Argumentative Essay Rubric



Argumentative Essay Rubric

| |Aspirational |Acceptable |Marginal |Unacceptable |

|Intro Paragraph |Thesis clearly states a relevant |Thesis states a relevant position, but |Thesis is largely unclear or is not |Thesis is completely unclear, not |

| |position. Argument preview complete, |is somewhat vague or unclear. Preview|directly relevant to assignment. |relevant, or missing entirely. No |

| |in same order as body of essay, not |is incomplete, not in correct order; |Little identifiable preview, or preview|preview of argument. Paragraph consists |

|Thesis |simple recitation of class material. |some recitation of class material. |is largely class material. Contains |largely of opinion, filler, or |

|Preview of argument |Contains nothing other than thesis and |Nothing other than thesis and preview. |sentences that are neither preview nor |"contextualizing" material. |

| |preview. | |thesis. | |

|Body paragraphs and |Main points directly develop preview |Main points develop preview, but not |One or more points not clearly related |Ideas have little or nothing to do with |

|Concluding paragraph |and explicitly link to thesis. No |all are explicitly linked to thesis. |to either preview or thesis. |the assignment, and/or are poorly |

| |extraneous material is included. |Little to no extraneous material is |Extraneous material is included. |developed. Evident that reading |

| |Accurate account of material from |included. Most information from |Significant errors in material from |material has not been understood. Body |

| |readings, restated in own words; any |readings is restated in own words, with|readings; most information is quoted; |is Frankensteinian: largely |

| |quotations are few, short, seamlessly |errors being few and small; one |two quotations are long, inaccurate, |stitched-together quotes, many of which |

| |integrated, and correctly referenced. |quotation is somewhat too long, not |not well-integrated, or incorrectly |may also be inaccurate. More than two |

| |Conclusion effectively restates |well-integrated, or incorrectly |referenced. Conclusion doesn't |references for quotations are missing. |

| |argument. |referenced. Conclusion restates thesis|effectively capture thesis and/or |No conclusion, or mere repetition of |

| | |but not full argument. |argument. |intro. |

|Structure |Logical progression of ideas with a |Logical progression of ideas; |Some level of disorganization/lacunae |High level of disorganization or large |

|Transitions |clear argumentative structure. |argumentative structure can be followed|disrupts progression of ideas. |lacunae. More than one transition is |

| |Transitions are graceful. |although it is not clearly developed. |Argumentative structure not easy to |missing. |

| | |All transitions are present. |follow. A transition is missing. | |

|Sentences |Writing is clear, concise, and |Writing is clear and coherent, but |Writing is clear, but sometimes lacks |Writing is unclear, confusing, |

|Diction |coherent.  Sentences are strong and |sometimes wordy. Sentences  have |coherence or is often wordy. Sentences|incoherent, or verbose. Contains |

|Mechanics |expressive, with varied structure. |varied structure.  There are no |lack variety. One question appears. |fragments and/or run-on sentences. Two |

|Format |There are no questions. Diction is |questions. Diction is usually |Diction is often inappropriate. Two |or more questions are included. |

| |consistently appropriate to formal |appropriate to formal writing. No more|philosophical or other words are |Inappropriate diction. Three or more |

| |writing. All language is accurate and |than one philosophical or other word is|inaccurate or used incorrectly. There |philosophical or other words are |

| |used correctly. No errors in |inaccurate or used incorrectly. There |are three to five errors in |inaccurate or used incorrectly. Six or |

| |punctuation, spelling, capitalization. |are no more than two errors in |punctuation, spelling, or |more errors in punctuation, spelling, or|

| |Essay has a title, author's name on |punctuation, spelling, or |capitalization. Two format errors. |capitalization. More than two format |

| |each page, all pages numbered, 12 point|capitalization. One format error. | |errors. |

| |font, easily legible print. | | | |

My thanks to Dr DeSoto of Glendale Community College for access to her ENG 101 rubric, which helped in developing this one.

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