Northeast Community
College
Writing Rubric
Goal: Each student
will be able to write with a sense of purpose, organization, and mechanical
correctness.
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Criteria:
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Exceptional
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Strong
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Acceptable
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Weak
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Poor
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1.
Content that fulfills a specific purpose with a clear thesis.
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Provides
a coherent response of some substance, a clear thesis statement, and reflects
confidence and careful thought.
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Provides
a coherent response of some substance, a clear thesis statement, and reflects
some confidence and some thought.
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Thesis
statement is present but has a tendency toward the obvious. Provides a coherent response to the
assignment.
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Thesis
statement is vague, may indulge in the trite, the obvious, and/or the
redundant. Provides a comprehensible
response to the assignment.
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Thesis
statement is vague; paper may be self-contradictory, may not relate to the
assignment or provide an identifiable response to it.
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2.
General statements supported, developed, and illustrated by relevant
detail.
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General
statements supported, developed, and illustrated by relevant detail.
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General
statements are usually supported, developed, and illustrated by relevant
detail.
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Some
detail is supported; development of general statements but may be uneven
among paragraphs.
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Generalized
affirmation may outweigh supported, developed general statements; some detail
irrelevant; some inappropriate repetition may be present; paper is short and
somewhat underdeveloped but readable.
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General
statements may lack support, detail, and development. Often mere repetition instead of
development.
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3.
Sense of purpose in organization.
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Sense
of purpose in organization.
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Reflects
a sense of purpose in organization but may have a trouble spot.
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Sense
of organization may be too obvious or somewhat simplistic.
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Organization
is excessively formulaic (i.e., Now I am going to tell you about…) lapses in
organization in places.
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Little
or no apparent sense of organization.
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4.
Evidence of effective paragraphing and sentence structure, including
wording, phrasing, and transitions.
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Reflects
a command of clauses, sentences, and paragraphs. Sentences varied with syntactic maturity.
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Reflects
mostly a command of clauses and sentences.
Sentences contain appropriate variety and some syntactic maturity.
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Sentence
structure and syntax may be relatively simple but phrasing is clear and not
confusing.
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Paragraphs
have lapse in unity and coherence with uneven development.
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Sentence
structure and phrasing confusing with compounded syntax problems with clause
and sentence closure and linkage.
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5.
Correct punctuation, spelling, mechanics, usage, inflection, and
agreement.
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Free
of errors in punctuation, spelling, mechanics, usage, inflection, and
agreement.
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Very
few minor errors in punctuation, spelling, mechanics, usage, inflection,
and/or agreement.
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Some
errors in punctuation, spelling, agreement, and mechanics but not a hindrance
to comprehension.
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Common
errors in punctuation, spelling, agreement, inflection, and mechanics may be
slightly accumulated but not enough to interfere with reader comprehension.
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Accumulation
of problems with punctuation, spelling, mechanics, usage, inflection, with
the paper rendered difficult to comprehend.
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6.
Diction appropriate to subject matter, free of clichés, and
wordiness.
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Diction
appropriate to subject matter, free of triteness, clichés, and wordiness.
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Diction
appropriate and mostly free of triteness, clichés, and wordiness.
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Diction
may be commonplace or may be inflated but is mostly accurate and appropriate
to subject matter.
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Diction
may be inappropriate but major problems are apparent.
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Severe
diction problems: where/were,
win/when, know/no/now, etc.
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- and 8. *We have added Original student work, free of plagiarism, and correct Works Cited entries. We have not yet updated the definitions here.
