Secure/Stellar/Stupendous (5-6)	Developing (3-4)	Beginning (1-2)
Content	contains many interesting and relevant key facts and details	contains sufficient facts and details to complete the assignment	Important facts and details are missing; much information is irrelevant
Sources	uses a range of sources (six or more); correctly documents sources	uses four relevant sources; documents sources	relies on one or two sources; sources not documented
Organization	includes an introduction, body and conclusion; paragraphs logically sequences; effective transitions used; strong introduction and conclusion	contains introduction; paragraphs are adequately developed; but transitions are not clear; introduction and conclusion are adequate	weak organization; facts and details are stated without clear transitions; introduction and conclusion are inadequate or missing
Mechanics	flawless punctuation and spelling; varied and interesting sentence structure	few spelling and punctuation errors; sentence structure correctly used	many spelling and punctuation errors; many sentence fragments and/or run-ons