iRubric: Compare/Contrast Essay rubric

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Compare/Contrast Essay

Students are expected to write a compare/contrast comparing and contrasting "Dead Poet's Society" and "Freedom Writers".

Rubric Code: MXC3443

By Jenmccracken

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Public Rubric

Subject: English

Type: Writing

Grade Levels: 9-12

Compare/Contrast Essay
	Excellent 10 pts	Good 7 pts	Fair 4 pts	Poor 1 pts	Points Received (N/A)
Thesis	Excellent The thesis statement matches the organizational strategy for a compare/contrast essay. The thesis statement is very specific which helps outline the students argument.	Good The thesis statement matches the organizational strategy, but the thesis statement lacks sufficient detail that outlines the specific points the students wants to argue.	Fair The thesis statement is not well written and can be difficult to follow. However, it matches the organizational strategy of either a pro/con or compare/contrast essay.	Poor The thesis statement does not match the organizational strategy. It is not obvious to the teacher if the student is writing a pro/con essay or a compare/contrast essay. The thesis statement is sloppy and does not help structure the paper.	Points Received
Organization	Excellent The essay is well organized and thought out. It includes both the rough draft and the brainstorming/outline in the final draft.	Good The essay is organized but the paragraphs do not smoothly flow from one supporting detail point to another. In fact, some points may intertwine together. The final draft includes the rough draft and the brainstorming/outline.	Fair The essay is not very well organized. The essay does not follow the pro/con or compare/contrast outline provided in class. The paper includes the brainstorming/outline or the rough draft, but not both.	Poor The essay does not follow the organization of the outline. The final draft does not include the brainstorming/outline or the rough draft. The outline does not flow from paragraph to paragraph which makes it difficult to read.	Points Received
Format	Excellent The essay follows either the block format or the point-by-point format and has supporting details for each of the paragraphs, along with an introduction and a conclusion. The student is very descriptive in each supporting paragraph.	Good The essay follows either the block format or the point-by-point format and the student is pretty descriptive in his or her writing but has only a couple supporting details without building full paragraphs. The student attempts an introduction and a conclusion. However, the supporting detail in the paragraphs do not include sufficient detail.	Fair The essay follows a 3 paragraph essay form. it includes an intro, body and the conclusion. The body contains all three supporting details to the thesis/argument.	Poor The essay is one giant paragraph. The preferred block or point-by-point structure is not easily identifiable. The essay lacks detail. In addition, it is possible that the student did not include 3 supporting details to their argument.	Points Received
Conventions	Excellent There are no errors in the essay. The student obviously used multiple reading strategies (i.e. reading out-loud) to fix all sentence structure as well as spelling and grammar errors.	Good There are a few errors in the essay. The student obviously proof-read the essay but may have missed 2-3 sentence structure, spelling, or grammatical errors.	Fair There are several errors in the essay. The student may have revised the essay once, but missed 6-8 sentence structure, spelling, or grammatical errors.	Poor There essay has not been revised by the student because there are so many errors within the paper. The essay needs proof-reading in order to give the student an accurate judgment on the content.	Points Received
Cohesion/Transitions	Excellent The essay includes strong word choice and sentence fluency. Each sentence is descriptive and detailed. In addition, the student uses at least 4 transition words.	Good The essay has good sentence fluency and word choice. However, it uses "things" and "stuff" once or twice in the paper. The student uses 3 transition words.	Fair The essay uses an elementary vocabulary and the sentences are very simple. The paper often uses "things", "stuff", "cool" as well as the inappropriate use of the transitional word "so". The student uses less than 3 transitional words.	Poor The essay does not have strong word choice or sentence fluency. Each sentence is extremely short with non-descriptive words. The student uses no transition words.	Points Received

Subjects:

English

Types:

Writing

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