E1.8.A
Description:
Analyze the author's purpose, audience, and message within a text.
Maps to Reading Plus skills:
6A, 6B, 8A
Exemplars
6A: Recognizing Author's Intent
6A: Recognizing Author's Intent
Description:
Recognizing Author's Purpose
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
L-8
L-8
Grade level: 12
Word count: 2551 words
Author: President John F. Kennedy
Synopsis: President Kennedy was convinced the Cold War would be won in space.
Excerpt:
No excerpt is available for this question.
Question:
Who was President Kennedy's real target audience for his September 1962 moon speech?
- the Soviets
- Rice University students and faculty
- Texas state officials
- astronauts
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Describe how the author of an argument tries to prove that he or she is right.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
6B: Recognizing Persuasion
6B: Recognizing Persuasion
Description:
Recognizing Persuasive Devices
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
L-43
L-43
Grade level: 12
Word count: 2405 words
Author: Peter Kupfer
Synopsis: One man's talent for painting led to one of the biggest frauds to hit the art world.
Excerpt:
"I made a knife to cut fruit," Qian added, "but if others use it to kill, blaming me is unfair."
Question:
What did Qian mean when he said this?
- He may have created the fake paintings, but he should not be held accountable for selling them.
- While he was creating forgeries, he was also making legitimate art using knives and fruit.
- He thinks that forgery is not a serious crime, but killing someone is a horribly serious crime.
- He would have preferred to be a chef than an artist.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Imagine you want to make a documentary about a non-fiction selection you read. Describe the steps you would need to take to make your documentary as accurate and unbiased as possible.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
8A: Judging Validity
8A: Judging Validity
Description:
Judge Validity
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
L-13
L-13
Grade level: 12
Word count: 2479 words
Author: Peter Kupfer
Synopsis: Americans are great at producing, marketing, and of course eating junk food.
Excerpt:
Continental had been making sponge cakes for strawberry shortcake, but since strawberries were in season only during the summer, the machinery used to make the cakes sat idle the rest of the year. Dewar, a Chicago bakery manager, came up with the idea for a banana cream-filled cake that could be sold year-round at the price of two for a nickel.
Question:
The author describes junk food makers as innovative. Which sentence supports that claim?
- A Chicago bakery manager came up with the idea for a banana cream-filled cake that could be sold year-round.
- Fans of the treat were happy that the new owners planned to continue producing Twinkies.
- Dewar said he named his creation after an advertisement he saw for the Twinkle Shoe Company.
- After the war, Twinkies became the best-selling snack cake in America.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Think about how an author's bias affects the validity of a claim. Choose a selection you have read and explain whether or not the author's bias has caused him or her to make a false claim.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions