Professor Katy Culver (Journalism 202)
Below are two examples of rubrics from Professor Katy Culver’s intermediate journalism course, where she covers a range of genres. By using rubrics to establish unique grading criteria for each assignment, she teaches her students the similarities and differences between them.
Informative Story | ||||
Graded requirements | Subsets | Emerging | Developing | Mastering |
Scale | C-F | B-BC | A-AB | |
Information | Accuracy, inclusiveness, completeness, use of sources/ evidence/quotes | Holes in information; important sources left out; unquestioning use of sources; no or weak quotes; unfounded opinion; inaccuracies (-10 per fact error) | Reasonable use of information but some ideas left out; minor inaccuracies; quotes used but weak connection or construction | Well-rounded sourcing includes key ideas/facts; effective quotes advance story; accurate; tells complete story |
Scale | F___________________________________________________________A | |||
Lead | Fit to story, concision, engagement, appropriate tone | Lead misses point of story or is buried; wordy; inappropriate for audience; unnecessarily passive; inaccurate | Lead has one or two strong elements but fails in others, e.g. hits correct point but is excessively wordy | Lead accurately and succinctly draws in audience with key idea (straight) or engaging elements (feature) |
Scale | F___________________________________________________________A | |||
Structure and flow | Organization, transitions, readability | Structure does not lead logically from one point to next; no or poor transitions; leaps in ideas with no segues; piece feels choppy or confusing | Information generally well ordered with some confusing jumps; weaker transitions; readable but inconsistent in flow | Information flows seamlessly from one point to next; effective transitions of idea and language; appropriate length for story, medium and audience |
Scale | F___________________________________________________________A | |||
Language | Active voice, effective modifiers, precise word choices, visual descriptions, clarity, concision | Wordy constructions; poor word choices; unnecessary passive voice; unclear statements; dull writing | Clear writing with some instances of poor word choice, unspecific descriptions or passive voice; slightly wordy or confusing | Concise constructions making use of precise and effective words; descriptive and clear |
Scale | F___________________________________________________________A | |||
Mechanics | Spelling, style, grammar | Host of errors interfere with comprehension | Minor errors trip up reader but story readable | Largely error-free |
Scale | F___________________________________________________________A | |||
Fairness | Inclusiveness, balance | Displays unjustifiable bias; relies on stereotype; involves unwarranted opinion | Source or quote choices lead to question of bias; minor insertions of opinion | Overall fairness to subject and sources; free of bias |
Scale | F___________________________________________________________A | |||
| ||||
Assignment Grade: | ||||
Audio Slideshow | ||||
Graded requirements | Subsets | Emerging | Developing | Mastering |
| Scale | C-F | B-BC | A-AB |
Theme/angle | Coherent and important story | Slideshow tells no story | Slideshow narrowing in on angle but images/captions/ | Theme/angle clear and images/captions/backing audio fulfill the promise |
Scale | F_____________________________________________________________A | |||
Images | Quality, composition, integration into story, focus, lighting | Images lack connection to story/theme; poor quality, composition, focus, lighting; too many/few images | Average quality, composition, focus and lighting; slightly too many/few images; solid connection to story/theme | Clear connection between images and story/theme; strong quality, composition, focus, lighting |
Scale | F_______________________________________________________________A | |||
Backing audio | Clarity, sound quality, connection to theme/angle, information | Interviews or other content not audible; little to no information provided; no added value; music only | Audio provides some content but doesn’t meet theme or match images; some technical difficulties in recording | Audio adds markedly to comprehension/engagement of story; strong match to images |
Scale | F________________________________________________________________A | |||
Captions | Fit to images, accuracy, concision | Wordy captions difficult to comprehend in slide time; inaccuracies (-10 for fact error) | Captions wordy but still digestible in slide time; repetitive with image; omit info | Captions easily comprehended in slide time; clear and active writing; add to content of image, rather than repeating |
Scale | F_______________________________________________________________A | |||
Structure and flow | Visual transitions, overall structure tells a story | Structure does not lead logically from one point to next; no or poor transitions; leaps in ideas with no segues; piece feels choppy or confusing | Information generally well ordered with some confusing jumps; weaker transitions; engaging but inconsistent in flow | Piece flows seamlessly from one image to next; effective transitions; strong feel to lead and conclusion |
Scale | F________________________________________________________________A | |||
Language (captions and VO in backing audio) | Active voice, effective modifiers, precise word choices, match to visuals, clarity, concision | Wordy constructions; poor word choices; unnecessary passive voice; unclear statements; dull writing; text conflicts with visuals | Clear writing with some instances of poor word choice, etc.; slightly wordy or confusing; text ignores visuals | Concise constructions making use of precise and effective words; descriptive and clear; text matches visuals |
Scale | F________________________________________________________________A | |||
Mechanics | Spelling, style, grammar | Host of errors interfere with comprehension | Minor errors trip up viewer but story comprehensible | Largely error-free |
Scale | F________________________________________________________________A | |||
Timing | Total time meets assignment, tight bites/ other elements | Lead excessively long; runs short/long (-5 points after 5 seconds short/long); wordy | Meets overall length but internal elements run long, such as wordy bites | Meets overall length and tight elements throughout |
Scale | F_______________________________________________________________A | |||
Fairness | Inclusiveness, balance | Displays unjustifiable bias; relies on stereotype; involves unwarranted opinion | Source or quote choices lead to question of bias; minor insertions of opinion | Overall fairness to subject and sources; free of bias |
Scale | F________________________________________________________________A | |||
| ||||
Assignment Grade: | ||||