Historical and Persuasive Essay/Paragraph Rubric

Essay Guidelines:

All essays should consist of three parts: a. Intro b. Body c. conclusion. There is no set length to an essay. The
length is determined by the complexity of your claim and the amount of evidence needed to prove your claim
true. You generally want multiple arguments and as much relevant evidence as possible.

Part A: The intro is where you connect with the reader, introduce your claim and give some background as to
why they should read on. A good intro should have a nice clear thesis. The intro should leave no doubt about
the topic or your position.

Thesis: Your claim. What your paper is about. You dont need to explain in detail why your claim is true yet.
Save your reasoning and evidence for your body paragraphs. Example: Michael Jordon is the best basketball
player of all time. With this thesis you are informing the reader that the topic is basketball players and that
your position is that Michael Jordon is the greatest ever.

Part B: The bulk of your essay will consist of your body paragraphs. Each body paragraph should consist of a
single reason (argument) for why your thesis is true and historical evidence to back that reasoning up. The
number of body paragraphs will be determined by the number of reasons (arguments) you have to make.
Generally you want a minimum of 2-3 reasons (arguments) to validate your thesis.

Academic Paragraph Guidelines:
1. Topic Sentence: States a single reason (argument) for why your thesis is true.
a. i.e. One aspect of Jordans game that made him the greatest was that he managed to consistently
help his team win multiple NBA championships.
2. Reasoning: Explains how your argument backs your thesis.
a. i.e. There are a few NBA players like Lebron James and Oscar Robinson that have managed to put up
numbers that are every bit as good as Jordons. Statistics however, are only part of the equation
when determining who was the greatest of all time. A great player will be able to use those
statistics to help his team win at the highest level, the NBA Finals.
3. Evidence: Provides factual historical evidence that proves that your reasoning and argument are
true.
a. i.e. Jordon averaged single season MVP statistics over his entire career. NBA.com lists his career
numbers at 30.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.3 steals, while shooting 50% from the field. Not only are these
numbers among the best of any player ever, but he also led the Bulls to 6 NBA championships.
4. Connect back to thesis: At the end of the paragraph make sure to connect your argument back to
your thesis statement. This helps to establish flow throughout the paper and keeps you organized
and on topic. These are called connector sentences.

Part C: The end of your essay should be a conclusion of some kind. There are many ways to end an essay and
you can pick whichever style you want. Generally you want to restate your thesis and topic sentences that
made up your body paragraphs. DO NOT INTRODUCE A NEW ARGUMENT. If you feel the need to make a new
argument you need to create another body paragraph.
Format: All final drafts should be double spaced, free from typos and penmanship mistakes, legible, with
name and period in the top left corner. Do not copy anything, not even one sentence!
Essay Rubric: All writing in this class will be graded using this rubric.
A:
- Essay contains a clear thesis and intro
- Has multiple body paragraphs with topic sentences relevant to the thesis
- The body paragraphs contain all four parts; topic sentence, reasoning, evidence, connection to
thesis.
- Evidence is historically correct and relevant to topic sentences and thesis.
- The essay flows from one paragraph to the next with connector sentences and stays on topic.
- Is free from grammatical and spelling errors. Follows correct format.

B:
- Essay contains a clear thesis and intro
- Has multiple body paragraphs with topic sentences relevant to the thesis
- The body paragraphs contain all four parts; topic sentence, reasoning, evidence, connection to
thesis.
- Evidence is mostly historically correct and mostly relevant to topic sentences and thesis.
- Has some flow but lacks clear connector sentences. Stays on topic.
- Is mostly free from grammatical and spelling errors. Follows correct format.

C:
- Thesis is present but stands alone without an intro paragraph.
- Has multiple body paragraphs but strays away from thesis on occasion.
- Evidence and/or reasoning may be missing in some paragraphs or not clearly connected to topic
sentence and/ or thesis.
- Evidence is based more on opinion than factual information.
- Grammatical and spelling errors are found numerous times in each paragraph. May not follow
correct format.

D:
- Thesis isnt clearly stated or is off topic.
- Body paragraphs are only somewhat relevant to the thesis.
- Lacks multiple body paragraphs. Those that are included dont follow the academic paragraph
guidelines.
- Contains little to know reasoning or factual evidence. Reasoning and factually evidence may be
incorrect or missing. Shows lack of knowledge on the subject.
- Large number of spelling and grammatical errors throughout the paper.
- Doesnt follow format guidelines.

F:
- Thesis is off topic or missing. Does not follow academic paragraph guidelines.
- Paragraphs lack clear topic sentences and evidence is wrong, missing or irrelevant.
- Essay is incomplete. Is hard to read, has spelling and grammatical errors, doesnt follow correct
format. PLAGURISM IS EVIDENT. Demonstrates little to know knowledge of the subject.