Unsatisfactory	Adequate	Good	Excellent
CONTENT
Main Idea	Not clearly stated, obvious, superficial	Provides a basis for argument and/or analysis	Clearly stated, focused, substantial	Rich, exceptional, complex, sophisticated
Analysis/ Argument	Confusing, superficial, illogical	Basic development in place	Logical, fully developed, consistent	Persuasive, sustained
Evidence	Irrelevant, contradictory	Generally consistent and/or relevant	Relevant, consistently connected to main idea, substantial	Fully supportive, effective, well-integrated
Voice and Audience	Audience unclear or ambiguous, audience address is inappropriate	Audience address is appropriate	Audience address is consistent, coherent	Distinctive voice, audience address is effective
STRUCTURE
Organization of ideas	Inconsistent, scattered, repetitious	Logical framework	Well-developed, ideas build on one another	Effective, skillful, innovative
Introduction	Unfocused, vague	Appropriate, relevant	Clear, focused	Compelling, fully engages the reader
Transitions	Missing, inappropriate, illogical	Functional	Clear, logical	Effective, smooth
Conclusion	Missing, inappropriate, irrelevant	Restates, summarizes	Substantive, effective closure	Powerful, insightful
LANGUAGE
Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation	Errors common and interfere with meaning	Errors appear but do not interfere with meaning	Errors are infrequent and meaning is clear	Virtually error free
Documentation/Format	Inconsistent, incomplete, or inaccurate	Appropriate, clear	Accurate, consistent	Thorough, error free
Word Usage	Vague, pedestrian, often incorrect or awkward	Accurate and appropriate	Effective and enhances meaning	Precise throughout, vivid
Syntax	Poorly constructed, frequently wordy or awkward	Clear and correct	Well-constructed, varied	Dynamic, lucid, fluent
OVERALL
Overall Quality	Unsatisfactory writing	Adequate writing	Good writing	Excellent writing