ENGL 214 – Midterm Exam Instructions and Advice

THE EXAM

I have written some notes here to help you with the midterm exam, which is a challenging exam.

 It will be on Tuesday 18th October in Building 54.

 Arrive by 20:30
 The exam will start at 21:00 and finish at 22:15.
 Bring two pencils, a sharpener, and an eraser. Highlighters are also allowed and I
recommend you bring one.
 Bring your student ID card
 It is a good idea to write on alternate lines on the answer paper. This will make it easier for
you to make corrections.

PREPARATION MATERIALS

In the Midterm exam (15%) folder on Blackboard, you can find:

 The MTE video
 The instructions and advice document goes into more detail about these requirements and
offers useful strategies.
 The rubric provides some insight into how the exam is assessed.

The key to success in this exam is making sure you have carefully studied these materials,
particularly the past exams.

WRITING THE EXAM

A. The Reference (Two-to-Five Minutes)

 Based on previous exam papers, it is likely that the source will be either from a (1)
magazine, (2) newspaper, or (3) a website without an associated newspaper. If one or two,
it could be either online, or in print.
 Magazine, newspaper, and website references all include a full date (e.g., 2022, January 1).
If the day or the month is missing, then you exclude them. Make sure you put the comma
between the year and month, and that you write the full word for the month.
 The article title is always written in Sentence case. The publication title is always written
in Title Case. This is true for every type of source.
 Instead of attempting to write in italics, you should underline.
 Do not forget the hanging indent.

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  Remember that the only differences between magazine, newspaper, and other news article
references are in the use of italics, and the location information (i.e., URLs or page
number(s)).
o Magazine and newspaper articles can exist online or in print. If they are online,
then the location will be a URL. If they are in print, the location will be page
numbers.
o News articles from publications without an associated newspaper are online only.
Therefore, the location will be a URL.
o Magazine and newspaper articles should have the publication (the name of the
magazine or newspaper) in italics.
o News articles from publications without an associated newspaper should have the
article title in italics.
 See the examples in the Example APA references section at the end of this document.

B. The Summary (40 Minutes)

 Look at the article. Note its title. Look at any pictures, diagrams, and subheadings. This will
give you an idea as to the contents of the article.
 Read it through for the first time.
 Read it through again. Highlight key information. If after the second time you have read it
through and you still think that you do not know the article very well, read it through
another time. Pay attention to the thesis statement and the topic sentences (they should be
there in a formally written article; they may not be clear in an informal article, which may
be a point to consider in section 3). Do not rush read!
 Remember the structure of your summary: Purpose followed by main points. The purpose
may be indicated in the title and thesis statement of the article; the main points may be
indicated in the topic sentences.
 Keep to the main points! There should be no statistics or citations.
 It is just a summary of the article. Do not include any information whatsoever that is not in
the article.
 Do not give any judgements about the article. Include information in the summary, which
is important in it, even if you think that it is wrong, and you disagree with it.
 Write in short sentences.
 Use linking words to mark the transitions.
 Write formally.
 Count your words. Write the wordcount underneath your summary.

C. The Evaluation (25 Minutes)

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Remember the reason for doing an evaluation: to judge whether the source is of high-quality, and
to judge if the source is suitable for the suggested report. When you make these judgements,
support them with evidence from the article, and from the information about the writer and the
publication. Make sure you answer all the points below:

 Look at the title and purpose statement of the report.

 Look at the information you have highlighted on the article. Check this information against
the outline. Highlight the parts of the article that relate to specific parts of the outline.
 Start with a general statement about the quality of the article and its acceptability for the
report. Judgements can range from good to bad, and every point in between: Poor, of very
limited use, of some use, a mid-level source which can be useful in parts, and a high-level
source that is very useful for the report.
 Write the section on the relevance of the article to the outline. Keep the information brief!
Do not give a lot of detail about the information you are linking (e.g., parts of paragraph three
about corruption in China can be used in II.B.1 and II.B.2, the slowing of growth in China in
II.C.3, etc.). You must use the numeration (e.g., II.B.1) and be as precise as possible. Be
correct in your numeration (e.g., if you are referring to a third level heading do not forget to
also write the second level also (e.g., II.B.1, not II.1). Remember that this accounts for half
the marks on section three.
 You should look to make as many accurate and specific links between the article and the
outline as possible. Aim for at least three. Occasionally, there are less. If this happens, then
it is a poor or only somewhat suitable article.
 You will have to make a judgement about whether the information in the article is current.
If it is an old article, you will have to make a judgement about whether its information is
still accurate or not, and to state this in your evaluation.
 You need to establish how reliable the publication is. Again, the judgement can be in a
range from highly reliable, to being a serious publication (which, nevertheless, supports a
certain point of view), to having a pronounced bias, to being unreliable. Remember
Economists for US Prosperity published news articles, but also a lot of opinion pieces which
seemed to support a strongly pro-American bias. Read the information about the
publication carefully. Remember that online-only publications are generally considered
less reliable than print publications. Also remember that articles in academic journals are
peer reviewed (checked by other experts), whereas those in magazines and newspapers are
not.
 You should comment on the readership. This will be indicated by the type of publication it
is (e.g., an academic journal will be written for specialists, whereas serious newspapers are
written for educated lay readers, informal newspaper articles for general readers, etc.). Do
not just comment on the type of writing (e.g., formal, informal, technical, etc.), connect it to
the readership.

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  You should comment on the quality of the article itself. Remember that newspaper and
magazine articles are not as credible as academic journal articles. Good articles are
informative and will contain a significant amount of data. Poor articles lack information,
have lots of opinions without supporting information, may contain lots of questions, may
use emotive language, and may be informally written.
 Be aware of the possibility of bias. This is not always easy to identify, but if you make a
statement about bias, you must support it in some way (e.g., the writer appears to have
financial links to the petrochemical industry, the author is a professor and has had over a dozen
papers published in academic journals, the writer is an active campaigner for a political party,
etc.).
 You will have to comment on the expertise of the writer. Look at their education. Look at
their areas of specialisation or interest. Look at how long they have worked in their
particular field(s) of specialisation or interest. Remember that most journalists only have
bachelor’s degrees, not PhDs.
 Count your words. Write the wordcount underneath your evaluation.

EXAMPLE APA REFERENCES

 These are some examples of what a handwritten midterm exam reference might look like.
Notice the use of underlining instead of italics.
 Pay close attention to the use of italics, and the location information.

A. Magazine Article (Online)

Schulman, M. (2019, September 9). Superfans: A love story. The New Yorker.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/16/superfans-a-love-story

You write:

Schulman, M. (2019, September 9). Superfans: A love story. The New Yorker.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/16/superfans-a-love-story

For information on formatting magazine article references, go to: https://www.scribbr.com/apa-

examples/magazine-article/

B. Magazine Article (Print)

Schulman, M. (2019, September 9). Superfans: A love story. The New Yorker, 6–7.

You write:

Schulman, M. (2019, September 9). Superfans: A love story. The New Yorker, 6–7

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For information on formatting magazine article references, go to: https://www.scribbr.com/apa-
examples/magazine-article/

C. News Article (Online, With an Associated Newspaper)

Richards, C. (2019, December 9). Best music of 2019: Lana Del Rey sings lullabies about the end of
America. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/ lana-del-rey-sings-
lullabies.html

You write:

Richards, C. (2019, December 9). Best music of 2019: Lana Del Rey sings lullabies about the end of
America. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/lana-del-rey-sings-
lullabies.html

For information on formatting newspaper article references, go to: https://www.scribbr.com/apa-

examples/newspaper-article/

D. News Article (Print, With an Associated Newspaper)

Richards, C. (2019, December 9). Best music of 2019: Lana Del Rey sings lullabies about the end of
America. The Washington Post, 6–7.

You write:

Richards, C. (2019, December 9). Best music of 2019: Lana Del Rey sings lullabies about the end of
America. The Washington Post, 6–7

For information on formatting newspaper article references, go to: https://www.scribbr.com/apa-

examples/newspaper-article/

E. News Article (Online, No Associated Newspaper)

Slat, B., & Worp, C. (2019, April 10). Whales likely impacted by Great Pacific garbage patch. The Ocean
Cleanup. https://www.theoceancleanup.com/updates/whales-likely-impacted-by-great-
pacific-garbage-patch/

You write:

Slat, B., & Worp, C. (2019, April 10). Whales likely impacted by Great Pacific garbage patch. The
Ocean Cleanup. https://www.theoceancleanup.com/updates/whales-likely-impacted-by-great-
pacific-garbage-patch/

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For information on formatting webpage article references, go to: https://www.scribbr.com/apa-
examples/website/