Writing Program Rubric

Writing Program Grading Rubric	A = Superior	B = Strong	C= Competent	D = Inadequate	F = Incompetent
	Convincingly and ardently communicates a noteworthy idea to an audience through sophisticated use of rhetorical strategies	Effectively conveys an insightful idea to an audience through consistent and controlled use of rhetorical strategies	Communicates an idea, but does not consistently address the needs of its audience	Ineffectively communicates its idea to its intended audience	Fails to present its ideas to the audience and does not meet some or all of the criteria for the assignment
Thesis/Focus	Demonstrates an awareness of audience, is sophisticated, and is clearly established and maintained throughout	Is intelligent, clearly established, and consistently addressed throughout	Has a central idea that is conventional or general	Is superficial and inconsistently addressed, reveals limited awareness of audience	Lacks a central idea; has no awareness, or limited awareness, of its audience and purpose
Organization	Has a clear sense of logical order appropriate to the content and the thesis	Is logical, clear, and controlled	The essay’s organization is choppy and may, at times, be difficult to follow	Reveals no apparent strategy and lapses in focus and logic	Is random and without focus or logic
Development	Demonstrates critical thinking that is clear, insightful, in depth, and relevant to the topic	Demonstrates critical thinking that is more than adequate, with significant detail; may show depth in thinking and research	Demonstrates limited critical thinking and limited knowledge of the subject	Displays little knowledge of the subject, does not form conclusions, or fails to exhibit critical thinking or clear reasoning	Displays little or no knowledge of the subject, does not form conclusions, or fails to exhibit critical thinking or clear reasoning
Syntax & Diction	Uses sophisticated language that engages the reader; manipulates sentence length to enhance the total effect of the essay; uses precise language that expresses complex ideas clearly	Demonstrates knowledge of and skill with complex and varied sentence constructions and vocabulary	Demonstrates competency with language use, but sentence constructions and vocabulary may be limited or repetitive	Contains repetitive, incorrect, or ineffective sentence structure; displays a limited vocabulary	Fails to demonstrate competency with language use; sentence constructions and vocabulary may be inappropriate, facile or incoherent
Format & Design	Fully integrates elements of design to best serve rhetorical purpose	Consistently contributes to the persuasive aims of the assignment	Unevenly incorporates elements of design to aid its argument	Bears little relevance to the assignment’s rhetorical purpose or guidelines	Makes no attempt to use the elements of design to help persuade its audiences
Research	Uses sources effectively and documents sources accurately	Uses sources effectively and documents sources accurately	Lacks sufficient research for the topic, poorly incorporates sources, or fails to document accurately	Lacks sufficient research for the topic, poorly incorporates sources, or fails to document sources accurately	Fails to include sufficient sources for topic, incorporates irrelevant or inadequate sources, or plagiarizes
Mechanics	Contains very few errors of spelling, grammar, paragraphing, or manuscript format	May contain errors, but these errors do not interfere with the essay’s overall effectiveness	Contains multiple errors that hinder the essay’s readability	Contains many errors that garble the meaning or intent	Contains serious and multiple errors that seriously hinder the reading of the paper