Opinion Essay Rubric
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
I stated my opinion
in my opening
paragraph.
I clearly stated my
opinion and made
it understood
I stated my opinion
in my opening
sentence
I stated my opinion
but wasn’t clear or
convincing
I did not clearly
state my opinion
I supported my
opinion with at
least three reasons
I supported my
opinion with three
or more well
thought out
reasons
I supported my
opinion with three
reasons
I supported my
opinion with two
reasons
I supported my
opinion with at
least one reason
I checked that my
ideas made sense
and were
supported by text
evidence
My ideas made
sense, were
supported by
evidence from the
text, and were very
convincing.
My ideas made
sense and were
supported by
evidence from the
text.
My ideas made
sense but were not
as clear as they
should be. There
wasn’t much
support from the
text.
My ideas made
some sense but
need to be fixed up
and supported by
evidence from the
text.
My concluding
My conclusion
My conclusion
paragraph restated restated my opinion restated my opinion
my opinion
in a clever and
convincing way.
My conclusion sort
of restated my
opinion but it
wasn’t as clear as it
should be
My conclusion did
not restate my
opinion
I corrected my
spelling and
grammar errors.
There were no
spelling or
grammar errors
and my writing was
very clear.
There were no
spelling or
grammar errors.
There were some
spelling or
grammar errors but
it didn’t interfere
with the clarity of
my paragraph.
There were many
spelling and
grammar errors
I double-checked
my punctuation
Punctuation was
used creatively and
appropriately
Punctuation was
used correctly
There were some
punctuation errors.
There were many
punctuation errors.