Grading Rubric for Critical Reviews

GRADING RUBRIC FOR CRITICAL ANALYSIS 1 2 3 4 5 Thesis/Structure of Argument Fails to establish purpose for Paper drifts substantially from Purpose or central argument is Establishes strong sense of Clear and concise, well writing. initial purpose or central established initially, but purpose, either explicitly or developed. argument. inconsistently attended to. implicitly. No clear point, or purpose; no The central argument central argument to the paper. Paper shows some unity of Most supporting ideas help governs the development and Thesis is a summary of source purpose, though some material develop the central argument. organization of the paper. text. may not be well aligned.

Ideas/Analysis Does not connect well to the Repeats or summarizes source Shows a basic understanding Writing clearly demonstrates Summarizes key points or source text. text without analyzing or and ability to engage the that the student read and issues in the source text and critiquing. substance of the text. understood the text fully; then critically analyzes or Lacks basic understanding of however, the critique is synthesizes those ideas with the issue or assignment, little Shows only spotty Goes beyond repetition or underdeveloped, one-sided, or the student’s own, or no analysis. understanding of issues, very summary of the text. biased. thoroughly articulated ideas. limited analysis.

Evidence No support for argument, Little support for argument, or Some use of evidence, not Mostly good use of source text, Thoughtful use of well misuse of source text misuse of source text clearly demonstrating relevance showing a general chosen evidence from source (misunderstanding source text, (misunderstanding source text, of text to argument. understanding of its argument text, demonstrating a using text in ways that are not using text in ways that are not and relevance. profound understanding of relevant to argument). relevant to argument). the text and its arguments. Organization Little evidence of Limited evidence of Shows some organization, most Mostly well organized with Well organized, with a organization, many elements organization, several elements ideas related to thesis, some each paragraph containing one logical structure that lacking connection to thesis lacking connection to thesis parts of the argument muddled idea, each idea related to the develops the ideas one and each other. and each other. or contradictory. thesis, but with some elements paragraph at the time, with vague, or minor links missing. appropriate transitions between segments. Style Lacks control over sentence Requires the reader to Style is competent, though not Student uses variation in word Student clearly controls the structure, difficult to follow, backtrack to make sense of the engaging or inventive. choices, sentence lengths, and pace, rhythm, and variety of does not use appropriate organization. sentence transitions, but sentences. transitions. Shows reasonable command sentences are often wordy and Uses awkward, though not over phrasing and word choice. cluttered. Sentence style is smooth and Many mechanical errors necessarily incorrect phrasing. efficient. (spelling, punctuation, verb Some useful transitions and Economy in writing has not yet tense, capitalization, Overly reliant on passive voice. patterns of reference provide been developed. Words are well chosen and punctuation, etc.). connections in the paper. phrasing is precise. Student refrains from making Some typical mechanical errors typical mechanical errors, but Sentences move smoothly and predictable use of passive errors arise as complexities in from one to the next. voice. writing increase. No mechanical errors and Passive voice is used, but not in only appropriate use of excess. passive voice.