Grades 6-12: Generic 4-Point Argumentative Writing Rubric

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) / NUSD

Statement of Purpose/Focus and Organization

Score

Statement of Purpose/Focus
The response is fully
sustained and consistently
and purposefully focused:

Claim/thesis is clearly
stated, focused and
strongly maintained

alternate or opposing
claims are clearly
addressed*

Claim/thesis is
introduced and
communicated clearly
within the context
The response is adequately
sustained and generally
focused:

Claim/thesis is clear and

for the most part
maintained, though some
loosely related material
may be present

context provided for the

claim/thesis is adequate
The response is somewhat
sustained and may have a
minor drift in focus:

may be clearly focused on

the claim/thesis but is
insufficiently sustained

claim/thesis on the issue

may be somewhat unclear
and unfocused
The response may be related
to the purpose but may offer
little relevant detail:

may be very brief

may have a major drift

claim/thesis may be
confusing or ambiguous

Development: Language and Elaboration of Evidence

The response has an evident organizational

structure and a sense of completeness, though
there may be minor flaws and some ideas may
be loosely connected:

adequate use of transitional strategies

with some variety

adequate progression of ideas from

beginning to end

adequate introduction and conclusion

adequate, if slightly inconsistent,

connection among ideas

The response has an inconsistent
organizational structure, and flaws are
evident:

inconsistent use of basic transitional

strategies with little variety

uneven progression of ideas from

beginning to end

conclusion and introduction, if present, are

weak

weak connection among ideas

The response provides adequate

The response adequately
support/evidence for writers claim that
expresses ideas, employing
includes the use of sources, facts, and
a mix of precise with more
details. The response achieves some depth
general language:
and specificity but is predominantly

use of domain-specific
general:
vocabulary is generally

some evidence from sources is

appropriate for the
integrated, though citations may be
audience and purpose
general or imprecise

adequate use of some elaborative

commentary
The response provides uneven, cursory
The response expresses
support/evidence for the writers claim that
ideas unevenly, using
includes partial or uneven use of sources,
simplistic language:
facts, and details, and achieves little depth:
use of domain-specific

evidence from sources is weakly

vocabulary may at
integrated, and citations, if present, are
times be inappropriate
uneven
for the audience and
purpose

weak or uneven use of elaborative

commentary

The response has little or no discernible

organizational structure:

few or no transitional strategies are

evident

frequent extraneous ideas may intrude

The response provides minimal

The response expression of The response demonstrates a
support/evidence for the writers claim that
ideas is vague, lacks
lack of command of
includes little or no use of sources, facts,
clarity, or is confusing:
conventions:
and details:

uses limited language or

errors are frequent and severe

use of evidence from sources is

domain-specific
and meaning is often obscure
minimal, absent, in error, or
vocabulary
irrelevant

may have little sense

no use of elaborative commentary

of audience and
purpose

A response gets no credit if it provides no evidence of the ability to [fill in with key language from the intended target].

*Begins in 7th grade

Conventions

Organization
Elaboration of Evidence
Language and Vocabulary
The response has a clear and effective
The response provides thorough and
The response clearly and
The response demonstrates a
organizational structure creating unity and
convincing support/evidence for the writers effectively expresses ideas, strong command of conventions:
completeness:
claim that includes the effective use of
using precise language:

few, if any, errors are

sources, facts, and details. The response

effective, consistent use of a variety of

use of academic and

present in usage and
achieves substantial depth that is specific
transitional strategies
domain-specific
sentence formation
vocabulary is clearly

logical progression of ideas from beginning to and relevant:

effective and consistent use of

use of evidence from sources is

appropriate for the
end
punctuation, capitalization,
smoothly integrated, comprehensive,
audience and purpose
and spelling

effective introduction and conclusion for

relevant, and concrete
audience and purpose

effective use of elaborative

strong connections among ideas, with

commentary
some syntactic variety

The response demonstrates an

adequate command of
conventions:

some errors in usage and

sentence formation may be
present, but no systematic
pattern of errors is displayed

adequate use of punctuation,

capitalization, and spelling

The response demonstrates a

partial command of conventions:

frequent errors in usage

may obscure meaning

inconsistent use of
punctuation, capitalization,
and spelling