Department of English
Washington State University

ENGLISH 101 PORTFOLIO RUBRIC

All English 101 classes are portfolio-based to develop and challenge students' skills as a reflective writer and researcher. Therefore, all portfolios will be graded holistically based on the following common outcomes for English 101:

Critical Thinking, as illustrated by students' ability to:

• Identify a problem or question.
• Present a position or argument concerning a problem or question.
• Address other salient perspectives and positions in his or her argument.
• Identify and consider the influence of varying cultural, social, and historical contexts on the issue.
• Summarize and incorporate source material into an analysis of a problem or question.
• Evaluate the effectiveness and value of source material, identify key assumptions in the source material, and demonstrate how the material relates to an argument.
  
  

Rhetorical Awareness, as illustrated by students' ability to:

• Establish an identifiable focus and purpose.
• Adapt and respond to the needs of different audiences, illustrating an understanding of what genre, format, structure, and tone is rhetorically appropriate for each audience.
• Adequately address the assignment and satisfy all the requirements outlined in the prompt.

Processes of Writing, as illustrated by students' ability to:

• Use revision to develop an essay, as opposed to conceiving of revisions as simply editing/proofreading.
• Reflect on their own writing process.
• Extend his or her thinking from one draft to the next, improving the essays through successive revisions.
  
  

Knowledge of Conventions, as illustrated by students' ability to:

• Utilize common formats for different kinds of texts.
• Demonstrate an adequate knowledge of conventions of structure, paragraphing, tone, and mechanics.
• Employ appropriate documentation and citation of sources.
  

Revised 8/2005