INTRODUCTION
Your textbook, Joining a Community of Readers, includes selections on a variety of topics. The purpose of this assignment is to enhance your schema (body of knowledge) about a topic and to synthesize the skills you have learned this semester by showing mastery of our Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) as delineated in our Course Outline. Specifically, you will show evidence of proficiency of the skills below.
1. Demonstrate the ability to conduct academic research skills by using the college’s library databases.
2. Employ a systematic study-reading method and apply reading strategies (such as activating prior knowledge, previewing, highlighting, and annotating) to comprehend the researched articles.
3. Use context clues and word part clues to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words in the researched articles.
4. Assess and examine written material to identify the topic, main idea, and supporting details of a paragraph.
5. Develop a response to the research question and support your thesis by referring to the content of your articles.
Directions: Preview both articles. Then carefully read, highlight and annotate both articles before beginning this assignment.
I. Core Comprehension Skills
A. Choose a total of three (3) paragraphs that contain a topic, main idea, and three (3) supporting details from either article. If you have difficulty finding paragraphs that contain three (3) supporting details consult with your professor.
B. Bracket and number these paragraphs in the articles. Include your articles with your final project.
C. Identify the topic, main idea, and three major supporting details of each of these paragraphs. You may either use a linear method or a graphic organizer to do this.
II. Vocabulary Development
A. Choose five (5) challenging words from the article.
B. Quote the sentence from the article that contains the word using proper MLA in-line
citation format. Highlight the word that you will be defining.
C. Provide the meaning of the word by using either context clues, word-structure clues, or dictionary skills. Indicate which methods you used to define the words.
D. Create an original sentence that uses the word and reflects the meaning of the word.
III. Outlining
Choose one of the two articles that you have researched. Write an outline of no more than one page of the article that includes the topic, thesis, and major details that you will include in your summary.
IV. Summarizing
Use the outline to write one well-written summary paragraph about this article.
V. Responding to the Topic
Develop a clear, specific thesis statement that answers the research question that you have chosen. Then, write one well-developed paragraph in which you support your thesis statement with explanations and evidence that you have learned from your articles. Your paragraph should contain three supporting details. Be careful to paraphrase the details in your own words.
VI. Works Cited Page
The last page of your project should contain a list of works cited for the two articles you have read. Obtain a Citation Format Guide from the library webpage. Follow the format used for citing electronic sources from the MLA Citation Format Guide.
