Name: .

Hour: .

COMMENTARY ARTICLE

Read the commentary article and write a number 1-5 for how well you feel the writer accomplished each statement. A 5 means that the author did an excellent job, a 3 means the author did an okay job, but it could use some work, and a 1 means that the author was missing this part of the article, or it needs a lot of reworking.

REMEMBER: This is a rough draft assignment, but this rubric will be used in the scoring of these articles. Give your peers the best feedback you can, so they know what parts of their articles need reworking. The more honest your feedback is, the better they will do on the final assignment.

Reader 1 Reader 2 Reader 3

  1. The first first few sentences are an effective lead. They hook the reader’s attention and may answer many of the “5 W’s” (who, what, when, where, and why). ______
  1. The purpose of the article is very clear and is consistent throughout. The main purpose should be to persuade the reader about a certain topic. ______
  1. The style of the article is appropriate for a commentary article. Remember: commentary articles can be written in less formal language, but should still be appropriate for a newspaper. ______
  1. The point of view of the article is appropriate. Commentary articles should be written subjectively and can use the 1stperson. ______
  1. The author expresses opinions in the article to support his or her points. Remember: opinions should be supported by facts. ______
  1. The author uses quotes from a person or from many people. These quotes are used effectively in the article and help add to the author’s purpose. Quotes should not simply be put in an article just to be there, but they should instead help contribute information to the article. ______
  1. The article is well organized. It is easy to follow the ideas, and each paragraph flows well into the next paragraph. Ideas are structured in a logical sequence. ______
  1. The author uses good word choice and sentence structure. The author chooses powerful words and does not repeat the same words over and over again. The author also varies sentence type and length to give the article a good flow. HINT: If this article would sound good when read aloud, then it probably has good sentence structure. ______
  1. The paper has proper writing conventions. Words are spelled correctly, and there are few grammatical errors. ______

TOTAL: ______

GRAND TOTAL POINTS: ______