Humanities Core Course
Grading Rubric for Writing

Letter Grades	Content	Citation	Context	Connections	Communication	Conclusions
A	well-chosen examples; uses specific facts, details, quotations, or paraphrases of sources effectively; shows a sophisticated understanding of the image's genre.	uses scholarly categories and conventions; identifies the source of the image by indicating the creator, the title, the date of composition, the medium, and the place where the original is located (museum, archive, etc.); documents any books, websites, or articles used; goes beyond the websites recommended by and created by Professor Moeller. In many cases the place of composition and the size of the original image will be important information to be included as well.	anticipates a scholarly reader's questions about historical information, explanation, and context; elaborates upon interesting aspects of the intended audience for the image that are also highly relevant to the text of the article.	logical connections between ideas are evident; relevance to a spectific section of the encyclopedia article clear; makes implicit claims in the article explicit; takes the added step of having consistency and coherence among the notes as a whole, which describe a range of images that complement the text and each other.	identifies the implicit social and political assumptions made by the creator of the image, which are expressed in specific details that the reader can easily see in the reproduction; shows how the image represents the philosophy or ideology of a particular group of media-creators or artists, perhaps by drawing on their public statements. (Media may include family photos, news photos, advertisements, film stills, etc.)	has clear and cogent analysis: ideas often insightful; goes beyond ideas discussed in lecture or class.
B	includes explicit major points with appropriate evidence and supporting detail; may have left minor terms undefined; shows a clear understanding of the distinctive features of the image's genre.	uses academic categories and conventions; identifies salient details about the source of the image; documents any books, websites, or articles used; goes beyond the websites created by Professor Moeller.	addresses an academic reader's obvious questions about historical information, explanation, and context; decribes specific aspects of the intended audience for the image that are relevant to the article.	pursues explanation consistently; clear connections between ideas within the explanatory note and to the appropriate section of the encyclopedia article; provides a range of images that illustrate different themes, media, kinds of creators, etc.	identifies explicit biases represented by specific details in the image; shows how the image illustrates the general ideas of a group of media-creators or artists.	shows a good understanding of texts, images, ideas, and methods; goes beyond the obvious.
C	some ideas and generalizations undeveloped or unsupported; makes limited use of evidence; correctly identifies the genre of the image.	cites the original source even if the image came from the websites created by Professor Moeller.	addresses the reader's needs for basic historical information, explanation, and context, but may have difficulty identifying the original intended audience of the image and the conditions under which it was created.	connection to a particular section of the article may be clear but not appear entirely natural; contains extraneous information warrants missing; may repeat types of images or themes.	explains how this image represents the messages of a group of media-creators or artists or an artistic school or trend.	shows an understanding of the basic ideas and information involved; may have one minor factual or conceptual inconsistency
D	simplistic, tends to narrate or merely summarize; wanders from one topic to another; incorrectly identifies the genre of the image.	only cites URLs to Professor Moeller's websites as the source of the image and copies information from his sites.	provides historical information that is only indirectly related to the article.	connection to a particular section of the article not clear; illogical arrangement of ideas; frequently only narrates; digresses from one topic to another without developing ideas or terms; little variety in images or too much unexplained contrast.	illogical explanation of the rhetorical message of the image.	may have some factual, interpretive, or conceptual errors
F	explanation of the image is too short or too long; disobeys the rules about sources and types of images.	no citation to indicate the source of the image; plagiarizes phrases or sentences.	historical information not relevant to the article; chooses a secondary rather than a primary source to illustrate the article or one from the wrong time or place.	incoherent paragraph; connection to the article not clear; suggests poor planning or no serious revision; may list disjointed facts or misinformation.	ignores the fact that the image might convey a general message.	shows inadequate command of course materials or has significant factual and conceptual errors.