L1.2 Reading Quiz: 3-Sentence Quotation Categorizing Plot

Literary Core Skill:

Logic Level 1: Relate the plots of various titles to their main themes.
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Elements of Fiction:

Plot
Theme

Assignment Type:

Reading Quiz

Description:

This worksheet asks students to explain the plot stage of a daily reading assignment (exposition, rising action, climax, dénouement, or conclusion), with an interpretive statement in follow-up sentence and correct citation format. It is designed as an in-class, open-book exercise.

Each 3-sentence quotation includes:

1)    A “setup sentence,” which describes the situation in which the quotation occurs and makes brief reference to the prompt or assignment,

2)    A direct quotation from the story, enclosed in quotation marks and followed by a author/page-style citation at the end of the sentence but before final punctuation, and

3)    A “follow-up” sentence, in which the student explains how the quotation answers the prompt or assignment.

The advantages of this formula are numerous: it requires close and thoughtful reading; it anticipates the proper procedure for handling textual evidence in essay writing; it produces relatively short assignments which nevertheless efficiently demonstrate the student’s mastery of the assignment; and it is extremely easy to grade.

Grading Rubric:

Equal parts credit for a) clean grammar, syntax, punctuation, and spelling; b) conformity to the “3-sentence quotation” formula; and c) plausibility of interpretation.

Completed Example Assignments: