Here's a semi-humorous explanation of how I mark assignments in my philosophy of religion class:

F = You didn't submit anything / haven't come to class at all. There's a real good use of your tuition fees.

D = You showed up and handed in an assignment, but not only have you not done the reading, you haven't even read the assignment question.
(Hey, this is humanities, where everything is marked subjectively, so unless you handed in something that isn't apparently relevant to religious studies at all, like a hand-drawn doodle of a dinosaur - which my brother did once, on a math quiz, by the way - I'd feel bad giving you an F.)

C- = Technically, you answered the assigned question, but your writing is so bad in terms of grammar, coherency, etc. that I'm unable to tell anything beyond that.

C = Technically, you answered the question, but given the quantity of vague, uninformative blather about generalities and your personal experience which you felt the need to include, I highly doubt you did the reading. Which is unfortunate since it's pretty hard to engage in any depth with the content of the reading then.

C+ = Technically, you answered the question... and in fact, I'm sure you did the best you could on the assignment given that you wrote it in five minutes while sitting on the bus.
Or: You answered the question by just summarizing the reading, and while it's an acceptable summary, I could have read the article myself, so you really aren't impressing anyone here.

B- = I can tell that you're trying to put forth some kind of argument, and you even make a few good points, but due to the poor quality of your writing I either can't follow your train of thought, or you've made a number of major mistakes in interpreting the reading, or you included some sort of implausible generalization in your analysis.

B = Like B- but with better writing and fewer, less damaging mistakes.

B+ = No obvious mistakes in your analysis, and you present your view well, but fail to consider any counter-arguments to the claims you're making.

A- = You present both your own view and possible counter-arguments well, but then you ignore the implications of the counter-arguments.

A = You present your own view and counter-arguments, and then go on to provide good counter-counter-arguments. The result is almost as good as something I would have written.


Also, a translation of some often-used phrases in the comments I make:

...adequate... = Well, I guess you're not wrong but I wouldn't say much more about it than that.

...I am unconvinced by your claim that... = That's the stupidest argument I've ever heard, at least the way you've phrased it.

...your response is rather brief... = "One page" does not mean "one page with 14-point font, double+ spacing and 8 wasted lines of your personal information at the top."

And my personal favorite:

...as a result, your mark has been adversely affected... = You sure did get a D.


Oh smile already - I'm arrogant but I'm also witty and charming.