iRubric: Literary Writing Rubric

All details contribute to the effectiveness of the story. The writer focuses on a specific character, event, or idea and sustains that focus, strengthening the unity and coherence of the story.

Most details contribute to the effectiveness of the story. The writer focuses on a specific character, event, or idea and generally sustains that focus. The story is coherent, though it may not always be unified due to minor lapses in focus.

Some of the details do not contribute to the story. The writer may focus on a specific character, event, or idea but may not sustain that focus, limiting the unity and coherence of the story.

Many of the detailes do not contribute to the story. Lack of focus on a specific character, event, or idea weakens the unity and coherence of the story.

Specific, well-chosen details add substance to the story. These details
contribute significantly to key literary elements such as character
development, conflict, and point of view.

Specific details add some substance to the story. For the most part, these details contribute to key literary elements such as character development, conflict, and point of view.

The development of the story is minimal and remains at a surface level because there are few details, they are not always appropriate, or they are too general. For the most part, the details contribute only marginally to key literary elements such as character development, conflict, and point of view.

Development of the story is weak because the details are inappropriate, vague, or insufficient. They do not contribute to key literary elements such as character development, conflict, and point of view.

The writer’s word choice is vivid and expressive. It reflects a keen awareness of the literary purpose. The word choice strongly contributes to the quality and clarity of the story.

The writer’s word choice is, for the most part, specific and concrete. It
reflects an awareness of the literary purpose. The word choice usually
contributes to the quality and clarity of the story.

The writer’s word choice may be general or imprecise. It reflects a basic awareness of the literary purpose. The word choice may limit the quality and clarity of the story.

Writer's word choice may be vague or limited. It reflects little or no awareness of the literary purpose. The word choice may impede the quality and clarity of the story.

The writer demonstrates a consistent command of sentence boundaries and spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and usage conventions. Although minor errors may be evident, they do not detract from the fluency of the writing or the clarity of the story. The overall strength of the conventions contributes to the effectiveness of the story.

The writer demonstrates an adequate command of sentence boundaries and spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar and usage conventions. Although some errors may be evident, they create few (if any) disruptions in the fluency of the writing, and they do not affect the clarity of the story.

The writer demonstrates a partial command of sentence boundaries and spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and usage conventions. Some distracting errors may be evident, at times creating minor disruptions in the fluency or meaning of the writing.

The writer has little or no command of sentence boundaries and spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and usage conventions. Serious and persistent errors create disruptions in the fluency of the writing and sometimes interfere with meaning.