You have put together a convincing argument. Here are some of the strengths evident in your writing:

Your essay:

• States your position clearly and persuasively; your reasons or examples are well-chosen and add up to convincing, consistent support for your argument. You have been persuasive.
• Stays focused and is well-organized with transitions and other devices that take the reader with you from point to point. Your writing is effective.
• Contains varied sentence structure and precise language that make your writing a very solid whole. You are consistently matching language to the meaning.
• Demonstrates that grammar, spelling, and punctuation are things that you use well. There is not much wrong and nothing interferes with your meaning.

You have solid writing skills and something interesting to say. Look at the 6 sample essay to get ideas on how to develop your ideas more fully or use language more persuasively and consistently.

Your essay:

• States your position clearly. Your reasons or examples are right for your argument and are working as pertinent support much of the time.
• Is well-organized so that your reader can follow you. You might want to explore how language can be used even more effectively to signal direction and to tie together the parts of your argument.
• Contains some varied sentence structure and good word choice most of the time. A little improvement at the sentence level could double your effectiveness.
• Demonstrates that grammar, spelling, and punctuation are serving your intentions much of the time. Errors do not get in the way of what you have to say.

Your writing skills are good, but you need to know how to be more persuasive and more skillful at communicating your ideas. Look at the 5 and 6 sample essays to see how you could be more persuasive and use language more effectively.

Your essay:

• States your position clearly. Your reasons or examples are right for your argument and are working as pertinent support some of the time.
• Is organized in a generally unified manner, but making stronger connections among the parts would make this work tighter and more convincing. Those kinds of changes are easy to make with a lot of payback for the effort.
• Sticks pretty much to simple sentences, when varied sentence structures could be very effective, and your word choice is mostly accurate.
• Demonstrates that grammar, spelling, and punctuation are things that you know, and mistakes in these features do not interfere with reader understanding

Your writing is a mix of strengths and weaknesses. Working to improve your writing will definitely earn you more satisfactory results because your writing shows promise.

In one or more of the following areas, your essay needs improvement. Your essay:

• Takes a position clearly but supporting development is uneven. Your essay may have a strong beginning but you have not provided support for each point you make. Or you are being circular and repetitive instead of moving the reader to more convincing points
• Is organized in some places, but transitions and other ways of connecting the parts would make this essay flow more smoothly. What your essay lacks in organization makes what is here look weak.
• Strains sentence structure or does not use the full range of possible sentence structures (simple, complex, and compound). Your word choice is not always correct
• Shows that grammar, spelling, and punctuation are areas for improvement because mistakes sometimes interfere with your meaning

You have work to do to improve your writing. You probably have not addressed the topic or communicated your ideas effectively. Your writing may be difficult to understand.

In one or more of the following areas, your essay is weak. Your essay:

• Takes a position, but any good point or idea needs much more space for development. Reasons or examples as support and a persuasive discussion of that support are very necessary.
• Is lacking in convincing organization. Your essay is either clear but too brief or is disorganized and unfocused.
• Contains sentence fragments and phrases strung together or does not use the full range of sentences that are possible when you have something important to say, or word choice is wrong.
• Demonstrates that mistakes in grammar, spelling, and punctuation take away from understanding in too many places.

You have much work to do in order to improve your writing skills. You are not writing with complete understanding of the task, or you do not have much of a sense of what you need to do to write better. You need advice from a writing instructor and lots of practice.

In one or more of the following areas, your essay is weak. Your essay:

• Shows that you are trying but your position is not clear. You may be just restating the topic in your own words, forgetting that you need to provide convincing support, or not focusing your thoughts in a logical manner.
• Lacks organization. You are not clearly showing how you move from point to point.
• Demonstrates too little or no control over sentence structure. Word choice is faulty so the reader has to supply meaning in too many places.
• Hampers understanding because errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation get in the way of your meaning.