Evaluating Writing (Part 2)

Evaluating Writing
by Sandy Larsen
Part 2

In the first part of this article, we looked at what to do first when your student hands in a piece of writing. I urged you to put your evaluation of the mechanics on hold for a bit, and read through the writing several times, paying attention to your overall impressions.

Now we will move from general impressions to impressions which are more specific, but which still take in the writing as a whole. Consider the following aspects of writing and try to size up how well your young writer succeeded at each of them. Keep in mind that a first draft will almost always fall short in many of these areas. The categories will help you identify where the student should spend the most effort to improve.

Purpose: Does the writing have a clear purpose? Could a reader who didn’t know the assignment tell why the writer wrote it? If the purpose of the writing is not clear, maybe the purpose of the writer was not clear.

Scope: Is the topic of the writing realistic for the length of the piece, neither too broad nor too narrow? An awkward scope is often rooted in the assignment itself. If the student has been asked to cover the Vietnam War in two pages, then the assignment itself needs help. Either narrow down the assignment or expand the length of the paper and the time the student has to complete it.

Focus: Does the writing stay on track and stick with its main subject? Did the writer resist the temptation to take side trips? Fuzzy focus and wandering writing often reveal that the writer was undecided about his focus or even changed focus in the middle of the paper.

Organization: Are the ideas presented in a reasonable order? As you read, can you stay with the writer and not get confused? Writers have various ways to organize their thoughts. Encourage your young writer to make lists, charts, idea maps, outlines or whatever organizational method works best. (From my own experience, it is not always possible to organize my ideas before I write a first draft. I usually have to write first and organize later.)

Details: Are there sufficient details, but not so many that the writing bogs down? Does the writer tell you enough small stuff to make the big ideas come alive? Can you still see the big ideas among all the small stuff?

Tone: Does the writer’s tone generally fit the subject matter? For example, a serious subject should not be treated flippantly. A scientific report should not be full of casual language.

Variety: Is there a refreshing variety of sentence length and structure? If you read the piece aloud, the writing should sound energetic, without a singsong monotony.

Innovation: Are there sparks of originality and creativity?

Expectations: Does the writing come up to, or even exceed, what you have come to expect from your student?

After you have evaluated your student’s writing based on those categories and any others which seem appropriate, evaluate the mechanics of the work separately. Then you can offer your young writer two grades, one for the mechanics and one for the meat of the writing itself.

Sandy Larsen is a professional freelance writer and an author of Igniting Your Writing! and Igniting Your Writing II, both available through CurrClick.