September 2, 2010 Archives

Opening Liturgy and Book Discussion

In about 200 carefully chosen words, teach me who you are as a reader. Use vivid examples that unite to illustrate a single main idea. Do it all in a single, well-crafted paragraph.

Upload to Turnitin.com.

Your objectives are to demonstrate your ability to

• focus on a single subject, and
• craft a well-organized paragraph with a topic sentence, supporting details, and a conclusion.

I am not asking you to summarize the plot of your favorite book.

Instead, pick a single incident from your life -- one specific day -- when reading played a major role. Bring me along with you, so that I experience that important event through your senses.

Evaluation Rubric

100	Excellent	Good	Acceptable	Attempted	Unacceptable
	20	18.5	15	12	8
Length	Within 5%	Within 10%	Within 15%	Within 25%	25-50%
MLA format	Perfect MLA style headings and layout	MLA headings, with trivial layout lapses	Mostly follows MLA layout and headings	Some attempt at MLA layout and headings	MLA formatting not present
Punctuation & Words	Perfect	Minor issues don't impact main ideas	Some errors, ideas mostly unaffected	Some accuracy at the punct & word level	Significant errors damage flow of ideas
Phrases & Sentences	Perfect	A few minor issues, but all ideas are clear	Some errors, but ideas are mostly clear	Some attempt at accuracy in sentence phrasing	Significant errors damage flow of ideas
Focus	A single idea, with apt details that offer depth	A single idea,  explored with relevant detail	A single idea,  connected to useful detail	Some attempt to relate detail to main idea	Several ideas compete for central focus