Mr. Dwyer
English
Expository Composition Rubric
The list of composition areas of concerns as well as the list of strengths follows. These skills are consistent with the grade-nine honors performance indicators for writing. These attributes will be the focus of your assessment of the Station Eleven essay, along with other expository compositions this academic year
AREAS TO IMPROVE UPON:
1. Weak or Ambiguous reference. Remember that a pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. An ambiguous or weak pronoun reference occurs when it’s not clear what noun a pronoun refers to.
3. Do not draw attention to yourself in an expository essay by using I or Me. Your reference to yourself exposes your opinion rather than presenting a viewpoint that others share.
5. Supporting evidence is lacking. In a well-developed expository essay a body paragraph incorporates at least three supporting facts/passages to corroborate the expressed observation/opinion.
7. Parallel Construction. Parallel structure is repetition of the same pattern of words or phrases within a sentence or passage to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance.
9. Redundancy. The concept or perspective has been expressed previously. Redundancy occurs when words or data is used that could be omitted without loss of meaning or function; repetition or superfluity of information.
11. Syntax problem. Syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. Your sentence reflects faulty word arrangement.
13. Sentence Fragment. Your expressed thought does not formulate a complete sentence.
15. Subject/Verb Agreement. The subject or noun expressed in the sentence does not agree with the verb tense.
17. Dangling Construction. A modifier does exactly what it sounds like: it changes, alters, limits, or adds more info to something else in the sentence. A modifier is considered dangling when the sentence isn’t clear about what is being modified.
19. Comma Splice. A comma splice occurs when a comma separates two complete sentences. Comma splices are one of the three serious “sentence-boundary” errors.
21. Run on Sentence. A run-on is a sentence in which two or more independent clauses (i.e., complete sentences) are joined without appropriate punctuation or conjunction.
23. Provide passage support from the novel to corroborate your opening summary.
25. A final summarizing passage appearing in your conclusion serves to substantiate your essential point.
27. MLA standards are not applied.
29. Citation error. A citation error occurs when the writer does not correctly give credit to a source that provides the writer with information.
31. Your composition lacks a title.
STRENGTHS:
2. Abundant/appropriate evidence is provided to substantiate your expressed point of view.
4. Your discussion applies to the expressed thesis.
6. Effective Clarification. Your ability to convey how the evidence is supportive to your expressed thesis is effectively demonstrated.
8. Your composition is structurally effective.
10. Your introduction is effectively composed, delivering a meaningful and provocative thesis.
12. The composition is fluently written with few grammatical errors.
14. Effective topic sentence. A well-formed body paragraph begins with a declarative topic sentence.
16. Your conclusion begins by restating your thesis in order to emphasize the focus of your discussion.