Overview

Lesson Procedure

75-75 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice25 minutes
5. Closure10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "A company that installs radon reduction systems posts that 'one in three classrooms in our region is above the safe limit.' You are writing to a school board that must decide whether to spend money on testing. Write one reason the post might be worth reading and two reasons you would not want it to carry your memo."

   Collect answers in two columns, strengths and limitations. Point out that almost every answer depends on who will read the memo and what they must decide. Tell students that today's standard asks exactly that question of every source.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Define the terms of the standard. The task is the kind of writing and the decision it supports; the purpose is what the writing must accomplish; the audience is who will read it and act on it. A source's strengths are what it can do well for that task, and its limitations are what it cannot show, whom it may not persuade, or where it may be biased or out of date. Over-reliance means letting one source supply most of the evidence, which passes along that source's blind spots and biases. Advanced searches at this level add truncation (an asterisk that finds every ending of a word stem), file-type limits (filetype:pdf), database filters such as peer-reviewed and date limits, and following a source's own references to earlier work. Read Rhea's assignment and log (Text 1), then work through the examples with Diagram 2.

   1The assignment: In Dr. Sethi's Environmental Science 12 class, each student writes a two-page memo for a real decision. I am writing to the board of the Harlan Valley School District, five volunteers: a dentist, a retired bus driver, a farmer, an accountant and a parent of three. In November the board votes on whether to test every ground-floor classroom in the district's nine schools for radon this winter. The board chair asked for "plain language, what it costs, and how sure we can be." Dr. Sethi requires at least five authoritative sources, at least one of them in print, APA 7 citations, and no single source carrying the memo.

   2My research question: Should the Harlan Valley School District test its ground-floor classrooms for radon, and what would testing involve?

   3Search 1: radon. The results were ads for home test kits, several radon repair companies and a chemistry page about element 86. The ClearAir Radon Solutions blog (Source E) came from this search.

   4Search 2: radon schools site:.gov. The first result was the EPA's "Radon in Schools" page (Source A). Its list of related documents included two EPA guides for schools, both from 1994.

   5Search 3: radon "lung cancer" deaths site:.gov. This found the EPA's "Health Risk of Radon" page (Source B).

   6Search 4: "indoor radon" "reference level" filetype:pdf. The top result was the World Health Organization's handbook on indoor radon (Source C). Mr. Barros, the school librarian, found that the county library also has a printed copy.

   7Search 5, in the library's science database, with the peer-reviewed filter and the years 2015-2026: radon AND (school* OR classroom*). Only a few studies came up, and most measured homes or schools in other countries. I wrote down this gap: there is less recent research on U.S. schools than on homes.

   8Search 6: radon "Harlan County" map, then the state geological survey's own site search. This found a county radon map (Source D). Mr. Barros also showed me the county newspaper's archive, where I found a 2025 article about radon tests in the neighboring Bellmont district (Source F).

   9Interview: On September 22, 2026, I spoke by phone with Rosa Alvarez, the district's facilities director, about what testing would cost.

   • Aiming a search at a kind of source

     Search 1, radon, returned test-kit ads, repair companies and a chemistry page (Text 1, paragraph 3).

     Result: Search 2 adds site:.gov to reach government agencies, and Search 3 adds the exact phrase "lung cancer", so each search is built to find one kind of evidence the memo needs: a recommendation for schools, then a health statistic.

   • Gathering print and digital versions

     Rhea found the WHO handbook as a PDF, and Mr. Barros found a printed copy at the county library (paragraph 6).

     Result: The same work can be gathered in both media. Rhea cites the version she read, and the print copy meets Dr. Sethi's print requirement only if she actually uses it. Source F, a printed county newspaper found in an archive, is her other print source.

   • Strengths and limitations for this task

     Source C, the WHO handbook, recommends a reference level of 100 Bq/m³ (Text 3, paragraph 1).

     Result: Strength: an international, health-based standard that is stricter than the EPA's action level, useful if the board asks "how sure can we be?" Limitations for this audience: it was written in 2009 for governments, not schools, and it uses a unit board members do not know, so Rhea must translate it: 100 ÷ 37 ≈ 2.7 pCi/L.

   • A source that fits one purpose but not another

     Source D, the county radon map, reports that 31% of 1,212 home tests were at or above 4 pCi/L (Text 3, paragraph 2).

     Result: For the purpose of deciding whether to test, it is strong: local, from geologists and based on many measurements. For the purpose of deciding whether to repair, it is weak, since it measured homes and says it "cannot predict the radon level in any individual building."

   • An APA reference for an organization's book

     The WHO is both the author and the publisher of Source C.

     Result: World Health Organization. (2009). WHO handbook on indoor radon: A public health perspective. In APA 7, the publisher is left out when it is the same as the author, the title is in italics with sentence-case capitals, and the in-text citation is (World Health Organization, 2009).

   Use Diagram 2 to show that a strength or limitation is always a strength or limitation for something. Ask: if Rhea were writing a lab report on radon decay for Dr. Sethi, which of her sources would gain or lose value?

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Sources A-F and the interview notes (Texts 2-4) and fill in the chart below for Rhea's memo. Each strength and each limitation must name the task, the purpose or the audience it depends on. Circulate and push pairs past general labels ("reliable," "biased") to specific ones ("reliable about national risk, silent about our buildings").

   Strengths and limitations for Rhea's memo to the school board (students fill in the empty cells)

   Source	Print or digital?	Strength for this task, purpose and audience	Limitation for this task, purpose and audience	What Rhea should use it for, if anything
   A
   B
   C
   D
   E
   F
   Interview

   1Source A: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Radon in Schools," web page, last updated August 17, 2026. It says: "The EPA recommends that all schools nationwide be tested for radon." It also says: "A nationwide survey of radon levels in schools estimates that nearly one in five has at least one schoolroom with a short-term radon level above the action level of 4 pCi/L (picocuries per liter)." The page does not give the year of that survey. Other quotations: "EPA estimates that more than 70,000 schoolrooms in use today have high short-term radon levels" and "Testing for radon is simple and relatively inexpensive." The basic elements of testing, as the page lists them: "Test all frequently used rooms on and below the ground level; Conduct tests in the cooler months of the year." Near the top of the page: "After smoking, it is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States causing an estimated twenty one thousand (21,000) lung cancer deaths a year."

   2Source B: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Health Risk of Radon," web page, last updated June 24, 2026. It says: "Radon is the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, according to EPA estimates. Overall, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Radon is responsible for about 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year. About 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked." The page is written for the general public and says little about schools.

   1Source C: World Health Organization, WHO Handbook on Indoor Radon: A Public Health Perspective, 2009, available in print and as a free PDF. An international group of experts wrote it for governments setting radon policy. It recommends a national reference level of 100 becquerels per cubic meter (Bq/m³) and, where a country cannot reach that, a level no higher than 300 Bq/m³. It explains that the risk of lung cancer rises with long-term exposure, with no known level below which radon is safe. It is not about U.S. schools, and its unit is not the one the EPA uses: 1 pCi/L equals 37 Bq/m³.

   2Source D: Northern Plains Geological Survey, Radon Potential of Harlan County, map with notes, 2019, npgs.example/radon-harlan. The survey is a state agency of geologists. The map puts Harlan County in Zone 1, the highest of three zones, where the average indoor level in homes is predicted to be above 4 pCi/L. Its notes report that 31% of 1,212 home test results collected in the county from 2005 to 2018 were at or above 4 pCi/L. The notes add: "This map cannot predict the radon level in any individual building. Only a test can."

   1Source E: "Every School Needs a Radon Fan," a blog post on the website of ClearAir Radon Solutions, a company that installs radon reduction systems, 2024. No author. It says that "one in three classrooms in our region is above the safe limit," gives no source for that number, and says that testing is "a waste of time" unless a system is installed at the same visit. It quotes a price of $4,000 to $6,000 per school and ends with a button: "Book your free inspection."

   2Source F: Min-jun Hwang, "Bellmont Schools Find Radon in Six Classrooms," Harlan Valley Courier, printed edition, November 9, 2025, page A3. The Bellmont district tested 48 ground-floor rooms in January 2025 with short-term tests. Six rooms measured above 4 pCi/L, and a second test confirmed all six. The district paid a certified contractor about $5,200 to install reduction systems, and follow-up tests in all six rooms were below 2 pCi/L. The superintendent is quoted: "We would rather know than guess." The article does not say which schools the six rooms were in.

   3Interview notes (Rosa Alvarez, facilities director, September 22, 2026): The district has about 210 ground-floor rooms that students or staff use every day. Short-term test kits and lab fees would cost about $20 per room. Her staff could place the kits over two weekends in January.

4. Independent Practice25 minutes

   Students read Rhea's first draft (Text 5) and label each sentence: over-relies on one source, plagiarism, not needed for the board's decision, missing a unit or translation, or fine. Then they compare it with the revision (Text 6) and Diagram 1 and write three sentences explaining how the revision serves the board better. The quiz also uses these texts.

   [1] Radon is a serious danger, and every school needs a radon fan (ClearAir Radon Solutions, 2024). [2] According to ClearAir Radon Solutions (2024), "one in three classrooms in our region is above the safe limit." [3] After smoking, it is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States causing an estimated twenty one thousand lung cancer deaths a year. [4] Radon was discovered in 1900 by the German physicist Friedrich Ernst Dorn, and it is element 86 on the periodic table. [5] The World Health Organization says the level should be 100 (World Health Organization, 2009). [6] Testing is a waste of time unless a system is installed at the same visit, and each school will cost $4,000 to $6,000 (ClearAir Radon Solutions, 2024). [7] Therefore, the board should hire ClearAir to install systems in all nine schools (ClearAir Radon Solutions, 2024).

   1Why test. Radon is a radioactive gas that seeps into buildings from the soil. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 2026a) estimates that it causes about 21,000 lung cancer deaths a year in the United States, second only to smoking. Schools are not exempt: a national survey reported by the EPA found that nearly one in five schools had "at least one schoolroom with a short-term radon level above the action level of 4 pCi/L" (EPA, 2026b). Because the EPA page does not date that survey, the figure shows that the problem exists rather than how common it is today.

   2Why our district. Harlan County is in the highest of three radon zones, and 31% of the home tests collected there were at or above 4 pCi/L (Northern Plains Geological Survey, 2019). The survey warns that its map "cannot predict the radon level in any individual building" (Northern Plains Geological Survey, 2019), so these figures justify testing, not repairs. Last January, the neighboring Bellmont district tested 48 ground-floor rooms and confirmed high levels in six (Hwang, 2025).

   3What testing would involve. The EPA recommends testing every frequently used room on or below the ground floor during the cooler months (EPA, 2026b). For our roughly 210 such rooms, kits and lab fees would cost about $4,200, and staff could place the kits over two weekends in January (R. Alvarez, personal communication, September 22, 2026). If some rooms test high, Bellmont's experience suggests that repairs can be targeted: it spent about $5,200 on six rooms (Hwang, 2025). The World Health Organization (2009) recommends a stricter reference level of 100 Bq/m³, about 2.7 pCi/L, so the board may also want to retest rooms between 2.7 and 4 pCi/L.

   4References

   5Hwang, M. (2025, November 9). Bellmont schools find radon in six classrooms. Harlan Valley Courier, A3.

   6Northern Plains Geological Survey. (2019). Radon potential of Harlan County [Map]. https://npgs.example/radon-harlan

   7U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2026a, June 24). Health risk of radon. https://www.epa.gov/radon/health-risk-radon

   8U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2026b, August 17). Radon in schools. https://www.epa.gov/radon/radon-schools

   9World Health Organization. (2009). WHO handbook on indoor radon: A public health perspective.

   In the last five minutes, hand out Elias's log, source list and draft panel (Texts 7-9), the history set for the homework. Students underline his audience and his task in Text 7.

   1The assignment: The Heartland Broadcasting Museum is opening a small exhibit on radio in the 1930s in October 2026, and Ms. Oyelowo's U.S. History 11 class is writing one panel. My panel answers a question visitors ask every year: did Orson Welles's 1938 radio play "The War of the Worlds" really make the whole country panic? The panel must be 200-250 words, readable by visitors from about age ten to adult, many of whom grew up hearing that millions of people fled from the Martians. The museum's review committee wants a source file with Chicago-style notes and a bibliography, and its rule is that no single source may carry a panel.

   2My research question: How did the 1938 "War of the Worlds" broadcast come to be remembered as a nationwide panic, and what does the evidence show about how many listeners were actually frightened?

   3Search 1: war of the worlds panic. The results were a page about the 2005 film, a Halloween costume shop, a quiz site and the online exhibit that became Source 1.

   4Search 2, in the library catalog: subject War of the worlds (Radio program). This found A. Brad Schwartz's book (Source 2) on the shelf.

   5Search 3, in the library's history database: ("War of the Worlds" OR "Martian broadcast") AND (newspaper* OR press) AND 1938. This found a scholarly article (Source 4). Its notes led me to a digitized 1938 newspaper (Source 3).

   6Search 4: "War of the Worlds" panic truth. This brought up many pages, including a blog with a secret-experiment theory (Source 5) and a movie database page (Source 6).

   7What I still need: a judgment about which sources fit a panel for general visitors, and a draft that does not lean on one book.

   1Source 1: Nora Castellanos, curator, "The Night of the Martians," online exhibit page, Lakeview Radio History Center, updated March 3, 2025, lakeviewradio.example/martians. "The War of the Worlds" aired at 8 p.m. Eastern time on October 30, 1938, on the CBS series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. The 23-year-old Orson Welles directed and narrated it, adapting H. G. Wells's novel as a string of fake news bulletins about Martians landing at Grovers Mill, New Jersey. The program opened with an announcement that it was a drama. That night, the C. E. Hooper ratings company telephoned 5,000 households; 2% said they were listening to the play. Within three weeks, newspapers had printed at least 12,500 articles about the broadcast. Welles apologized at a news conference the next morning. The page gives no notes or sources.

   2Source 2: A. Brad Schwartz, Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles's War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News (New York: Hill and Wang, 2015). A real book by a historian who studied the letters that listeners sent to Welles and to the Federal Communications Commission after the broadcast, along with audience surveys from 1938. Schwartz argues that the broadcast briefly frightened or misled a real share of its listeners, but that few of them fled their homes, and that newspapers turned scattered fear into a story of nationwide panic. A 1940 Princeton study had estimated far more frightened listeners; how many people were frightened is still debated.

   3Source 3: "Radio Hoax Sends Thousands Fleeing," Kenmore Evening Dispatch, October 31, 1938, page 1, digitized in the Midland Newspaper Archive. No reporter named. It reports that "thousands of terror-stricken families fled their homes" across the country and names no one who fled.

   4Source 4: Teresa Lindqvist, "Selling the Scare: Newspapers, Radio, and the 1938 Martian Panic," Midcentury Media Quarterly 29, no. 2 (2019): 44-67. A scholarly journal article. Lindqvist argues that newspapers, which had lost advertising money to radio during the Depression, played up the panic to show that radio could not be trusted with news, and she reprints front pages from October 31, 1938.

   5Source 5: "The Broadcast Was a Test," Unseen Archives blog, 2021. No author. It says that "researchers have proven" the broadcast was a secret government experiment to measure public fear. It links to no document or study.

   6Source 6: a movie database page about The Night That Panicked America (1975), a television film that dramatizes families fleeing in terror during the broadcast. The page lists the cast and air date.

   Did America Panic?

   Everyone knows the story: on October 30, 1938, a radio play about a Martian invasion sent millions of Americans running into the streets. It is not true.¹ Only a small share of radio listeners were tuned in to the play.² Almost nobody who heard it was fooled.³ Newspapers made up the panic because they hated radio.⁴ So the panic never happened at all.⁵

   Notes

   1. Schwartz, Broadcast Hysteria.

   2. Schwartz, Broadcast Hysteria.

   3. Schwartz, Broadcast Hysteria.

   4. Schwartz, Broadcast Hysteria.

   5. Schwartz, Broadcast Hysteria.

5. Closure10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Name one of Rhea's sources that would be stronger for a lab report on radon than for the board memo, and explain why. (2) Write one search, with truncation or a file-type limit, that could find current radon testing rules for schools in your state. (3) In one sentence, explain what over-reliance on a single source can hide from a reader.

   Teacher notes: Rhea, Elias, their teachers, Mr. Barros, Rosa Alvarez, the Harlan Valley and Bellmont districts, Min-jun Hwang and the Harlan Valley Courier, the Northern Plains Geological Survey, ClearAir Radon Solutions, the Heartland Broadcasting Museum, the Lakeview Radio History Center and Nora Castellanos, the Kenmore Evening Dispatch, the Midland Newspaper Archive, Teresa Lindqvist and the Midcentury Media Quarterly, the Unseen Archives blog, and Martin Okafor and Northlake Press (the model citations) are invented; say so when you hand out the texts. Web addresses ending in .example lead nowhere. Sources A and B are real EPA pages, and every quotation from them in Text 2 is word for word; Source C is the real WHO handbook (2009), and its reference levels are as stated. A. Brad Schwartz's Broadcast Hysteria (Hill and Wang, 2015) and the television film The Night That Panicked America (ABC, 1975) are real. The facts about the broadcast in Source 1 are real, including the opening announcement, the Hooper telephone survey of 5,000 households (2% listening to the play), the at least 12,500 newspaper articles within three weeks and Welles's apology the next morning; the 1940 Princeton study in Source 2 is Hadley Cantril's The Invasion from Mars. Historians still disagree about how many listeners were frightened, so accept panels that say "far fewer than the newspapers claimed" and push back on panels that say "no one was frightened," which is what Elias's draft wrongly claims. Source 4's argument that newspapers exaggerated the panic to discredit radio is a real line of scholarship, here given to an invented author. Source 5's secret-experiment claim is invented for the lesson; treat it as an example of an unsupported claim, not a theory to debate. Rhea's references follow APA 7; the Chicago notes Elias must write, and the model in the homework directions, follow the notes and bibliography system of the 17th edition (the 18th edition, 2024, allows the place of publication to be left out).

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Rhea wants a database search that finds measure, measured, measurement and measuring in one step. Which search term does that?

   Ameasure*, which adds truncation after the whole word measure Bmeasur*, which adds truncation after the shared stem C"measure", which puts the base word inside quotation marks Dmeasure OR measured, which joins two of the forms with OR

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Search 4 (Text 1, paragraph 6), why does filetype:pdf help Rhea find a source like the WHO handbook?

   AIt keeps only documents saved as PDF files, a common form for posted reports BIt limits results to peer-reviewed articles that have been printed in scholarly journals CIt excludes every web page that was written by a company that sells a product DIt translates results from other languages into English before they appear on screen

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A student is writing a memo to a school nurse on whether classroom air purifiers reduce absences, and wants recent research, not product pages. Which search plan fits that task best?

   AA search engine query, best air purifier for classrooms 2026 reviews, sorted by the number of customer ratings BThe library catalog, with a subject search for the single broad term Air and no other limits CA peer-reviewed, 2015-2026 database search: ("air purifier*" OR "air cleaner*") AND school* AND absen* DA search engine query, "air purifiers" -school -absences -classroom -students, with no filters

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Rhea notes that Source A, updated in August 2026, lists related EPA guides for schools from 1994 (Text 1, paragraph 4). What limitation does this suggest for her memo, and what should she do?

   AThe page is too recent to be trusted, so she should rely only on the two 1994 guides BThe testing guidance may be older than the page, so she should check current standards CThe EPA no longer recommends testing schools, so she should drop Source A from the memo DWeb pages that link to old documents cannot be cited in APA 7 style at all

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which statement best describes a strength of Source A for Rhea's task, purpose and audience?

   AIt is the only source that gives a price for testing each ground-floor room in the district BIt reports the results of radon tests given in Harlan County schools during 2025 CIt is the national agency's page on schools, and it recommends testing all of them DIt is written in technical language that only trained radon specialists can follow

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Source B reports that radon causes "about 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year" (Text 2, paragraph 2). What is its main limitation for Rhea's memo?

   AThe figure comes from an agency that has no expertise in radon or in cancer BIt is a print source, and the assignment requires only digital sources CThe page was last updated before 2020, so its number is now out of date DIt is a national figure for the public, silent on the district's own classrooms

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why should Source E not carry any part of Rhea's memo, even though it is about radon in schools (Text 4, paragraph 1)?

   ABecause blog posts can never be cited in APA 7 style under any circumstances at all BBecause the seller gives no source for its figure and discourages testing first CBecause it was published in 2024, which is too long ago for a memo written in 2026 DBecause it uses the unit pCi/L, which the five board members would not understand

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   For a board of volunteers deciding whether to test, which is the best description of Source F (Text 4, paragraph 2)?

   AStrong: local, with real counts and costs; limited: one district, in a reporter's summary BStrong: a peer-reviewed study; limited: board members cannot read scientific journals CStrong: it proves that one in five Harlan Valley rooms will test high; limited: it is short DUnsuitable: a county newspaper can never be an authoritative source for a school board memo

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which plan would best help a student avoid over-reliance on one source in a history paper about why Prohibition ended?

   AChoose the longest and most detailed book and cite it for every claim, to stay consistent BCite five different web pages that all repeat the same online encyclopedia article word for word CFind sources of different kinds for each key claim and check whether they agree DUse no sources at all, so that the paper cannot depend on any one of them

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Sentence [3] of Rhea's draft (Text 5) is plagiarism. Why?

    AIt copies the EPA page's wording with no quotation marks or citation BIt reports a death figure that none of Rhea's six sources contain CIt uses a numeral where APA style requires the number in words DIt is Rhea's own opinion about radon presented as if it were a fact

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why is cutting sentence [4] of the draft (Text 5), about the discovery of radon in 1900, a sound choice for this memo?

    AThe date of the discovery is incorrect according to the WHO handbook, Source C BThe board's decision does not depend on who discovered radon CHistorical facts may never appear in a science memo written for any reader DThe sentence is plagiarized word for word from the ClearAir company blog

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Text 6, Rhea cites the two EPA pages as (EPA, 2026a) and (EPA, 2026b). Why the letters?

    AAPA 7 adds letters to show that a web source was updated more than once in a year BThe letters show which of the two pages Rhea judged the more authoritative one CSame author, same year: a and b follow the alphabetical order of the titles DThe letters stand for the first words of the two EPA page titles in the list

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Rhea cites her interview as (R. Alvarez, personal communication, September 22, 2026), but Rosa Alvarez does not appear in the reference list (Text 6). Is that correct in APA 7?

    ANo, every in-text citation in APA 7 must have a matching entry in the reference list BNo, interviews cannot be cited at all in APA 7, so the figures must be removed CYes, because the facilities director asked not to be named anywhere in the memo DYes, readers cannot retrieve a personal communication, so it is cited only in the text

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A print journal article, "Radon in Rural Schools," by Grace T. Ellison and Omar Farouk, appeared in Journal of School Health Studies, volume 12, issue 3, pages 45-58, in 2022 (the article and journal are invented). Which APA 7 reference is correct?

    AEllison, G. T., & Farouk, O. (2022). Radon in rural schools. Journal of School Health Studies, 12(3), 45-58. BEllison, Grace T., and Omar Farouk. "Radon in Rural Schools." Journal of School Health Studies, vol. 12, no. 3, 2022, pp. 45-58. CGrace T. Ellison and Omar Farouk, "Radon in Rural Schools," Journal of School Health Studies 12, no. 3 (2022): 45-58. DEllison, G. T., Farouk, O. Radon in Rural Schools. Journal of School Health Studies. 2022; 12: 45.

15. Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Text 6 is divided into three parts that begin "Why test," "Why our district" and "What testing would involve." How does this choice serve the task and audience?

    AIt lets Rhea leave out citations, since each heading already names its source BIt gives each source its own part, so that sources are never combined in one part CIt is required by APA 7 for any document that is longer than one page DIt groups the evidence around the questions the board needs answered

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Rhea's next step is to find the radon testing rules that apply to schools in her state today. Write two search strings or search moves, each using at least two advanced tools or a library database filter, and name the kind of source each is designed to find and whether it is likely to be print, digital or both.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Rhea's classmate uses the same sources for a different task: a one-page notice sent home to families, explaining why their children's classrooms will be tested. Name one source that becomes stronger for this task and one that becomes weaker, and explain each in terms of task, purpose or audience.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    A classmate writing to the same board about testing school drinking water for lead cites "AquaPure Filters (2025)," a water-filter company's website, in four of the five sentences of her evidence section. Explain two problems this over-reliance creates for her purpose and audience, and name two kinds of sources she should add.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write the APA 7 reference and the parenthetical in-text citation for this web page: "Radon and Your Child's School," by Lauren Ortiz, published June 3, 2025, on the website of the Midwest Parents Health Network at mphn.example/radon-school (the page and the network are invented).

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Paraphrase this sentence from Source B (Text 2, paragraph 2) for the school board, in plain language, with an APA 7 in-text citation: "About 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked." Then explain in one sentence why this fact might matter to this audience.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to WHST.11-12.8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.