To prepare for the test, you should study the attached materials. They include
• the assessment scale that will be used by test evaluators. You should read it carefully so that you will have a clear idea of the criteria by which your test will be scored. Two evaluators will score each test.
• a selection of materials to print out , read, and consider for planning your essay.
For the test, you will be asked to write a critical essay on some point or idea discussed in the packet or suggested by it. Your essay should be clearly and significantly related to the packet material. There are many possibilities; you will need to develop your own topic.
Your essay must make at least some use of all the articles in the packet, but it should not be a summary of the articles. Don’t plod through them paragraph by paragraph; instead, use them to develop your claim. You decide how to use them: some might be discussed in detail and others only mentioned briefly.
You should, therefore, read the articles carefully and critically; think about and maybe discuss with others the ideas they contain. Here are some suggestions to help you focus your thinking:
• What topics are common to all the readings? • Which issue or idea discussed in these articles do you find most interesting?
• What evidence or support from your own experience could you use to develop your essay? • What evidence or support do the readings provide?
In defining a FOCUS and DEVELOPING your ideas (see the attached Evaluation Standards for the meaning of these terms), you may want to consider these questions as well:
• What social, political, or economic questions do you see raised by the articles? How do you respond to them? • What value questions do you see raised? How do you respond to them? Can you articulate an arguable claim about these questions? • Are there aesthetic or scientific dimensions to the issue that would be interesting to raise?
You may do any planning and prewriting you want, but you may not bring any prewriting or drafts with you to the test. You should bring only the printed packet, including the opening pages and the printed articles, to the test, and you may make any notes you want on the pages of the packet, including an outline of your essay and your documentation of sources, but your complete essay, including all documentation, must be created in one document during the test period.
You may not have substantial portions of the essay written in the packet. You must turn in the complete printed packet, with your name on it, when you complete the test.
NOTE. Be prepared to document sources you quote, paraphrase, or cite. Your essay must refer in some way to all of the articles, and it must contain a Works Cited list and parenthetical references or some comparable form of documentation. Use ONLY material from the packet as sources for your essay.
Remember that your essay may be DISQUALIFIED if you (1) write on a topic with no significant connection to the packet material, or (2) use sources—other than your own experience, of course—from outside the packet. Please be careful in planning your essay.
These are the categories; each one will be scored from 1 (lowest) to 4.
FOCUS. A 4 is awarded to a critical essay whose controlling idea seems not only clear but particularly thoughtful or imaginative.
A 3 indicates a focus that is clear and sustained throughout but that may not be especially original in light of the readings.
A 2 in this category, as in the others, indicates minimum competence: the focus is clear but commonplace or conventional.
If the piece cannot be considered a critical essay, either because it simply summarizes one or more of the articles or because its focus does not offer an arguable claim, it receives a 1 in this category.
DEVELOPMENT. A 4 is awarded to an essay that, whatever its length, seems to the reader to be a full discussion. It makes use of both material from all the supplied readings and also ideas, experiences, or information personally supplied by the writer. All the material is smoothly integrated and persuasively supports the essay’s focus. The writer seems to be a thoughtful, critical reader of the sources with a genuine personal “voice.”
A 3 indicates that the writer has incorporated all the source material both appropriately in terms of content and smoothly in terms of style, and has also contributed personal ideas and experiences to the discussion. The essay’s focus is clearly supported.
A 2 in this category indicates an essay that makes at least some use of each of the readings and some other material to support its focus, though the use may not always be relevant, and the sources not discussed critically.
A 1 is given to an essay that makes no use of the sources, does not at least mention every article, whose use fails to provide coherent support for the essay’s focus, or whose use consists of unmarked quotation (copying from the sources word-for-word).
ORGANIZATION
The 4 essay is not only easy to follow, its structure seems effortless because of smooth transitions and a convincing rhetorical pattern.
A 3 is awarded to the essay that has clear paragraphing and a logical sequence of topics.
A 2 essay is generally easy to follow, with reasonable paragraphing, though the discussion may wander briefly.
The 1 essay is difficult to follow, either because the sequence of topics is not logical, because it is repetitive, or because the paragraphing is not helpful.
MECHANICS
The 4 essay reads exceptionally smoothly, and the reader notices no errors in grammar, usage, punctuation, or spelling. The Works Cited list is complete, and there is appropriate internal documentation.
The 3 essay may contain an occasional problem in sentence structure or diction, but the reader is never seriously distracted. Documentation is complete.
In a 2 essay, there may be enough mechanical problems to distract the reader temporarily, but it is always possible to understand what the writer means. Documentation is essentially complete.
A score of 1 indicates either severe problems with sentence structure or word choice–severe enough so that the meaning is difficult or impossible to understand–or serious deficiencies in documentation–no Works Cited list or inadequate documentation of material within the essay.
I want you to write only one page and a half (700) words. and the work cited that you use must be in a page by itself.
See the attachment.
The article is listed with the attachment so, you will be able to see the article.
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