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Establishing Standards and Criteria

Many GSIs like to give their students a statement of their grading philosophy, together with a sample set of criteria for each grade range. Even if you prefer not to do so, you should take the time to think about how you grade and why, and about the criteria that you use in giving each of the grades. Having clear criteria not only saves you time when grading, but it also helps to make the grading process more consistent, enables you to explain very clearly to students both what you expect from them and what they can expect from you, and helps students to understand why you have given them a certain grade and how their work might be improved. It also enables you to clearly diagnose students' strengths and weaknesses, and thereby to focus on improving the appropriate areas more effectively.

You should also think about your policies on correct grammar and usage, late papers, revision, contesting grades, extra credit assignments, and so forth. Standards and criteria are personal, but it can be helpful to look at what may have been developed by colleagues in your discipline. It is also important to discuss your standards and criteria with any other GSIs teaching the same course to ensure that grading is consistent between sections. Here is a sample from a Philosophy GSI:

What Your Grade Means

A-range:
Papers: excellent exposition, clearly and concisely written, well-argued, AND contains good original input from the student.
Exams: answers all parts of the question clearly and concisely. Shows good knowledge and good understanding of the material. Well argued. Where required, contains good original input from the student.
B-range:
Papers: good exposition, but lacks clarity and concision, or doesn't have much original input, or offers poor support for important claims. (For instance, a truly excellent expository paper will earn you a B+; a fuzzy but accurate one will earn you a B-).
Exams: Shows a good knowledge and fairly good understanding of the material but either fails to answer some parts of the question or is unclear or is poorly argued.
C-range:
Papers: fails to understand some aspects of the material, or is very unclearly written.
Exams: doesn't show a good knowledge of the material or fails to understand
some important parts of it or does not answer a significant portion of the question.
D-range:
Very problematical. [If you receive this grade, come and see me to discuss what went wrong and how we can avoid it happening again.]
F:
Papers: did not submit a paper; plagiarized material; made no effort to understand the material or shows no sign of having read it.
Exams: did not sit the exam; cheated in the exam; made no effort to understand the material or shows no sign of having read it; completely failed to answer the question.

Policies

Anonymity: To make grades as fair as possible, I grade papers and exams anonymously. This means that I will not look at the name on a paper or exam until after I have given it a grade. In order to make this easier, you should write your name etc. on a cover sheet attached to your paper rather than on the top of the first page of the paper itself. Likewise, do not write your name on each page of your exam; it is sufficient to write it on the cover of your blue book.

Regrades: (What to do if you think that you have received an unfair grade)

GSIs sometimes make mistakes when they are grading papers, quizzes and exams. If you feel that your GSI has made a mistake, you should ask him or her to regrade your paper.

Here is my policy on regrades:

1. I will not accept papers for regrading in the three days following their return to you. The reason for this delay is to give you time to read and think about my comments. Very often students find that comments which don't make sense the first time around, become clearer when they've thought about them for a while or reread assigned reading, lecture notes, etc.

2. Once you have read and thought about any comments on your paper, you have two options:

    • Come to office hours to discuss your paper and my comments on it in greater detail;
    • and/or submit your paper for regrading.

3. To have your paper regraded, you must resubmit it to me together with a WRITTEN explanation of why you think that your initial grade is unfair and ought to be changed. I will only accept papers for regrading if they are accompanied by a written explanation from the student.

Finally, please remember that when a paper is regraded it is reassessed from scratch. This means that a regrade could result in a grade that is lower than your initial grade rather than higher. If this happens then you MUST accept the lower grade. (However, if your initial grade was mistaken, your grade will be raised without penalty, quibble, invoking my undying hatred, etc., so don't suffer in silence.)

Papers, Dates, and Extensions
  1. All papers should be checked for errors in spelling and grammar before submission. Papers with a large number of errors will be returned unread.
  2. Papers that are received after the due date will incur a late penalty.
  3. Papers that are received on the due date but after the due time will receive the same penalty as papers that are received a day late.
  4. It is the student's responsibility to see that their GSI receives their paper on time. If in doubt, students should double check with their GSI that the paper has been received. This is especially important if the paper has been submitted by a third party or by email.
  5. Students must keep a copy of their paper and be prepared to submit it to their GSI on request.
  6. All extensions must be arranged at least 3 days in advance and students must be prepared to document their reasons for requesting an extension.
  7. Late papers will only be accepted with a valid, documented, excuse. Sick friends, football games, hangovers, elderly computers, flooded apartments, colds, hayfever, and "I didn't get around to it yet" do not constitute valid excuses, however well documented.

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