Research Skills Rubric
Draft 10/15/03
Skills / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0Thesis / · Research conducted in a goal oriented manner, governed by thesis / · Research includes tangential, but interesting materials relevant but unnecessary / · Research mixes relevant and irrelevant material in a haphazard fashion / · Research is mostly irrelevant material / · Research lacks any focus
Information Seeking / · Student gathered information from a variety of quality sources, including books, periodicals, licensed databases, Web sites, and primary documents where appropriate.
· Sources are relevant, balanced and include critical analysis relating to the thesis.
· Student evaluated Web sites using an accepted evaluation tool. / · Student gathered information from a variety of sources, both print and electronic and information is relevant to the thesis / · Student gathered information from a limited range of materials and student made little effort to evaluate the sources. / · Information gathered lacked relevance to the topic. Student made no effort to select relevant sources. Paper may be plagiarized. / · There is no evidence that the student consulted any source for information. Paper may be plagiarized.
Analysis / · Students carefully analyzed the information collected and drew appropriate conclusions supported by evidence. / · Conclusion shows student made effort to analyze the evidence collected. / · Student’s conclusion needs support from stronger evidence. Levels of analysis could have been more in depth. / · Student’s conclusion simply involved restating information. / · Evidence did not support student’s conclusion.
Relevant Citations / · All of the citations successfully support the thesis or its sub points / · Most of the citations successfully support the thesis or its subpoints / · Some of the citations successfully support the thesis or its subpoints / · Few of the citations successfully support the thesis or its subpoints / · None of the citations successfully support the thesis or its subpoints
Documenting sources and citations / · All data associated with a source. Citations and bibliography meet or exceed standards set in Regis Writing Guide and by instructor. / · All data associated with a source. Most citations follow accepted format, with some guesswork on difficult or unusual sources. / · All data associated with a source. Failure to refer to Regis Writing Guide for common formatting. Textbook cited as a source. / · Incomplete or inconsistent references. Bibliography incomplete--some facts associated with books not cited. May constitute plagiarism. / · Total failure to associate data with appropriate sources.
· May constitute plagiarism
Outline / · Paper is multi-paragraph
· Outline shows thought in organizing facts into complete sentences / · Paper is multi-paragraph
· Outline shows thought in organizing facts
· Not all facts stated in complete sentences / · Paper is multi-paragraph
· Outline shows inconsistent organization
· Facts included as fragments / · Outline shows inconsistent organization
· Facts not included in outline / · Outline non-existent or fails to show any thoughtful consideration