Book Report Grading Rubric

You will be graded on four criteria, and each one has four levels of proficiency possible. A perfect score is 16 points, and a dismal score is 4 points.

Self-grading:

  1. Grade each paragraph for all four criteria first
  2. Your score is the median value from the paragraph values.
  3. Try to see your weakest and strongest paragraphs by these measurements so you can see how you might improve

Clarity and Focus

Present a clear central idea early in the essay and focus on proving it.

  1. The essay does not have a clear, focused, and effective central idea that addresses the demands of the prompt and fulfills the writing purpose.
  2. The essay contains a central idea that may not be completely clear or focused. The writing does not completely address the demands of the prompt, nor fulfill the writing purpose.
  3. The essay contains a mostly clear and focused central idea. The writing is effective in addressing the demands of the prompt and fulfilling the writing purpose.
  4. The essay contains a clear, focused, and effective central idea that thoroughly addresses the demands of the prompt and fulfills the writing purpose.

Development

Use facts, definitions, and information from other sources to support and develop your central idea about the issue or topic.

  1. The essay does not develop a central idea with facts, definitions, examples, quotations, etc. Some details to develop the ideas may be present, but may not be used effectively to develop the central idea.
  2. The essay develops a central idea with some facts, definitions, examples, quotations, etc.; however, they may not be the most appropriate or effective supports and/or may be used inconsistently throughout the essay.
  3. The essay develops the central idea with well-chosen, relevant facts, definitions, concrete examples, quotations, etc. that purposefully address the audience's understanding of the topic.
  4. The essay develops the central idea with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete examples, quotations, etc. that address the audience's understanding of the topic.

Organization

Include an engaging introduction and strong conclusion. Use transitions throughout the essay to make connections clear.

  1. The lack of structure and effective transitions make the essay difficult to understand. The essay is missing entire structural elements, such as an introductory paragraph and/or concluding statement/paragraph.
  2. The organizational structure of the essay is inconsistent and/or ineffective. Some transitions may not completely or effectively show relationships between and among ideas throughout the essay. Either an introductory paragraph or a concluding statement/paragraph may be incomplete or unclear.
  3. The essay uses an organizational structure with appropriate transitions that show relationships between and among ideas throughout the essay. An introductory paragraph is present and the concluding statement/paragraph follows from the information given.
  4. The essay uses an organizational structure with appropriate and varied transitions that show relationships between and among complex ideas. The structure creates a sense of cohesion throughout the essay, and includes both an introductory paragraph, as well as a concluding statement/paragraph, that clearly follows from and supports the ideas given.

Language and Style

Use specific, interesting language and clear sentence structure to communicate ideas.

  1. The essay does not establish and/or maintain a formal style. The essay uses little variety in sentence structure, and the language is general and not domain-specific. The essay contains errors that interfere with meaning.
  2. The essay attempts to establish a formal style that may not be maintained throughout. The essay attempts to vary sentence structure and uses some precise language that may be domain-specific at times in a way that may address the complexity of the topic inconsistently. The essay contains some errors that may, at times, interfere with meaning.
  3. The essay has an established, formal style that is maintained throughout. The essay uses mostly correct, varied sentence structure and generally uses precise language and domain-specific vocabulary in way that generally addresses the complexity of the topic. The essay may have some errors, but they do not interfere with meaning.
  4. The essay has an established, formal style and objective tone that is maintained throughout. The essay uses mostly correct, varied sentence structure and uses precise language and domain-specific vocabulary in a way that addresses the complexity of the topic. Few errors are present, and they do not interfere with meaning.