Goal: Allow Student the chance to demonstrate her ability to gather information from different informational texts and synthesize such information into a coherent argument about her chosen topic.
Process:
-Select a topic Student has interest and some degree of passion for.
– Find 5 sources on her chosen topic.
– Try to make sure sources are varied in type (not all are articles..maybe some are interviews that have been recorded…or TedTalks….or interviewing somebody she herself knows who has expertise on the topic…or listening to a documentary or Podcast).
– Develop a question that would be of interest to other people who care about the topic (NOT the general public who might know nothing about it).
– Answer the question in a project that reviews and analyzes the research found. Ideally this would be an outline, as well as one completed body section of the essay (Likely about 700 words). If this is not possible an annotated bibliography or oral discussion of the project would be possible. Some other “document” such as PowerPoint or recorded video would be acceptable as well. Whatever format is chosen should be agreed to do by all as soon as reasonable.
Rubric: Where specific differences between A/B/C/D/F are not described, it is based on a more holistic approach to the standard (how does it “feel”?).
– The project reveals Student’s interest and passion
– The project is based on at least 5 sources (A C will have at least 5…a B or A will have more)
– The nature of the sources is varied (An A must have at least two different source types).
– Specific evidence from sources (quotes or stats for example) is used throughout the project (An A or B will have at least two cited examples from each source, a C will have one from each source, a D will have evidence from some sources but not all, and an F will lack cited evidence).
– Essay is based around 2-3 arguments that help answer the question. (An A will have three strong arguments, A B will have 2, A C will have 2, but they may not be strong, and a D will have weak arguments or be very summary based. An F will be entirely based in summary as opposed to making arguments).
– All evidence is explained in ways that offer clear answers to questions given (An A will explain each piece of evidence with multiple sentences, a B will explain all evidence but
only SOME evidence with multiple sentences, a C will not explain evidence well or be missing some evidence, a D will offer very limited explanation or missing much evidence, and an F will lack evidence to explain)
– By the end of the project, a clear, well supported answer to the question will have emerged.
– An A or B will talk about limits to the answer (why there are some parts of the answer that seem unsatisfactory or why sources had some gaps that indicate not enough research is really present yet).
– The project shows good language skills: word choice is appropriate for the assignment; it is free from errors in word choice and grammar.
– The project is clearly organized into intro/body/conclusion (Suggestions for what sections should look like can be found on classroom…printed copies will be available on request).