Rubric for Personal Narrative Paper and Skill Set #1

After your peer edits your rough draft, change your paper according to the results of this rubric. I
will use the same rubric to grade your final draft. You may resubmit for a higher grade. Keep in
mind that a score of 1 shows that you did not incorporate that element at all; the 2-5 range means
it was incorporated, but either not enough or poorly done. If you receive a score in the 6-8 range,
this means it was satisfactory but could be improved upon.

Focus/Topic: There is a specific purpose to your essay; you aren’t just telling a good story, but
showing what you learned and how you changed. You have narrowed your experiences, so that it
can be presented in vivid detail, rather than general summary. Your feelings are expressed well
and add to the experience.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (x1):

Concrete Detail: Your details and descriptions focus on the senses, and you show instead of tell.
You describe what you saw, what you heard, what you smelled, what you tasted, what you
touched. If the readers closed their eyes, they could still see your experience because your details
are so concrete and vivid. Your details are specific without being overwhelming.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (x3):

Effective Dialogue: The dialogue reveals character personalities and moves the action along.
There is at least one example of a level 3 tag.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (x2):

Word Choice: You have eliminated as many “be” verbs as you can and replaced them with
specific, vivid verbs. Your nouns and verbs are specific and powerful. You have avoided
expletives, passive voice, and adverbs.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (x2):

Conventions (Commas, Dialogue, and Capitalization): You have correctly capitalized, and
used commas with cities, states, and dates; coordinate adjectives; and coordinating conjunctions.
Quotation marks are used to signify dialogue, and you have correctly punctuated the introduction
and conclusion of quotes.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (x1):

Sentence Fluency: You have begun your sentences in a variety of ways to increase the flow.
You have used a pattern 1, 2, and 3 sentence.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (x1):