Reviewing and Evaluating a Descriptive Prose

The writer’s purpose in the writing of this descriptive piece is simply to invoke a connection between the place being described and the writer. The main purpose, though, is to thoroughly and efficaciously describe Lou’s café, the activities that take place in the café and the types of characters that frequent the café. Additionally, the writer seeks to build on our imaginative processes with the use of several literary devices like imagery and metaphors. The writer’s explicit use of sentence complements, that is the use of adjectives and simple and compound sentences, enhances the flavour and connectivity of the piece. Finally, through his discourse, the write aims to illustrate how unchanging the place has remained despite the decades and advances in technology. He portrays this through the implication that the younger generations continue the mannerisms of the older generation (almost in a cyclical manner) and that seeks, almost advertently, to convey to the readers that Lou’s café will remain the same for a long time to come.

Rubric for Evaluating a Descriptive Piece

Category	Excellent	Fair	Poor
The writer’s purpose can be clearly identified
The writer demonstrates knowledge of descriptive devices
The writer uses interesting language
The readers can relate to the information being described
The audience for the piece is clearly identifiable
The piece provides opportunities for middle and high order thinking (for example analysis and evaluation)
The sentence structure of the piece is appropriate
The writer provides enough details to support the purpose of his piece.
The writer demonstrates knowledge of the content of the piece.
There is appropriate organization and cohesion in the piece.

Grading Scheme:

Excellent= 3 marks

Fair= 2 marks

Poor= 1 mark

Score Level	Comments
28-30	Excellent: The piece of literature is very comprehensive.  There is excellent fluency between the different parts of the descriptive piece.  There is very clear use of descriptive devices and words and the piece is very cohesive.
25-27	Very Good: There is demonstrated knowledge of the components of a descriptive piece. Readers can relate to the piece but the piece lacks sufficient interesting language and opportunities for middle and high order thinking.
20-24	Average: There is some cohesion to the piece but the piece lacks sufficient supporting details to convey meaning to the reader.
12-19	Poor: The piece is disjointed and the ideas are stated but not developed. The language used is not interesting and there is no demonstrated knowledge or awareness of audience and very few opportunities for high order thinking.
0-11	Unsatisfactory:  The piece is not coherent.  There is poor organization and the piece does not have proper sentence structure and variety.  The ideas are not relevant or not related to the topic. There is no definitive purpose and little use of literary devices- as such it is unremarkable.