The “Read and Response” English Proficiency
Examination (EPE) Option
More information about the “Read
and Response” and other EPE options is available at: http://www.is.wayne.edu/mnissani/20302005/
EPE
Facts
o
The English Proficiency
Examination is given several times a month.
o
You get notified of the results,
via your WSU’s e-mail, within 30 days
o
You
sign up by calling Testing and Evaluation, (313) 577-3400.
o
Your
chances of passing the EPE can improve by availing yourself, just once, of free
tutoring services in The
Writing Center, 2310 Undergraduate Library. Call (313) 577-2544 for
questions or to schedule an appointment.
o
If
you fail the EPE twice, you must take and satisfactorily
complete the course: ENG 1080, (EPE) Writing Workshop
o
The
EPE Essay is 500-700 words (use WORD COUNT to get an idea)
The most important paragraph is the first. This writing of this paragraph involves several steps:
a. Choose a passage. b. Read it
several times. c. Summarize it from
memory in 4-7 sentences. Your
summary should identify the title and author of the passages (since you’ll have
several to choose from). d. Compare
your summary to the passage, to make sure you got it right. d. Write your
thesis statement. This consists of TWO
components: A viewpoint about that passage, and an explanation of
that particular viewpoint.
The next 3 paragraphs should develop, expand, support, illustrate, or
prove your thesis. Each paragraph
should have a general key idea first (that is, it must start with a so-called
topic sentence). The rest of each
paragraph should support this key idea.
The last paragraph should contain a brief conclusion.
In chart form, the essay would like this:
Paragraph 1a: Summary of the passage (4-7 sentences, e.g., the
author of the “War is Here to Stay” passage, Melinda Smith, says that human
beings have always fought each other, and from this she concludes that war is
inevitable . . . )
ê
Paragraph 1b: Thesis (e.g., in this essay I am going to argue that everlasting peace is
possible because people are by nature non-violent)
|
í Paragraph 2: 1st
support of thesis (e.g., everlasting peace is possible because the author got her
argument all wrong: in most instances, people do not fight each other) Develop this point. |
ê Paragraph 3. 2nd
support of thesis (e.g., everlasting peace is possible because some societies, e.g.,
Inuit, are peaceful). Develop this point. |
î Paragraph 4. 3rd
support of thesis (e.g., everlasting peace is possible because war is caused by people
who profit from it. To stop war, we
can follow Ben Franklin’s advice and place limits on personal wealth). Develop this point. |
ê
Paragraph 5: Conclusion
ê
Insert on top a title that reflects the
thesis (e.g.,
Peace at Last?)
ê
Edit your essay: check understanding of passage,
sticking to point, organization, topic sentences, required length, grammar, spellings,
punctuation, incomplete sentences, it’s vs. its, there vs.
their, etc.
Let us now apply
these rules to one actual example:
On the dozen or so campuses I've visited in the past two years, I've
seen the phasing out of idealism. Nursing students, for example, don't dare say
that they are studying medicine to help people by easing their suffering.
Instead, they express individual career hopes of being supervisors by the time
they are 35. Why can't they say they want to be nurses because they love people?
Students don't talk
of service to others, but of benefits to themselves. Personal growth is out,
intellectual self-grooming for corporate recruiters is in. Courses are taken to
get a marketable skill, not to acquire skills for reasoning or for human
understanding.
From “Phasing out
Campus Idealism” by Coleman McCarthy