English 3

The Crucible Essay Prompt

Argumentative Essay
Prompt: Is Fear an Effective Motivator?
Directions: Consider how events are sensationalized to the public.
When should personal beliefs be imposed onto the public?
Use evidence and quotes found in research, Socratic seminar activity
and articles, The Crucible to write an essay arguing how fear is an
effective motivator.
Your Argumentative paper must include:
-A thesis statement that clearly states your thoughtful and
purposeful argument.
-A well-thought out organizational pattern that presents
arguments and evidence in a logical order.
-Convincing and concrete evidence that is relevant to your
argument and backs up your claims.
- Skillfully addressing counterclaims and rebutting them with
concrete evidence.
-A consideration for the audience in using appropriate vocabulary
and an engaging and formal tone.
- Proper use of formal grammatical conventions and varied
sentence structure.
-Properly formatted to MLA standards, including headers, page
numbers, proper citations of quotes and a Works Cited page and
Bibliography page.

Category

Above
Standards

Meets
Standards

Approachi
ng
Standards

Below
Standards

Poin
ts

Thesis

The thesis
introduces
a
compelling
and
purposeful
argument
that is
clear,
carefully
crafted and
wellorganized.

The thesis
addresses
the prompt
and makes a
claim that
has a
purposeful
position.

The thesis
is unclear
or suggests
a vague
argument.

The thesis
is
unidentifiab
le. No
argument is
made clear
and no
position is
taken.

___/1
0

Develop
ment
and
Organiza
tion

Arguments
and support
are
provided in
a logical
order that
makes it
easy and
interesting
to follow
the
authors
train of
thought.

Arguments
and support
are provided
in a fairly
logical order
that makes
it
reasonably
easy to
follow the
authors
train of
thought.

A few of the
support or
details or
arguments
are not in
an
expected or
logical
order,
distracting
the reader
and making
the essay
seem a
little
confusing.

Many of the
support
details or
arguments
are not in
an
expected or
logical
order,
distracting
the reader
and making
the essay
seem very
confusing.

___/1
0

Evidence

The essay
provides
convincing
and
relevant
data and

The essay
provides
sufficient
and relevant
data and
evidence to

The essay
provides
data and
evidence
that
attempt to

The essay
contains
limited data
and
evidence to
the claim

___/1
0

evidence to
back up
claim and
skillfully
addresses
counterclai
ms.

back up
claim and
fairly
addresses
counterclai
ms.

back up the
claim and
unclearly
addresses
or lacks
counter
claims.

and lacks
counterclai
ms.

Audienc
e

Essay
demonstrat
es a clear
understandi
ng of the
potential
reader and
uses
appropriate
vocabulary
and
arguments.
Anticipates
readers
questions
and
provides
thorough
answers
appropriate
for that
audience.

Essay
demonstrate
s a general
understandi
ng of the
potential
reader and
uses
vocabulary
and
arguments
appropriate
for that
audience.

Essay
demonstrat
es some
understandi
ng of the
potential
reader and
uses
arguments
for that
audience.

Essay lacks
an
awareness
of the
audiences
knowledge
and level of
needs.

___/6

Style
and
Conventi
ons

Essay
presents
engaging
and formal
tone.
Intentionall
y uses
standard
English
convention
s of usage
and
mechanics.
Sentences

Essay
presents a
formal tone
and
demonstrate
s standard
English
conventions
of usage
and
mechanics.
Most
sentences
are well-

Essay
presents a
limited
awareness
of formal
tone and
some
accuracy in
standard
English
conventions
of usage
and
mechanics.

Essay
presents a
limited
awareness
of or
inconsistent
tone. Essay
demonstrat
es
inaccuracy
in standard
English
conventions
of usage

___/4

are wellstructured
with varied
structure.
No
distracting
grammatic
al or
spelling
errors. Uses
proper MLA
formatting
and
convention
s.

Total
___/40

constructed
and some
varied
sentence
structure in
the essay. 12
distracting
grammatical
or spelling
errors. Uses
proper MLA
formatting
and
conventions.

Most
sentences
are wellconstructed
, but there
is no
variation in
structure.
3-4
grammatica
l or spelling
errors that
distract
from
content.
Attempts to
use few
MLA
formatting
and
conventions
.

and
mechanics.
Most
sentences
are not
wellconstructed
or varied.
Essay
contains
more than
4
grammatica
l or spelling
errors that
distract
from
content. No
proper use
of MLA
formatting
and
conventions
.