Rubric: Treasure Hunt Answers

To really understand the comments and critiques you will get back on your essays, you have to know the "coding system" used on rubric and what each comment means. Those things checked in the "Unsatisfactory" are the things you need to work most on (either revising or editing) in order to have the essay meet college-wide standards for credit-level essay skills.

Additionally, the you can see on the rubric what your essay strengths are.

Below are the shorthand comment found on our rubrics, but I have added the definitions/word that each represents. These editing symbols are part of Category 3: Grammar, Usage, Mechanics, and Punctuation:

MAJOR ERRORS  (these errors show a lack in clear sentence structure, so they make for very unclear thoughts)

INCO=incoherent (something in the sentence just doesn't make sense, due to poor sentence structure, word choice, poor logic, or a mix of multiple errors that makes the sentence not able to be understood)

FRAG=a fragment (incomplete thought/sentence)

SS (I usually use "Syntax")=faulty sentence structure, such as too many verbs, or parts of speech out of normal order, among other things.

RO=R-O= run on sentence, meaning you have two sentences that you have combined together without either punctuation between the two or the wrong punctuation.

CS= comma splice, which a run on in which the two sentences are combined (wrongly, of course) using a comma!

VF=incorrect verb form

VT=verb tense shift, meaning you have used shifted the "when" of action by changing from one tense to another, within the same sentence or within a few sentences in which that action was all supposed to happen at the same time!!!   We acted like we love the class! (half is past, half is present=VT)

S/V AGR=  subject-verb agreement issues. The thing doing something (the subject) and the doing something (verb) must match up in number (singular, plural) and tense (past/present/future).


Minor errors (don't confuse the reader as much)

WW=wrong word  (perhaps it was a homonym, like one and won!)

WC=word choice is not effective (many possibilities)

WF=word form is wrong, meaning you made the noun into an adjective or the adjective into a verb or something along those lines!

WO=word order, meaning that you switched a set of words around, such as putting an adjective after its noun instead of before it...

PAR=paragraph needs to be formatted/start a paragraph where marked

PRO AGR= pronoun agreement error, meaning the antecedent (noun the pronoun is supposed to refer to) and pronoun aren't in the same number (singular or plural). For instance, if you have a singular noun such as "Johnny," then your pronoun must be the singular third person. Gender and case are also important, here. Johnny is a guy, so he/him/his is the right set of pronouns to use...

PRO REF=unclear who or what the pronoun is referencing.

PRO CASE=you are using the wrong case of pronouns (subjective, objective, possessive)

MODIFIERS=using the wrong type of modifier, or you are in need of one... (I rarely use this one)

SP=you misspelled a word, fix it!

MECH/MECHANICS=wrong use of italics, quote marks, underlining...wrong capitalization or lack of capitalization...this one occurs with citing sources, titles of things, addresses/locations, proper v. common nouns....

MINOR PUNCT= you used the wrong punctuation for the end of a sentence...

ART=need an article, or don't have the right one...

Prescribed Academic Manuscript Form=your essay doesn't look how it's supposed to look !!!!!