LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY RUBRIC LIT1100

LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY RUBRIC LIT1100

LIT1100 Introduction to Literature University of Northwestern – St. Paul

 

NAME: _________________ GRADE: ________

CONTENT (50%) SUPERB GOOD DECENT POOR

 

Presentation of

Subject

 Essay opens with

compelling attention-getter,

creatively drawing reader

into paper and effortlessly

leading into the thesis

 Essay opens with a clear

attention-getter, drawing

reader into paper and clearly

leading into the thesis

 Attention-getter is present

but struggles to engage

reader; transition from

opener into thesis is rocky

 Attention-getter fails to

engage reader or is missing;

transition from opener into

thesis is abrupt

 

Thesis / POC  Assertion is compelling,

precise and arguable;

restated consistently

throughout the paper

 Literary element clearly

identified and perfectly suits

the purpose of essay and the

actual text

 POC is insightful and

precise

 Assertion is clear and

arguable; restated

consistently throughout the

paper

 Literary element clearly

identified and mostly suits

the purpose of essay and the

text

 POC is insightful, but

phrasing needs tweaking

 Assertion is somewhat

clear and arguable and

restated consistently

throughout the paper

 Literary element clearly

identified and mostly suits

the purpose of essay and the

text

 POC lacks sophistication /

phrasing is imprecise

 Assertion is vague or

confusing or unarguable /

restated inconsistently

throughout the paper

 Literary element unclear /

inappropriate for the

purpose of essay and the

text

 POC is unclear / missing

 

Argumentation  Develops and supports

thesis masterfully through

specific, effective textual

examples and sound logic

 Support is clearly

explained and connected to

thesis

 Essay effectively

synthesizes ideas and blends

sources into the writer’s

structure of ideas to create

an interesting, full

discussion of thesis

 Develops and supports

judgment through many

effective, relevant details,

examples and sound logic

 Support is usually

explained and connected to

thesis

 Essay adequately

synthesizes ideas and blends

sources into the writer’s

structure of ideas to create

an interesting, full

discussion of thesis

 Develops and supports

judgment through some

relevant details and

examples, one or two

instances of faulty logic

 Support is sometimes

explained and connected to

argumentation; in a few

places, writer spends too

much time summarizing text

 Paper sometimes

synthesizes ideas and blends

sources into the writer’s

structure of ideas

 Weak development and

support: lacks reasons,

contains irrelevant details,

ineffective examples or

logic is generally faulty

 Support is inadequately

explained or connected to

argumentation; in several

places, writer spends too

much time summarizing text

 Paper rarely synthesizes

ideas and blends sources

into the writer’s structure of

ideas

WRITING (50%) SUPERB GOOD DECENT POOR

Style  Writing is superior to

collegiate-level in content,

arrangement and style,

showing rich variety and

elegance in its sentence

structures and word choices

 Writing is more than

merely adequate for

collegiate-level work,

showing some variety and

elegance in its sentence

structures and word choices

 Writing is adequate for

the collegiate level but

shows little variety and

elegance in its sentence

structure and word choices

 Writing is not adequate

for the collegiate level; no

variety or elegance in its

sentence structure; word

choice is generally bland

and cliché

Organization  Unified and consistent

pattern of organization with

an apt introduction, graceful

transitions and a vigorous

conclusion

 Unified pattern of

organization with an

introduction, transitions and

conclusion

 Displays a pattern of

organization with a

distinguishable beginning,

middle and end

 Lacks a distinguishable

sense of order to the

content: no beginning,

middle or end discernable

Unity/

Coherence

 Entire essay demonstrates

coherence and unity; essay

has a controlling and

sustained sense of purpose

& an exceptionally mature

level of thought

 Entire essay demonstrates

coherence and unity; has a

controlling sense of purpose

and mature level of thought

for the most part

 With only a few

exceptions, essay

demonstrates unity and

coherence; has some sense

of controlling purpose

 Overall essay lacks unity

and coherence between

sections; purpose of essay is

nearly or completely

indistinguishable; lacks

maturity of thought

Mechanics  Essay averages 1 error or

fewer per page (250 words)

 Essay averages 2 errors

per page (250 words)

 Essay averages 3 errors

per page (250 words)

 Essay averages 4 or more

errors per page (250 words)

Citations  Text is written in present

tense in entire essay. In-text

citations follow MLA

guidelines, and essay

includes a Works Cited page

 For the most part, text is

written in present tense. In-

text citations mostly follow

MLA guidelines; includes

Works Cited page

 Text is sometimes written

in present tense. In-text

citations overall struggle to

follow MLA guidelines;

Works Cited page contains

many errors

 Text is not written in

present tense. In-text

citations overall fail to

follow MLA guidelines;

Works Cited missing