Ask a class to write about The Discourses and a large share of them will retell what happens in the assigned chapters. Summary is safe, it demonstrates that the reading was done, and it fills pages quickly. The trouble is that it does not show thinking, and a rubric that treats summary and analysis equally rewards the wrong behavior.

Weighting is the most direct tool teachers have for steering student effort. If analysis accounts for forty percent of the grade and summary only ten, students quickly learn where to invest. The weights act as a message about what the assignment is really for.

Before assigning weights, decide what a minimal level of summary looks like. Some background is necessary for the reader to follow the argument, but it should be brief and tied to the claim. A good rule is that every summary sentence should set up an analytical sentence.

Define analysis in concrete terms

Students may not know what analysis means in practice. Define it in your rubric as explaining why a piece of evidence matters, what it reveals, and how it connects to the thesis. Offering a before-and-after example, with a summary sentence and an analytic revision, makes the idea tangible.

• Summary: Machiavelli describes how the Roman tribunes were created after the plebs left the city.
• Analysis: The creation of the tribunes shows that Machiavelli sees institutions as the answer to conflict, not its enemy.
• Summary: Machiavelli says Numa used religion to unite the Romans.
• Analysis: Numa's use of religion suggests Machiavelli values belief for its effect on behavior, not for its truth.
• Test: if a sentence could appear in a plot summary, it is probably not analysis.

Give students a way to self-check

Teach students to highlight their essays in two colors, one for summary and one for analysis. A draft that is mostly one color reveals the imbalance instantly. The exercise takes five minutes and often triggers meaningful revision without any teacher comment.

Pair this with a so-what question. After every summary sentence, the student asks what it proves, and if the answer is nothing, the sentence needs revision or removal. This habit transfers to other courses and kinds of writing.

Align your feedback with the weights

If analysis is the priority, comments should focus on it. Resist the urge to spend time on minor mechanical issues in an essay whose main problem is a lack of argument. Point to specific passages where analysis could be added and suggest the question the student should answer.

Consistent weighting across graders ensures that students are not penalized or rewarded based on who reads their paper. Sharing the rubric and sample scored essays within a department supports this. Students benefit when expectations are the same in every section.

Revisit weights as students improve

Early in a course, a modest weight on mechanics and structure may be appropriate. As students develop, shift more weight to sophisticated analysis and use of counterarguments. A rubric that evolves with the class reflects genuine progress.

Tools that evaluate essays against a weighted rubric can help ensure the criteria are applied evenly across a large stack of papers. The teacher keeps final control, but the tool can highlight where an essay leans too heavily on summary. This helps both grading and student learning.