Most Common Assessment Marks on Graded Essays

Use this as a key for understanding your own graded essays as well as for assessing your peers’ drafts.

Composition

awkward wording means that you could choose more clear, specific, direct, and efficient wording to express this thought

keep verb tenses

consistent means that you have switched tenses within this section or paragraph, without a clear reason for doing so

unclear wording/

sentence structure means that your wording or your sentence structure is obscuring what you want to say

vague means that you need to choose more specific wording to express this thought clearly

diction means that you’ve chosen wording that might sound or look like what you intended, but is actually an incorrect term; also could refer to word choice that is incompatible with the level of formality you have established in the essay (e.g., using a highly informal or slang term in a formal paper)

awkward

construction means that your sentence could be put together in a more efficient, clear, and organized way

imprecise means that you could choose more precise wording that says what you mean more exactly, directly, and efficiently

rambling means that your sentence or paragraph is starting to wander away from its original focus, and it’s taking a lot of words to do so

rough transition means that you need to lead into this next sentence or point more smoothly, in part by using transitional words to indicate that we’re moving on or to show how the next point is related to the previous one

avoid passive voice means that you need to use the active voice instead of the passive, so that it’s clear who is completing the action/who is in control

wordy means that you could eliminate some unnecessary words and still make your point just as (or even more) clearly

¶ org/dev means that your paragraph needs to be rearranged into a more logical order, that your sentences are not clearly connected to one another and moving your discussion forward, or that your material could be grouped into several separate paragraphs to increase coherence

needs tighter

focus means that your essay tends to stray from its main thesis or compositional plan, and that you need to make sure that all of your points relate to that controlling idea

sentences not

clearly connected means that the sentences within your paragraph don’t have an obvious relationship in terms of the point you’re making; perhaps some transitional words are missing, or the sentences need to be regrouped or rearranged, or even some of them eliminated

tell me more means this is an interesting idea, but you haven’t told me enough about it; I want to hear more!

be more specific means that you’re onto something here, but you need to show me more explicit or concrete examples for it to be fully convincing

finish the thought means that you’ve almost developed your idea fully, but you’ve left off the last part; you’ve made it clear where we’re heading, but you leave the conclusion unstated

explain means that this idea is interesting, but you need to give more information to make it clearer

develop this further means that you’ve got a good line on a very important point, but you need to push your thoughts further and explore the implications of what you’ve said

Grammar

s/v agreement means that your subject and your verb do not agree in number (single subject takes a single verb, plural subject takes a plural verb)

he walk_ (he walks)

they has (they have)

pronoun agreement means that your subject and the subsequent pronoun do not agree in number (e.g., “the author”… “they”—should be “the author”… “s/he”; “the students”…”they”)

split infinitive means that you have separated the two parts of the infinitive form of the verb, which always should stay together

to quickly go (to go quickly)

to really want (really to want)

sentence fragment means that you have left a clause or a phrase to stand alone as a sentence

Because he wanted to go. Really badly.

comma splice means that you have joined two complete sentences with a comma instead of separating them with a period or a semi-colon

I like milk, it’s really good to drink.

run-on means that you have combined two complete sentences instead of separating them with the appropriate “stop” punctuation (usually a period or a semi-colon)

I like milk it’s really good to drink.

keep s and v

together means that you have separated your subject and your verb, usually with a descriptive word or phrase

We, since the weather is so nice, want to go to the park.

(Since the weather is so nice, we want to go to the park.)

parallelism means that you’ve constructed a series of clauses differently within the same sentence; use the same verb forms or phrase structures for all elements of the sentence

When he felt confident, he was very happy; when feeling insecure, he was miserable.

(When he felt confident, he was very happy; when he felt insecure, he was miserable.)

misplaced

modifier means that you have placed a clause or a phrase so that it appears to modify or describe something besides what you intend

You can call your mother and tell her about buying all your textbooks for this semester for only 60 cents.

(For only 60 cents, you can call your mother and tell her about buying all your textbooks for this semester.)