The long list of instructions and petty details to be adhered to, as found on the front of any examination paper or important official form that the various bureaucracies that govern our lives insist we fill in.

Rubrics are used in elementary schools to help students with projects and writing. The rubric is a benefit because it makes the requirements of the project very clear. With a rubric, the student can assess their own work, making them more aware of their own learning, and fostering a sense of organization in their brains.

To a fourth grader, who must pass a state writing test (in the USA, in many states), knowing what is expected and how to navigate the format allows them to be creative in how they fill it. For many of us, our ideas often get lost in figuring out how to organize them. When the skeleton for organization is given, and criteria for what should be included, the student has a much better chance at academic success, as well as expanding their repertoire of skills.

Ru"bric (?), n. [OE. rubriche, OF. rubriche, F. rubrique ( cf. it. rubrica), fr. L. rubrica red earth for coloring, red chalk, the title of a law (because written in red), fr. ruber red. See red.]

That part of any work in the early manuscripts and typography which was colored red, to distinguish it from other portions.

Hence, specifically: (a)

A titlepage, or part of it, especially that giving the date and place of printing; also, the initial letters, etc., when printed in red.

(b) Lawbooks

The title of a statute; -- so called as being anciently written in red letters.

Bell. (c) Liturgies

The directions and rules for the conduct of service, formerly written or printed in red; hence, also, an ecclesiastical or episcopal injunction; -- usually in the plural

.

All the clergy in England solemnly pledge themselves to observe the rubrics. Hook.

(d)

Hence, that which is established or settled, as by authority; a thing definitely settled or fixed

.

Cowper.

Nay, as a duty, it had no place or rubric in human conceptions before Christianity. De Quincey.

<-- category, class, classification under the rubric of, (See def. (b)) in the category of -->

 

© Webster 1913.


Ru"bric, v. t.

To adorn ith red; to redden; to rubricate.

[R.]

Johnson.

 

© Webster 1913.


Ru"bric (?), Ru"bric*al (?), a.

1.

Colored in, or marked with, red; placed in rubrics.

What though my name stood rubric on the walls Or plaistered posts, with claps, in capitals? Pope.

2.

Of or pertaining to the rubric or rubrics.

"Rubrical eccentricities."

C. Kingsley.

 

© Webster 1913.

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