Essay Rubric

Points
5 4 3 2 1 Earned
The essay is fully The essay is The essay is The essay is The essay shows
focused and consistently focused sufficiently focused minimally focused. little or no focus and
IDEAS contains a wealth of and contains ample and contains some The provided the ideas are
 Controlling idea ideas and examples. ideas and examples. ideas and examples. examples are vague unclear, irrelevant,
 Supporting ideas The response is or general and the or repetitive. The
generally response response is
 Use of details
appropriate to the demonstrates incomplete or too
 Awareness of purpose purpose. minimal awareness. brief.
 Sense of completeness

The organization of The organization is The organization is The organization is The essay shows
ideas supports the appropriate and the generally formulaic or little evidence of
ORGANIZATION writer’s focus. sequencing of ideas appropriate and the inappropriate. The organization or
 Introduction/body/conclusion Ideas are grouped in is logical. Varied ideas are clearly response may lack a sequencing.
 Sequence of ideas a logical manner. transitions are used. sequenced, but may clear introduction or Transitions are not
 Grouping of ideas Effective and varied be repetitive. conclusion. used. The response
transitions are used. Transitions are used Transitions are rare. is incomplete or too
 Effective transitions
brief.
 Awareness of purpose

The writer utilizes The language and The language and The language and The language and
carefully crafted tone of the essay tone are appropriate. tone are uneven. tone are
STYLE phrases to create a enhance the Word choice is Word choice is inappropriate. Word
 Sentence variety sustained tone and persuasive purpose. adequate, but may simple, ordinary, or choice is incorrect or
 Word choice an authoritative Word choice is be simple or repetitive. There is confusing. The
 Audience awareness voice. Word choice appropriate. ordinary. Some minimal variation in response is
 Personal voice reflects an advanced Sentences are sentence variety is sentence length and incomplete or too
vocabulary. varied. evident. structure. brief.

The writer follows - - - The writer doesn’t

teachers instructions follow teacher’s
Length. and presents a essay instructions and
with the required doesn’t present an
 Student’s essay follows length essay with the
required length required length.

Grammar There are no Mistakes are Writer makes Writes makes some Writer makes too
mistakes, or the acceptable at the mistakes that basic mistakes that many mistakes that
mistakes are totally writer’s level. shouldn’t happen at must not happen at are considered basic
 Subject – verb – object acceptable at the Makes 5 – 7 this level. the writer level. mistakes.
structure writer’s level. mistakes.
 Tenses 1 -4 8 - 10 10 - 12 More than 12.

TOTAL POINTS = ____________

 Classwork rubric

N° Criteria Score
3 2 1
1 Student follows teacher’s instructions
2 Student spends time wisely
3 Student works in a clean area
4 Students respects classmates while writing
5 Assignment is completed on time