Adopt and Organism Grading Rubric

Excellent	Good	Acceptable	Poor
Purpose or Central Thesis	The writer’s central purpose, argument, or theis is readily apparent to the reader.	The writing has a clear purpose, argument, or central thesis, but may sometimes digress from it.	The central purpose, argument, or central thesis is not consistently clear throughout the paper.	The purpose, argument, or central thesis is generally unclear.
Organization	Ideas are arranged logically to support the purpose or argument. They flow smoothly from one to another and are clearly linked to each other. The reader can follow the line of reasoning.	Ideas are arranged logically to support the central purpose or argument. They are usually clearly linked to each other. For the most part, the reader can follow the line of reasoning.	In general, the writing is arranged logically, although occasionally ideas fail to make sense together. The reader is fairly clear about what writer intends.	The writing is not logically organized. Frequently, ideas fail to make sense together. The reader cannot identify a line of reasoning and loses interest.
Grammar, Spelling, Writing Mechanics (punctuation, italics, capitalization, etc.)	The writing is free or almost free of errors.	There are occasional errors, but they don’t represent a major distraction or obscure meaning.	The writing has many errors, and the reader is distracted by them.	There are so many errors that meaning is obscured. The reader is confused and stops reading
Length	Paper is the number of pages specified in the assignment.	Paper is either too long or too short (note: paper must be minimum length. If you are over a page or so, it is fine)

Quality of References	References are primarily peer reviewed professional journals or other approved sources (e.g., government documents, agency manuals, …). The reader is confident that the information and ideas can be trusted.	Although most of the references are professionally legitimate, a few are questionable (e.g., trade books, internet sources, popular magazines, …). The reader is uncertain of the reliability of some of the sources.	Most of the references are from sources that are not peerreviewed and have uncertain reliability. The reader doubt the accuracy of much of the material presented.	There are virtually no sources that are professionally reliable. The reader seriously doubts the value of the material and stops reading.
Use of References	Compelling evidence from peer-reviewed sources is given to support claims. Citation is clear and fairly represented.	Peer-reviewed sources that support claims are generally present and citation is, for the most part, clear and fairly represented.	Although citations are occasionally given, many statements seem unsubstantiated. The reader is confused about the source of information and ideas.	References are seldom cited to support statements
Use of APA Format	APA format is used accurately and consistently in the paper and on the Literature Cited page.	APA format is used with minor errors.	There are frequent errors in APA format.	Format of the document is not recognizable as APA.