Annotating Texts: Developing an Evaluative Essay [Assignment/Rubric]
Christopher Manes
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this assignment, students will
- analyze the concepts of “segregated coexistence” and “living in community” as proposed by Nicholas Ensley Mitchell in order to evaluate the situations described in the provided articles regarding food security, gentrification, and urban development.
- use Mitchell’s framework to evaluate the quality of diversity in their local college or community context.
Before the Assignment
The following assignment serves as a supplement to the material covered in:
Reading and Writing Successfully in College: A Guide for Students, by Patricia Lynne, chapter 1, section on “Examining a Sample Assignment”
Read and annotate the texts in the “Examining a Sample Assignment”; these texts can also be found in The Conversation and are listed below for reference. The texts to be read are:
- City compost programs turn garbage into ‘black gold’ that boosts food security and social justice by Kristen DiAngelis. Gwynne Mhuireach, and Sue Ishaq (11 June 2020)
- How food became the perfect beachhead for gentrification by Pasale Joassart-Marcelli (13 October 2018)
- Sustainable cities need more than parks, cafes and a riverwalk by Trina Hamilton and Winifred Curran (15 March 2018)
Annotations can be completed using the strategies from Patricia Lynne’s section on “Annotating and Note-taking.”
Discuss as a class or in small groups these articles, particularly, how each article deals with the problem of food insecurity and what, if any, solutions might be gained from the readings.
Assignment (Individual or Group)
Prompt: Based on the articles read, annotated, and discussed in class, evaluate food security and/or insecurity at your college or university. Include specific parts from the readings as well as college and community food resources.
This assignment can be done individually or in small groups (3-4 students). The length of evaluation should be set by the instructor but can be a minimum of five paragraphs or longer. Students should cite quotes or paraphrases from the text using whatever guiding style (APA, MLA, etc.) is appropriate to the course.
To help students respond to this prompt, consider using the following questions in four areas:
When answering the above questions for each area:
- Students should answer the question(s) directly within the first sentence (topic sentence).
- Give one to three sentences to support or explain their answer from the text (essay) with specific quotes or paraphrases and/or from observations or facts within their community.
- Students should conclude their points of evaluation without introducing new ideas or facts in their paragraph’s concluding line.
Doing this for each of the four areas will give students individual paragraphs of 3-5 sentences, at minimum, to which an introductory paragraph and concluding paragraph could be added to complete the assignment in a formal essay.
Note: If this assignment is done in small groups of four, then each area can be delegated to a group participant to answer.
Rubrics
Individual Rubric
Total Points Possible: 100 points
Note: This rubric is for completing the assignment as an individual, not in a group.
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Group Rubric
Total Points Possible: 50 points
Note: This rubric is for completing the assignment in small groups of 3-4 students.
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Downloadable Resources (Rubrics)
Click here to download a Word Doc version of the INDIVIDUAL rubric:
Individual Rubric: Annotating Texts – Developing an Evaluative Essay assignment
Click here to download a Word Doc version of the GROUP rubric:
Group Rubric: Annotating Texts – Developing an Evaluative Essay assignment
Attribution:
Manes, Christopher. “Annotating Texts: Developing an Evaluative Essay [Assignment/Rubric].” Strategies, Skills and Models for Student Success in Writing and Reading Comprehension. College Station: Texas A&M University, 2024. This work is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
