Assessment Criteria for Essay

GRADE	CONTENT	ARGUMENT	STRUCTURE	LANGUAGE	STYLE
FIRST 70+	Thorough understanding demonstrated. Comprehensive range of relevant evidence used, demonstrating independent study and extensive reading beyond set texts and/or reading list.	Sound grasp of the relevant variables involved with an insightful and creative analysis. Demonstrable objectivity in presentation of various perspectives.	Clear, cohesive, coherent and focused throughout. Target length respected within margin of +/- 5%	Evidence of fluency. Demonstrates excellent command of a wide range of lexical and grammatical structure.	Sensitivity to an application of appropriate register. Excellent use of citation and referencing conventions.
Upper Second 60-69%	Good understanding of all key issues and wider implications. Breadth in examples and evidence used without any major omissions. Evidence of extended reading. Excellent in some areas or of high quality in all.	Clear and convincing analysis and comment with relevant support.	Coherent and logical overall. Target length respected within margin of +/- 5%	Precise and accurate use of English overall with some sophisticated use of sentence structure.	Very good use of appropriate register. Very good referencing.
Lower Second 50-59%	Sound understanding of basis principles and main issues. Appropriate material but little evidence of extended reading, possibly some omissions. Low quality in at least one area.	Recognisable and basically sound argument, although conventional. Some evidence of analysis and/or synthesis	Clearly presented but more work needed on development. Fairly close to target length respected (within margin of +/- 15%)	Efficient command of English despite few errors (punctuation, spelling, grammar).	Some evidence of appropriate register. Clear and consistent use of referencing.
Third 40-49%	General knowledge demonstrated but with skeletal coverage of basic material. Superficial and of low quality in a number of areas.	Analysis limited in depth, breadth and support for arguments.	Adequately presented and generally logical but progression of ideas and links between them not made explicit.	Fairly adequate command of English but some errors (punctuation, spelling, grammar).	Some fairly adequate use of appropriate register. Some evidence of reference.
Fail <40	Key issues not identified, Some inaccuracies or omissions in data; inappropriate material. Facts wildly inaccurate, highly irrelevant or out of date.	Largely descriptive with poor analysis or none.	Argument sketchy and disorganised with loose ends. Target length wildly off target (> +/- 25%)	Frequently hard to understand what is being said. Errors (punctuation, spelling, grammar) seriously impair communication of message.	No awareness of register. Poor referencing or none.