A rubric plays a big part in education and academic applications. It is a good tool which helps create better communication between teachers and students. In relation to an academic essay the teacher will be able to convey their expectations and feedback in a better way which fixates on improvement.
The great points will be based on the rubric and previously discussed expectations. However, designing a rubric is much more complicated than just listing out expectations and giving a grade. It has to be well thought out and designed with accuracy to help students every step of the way. In this article, we will talk about how to write a rubric in an essay in some easy steps.
Defining the Type of Rubric
Writing a rubric in the essay will first include defining a particular goal. An educator needs to decide how detailed they want the feedback and communication process. The essay will have to be divided into different tasks and the expectations will also need to be broken down for proper assessment of performance.
Setting up proper standards to give good performance is also essential for grading in a fair manner. The final grade has to be dependent on a number of factors for which criteria has to be set up in the rubric. Wr1ter can help you decide how to better organise and set up a good rubric for an essay.
Choosing the Right Type
After getting a basic idea of how to begin, one can choose between the two most common types of rubric available. These are the most common types of rubrics:
- Holistic Rubric: It is a type which is very easy to create but difficult to assess appropriately. As per this type the educator provides a range of grades and then scores the student on that basis. Since it is holistic, the entire work will be checked as a whole.
The great will be dependent on a single description and how the content matches it. If an educator is grading multiple essays at once, this reduces the time and efforts. However, if detailed feedback is the goal, choosing this type might not help the students improve.
- Analytic Rubric: This is the more common type of assessment for students to have clear feedback from the teacher. In this particular rubric, the left column will have the criteria or students are supposed to follow. The top will have different performance levels listed with squares inside the grid to mark the performance appropriately. In this manner, the criteria for different expectations can be greater differently.
There might still be a range for providing points and grapes but it is much more detailed because of different criteria. A final grade is calculated later after everything is graded separately. The students do end up with the holistic score but also have a clearer idea of what leads to that process.
Choose the Right Criteria
The criteria of the rubric is dependent on objectivity. The skills and factors one can access in a particular assignment will have to be included as a criteria. It is better to first make a list of everything one would want to see in a good essay and then group them together on the terms of similarity.
Having too many criteria to judge an essay upon will be difficult. It is also important to choose factors which can be assessed measurably and objectively. As long as you have found anywhere near 5 different criteria to base the grade upon you can move forward with it.
Choosing the right criteria is important because the educator has to let the students know about the checking. If the students know what they are being judged upon, they will be able to better concentrate on those factors.
Find the Right Performance Levels
The performance levels determine how the criteria will be judged and show the range of mastery shown by the student. The performance levels are basically ratings that have a range. The range can be numerical going from 1 to 5 or have labels which range from satisfactory to exceptional.
Going with percentage and letter grade is also acceptable and entirely depends on the convenience of the teacher. Arranging the range from highest to lowest or lowest to highest is also dependent on how the educator views the grading process. It should be easy to understand for better compilation.
Describe the Performance Levels
This is one of the most important factors of writing a rubric for an essay. Describing the performance levels means explaining the expectations an educator has from their students. Every single criteria will have to be explained so that there is no doubt about the grading system.
How the standards posted by the teacher are met should be explained in descriptors. Some of the most common factors included are organisation, coherence, analysis, and development of the idea.
The structure should be good with proper transitions from one idea to another which supports coherence. Each line should stand with the purpose of the paper and the idea a student wants to convey. It should be mentioned for every essay. .
The Takeaway
It is very important to create a well defined essay rubric to analyse the quality of submissions given by the students. It is better to convey the specific concepts you want to highlight in the writing process so that the paper can include important information. The types of acid rubrics vary from the level of education and complexity of the concepts for which the paper is to be written. It is better to begin with a clear goal and choose the right type of rubric.
Opt for the right performance level and clear descriptions of expectations. It is also important to regularly revise the levels of the rubric in case any changes are necessary for better writing and feedback. An essay rubric would be successful if it conveys the message of the educator loud and clear.
