1. Essay
Rochelle Alabado
Gerome Mikhail C. Tipan

2. Etymology
►The word essay derives from the French
infinitive essayer, "to try" or "to attempt".
►In English essay first meant "a trial" or "an
attempt", and this is still an alternative
meaning.

3. Definition
►“prose composition with a focused subject
of discussion”
► a "long, systematic discourse”
►Like the novel, essay, is a literary device
for saying almost everything about almost
anything, usually on a certain topic
(Aldous Huxley).

4. Advantages
►All cognitive levels can be addressed with
essay questions.
►It takes less time to write an essay test
(only because there are fewer questions to
write).
►Students’ organizational skills are also
measured.

5. Disadvantages
►Essay questions are time-consuming to
answer and answers take more time to
score.
►Less content can be sampled.
►Reliability of both response and score is
less (although validity may be better).

6. Example of the type of test
►China claims the whole China Sea as its
territory. Do you agree to this? Do they
have the basis historically? Has the
Philippines the right to object to this claim?
Discuss and explain very well.

7. Rubric
5 4 3 2 1
oAnswers the
specific
central
question that
was asked
oIncorporates
pertinent and
detailed
information
oprovide
needed
evidence
oQuite
answer the
specific
question that
was asked
oIncorporates
some
information
oproviding
some
necessary
evidence, but
less
thoroughly
oAddresses
the specific
central
question
asked but
does not
relate directly
to the
question or
does not
address all
required
elements
oDoes not
directly
answer the
specific
central
question
asked
ominimally
and/or
irrelevantly
does not
incorporates
the
information
oDoes not
answer the
specific
central
question in
any way
oDoes not
incorporate
information
from pertinent
class
discussion
and/or
assigned
readings

8. 5 4 3 2 1
oMaintains
focus/avoids
being
sidetracked
by tangents
oPresents all
information
clearly and
concisely and
in an
organized
manner
ooffer a brief
response
odigress from
the specific
topic
oPresents
information
fairly clearly
,concisely,
may have
minor
organization
problems
oSometimes
strays from
the specific
oPresents
information in
a manner that
is sometimes
unclear,
and/or has
significant
organization
problems
oundeveloped
response
oSubstantially
digresses
from the
specific topic
osignificant
problems with
clarity,
concision, and
organization,
making the
information
presented
difficult for the
reader to
understand
oProvides no
information
that can be
understood or
related to the
specific topic
oMay lack
any
recognizable
organization

9. 5 4 3 2 1
oAvoids
distracting
grammar/sp
elling/etc.
Problems
oMay
contain a
few
distracting
grammar/sp
elling,proble
ms
oMay
contain a
few or a
significant
number of
distracting
grammar/sp
elling/etc.
problems
oMay
contain
substantial
distracting
grammar/sp
elling/etc.
problems
that muddle
the
information
presented
oMay
contain
enough
distracting
grammar/sp
elling/etc.
problems to
make it
substantially
incomprehe
nsible