Imagine that one of your friends never wants to try anything new. Whether it is a question of what to Write a letter to your friend convincing him or her to try something new. Be sure to describe what your friend should try and explain why your friend would like it.
Scoring Guide Score & Description Excellent Takes a clear position and develops it consistently with well-chosen reasons and/or examples across the response. Is well organized with strong transitions. Sustains variety in sentence structure and exhibits good word choice. Errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation are few and do not interfere with understanding. Skillful Takes a clear position and develops it with reasons and/or examples in parts of the response. Is clearly organized, but may lack some transitions and/or have occasional lapses in continuity. Exhibits some variety in sentence structure and some good word choices. Errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation do not interfere with understanding. Sufficient Takes a clear position and supports it with some reasons and/or examples. Is organized with ideas that are generally related, but there are few or no transitions. Exhibits control over sentence boundaries and sentence structure, but sentences and word choice may be simple and unvaried. Errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation do not interfere with understanding. Uneven May be characterized by one or more of the following: Takes a position and offers support, but may be unclear, repetitive, list-like, or undeveloped. Is unevenly organized; the response may be disjointed. Exhibits uneven control over sentence boundaries and sentence structure; may have some inaccurate word choices. Errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation sometimes interfere with understanding. Insufficient May be characterized by one or more of the following: Takes a position, but may be very unclear, very undeveloped, or very repetitive. Is very disorganized; thoughts are tenuously connected OR the response is too brief to detect organization. Minimal control over sentence boundaries and sentence structure; word choice may often be inaccurate. Errors in grammar or usage (such as missing words or incorrect word use or word order), spelling, and punctuation interfere with understanding in much of the response. Unsatisfactory May be characterized by one or more of the following: Attempts to take a position (addresses topic) but is incoherent OR takes a position but provides no support; may only paraphrase the prompt. Has no apparent organization OR consists of a single statement. Minimal or no control over sentence boundaries and sentence structure; word choice may be inaccurate in much or all of the response. A multiplicity of errors in grammar or usage (such as missing words or incorrect word use or word order), spelling, and punctuation severely impedes understanding across the response. Excellent - Student Response
1. Imagine that one of your friends never wants to try anything new. Whether it is a question of what to Write a letter to your friend convincing him or her to try something new. Be sure to describe what your friend should try and explain why your friend would like it.
Scorer Comments: Excellent responses provide a suggestion for trying something new and support the suggestion with well-chosen details across the response. The response is very well-organized, and well-chosen descriptive details are used consistently to support the student's views. This student's essay exhibits sentence variety and precise word choice throughout. Skillful - Student Response 1. Imagine that one of your friends never wants to try anything new. Whether it is a question of what to
Write a letter to your friend convincing him or her to try something new. Be sure to describe what your friend should try and explain why your friend would like it.
Scorer Comments: Skillful responses make a clear suggestion for trying something new and support it with examples. While this response is organized by the suggestion of trying a roller coaster and supports that suggestion with some nice descriptive details and some good word choice, it has some lapses in continuity caused by quick shifts in focus or lack of development in parts. Sufficient - Student Response 1. Imagine that one of your friends never wants to try anything new. Whether it is a question of what to Write a letter to your friend convincing him or her to try something new. Be sure to describe what your friend should try and explain why your friend would like it.
Scorer Comments: Sufficient responses make a clear suggestion for trying something new and support it with some reasons. This response is a general discussion of the advantages of trying something new. While the writing is mostly clear and controlled, transitions to guide the reader are few. Uneven - Student Response 1. Imagine that one of your friends never wants to try anything new. Whether it is a question of what to
Write a letter to your friend convincing him or her to try something new. Be sure to describe what your friend should try and explain why your friend would like it. Scorer Comments: Uneven responses present some clear information, but that information may be repetitive and/or undeveloped. This response briefly and repetitively discusses learning how to swim. The missing and misused punctuation makes the response a bit hard to read. Insufficient - Student Response 1. Imagine that one of your friends never wants to try anything new. Whether it is a question of what to Write a letter to your friend convincing him or her to try something new. Be sure to describe what your friend should try and explain why your friend would like it.
Scorer Comments: Insufficient responses present fragmented information and are very underdeveloped, as is this response which consists mostly of a run-on sentence. Unsatisfactory - Student Response 1. Imagine that one of your friends never wants to try anything new. Whether it is a question of what to Write a letter to your friend convincing him or her to try something new. Be sure to describe what your friend should try and explain why your friend would like it. Scorer Comments: Unsatisfactory responses attempt to address the prompt, but provide little or no coherent information. This response consists almost entirely of a single complete statement and does not demonstrate any apparent organization. 2007 National Performance Results Score Percentage of Students
Unsatisfactory 1% Insufficient 7% Uneven 27% Sufficient 42% Skillful 20% Excellent 3% Note: These results are for public and nonpublic school students. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding. Purpose for Writing Persuasive Writing Persuasive writing emphasizes the reader. Its primary aim is to influence others to take some action or to bring about change. Persuasive writing may contain much information facts, details, examples, comparisons, statistics, or anecdotes. Its main purpose, however, is not simply to inform but to persuade. This type of writing involves a clear awareness of what arguments might most affect the audience being addressed. Writing persuasively also requires the use of critical thinking skills such as analysis, inference, synthesis, and evaluation. Persuasive writing is called for in a variety of situations. It may involve responding to a request for advice by giving an opinion and providing sound reasons to support it. It may also involve presenting an argument in such a way that a particular audience will find it convincing. When there is opposition, persuasive writing may entail refuting arguments that are contrary to the writer's point of view. In all persuasive writing, authors must choose the approach they will use. They may, for instance, use emotional or logical appeals or an accommodating or demanding tone. Regardless of the situation or approach, persuasive writers must be concerned with having a particular desired effect upon their readers, beyond merely adding to knowledge of the topic presented.