iRubric: Writing Rubric

The organization enhances and showcases the central idea or theme. The order, structure, or presentation is compelling and moves the reader through the text.

The reader can readily follow what's being said, but the overall organization may sometimes be ineffective or too obvious.

Organization is haphazard and disjointed. The writing lacks direction, with ideas, details, or events strung together helter skelter.

Words convey the intended message in an interesting, precise, and natural way. The writing is full and rich, yet concise.

The language is quite ordinary, but it does convey the message. It's functional, even if it lacks punch. Often, the writer settles for what's easy or handy, producing a sort of "generic paper" stuffed with familiar words and phrases.

The writer struggles with a limited vocabulary, groping for words to convey meaning. Often the language is so vague and abstract or so redundant and devoid of detail that only the broadest, most general sort of message comes through.

The writer demonstrates a good grasp of standard writing conventions (e.g., grammar, capitalization, punctuation, usage, spelling, paragraphing) and uses them effectively to enhance readability. Errors tend to be so few and so minor that the reader can easily skim right over them unless specifically searching for them.

Errors in writing conventions, while not overwhelming, begin to impair readability. While errors do not block meaning, they tend to be distracting.

Numerous errors in usage, sentence structure, spelling, or punctuation repeatedly distract the reader and make the text difficult to read. In fact, the severity and the frequency of errors tend to be so overwhelming that the reader finds it very difficult to focus on the message and must reread for meaning.