Common Assessment Example Step by Step
Step #1-Choose an Event
For your news story, you may choose any public event either at ZU in the past or future or some other public event. Be careful though! You will need to interview someone who was involved in the event, so don’t choose an event that took place outside the country, for example. I would recommend choosing a ZU event.
In my example, I have chosen a student painting exhibition. I found information about it on the ZU website at:
https://www.zu.ac.ae/main/en/colleges/colleges/__college_of_arts_and_creative_enterprises/_news_items/painting-exhibition.aspx
Step #2-Do Research
You will do research in two ways. First, you will get some facts from the webpage announcing or describing the event or maybe from a newspaper article that tells about the event. Second, you will interview someone who was involved or attended the event.
Take a look at the announcement above and get some facts. One good way to find facts is to find information that answers the questions: Who? What ? When? Where? And, possibly, How?
IMPORTANT!!!! Don’t just copy paste the answers to these questions from the webpage. Instead make your own notes that provide the information. Here are some notes I took from the webpage above.
Who is doing the event? The College of Arts and Creative Enterprises
When? November 11th, 1-2 pm
Where? On the Promenade
What will they do? Show paintings by ZU art students, do live painting with ZU art students (for example, Maitha Al Omaira)
Who will judge the paintings? Alia Alawadhi etc…
Next, you do research by interviewing someone who attended the event or was involved in the event in some way. For example, suppose you know an art student whose painting was in the exhibition. You should first talk to her and then email her 10 questions which she can answer in writing. Her email with the answers will be your transcript of the interview. Save it to include with your project.
You should ask her about herself (what’s her name? how old is she? what year student is she? when did she become interested in art? Etc…) and about the event (Was the event a success? Did many people come? Why did she participate? How did students react to the pictures? Etc..)
For example:
Dear Aisha,
Thank you very much for helping me with my project. Can you please answer these questions about yourself and the art exhibition?
1) What is your name? Aisha
2) What year are you at ZU? I am a third year Art student
3) Why did you decide to exhibit your work? My teacher encouraged me to submit.
Etc….
Step #3-Write your newspaper story.
Using information from your notes and the interview, write a newspaper story about the event. You should start the story by using your notes telling Who? What? Where? When? Etc… then continue with what you learned from your interview. The newspaper story should be around 300 words and include two direct quotations from your interview. Remember! Work from your notes and use your own words. Do not copy paste from the webpage!
A Partial Example:
On November 11th, from one to two o’clock, the College of Art and Creative Enterprises held an exhibition of student paintings on the Promenade. Many students came to look at the wonderful paintings. Students also could do live painting with student artists including Maitha Al Omaira…
Aisha, a third year art student, attended the event and showed her work. “I was very nervous because other students would see my paintings, but my teacher encouraged me to participate” she said….
Step #4 Do your grammatical analysis. Look at the common assessment instructions and from your newspaper story, find and label the structures indicated.
For example:
6 Noun Phrases
1) an exhibition of student paintings (indefinite noun phrase, uses a prepositional phrase)
2) my paintings (definite noun phrase)
Etc…
6 Prepositional Phrases
1) from one o’clock (time)
2) on the Promenade (place)
Etc..
12 Verb Phrases
1) held (simple past)
2) could do (modal)
Etc…
6 Clause types
1) but my teacher encouraged me to attend (Independent Clause)
2) because other students would see my paintings (Dependent Clause)
6 Clause Patterns
1) Many students came to look at the wonderful paintings. (#4)
2) because other students would see my paintings (#5)
Step #5-References
Make a reference page in APA style. You will have two references: one for the webpage and one for your interview.
For example:
References
showCACE: A STUDENT PAINTINT EXHIBITION (2019, November 11) Retrieved from https://www.zu.ac.ae/main/en/colleges/colleges/__college_of_arts_and_creative_enterprises/_news_items/painting-exhibition.aspx
Smith, A. (2019, December 2). Email interview.
Step 6-Submit
In one word document, you submit: a cover page, your newspaper story, your grammatical analysis, your references and your email interview transcript.