for prof avril

SCI 100 Module Two Short Answer Guidelines and Rubric Describing Evidence

Prompt: In this short answer assignment, you’ll identify the main idea of your chosen news story and describe the evidence that the author(s) uses to support it. As you describe the evidence, be specific and objective—meaning, discuss facts and data that support the main idea, not opinions. Your work on this assignment will directly support Project 1, which is also due this week.

To complete this activity, answer the following questions:

1. What is the main idea or thesis of your chosen news story? Remember, this is the same article you chose from ScienceDaily in last week’s discussion.

2. Identify and describe the major pieces of evidence that support the main idea of the news story. Discuss at least two pieces of evidence from the story.

Anything that the writer uses to support the thesis of the story would be considered a piece of evidence.

3. Explain whether the information in the news story is valid and reliable. Think back to the source credibility activity you did in Module One. Is this

evidence supported by research, and could you get more information on the original research if you wanted to?

Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Submit your responses in a Microsoft Word document. The length of your responses to each question may vary. A good response will be about 1–2 paragraphs in total.

Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (75%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Main Idea Accurately identifies the main idea of the news story

Identifies the main idea of the news story, but it is inaccurate or lacking detail

Doesn’t identify the main idea of the news story

25

Evidence Identifies and accurately describes the evidence that supports the main idea of the news story

Describes some evidence that supports the main idea of the news story, but description is unclear, inaccurate or incomplete

Does not describe the evidence that supports the main idea of the news story

40

Validity and Reliability Explains whether the information in the news story is valid and reliable and supports response with evidence

Explains whether the information in the news story is valid and reliable, but explanation is unclear, inaccurate, or unsupported

Does not explain whether the information in the news story is valid and reliable

25

Communicates Clearly Clearly communicates key ideas and thoughts in a short-answer response

Response needs clarification to support understanding of key ideas and thoughts

Key ideas or thoughts are not understandable

10

Total 100%