Minimal awareness of audience, little or no reference to assignment guidelines, incorrect assumptions or ideas, rambling discourse.

Response to purpose guideline or assignment is somewhat evident. May detour to other less important aspects.

Clearly defined response to purpose, question, or assignment guidelines.

Minimally communicates information, little or no support for assertions. Wording inexact. Paper starts in one direction and then moves in other directions. Ideas are not developed.

Rudimentary development of ideas. Lapses in coherence. Some supporting evidence but points are not clear. Uneven quality to the points presented. Ideas are unclear and confused

Includes key ideas and clear examples. Supporting joints are clearly related to main idea. Ideas are well articulated.

Details are random, errors in organization, no or little clarity in thought patterns. Skeletal organization or brevity.

Standard and conventional. Trivial points are sometimes treated in greater detail than important points. Tendency to depend on reader's knowledge of topic.

Has underlying, well-developed plan that the reader can follow. Main points are emphasized, others in proportion to their importance. No padding.

Frequent, careless editing errors in usage and structure making paper difficult to understand. Spelling errors interfere with comprehension. Prescribed format not used.

Careful editing with few errors. Some errors cause the reader difficulty with meaning.

Superb editing with no errors in grammar, punctuation, capitalization and spelling. Minimal errors in sentence structure. Exhibits variation and complexity.