that you feel comfortable with.
Marking up the papers:
-Interactive grading poses questions and presents problems the student needs to resolve. For example: "Is this (x) what you mean? How does this connect to your main point?"

Teaching Effectiveness Program
University of Oregon

The Messages We Send (To Our Teaching Assistants)

• Developing Assignments. Some professors prefer to write their own exams and/or paper assignments, whereas others like to collaborate with their TAs in crafting questions. No matter how the assignments are developed, professors should explain the rationale to their TAs. Is the central goal having students use primary documents? Is it to assess their command of the readings? Is it to see how well they apply particular theories to problem sets? Is it to test their knowledge of particular facts? If so, which ones? Why? This kind of information is helpful for TAs developing their own teaching practice and trying to assist students in their sections.

• Assessment. Teaching Assistants are expected to do the vast majority of grading, but professors can provide invaluable assistance by helping establish grading standards and supporting TAs in cases of appeal. Some professors provide TAs with an answer key or a detailed grading rubric to help ease the grading burden, whereas others prefer to meet with their TAs over pizza and grade some exams together. Not only do TAs feel more supported by their professor in these situations, but they can be more confident that their messages to undergraduates reflect the messages the professor wants sent.

From The Messages We Send, Sarah Manekin, University of Pennsylvania