Essay Scoring Guide


Holistic Score Scale:Persuasive/Argumentative Writing


Score 6

The response reflects a strong mastery of persuasive writing. There is skill in all four criteria. The writer clearly states a position; provides at least two strong reasons to support it; and supports those reasons with details that are both appropriate and clearly articulated. The response follows a clear, logical progression; employees appropriate transitions to direct the reader's thought; and effectively uses persuasive language to make its point. The writer employs a suitable and effective approach such as originality appropriate tone and point of view. The writer anticipates opposing arguments and addresses them successfully and surly. There is an appropriate awareness of audience. All aspects of the prompt are developed and the essay is complete.

Score 5

The response reflects a very good mastery of persuasive writing. There is Skillin all four criteria. The writer clearly stated position, provides at least two thoroughly sustained reasons to support it, and exhibits a logical progression of ideas. The reasons may contain minor flaws and logic, and a few transitional links maybe missing. However The overall argument is organized and coherent, resulting in a clear, logical progression. The writer employees persuasive language to convey his or her position on the topic. Writer anticipates opposing arguments and addresses them. There is an appropriate awareness of the audience. All aspects of the prompter covered, and the essay seems complete.

Score 4

The response reflects a reasonable mastery of persuasive writing the writer clearly states a position, gives reasons, details,and examples to support it, and exhibits a logical progression of ideas. Minor flaws in elaboration and progression maybe present the writer provided some pertinent points and details; however, missing transitions and lapses in logic and insufficient elaboration undermine the arguments persuasive force. The writer mantissa pay opposing arguments but failed to address them in a way that strengthens the argument. Some aspects of the prompt may be missing.

Score 3

The response reflects a moderate mastery of persuasive writing. The writer stated position, provides reasons to support it, an employee some progression of ideas. However, the response contains at least one significant flaw. Some of these responses provided only minimal elaboration; others include ideas, reasons, and details that are in adequately explained or relevant to the subject matter. Responses are generally organized the contain significant breaks in logical progression. The writer attempts to use persuasive language but does not demonstrate full command of this technique. Some responses anticipate an address opposing arguments but do not do so effectively; others holy neglect to address the important points of the opposing side. Some aspects of the prompt maybe missing.

Score 2

The response reflects a week sense of persuasive writing. Although the writer has read and responded to the prompt, the response is digressive and undeveloped. The responses maybe simply a list of arguments without providing further elaboration. Others may offer points that are illogical or relevant. They may fail to address important issues or emphasize unimportant ones. The writer may attempt to use persuasive language in anticipate opposing arguments, but such strategies are sporadic and ineffective. In general, these responses seem unfocused and incomplete, lacking controller progression. In many cases, some aspects of the prompt promising.


Score 1

The response reflects a lack of understanding of persuasive writing. It is evident that the writer has read and try to respond to the prompt. However, the response lacks focus and coherence. The writerly attempt to support ideas, but there is little or no sense of organizational strategy or logical progression. Persuasive strategies are poorly executed into sparingly employed. The writer may fail to identify essential issues pertaining to the prompt and they digress widely when discussing them. Many responses exhibited minimal control but are under developed.

Score 0


This response may make an attempt at persuasion, but it is incoherent and demonstrates anger rather than logical argument.

Non-scoreable


The position is entirely illegible, incoherent, off-topic, blank, or written in a language other than English.