6-Traits Writing Rubric: Ideas and Content

5      This paper is clear, focused, and interesting. It holds the reader’s attention. Relevant anecdotes and details enrich the central theme or story line. Ideas are fresh and original.

·        The writer seems to be writing from experiences and shows insight: a good sense of how events unfold, how people respond to life and to each other.

·        Supporting, relevant, telling details give the reader important information that he or she could not personally bring to the text.

·        The writing has balance. Main idea stands out.

·        The writer seems in control and develops the topic in an enlightening, entertaining way.

·        The writer works with and shapes ideas, making connections and sharing insights.

3      The paper is clear and focused, even though the overall results may not be captivating. Support is attempted, but it may be limited, insubstantial, too general, or out of balance with the main ideas.

·        The writer may or may not be writing from experience but, either way, has  

      difficulty going from general observations to specifics.

·        The reader can often second-guess the plot or the main points of the text.

·        Ideas, though reasonably clear, often tend toward the mundane; the reader is

      not sorry to see the paper end.

·        Conclusions or main points seem to echo observations heard elsewhere; only

            on occasion do they seem to reflect the writer’s own thinking.

·        Supporting details tend to be skimpy, general, or predictable.

·        The writer is beginning to define the topic but isn’t there yet.

1      The paper lacks a central idea or purpose, or forces the reader to make inferences based on very sketchy details.

·        Information is very limited or simply unclear.

·        Details do not ring true; they evolve from clichés, platitudes, or stereotypes.

·        Attempts at development may be minimal or may clutter up the text with random thoughts from which no central theme emerges.

·        The writer had not begun to define the topic in any meaningful or personal way.