Five Paragraph Persuasive Essay Checklist

5 paragraph Essay Checklist and Grading Rubric for

Analyzing and/or Writing A Persuasive Essay or Speech

ACTION	Check off
Student uses correct paragraph form
Student has all major parts of essay including introduction with a thesis, body paragraphs with evidence/support, counterargument, rebuttal and conclusion and call to action. Student defends positions with facts, concrete data, expert opinion, eyewitness information, and quotations.
Evidence from the text is introduced (The author writes… notes, expresses, states….)
Evidence from the text is explained (This shows, proves, illustrates, demonstrates…)
Student does not have sentence fragments
Student uses commas appropriately
Student’s syntax does not cause confusion
Student’s essay is free from contractions
Student does not use first or second person in essay
Student uses subject-verb agreement and pronoun-antecedent agreement correctly
Student correctly identifies rhetorical devices (appeal to logic through reasoning, appeal to emotion or ethical belief, relate a personal anecdote, case study, or analogy).
Student correctly identifies types of argument contained within the text (causality, analogy, authority, emotion, and logic)
Student makes clear connections between the author’s theme/message/assertion and the structure of the text.
Student writes neatly/legibly