Research Paper Rubric

Northeast Community College

Writing Rubric

Goal:  Each student will be able to write with a sense of purpose, organization, and mechanical correctness.

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

7. and 8. *We have added Original student work, free of plagiarism, and correct Works Cited entries.  We have not yet updated the definitions here.