Grading Rubric for Rhetorical Analysis Essay
I will use the following criteria to evaluate your Rhetorical Analysis Essay. These criteria are taken directly from the essay prompt.
1. The document is properly formatted according to MLA style:
Yes: Essay is properly formatted according to MLA style.
Needs Work: There are errors in the formatting.
No: MLA format is not used. Formatting seems random.
2. The introduction summarizes the texts’s argument:
Yes: The main point and some of the supporting points are clearly summarized.
Needs Work: The summary may be somewhat inaccurate or unclearly explained.
No: The summary is missing, inaccurate, or very unclearly explained.
3. The text is properly introduced:
Yes: The introduction of the text is clear and includes all necessary information.
Needs Work: Some information is missing from the introduction of the text or it is unclearly or awkwardly worded.
No: Text is not introduced properly.
4. Includes a thesis that clearly identifies some of the text’s argumentative strategies:
Yes: Thesis is strong.
Needs Work: Thesis is vague or insufficient.
No: There is no identifiable thesis.
5. Thesis is supported by evidence and explanation of how the rhetorical strategies work:
Yes: Evidence is clearly explained and clearly related to the thesis.
Needs Work: The explanations can be difficult to follow.
No: Supporting evidence and explanation is not provided or is very unclearly explained.
6. Body paragraphs are clearly focused:
Yes: Clear topic sentences are used and sentences are clearly related.
Needs Work: At times topic sentences are vague and paragraph is not clearly structured.
No: Focus of paragraphs is unclear. Sentences are often unclearly related.
7. The author explains how the rhetorical strategies they’ve identified in the thesis support the main argument or main point of the original author:
Yes: It is clear how the rhetorical strategy relates to or supports the main point of the text.
Needs Work: This component needs further explanation or is somewhat unclear.
No: There is no analysis or it is very unclear.
8. Quotations are properly integrated and formatted:
Yes: Quotations are properly integrated and formatted.
Needs Work: There are some errors in the formatting of the quotations, some quotes may not be introduced or explained.
No: Quotations are improperly formatted and integrated, or absent.
9. Attribution: Ideas and quotations are attributed clearly and properly to the original author:
Yes: Paraphrase and quotation from text are properly and clearly attributed to the author using signal phrases.
Needs Work: Only some ideas and quotations are clearly attributed to the author. At times it is unclear whether ideas are those of the original author or of the student-author.
No: Borrowed ideas and quotations are not attributed to their author.
10. There are few grammatical errors:
Yes: Essay is relatively free from grammatical error. Errors do not make reading the summary difficult.
Needs Work: There are significant numbers of common grammatical errors, such as run-ons, comma splices, fragments, and subordination errors, awkward wording or sentence structures. These errors are distracting, but do not make the meaning unclear.
No: There are many grammatical errors that making reading difficult.
11. Turned in on time?
Yes No
12. 2-3 pages long?
Yes No