18.0
pts
Ideas
are clear, insightful, thought-provoking, and focused so that they
consistently support the topic, thesis and audience for the paper.

15.0
pts
Ideas
are clear and focused to support the topic and a clearly-stated central
idea, but are not consistently insightful or thought-provoking.

12.0
pts
Ideas are clear but conventional or general, and support the topic, thesis, and audience for the paper.

9.0
pts
Ideas
are unclear or clichéd and demonstrate a lack of focus in support of the
topic or a central idea, which may be vague or missing.

18.0
pts
Development
is fresh, with abundant details and examples that arouse audience
interest and provide relevant, concrete, specific and insightful
evidence in support of sound logic.

15.0
pts
Development
is adequate, but may lack depth, with details and examples that arouse
audience interest and provide relevant, concrete, specific evidence in
support of sound logic.

12.0
pts
Development
is sufficient but general, providing adequate but perhaps not
interesting details, examples, and evidence that include no logical
fallacies or unsupported claims.

9.0
pts
Development
is insufficient, providing scarce or inappropriate details, evidence,
and examples that may include logical fallacies or unsupported claims.

18.0
pts
Organization
is coherent, unified and effective in support of the paper’s purpose/
plan and consistently demonstrates effective and appropriate rhetorical
transitions between ideas and paragraphs.

15.0
pts
Organization
is coherent, unified and effective in support of the paper’s purpose/
plan and usually demonstrates effective and appropriate rhetorical
transitions between ideas and paragraphs

12.0
pts
Organization
is coherent and unified overall in support of the essay’s purpose/
plan, but is ineffective at times and may demonstrate abrupt or weak
transitions between ideas or paragraphs.

9.0
pts
Organization
is confused and fragmented in support of the essay’s purpose/ plan and
demonstrates a lack of structure or coherence that negatively affects
readability.

18.0
pts
Readable
and rhetorically effective in tone, incorporating varied sentence
structure, precise word choice and correct grammar, spelling and
punctuation. (Mastery of style)

15.0
pts
Style
is readable and rhetorically effective in tone, incorporating varied
sentence structure, effective word choice, and correct grammar, spelling
and punctuation. (Effective style)

12.0
pts
Style
is readable, but unremarkable in tone, sometimes including a lack of
sentence variety effective word choice, or some distracting, but not
serious, errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation. (Readable but
inconsistent style)

9.0
pts
Style
is incoherent or inappropriate in tone, including a lack of sentence
variety, ineffective or inappropriate word choice, and serious errors in
grammar, spelling and punctuation. (Ineffective style)

18.0
pts
Format is correct, meets all assignment directions, and works expertly to support the essay’s purpose/plan.

15.0
pts
Format is correct, meets all assignment directions, and works generally to support the essay’s purpose/plan.

12.0
pts
Format
is mostly correct, meets critical aspects of assignment directions, and
works mostly to support the essay’s purpose/ plan.

9.0
pts
Format is faulty, does not meet sufficient aspects of the assignment direction, and does not support the essay’s purpose/ plan.