MEMOIR WRITING RUBRIC

NAME: _____________________________ DATE: _______________

OKAY-7/8 POINTS NEEDS WORK-5/6 POINTS

TERRIFIC-9/10 POINTS
-Story tells about the specific
event and what happened just
before and/or just after. All
FOCUS details included are important.
-The memory stays on course.
The piece does not tell a story
within a story.
-Story has some unimportant
details included.
-The memory veers off
course at times, and retells
other events from the
author’s past.
-The retelling of the memory is
brief and does not include specific
details from the event.
-The writing piece rambles on
about events unrelated to the
memory.

-The author included a hook that -There was a hook, but it -There is no hook.
effectively catches the readers’ lacked creativity, IE “Have
attention. you ever wondered” or
“Today I’m going to tell you
ORGANI about”.
-ZATION -There is no closing.
-The author used transitions
correctly. Transitions helped -The closing was brief and
the story move fluidly from one didn’t connect to the rest of
event to the next. the story.

-The closing was well connected
to the story and written so that
the readers knew how the
memory ended. The closing
answered all questions the
reader may have had about the
event.
-The author did not use transition
words to connect the story from
one event to the next.
-Some transition words were
used.
 -The author has included
descriptive, specific words to
help describe the setting and
WORD the story events. Author used
CHOICE interesting verbs, adjectives,
and adverbs.
-Story was written in first
VOICE person.
Sentenc -The author effectively used a
e variety of sentence tools
Structur (words, phrases, clauses) to
e create a personalized writing
style.
-Author avoided starting
sentences off with “I”, “The” or
“And”.
-It was clear that the author had
an adult check their work.
CONVEN Errors were few and did not
-TIONS distract the reader from the
story.
-All illustrations were neat and
related to the story.
-The author included a title
page, book cover, dedication
-The author has included
some descriptive words.
-Some word choices are
repetitious.
N/A
-The author used sentence
tools (words, phrases,
clauses) in their writing.
-Some sentences had
repetitive beginnings.
-Book may have been edited
by an adult, but there will
still errors that were
distracting to the reader.
-All illustrations were neat
and related to the story.
-The author included a title
page, book cover, dedication
-Words were not used to paint a
picture of the setting or events.
-Vague words were often used (ie
beautiful, amazing, cool,
awesome, etc.).
-Story was not written in first
person.
-The author did not use sentence
tools in their writing.
-Sentences often began the same
way.
-The paper was not edited by a
adult. Many errors are present
and make it difficult to understand
the story.
-Illustrations were messy and did
not relate to the story.
-The author did not include a title
page, book cover dedication page,
and/or an about the author page.
page, and an about the author page, and an about the
page. author page.