CATEGORY

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Writing Process

Student devotes a lot of time and effort to the writing process (prewriting, drafting, reviewing, and editing). Works hard to make the story wonderful.

Student devotes sufficient time and effort to the writing process (prewriting, drafting, reviewing, and editing). Works and gets the job done.

Student devotes some time and effort to the writing process but was not very thorough. Does enough to get by.

Student devotes little time and effort to the writing process. Doesn't seem to care.

Focus on Assigned Topic

The entire story is related to the assigned topic and allows the reader to understand much more about the topic.

Most of the story is related to the assigned topic. The story wanders off at one point, but the reader can still learn something about the topic.

Some of the story is related to the assigned topic, but a reader does not learn much about the topic.

No attempt has been made to relate the story to the assigned topic.

Organization

The story is very well organized. One idea or scene follows another in a logical sequence with clear transitions.

The story is pretty well organized. One idea or scene may seem out of place. Clear transitions are used.

The story is a little hard to follow. The transitions are sometimes not clear.

Ideas and scenes seem to be randomly arranged.

Spelling and Punctuation

There are no spelling or punctuation errors in the final draft. Character and place names that the author invented are spelled consistently throughout.

There is one spelling or punctuation error in the final draft.

There are 2-3 spelling and punctuation errors in the final draft.

The final draft has more than 3 spelling and punctuation errors.

Creativity

The story contains many creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The author has really used his imagination.

The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The author has used his imagination.

The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions, but they distract from the story. The author has tried to use his imagination.

There is little evidence of creativity in the story. The author does not seem to have used much imagination.

Setting

Many vivid, descriptive words are used to tell when and where the story took place.

Some vivid, descriptive words are used to tell the audience when and where the story took place.

The reader can figure out when and where the story took place, but the author didn't supply much detail.

The reader has trouble figuring out when and where the story took place.

Characters

The main characters are named and clearly described in text as well as pictures. Most readers could describe the characters accurately.

The main characters are named and described. Most readers would have some idea of what the characters looked like.

The main characters are named. The reader knows very little about the characters.

It is hard to tell who the main characters are.