Written Communication Rubric

Level 5: Writing as an Art (Artistic/Poetic)

• Analyzes and reanalyzes evidence that others overlook, ignore, reject, and/or misunderstand.
• Interprets evidence by transforming it imaginatively.
• Explores and is inspired by paradox, ambiguity, incongruity, and dichotomy.
• Creates new rules for grammar, punctuation, usage, spelling, and style when needed.
• Creates new rules for organization as needed, or stretches old rules into new shapes.

Level 4: Writing as a Craft (Professional)

• Researches and analyzes the evidence thoroughly before interpreting it.
• Interprets evidence in surprising, original, and yet plausible ways.
• Focuses on anomalies as a way of testing and improving his or her interpretation.
• Follows all the rules of grammar, punctuation, usage, spelling, and style.
• Follows organizational guidelines as long as they are useful; modifies them as needed.

Level 3: Writing as Learning (Analytical)

• Analyzes the evidence carefully before offering an interpretation of it.
• Interprets the evidence in a logical, fair, recursive, and plausible way.
• Seeks out anomalies and qualifies his or her evolving interpretation to accommodate them.
• Follows most rules of grammar, punctuation, usage, spelling, and style.
• Organizes composition so that reader can trace the evolution of the final conclusion.

Level 2: Writing as Communication (Informative)

• Generalizes after only a cursory analysis of evidence.
• Summarizes rather than interprets evidence; or else interprets in obvious, biased, and/or simplistic ways.
• Ignores anomalies or incongruities that may complicate transmission of information.
• Makes some mistakes in grammar, punctuation, usage, spelling, and style.
• Organizes composition in a rigid, mechanical, and predictable way.

Level 1: Writing as Self-Expression (Confessional)

• Raises questions about emotional reaction to evidence, but does not pursue answers.
• Usually shares feelings about evidence instead of attempting to interpret it.
• Is confused by incongruities and can only point to them if noticed at all.
• Makes numerous errors in grammar, punctuation, usage, spelling, and style.
• Organizes in haphazard, stream-of-consciousness, unpredictable kind of way.