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Purpose
This Assessment will provide your professor with a basis to evaluate your formal writing abilities as well as your aptitude in organizing ideas in short narrative and descriptive essays. With an introduction to the online library, you will also practice various methods to use and identify source material, including quoting, paraphrasing, in-text citation, and full reference entries using 7th edition APA-standard procedures.
Assessment Instructions and Requirements
Complete the Module 1 Reading before beginning work. You will also want to review the Formal Writing and Citation-Referencing Take-Away PDFs.
Use the provided Word® document template. Download this to your computer, fill it in, make sure your content input has been saved when you are done, and then submit to the Dropbox. Do not copy and paste the template content into a new document; use it “as is.” Assessments submitted without use of the template as described here will not be graded.
For all parts of this Assessment:
Follow the rules for formal writing style as explained in the Formal Writing Take-Away PDF.
Do not use first person (I, me, my, myself, we, us, or our).
Do not use wording that may be considered emotional or opinionated.
Part 1: Writing a Short Narrative Essay (IT topic)
Topic: This essay must be something relating to computers, but due to the short nature of this part of the Assessment, it is recommended to choose an easy topic. Ideas include setting up your home Wi-Fi, cycling a modem, making your own PowerPoint template, applying a formula in Excel, editing a photo on your iPhone, completing a scan with your computer’s antivirus software, setting preferences in a particular application, or some other technology-related task. Since the purpose is to use English, do not choose a topic that requires coding or programming instructions. Read the rest of the requirements below to ensure that your topic choice will meet expectations.
Title: Compose a title that is descriptive of your essay content. Use title case without final punctuation and without the words “narrative essay.”
List: An ordered (numbered) list is one in which an order of actions must be followed; it explains a process. The list you provide for your topic will serve then as your outline for the essay itself.
There must be at least five steps, but no more than nine.
Use short phrases, not full sentences.
Make sure this list is numbered to indicate that there is indeed a prescribed order of events.
Do not include second-level items; keep the list simple.
Essay:
Write a narrative essay using the list as your outline. Do not directly refer to the list in the narrative; your essay must complete on its own.
Provide 200–275 words. This is a strict requirement with the intent to provide adequate detail and at the same time to be succinct.
Start with a topic sentence and then provide details about each item on the list in the order you presented them in that list. Do not write a conclusion; the last instruction already gets you to the end of the instructions.
Use paragraphing only (do not insert lists or number the steps inside the narrative).
Write with sentence structure variety, not “First,” “Second,” etc.
Importantly, do not research; write from your current knowledge and use critical thinking skills and observation for this part of the Assessment.
Part 2: Writing a Short Descriptive Essay
Topic: This essay must be the description of a place or an object. Suggested topics: a household item, a pet, your garden, a room in your home, a neighborhood, your favorite restaurant, a vacation spot, etc. Do not choose an electronic item or vehicle. The purpose is to describe, so consider shapes, textures, colors, smells, tastes (where appropriate), sounds, location, movement, temperature, and other sensory-based portrayal. This is not to be a timeline of events; work on description without emotional or opinionated wording, as this will be good practice for the workplace. Read the rest of the requirements below to ensure that your topic choice will meet expectations.
Title: Compose a title that is descriptive of your essay content. Use title case without final punctuation and without the words “descriptive essay.”
Essay:
There must be at least three paragraphs:
Introduction: Explain your essay’s topic in the first sentence and then give a brief overview.
Paragraph(s) to provide detail.
Conclusion: Do not include any new ideas. Instead, provide a short summary of the essay.
Write 200–275 words. This is again a strict requirement.
Your work for this section must be presented in paragraph form, without lists, tables, or images.
Take note of the following from the Module Reading PDF:
Do not refer the essay to itself with phrases such as “this paper will” or “in this essay.”
Do not use wording that may be considered emotional or opinionated.
Do not write “In conclusion” or “In summary.”
Do not write “transition” sentences (more will be explained later in the course).
Again, do not research; write from your current knowledge and use critical thinking skills and observation for this part of the Assessment.
Preparation for Parts 3 and 4 (3 Articles Attached)
Locate the source material: Go to the More Tools section in the navigation above; choose Library. Once the Library search page opens, select the link in the left-side menu of the Library page that indicates Required Readings for this course. Choose any three articles from the list, depending on your interest or curiosity. Should a link not work, report it to your instructor and then choose a different one from the list.
Hint for the reference entries: Use the Library system to find the entry and then make corrections if it is necessary as explained in the reading. You may have to look at the articles themselves for a more specific date, the volume, issue, and/or page numbers, and to verify authors’ names. Do not use Word’s citation tool or other citation generators; you are expected to learn to create entries on your own.
Part 3: Quoting
Required source: A professional journal article from the list presented in the Library section of the classroom as explained above. Do not look for quotes already presented in the article; your mission is to find direct statements in the article and quote them yourself.
Quotation 1: Parenthetical citation
Choose a meaningful statement of 25–39 words from the article and quote it without introduction, using in-text citation after the end-quotation mark and before the final sentence punctuation.
Quotation 2: Narrative citation
Choose a different meaningful statement of 25–39 words from the same article and quote it properly, starting your sentence with “According to” or a similar introduction, and inserting proper citation as explained in the reading.
Required adjustment:
Edit just one of your two quotes by correctly using brackets, an ellipsis, or [sic]. These techniques are explained in the reading.
If the original does not have an error, you cannot use [sic] and must instead employ either brackets for a clarification or an ellipsis to delete words. Note that British English spellings are not considered errors.
Reference entry:
Provide a full 7th edition APA-standard reference entry for this journal article.
Part 4: Paraphrasing From Two Other Articles
Choose two other journal articles from the same Library list. It is recommended that you pick articles that are relatively easy for you to understand, especially if you are new to the technology field. Find a section of each article that interests you and write paraphrases.
For each of your two paraphrases, separately:
Compose a descriptive title (a phrase) in your own words. Use title case.
Write a paraphrase of 170–220 words. If it is difficult to meet the minimum length or to avoid writing more than the maximum, then a more suitable section (or section size) from the original article must be chosen.
Do not include any quotes.
Write the paraphrases in paragraph form (no lists).
Include proper citation as explained in the reading.
Provide a full 7th edition APA-standard reference entry.
Minimum Submission Requirements
The provided template must be used as instructed.
Your submission must be written using a professional, unemotional, formal writing style. There must be no errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and the submission must clearly fulfill the instructions for content and organization.
Parts 1 and 2 content must be fully original work, without ideas culled from source material.
Parts 3 and 4 content must be culled from the provided online library sources, using proper 7th edition APA citation and referencing.
Citation generators are not allowed – you must complete the citations and reference entries on your own, using the given Take-Away to guide you.
Ensure that each part meets minimum wording/length requirements. When given a wording range, do not greatly exceed the maximum.
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