Current Events Assignment Guidelines/Outline

English 11 Honors/MCC Concurrent Program

Guidelines:

  • This is a bi-weekly assignment (due every two weeks on a Friday) designed to have you read an article from a newspaper, magazine, or credible online news source and to analyze that article.
  • The following sources are the ONLY sources you can use:
  • Time.com (Time Magazine)
  • USA Today
  • The New York Times
  • CNN.com
  • Smithsonian.com
  • History.com
  • Please find/read about important issues in our world today.
  • You MAY NOT use articles on Entertainment/Gossip or Sports.
  • If you are a student in Health Tech, do not use medical articles. (I am aware that your shop teacher assigns article assignments as well.)
  • Article may not be no more than a week to two weeks old from when the assignment is due.
  • All Current Event assignments must be typed and in MLA format. (If this is an issue, please see me)
  • Must have 8 sentences in each paragraph (total of 3-4 paragraphs)
  • Summary Paragraphs and Reflection Paragraph(s)
  • Work Cited page needed.

Please cut out, print, or photocopy the article inand staple it with the assignment. You may also email me the link to the article. If you do not attach the article, or if do you not email me the link, you will automatically lose 10 points off your grade. (Sharing through Google Docs is acceptable)

This is not a critique of whether the article is good or bad. This assignment(a total of 100 points) is a well thought opinion of the issue presented and asks you to explore your attitudes thoughts/beliefs on the many topics in our current world. Your opinion should be well thought out and should consider current information and personal views. This assignment will enhance and improve both your reading skills and your writing skills.

Helpful Hints for Writing the Summary Paragraphs:

  • Remember to read the ENTIRE article.
  • Underline all possible who, what, when, where, why or how’s in the article or make a list of them on a separate sheet of paper. This will help you use your own words and avoid plagiarism.
  • Find the main idea. What do all of the facts that you wrote refer to? What is the main “what” of the article?
  • Your topic sentence should include the main idea of the article.
  • The body of your paragraph should include the important facts that support or explain the main idea.
  • Use your own words.

Helpful Hints for Writing the Reflection Paragraph:

  • Keep your topic sentence general rather than personal. This way you are free to focus on yourself and others throughout the paragraph rather than making it all about you. For example, list who is affected by the event taking place in your article
  • Think of the following questions to help you write your body sentences.
  • How is this event important to me?
  • How is this event important to others? Does it impact a specific group of people/things? If so, how? c. Does it have a global impact? Does it have a worldwide affect?
  • Does the article present a problem? If so, what possible solution can you think of?
  • Avoid statements like: “This event does not affect me.” If the event does not affect you, focus your reflection on how it impacts those people/places/things that it does affect.
  • Your closing should tell what you think or feel about the EVENT (not the article itself) and why you have the reaction you do.

What are the 5 W’s and How?

  • Who  Who/what is the event happening to or who is exhibiting the event?
  • What  What is the event?
  • When  When did the event happen or when is it going to happen?
  • Where  Where did the event happen?
  • Why  Why did the event happen? (What is the cause of/reason for the event)
  • How  How did it happen? or how is it possible or how are people reacting?

*The following page is the paragraph layout for the Current Events Assignment.*

Last Name 1

Student Name

Ms. Fernandes

ENG 11 Honors

16 September 2016

Current Event Assignment #1

Paragraphs 1-2: Summary of the article. Please include the following information

  • Who, what, when, where, why, and how
  • 2 paragraphs (8 sentences each)
  • Summary Paragraph #1:

Start with: The title of the article is “______,” written by author’s name.

Continue with: The article is from The New York Times.

Continue with: explanation of the article’s main idea and include the “who” and “what”.

  • Summary Paragraph #2:

Support the main idea of the article with the most important facts in the article.

Includes the “why” and “how”.

Closing sentence: introduce the idea that people/things will be affected by the event as this will help your summary paragraphs and your reflection paragraphs to flow smoothly.

  • 2-3 in-text citations in each paragraph are required
  • Make sure you properly cite in order to avoid plagiarism.
  • example: According to the article, a 12-year old girl “achieved the top score of 162 on Mensa's Cattell III B paper, suggesting she has a higher IQ than well-known geniuses Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking” (Whitman 1).

Paragraph 3: Reflection on the main event presented in the article. Please the following information:

  • 1 or 2 paragraphs (8 sentences each)
  • Make a general statement about how people/things are or will be affected by the event
  • Reflect on how the event is important to you or to others as well as the impact it has.
  • Tell your reactions to event and AND why you think/feel that way.

Work Cited Page

*The following page is a detailed example of the Current Event Assignment.*