ESSAY RUBRIC

CRITERIA POOR
FAIR GOOD EXCELLENT
(Marks) (1 – 5
(6 - 10 marks) (11 - 15 marks) (16 - 20 marks)
marks)
CONTENT (C) (10)
Introduction is Attitude is defined;
incomplete, Unclear; formulaic; thesis is clearly
Introduction
ineffective, or not creative focused; subject is
Content missing significant
shows
Simplistic; uneven in Interesting;
Idea serious lack Absent or
quality; lacking in sophisticated;
Development of ineffective
relevance insightful
knowledge
Support or Vague, missing, or Detailed; accurate;
and Uneven
Evidence inaccurate convincing
understandi
ng of the Limited,
Engaging and powerful
Word Choice topic monotonous, Uneven
choice of words
inappropriate
Absent, Summarizes
Extends; connects;
Conclusion incomplete, or previously stated
comments on topics
unfocused information
Citation
errors
Citations missing One citation is
Citations compromis 2 or more citations are
or incorrectly correctly written, or
(if applicable) e meaning correctly written
written parts are missing.
significantly
from paper
More than
16%-20%
20% 10%-15% Less than 10%
Plagiarism plagiarism
plagiarism plagiarism detected plagiarism detected
detected
detected
ORGANISATION (O) (5)
No Contributes to an
Paragraph Ineffective or
evidence of Random effective argument;
Order inconsistent
paragraph reinforces the content
order Absent
Transitions Mechanical Effective and varied

MECHANICS (M) (5)

Repetitious;
Variety is present;
Sentence Inability to fragments and Complete; varied;
some errors are
Structure form run-ons are interesting
evident
coherent frequent
Punctuation / sentences. Careless or
Block meaning Error-free
Spelling distracting