Scaffolding Prompts to Support…
DOC/700 Version 2 / 1

University of Phoenix Material

Scaffolding Prompts to Support Effective

Analysis, Critical Evaluation, and Creative Synthesis (AES)

in Written Papers

Purpose of this document:

This document provides a series of sentence “stems” or partial sentences as “prompts” that may help you to express your thinking in each area of AES,as represented in the SPL grading rubric. These suggestions may be especially helpful to build your first draft and/or to remind you of specific aspects of the AES rubric that may help you to be a more effective critical and creative writer.

Print this document and the SPL gradingrubric as important supporting documents to help you as you write all of your assignments during the ACCESS sequence.

Important Note: Please understand that all of these sentence stems are suggestions only. It would be inappropriate, especially at the doctoral level to use these suggestionsin their entirety.

Introductory Section (not labeled as such in your paper – per APA)

Consider starting your paper with a “narrative hook” such as a provocative thought, proposition, or key question that engages the reader in the direction that you are going to go.

Within the intro paragraph, also provide a purpose statement that can serve as a road map for the reader as to how you will respond to the assignment.

For example: Within this paper I will be examining, and/or providing an analysis, and/or evaluating, and proposing a possible model to incorporate A, B and C.

(Note:Using key words directly from the text of the assignment can ensure accuracy.)

Analysis Section (Use an appropriate heading that is relevant to the content of the assignment)

Core Task: to identify the parts

Rubric
Identify the main ideas within each source.

Example:

The main ideas within each source are…(choose whatever stem seems appropriate to you)

X acknowledges that…X agrees that…X argues that…X believes that…X denies that…X claims that…X concedes that…X demonstrates that…X emphasizes that…X questions that…X reminds us that…X suggests that…X urges us to…according to X…etc.

Rubric
Student provides a rationale to examine concepts and constructs from the literature or other empirical data.

Example:

Idea 1 and idea 2 are similar in that…The historical pattern is…Grouping ideas by function creates the following… Grouping ideas qualitative or quantitative orientation, or by research design orientation offers the following…

Rubric
Student analyzes multiple ideas in relationship to one another.
(Compare and contrast or otherwise examine relationships between main ideas)

Example:

The difference between idea 1 and idea 2 is…

Example:

In their recent work, X and Y have offered critiques of…due to…; On the one hand, X argues…On the other hand Y contends…Others even maintain that…

Rubric
Student establishes an analytical framework, pattern or sequence showing all main ideas in relationship to one another.

Example:

Authors X, Y and Z are aligned with respect to…The similarities existing across these four studies are…

Example:

The following analytical framework could be proposed…

Rubric
Contradictory information and/or limitations are integrated into the analysis.

Example:

On the other hand… Limitations of this analysis could include…

Example:

Although some readers may object that… I would answer that…

Critical Evaluation Section (Provide a relevant heading from the assignment or your readings)

Core Task: to reach a conclusion

Rubric
Student uses an explicit evaluation process.
A clear criterion for evaluation is identified and explained.

Examples:

The context for setting this evaluative process is…

The need to evaluate various sources in the literature for credibility is based upon…

The criterion used for evaluating the following sources is or (criteria are)…

Current peer reviewed articles appearing in scholarly journals will be the standard for evaluating credibility.

X matters / is important because…

Rubric
Conclusions are clearly stated, tested against assumptions, and supported with reasoned judgments that rely upon literature evidence.

Examples:

Assumptions underlying the criterion are…

Assumptions inherent to this conclusion are the following…

My conclusion then, is that…

Therefore the conclusion is…

Rubric
At least one alternate perspective is introduced.

Examples:

Alternative perspectives could include…

According to critic A, who suggests…I agree, and would also offer that…

Creative Synthesis Section (use a heading relevant to the assignment, e.g. proposed new model)

Core Task:to put the parts back together and create something new

Rubric
Student integrates diverse ideas into a new design or practice.

Example:

Ultimately, my goal is to demonstrate that…

Rubric
Student creates a perspective, model, insights, metaphor, or other artifact that is greater than the sum of the contributing parts.

Examples:

The following discovery practices leads to the following.

A reframe of the big ideas might look like this;

What if…

In my professional context, these ideas could be visible in the following ways…

A useful metaphor could be…

The following vignette might provide another view of these ideas…

Rubric
Student either reframes scholarly literature into a professional context OR further develops a conceptual model from the literature or empirical data.

Example:

As a result of my professional experience I offer the following variant / model / theory…to explain…