I won’t always be able to tell you why your essays don’t quite achieve the grades you want. Even after you respond well to feedback and make your essay grammatically correct, provide good sources, and make reasonable arguments, you might still not earn the highest grade. Writing beautifully and persuasively is more than a matter of following rules, and you may simply require more practice or more skill than can be achieved in a single semester.
Nobody wants to be told: “You just don’t sound as if you know what you’re talking about,” or: “You spend so much time proving the obvious there’s no room left for new insight,” but that may be the truth of the matter, and it may be the unspoken reason your grade didn’t improve as much as you hoped.
Following are some writing samples I hope will illustrate obvious differences in writing quality. The differences are enough to be worth a letter grade. These are relative values, of course, not absolutes. Not every writing course requires exactly this level of accomplishment for an A grade. Neither would the worst example necessarily earn a D grade in this course. Still, the comparisons should be helpful
A Grade
Reasonable claims, nicely transitioned to guide reader through a persuasive argument:
The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays enlisting in the army is just one example of the discriminatory laws that deny freedom of speech and expression to the homosexual community. Overturning that wrongheaded legislation as unconstitutional was a good first step toward awarding gays the equal rights a majority of Americans favor for them. It’s time for our government to stand up to religious zealots who oppress sexual minorities and to pass humane laws that grant all citizens their constitutional freedoms, such as the right to choose a spouse.
B Grade
Unconnected but reasonable declarations:
Denying same sex couples the right to marry is discriminatory. The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays enlisting in the army was an example of an unconstitutional rule because it took away the rights of freedom of speech and expression from the homosexual community. A majority of Americans favor gay marriage because it treats all citizens equally. Although religious groups may be against it, the government should make laws based on how the majority believes.
C Grade
Poorly connected unclear or contradictory claims:
A large percentage of American couples are same-sex couples. If heterosexual couples have the right to marry, then homosexual couples should have that right too. When the Army wanted to have a policy about “don’t ask, don’t tell,” they should have enforced that for heterosexual soldiers too and not just homosexuals because if one group has the right to express itself, then every group should have that right too. A majority of Americans favor gay marriage except for some very conservative religious groups who may be against it. We are a democracy that’s based on majority rules, so if a majority of Americans want equality for homosexuals, then that should be the law of the land for this great nation.
D Grade
No clear claims:
A large percentage of Americans are homosexuals, or at least they’re willing to say they are. Nobody should be allowed to tell them that they can’t serve in the Army if they’re brave enough to go to war, so it’s not fair to make them admit to being gay because it’s not relevant to their ability to serve as soldiers. The Army’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy would probably not be passed by a majority of Americans because most Americans know somebody who is gay and they don’t have prejudice against them. The religious groups don’t like “don’t ask, don’t tell” because they think if gay soldiers are allowed to be in the Army, then who can say whether they would create problems for the other soldiers? And not just whether they would be brave enough to be in combat; we have to wonder how they would behave when there was no actual fighting.
I hope the value differences among these samples are obvious, and that you feel inspired by the differences to strive for the most specific, most logical, most persuasive writing to achieve your goal—not better grades, but an enhanced ability to get what you want from people by persuading them.
I don’t know any better way to demonstrate the difference between essays that earn different grades than to provide examples like this.
Please evaluate the effectiveness of this illustration with a Reply below. Thank you.
The Gamer 2.0
SleepyCat
Coffee Lover 03
doglover7025
Snowman10
excellentstudent27
Gymrat
hockeyfan
holistic25
ilovebeesss
ilovemydog
The Gamer
Naturechild101
BreakingBad45
ravensfan8
temporal111
thatpersonoverthere
toetio
username1132005
Calm&Patient
webbwrestler135
Counterintuitive Spring 2024 
This post is very helpful to distinguish between different qualities of writing. It provides solid examples on what is to be expected to receive certain grades.
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Good to hear, caspertheghost.
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This is a decent method of distinguishing the requirements for a good grade. It is similar to a side by side chart in some ways. I like it, though, it probably takes a while to set up for demonstration. Three of these set up in columns would work very well as a representation.
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I have produced such a chart, cypher, just for you.
Grade Levels PDF
I’ve also placed a link in the sidebar under the section heading: Handouts.
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Woa, thank you. Is “woa” an acceptable exclamation?
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Perfectly acceptable. Usually spelled whoa. You’re welcome, of course.
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Very effective, it shows that bold claims and clear, organized progression produce a quality paragraph. Without having a clear stance, the paragraph fails to create a strong argument.
-YouDontKnowWhoIAm
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That sounds right to me, YouDontKnowWhoIAm.
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It is helpful! Other comparisons are usually between 2 polar opposite pieces on the same topic, however, this progression of 4 different pieces helps with showing the relationships between good connections and good claims. Thank You!
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Even with four stages, I found the steps between were large, thegreatestpenn. Writing is truly distinguished by small nuances.
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The post is very effective at illustrating the differences between certain grade levels. I’ll be sure to reference this when writing my own posts to make sure my writing is as accurate as possible. The topic featured in the example paragraphs is a current and relevant one so understanding the difference between each level is more obvious.
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That’s an interesting point, cpt. We do find it easier to distinguish argument quality when the writing is on contemporary topics.
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Yes, this was very effective. I was able to reflect back on my own writing and reconsider how I phrase some of my sentences.
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I’m glad to hear you plan to use it as a tool, tagf.
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Bringing example of what we should aim when we are writing is a very effective way to let us know when we are not following a strong writing process, thank you.
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I think you must mean, “Providing examples of what we should aim at,” albert.
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This illustration was very helpful and I will refer back to it when needed. This will improve my writing in the future.
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I’m glad to hear you plan to use it as a tool, qdoba.
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this was very helpful
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good
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Yes, most writing teachers I have previously had never really displayed what a good paper looked like. The fact that it seemed like an actual example from a paper and whether or not the arguments were clear helped greatly.
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A version of the material truly did come from a student essay, entendu, but by now it’s unrecognizable. The best version still leaves much to be desired. I didn’t want it so polished that it was intimidating.
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Yes, i think this is very helpful to gauge how much effort we should put into each assignment.
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That’s an interesting response, moneytrees. I hope with practice, you’ll be able to produce high quality work without excessive effort. Fluency does become much easier with practice.
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This will be helpful to know what you are looking for. The grading codes confuse me and I’m not really sure how I am doing. Reading these and knowing what you want helps!
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The grading codes are meant to be completely opaque, skyblue, intelligible only to me, merely a signal to you that a grade has been recorded. I’ll be happy to decipher them for you at a grade conference at any time. Meanwhile, I’m glad the examples are helpful to you.
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This seems like an effective method of distinguishing what an ‘A’ essay looks like compared to a ‘B’, ‘C’, or ‘D’ essay. It’s more efficient than a grading rubric because it gives examples.
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Thanks, madewithrealginger. I agree about rubrics. I’ve never written one I really liked. They seem to cause more disputes than necessary too.
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Yes its a good way to determine a good essay from a bad one and what a good essay looks like
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Do you agree with the ranking?
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Yes, this is very helpful. The samples you provided show a clear and concise understanding and the difference between good and bad writing.
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The hard part is distinguishing the differences in our own writing, juggler. I hope this will help.
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I found that the illustration was very effective in showing the class what type of effort we need to put into our assignments
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That’s an interesting response, hashmeesh. I hope with practice, you’ll be able to produce high quality work without excessive effort. Fluency does become much easier with practice. (I think you must mean what amount of effort, not what type of effort.)
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Even though it was helpful I still don’t understand many points you are trying to make about having an effective argument. I don’t really understand why I don’t exactly understand but it just god over my head. i appreciate the illustration though.
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I’m uncomfortable knowing that the samples don’t work for you, betterthanyou. I’ll be happy to clarify as much as I can. Do you have more trouble seeing the difference between D and C, or between B and A?
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