how to grade an essay on word

In a world where and often determine a student’s grade, what criteria does the writing teacher use to evaluate the work of his or her students? After all, with essay writing you cannot simply mark some answers correct and others incorrect and figure out a percentage. The good news is that

. The essay should have good and show the right level of . It should be organized, and the content should be appropriate and effective. Teachers also look at the overall effectiveness of the piece. When evaluating specific writing samples, you may also want to include other criteria for the essay based on material you have covered in class. You may choose to grade on the type of essay they have written and whether your students have followed the specific direction you gave. You may want to evaluate their use of information and whether they correctly presented the content material you taught. When you write your own rubric, you can evaluate anything you think is important when it comes to your students’ writing abilities. .

, and ) we will write a rubric to evaluate students’ essays. The most straightforward evaluation uses a four-point scale for each of the criteria. Taking the criteria one at a time, articulate what your expectations are for an , a and so on. Taking grammar as an example, an would be free of most grammatical errors appropriate for the student’s language learning level. A would have some mistakes but use generally good grammar. A would show frequent grammatical errors. A would show that the student did not have the grammatical knowledge appropriate for his language learning level. Taking these definitions, we now put them into the rubric.

The next step is to take each of the other criteria and define success for each of those, assigning a value to A, B, C and D papers. Those definitions then go into the rubric in the appropriate locations to complete the chart.

Each of the criteria will score points for the essay. The descriptions in the first column are each worth 4 points, the second column 3 points, the third 2 points and the fourth 1 point.

What is the grading process?

Now that your criteria are defined, grading the essay is easy. When grading a student essay with a rubric, it is best to read through the essay once before evaluating for grades . Then reading through the piece a second time, determine where on the scale the writing sample falls for each of the criteria. If the student shows excellent grammar, good organization and a good overall effect, he would score a total of ten points. Divide that by the total criteria, three in this case, and he finishes with a 3.33. which on a four-point scale is a B+. If you use five criteria to evaluate your essays, divide the total points scored by five to determine the student’s grade.

Once you have written your grading rubric, you may decide to share your criteria with your students.

If you do, they will know exactly what your expectations are and what they need to accomplish to get the grade they desire. You may even choose to make a copy of the rubric for each paper and circle where the student lands for each criterion. That way, each person knows where he needs to focus his attention to improve his grade. The clearer your expectations are and the more feedback you give your students, the more successful your students will be. If you use a rubric in your essay grading, you can communicate those standards as well as make your grading more objective with more practical suggestions for your students. In addition, once you write your rubric you can use it for all future evaluations.

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How to Grade a Paper

Last Updated: July 29, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Noah Taxis . Noah Taxis is an English Teacher based in San Francisco, California. He has taught as a credentialed teacher for over four years: first at Mountain View High School as a 9th- and 11th-grade English Teacher, then at UISA (Ukiah Independent Study Academy) as a Middle School Independent Study Teacher. He is now a high school English teacher at St. Ignatius College Preparatory School in San Francisco. He received an MA in Secondary Education and Teaching from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education. He also received an MA in Comparative and World Literature from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a BA in International Literary & Visual Studies and English from Tufts University. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 86,731 times.

Anyone can mark answers right and wrong, but a great teacher can mark up a paper in such a way as to encourage a student who needs it and let good students know they can do better. As the great poet and teacher Taylor Mali put it: "I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor and I can make an A- feel like a slap in the face."

Going Through an Essay

• These designations obviously depend upon many things, like the assignment, the grade-level of your students, and their individual concerns. If you're in the middle of a unit on comma usage, it's perfectly fine to call that a "higher" concern. But in general, a basic writing assignment should prioritize the higher concerns listed above.

• Does the student address the prompt and fulfill the assignment effectively?
• Does the student think creatively?
• Does the student clearly state their argument, or thesis?
• Is the thesis developed over the course of the assignment?
• Does the writer provide evidence?
• Does the paper show evidence of organization and revision, or does it seem like a first draft?

• Marking essays in pencil can suggest that the issues are easily fixable, keeping the student looking forward, rather than dwelling on their success or failure. Pencil, blue, or black pen is perfectly appropriate.

• Be as specific as possible when asking questions. "What?" is not a particularly helpful question to scrawl in the margin, compared to "What do you mean by 'some societies'?"

• ¶ = to start a new paragraph
• three underscores under a letter = to lowercase or uppercase the letter
• "sp" = word is spelled incorrectly
• word crossed out with a small "pigtail" above = word needs to be deleted
• Some teachers use the first page as a rule of thumb for marking later concerns. If there are sentence-level issues, mark them on the first page and then stop marking them throughout the essay, especially if the assignment needs more revision.

Writing Effective Comments

• Use marginal comments to point out specific points or areas in the essay the student could improve.
• Use a paragraph note at the end to summarize your comments and direct them toward improvement.
• Comments should not justify a letter grade. Never start a note, "You got a C because...". It's not your job to defend the grade given. Instead, use the comments to look toward revision and the next assignment, rather than staring backward at the successes or failures of the given assignment.

• If you struggle to find anything, you can always praise their topic selection: "This is an important topic! Good choice!"

• When you give your first read-through, Try to determine what these three points might be to make it easier when you're going through the paper and writing comments.

• "In your next assignment, make sure to organize your paragraphs according to the argument you're making" is a better comment than "Your paragraphs are disorganized."

Assigning Letter Grades

• Thesis and argument: _/40
• Organization and paragraphs: _/30
• Introduction and conclusion: _/10
• Grammar, usage, and spelling: _/10
• Sources and Citations: _/10

• A (100-90): Work completes all of the requirements of the assignment in an original and creative manner. Work at this level goes beyond the basic guidelines of the assignment, showing the student took extra initiative in originally and creatively forming content, organization, and style.
• B (89-80): Work completes all of the requirements of the assignment. Work at this level is successful in terms of content, but might need some improvement in organization and style, perhaps requiring a little revision. A B reveals less of the author’s original thought and creativity than A-level work.
• C (79-70): Work completes most of the requirements of the assignment. Though the content, organization, and style are logical and coherent, they may require some revision and may not reflect a high level of originality and creativity on the part of the author.
• D (69-60): Work either does not complete the requirements of the assignment, or meets them quite inadequately. Work at this level requires a good deal of revision, and is largely unsuccessful in content, organization, and style.
• F (Below 60): Work does not complete the requirements of the assignment. In general, students who put forth genuine effort will not receive an F. If you receive an F on any assignment (particularly if you feel you have given adequate effort), you should speak with me personally.

• Some teachers like to hand out papers at the end of the day because they fear discouraging or distracting students during class time. Consider giving the students time to go through the papers in class and be available to talk about their grades afterwards. This will ensure that they read and understand your comments.

Expert Q&A

• Avoid distractions. It can seem like a good idea to grade papers while you watch Jeopardy, but it'll end up taking longer. Set a manageable goal, like grading ten papers tonight, and quit when you've finished and have a drink. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Do not keep favorites. Grade everyone equally. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Look for more than just grammar. Look for concepts, plots, climax and most importantly...make sure it has a beginning (introduction that catches your attention), a middle (three reasons should have three supportive details to each) and an end(recapture what the paper was about, make a good ending to let the audience remember your story). Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Always use a rubric to keep yourself safe from grade appeals. You don't want to have to defend subjective grades. Thanks Helpful 12 Not Helpful 4

Things You'll Need

• Something to write with
• A stack of papers
• A stiff beverage

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Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about grading papers, check out our in-depth interview with Noah Taxis .

• ↑ https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/grading.html
• ↑ https://depts.washington.edu/pswrite/Handouts/Grading.pdf
• ↑ https://phys.org/news/2013-01-red-pen-instructors-negative-response.html
• ↑ https://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/student-writing-intro/grading/
• ↑ https://sites.google.com/a/georgetown.edu/prof-william-blattner/resources-for-students/abbreviations-on-returned-papers
• ↑ https://writing-speech.dartmouth.edu/teaching/first-year-writing-pedagogies-methods-design/diagnosing-and-responding-student-writing
• ↑ http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/criteria.pdf
• ↑ https://teaching.uwo.ca/teaching/assessing/grading-rubrics.html

About This Article

To grade a paper, start by reading it without marking it up to see if it has a clear thesis supported by solid evidence. Then, go back through and write comments, criticism, and questions in the margins. Make sure to give specific feedback, such as “What do you mean by ‘some societies’?” instead of something like “What?” Try to limit yourself to 1 comment per paragraph so you don’t overwhelm the student. You can also write a note at the end, but start with praise before focusing on issues the student should address. For information on how to assign grades to your students’ papers, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Grade Essays Faster | My Top 10 Grading Tips and Tricks

Are you looking for ways to grade essays faster? I get it. Grading essays can be a daunting task for ELA teachers. Following these essay grading tips and tricks can save you time and energy on grading without giving up quality feedback to your students.

Are you Googling “How to Grade Essays Faster” because that never-ending pile of essays is starting to haunt you? (Yup. I’ve been there.) Teachers of all disciplines understand the work-life struggle of the profession. Throw in 60, 80, 100, or more essays, and you’re likely giving up evenings and weekends until that pile is gone.

Truthfully, while there are many aspects of being an ELA teacher I love , grading essays doesn’t quite make the list. However, it’s a necessary aspect of the ELA classroom to hold students accountable and help them improve. But what if I told you there were some tips and tricks you could use to make grading much easier and faster? Because there are. That means saying goodbye to spending your weekends lost in a sea of student essays. It means no more living at school the weeks following students turning in an essay. Instead, prepare to celebrate getting your time (and sanity) back.

Start By Reframing Your Definition of Grading an Essay

Before you can implement my time-saving grading tips and tricks, you need to be willing to shift your mindset regarding grading. Afterall, where does it say we have to give up hours upon hours of our time to get it done? It’s time to start redefining and reframing what it even means to grade an essay.

The key to reframing your definition (and, therefore, expectations) about grading student essays is thinking about helping your students, not correcting them. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with pointing out grammatical and structural errors. However, it’s essential to focus on leaving constructive feedback that can help students improve their craft. Now, how can that be done without spending hours filling the margins with comments?

I’m glad you asked.

Grade Essays Faster with These Tips and Tricks

Since we can’t avoid grading altogether, I hope these tips and tricks can help you grade essays faster and increase student performance. And while I love rubrics, and they can certainly save time grading, they aren’t your only option. So here are eight other tips and tricks to try.

Tip 1: Get Focused.

This has been one of my biggest grading time-savers. And I’m not just talking about limiting your distractions while you grade (more on that in a minute), but I mean narrow your focus on what it is you’re grading. Often, we spend so much time correcting every single grammatical mistake that we miss opportunities to give feedback on the skills we’re currently teaching. Try to focus your feedback on the specific skills your students just learned, like writing a strong thesis, embedding quotations, providing supporting evidence, or transitioning from paragraph to paragraph.

Taking this approach to grading will lead to less overwhelm for both you and your students. In fact, your students will have a clearer understanding of what they need to continue working on. Just be sure to make the specific skill (or skills) that you’re looking for (and grading) clear at the start of the assignment.

Tip 2: Give Student Choice.

Let’s say you’ve been working on a particular skill for a few weeks and have had your students practice using various writing prompts. Instead of feeling forced to provide feedback on every written response, let your students choose their best work for you to grade. I find that this grading technique works best on shorter assignments.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t apply this to longer essays. If you’ve been working on a certain aspect of essay writing, you can let your students pick the paragraph from their essay they want you to grade. Either way, encourage your students to select the writing they believe best represents their skills and knowledge for the task at hand. Not only will this cut down on your grading time, but it will also encourage a sense of ownership over students’ grades.

Tip 3: Check Mark Revisions.

The checkmark revision approach is a great way to put more ownership and accountability on your students. Instead of grading a student essay by telling them exactly what to fix, turn it into a learning opportunity! As you review the student essay, simply use check marks to note areas that need to be corrected or could be improved. Then, give students time in class to work through their essays, identifying what the check mark indicates and making proper adjustments.

However, make sure your students have a clear list (or rubric) outlining the expectations for the essay. They can use this list to refer to when trying to figure out what revisions they need to make to improve their work. Alternatively, if you’re not ready to jump straight to checkmarks, you can create a comment code that provides a bit more guidance for students without taking up a lot of your time.

Tip 4: Use Conferences.

Have you ever thought about holding student-teacher conferences in lieu of providing written feedback? If not, you totally should! Students are so used to teachers doing the heavy lifting for them. Alternatively, turn the revision process into an active experience for them. Instead of going through the essay on your own, marking errors, and making suggestions, talk it through with each student.

When it comes to student-teacher conferences, make sure to set a reasonable time limit for each conference to ensure you’re not spending days conducting these meetings. Just make sure your time limit is enough to review their written work and provide verbal feedback. I require each student to mark their essay as we review it so they know exactly what to work on. While I’m more than willing to answer questions, I encourage students to make an appointment with me after school if they need extensive help.

Tip 5: Skim and Review

I can’t be the only one who wants to shed a tear of frustration when I watch a student toss a comment-covered essay right into recycling. So, instead of spending hours leaving comments on each and every student’s essay, skim through their rough drafts while noting common errors. That way, instead of waiting until students turn in their final draft to address their mistakes, you can review common errors in class before they submit a final draft.  Trust me. This will make grading those final drafts much easier– especially if you have a clear rubric or grading checklist to follow.

This is a great way to review common grammar mistakes that we don’t always take time to teach at the secondary level. It’s also a great way for you to address aspects of your target skills that students are still struggling with. Lastly, I find this shift in focus from the final product to the revision process helps students better understand (and, perhaps, appreciate) the writing process as more than a grade but a learning experience.

Tip 6: Leave a Comment at the End.

This is a huge time-saver, and it’s pretty simple. Although be warned, it might challenge you to go against all of your grading instincts! We’re so used to marking every single error or making all the suggestions with student essays. But, students are often overwhelmed by the mere look of ink-filled margins. What if, instead, you save your comments for the end and limit yourself to one or two celebrations and one or two areas for improvement? This is a simple yet clear way to provide feedback to your students on a final draft, especially if you’ve already gone through a more in-depth revision process from draft to draft.

Okay fine. If you must, you can fix the grammatical errors using a red pen, but save your energy by avoiding writing the same thing over and over again. If you’ve marked the same error three times, let that be it. If they don’t get it after three examples, they should probably make time to see you after school.

Tip 7: Grade Paragraph-by-Paragraph.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed by grading a tall stack of essays, consider breaking your grading– and writing– process down by paragraph. Assessing a single paragraph is far more time-friendly than an entire essay. So, have your students work on their essay paragraph by paragraph, turning each component in as they are completed. That way, you can provide quick and effective feedback they can apply when revising that paragraph and writing any future paragraphs for the final piece. Take it a step further by breaking it down into specific skills and components of an essay. For example, maybe you grade students’ thesis statements and supporting evidence as two separate steps. Grading each of these components takes far less time and, by the time students put it all together for their final essay, their writing should be much more polished and easier to grade. Plus, since you gave immediate feedback throughout the process, you don’t have to worry about spending hours writing comments throughout their entire paper. Instead, give the students a “final” grade using a simple rubric. And since you gave them opportunities to apply your feedback throughout the writing process, you can even have an “improvement” section of the rubric. This is an easy way to acknowledge student effort and progress with their writing.

Tip 8: Mark-up a Model Paragraph.

Take some of the work off your plate by grading a paragraph and letting the students do the rest. (You read that right.) Here’s how it works: instead of grading an entire paper, rewriting the same comments paragraph after paragraph, just mark up a model paragraph. Alternatively, you can grade the intro and conclusion paragraphs, while marking up one body paragraph as a model for the remaining body paragraphs. Give them a score on a smaller scale, such as 1 to 10, as a phase one grade.

Then, set aside time in class to have your students review your model paragraph and use it to mark up the rest of their paper before fixing their errors. I like giving them time in class to do this so they can ask me any clarifying questions in real-time. Once they turn in their revised essay, you can give them a phase two grade without having to worry about diving too deep into feedback. A comment per paragraph or page would suffice.

More Teacher Tricks to Help You Grade Essays Faster

T ip 9: set realistic goals..

Just like we set our students up for success, set yourself up for success too. If you know you can’t get through a class worth of essays during your prep period, don’t set it as your goal. You’ll only feel overwhelmed, disappointed, and discouraged when you only make it through half of your stack. Instead, only tackle your grading when you have the time to do so, and set realistic goals when you do. Grading more essays than you planned on? You feel on top of the world. Grading fewer? You feel like it’s neverending.

Tip 10: Avoid Distractions.

Instagram? Facebook? I know how easy it is to wander over to your phone and take a scroll break. But, we both know a few minutes can turn into an hour real fast. So, do yourself a favor, and when you know it’s time to grade a stack of essays, free your space of any distractions and set a timer. You’d be surprised by how much you can get done in an hour of uninterrupted essay grading.

The bottom line is that grading is an unavoidable aspect of being an ELA teacher. However, I hope one or more of these ideas can help you grade essays faster. The truth is, with these essay grading tips and tricks, you won’t only grade essays more efficiently, but you’ll provide better feedback for students as well. In fact, the longer we take to grade (or procrastinate grading) those essays, the less effective the feedback is for students, period.

So, here’s to more effective grading– faster!

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• 10 Tips for Grading Essays Quickly and Efficiently

We’ve all been there. No one likes marking. But as a professor, it’s part of the job description. One of the draft titles of this post was even “How to Grade Essays Without Wanting to Commit Murder.” While there are some great guides on teaching the mechanics of grading available, there isn’t much useful advice on how to make grading easier apart from either having fewer assignments or providing less feedback. In the real world, neither one of these is very useful. But there are strategies that every instructor or professor can follow to make grading essays quicker and more efficient. Here are some of mine.

1) Have Faith in Yourself

One of the biggest problems I’ve faced and continue to face as an instructor is Imposter Syndrome, or the belief that I’ve somehow fooled everyone around me into believing that I am a knowledgeable and competent person. Grading is one area where Imposter Syndrome likes to rear its ugly head. You will have finished reading a paper and then start to doubt that you’ve given it an appropriate grade. Or you worry that your students will get mad at you for giving them a bad grade. Or you’ll worry that this paper will result in a grade dispute, and then real professors will review and judge your work and find you wanting. Resist these thoughts. Remember that you have the expertise and good judgement to evaluate essays. Do not second-guess yourself. Assign a grade, make your comments, and move on. Have faith that you have done your best.

2) Don’t Repeat Yourself

It’s very common in research essays to see that same mistake made more than once. This is particularly the case when it comes to footnotes and bibliographies, which are often filled with tiny mistakes. Don’t spend all your time correcting these mistakes. Fix it once, and explain what you did. If you see it again, circle it and write something like “see previous comment on…” If it’s a systematic problem, I’d then make a note to mention this problem in the comments and say that you’ve only corrected a couple of instances to give them an idea of how to do it properly. This is not high school, and it is not your job to find every single mistake on an essay and correct it. Instead, identify the problem, and give your student an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned. The same goes for grammar and spelling. If it’s a serious issue, I always recommend that students go see the Writing Centre. It’s not your job to teach them how to write (unless it’s a composition class, in which case, good luck!)

3) Create a Comment Bank

You’ll notice that after a while, you will repeat the same sentences over and over again. To save yourself from having to either remember what you said last time or type or to write the same sentence over and over again, create a Word document with your most common comments. This is sometimes referred to as a Comment Bank or a Teaching Toolbox. I will do a whole blog post on this in the near future, but it’s easy to get started. If you save your comments on your computer, read through them and copy and paste the most common into a new Word document. For example, one that I use a lot is “While I can see that you are trying to make an argument here, you spend too much time describing or summarizing your sources rather than analysing them. In general, you should avoid description as much as possible.” The time and frustration you will save is immeasurable

4) Create a Bibliographic Bank

Odds are you will receive several papers on a given topic. Once you’ve been marking for a while, you’ll notice that you keep recommending the same books or articles. Again, to save you from having to remember which sources you want to recommend and/or typing out the full references, create a Word document with a list of topics and some of the most important sources listed for each. This way you only do the research once, rather than a million times. This is also helpful if you want to evaluate whether your students have selected appropriate sources or have missed important ones. Your comps list can be a great starting point.

5) Make a Grading Conversion Chart

In general, most assignments require three different “grades”: a letter grade, a percentage, and a numeric grade (like 7 out of 10). They each have their own purposes, but the odds are you will need to convert between them. Even when working at one institution for many years, it can be hard to do this conversion in your head. Spend several years as a sessional at multiple universities with their own ideas about what each letter grade means, and the problem grows exponentially. My solution is is to use an Excel spreadsheet of grades. This is relative easy to create. Mine look like this:

It’s really easy to do. Each “out of” number has three columns. The first is a numeric grade. The second is that grade converted to a percentage (it’s easier to do with a formula, and then just do “fill down.”) The third column is the corresponding letter grade. You can fill these in manually, or you can use a formula.

Here’s mine, but make sure yours corresponds to your institution’s grading scheme! =IF(K19>=95%,”A+”,IF(K19>90%,”A”,IF(K19>=85%,”A “, IF(K19>=80%,”B+”, IF(K19>=75%,”B”,IF(K19>70%,”B-“, IF(K19>65%,”C+”,IF(K19>60%,”C”,IF(K19>55%,”C”, IF(K19>50%,”P”,IF(K19>0%,”NC”,)))))))))))

6) Mark in Batches

I like to run, and when you’re really tired and facing a long run, thinking of the time remaining in intervals makes it much easier. The same is true for marking. A stack of 100 essays seems insurmountable. So what I do is break that stack down into manageable groups, usually 3 or 5 essays, which is about an hour to an hour and a half of grading, depending on the length of the essay. I sit down, grade those essays, type the comments up, put the grades into my grading sheet, and then take a break of at least 45 minutes. This is part of the SMART goal system (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound). It really does help make the grading feel achievable while also ensuring that you are giving your mind a break every one in a while. Once you’ve finished your batch, either set them aside in a different location or put a tick or some kind of mark on them so you can easily tell that they are all finished.

7) When in Doubt, Roll Up

Many essays seem to fall in a valley between one grade and the next, like when you’re not sure if it’s a B- or a B. In these cases, I almost always roll up. This was advice that I got when I was a TA, and it stuck with me. Try to give your students the benefit of the doubt. Remember that university is hard. Many students take multiple classes and/or work while in school. If you are dealing with a paper on the borderline between one grade and the next, or your paper is within 1 to 2% of rolling to the next letter grade, then just bump the grade. It’s always better to err on the side of generosity. And giving someone a 69.5% instead of a 70% is just a bit of a dick move.

8) Don’t Waste Your Time

There will be essays that are so bad that they defy all explanation. Either there are no footnotes or bibliography, the essay is 3 pages when it was supposed to be 8, or the student just completely ignored your instructions. In other words, it’s obvious that the student just doesn’t care. Don’t waste your time commenting on these papers. If your student can’t be bothered to read the instructions, then you have no obligation to spend your precious time marking the paper. I usually place a comment to the effect of: “I would strongly recommend that you review the requirements for this assignment, which can be found on the Research Assignment Instructions sheet.” I find that this is firm, but fair. Save your energy for the students who really put effort into their papers, even when they don’t succeed.

9) If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say, Say Something Nice Anyways

Students are humans (though it’s easy to forget this sometimes…), and respond best to positive reinforcement. So try to find something good to say about the essay. Some suggestions, courtesy of my good friend Clare include: “Nice margins!” “Excellent choice of font!” On a more serious note, I usually go with something like “This is a great effort!” or “I can see that you are trying here!” I always use the positive-negative-positive sandwich. Put a positive comment, then a negative comment, and then another positive comment. This tends to motivate students to do better rather than just feel defeated. Remember, your job is to encourage students to learn, so make them feel like you are invested in their success.

Expert Tip: One variation on the positive-negative-positive sandwich comes courtesy of my friend Teva Vidal: “The “shit sandwich” is for kids who deserve detailed feedback but who just missed the mark: start off with the main strengths of what they wrote, then lay it on thick with what they screwed up, then end on a positive note in terms of how they can use what they’ve already got going for them to make it better in the future.

10) Try to find some joy in the work

You know how “Time flies when you’re having fun”? Well, this approach can help with marking. Try to have a sense of humour about the whole thing. There will be times when you become angry or frustrated because it seems like students are ignoring your instructions and therefore losing marks unnecessarily. Laughing this off will help. Some professors like to collect so-called “dumb” sentences and post them online. There are a number of ethical problems with that that I will not get into here. But I can and have shared them with my husband when I’m grading in the room with him. We can laugh together and I blow off steam (Saving your marriage through marking! I can see my husband laughing right now). I also like to mark with a bright pink pen, since it’s hard to get mad when you’re writing in pink ink.

—————————————-

So those are my suggestions for making the grading of essays a little more pleasant. I think the most important takeaway is that it’s worth spending the time to create tools. For many years, I would waste time researching lists of sources, writing out the same comments, and using a calculator. But my time, and yours, is precious, so work smart, not hard (this is becoming something of a motto…). Any other tips for grading essays quickly and efficiently? Let me know in the comments below!

So You Want to be a Sessional

essays expert tip grading Sessional work smart not hard

November 18, 2017 at 7:59 am

Many thanks for this! Found it really useful while I’m grading my mid-terms 🙂 The comment about imposter syndrome resonated with me – I’m always second guessing if I should grade higher or lower, or leave it. Most times, I re-read the essay and see that my grading was actually fair first time around.

November 18, 2017 at 5:00 pm

Same here! I still struggle with this, and I’ve been teaching for nearly ten years! Glad I could help!

October 16, 2019 at 3:32 pm

Im a new tertiary level lecturer and I am finding marking the most insightful way to udnerstand how students think. Some of the papers I have marked recently have been indescribable, incomprehnsible and just mere reflections of what I am defining as ‘laziness’. To justify this definition I thought long and hard and finally realised that if it took me truck loads of hours to get it right on essay writing, and to Masters level thats a lot of assignments.  So when I really feel confused I reflect back on my own learning experiences and use that as a secondary standard with the marking rubric the primary standard…I refuse to compromise my standards of learning just to enable a lazy student to maintain theirs.

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• Career Advice

Tackling the Stack

By  Daniel Cole

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You can’t avoid it anymore: students have submitted their papers, and now you have to read, comment on and grade them. How can you give good feedback yet, at the same time, avoid overworking yourself?

Yes, you could have been done some conceptual things in advance that supposedly would have made student essays less of a grind to read, like scaffolding and assignment design . But it’s too late for that; there sits the stack, digitally or otherwise. Or maybe you have, in fact, done those things but, regardless, a monster number of essays awaits you.

And, of course, you use abbreviations and give keys to your students, or assign keyboard quick keys to often-used comments. Maybe you use rubrics. But still … there sits the stack.

It’s worth pausing to think through the time it should take to grade an essay. Consider that the average adult reading pace is around 250 words per minute of presumably polished prose; this may be roughly one page per minute of a student essay with standard formatting and maybe not-so-polished prose. That works out to at least six minutes to simply read a 1,500-word student essay. How many more minutes to credibly write comments and determine a grade? It could be a total 10 to 15 minutes, at least, to grade a single essay of that length. That can be a struggle for instructors who have more than 30 total students.

And before going further, I should also say that I’m among the lucky ones. I teach full-time on one campus, so I’m typically required each term to read and formally grade some 390,000 words produced by about 65 students. Some of you teach on multiple campuses and have a great many more students. Also, the calculations I’ve done above, along with the fact that many higher education institutions rely on contingent faculty, should play into discussions of course caps and personnel structures.

Unfortunately, the ideas I want to share won’t solve such deeply embedded structural issues. But I hope they can help other instructors cope a bit more in the day to day. So back to the narrow problem at hand: the stack’s haunting you, and you want it done, but you don’t want to shortchange your students. And they also, rightly, want feedback sooner rather than later. Here are a few simple suggestions.

Sit on your hands. Read a bit of each essay and get a sense of things before pouncing with the marking pen or comment box. This restraint may keep you out of the trap of overmarking and overwhelming the student. Concision is better in end comments, too. Most students don’t want long epistles; they want focused, actionable feedback.

Ride the tortoise. If you’re like me, you’re shocked by the screen-time reports from your phone. No way I’m online that much! Well, you can also tap into hidden time and melt the stack with a simple habit. I call it 2x2e: grading two papers in a sitting at least twice a day.

When you only require yourself to grade two essays in a given moment, you tame the daunting tyranny of the stack. Dodging that pressure also helps you be more present for each essay, and students can certainly see the difference between thoughtful and rushed feedback.

You may also find that your momentum carries you to more than two essays. Even if it doesn’t, following 2x2e means you will get at least 20 essays graded over the course of a workweek. That may be a large or small slice of your load, but you’ll find that this steady effort will cause the stack to seem to melt away, and you’ll also will have some sense of control.

The principle here is the tortoise and the hare, and it is surprisingly powerful. Consistent effort outperforms trying to race through the stack. You can adapt those numbers, and of course, you sometimes need to make a big push. Also, you may well find, given your course load, that you regularly have to read, say, at least five or six or more papers at each sitting. But definitely make a deal with yourself to grade at least x number of papers a day.

Avoid the rabbit hole. It’s too easy to get lost in a student essay—mulling and agonizing over accurate diagnoses and best suggestions—and lose large chunks of time. To avoid that, set a timer for a target time to grade an essay. You’re not racing the clock; you’re just reminding yourself that time is passing. That can help you work the trees without getting lost in the forest.

Look mainly for what you value most. You don’t need a gridded-out rubric for this. Let’s say that, whatever else students do, you mostly want them to provide solid evidence and clear claims. So are they doing that? Grade and comment accordingly. Or maybe you want to see they’ve grasped a key concept adequately. Well, have they? Grade and comment accordingly.

Give a secondary and tertiary level of ink (or pixels) to your secondary or tertiary concerns. And more good news: this focused, less-is-more approach is clearer to students and thus more useful and less overwhelming for them.

Play home inspector. Home inspectors don’t move into the houses they examine. They go straight to trouble spots—the foundation, the roof, the wiring and so on. You can evaluate an essay the same way. Start by reading just the introduction and the conclusion. Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph. Does the student present a chain of reasoning? What sense of the essay does that yield? Read more of the essay to confirm patterns and impressions.

Some faculty members may not be comfortable with this approach and feel they must go through each paper as a natural reader. I get that, and I won’t try to change your mind. But I’ve found that it has helped me quickly get my bearings when reviewing an essay.

So that’s it. Admittedly, these suggestions are no magic wand that will make the stack disappear. Sometimes you have to grind, and there’s no getting around it. Still, I’ve personally found these ideas helpful and hope they can make grading less of a millstone for you, too. You may feel more in control, as well as more confident that you’re providing students with helpful feedback.

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Trending Post : 12 Powerful Discussion Strategies to Engage Students

Practical Tips for Grading Faster: Keep the Quality & Maintain Your Sanity

Have you ever cried over a stack of essays late at night, eyes too bleary to see the words clearly? Are you a teacher who practically lives at school? Do you take home hours of grading on the weekends? These things may seem like normal side effects of the job, especially for ELA teachers. Still, should they be? Keep reading for some practical tips on grading essays faster without losing the quality feedback students need.

We have to find ways to do justice to our jobs while also having time to do what refuels our souls, which is why I’ve been spending some serious time reflecting on how I’ve graded writing and essays in the past. We must to prepare our students for college writing expectations, and we have to meet the rigors of the state or national standards as well as our district’s curriculum. Slacking just isn’t an option. At times, it may seem like too much to handle. We need an intervention.

It’s taken me a while, but I’ve found some strategies that successfully help me to grade writing faster so that I can still maintain a healthy work-life balance. I’m not in the “teachers should never take work home” camp. But. I am in the “teachers should have a balanced work and personal life” camp – the teachers deserve to be happy, too camp.

Let’s look at a handful of ideas worth trying.

TIPS FOR GRADING ESSAYS FASTER

Use built-in rubrics. .

What do I mean by that? When students have to complete writing by hand (due to technology or time constraints or just for the sake of keeping it traditional), I like to give them a printed sheet of paper with the prompt, writing lines, and a rubric built in. How does this save time? Well, if the rubric is built into the response page (like on a journal entry or a response to literature , for example), the rubric has to be smaller…and so does the student’s response. I’m not saying attach the rubric to the back of the prompt…I’m saying fit it on the bottom corner of the paper where students respond . Why? Our kids benefit from focusing on writing an excellent paragraph or two instead of rambling, and teachers benefit from having a smaller rubric, which forces us to examine a skill or two (instead of marking every single error imaginable).

Have students choose a response they want you to grade. 

Let’s say you give students an assignment where they practice the same skill several times. For example, I’ve done this before when I’ve asked students to write annotated bibliography paragraphs and even when we’ve written practice essays for standardized tests. Before collecting their responses, have students circle the paragraph (or practice essay) they believe best represents their skills and knowledge for the task at hand. Only grade that paragraph. You might expect students to be upset that their other paragraphs aren’t being graded, but I’ve never had that happen. Usually, they are relieved that they were able to select the one that would be assessed because they know that one best represents their abilities. 

Conference with students and point for revision verbally. 

Set a timer. Conference with each student for that amount of time. Don’t go over. Point out what you would like them to revise, and have them take the notes on what you are telling them. This strategy puts the ball completely in their court, which is good. Some students are used to teachers doing all the thinking for them. We mark every single error, and they mindlessly make corrections as they simultaneously text their friend, post pictures on Snapchat, and eat Doritos.

Skim their rough drafts, and use a revision PowerPoint. 

You can cut back on a lot of time spent grading essays by just skimming through the rough drafts first. Notice common errors. Make a list. Then, turn it into a PowerPoint or some other visual aid you can use to present the list to students. Include examples (from their papers to make it authentic if you think your students wouldn’t be too embarrassed). Make sure the students have their rough drafts in front of them as you review these expectations so they can make notes on their essays as necessary. My students LOVE this. Except when I tell them that I want them to revise their rough drafts. Then they groan. Otherwise, they love it. Really. It works. Here’s my revising and editing points PowPoint for argumentative writing .

Limit the length of the assignment. 

Do you  really  need a five-page paper to assess the skills you are teaching? If so, go for it! If not, cut back the length of the assignment. In the past when I’ve given students word limits, I’ve received sass, like “Is it because you don’t feel like grading more than that?” Okay, fine. Once in a while. But more than that, students can’t always write fifteen pages just because they don’t know how to be concise. That’s a skill, too. We need to teach students how to say more in fewer words. Sometimes I only have my students write one paragraph when we are practicing a new skill. For instance, when I teach argumentative writing, I differentiate for various ability levels by offering an option to write one solid argumentative research paragraph . My advanced students warm up to argumentative writing with the same lesson . Differentiating expectations appropriately for struggling writers lightens the grading load. Scaffolding enriched students to write quality research papers by front-loading with smaller-scale assignments has helped, too.

Use comment codes for constructive feedback. 

If you’re anything like me, you find yourself writing the same comments over and over and over and over and….you get it. Why don’t we just develop a comment-code sheet? Every comment that you make on a regular basis (like “avoid run-ons) can have a number. Instead of writing “Run-On” next to every error, just highlight the correct code, and include the comment paper when you hand back the graded piece of writing. I wouldn’t recommend this option with advanced skills that you may have just introduced, but for skills students should have mastered, this option will definitely save time. No need to be a hamster on a wheel.

Use Goobric and/or Google Docs. 

I don’t always enjoy grading on the computer, but it does beat writing everything out. If you are the type of person who isn’t tempted to check your e-mail, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook every five seconds, grading on the computer can really buy you some time in your day. Typing is faster. It just is. If you are interested in this option but don’t know how to use Google features, there are some amazingly clear and helpful tutorials you can find with a quick web search. This is not the best recommendation for anyone who has social media ADD…more on that in a minute.

Don’t repeatedly mark the same error. 

Kind of like I mentioned in earlier…we don’t need to write “fragment” every time a student forgets a subject or verb. Mark it the first time or two, and after that (if it’s a skill they should know), just write, “Please fix the rest of the fragments throughout the essay” or something simple like that. This way, students know there are more similar issues, but the responsibility to edit their work is theirs…which is how they learn anyway.

Limit distractions.

I’m just as bad about this one as the next person. I’ll start grading an essay, and five minutes later…. I wonder if I have any new e-mails? Did anyone “like” my Facebook post? Has anyone tweeted anything funny lately?   If I don’t check Instagram, I might miss the best giveaway in the history of ever.   You get the picture, I’m sure. I have to put my phone away if I want to get any serious grading accomplished. It might even be necessary to get out of the house completely. Sure enough, as soon as I get into the groove, my daughter comes upstairs and needs me to help her go to the bathroom, get her a snack, or tell me that her brother did something annoying. Grading essays goes faster when we can focus. Plan ahead to reduce distractions in order to maximize productivity.

Instead of grading the entire essay in one sitting, try collecting and grading one paragraph at a time.

This works best with students who are motivated to make the corrections you have suggested. Assessing one paragraph doesn’t take long, and as long as students take your revision comments seriously, all you should have to do with the final draft is compare the rough draft paragraph to the final draft paragraph. Did they make the revisions you suggested? If so, they did the best they could. The final draft may not be perfect, but depending on the skill(s) you are assessing, improvement may be enough to earn an A.

Hopefully one of these ideas will be helpful in terms grading essays faster. These ideas are far from a comprehensive list of all the possibilities available. If you have other tips, by all means, please share them in the comments! We educators need to put our heads together to develop a mastermind plan for taking our lives back without sacrificing the quality or integrity of our work. Keep calm, and grade on ( but faster ).

Responding to Student Writing: Feedback That Values Students’ Internal Dialogue

Teaching email etiquette: the art of an eloquent email, using mentor sentences meaningfully, related resource:.

These are the argumentative writing unit materials I use to help students revise and edit their essays while working with a peer. This resource also includes rubrics for grading.

I have NO CLUE why I never thought of students circling the one paragraph they wanted graded! I’m doing this! And, yes, you are right about the one paragraph at a time in my opinion. Every single writing assignment does not have to be a 5-paragraph essay. More power to those teachers who do that with their students, but sometimes “slow and steady wins the race,” especially with 9th graders. Plus, teaching youmg writers that sometimes saying less IS more is just as important as teaching them how to expand and elaborate on those ideas. 🙂 What a helpful post…thank you SO MUCH! Yay!

Hi, Tara. So glad this idea resonates with you. It has certainly saved my sanity on multiple occasions. I agree with you 100 percent. Quality over quantity!

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How Many Words Should Your Essay Have for Grading High?

How many words are in an essay?

This question bothers all students, whether in middle school or college. Two reasons:

They don’t have word count guidelines to know how long their essay should be to grade high. Or, they struggle with the word limit within a paper and wonder if they can go under the suggested length.

The essay length varies, depending on many factors: subject, purpose, and academic level. Essays are usually shorter than dissertations or research papers. The thesis is the longest one.

In this article, I’ll answer two popular questions: How long is an essay? How many paragraphs are in an essay?

Also, let’s learn how long each essay part is and if it’s okay to go beyond or under the suggested length.

How Long is an Essay, Depending on the Type?

The above rules are average. They may vary at different educational institutions. It stands to reason that elementary-level students write short essays. And their papers get longer in their middle 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th grades, etc.

Often, there’s no exact word number or page count for academic papers. Guidelines usually prescribe a supposed range: 500-850 words, 5-7 pages, and so on. When in doubt, you can ask your instructor.

How Many Paragraphs is an Essay? 6 Main Lengths

You won’t find any rule prescribing a set number of paragraphs for an essay. Five-paragraph essays are a standard, but it doesn’t mean ALL papers should follow it.

Each essay consists of three parts:

• Introduction . Often, it’s one paragraph introducing your topic and thesis to readers. When writing complex papers like dissertations, your intro section can be 2-3 paragraphs.
• Body. It’s a core section discussing the topic in detail. The number of paragraphs here depends on your paper’s type and complexity. This part is 1-4 paragraphs unless you write extended research papers.
• Conclusion. Like intros, this section is often one paragraph summarizing the essay.

Below, I’ll cover the six main lengths to show how to balance a word count in essays.

One-paragraph essays

Three-paragraph papers

Five-paragraph essays

Extended papers

Dissertation

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is essay length important.

Yes, it is. Prescribing a length, instructors understand if you can organize thoughts and arguments. An essay of 1,000 words requires more research and effort than a 350-word paper, agree? The specified length also helps you understand how complex your work should be to grade high. Longer essays teach you to write cohesive texts, choose arguments, and think critically.

Don’t write essays for the sake of count. Quality matters, so please focus on arguments, evidence, and analysis. Avoid placing too many transitions, generic words, and lengthy expressions. Make your every word and sentence count.

How many words are in an essay sample?

350 words at least.

It depends on the essay type you write. Thus, a high school essay sample will be 350 words at least. If you need a college application essay, consider personal papers of 250-650 words. Check essay samples of 800-1,000 words if you need a standard college paper. More complex works like graduate school essays or dissertations will be 3,000+ words.

How long is each part of an essay?

Stick to the 80/20 rule when calculating the length of each essay part. An essay body is the core section of academic papers: Make it 80% of the text. The remaining 20% goes to an introduction and a conclusion.

Say you write a 1,000-word essay. It means you will have 800 words in the body; 100 words go to the introduction and 100 words — for a concluding paragraph. You can go 10% below or above the prescribed limit. (Unless your instructor sets specific limitations.)

How many sentences are in an essay?

21-34 sentences for a standard 5-paragraph essay.

It depends on your essay type and the required word count. I’ll take a standard 5-paragraph college paper as an example:

You have one introductory paragraph, which is 3-5 sentences average. Other 3-5 sentences go to your conclusion. The body consists of three sections, 5-8 sentences each (1). So, here we have it: 21-34 sentences in an essay.

How many words are in an essay introduction?

Take 10-15% of the total length required. Thus, if you need to write a 1,000-word essay, your introduction will be 100-150 words.

For advanced research papers, where intros are longer than one paragraph, stick to 100-150 words per paragraph average. Such texts are usually above 3,000 words, so you’ll follow the 80/20 rule anyway.

Can I go under the suggested length?

It’s not advisable. Please do your best to meet the minimum word count given in the assignment. If the guidelines say “350-600 words,” write at least 350 words in an essay. Sometimes, a 10% deviation is acceptable, but don’t take this rule for granted. Most instructors won’t appreciate your 315-word paper if they ask you to write 350 words at least.

How to make your essay longer?

• Add more examples and evidence to the body paragraphs. 
• Explain and analyze every argument in detail. 
• Mention counterarguments if applicable.

Can I make my essay longer?

Yes, you can exceed the word limit by 10% if allowed by your course instructor. For example, if you get an assignment of 500-700 words, it’s okay to submit a 770-word essay for a review.

Important! Always ask your instructor if the 10% rule is available in their course. And exceed the word count only if you have critical information to add.

Academic writing is all about rules and instructions. Essay length isn’t an exception:

Every college paper has a prescribed, approximate word count to follow. When asking, “How long is an essay?” remember the answer will depend on several factors:

• Academic level. (Middle and high school students write short essays. Undergraduates and graduates craft longer and more complex papers.)
• Type and purpose. (Research-based essays are longer than reflective stories you write for college admission officers.)
• Instructions you get from a teacher. (Check them: The supposed essay length is often there.)

How many words are in an essay? You can answer this question now.

References:

• https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/paragraphs_and_paragraphing/paragraphing.html  
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• Essay writing
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• 40 Useful Words and Phrases for Top-Notch Essays

To be truly brilliant, an essay needs to utilise the right language. You could make a great point, but if it’s not intelligently articulated, you almost needn’t have bothered.

Developing the language skills to build an argument and to write persuasively is crucial if you’re to write outstanding essays every time. In this article, we’re going to equip you with the words and phrases you need to write a top-notch essay, along with examples of how to utilise them.

It’s by no means an exhaustive list, and there will often be other ways of using the words and phrases we describe that we won’t have room to include, but there should be more than enough below to help you make an instant improvement to your essay-writing skills.

If you’re interested in developing your language and persuasive skills, Oxford Royale offers summer courses at its Oxford Summer School , Cambridge Summer School , London Summer School , San Francisco Summer School and Yale Summer School . You can study courses to learn english , prepare for careers in law , medicine , business , engineering and leadership.

General explaining

Let’s start by looking at language for general explanations of complex points.

1. In order to

Usage: “In order to” can be used to introduce an explanation for the purpose of an argument. Example: “In order to understand X, we need first to understand Y.”

2. In other words

Usage: Use “in other words” when you want to express something in a different way (more simply), to make it easier to understand, or to emphasise or expand on a point. Example: “Frogs are amphibians. In other words, they live on the land and in the water.”

3. To put it another way

Usage: This phrase is another way of saying “in other words”, and can be used in particularly complex points, when you feel that an alternative way of wording a problem may help the reader achieve a better understanding of its significance. Example: “Plants rely on photosynthesis. To put it another way, they will die without the sun.”

4. That is to say

Usage: “That is” and “that is to say” can be used to add further detail to your explanation, or to be more precise. Example: “Whales are mammals. That is to say, they must breathe air.”

5. To that end

Usage: Use “to that end” or “to this end” in a similar way to “in order to” or “so”. Example: “Zoologists have long sought to understand how animals communicate with each other. To that end, a new study has been launched that looks at elephant sounds and their possible meanings.”

Adding additional information to support a point

Students often make the mistake of using synonyms of “and” each time they want to add further information in support of a point they’re making, or to build an argument. Here are some cleverer ways of doing this.

6. Moreover

Usage: Employ “moreover” at the start of a sentence to add extra information in support of a point you’re making. Example: “Moreover, the results of a recent piece of research provide compelling evidence in support of…”

7. Furthermore

Usage:This is also generally used at the start of a sentence, to add extra information. Example: “Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that…”

8. What’s more

Usage: This is used in the same way as “moreover” and “furthermore”. Example: “What’s more, this isn’t the only evidence that supports this hypothesis.”

9. Likewise

Usage: Use “likewise” when you want to talk about something that agrees with what you’ve just mentioned. Example: “Scholar A believes X. Likewise, Scholar B argues compellingly in favour of this point of view.”

10. Similarly

Usage: Use “similarly” in the same way as “likewise”. Example: “Audiences at the time reacted with shock to Beethoven’s new work, because it was very different to what they were used to. Similarly, we have a tendency to react with surprise to the unfamiliar.”

11. Another key thing to remember

Usage: Use the phrase “another key point to remember” or “another key fact to remember” to introduce additional facts without using the word “also”. Example: “As a Romantic, Blake was a proponent of a closer relationship between humans and nature. Another key point to remember is that Blake was writing during the Industrial Revolution, which had a major impact on the world around him.”

12. As well as

Usage: Use “as well as” instead of “also” or “and”. Example: “Scholar A argued that this was due to X, as well as Y.”

13. Not only… but also

Usage: This wording is used to add an extra piece of information, often something that’s in some way more surprising or unexpected than the first piece of information. Example: “Not only did Edmund Hillary have the honour of being the first to reach the summit of Everest, but he was also appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.”

14. Coupled with

Usage: Used when considering two or more arguments at a time. Example: “Coupled with the literary evidence, the statistics paint a compelling view of…”

15. Firstly, secondly, thirdly…

Usage: This can be used to structure an argument, presenting facts clearly one after the other. Example: “There are many points in support of this view. Firstly, X. Secondly, Y. And thirdly, Z.

16. Not to mention/to say nothing of

Usage: “Not to mention” and “to say nothing of” can be used to add extra information with a bit of emphasis. Example: “The war caused unprecedented suffering to millions of people, not to mention its impact on the country’s economy.”

Words and phrases for demonstrating contrast

When you’re developing an argument, you will often need to present contrasting or opposing opinions or evidence – “it could show this, but it could also show this”, or “X says this, but Y disagrees”. This section covers words you can use instead of the “but” in these examples, to make your writing sound more intelligent and interesting.

17. However

Usage: Use “however” to introduce a point that disagrees with what you’ve just said. Example: “Scholar A thinks this. However, Scholar B reached a different conclusion.”

18. On the other hand

Usage: Usage of this phrase includes introducing a contrasting interpretation of the same piece of evidence, a different piece of evidence that suggests something else, or an opposing opinion. Example: “The historical evidence appears to suggest a clear-cut situation. On the other hand, the archaeological evidence presents a somewhat less straightforward picture of what happened that day.”

19. Having said that

Usage: Used in a similar manner to “on the other hand” or “but”. Example: “The historians are unanimous in telling us X, an agreement that suggests that this version of events must be an accurate account. Having said that, the archaeology tells a different story.”

20. By contrast/in comparison

Usage: Use “by contrast” or “in comparison” when you’re comparing and contrasting pieces of evidence. Example: “Scholar A’s opinion, then, is based on insufficient evidence. By contrast, Scholar B’s opinion seems more plausible.”

21. Then again

Usage: Use this to cast doubt on an assertion. Example: “Writer A asserts that this was the reason for what happened. Then again, it’s possible that he was being paid to say this.”

22. That said

Usage: This is used in the same way as “then again”. Example: “The evidence ostensibly appears to point to this conclusion. That said, much of the evidence is unreliable at best.”

Usage: Use this when you want to introduce a contrasting idea. Example: “Much of scholarship has focused on this evidence. Yet not everyone agrees that this is the most important aspect of the situation.”

Adding a proviso or acknowledging reservations

Sometimes, you may need to acknowledge a shortfalling in a piece of evidence, or add a proviso. Here are some ways of doing so.

24. Despite this

Usage: Use “despite this” or “in spite of this” when you want to outline a point that stands regardless of a shortfalling in the evidence. Example: “The sample size was small, but the results were important despite this.”

25. With this in mind

Usage: Use this when you want your reader to consider a point in the knowledge of something else. Example: “We’ve seen that the methods used in the 19th century study did not always live up to the rigorous standards expected in scientific research today, which makes it difficult to draw definite conclusions. With this in mind, let’s look at a more recent study to see how the results compare.”

26. Provided that

Usage: This means “on condition that”. You can also say “providing that” or just “providing” to mean the same thing. Example: “We may use this as evidence to support our argument, provided that we bear in mind the limitations of the methods used to obtain it.”

27. In view of/in light of

Usage: These phrases are used when something has shed light on something else. Example: “In light of the evidence from the 2013 study, we have a better understanding of…”

28. Nonetheless

Usage: This is similar to “despite this”. Example: “The study had its limitations, but it was nonetheless groundbreaking for its day.”

29. Nevertheless

Usage: This is the same as “nonetheless”. Example: “The study was flawed, but it was important nevertheless.”

30. Notwithstanding

Usage: This is another way of saying “nonetheless”. Example: “Notwithstanding the limitations of the methodology used, it was an important study in the development of how we view the workings of the human mind.”

Giving examples

Good essays always back up points with examples, but it’s going to get boring if you use the expression “for example” every time. Here are a couple of other ways of saying the same thing.

31. For instance

Example: “Some birds migrate to avoid harsher winter climates. Swallows, for instance, leave the UK in early winter and fly south…”

32. To give an illustration

Example: “To give an illustration of what I mean, let’s look at the case of…”

Signifying importance

When you want to demonstrate that a point is particularly important, there are several ways of highlighting it as such.

33. Significantly

Usage: Used to introduce a point that is loaded with meaning that might not be immediately apparent. Example: “Significantly, Tacitus omits to tell us the kind of gossip prevalent in Suetonius’ accounts of the same period.”

34. Notably

Usage: This can be used to mean “significantly” (as above), and it can also be used interchangeably with “in particular” (the example below demonstrates the first of these ways of using it). Example: “Actual figures are notably absent from Scholar A’s analysis.”

35. Importantly

Usage: Use “importantly” interchangeably with “significantly”. Example: “Importantly, Scholar A was being employed by X when he wrote this work, and was presumably therefore under pressure to portray the situation more favourably than he perhaps might otherwise have done.”

Summarising

You’ve almost made it to the end of the essay, but your work isn’t over yet. You need to end by wrapping up everything you’ve talked about, showing that you’ve considered the arguments on both sides and reached the most likely conclusion. Here are some words and phrases to help you.

36. In conclusion

Usage: Typically used to introduce the concluding paragraph or sentence of an essay, summarising what you’ve discussed in a broad overview. Example: “In conclusion, the evidence points almost exclusively to Argument A.”

37. Above all

Usage: Used to signify what you believe to be the most significant point, and the main takeaway from the essay. Example: “Above all, it seems pertinent to remember that…”

38. Persuasive

Usage: This is a useful word to use when summarising which argument you find most convincing. Example: “Scholar A’s point – that Constanze Mozart was motivated by financial gain – seems to me to be the most persuasive argument for her actions following Mozart’s death.”

39. Compelling

Usage: Use in the same way as “persuasive” above. Example: “The most compelling argument is presented by Scholar A.”

40. All things considered

Usage: This means “taking everything into account”. Example: “All things considered, it seems reasonable to assume that…”

How many of these words and phrases will you get into your next essay? And are any of your favourite essay terms missing from our list? Let us know in the comments below, or get in touch here to find out more about courses that can help you with your essays.

At Oxford Royale Academy, we offer a number of  summer school courses for young people who are keen to improve their essay writing skills. Click here to apply for one of our courses today, including law , business , medicine  and engineering .

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To Become the GOAT, Simone Biles First Had to Be a Turtle

She sealed her legacy with four medals at the Paris Games. She created it by being herself and going at her own pace.

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By Juliet Macur

Juliet Macur, who has covered Simone Biles’s career since Biles was 18, reported from Paris.

• Aug. 5, 2024

To end the Olympics she once thought would never happen for her, Simone Biles began her floor exercise routine on Monday and did what she was made to do: flip and twist and thrill an arena filled with people there to watch her.

Every time Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history, landed one of her wildly difficult tumbling passes, the crowd seemed to shout, “Wow!” all at once. And when she was done, standing alone on the floor in her sparkly leotard, the spectators rose to honor her — perhaps as much for her entire career as for a brilliant but flawed floor routine.

Biles stepped out of bounds twice during the routine, which was by far the most difficult that any of the finalists attempted. As a result, she did not win, as expected. Instead, she received the silver medal, while Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, her rival, won the gold by just over three one hundredths of a point. The American Jordan Chiles, one of Biles’s close friends, won the bronze.

When Chiles’s bronze medal was announced, she cried — and Biles smiled and laughed while hugging her.

Three years earlier, Biles withdrew from nearly all of her events at the Tokyo Games after becoming disoriented in the air, a moment that prompted her to consider quitting the sport. On Monday, she finished the Paris Games with three gold medals and one silver. (Earlier in the day, she finished fifth on the balance beam after losing points because of a fall.)

Her imperfect final performances did little to dull her luster at these Games. On each day she competed, celebrities dotted the stands, making gymnastics — already a marquee sport of the Olympics — seem like the hippest club in Paris. There were Lady Gaga, Tom Cruise and Ariana Grande, and sports legends like Serena Williams, Michael Phelps and Stephen Curry. After a day at the water polo venue, Flavor Flav, the rapper, said how much he admired Biles and wanted “to meet her, shake her hand and give her a hug and tell her how proud I am of her.”

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