synthesizing articles

Select an interesting news story and find three articles from three different news sources about the topic.
Assignment Paper #3
English 303 Online

TASK: Write a report in which you synthesize three articles about the background to a current issue in the news and present two interview questions. The report should include the responses of five different people to your question. There will be a final reflection on the results of your interviews.

In doing this you will:

Select an interesting news story and find three articles from three different news sources about the topic. You must use one article from the New York Times, one from Aljazeera.com, and one from another news source of your choice. Fox News is not an appropriate choice.

Write an appropriate APA-style reference to each article, using the forms https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ Each reference must be linked directly to an actual copy of the article. This will be your reference page.

Write a synthesis of the information using paraphrase, citation, and your references. A person reading it should understand the major issues/background information of the news story. Again, I want to stress — paraphrase is VERY important here. Your synthesis will be 1-2 pages long.

Develop two research questions based on the story. These are questions that you are going to ask people you know about the story. They should not be yes/no questions. They should be questions that require a response. These questions will follow your synthesis. You will write a brief introductory paragraph explaining why you chose to develop these two questions.

Interview five people and write their responses carefully. I suggest you record their responses so that you have a record of what they actually said. For a better paper, ask five very different people . You will present the responses in a series of paragraphs in which you introduce each respondent and then present his/her answer to the questions.

Write a reflection of 2-3 paragraphs about your respondents’ answers. You will present your own thoughts in this part.
The final paper will be written in APA style following this model: http://www.dianahacker.com/pdfs/hacker-shaw-apa.pdf
RUBRIC:

Active participation in the process (20 points maximum)

Student has actively participated in ALL the activities leading up to the submission of this paper.

0 4 8 12 16 20

APA Format and Assignment (20 points maximum)

Student has followed APA format rigorously. An initial reading shows that this assignment was done as requested.

0 4 8 12 16 20

Organization and Transition (20 points maximum)

The whole paper is logically organized along the guidelines set by the assignment. The transitions are smooth. The paragraphs smoothly connect to each other and the paper is obviously a unified whole.

0 4 8 12 16 20
Language and Documentation (20 points maximum)

Language is the student’s authentic language and is in no way edited by a native speaker or machine. No other sources have been used and there is no borrowed language from any other source. Documentation is smooth with sources leading easily to references and with references clearly linked to the sources themselves. THERE IS NO PLAGIARISM OR ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

0 4 8 12 16 20

Ideas and Development (20 points maximum)

Development is thorough throughout — with the synthesis providing a clear background, the questions being appropriate to the task, the interview material being well edited and focused, and the reflection indicating critical thinking.

0 4 8 12 16 20