Category: Exams

Due Wed 7/22, 7p

For Wednesday, I want you to do two things: (A) take the midterm exam (instructions below; don’t worry: you will be allowed to revise this test for a re-grade) and (B) read and write feedback on 5 classmates’ Essay 1s.

Mini-Lesson: TOPIC v. THESIS
Last week, we worked on noticing the THESIS of Kaba’s and Meares’ texts.  Remember: a thesis is a debate-able statement (often a writer’s “opinion”) about a topic.  A THESIS is not the same as a TOPIC.  A topic is simply the main idea or content of a text; a thesis is the writer’s opinion or point of view ABOUT the topic.  For instance, in both Kaba’s and Meares’ texts that we read last week, the topic is police brutality and racism.  Kaba’s thesis is her opinion about this topic: what she thinks should be done about racist police brutality (she thinks that we should defund and get rid of police departments).  Make sense?  OK, now you’re ready for the midterm (below).

A) Midterm Exam. This is a test devised and required by the Summer Program. As such, it is slightly different than the assignments I’ve given so far (which will nevertheless have prepared you well for it. The instructions are simple: read an article and identify the author, title, topic, thesis, and the reasons/details supporting the thesis.  Then write a short summary of the article, including therein your response to the article (whether you agree or disagree with it and why).

 15% of final grade

The article I want you to read and do your exam on is:

Larry Elder, “Where’s Black Lives Matter When You Need Them?”

As always, write your work in a Google Doc and save to your Google Drive folder for the course, then paste your work as a comment below, responding to this post.  Format your exam as follows:

Name
Author:
Title:
Topic:
Thesis:
Reasons/Details Supporting Thesis:

Summary (1 paragraph, including all of the above as well as your response to the article—whether you disagree/agree with it and why)

B) Go to Essay 1 Feedback and read 5 classmates’ essays. Respond to each writer’s post with a comment containing feedback (I repeat: do NOT respond to this post with your feedback—respond to each writer’s post individually; see below for requirements). Please choose classmates who have few-to-no comments from other classmates.

Please reply to your classmate’s post with a comment containing…
—1 specific sentence you admire (and an explanation of why you like it) and…
—1 specific suggestion for revision (and an explanation of how this should be fixed).

10% of final grade (along with Essay 2 feedback you will give next week)