Below
Expectations

Meets
Expectations

Above
Expectations

Thesis/ Purpose

Thesis may be poorly focused, too brief, superficial, or unclear; purpose of paper only partly accomplished.

Thesis is adequately understood; paper generally accomplishes stated purpose.

Paper has a clearly sustained and explained thesis; paper fully accomplishes stated purpose.

Structure

Introduction, body and conclusion may be poorly focused, brief, sketchy, or unclear.   Intro or conclusion may be missing.

Basic sense of beginning, middle and end, with adequate coverage in each section.

Introduction and conclusion are clearly delineated, meaningful, and add good depth.

Development and Support of Ideas

Development of ideas is vague, superficial, general, incomplete, or inconsistent in places.  Needs more depth.

Attempts to develop and support all ideas; there may be some small gaps, but good depth overall.

Thorough and specific development and support of each idea, using solid evidence, reasons, and/or examples.

Organization

Progression of ideas or paragraphs is illogical or jumpy in places.  Transitions are missing or not always meaningful.  May be some wordiness or repetition.

Progression of thoughts or paragraphs is generally logical with adequate transitions. May be some minor gaps, but they don’t substantially detract.

Writing has a logical and clear flow, uses meaningful transitions and unified paragraphs.

Mechanics

Three or more errors per page, indicating gaps in knowledge of writing conventions.  Pattern of flaws.

Good command of writing conventions; there may be one to two minor errors per page.

Consistent and superior command of spelling, word use, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure.  Few or no errors.

Style

Writing is immature, naïve, or inappropriate in places.

Writing is mostly professional with appropriate tone.

Writing is concise, professional and appropriate to audience.

References

Bibliography and in-text citation are missing, incomplete or reflects only partial knowledge of standards.

Bibliography and in-text citation are generally complete and correct; may be a few minor errors.

Bibliography and in-text citation are complete and correct.

OVERALL EVALUATION