Week 2 — Quiz (auto-graded) · Critical Reading: Summary & Response

Course: English Composition (ENGL 1A) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Lindgren
Objective tested: Objective 2 — critical reading: accurate summary, analytical response, and claim vs. support.
Points: 10 (1 each) · Assignment group: Quizzes (10% of grade) · Due: end of Module 2. AI is not permitted on quizzes.

This is the human-readable quiz with its vetted answer key and feedback. The import-ready Classic QTI is in F-quiz-week-02-qti.xml (generated by a validated script — parses with 10 items, every single-answer item exactly one correct). The Canvas placement block is at the bottom of this file. No free-response items — all auto-gradable (MC / multiple-answer / matching / true-false). Every example sentence is the instructor's own illustration, attributed to no one; no quotation from Adichie's talk (or any text) appears, so there is nothing to mis-quote.

Blueprint

No trick questions; distractors target the Week 2 misconceptions named in the lecture outline (summary vs. response; summary vs. copying; response vs. rating; claim vs. topic).

Questions, key, and feedback

Q1 (MC). What is the difference between a summary and a response?
- A. A summary gives your opinion; a response just reports the facts
- B. A summary neutrally reports what a text says; a response gives your reasoned evaluation of it ✅
- C. They are two words for the same thing
- D. A summary is short; a response is the same content but longer
Feedback: A summary answers what does the text say? (neutral, comprehensive, your own words). A response answers what do I think of it, and why? (a reasoned evaluation). Mixing them up is the week's #1 confusion. (Length isn't the difference.)

Q2 (MC). Which of these best describes an accurate summary?
- A. Neutral, covers the main point and major support, and is written in your own words ✅
- B. A list of your reactions and whether you agreed
- C. The author's three best sentences copied in a row
- D. One vivid detail you happened to find interesting
Feedback: The three traits: neutral (no opinion), comprehensive (the main claim + major support, not one detail), and in your own words. B is a response; C is quoting (and unmarked, plagiarism); D isn't comprehensive.

Q3 (Multiple answer — select all that apply). Which of the following belong in an accurate summary?
- A. The text's main claim, stated fairly ✅
- B. The major support the writer uses for that claim ✅
- C. Your judgment of whether the argument is convincing
- D. Your own words rather than the author's sentences ✅
- E. A direct quotation of the author's best line, dropped in without quotation marks
Feedback: A summary contains the claim, the major support, in your own words (A, B, D). Your judgment (C) belongs in the response, not the summary. Dropping in the author's words unmarked (E) is plagiarism, not summary.

Q4 (MC). A reading's topic is "homework," and somewhere it makes the point "homework rarely improves learning in elementary school." Which is the claim?
- A. "Homework" (the subject)
- B. "Homework rarely improves learning in elementary school" ✅
- C. The number of paragraphs in the reading
- D. The fact that the reading is about education
Feedback: The topic is what the text is about (homework); the claim is what the writer says about it — an arguable point. A summary needs the claim, not just the topic.

Q5 (Matching). Match each reading move to the job it does.
| Move | Correct job |
|---|---|
| Summary | Neutrally restate what the text says, in your own words |
| Analytical response | Evaluate the text's claim or evidence, with reasons |
| Claim | The main point the writer wants you to accept |
| Support | The examples, reasons, and evidence holding the claim up |
Feedback: These four are the week's toolkit. Watch the classic mix-ups: a summary reports (no opinion); a response judges (with reasons); the claim is the point; the support is what backs it.

Q6 (MC). Is this sentence a summary or a response? "That argument is unconvincing because the writer offers only one anecdote and no data."
- A. A summary — it reports what the text says
- B. A response — it evaluates the argument and gives a reason ✅
- C. Neither — it is the text's thesis
- D. A summary, because it mentions the writer
Feedback: It evaluates ("unconvincing") and gives a reason ("only one anecdote, no data") — that's an analytical response, not a neutral report. Mentioning the writer doesn't make a sentence a summary.

Q7 (MC). What is the main purpose of annotating a text as you read?
- A. To make the page look thoroughly marked up for the instructor
- B. To find and track the claim, the support, and your own questions so you can summarize and respond ✅
- C. To memorize the text word for word
- D. To replace reading the text with reading your notes
Feedback: Annotation is active reading — it captures the claim, the support, and your reactions while you read, giving you the raw material for both a summary and a response. It isn't decoration or memorization.

Q8 (True / False). "A good summary should be built mostly out of the author's own best sentences, copied in."
- True
- False ✅
Feedback: False. Copying the author's sentences is quoting, not summarizing — and unmarked, it is plagiarism. A summary is in your own words; if you must borrow a phrase, put it in quotation marks and keep it tiny.

Q9 (MC). Is this sentence a summary or a response? "The author claims that later school start times would improve teenagers' health and grades."
- A. A summary — it neutrally reports the author's point ✅
- B. A response — it evaluates the author's point
- C. A response, because it is about teenagers
- D. Neither — it is your personal opinion
Feedback: It simply reports the writer's claim, with no judgment attached — a summary. There's no evaluation or reason here, so it isn't a response, and it states the author's view, not your opinion.

Q10 (MC). Why does academic writing usually summarize a text fairly before responding to it (the "they say / I say" order)?
- A. To pad the essay with extra length
- B. So your response argues with what the writer actually said, not a distorted version of it ✅
- C. Because you are not allowed to disagree with published authors
- D. Because a summary always earns more points than a response
Feedback: If you can't restate a text fairly, you end up arguing with a version the author never wrote (a straw man). Representing it accurately first — the "they say" — is what makes your response (the "I say") land. It isn't about length, points, or deference.

Answer key (quick reference)

Quality gate (self-checked): each single-answer item (Q1, Q2, Q4, Q6, Q7, Q9, Q10, and the T/F Q8) has exactly one correct option; the multiple-answer item (Q3) keys A, B, D (and requires C and E left unselected); the matching item (Q5) pairs four moves to four distinct jobs one-to-one. Distractors target the week's classic confusions — summary vs. response, summary vs. copying/quoting, response vs. rating, and claim vs. topic. Every example sentence is the instructor's own illustration, attributed to no one; no quotation from Adichie's talk or any other text appears in this quiz, so there is nothing to fabricate or mis-attribute. No computation in this quiz. No free-response items. Citation-integrity + correct-conventions gate: PASS.

Item-bank entries (for variants + the midterm/final)

All ten items are tagged course=ENGL1A · week=2 · objective=2 · topic=critical-reading-summary-and-response and deposited in Item Bank: Week 2 — Critical Reading: Summary & Response. The midterm (Week 8) and the per-term variant updates draw fresh items from this bank. (Tags: q1 summary-vs-response, q2 accurate-summary-traits, q3 summary-contents, q4 claim-vs-topic, q5 reading-moves-match, q6 is-it-response, q7 annotation-purpose, q8 summary-vs-copying, q9 is-it-summary, q10 they-say-i-say.)

Canvas placement block

canvas_object   = Quizzes::Quiz
title           = "Week 2 Quiz — Critical Reading: Summary & Response"
assignment_group = "Quizzes"
points_possible = 10
grading_type    = points
due_offset_days = 6        # 6 days after module start
published       = true
shuffle_answers = true
ai_permitted    = false    # AI is not permitted on quizzes
provenance      = "~ Prof. Lindgren's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com"