EXCEPTIONAL

Substantially exceeds requirements

SUPERIOR

Exceeds requirements

COMMENDABLE

Meets requirements

RUDIMENTARY

Partially meets requirements

MINIMAL

Does not meet requirements

Scoring

5

4

3

2

1

Thesis

Clear and insightful

Clear and original

Clear

Vague or

implied

Either not apparent or contradictory

Organization

Organizational strategy creates a persuasive logical flow

Organizational strategy contributes to understanding

Appropriate but unevenly developed; some loose logic

Inappropriate and/or inconsistent

No organizational strategy is evident

Ideas

Evidence

Analysis

Cogent ideas,

compelling evidence, & convincing interpretation

Specific ideas, sufficient evidence, and clear interpretation

Some specificity of ideas, some evidence of varying quality, and some successful efforts to interpret

Generalizations, poor or absent evidence, minimal interpretation

Simplistic, underdeveloped, and irrelevant

Audience

Consistently and skillfully anticipates

Readers’ needs

Meets readers’ needs with some skill but is not as consistently successful

Communicates content clearly but without extra attention to the readers’ needs

Demonstrates little awareness of readers’ needs

Demonstrates no awareness of audience