The 7 - 6 paper

• Responds to the prompt clearly and appropriately with sophisticated ideas;
• Is well-organized, with effective transitions between ideas;
• Develops key ideas coherently and effectively with details that have substance, specificity, or illustrative quality;
• Possesses varied sentence structure and language that is vivid, precise, and fluent;
• Demonstrates mastery of sentence structures, grammar, and other mechanics.
• May contain an occasional lapse from Standard English.

The 5 paper

• Responds to the prompt with substantial ideas;
• Is clearly organized;
• Supports each idea with appropriate details.
• May contain flawed sentence structure, language choices, and use of Standard English may be flawed but are generally more than adequate.

The 4 paper

• Covers the prompt with adequate organization,
• Provides meaningful support for each idea, though perhaps some ideas are supported more effectively than others;
• Possesses little variety in sentence structures although such structures may be adequate.
• May contain some errors in use of Standard English may occur.

The 3 paper

• Does not respond adequately to the prompt either because it
• Does not fully address the prompt,
• Lacks coherent organization,
• Lacks appropriate meaningful supportive detail,
• Simply lists details without integrating them into the line of reasoning, or
• Uses sentence structure and word choice that are inappropriately simple and repetitive.
• Spelling, punctuation, grammar, or syntax often fails to conform to Standard English.

The 2 paper

• Is deficient because it
• Shows little or no understanding of the prompt and/or the subject matter,
• Shows little or no organization, or
• Demonstrates little or no development of ideas.
• Contains inadequate sentence structure, word choices, or usage interferes with communication.

The 1 paper

• Fails to communicate coherently either because it
• Does not respond to the prompt,
• Does not demonstrate organization or development of ideas.
• Contains fundamentally deficient sentence structures, word choices, and Standard English seriously interfere with communication.
• Is too brief to be an adequate sample of writing skills.

URL: http://www.english.eku.edu/uwr/info/info13.htm
Maintained by: Sherry Robinson
Last updated: 19 October 2004