Voice of Democracy Rubrics

Voice of Democracy Rubrics

20-18 17-15 14-12 11-

FOCUS

The single controlling point made with an awareness of task (mode) about a specific topic.

/ Sharp, distinct controlling point made about a single topic with evident awareness of task (mode). / Apparent point made about a single topic with sufficient awareness of task (mode). / No apparent point but evidence of a specific topic. / Minimal evidence of a topic.

CONTENT

The presence of ideas developed through facts, examples, anecdotes, details, opinions, statistics, reasons and/or explanations. / Substantial, specific and/or illustrative content demonstrating strong development and sophisticated ideas. / Sufficiently developed content with adequate elaborations or explanation. / Limited content with inadequate elaboration or explanation. / Superficial and/or minimal content.

ORGANIZATION

The order developed and sustained within and across paragraphs using transitional devices and including introduction and conclusion. / Sophisticated arrangement of content with evident and/or subtle transitions. / Functional arrangement of content that sustains a logical order with some evidence of transitions. / Confused or inconsistent arrangement of content with or without attempts at transition. / Minimal control of content arrangement.

STYLE

The choice, use and arrangement of words and sentence structure that create tone and voice. / Precise, illustrative use of a variety of words and sentence structures to create consistent writer’s voice and tone appropriate to audience. / Generic use of a variety of words and sentence structures that may or may not create writer’s voice and tone appropriate to audience. / Limited word choice and control of sentence structures that inhibit voice and tone. / Minimal variety in word choice and minimal control of sentence structures.

ORIGINALITY

Ability to capture audiences’ attention; creativity in topic choice; use of persuasive appeals (i.e. parallelism, similes, etc…)

/ Was engaging, provocative, and captured the interest of the audience and maintained this throughout the entire presentation / Was well done and interesting to the audience; was presented in a unique manner / Was at times interesting and was presented clearly and precisely; was clever at times / Minimal interest to reader

CONVENTIONS

Grammar, mechanics, spelling, usage and sentence formation. / 50 - 47
Evident control of grammar, mechanics, spelling, usage and sentence formation. / 46 - 43
Sufficient control of grammar, mechanics, spelling, usage and sentence formation. / 42 - 39
Limited control of grammar, mechanics, spelling, usage and sentence formation. / 38 -
Minimal control of grammar, mechanics, spelling, usage and sentence formation.

PRESENTATION

Formatting instructions followed; all criteria evident; enhancement of essay due to presentation / The form and presentation of the text enhances the ability for the reader to understand and connect with the message. All formatting instructions were followed. / The writer's message is understandable in this format. Most formatting instructions were followed. / The reader receives a garbled message due to problems relating to the presentation of the text. Several formatting errors evident. / Numerous formatting errors evident OR formatting instructions not followed at all.

Score #1 ______Score #2______Final Score:______