NJASK Open-Ended Question Responses:
Informational Text - Some Examples and Explanations
| 1 Point | 2 Points | 3 Points | 4 Points |
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The question:
Based on the information in the flyer, describe the mission of the Milford Hills Library. Use details from the flyer to support your answer.
BREAKDOWN:
1) You are supposed to figure out the main goal of the library based on information provided in their flyer.
2)You are supposed to back up your claims about the library's mission by writing details from the flyer that support your opinion.
The mission of the flyer is to make people want to go to the Milford Hills Library.
The biggest problem with this response is that it does not answer the question - it discusses the mission of the flyer instead of the mission of the library. Also, there are no details from the flyer used to support the writer's position.
Lots of writing does not guarantee a good score...
The mission for the Milford Hills
Library is to spread out a flyer about there library. They want people to know
about what they have to offer and what they have in there library. The library
wants more people to come in to use the library and in return they will make
money off of library cards and other things inside the library.
To attract customers they put in many other services to show they have a variety of books and other materials. They explain everything on the flyer so then people would know if this library has a better deal then others. This could counter back at them if there prices are higher than others. Milford Hills Library wants more people to use their library so there mission was to get people informed with a flyer.
This response attempted to answer the question, but it does not correctly identify the purpose of the library until the second-to-last sentence. While there are lots of details from the flyer, they indicate that this writer did not understand what some of the details meant. There are also grammatical errors that make the piece difficult to read.
The mission of Milford Hills Library is to provide a place to read and learn. This is true because they have programs for kids and adults to learn about computers. They also talk about the library's first librarian Jonah Brehmer. They dedicated a room for him and talk about his dedication to learning. It also teaches about how the library works, for example it tells you how much it costs for late items.
This response answers the question, then goes into some details from the flyer that help support the writer's opinion about the library's mission. There is room for improvement - some of the details given are irrelevant to the author's point.
Here's how you get a 3 out of 4... And how to go beyond a 3
The mission of the library is to allow people to read books without buying them. Visitors to the library can also participate in a variety of events including computer classes and story hour. The library may also be trying to promote responsibility by allowing children to borrow books. Books may only be borrowed for a specific amount of time and videos/audio books have a shorter limit. Because you don't have to pay for the books or the cards, people can read the book without spending their money. This would allow people to have a wider selection to choose from and they can take as many books as they want out at a time. This library, from what I can tell, is very similar to my town's library and I go there at least once a week. The Milford Hills Library will probably have many visitors, young and old alike because there are numerous books and activities apealing to many ages.
This is an excellent response because not only does it answer the question and provide details from the flyer to support that opinion, but it also goes extends the answer into the writer's life, explaining a personal connection the writer has to this topic.