RUBRIC
Purpose, Audience, and
Rhetorical Choices
Quality of sources
Synthesis of sources
Documentation
Student’s original contribution to the topic
Paper shows little connection between topic, purpose, audience, and writer. Paper lacks effective sense of the context of the assignment.
Sources are popular, brief pieces from the internet or
Wikipedia. Lack of scholarly research.
1
Materials are poorly synthesized and are mostly discusses sequentially.
Heavy use of quotations, with little or no use of paraphrasing.
Paper includes poor or no internal documentation of sources. Sources from
Works Cited page are seldom or never referenced within the text of the paper.
Works Cited page contains numerous, significant errors.
Little or no development of the student’s contribution to the topic through new knowledge, analysis, or interpretation. Paper merely repeats information from sources.
2
Paper exhibits an emerging sense of the relationship between topic and purpose but makes little attempt to adapt writing to the needs of the audience.
Some reliable sources are used, but most are from the world wide web or
Wikipedia. Needs more scholarly research.
Sources are only intermittently synthesized.
Some use of appropriate paraphrasing, but overuse of quotations is still present.
Documentation is included but does not consistently follow one manual of style.
Some material which should be documented lacks citation. Works Cited contains some formatting errors.
Paper includes occasional analysis, interpretation, or insights from the writer but does not develop these sections sufficiently.
3
Paper makes a clear connection between the topic, purpose, and audience but lacks a development of the writer’s role in communicating effectively.
Most sources are reliable primary or secondary sources, with some reliance on popular sources.
Paper synthesizes material from at least two sources in most paragraphs. Proficient use of paraphrasing. Direct quotes are few and effective.
Students use a recognizable style but there are numerous errors in the citations.
Works Cited is missing information for some sources.
Paper includes several examples of the writer’s insights, analysis, or interpretation of information but does not consistently synthesize this material with information from other sources. reviewed.
4
Paper consistently shows writer’s effective choices in addressing audience, purpose, and topic. The larger context of the writing assignment is addressed.
Sources are all scholarly and reliable. Articles are peer-
Information from multiple sources is cited in many of the paper’s paragraphs.
Paper uses paraphrasing rather than quoted material in most instances.
Correct citation is used without any recognizable mistakes. Paraphrased information is all accompanied by in-text documentation. Works Cited is accurate and complete.
Consistent, effective incorporation of writer’s insights, analysis, or interpretation into material from other sources.

Quality of writing,
Conventions
Paper exhibits numerous problems with formatting, syntax, grammar, spelling, punctuation. No evidence of proofreading or editing.
Effectiveness of the paper is often impeded.
Paper is correctly formatted but still contains significant conventional issues which sometimes impede readers’ understanding.
Paper is formatted correctly and shows evidence of proofreading and editing.
Conventional errors are only occasional and do not significantly impede readers’ understanding. Sentence structures are often brief and simple.
Paper is correctly formatted and communicates effectively through effective use of complex sentence structures. Conventional errors are minor and few.