Criteria	5 (18-20 pts.)	4 (16-17 pts.)	3 (14-15 pts.)	2 (12-13 pts.)	1 (0-11 pts.)
Clarity	Totally clear; No ambiguity	Mostly clear; Little ambiguity	Fairy clear; Some ambiguity	Seldom clear; Often confusing	Very confusing; Hard to understand
Thesis; (Main point)	Logical & Insightful	Logical & Relatively interesting	Logical; Fairly mundane; Ordinary	Illogical or More than one main idea	No key idea words; No main point
Unity	Everything relates to thesis	One or two parts don’t relate to thesis	A few parts don’t relate to thesis	Numerous parts don’t relate to thesis	Most parts wander in different directions
Logic	Nothing is illogical	One/two minor flaws in logic	One major flaw or a few minor flaws	Several minor flaws or two-plus major flaws	Several serious flaws in logic
Coherence	Completely logical progression	Generally logical progression	Basically logical progression	Progression frequently lacks logical progression	Little or no logical progression
Development	Excellent support of thesis	Good support of thesis	Fair support of thesis	Little support of thesis	No support of thesis
Tone	Totally appropriate; Consistent	Appropriate; Mostly consistent	Appropriate; Occasionally inconsistent	At times inappropriate	Basically inappropriate
Word Choice	Numerous images and mood words	Numerous images or mood words	Some images and mood words	Some images or mood words	Few or no images and mood words
Creativity	Clever concept and interesting approach	Clever concept or interesting approach	Lacks originality but not trite	Idea or approach is trite	Idea and approach are trite; Cliches
Form	Completely correct	Basically correct	A few minor problems	Numerous problems	Total departure from form