Name: ______________________________
6B- _____
Date: ______________________________
Vocabulary: Vocabulary in the News: Directions
Task: Find our vocabulary words in the news.
Directions: Use the Internet to search for our vocabulary words in quality articles in the news. After you’ve
done this, post your article in Google Forms (SchoolWires > Vocabulary > Vocabulary in the News), a few
other valuable pieces of information with it. Be prepared to share your article and summary with the class…
Articles: Quality articles are worth reading, not only for you but also for your classmates.
 For sources, go to SchoolWires > Vocabulary > Vocabulary in the News. You might first try the Butler
Current Events link: SchoolWires > Departments > Library > Class Projects > Butler > Current Events.
Or, to broaden your search, you could try Google News. You’ll need an appropriate article either way.

Quality articles appear in reputable (respectable, professional, well-known, highly-regarded) sources.
Reputable sources hire reputable journalists who check their facts and sources instead of publishing
rumors, gossip, or hearsay from unreliable sources.

The content in reputable publications should not attack people personally or refer to people in less than
humane terms, even and especially when the writer is attempting to criticize someone or something.
Instead, professional journalists set a tone that is fair and dignified, if not always positive and approving.

The writing itself should be professional, meaning the writer has carefully edited it, fixing errors and
striving for excellence. Good writing generally uses standard English, not slang, except in cases where
the writer is aiming to use slang on purpose for its effect.

Please avoid using articles that contain inappropriate content: needless references to violence; bad
language; mean-spirited, discriminatory, prejudiced thinking; personal attacks; “adult” content; etc.

When you’ve found a strong article, make sure the article includes a use of the word that matches the
meaning we’re studying. (Some words  like “objective,” for example  are homonyms. They have
the same spelling but two very different meanings. One meaning of “objective” is “goal or task.” The
other meaning is “neutral or fair.”)

Types of “Articles”: You may use “hard” news articles about current events; editorials (writers’
opinions about the news); “listicles” (stories that use a top-10 style list to express a larger idea); reviews
(critics’ opinions about books, restaurants, films, plays, art, television shows, travel destinations,
advances in technology, fashion, automobiles, etc.); travelogues (writers’ stories from their travels);
narrative nonfiction (writers’ stories about true events that stick to the truth but somehow dramatize it);
obituaries (death notices that include brief biographical sketches of a person’s life); sports reporting; etc.

Significance: A good article must have some kind of significance; it must be informative, thoughtprovoking, important, touching, or in some other manner valuable to a broad audience (not just to
you and your close friends). Further, you must be able to communicate this significance in an
observant, thoughtful, somehow “wise” insight statement. So, if your article doesn’t provide you
with some kind of take-away, don’t use it. You need to make a text-to-world connection from the
article to a universal idea.

Please look for articles that are current, with “current” being from the last 5 years or so…
(over)

Article Length: Your article should be long enough to cover a subject fully, in enough detail to satisfy
readers’ curiosity, answer their questions, and provide them with some kind of value. However, your
article should also be short enough to keep your readers’ attention. You might look for articles that are
roughly 350 – 2000 words.
Summaries: Once you’ve selected a strong article that contains one of our current vocabulary words, then
submit a Google Form, in which you document (record) your article, and a Google Presentation, in which the
main ingredient is a summary of the article, including the 5 W’s and 1 H.
Here are some guidelines for your article summary.

Form: Your summary should be well-organized, including the following parts:
o Topic Sentence: Include title, author, publication date, source, and topic of your article.

Ex: In the March 19, 2013 edition of Time for Kids, in her article entitled “Math
Madness,” kid reporter Claire Duncan discusses her visit to The Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, DC., where she explores the MathAlive! exhibit.
o Supporting Details: Discuss the most important details for your topic.
Discuss as many of the 5 W’s and 1 H as the article allows you to do:
 Who: Who is the article about?
 What: What is the main event? What happened?
 When: When did it happen?
 Where: Where did it happen?
 Why: Why did it happen?
 How: How did it happen?
o Insight Statement: Write an insight statement in which you state the significance of the article.
What did the article tell you about people, humanity, or life in general? What universal idea that
extends beyond the immediate topic does the article express? What deep thought did it give
you? How did it change the way you think about the topic?
Use proper form:
 Conclusive Transition
 Text Reference
 Springboard
 Real-World Insight


Ex: Essentially, Duncan’s visit to the MathAlive! exhibit illustrates that our response
to our education might be, in some cases, directly related to our perception of its
relevance in our lives.
Length: Your article summary should be ~5 sentences in length. Or, if you prefer, it should be ~10 –
15 lines of typed text.
Presentation: Be prepared to present your article to the class, sharing with us your article summary and the
occurrence of our word in your article in the process. Your presentation should be brief, lasting approximately
three (3) to five (5) minutes.
Credit: I will credit you for documenting your article in the Google Form. Then I will grade you on your
presentation based on your delivery (poise, clarity, volume, eye contact, etc.) and your content (strength of the
article, quality of your summary, depth of your interpretation, appearance of slides, and use of the word).