Sociology essay grading rubric

Here you can see the steps used to create two kinds of rubric: one for problems in a physics exam for a small, upper-division physics course, and another for an essay assignment in a large, lower-division sociology course. In STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), assignments tend to be analytical and problem-based.

Decide what rubric you will use (e.g., holistic or analytic, and how many points). Apply the holistic rubric by marking comments and sorting the students’ assignments into stacks (e.g., five stacks if using a five-point scale). Finally, check the stacks for consistency and mark the scores.

With the assistance of an instructional support team that included a GSI teaching consultant and a UC Berkeley librarian [b], sociology lecturer Mary Kelsey developed the following assignment: Write a seven- to eight-page essay in which you make an argument about the relationship between social factors and educational opportunity.

The essay has a detailed conclusion restating the thesis or main points and wrapped up the paper satisfactorily. The reader is fully convinced by the author's argument. The paper lacks internal paragraph coherence. Some ideas do not relate to the thesis and/or a few paragraphs lack topic sentences.