Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Essay Rubrics


Essay rubric are effective ways to grade essays, end confusion and help students to write better. At the same time they simplify teachers’ life too. A rubric saves time and decreases subjectivity of teachers. Specific criteria are explicitly stated, facilitating the grading process and increasing a teacher’s objectivity. The use of grading rubrics helps the students to meet or even exceed expectations of the assignment, to view the grading process as being “fair,” and to set goals for future learning. The use of the rubric decreases the likelihood that students will dispute the grade they receive. The transparency of the expectations helps students to know exactly why they lost (or can lose) points on the assignment and aids them in setting goals for future improvement. Essay rubrics are used as a fantastic learning tool for students learning how to structure an essay topic. There are rubrics variants for purely teachers’ usage (inside information), but there are also variants that are written in the language students understand.

Importance of Rubrics to the Students
  • Students are not left out;
  • Rubrics facilitate their work by making them to understand why and how they passed or failed a particular essay topic,
  • It helps them to identify their week points and how to overcome it,
  • It saves time and energy
  • It makes students achieve their goal quicker without fail.
How to Write Essay Rubrics
Since the topic is about grading essays, it can there for be used in creating guideline to writing essay topics such as; Abortion, analytic, expository, persuasive, thematic, philosophy essay etc, it should however not be confused with essay format or essay outline, while rubric centers on grading assignment to yield results, the later simply help in acting as a principle to be adopted in the writing proper.
This is how you will use rubrics:
1. Identify the purpose in the topic, is it to persuade, argue, etc choose yes, or no
2. Thesis statement, was it well formed? Choose yes or no
3. Is the introduction catchy? Choose yes or no
4. Was the essay delivered in argumentative style?
5. Did it contain examples, references or suitable information to back up claim?
**Five elements that are used in rubrics they are:  Focus, organizations, convention, understanding, and support. 


Essay Rubric Points

   An essay rubric provides an objective way to complete and grade an essay, indicate what the essay should entail, and it shows how performance will be evaluated. Here are three criteria that an essay rubric can employ using a scoring scale ranging from very good (4 points) to poor (1 point).

I. The essay has a clear and concise thesis statement

1.      Very good (4 points): Is the thesis statement clear and concise? Does it make the reader aware of the writer’s stand on the subject? Does it connect the subject with the main idea
2.      Good (3 points): The thesis statement is clear and concise, but it leaves the reader unsure of the writer’s stance
3.      Needs Improvement (2 points) : There is a thesis statement but it is vague
4.      Poor (1 point): There is not a clear thesis statement, and the writer does not take a stance.
II.         The essay is free from punctuation, spelling, and grammar errors
1.      Very Good 4 points): There is good sentence structure, and there are not any grammar and spelling errors in the essay.
2.      Good (3 points): Most sentences are structured correctly but not all, and there are one or two grammar and spelling errors in the essay
3.      Needs Improvement (2 points): The essay contains grammar and spelling errors, and a few of the sentences does not have the correct structure
4.      Poor (1 point): Sentences are repetitive and difficult to understand. Poor grammar is used and there are spelling errors
III.        The essay is well organized
1.      Very good (4 points): Information is well organized, the thesis and argument is clear, and the conclusion is strong
2.      Good (3 points): The introduction includes the thesis statement, states the main idea, but the essay is not well organized
3.      Needs Improvement (2 points): The introduction states the main topic, but the thesis statement is vague.
4.    Poor (1 point): There is no clear introduction and the paper is not well organized.

Advantages of Writing a Graded Rubric Essay
A graded rubric essay assignment allows a teacher to give students a list of particular expectations she has about the content of their essays. She then uses this list as she assesses completed assignments for a grade. Teachers should give students graded sample essays -- both bad and good -- along with graded rubrics when introducing the assignment so students understand how a rubric works. A graded rubric is useful in classes at all levels, from elementary school to the college setting.

The following are few types of essay rubrics:
1. Persuasive Essay

  • Persuasive writing, also known as the argument essay, utilizes logic and reason to show that one idea is more legitimate than another idea. It attempts to persuade a reader to adopt a certain point of view or to take a particular action. The argument must always use sound reasoning and solid evidence by stating facts, giving logical reasons, using examples, and quoting experts.
  • One of the most important factors you should keep in mind when engaged in persuasive essay writing is that you should never be “wishy-washy”. In other words, you should not concede that the opposing viewpoint has a valid argument. If there is a good counterpoint to your argument and you do not have evidence to refute that argument, it is best to not include that information in your article. 
The following are the different format/style of persuasive essay rubrics: 

2. Expository Essay

  • The purpose of an expository essay is to present, completely and fairly, other people's views or to report about an event or a situation. Expository writing, or exposition, presents a subject in detail, apart from criticism, argument, or development; i.e., the writer elucidates a subject by analyzing it. Such writing is discourse designed to convey information or explain what is difficult to understand. Exposition usually proceeds by the orderly analysis of parts and the use of familiar illustrations or analogies.
The following are the different format/style of expository essay rubrics:

Note: Credits to the owners/authors of the above articles. I do not own the above mentioned articles. For educational purposes only. 

Presented by:

Danielou P. Galla 


No comments:

Post a Comment