Writing Notes: Mother Tongue

Assignment: Writing Notes (GRADED)
In 1-5, you selected your reading. You may want to print your reading so you can take notes to help capture your reactions. Highlight specific lines, passages, or words that stick out to you, and note any thoughts you might have about them. This is an active reading technique that is highly effective when analyzing a piece of writing. You will learn more about active reading in Module 2.
In the 1-4 reading, you were introduced to literal reading, where you take a piece at face value without breaking down its components to study it further. In this assignment, you’ll do a literal reading of the article you selected in 1-5. The goal here is to get to know the selected reading. This will be the first step of the critical analysis essay project you will complete this term.
Click on the title of your selected article to read, download, and print a copy of the text. These readings are provided by the Shapiro Library.
“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan (2006)
Assignment Guidelines and Rubric
Overview: In this assignment, you’ll do a literal reading of the reading you selected in
1-5. This will be the first step of the critical analysis essay project you will complete this term.
Prompt: Now that you have read your piece and taken some notes, the following critical elements must be addressed. Write at least three sentences in response to questions 2-4.
1. What article did you select for your term-long critical analysis project? List the title and author here.
2. An author’s purpose or goal is their reason for writing a work. Based on a literal reading of your selected article, what do you believe is the author’s purpose? How did you arrive at that decision?
3. Key points* are pieces of evidence that support the author’s purpose. In your selected article, what are three key points that support the author’s purpose that you identified in Question 2? How do those key points support it?
4. An author’s audience is the group or groups of people who are being addressed in the reading. What audience do you believe the author is writing for in your selected article? What potential challenges does the author face when addressing their purpose with this audience?

Guidelines for Submission: Save your work in a Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Then, check your writing for errors. Once you have proofread your document, submit it via email.
Rubric
Critical Elements Proficient – 100% Needs Improvement – 75% Not Evident – 0% Value
Name Names the article and author of the article Does not name the article or author of the article 10
Author’s Purpose Determines a purpose to be addressed in analysis essay, and purpose is derived from one of the provided articles Determines a purpose to be addressed in analysis essay, but purpose is not derived from one of the provided articles Does not determine a purpose to be addressed in analysis essay 25
Author’s Key Points Determines key points and rationale that will be helpful in supporting the validity of the claim Determines key points and rationale, but key points or rationale are cursory or inaccurate Does not determine key points and rationale that will be helpful in supporting the validity of the claim 25
Author’s Audience Identifies audience and determines potential challenges Identifies audience but does not determine potential challenges Does not identify audience 25
Articulation of Response Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 15
Earned Total 100%