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10th Grade Diagnostic/Summative Assessment
Reading and Analyzing Expository Texts to Prepare for Research Writing
Reading Unit 2
Name _____________________________ Date_____________ Period ________
Refer to the texts “The Media and the War” by Paul Boyer and “The
Vietnam War: An Eyewitness History” by Sanford Wexler to respond to the
following items.
Beginning of unit
1. Identify 2-3 of the most significant ideas from each of the expository
texts. Additionally, explain how you determined the main ideas.
Text
“The Media and the War”
“The Vietnam War: An
Eyewitness History”
Most
•
•
significant
ideas
•
•
•
•
How did you
determine
the main
idea? (What
strategies did
you use?)
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District
10th Grade English Language Arts Framework
September 2010
2
End of unit
1. Identify 2-3 of the most significant ideas from each of the expository
texts. Additionally, explain how you determined the main ideas.
Text
“The Media and the War”
“The Vietnam War: An
Eyewitness History”
Most
•
•
significant
ideas
•
•
•
•
How did you
determine
the main
idea? (What
strategies did
you use?)
Beginning of Unit
2. Based on your readings, what do these texts leave you wondering
about? Generate 2-3 relevant research questions.
•
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
•
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
•
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District
10th Grade English Language Arts Framework
September 2010
3
End of Unit
2. Based on your readings, what do these texts leave you wondering
about? Generate 2-3 relevant research questions.
•
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
•
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
•
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Beginning of Unit
3. Why is it helpful to use both primary and secondary sources when
researching topics or issues?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
End of Unit
3. Why is it helpful to use both primary and secondary sources when
researching topics or issues?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District
10th Grade English Language Arts Framework
September 2010
4
The following multiple-choice questions are to be answered at the
beginning of the unit. You will be asked to revise incorrect responses at
the end of the unit.
Directions: Read the multiple-choice questions and mark the letter of the
best response.
4. Which of these informational readings is a secondary source?
A. The textbook excerpt “The Media and the War”
B. Du Luc’s diary entry
C. The excerpt from Ron Kovic’s autobiography
D. John M. G. Brown’s letter
5. The writer’s purpose in the excerpts by Du Luc, Ron Kovic, and Dickey
Chappelle is to –
A. express strong personal feelings.
B. give detailed information about combat.
C. persuade the reader to support the war.
D. persuade the reader to oppose the war.
6. What kind of source would you expect to provide the most objective
reporting about the war?
A. An autobiography
B. A newspaper or magazine article
C. A diary entry
D. A letter home
7. Which of the following sources would be least helpful if you wanted to
extend and elaborate on the ideas presented in these selections?
A. An interview with someone who served in combat in the
Vietnam War
B. An encyclopedia entry about the Vietnam War
C. A map of Vietnam
D. A 1967 television news report about the Vietnam War
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District
10th Grade English Language Arts Framework
September 2010
5
8. If the book, The Vietnam War: An Eyewitness History, edited by Sanford
Wexler, were to be added to a bibliography of a research report, which of
the following entries would be correct?
A. Sanford Wexler, editor. The Vietnam War: An Eyewitness History
(Eyewitness History Series). New York: Facts on File Inc., 1992.
B. Edited by Sanford Wexler. The Vietnam War: An Eyewitness
History (Eyewitness History Series). 1992. Facts on File, Inc.: New
York.
C. Wexler, Sanford, ed. Facts on File, Inc. The Vietnam War: An
Eyewitness History (Eyewitness History Series). New York: 1992.
D. Wexler, Sanford, ed. The Vietnam War: An Eyewitness History
(Eyewitness History Series). New York: Facts on File Inc., 1992.
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District
10th Grade English Language Arts Framework
September 2010
6
The Media and the War
By Paul Boyer
By the end of 1967 more than 16,000 Americans had been killed in Vietnam. Thousands
more had been injured or disabled. Despite the government’s optimistic forecasts, a U.S.
victory seemed increasingly distant. American television news programs showed
gruesome images of terrified Vietnamese civilians and dead or injured soldiers. Some
Americans responded by demanding that the military be allowed to do whatever it took
to win. Others wanted the United States to pull out of Vietnam.
The Vietnam war invaded American homes in a way that no previous conflict had.
During previous wars the military had imposed tight press restrictions. In this war,
reporters, photographers, and TV camera crews accompanied soldiers on patrol and
interviewed people throughout South Vietnam. Television beamed footage and reports
of war into people’s homes on a nightly basis. As a result, Americans saw images that
seemed to contradict the government’s reports.
Reporters, such as David Halberstam of The New York Times and Neil Sheehan of
United Press International criticized the government’s optimism. As early as 1962 they
argued that the war could not be won as long as the United States supported the
unpopular and corrupt regime1 of Ngo Dinh Diem. Journalists also reported on the
ineffectiveness of South Vietnam’s troops and accused the U.S. government of inflating2
enemy body counts to give the appearance of progress.
As the gap between the official government reports and media accounts grew wider,
doubts at home increased. The administration found itself criticized by both doves –
people who opposed the war – and hawks – people who supported the war’s goals.
Hawks criticized the way the war was being fought. They argued for more U.S. troops and
heavier bombing. Air Force General Curtis LeMay expressed the frustration of many
hawks. “Here we are at the height of our power. The most powerful nation in the world.
And yet we’re afraid to use that power.”
Doves opposed the war for many reasons. Pacifists3 such as Martin Luther King, Jr.
believed that all war was wrong. Some doves, such as diplomat George Kennan, were
convinced that Vietnam was not crucial to national security. Others feared that the
United States might use nuclear weapons. Pediatrician and author Dr. Benjamin Spock
and others argued that the United States was fighting against the wishes of the majority
of Vietnamese.
--From The American Nation
(history textbook)
1
2
3
regime n.: government: rule.
inflating v. used as n.: increasing beyond what is accurate.
pacifists n.: people who oppose war for moral reasons.
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District
10th Grade English Language Arts Framework
September 2010
7
from The Vietnam War: An Eyewitness History
edited by Sanford Wexler
JOHN M.G. BROWN
Thanks a lot for the Christmas presents. They were great. Yesterday I went up Thunder
Road on a guarded truck convoy to see the Bob Hope USO Christmas show. It was a
really good time and very moving. One of the girls started crying when she was singing
“Silent Night” to us and got interrupted by a barrage of artillery going off nearby. If you
see pictures of it, I’ll be sitting just to the left of two tanks with “Merry Christmas” painted
on them.
--Pfc. John M. G. Brown, U.S.A., First Aviation Battalion
from a letter to his family of December 25, 1967,
from Rice Paddy Grunt (1986)
DICKEY CHAPPELLE
As I fell into the hypnotic rhythm of the patrol—we were moving between trees and cane
fields, stepping high so we would not trip and clatter on uneven ground—I was obsessed
by a question that had plagued me on other walks in other wars: Why?
Why was it that humans got along so badly that conflicts were settled like this, by
young men betting their lives at hide-and-seek? Did I truly think I could, with the camera
around my neck, help end the need for the carbine on my shoulder? Did I think I could
make plain how warring really was, how quickly the cutting edge of fear excised every
human virtue, leaving only the need to live? Here, now, the supreme virtue was the
ability to shoot fast. Or first.
--Dickey Chappelle, journalist with a U.S. and Vietnamese
River Assault Group in the Mekong Delta in 1965,
eyewitness account in National Geographic, February,
1966 [Chappelle, who died on November 4, 1965, was the
first American correspondent to be killed in action in South
Vietnam]
DU LUC
For the third time my life turned to war again. For the liberation of our compatriots in the
south, a situation of boiling oil and burning fire is necessary! A situation in which husband
is separated from wife, father from son, brother from brother is necessary. Now, my life is
full of hardship. Not enough rice to eat, not enough salt to give taste to my tongue, not
enough clothing to keep myself warm. But, in my heart, I keep loyal to the [Communist]
Party and to the people.
--Du Luc, Vietcong soldier
diary entry of December, 1960, from Time
December 15, 1961
RON KOVIC
In one big bang they have taken it all from me, in one clean sweep, and now I am in this
place around all the others like me, and though I keep trying not to feel sorry for myself, I
want to cry. There is no shortcut around this thing. It is too soon to die even for a man
who has died once already.
I try to keep telling myself that it is good to still be alive, to be back home. I remember
thinking on the ambulance ride to the hospital that this was the Bronx, the place where
Yankee Stadium was, where Mickey Mantle played. I think I realized then also that my
feet would never touch the stadium grass; I would never play a game in that place.
--Sgt. Ron Kovic, U.S.M.C., on being severely wounded
in action in 1967, from his autobiography, Born on the
Fourth of July (1976)
carbine n.: light semiautomatic or automatic rifle.
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District
10th Grade English Language Arts Framework
September 2010