Using Rubrics
What is a rubric?
Basically, a rubric is a set of criteria. There are two main types of rubrics we use in the department:
The first one identifies qualitative features of letter grades (A+ through F) or the qualitative features of numerical grades. These are mainly used by the instructor and teaching assistants (and are not distributed to students) to help ensure consistent grading standards and practices. This category can include detailed rubrics for grading papers to an informal rubric for marking homework questions or low stakes assignments.
excerpt from a qualitative grading rubric
The second type of rubric is used mainly in Phil 100W and Phil 120W, although it can be adapted for use in other courses and assignments. This type of rubric is used in providing feedback for written assignments and is usually made available to students prior to an assignment deadline. It identifies key content/structural and stylistic features of a philosophy paper. The rubric can be general, or can be tailored to a particular assignment. The use of a rubric will be more successful in a course when the same one is used by all TAs, and the rubric is maintained (with minor changes, if tailored to the assignment) throughout the duration of the course.
excerpt from a general rubric, with paper features on the left and space for comments on the right
excerpt from an assignment-specific rubric with a qualitative assessment
The following section deals principally with the second type of rubric identified above, that used for feedback for essays.
Advantages of using a rubric
There are good reasons to use a rubric. From a student's perspective, a rubric identifies key features of a philosophy paper and key features of a good response to a particular assignment. It provides a consistent set of criteria across assignments, allowing the student to develop skills and build competence in philosophical writing.
From a TA's perspective, a rubric can help to simplify and streamline the process of feedback and evaluation. A key assessment of strengths and weaknesses can be provided with relative ease, and the same features are assessed across student papers, helping to ensure consistency.
How to use a rubric
The key point to remember about using a rubric is to make it work for you. It is a more effective use of your time to read through the paper first and then fill out the rubric. Don't belabor or spend a lot of time assessing each point or category on a rubric. Remember that a rubric helps to provide a "snapshot" view of an assignment, and helps a student to focus efforts for revision.
For rubrics that provide a qualitative scale for each category, simply provide a checkmark or circle the appropriate assessment word (depending on the rubric layout) and give 2 - 3 suggestions to begin revision at the bottom of the rubric or on the paper. To connect your comments with examples from the student's work, you can reference page numbers/sections in the paper, or make reference to rubric sections in your margin comments.
For rubrics that provide space for comments on different categories, be selective in what you choose to comment on. Don't feel that you need to comment on each point; the detail is there to help the student identify key requirements of the assignment. Use qualitative words (ex. good,on track, needs work etc.) where appropriate, and combine categories for comment where appropriate. As with the qualitative scale rubric, it is helpful to provide examples to illustrate your comments by referring students to the appropriate section in their papers.
Other tips on using rubrics
- Don't forget to write the student's name and tutorial number on the rubric
- Staple the rubric to the paper
- If you have trouble writing, an electronic version of the rubric is usually available. Be sure to ask your course supervisor at the beginning of the semester.
- Rubrics can be filled out in pencil (just make sure to write grades, if applicable, in pen).
- Avoid using red pen if possible