Write the way the subject expects
Grade 11 Reading Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
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Discussion section of a student lab report. Purpose: report what the data support and no more.
Data: after 10 days, seedlings under blue light averaged 14.2 cm and seedlings under white light 11.8 cm; one trial, six seedlings per group.
Draft: “Blue light makes plants grow better, so growers should switch to blue lamps.”
Revision 1: “Seedlings under blue light averaged 14.2 cm and those under white light 11.8 cm, which suggests that blue light favors early growth; one trial of six seedlings per group limits the claim.”
Revision 2: “Seedlings under blue light may have averaged about 14 cm and those under white light about 12 cm, which could suggest that blue light might favor growth.”
Kira compares two revisions of the Discussion sentence. Which better fits the discipline, and what does it give up?
- Revision 2: hedging every figure keeps the report modest; it gives up just the advice to growers.
- Revision 1: it states the measured heights plainly and hedges only the inference; it gives up the average heights of the seedlings.
- Revision 1: it states the measured heights plainly and hedges only the inference; it gives up the draft's advice to growers.
- Revision 1: it states the measured heights plainly and hedges only the inference, so it says everything the draft said.
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Essay for a history course on a town's industries (the town and its sources are invented). Purpose: say what the sources show.
Sources: the mill owner's daughter, writing in 1931, says her father ‘tired of the whole business’; the town ledger records the mill's last order in May 1893.
Draft: “The mill closed because the owner lost interest in the business.”
Revision 1: “According to the owner's daughter, writing in 1931, her father ‘tired of the whole business’; the town ledger records the mill's last order in May 1893.”
Revision 2: “The mill probably closed because the owner lost interest, since the daughter's memoir and the ledger both point that way.”
Noah compares two revisions of the essay sentence. Which better fits the discipline, and what does it give up?
- Revision 1: it attributes the claim to its source and date and keeps the ledger apart, and the essay loses nothing by it.
- Revision 1: it attributes the claim to its source and date and keeps the ledger apart; it gives up one firm explanation for the closing.
- Revision 1: it attributes the claim to its source and date and keeps the ledger apart; it gives up the date of the mill's last order in May 1893.
- Revision 2: “probably” weighs the evidence and one sentence joins both sources; it gives up just the memoir's wording.
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Paragraph for a literature essay on The Great Gatsby (1925). Purpose: support a claim about the novel with its text.
Draft: “Fitzgerald showed that Gatsby's dream was empty, and he shows this through the green light.”
Revision 1: “Fitzgerald presents Gatsby's dream as out of reach: the green light that Gatsby stretches toward is, in Nick's words, ‘minute and far away.’”
Revision 2: “Fitzgerald showed that Gatsby's dream was out of reach, since Gatsby stretched toward a green light that was tiny and distant, as Nick reported.”
Tala compares two revisions of the paragraph sentence. Which better fits the discipline, and what does it give up?
- Revision 1: present tense and a quotation from Nick's narration support the claim; it gives up the draft's harsher judgment that the dream is empty.
- Revision 2: it credits Nick and paraphrases the light, which keeps the claim; it gives up just the novel's exact wording.
- Revision 1: present tense and a quotation from Nick's narration support the claim; it gives up any mention of the green light at the end of the dock.
- Revision 1: present tense and a quotation from Nick's narration support the claim, and it keeps the draft's whole judgment of the dream.
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Conclusion of a student report on a survey.
Evidence: in a survey of 400 students, those who ate breakfast scored 6 points higher on a memory quiz on average; students were not assigned to eat or skip breakfast.
Zee writes the conclusion for the evidence shown. Which sentence is as strong as the evidence allows, but no stronger?
- Students who ate breakfast scored 6 points higher on average, which suggests that they also slept better and kept more regular routines.
- Students who ate breakfast scored 6 points higher on average, which suggests that eating breakfast improves memory in students at any school.
- Students who ate breakfast scored 6 points higher on average, which fits a link with memory; a survey cannot show that breakfast caused it.
- Students who ate breakfast scored 6 points higher on average, but a survey of 400 students says nothing about a link between breakfast and memory.
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Paragraph in a history essay on a frontier garrison (invented).
Evidence: three of the five surviving letters from the garrison mention a food shortage in March; the two other letters, written by officers to the governor, do not mention food at all.
Ren writes the conclusion for the evidence shown. Which sentence is as strong as the evidence allows, but no stronger?
- Three of the five surviving letters may have reported something like a food shortage in March, which might suggest that supplies could have run low.
- Three of the five surviving letters report a food shortage in March, which shows that the garrison was starving by the spring.
- Three of the five surviving letters report a food shortage in March, which suggests that the officers were hiding the shortage from the governor.
- Three of the five surviving letters report a food shortage in March, which suggests low supplies, though the officers' two letters are silent on it.
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Summary in an engineering test report.
Evidence: in 8 of 10 stress tests, the redesigned bracket lasted longer than the old one; in the other 2 tests the old bracket lasted longer.
Pia writes the conclusion for the evidence shown. Which sentence is as strong as the evidence allows, but no stronger?
- The redesigned bracket outlasted the old one in 8 of 10 tests, which shows that it is stronger and will outlast the old one in service.
- The redesigned bracket outlasted the old one in 8 of 10 tests, which suggests an improvement, though the two reversals remain unexplained.
- The redesigned bracket may have outlasted the old one in perhaps 8 of the 10 tests, which could suggest some improvement.
- The redesigned bracket outlasted the old one in 8 of 10 tests, but because two tests went the other way, the results show no improvement in strength.
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Opening of a grant summary for a science funder (invented project). Purpose: tell reviewers the result and the request at once.
Draft: “For many years our group has been interested in how tides affect marsh birds, and this proposal describes work that builds on that interest in several ways.”
Revision 1: “We request $48,000 to test whether nest failures rise with spring-tide height at three marshes; our pilot season found failures in 9 of 22 nests on the highest tides.”
Revision 2: “Marsh birds nest where the tide reaches, and a great deal is unknown about how the water shapes their success; we propose to study three marshes to learn more.”
Bo compares two revisions of the opening. Which better fits a grant summary for science reviewers, and what does it give up?
- Revision 1: it opens with the request and the evidence so a reviewer sees both at once; it gives up the dollar amount of the request.
- Revision 2: it opens with the puzzle and eases a reviewer in; it gives up just the draft's long phrasing.
- Revision 1: it opens with the request and the evidence so a reviewer sees both at once; it gives up the group's long background.
- Revision 1: it opens with the request and the evidence so a reviewer sees both at once, and it keeps the group's history intact.
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Label for a museum case (invented object). Purpose: tell visitors what is known and what is not.
Facts: the jar was found in a house cellar in 1951; the donor's note says it belonged to a ship's cook; no other record names the cook.
Draft: “This jar belonged to a famous ship's cook and holds the secret of sailors' stews.”
Revision 1: “Found in a cellar in 1951. The donor's note says this jar belonged to a ship's cook; no other record names the cook, so the claim is untested.”
Revision 2: “Found in a cellar in 1951, this jar once belonged to a ship's cook who fed sailors on long voyages.”
Ari compares two revisions of the label. Which better fits a historian's label for visitors, and what does it give up?
- Revision 1: it credits the cook to the donor's note and says what no record shows, and it loses nothing that visitors would have enjoyed in the draft.
- Revision 1: it credits the cook to the donor's note and says what no record shows; it gives up the date of the find.
- Revision 1: it credits the cook to the donor's note and says what no record shows; it gives up the draft's vivid promise of a secret.
- Revision 2: it is short, clear and warm for visitors; it gives up just the draft's talk of a secret.
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Notice from a landlord to a tenant (invented). Purpose: state what is required, by when, and what follows, so that the tenant cannot misread it.
Draft: “Please deal with the broken smoke detector in your unit soon, as it is a safety issue and could cause problems.”
Revision 1: “You must replace the smoke detector in Unit 4B by March 15. If it is not replaced by that date, the Landlord may enter the unit on March 16 and replace it at your cost.”
Revision 2: “We kindly request that the tenant address the smoke detector issue at the tenant's earliest convenience, and we thank the tenant for the cooperation we expect in this safety matter.”
Esme compares two revisions of the notice. Which better fits a legal notice to a tenant, and what does it give up?
- Revision 1: it gives the duty, the date and the consequence so one reading remains; it gives up the deadline for the repair.
- Revision 1: it gives the duty, the date and the consequence so one reading remains, and it keeps the draft's courteous tone for the tenant.
- Revision 1: it gives the duty, the date and the consequence so one reading remains; it gives up the draft's courteous, open-ended tone.
- Revision 2: it is courteous and formal and thanks the tenant; it gives up just the draft's urgency.
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Reply from an author to a journal referee who said the sample was too small. Purpose: answer the criticism with evidence, in a tone fit for a colleague.
Draft: “The referee is wrong about the sample; any statistician would see that 60 participants is plenty.”
Revision 1: “We thank the referee for this point. A power analysis (Section 2.3) showed that 60 participants gives 80 percent power to detect the effect reported, and we have added the analysis to the Methods.”
Revision 2: “We respectfully disagree. Sixty participants is a typical sample for studies of this kind, and many published studies have used fewer.”
Jun compares two revisions of the reply. Which better fits an author's reply to a referee, and what does it give up?
- Revision 1: it answers with the analysis and the change made, in a collegial tone; it gives up the number of participants.
- Revision 2: it disagrees politely and cites common practice; it gives up just the draft's sharp tone.
- Revision 1: it answers with the analysis and the change made, in a collegial tone, and it says what the draft said.
- Revision 1: it answers with the analysis and the change made, in a collegial tone; it gives up the flat claim that the referee is wrong.