Criteria 4 3 2 1

Strongly and clearly states Clearly states a personal Personal opinion is not Personal opinion is not
a personal opinion. opinion. Some references clearly stated. Little or easily understood with
Opening Statement
Clearly identifies the issue. to the issue. no references to the no reference to the
issue. issue.
Provides 3 strong reasons Provides 3 supporting Provides at least 2 Provides little or no
Supporting and examples that support reasons and examples reasons and/or support of the opinion.
Paragraphs the opinion. that mostly support the examples in support of
writers’ opinion. the opinion.
All content is accurate and Most content is accurate Some content is accurate Major inaccuracies in
Content is drawn upon from a and writer uses several and/or writer only uses content and/or poor
variety of sources. sources of information. certain source. use of sources.
Chooses words that are Chooses some words that Chooses some words Language and tone of
clear, descriptive and are clear and descriptive. that are clear and letter is unclear and
Tone/Language accurate. Maintains Demonstrates a descriptive. Lacks lacks description.
consistent persuasive tone persuasive tone in parts consistent persuasive
throughout letter. of the letter. tone.
Sentences and paragraphs Sentence and paragraph Sentence and paragraph Little or no evidence of
Format/Organization are complete, well written structure is generally structure is inconsistent. sentence structure.
and varied. correct.
Summarizes personal Summarizes personal Concluding statement is Concluding statement
Concluding
opinion in a strong opinion in a concluding a weak summary of a makes no reference to
Statements
concluding paragraph. statement. personal opinion. personal opinion.
Contains few, if any, Contains several errors in Contains many Contains many
punctuation, spelling, or punctuation, spelling or punctuation, spelling punctuation, spelling
Basic Writing
grammatical errors. grammar that do not and/or grammatical and/or grammatical
Conventions
interfere with meaning. errors that interfere errors that make the
with meaning. piece illegible.
Totals /28