Writing Assessment 1 Ideas

5 This paper is clear and focused. It holds the reader's attention. Relevant anecdotes and details enrich the central theme.

A. The topic is narrow and manageable.

B. Relevant, telling, quality details give the reader important information that goes beyond the obvious or predictable.

C. Reasonably accurate details are present to support the main ideas.

D. The writer seems to be writing from knowledge or experience; the ideas are fresh and original.

E. The reader’s questions are anticipated and answered.

F. Insight—an understanding of life and a knack for picking out what is significant—is an indicator of high level performance, though not required.

3 The writer is beginning to define the topic, even though development is still basic or general.

A. The topic is fairly broad; however, you can see where the writer is headed.

B. Support is attempted, but doesn't go far enough yet in fleshing out the key issues or story line.

C. Ideas are reasonably clear, though they may not be detailed, personalized, accurate, or expanded enough to show in-depth understanding or a strong sense of purpose.

D. The writer seems to be drawing on knowledge or experience, but has difficulty going from general observations to specifics.

E. The reader is left with questions. More information is needed to "fill in the blanks."

F. The writer generally stays on the topic but does not develop a clear theme. The writer has not yet focused the topic past the obvious.

1 As yet, the paper has no clear sense of purpose or central theme. To extract meaning from the text, the reader must make inferences based on sketchy or missing details. The writing reflects more than one of these problems:

A. The writer is still in search of a topic, brainstorming, or has not yet decided what the main idea of the piece will be.

B. Information is limited or unclear or the length is not adequate for development.

C. The idea is a simple restatement of the topic or an answer to the question with little or no attention to detail.

D. The writer has not begun to define the topic in a meaningful, personal way.

E. Everything seems as important as everything else; the reader has a hard time sifting out what is important.

F. The text may be repetitious, or may read like a collection of disconnected, random thoughts with no discernable point.