English Class

Module Three Written Response Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

In this assignment, you will continue working with the text you chose for the project by summarizing, quoting, paraphrasing, and using in-text citations. Specifically, this assignment will prepare you to summarize details of the text that are relevant to the core idea and support your analysis of the core idea with evidence from the text. You will continue to develop these skills in future assignments as you prepare to complete your project.

Directions

For this assignment, you will first write a brief summary of the text. Next, you will choose a sentence from the text and incorporate it as a quote in an originally crafted sentence. Then, you will take the same sentence and incorporate it as a paraphrase. Be sure to use in-text citations throughout the assignment. Complete this assignment using the template linked in the What to Submit section.

Specifically, you must address the following:

1. Write a brief summary of the text chosen for the project.
   1. Your summary should be three or four sentences long.
2. Choose one sentence from the text and incorporate it as a quote in an original sentence.
3. Take the same sentence from the text and incorporate it as a paraphrase in an original sentence.
4. Use in-text citations throughout the assignment to properly cite the writer’s ideas according to APA or MLA standards.
   1. Use either APA or MLA standards to properly cite the writer’s ideas in your summary as well as in the sentences where you quoted and paraphrased the writer’s work.

What to Submit

Submit your completed Module Three Written Response Template for grading. Although you will refer to your selected text in your assignment, you will not refer to any sources from outside this course.

Supporting Materials

Student Exemplar: Module Three Written Response APA Exemplar This is an example of a completed written response template using APA style for this assignment. You may want to use this as a guide when addressing the rubric criteria for this assignment if APA style is what you chose to use throughout the course.

Student Exemplar: Module Three Written Response MLA Exemplar This is an example of a completed written response template using MLA style for this assignment. You may want to use this as a guide when addressing the rubric criteria for this assignment if MLA style is what you chose to use throughout the course.

Module Three Written Response Rubric

Criteria	Proficient (100%)	Needs Improvement (75%)	Not Evident (0%)	Value
Summary	Writes a brief summary of the text chosen for the project	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include summarizing relevant details from the chosen text or writing a summary that adheres to the length requirements	Does not attempt criterion	20
Quote	Incorporates a sentence from the text as a quote in an original sentence	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include structuring the quote and sentence in a logical manner or using the writer’s exact words in the quote	Does not attempt criterion	25
Paraphrase	Incorporates a sentence from the text as a paraphrase in an original sentence	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include using the same sentence chosen previously or faithfully paraphrasing the writer’s ideas using own words	Does not attempt criterion	25
In-Text Citations	Uses in-text citations throughout the assignment to properly cite the writer’s ideas according to APA or MLA standards	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include using in-text citations throughout the assignment, correctly citing the writer’s ideas, or following APA or MLA standards	Does not attempt criterion	20
Clear Communication	Consistently and effectively communicates in an organized way to a specific audience	Shows progress towards proficiency, but communication is inconsistent or ineffective in a way that negatively impacts understanding	Shows no evidence of consistent, effective, or organized communication	10
Total:	100%

Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting 

This week, you will take a little bit of a “brain break” from analysis to work on the important academic skills of summary, paraphrase, and quoting. These skills will help you to effectively quote your sources without accidentally committing plagiarism. The skills of summary, paraphrase, and quoting are used in academic and professional settings, as well as in everyday life. For example, if you were talking to a friend and you told them a funny story about something that happened at a party you attended, you would be summarizing the events to your friend. If you told them a story about a conversation you had with someone else, you might be quoting or paraphrasing what the other person said. In this module, you will learn how to use these skills in an academic setting. 

Summarizing

A summary is an overview of a text. The summary should give a big picture description, stating the subject of the text and identifying the author and title.  

Key questions: 

• Who is the author of the article? 
• What is the title of the article? 
• What is the article about? 

Here is an example of a summary: 

• The text chosen for the project is “What Everyone Needs to Know to Be More Productive” by Dana Rousmaniere. This article summarizes advice and best practices from a series run by Harvard Business School called “Getting More Work Done.” It highlights methods on how to get organized and be more productive in the work environment and in life in general. 

Quoting and Citation

Quoting is a way of integrating another writer’s ideas into your own writing. Quotes allow you to share those ideas with your audience using the writer’s exact words. Direct quotes are generally reserved for information that is impactful or written in a particularly meaningful or powerful way. In other words, be sure to use quotes sparingly and only when they are the best way of representing another writer’s ideas. 

To use a quote in your writing, first identify the quote from the original text. For example: 

• “Finally, realize that you’re not going to be at your best every hour of the day, so try to schedule your most important work to align with periods of peak energy.” 

Then, build your own sentence that introduces those ideas and includes the key parts of the quoted sentence as a quote. Be sure to use only the writer’s exact words between quotation marks. For example: 

• Rousmaniere (2015) argues that workers should try to time their “most important work to align with periods of peak energy” (p. 3). 

If you are using MLA, include the author’s last name and the page number in the parentheses after the quote. It should look like this: (Rousmaniere 3). 

If you are using APA, include the author’s name, publication year, and the page number in the parentheses after the quote. It should look like this: (Rousmaniere, 2015, p. 3). You might also include the date in parentheses after the author’s name, rather than at the end parenthesis. Both are correct. 

Key questions: 

• What is the one sentence in the article you’ve selected that is most interesting to you? 
• What really stood out to you when you first read the article?  

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is like quoting, except instead of using the writer’s words, you use your own. You cannot just change a few words in the sentence and call it a paraphrase. Rather, you must take in the meaning and then restate the same idea in an entirely new way. 

To use a paraphrase in your writing, take one or more sentences from the article and paraphrase them. To do this, simply restate the original text using your own words. However, you must make sure that you are accurately conveying the original writer’s ideas. Your version, although written using different words, should not change the essence of the writer’s ideas. 

For example, this is the quote used in the quoting example: 

• “Finally, realize that you’re not going to be at your best every hour of the day, so try to schedule your most important work to align with periods of peak energy.” 

Here is an example of how that quote could be paraphrased while retaining the meaning: 

• Workers should know that their energy will vary throughout the day, so they should perform their key tasks within their most focused and energetic times of day. 

Key questions: 

• What is the idea the author is stating? 
• How can I express this same idea in my own words? 

Key Concepts

The following are the key concepts to consider as you work on this module: 

• Summary is an overview of a text that identifies the title and author. 
  • What ideas should you include in your summary of the text you chose to analyze? 
• A direct quote should have quotation marks around it, as well as a parenthetical citation. 
  • What are some ideas that the writer expressed in such a powerful, moving, or interesting way that it might lose those qualities if you paraphrased it instead of quoting it? 
• A paraphrase is a restatement of a quote in entirely different words. A paraphrase also requires a parenthetical citation. 
  • How can you represent the writer’s ideas faithfully while using your own words?