| Criteria |
Excellent |
Good |
Fair |
Failing |
| Meaning: the extent to which the essay exhibits sound understanding of the
task and text |
-makes on target connections between information in the
text and the assigned task. |
-makes general connections between information in the text and the assigned task. |
-makes limited connections between information in the text and the assigned task. |
-conveys a confused or inaccurate understanding of the text
-alludes to the text but makes unclear connections to the task. |
| Development: the extent to which ideas are elaborated using specific and relevant
evidence from the texts without plagiarizing. |
-develops ideas clearly and fully making effective use of a wide
range of relevant and specific details from the texts. |
-develops ideas clearly and consistently, using relevant, specific details from the texts. |
-develops some ideas more fully than others, using undeveloped,
specific and relevant details from the texts. |
-ideas are incomplete or largely undeveloped,
-references to the text are vague or
unjustified. |
| Organization: the extent to which the essay exhibits coherence. |
-maintains a clear and appropriate focus, exhibits a logical and coherent structure
through skillful use of appropriate devices and transitions. |
-maintains a clear and appropriate focus
-exhibits a logical sequence of ideas but may lack internal consistency. |
-establishes, but fails to maintain an appropriate focus
-exhibits structure but may include some inconsistencies or irrelevancies. |
-shows minimal focus or organization. |
| Language Use: the extent to which the essay reveals awareness of purpose through
effective use of words, sentence structure, and sentence variety. |
-is stylistically sophisticated, using language that is precise
and engaging
-varies sentence structure and length of sentences |
-uses language that is fluent, with awareness of
purpose
-occasionally makes effective use of sentence structure and, or length. |
-relies on basic vocabulary
-exhibits some attempt to vary sentence structure or length for effect, but with
uneven success. |
-uses language that is imprecise or
unsuitable
-demonstrates minimal ability to construct appropriate sentences. |
| Conventions: the extent to which the response exhibits
conventional spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, capitalization, grammar, and
usage. |
-demonstrates control of conventions with essentially
no errors, even with sophisticated language. |
-demonstrates control of conventions exhibiting occasional errors. |
-demonstrates partial control,
exhibiting occasional errors that do not hinder comprehension. |
-demonstrates a lack of control,
exhibiting frequent errors that make comprehension difficult. |
| Technology: the extent to which students exhibit facility
navigating the Internet for information; deploying the tools in the word processing
program, and e-mailing files. |
-fluidly navigates the Internet and finds the information in
a timely manner
-creates a document in perfect academic format. |
-navigates the Internet efficiently
and finds the information
-creates a document in correct academic format. |
-navigates the Internet and finds the
information
-creates a document in academic format with some errors. |
-is not able to find the information from
the Internet on time
-creates a document in partial academic format with errors. |
