The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of how students viewed the marking rubrics that they were expected to follow in the course ARTS 1110 Introduction to University. The research questions were "Can first-year students taking the Arts 1110 Introduction to University course articulate their understanding of the marking rubric? And, "How do students use their understanding of the marking rubric when they are revising their academic essays in ARTS 1110?" Data was gathered using paper and pencil surveys that consisted of a combination of open-ended and closed questions. The results indicated that students used the rubrics as a way to understand where they made mistakes so they could correct them and improve their essays either during their rewrite or when they wrote their next essay. The surveys also indicated that while the students preferred the hybrid holistic rubric, the analytic rubric was just as effective in terms of providing information to the students. The following are appended: (1) Analytic Rubric; (2) Hybrid Holistic Rubric; (3) Analytic Rubric--Experimental Group; (4) Analytic Rubric--Control Group; and (5) Experimental Group Comparison between the Analytic and Hybrid Holistic Rubric.