How an English teacher Comes up with your Essay Grade

The name alone conjures up nightmares of countless students falling off the ladder of abstraction, spiraling down into the dark abyss to face their greatest fear. An 83. Many wonder if it’s even possible to rescale the teetering ladder once they reach rock bottom, for despite their best efforts, can they truly achieve above a 90? Find out in this inside look into your English teacher’s minds what makes a truly “exemplary essay”, and maybe, just maybe, you can finally scale the ladder.

Photo by Max Linton

Notorious for being one of the most subjectively graded courses at Middlesex, English at Middlesex often leaves students at a loss with the scores they receive on papers. Despite many sleepless nights, pages of annotations, and participation in class discussions, students remain frustrated with their grades as many fail to breach the surface of a 90, and celebratory comments leave them questioning where they went wrong. So, what does make a good essay?

The first thing that one must consider before approaching their essay is, unsurprisingly, a general idea of what they're trying to argue. However obvious it may seem, students often jump to flat, narrative arguments for their essay, simply because they are just easier. Requiring far less critical thinking, writing an essay based on the objective meaning of a text comes more naturally than pushing oneself to make some larger, more meaningful abstract claim about the impact of text as a whole, which can often be tricky to articulate and prove. So do teachers really prefer a clunkier yet more insightful argument to a perfectly articulated description of the text? The unanimous answer is yes. To put it most simply, Ms. Kennedy asserts that teachers “want to see originality and depth in your arguments,” not bland plot summary. Jecca Hutcheson, the head of Middlesex’s English Department, further argues that the basic standard for articulating one’s ideas has minute importance in relation to the true quality of the ideas themselves, for the “structural and logical elements of writing have been already so much absorbed that that aspect diminished in importance.” However, this isn't to say that one should write sloppy essays and spurn that part of the writing process, for Peggy Yoon claims that “those [abstract] ideas will only be persuasive if the student has a solid understanding of the facts of the text.” 

Not only will embracing a riskier argument lead to a more compelling essay that's objectively more enjoyable to write, but it will significantly raise your grade. Peggy argues that the cleverness of a students argument can outweigh the grammatical issues within their writing, for the “quality and originality of the ideas in one essay that may have some blue-sheet errors are so great that they merit a grade that is equivalent to or better than a polished, well-written essay.” Ms. Kennedy too asserts that an interesting argument is superior to a flashily written yet bland essay, as “most teachers would much rather read an essay that was 'clunkier' in terms of style, but full of interesting ideas and arguments, than an essay that sounds clever but isn't really saying anything substantive.” In general, teachers clearly want to see students push themselves to make more abstract, critical assertions about the text as opposed to producing a showy piece of writing that doesn't end up saying all that much.  

Although some may understand the expectations of abstraction within their essay, many are still at a loss when it comes to the grading system itself. With the variety of teaching styles between teachers, there often seems to be little standard when it comes to essay grades, and many believe that there is no true rubric teachers follow given the discrepancy between their grades. However, this is not the case; Peggy Yoon, a new teacher to Middlesex, goes as far as to argue that “compared [to] other departments where [she has] taught, Middlesex is [actually] very clear about writing standards.” Indeed, Ms. Kennedy claims that the Writers Workshop course that all students must pass sets a very clear standard for teacher’s expectations, for it “lays out what [teachers] look for in good writing, and gives [not only] students [but] faculty [as well] a common vocabulary around the elements of a good essay.” Despite some students speculating that their low grades come from some unknown personal vendetta their teachers have against them, Ms. Kennedy states that in fact much collaboration goes into the grading system, as teachers “spend a lot of time discussing approaches to grading as a whole department” as opposed to individually curating their own way of scoring papers. Almost all of the teachers I’ve spoken to all have one common qualm with students’ writing: their inability to form a cohesive argument that progresses throughout their work. So often does a student lead with a strong, abstract claim about the text, only for it to falter and dwindle in significance throughout their essay. Students should aim to start with a more basic claim about the text and build into their stronger more abstract argument later on, Kennedy suggests, for “one of the most common things students struggle with is developing a cogent argument over the course of a 5 paragraph essay. We are really looking for interesting and well-evidenced arguments.”

Ultimately, you're probably still wondering what exactly you need to do to achieve above a 90. My answer to you is “play the game”. Find out exactly what your teachers want to see in your writing, and play to those strengths. Despite there being general commonalities between what teachers expect to see in your writing, to truly excel on your essays you need to find out what specifically your teacher wants to see from you as not just their student, but as a critical thinker. To do this–however dreaded it may be–the best way to find out what your teacher wants is to just ask them. Although they're not going to supply you with a magic recipe for the perfect essay, simply asking them what they value in a student’s writing as well as what they don't want to see can be incredibly helpful for not only that one essay, but your semester at large. There is no “perfect essay,” but by exhibiting curiosity and a desire to improve, you're one step closer to that 90. So, if you happen to fall off the ladder of abstraction, don't just sit there amidst the gloom of the dreaded narrative essay, but pick yourself up, take risks, and ask your teacher for a hand. Happy climbing. 

Catherine Bain