SCORING FOR POSITION PAPERS

Assalaam alaikum brothers and sisters.
Welcome to our brand new blog.
First things first. In the class we have talked about a kind of assignment I prefer to call "Position Papers". These are topics I will assign from time to time about which you are expected to express your professional opinion. To give you an idea of the way I will grade these papers, I am going to follow the GRE format outlined below.
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THE GRE ANALYTICAL WRITING MEASURE
The statements that follow describe, for each score level, the overall quality of analytical writing demonstrated across both the Issue and Argument tasks. Because the test assesses critical thinking and analytical writing skills, the ability to reason, assemble evidence to develop a position, and communicate complex ideas weigh more heavily than the writer's control of fine points of grammar or the mechanics of writing (e.g., spelling).
SCORES 6 and 5.5 — Sustains insightful, in-depth analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with logically compelling reasons and/or highly persuasive examples; is well focused and well organized; skillfully uses sentence variety and precise vocabulary to convey meaning effectively; demonstrates superior facility with sentence structure and language usage but may have minor errors that do not interfere with meaning.
SCORES 5 and 4.5 — Provides generally thoughtful analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with logically sound reasons and/or well-chosen examples; is generally focused and well organized; uses sentence variety and vocabulary to convey meaning clearly; demonstrates good control of sentence structure and language usage but may have minor errors that do not interfere with meaning.
SCORES 4 and 3.5 — Provides competent analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with relevant reasons and/or examples; is adequately organized; conveys meaning with reasonable clarity; demonstrates satisfactory control of sentence structure and language usage but may have some errors that affect clarity.
SCORES 3 and 2.5 — Displays some competence in analytical writing, although the writing is flawed in at least one of the following ways: limited analysis or development; weak organization; weak control of sentence structure or language usage, with errors that often result in vagueness or lack of clarity.
SCORES 2 and 1.5 — Displays serious weaknesses in analytical writing. The writing is seriously flawed in at least one of the following ways: serious lack of analysis or development; lack of organization; serious and frequent problems in sentence structure or language usage, with errors that obscure meaning.
SCORES 1 and .5 — Displays fundamental deficiencies in analytical writing. The writing is fundamentally flawed in at least one of the following ways: content that is extremely confusing or mostly irrelevant to the assigned tasks; little or no development; severe and pervasive errors that result in incoherence.
SCORE 0 — The examinee's analytical writing skills cannot be evaluated because the responses do not address any part of the assigned tasks, are merely attempts to copy the assignments, are in a foreign language, or display only indecipherable text.