Grading
| Grading Criteria | Excellent | Acceptable | Minimal | Unacceptable |
| Content | Response to assigned topic thorough and well written, with varied sentence structure and vocabulary; opinions always supported with facts. 8 or more citations | Response thoughtful and fairly well written; most opinions supported with facts
4-6 citations | Response adequately addresses some aspects of the assigned topic; opinions sometimes based on incorrect information. < 4 citations | Response consists of unsupported opinions only marginally related to the topic. 0-2 citations |
| Idea Development | Excellent use of examples and details to explore and develop ideas and opinions. | Good reliance upon examples and details to illustrate and develop ideas and opinions. | Incomplete development of ideas; details and examples not always evident. | Ideas not clearly stated or developed. |
| Organization | Very logically organized; contains introduction; development of main idea (or ideas), and conclusion. | Contains introduction, some development of ideas, and conclusion. | Topics and ideas discussed somewhat randomly; entry may lack clearly defined introduction or conclusion. | Entry is unstructured. |
| Mechanics | Flawless spelling and punctuation. | Few or no spelling errors; some minor punctuation mistakes. | Several spelling and punctuation errors. | Many instances of incorrect spelling and punctuation. |
| Works Cited | Properly formatted in APA/MLA style and organized in alphabetical order with all sources shown | Properly formatted in APA/MLA style and organized in alphabetical order with few sources shown | Not properly formatted in APA/MLA style. Few sources cited. | Not properly formatted in APA/MLA style. Not in alphabetical order and 0-few sources cited |
Adapted from : :www.rcs.k12.in.us/files/Rubric%20for%20Assessing%20a%20Journal%20Entry.pdf