Rubric for Written Work

Short Essay Rubric:

CONTENT	Strong	Acceptable	Weak
Thesis (very important)	Essay has a clear, non-obvious, interesting thesis that neither restates the question nor asks one without answering it	Essay has a clear thesis but it may be obvious or a simple restatement of the question	Essay has no clear thesis
Scope	Topic is clearly defined and limited	Topic is defined but limits aren’t clear	Topic is either undefined or tries to do too much
Topic sentences	Each paragraph has a topic sentence that clearly links back to the thesis	Paragraphs have topic sentences but relationship to thesis is not always clear	No or few topic sentences; paragraphs not logically ordered
EVIDENCE
Choice of evidence (very important)	Thesis is supported with evidence drawn from the text that is analyzed creatively and thoughtfully	Thesis is supported with textual evidence but analysis is minimal or evidence is obvious	Thesis is either unsupported or evidence is irrelevant
Integration	Quotations are smoothly integrated into the text	Not all quotations fully integrated; some awkward moments	Quotations not integrated into sentences, introducing grammatical or logical errors
Analysis	Each quotation is preceded or followed by analysis—at least 2 lines per quotation	Quotations are analyzed but some logical breaks or missing steps	Limited to no analysis of quotations; analysis never moves beyond paraphrase
Academic Integrity (pass/fail)	Sources are properly referenced		Essay lacks attribution for sources, whether course materials, online sources, or others
FORMAT
Grammar	Essay has been copy-edited and has no grammatical or spelling errors	Essay is largely error-free but some errors remain	Essay has not been copy-edited
Style	Essay is clear and graceful	Essay is usually clear and readable	Essay is awkward, repetitive, or hard to read.
Concision (very important)	Essay is concise and diction is well-chosen; style shows attention to revision	Essay is generally concise, though some wordiness may remain	Essay is wordy and vague