question archive The cause/effect essay tries to discover the connections between events, in terms of causes, results, or consequences
The cause/effect essay tries to discover the connections between events, in terms of causes, results, or consequences
Subject:WritingPrice: Bought3
The cause/effect essay tries to discover the connections between events, in terms of causes, results, or consequences. You may think about a causal relationship by considering some familiar word combinations: If . . . then; Because of . . . the result was, or the problem . . . could be solved by. However, you must not confuse coincidence or chronological sequence with evidence; this is called post hoc fallacy (believing that the action/event that follows is automatically caused by the first action/event). Also, you must look for causes or effects that go beyond the obvious; be careful not to oversimplify.
Essay Rubric
This rubric is for all essays written in the class (except the argumentation/persuasive essay).
| Excellent (A) | Good (B) | Satisfactory (C) | Poor (D) | Unacceptable (F) | |
| CONTENT | A significant central idea, clearly defined and supported with concrete, substantial, and consistently relevant detail. | A central idea, defined and supported with concrete and mostly relevant detail. | Central idea apparent but trivial, or trite, or too general; supported with concrete detail, but detail that is occasionally repetitious, irrelevant, or sketchy. | Central idea lacking or confused, or only minimally supported with relevant detail. | Central idea is not apparent, or unsupported by relevant details. |
| ORGANIZATION: Rhetorical and Logical Development |
Theme planned so that it progresses by clearly ordered and necessary stages and developed with originality and consistent attention to proportion and emphasis; paragraphs coherent, unified, and effectively developed; transitions between paragraphs explicit and effective. | Theme planned so that it progresses by ordered and necessary stages and developed with some originality with usually consistent attention to proportion and emphasis; paragraphs coherent, unified, and usually effectively developed; transitions between paragraphs are mostly effective. | Plan and method of theme apparent but not consistently fulfilled; developed with only occasional disproportion or inappropriate emphasis; paragraphs unified, coherent, usually effective in their development; transitions between paragraphs clear but abrupt, mechanical, or monotonous. | Plan and purpose of theme somewhat apparent; developed with irrelevance, redundancy, or inconsistency; paragraphs somewhat incoherent, not unified, or only minimally developed; transitions between paragraphs unclear or ineffective. | Plan and purpose of theme not apparent; undeveloped or completely irrelevant; paragraphs incoherent, not unified, or undeveloped; no transitions between paragraphs. |
| ORGANIZATION: Sentence Structure | Sentences skillfully constructed (unified, coherent, forceful, effectively varied). | Sentences typically skillfully constructed (unified, coherent, varied). May have one structural error. | Sentences usually correctly constructed but lacking distinction. May have two to three structural errors. | Some sentences not unified, incoherent, fused, incomplete, monotonous, or overly simplistic. May have four structural errors. | Several sentences not unified, incoherent, fused, incomplete, monotonous, or overly simplistic. Has five or more structural errors. |
| DICTION | Distinctive: fresh, precise, economical, and idiomatic; completely appropriate tone for essay. | Satisfactory: mostly precise and idiomatic, but may have one to two examples of informal language, or inappropriate tone for essay. | Appropriate: usually clear and idiomatic, but some inappropriate language or tone (3 errors). | Somewhat appropriate: some language is vague, unidiomatic, or substandard; moderate inclusion of inappropriate language or tone (4 errors). | Inappropriate: language is vague, unidiomatic, or substandard; includes 5 or more errors of inappropriate language or tone. |
| GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION, SPELLING | Clarity and effectiveness of expression promoted by consistent use of standard grammar, punctuation, and spelling. | Clarity and effectiveness of expression promoted by usually consistent use of standard grammar, punctuation, and spelling; minor errors. | Clarity and effectiveness of expression weakened by occasional deviations from standard grammar, punctuation, and spelling. | Clarity and effectiveness of expression weakened by multiple deviations from standard grammar, punctuation, and spelling. | Communication obscured by frequent deviations from standard grammar, punctuation, and spelling. |
| MAJOR ERRORS | No major errors. | Not more than one major error. | Not more than two major errors. | Not more than three major errors. | Four or more major errors . |
