Ethics and Moral Reasoning / HY0001

Rubric for Discussion Question Responses

Your responses to discussion questions will be evaluated with reference to the rubric below. When youdo your 100-word peer evaluation of another student’s response, it’s recommended that you use thisrubric.

Excellent Good NeedsImprovement

Unacceptable

RELEVANCE The response isobviouslyrelevant to thequestion(s).

The response isrelevant to thediscussionquestion(s), butit contains somecomments thatdigress from thetopic beingdiscussed.

The response haslittle relevance tothe discussionquestion(s). Mostcomments are off-topic.

Nothing or nearlynothing in theresponse isrelevant to thediscussionquestion(s).

COMPREHENSION The responseaccuratelyexplains keyconceptsnecessary forresponding tothe question(s).

The response islargely accuratein explaining keyconcepts, withsome minorflaws.

The responsereflects majormisunderstandingsof key concepts, orfails to refer to therelevant keyconcepts.

The responsedisplays nounderstanding ofkey concepts.

THESIS The responsehas a clear andexplicit thesisstatement.

There is anexplicit thesis,but it is notclearly stated.

A thesis is present,but it is not statedexplicitly.

The responselacks a thesisstatement.

ARGUMENTS/REASONSFOR THESIS

Reasons meantto show that thethesis is true areclearly stated,and are helpfulin verifying thethesis.

Reasons meantto show that thethesis is true areclearly stated,but are onlysomewhathelpful inverifying thethesis.

Reasons meant toshow that thethesis is true arenot clearly stated,and not helpful inverifying thethesis.

The responselacks any effortto providereasons showingthat the thesis istrue.