Evidentiary Density Throughout
Whether evidentiary grounding is sustained throughout the text, rather than concentrated in one paragraph while the rest of the critique is unmoored judgment
The five levels
Each anchor describes what separates one level from the next — not a general description of quality. This is the text the evaluator itself reads.
-
Level 1 Below Standard
Grounding appears only once, in the text's opening, with the remaining paragraphs entirely without evidence
Example One piece of evidence in the first line, then six consecutive judgment sentences with no grounding
-
Level 2 Approaching
Grounding is concentrated in half the text only, with the other half unsupported judgment
Example The first two paragraphs are well-grounded, the last two carry no evidence at all
-
Level 3 At Standard
Grounding is distributed across most of the text's paragraphs, with one or two limited gaps
Example Every paragraph carries at least one piece of evidence except the closing paragraph
-
Level 4 Above Standard
Grounding is consistent across nearly every paragraph, with its density proportional to the weight of the judgment being made there
Example Major judgments carry more than one piece of evidence, minor observations one each
-
Level 5 Exemplary
Not a single judgment sentence anywhere in the text lacks direct or nearby grounding, from the first line to the last
Example Near-complete evidentiary density across every paragraph with no noticeable exception
Where does your own work sit on these levels?
Submit one work to be read against this criterion alone: your position across the five levels, why you are not higher and why not lower, three literal quotes from your own work, and one exercise with its success check. Your first card is free.
Price: 7 SAR · Included in Pro & Artist Plus · First one free — Pricing details
Read my work by this criterionOther criteria in the same art
Whether every evaluative judgment is paired with a specific pointer to an actual location or detail in the work that grounds it
The five levels →How clearly the critique distinguishes "what is in the work" (description) from "my opinion of it" (judgment), rather than blurring them in one undifferentiated sentence
The five levels →How closely the work's details the critic describes (color, shape, composition, word, rhythm) match what is actually present in the work
The five levels →Whether the critique goes past the first impression to uncover relationships or causes not obvious on the surface, rather than stopping at surface-level description
The five levels →The critic's distinction between "what is seen in the work" and "what it is presumed to mean or symbolize", and whether the move from the first to the second is signalled
The five levels →Whether the critic's judgments hold together across the text, rather than contradicting themself evaluating the same element or equivalent elements
The five levels →The critic's use of the discipline's own terms (composition, rhythm, contrast, plot, maqam...) with their precise conventional meaning in that art, rather than as loose metaphor
The five levels →Whether the critic explicitly distinguishes between what is personal taste preference and what is judgment grounded in a general, defensible artistic standard
The five levels →