Name: Jacob Platin

Skill
Identifies &
Determines Extent of
Information Needed

Accesses Needed
Information using
Effective & Efficient
Strategies
Critically Evaluates
Information & its
Sources
Effectively Uses
Information to
Accomplish a Specific
Purpose
Discussions &
Interviews

Research Mastery Grid

Literature

11 American

Identifies focused, clear,

and complete research
questions and has clear
idea of extent and depth of
information needed;
Evidence of authentic
inquiry
Retrieves and synthesizes a
variety of relevant sources
of information that directly
fulfill information
need using appropriate
search tools and methods
Assesses strengths and
limitations of each source
in terms of content,
purpose & audience
Draws meaningful
conclusions and integrates
information into the text
selectively to maintain the
flow of ideas; exhibits
effective communication
and support; student voice
is evident throughout
Comes to meetings and
interviews prepared,
having read and researched
material under discussion;
explicitly draws on that
preparation by referring to
evidence from texts and

Identifies a clear and

complete research
question; acceptable
understanding of extent
and depth of information
needed; may over-rely on
pre-existing knowledge
Retrieves a sufficient
number of relevant sources
of information that fulfill
the information need
using appropriate search
tools and methods
Evaluates and analyzes
information from a
sufficient number of valid
sources
Uses appropriate
information to accomplish
stated purpose; draws
relevant conclusions; Able
to synthesize info from
multiple sources to
effectively communicate
own ideas
Propels conversations by
posing and responding to
questions that probe
reasoning and evidence;
able to clarify, verify, or
challenge ideas and
conclusions; promotes

Identifies an unfocused,
unclear, or partial research
question; exhibits an
incomplete idea of extent
and depth of information
needed

Fails to identify a research

question or relies
exclusively on teachergenerated questions,
evidences misconceptions
about extent and depth of
information needed
Fails to find and retrieve
necessary sources for
fulfilling the information
need; ignores appropriate
search tools and methods

Retrieves sources that

generally lack relevance,
quality, and/or balance;
Primarily uses
inappropriate search
methods and tools
Mostly ignores or
superficially evaluates
information from some
questionable sources
Uses incomplete
information and only
partially accomplishes
intended purpose; draws
incomplete conclusions or
conclusions inconsistent
with research; may overrely on any one source
Schedules meetings and
interviews in a timely and
organized fashion but fails
to prepare content or
questions to use that time
effectively

Fails to evaluate
information from a limited
number of questionable
sources
Does not use relevant
information effectively;
fails to draw conclusions or
simply restates ideas
present in research

Fails to schedule meetings

in a timely manner or
doesnt show up for
scheduled meetings

other research

divergent and creative

perspectives

In looking through the Noodletools cites and notecards, it looks like you two had a nice division of labor with Harry taking the
lead on some problems and Jacob doing a lot of the background work on Jenningsjust to name one example. You also had a
ridiculous number of sources (I have to believe you created a Bibliography because I just cant see everything represented in the
final speech). Additionally, we had a nice variety of solid sources from strong interview subjects to the library databases to
some googling through to legitimate news sites. Finally, youve done an excellent job of organizing the notecards and outline
into something clear and coherent. Your skills in that area are right at the top of the class.
As for the supplemental documents youve provided, the research summary, portfolio and meta-cog are all exceptional. In that
summary, you mention serendipity as the reason you stumbled across the critical interview, but Ive found that, often times,
strong research looks a lot like luck, so Im going to credit that to some nice search skills, the focus necessary for knowing what
you had when you found it, and the open-mindedness it took to change course and pursue a new, better path. In fact, these
qualities are reflected throughout your materials and have been combined with candor and insight when assessing your own
strengths and weaknesses. I was particularly impressed by your responses to your peers presentations; although, the specificity
with which you walk me through your intentions and process during the second section of the meta-cog is outstanding as well.
Excellent work, start-to-finish. Very thorough. Very detailed. Very honest.