Organization The writing – skillfully engages and orients the reader by setting out a situation or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and, when appropriate, introducing a narrator and/or characters skillfully uses a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole skillfully creates a smooth progression of experiences or events skillfully provides a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative The writing – engages and orients the reader by setting out a situation or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and, when appropriate, introducing a narrator and/or characters uses a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole creates a smooth progression of experiences or events provides a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative The writing – inconsistently engages and orients the reader by ineffectively setting out a situation or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and, when appropriate, introducing a narrator and/or characters inconsistently uses a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole has a progression of experiences or events that may lack cohesion provides a conclusion that ineffectively follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative The writing – fails to engage and orient the reader by ineffectively setting out a situation or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and, when appropriate, introducing a narrator and/or characters fails to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole may lack a clear progression of experiences or events may lack a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative
Language/Conventions The writing – demonstrates an exemplary command of standard English conventions skillfully employs language and tone appropriate to audience and purpose has sentences that are skillfully constructed with appropriate variety in length and structure follows standard format for citation with few errors* The writing – demonstrates a command of standard English conventions; errors do not interfere with understanding employs language and tone appropriate to audience and purpose has sentences that are generally complete with sufficient variety in length and structure follows standard format for citation with few errors* The writing – demonstrates a limited and/or inconsistent command of standard English conventions; errors may interfere with understanding inconsistently employs language and tone appropriate to audience and purpose has some sentence formation errors and/or a lack of sentence variety follows standard format for citation with several errors* The writing – demonstrates a weak command of standard English conventions; errors interfere with understanding employs language and tone that are inappropriate to audience and purpose has frequent and severe sentence formation errors and/or a lack of sentence variety follows standard format for citation with significant errors*