English IV College

Essay Rubric

Organization of Ideas Development of Ideas Use of Language Conventions
4

-Appropriate structure for the purpose, responsive t o the
specif ics of the prompt
-Skillfully crafted organizational strategies for the task
-Clear thesis statement with strongly related ideas focused
on the topic specified in the prompt
-Unified and coherent essay
-Progression of ideas is logical and well controlled.
-Meaningful transitions show the relationships among
ideas; essay i s easy to follow.
-Specific and well-chosen details, examples,
and/or textual support
-Essay is thoughtful and engaging.
-Depending on prompt, writer may use
his/her unique experiences, view of the
world, or textual evidence as support and
may connect ideas in interesting ways.
-Development shows thorough
understanding of the writing task.
-Purposeful and precise word choice
-Keen awareness of the purpose with appropriate tone
-Strong word choice
-Purposeful, varied, and well controlled sentences
-Consistent command of sentences , spelling,
capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and usage
-May have minor errors that do not detract
-Strength of the conventions contributes to the essay.
3

-For the most part, appropriate o r g a n i z a t i o n for the
purpose
- Adequate organizational strategies
-Clear thesis statement
-Most ideas are related to the thesis and are focused.
-Essay is coherent, with minor lapses in focus.
-Generally logical and controlled progression of ideas
-Most transitions are meaningful, and sufficient
connections support flow and show the relationships
among ideas.
-Sufficient development of ideas
-Specific and appropriate details,
examples, and/or textual support
-Insightful rather than formulaic
-Development demonstrates a good
understanding of the writing task.

-Clear and specific word choice
- Awareness of prompts purpose and appropriate tone
-Word choice usually contributes to the quality and
clarity of the essay.
-Sentences are varied, adequately controlled, and
contribute to the effectiveness of the essay.
-Adequate command of sentence boundaries spelling,
capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and usage
-Some errors may be evident but create f ew (i f
any) disruptions in the fluency or clarity of the essay.
2

-Evident, but not always appropriate, organizing
s t r u c t u r e
-Organizational strategies somewhat suited to the task
-Most ideas are generally related to the prompt, but the
thesis statement is weak or somewhat unclear.
-Weak thesis and/or irrelevant information interferes
with the focus and coherence of the essay.
-Progression of ideas is not always logical and controlled.
-Some repetition and/or wordiness
-Perfunctory or weak transitions
-Minimal development of ideas, superficial
-Inappropriate details, examples, or textual
support; or support too briefly or
partially presented
-Little or no thoughtfulness, somewhat
formulaic
-Shows limited understanding of the t a s k

-General or imprecise word choice
-Little evidence of tone appropriate to the task.
-Word choice may not contribute to the quality and
clarity of the essay.
-Awkward or only somewhat controlled sentences
weaken the effectiveness.
-Partial command of sentence boundaries, spelling,
capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and usage
-Distracting errors may create minor disruptions in
fluency or meaning.
1

-Inappropriate organization to the purpose or the
specific demands of the prompt
-Marginally suited, i nappropri ate or non-evi dent
organi zati onal strategi es
-Lacks clarity and direction
-Most ideas are generally related to the topic specified in
the prompt, but the thesis statement is missing, unclear,
or illogical.
- Lack of focus, extraneous information
-Shifts abruptly from idea to idea
-Weak progression of ideas
-Repetition, wordiness, lack of transitions
-Difficult to follow
-Weak development of ideas
-The essay is ineffective because the writer
uses inappropriate, vague, or insufficient
support
-Vague or confused response
-In some cases, the essay as a whole is only
weakly linked to the prompt.
-May demonstrates a lack of understanding of
the writing task.

-Vague or limited word choice
-Little or no awareness of the task
-Appropriate t o ne not established
- Word choi ce i mpedes qual i ty or cl ari ty of
essay.
-Sentences are simplistic, awkward, or uncontrolled,
significantly limiting the effectiveness of the essay.
-Little or no command of sentence boundaries,
spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and
usage conventions.
- Serious and persistent errors create disruptions in
the fluency of the writing and sometimes interfere
with meaning.