Distinguished—You have clearly put extensive thought into how you have arranged and developed the layers of thought presented in your essay so that your reader is able to unpeel your insights, little by little.

Proficient—Your essay is reasonably well-organized, but there is not an elegance to how you structure your ideas and thus there is less impact for the reader.

Needs Improvement—You have not done a careful job setting up your argument and its supporting ideas; your essay feels rushed and disordered.

Distinguished—You demonstrate a solid capacity to integrate ideas from your observations/experiences with the course readings/discussions so as to create provocative and thoughtful assertions/insights.

Proficient—Your essay demonstrates several interesting insights and connections that tie together the course readings/discussions with your observations in intriguing ways.

Needs Improvement—You provide one or two interesting insights but generally do not do enough to interpret your experiences in insightful ways.

Distinguished—Your paper is very well-proofread, and your writing demonstrates a maturity with regard to your diction and syntax.

Proficient—Your paper has only a few errors in grammar and/or syntax. The writing is straightforward and solid but not especially elegant or refined.

Needs Improvement—Your paper has several errors in grammar and/or syntax. It does not seem to have been especially well-proofread.

Distinguished—You use a range of  readings/references and consistently and properly reference them.

Proficient—Your essay incorporates readings/references, but either it uses too many direct quotes—instead of paraphrases—and/or does not consistently and properly cite these references.

Needs Improvement—You do not use a sufficient number of readings/references to make your argument and/or you do not properly cite any references that you do use.