Single Room, Earth View

Single Room, Earth View

Literary Analysis: Expository Essay

An expository essay is a short piece of nonfiction that presents information, discusses ideas, or explains a process. In a good expository essay, the writer provides evidence and examples to present an accurate and complete view of the topic.

Literary Analysis: Expository Essay

The writer may also use one or more of the following techniques to provide support, depth, and context.

• Description: including language that appeals to the senses

• Comparison and contrast: showing similarities and differences among two or more items

• Cause and effect: explaining the relationship between events, actions, or situations by showing how one can result in another

Open Ended

What is the topic that Ride discusses in her essay “Single Room, Earth View”?

Open Ended

How does Ride use comparison and contrast in the second paragraph of the essay, where she discusses airplane travel and spaceflight?

Open Ended

How does this discussion relate to Ride’s main idea in the essay?

Open Ended

Give three examples of “civilization’s more unfortunate effects on the environment” that Ride describes from space.

Open Ended

The space shuttle orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes. Name one effect of that 90-minute orbit.

Open Ended

In her conclusion, what does Ride say about comparing airplane travel to spaceflight?

Reading: Reread to Identify Main Idea and Details

The main idea is the central message, insight, or opinion in a work of nonfiction. The supporting details help to prove the writer’s point. These details can include facts, statistics, quotations, or anecdotes. To help you identify the main idea and supporting details in a work, reread passages that do not seem to support the work’s main idea.

Reading: Reread to Identify Main Idea and Details

• As you read, note key details to form ideas about what the main idea might be.

• If a detail does not seem to support that main idea, reread the passage to be sure you have not misinterpreted it.

• If necessary, revise your assumptions about the main idea.

Open Ended

Reread paragraph three, which begins with “While flying over the Hawaiian Islands.”

Explain why Ride describes the scene as “surreal” in the last sentence of the paragraph.

Open Ended

In paragraph four, why does Ride say that she found it “almost impossible to keep track of where we were at any given moment”?

Open Ended

Reread paragraph six, in which Ride mentions plate tectonics. Why does she become an instant believer in this scientific theory?

Open Ended

What does Ride mean by “the signatures of civilization” in paragraph nine? Reread the paragraph, and then explain the writer’s figure of speech.

Multiple Choice

What is the main idea in "Single Room, Earth View"?

• Space exploration advances human progress.

• Space travel provides a unique perspective on Earth.

• Astronauts are highly trained scientific observers

• Air and water pollution are endangering Earth.

Multiple Choice

In the essay, what cause explains why the author easily loses track of the part of Earth she is viewing?

• The space shuttle flies at high altitudes.

• Landforms are indistinct from space.

• The sun's brightness blocks her view.

• The space shuttle is moving very fast.

Multiple Choice

The author most likely titles her essay in order to emphasize

• The contrast between her small spacecraft and the dramatic views of Earth it affords.

• The intense training that has prepared her for a long period of weightlessness

• the significant increase in applications for the astronaut program

• her thoughts about environment damage to planet Earth

Multiple Choice

Which of the following sentences gives the most vivid description of the author's view of land masses from space?

• We could see smoke rising from fires that dotted the entire east coast of Africa.

• Some cities look out of focus, and the colors muted, when viewed through a pollutant haze.

• Spectacular as the view is from 200 miles up, the Earth is not the awe-inspiring "blue marble" made famous by the photos from the moon.

• The islands really do look as if that part of the world has been carpeted with a big page torn out of Rand-McNally...

Multiple Choice

What is one effect Sally Ride mentions of the space shuttle's completing an orbit of Earth every 90 minutes?

• It is easy to identify land masses.

• It is easy to identify cities

• Half of the time Earth is in darkness

• It is hard to get used to the bright light.

Multiple Choice

In reading an essay, if you encounter a detail that does not seem to support the author's main idea, what might you reasonably do?

• Consider revising your interpretation of the main idea.

• Ignore the detail until you reach the end of the essay.

• Make a note of the detail and see if you can verify it in a reputable reference.

• Conclude immediately that the writer made a mistake.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following details BEST supports Ride's observation that civilization has caused some "unfortunate effects on the environment"?

• Astronauts can trace thousand-mile-long condensation trails from airplanes.

• The author can see lights twinkling along the entire eastern coast of the United States.

• A huge dust storm obscures the author's view of northern Africa.

• Oil slicks on the Persian Gulf are visible from space.

Multiple Choice

What feeling does the following detail create?

Part of every orbit takes us to the dark side of the planet. In space, night is very, very black ...

• uncertainty and suspense

• terror and despair

• sympathy and compassion

• sadness and regret

Multiple Choice

Which of the following details most clearly supports the author's point that "part of the fascination with space travel is…the conviction that it's different from earthbound experiences"?

• I found Salina, Kansas (and pleased my in-laws, who live there).…

• The drama set against the black backdrop of space and the magic of the materializing colors can't be captured in an astronomer's equations.…

• Scientists' understanding of the energy balance in the oceans has increased significantly as a result of the discoveries of circular and spiral eddies.…

• Not surprisingly, the effects are more noticeable now than they were a decade ago.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following ideas does Sally Ride's discussion of photographs and observations of ocean dynamics BEST support?

• Future space missions should focus entirely on the ocean currents.

• Scientists on Earth must study what astronauts have observed from space.

• Space exploration has resulted in some unexpected scientific advances.

• Scientists' understanding improves the farther they are away from their subject.

Multiple Choice

The description of "ominous hurricane clouds expanding and rising like biscuits in the oven of the Caribbean"

• helps readers create a vivid mental image of what the author sees from space.

• foreshadows the development of a specific hurricane while the writer was in orbit.

• corroborates the author's claim that training to become an astronaut is extremely rigorous.

• shows the author's occasional uncertainty about what she observes from space.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following BEST summarizes a main idea in "Single Room, Earth View"?

• Certain questions about the universe are best left unanswered and unexplored.

• Women can make an extremely valuable contribution to the space program.

• Space exploration can benefit the understanding and preservation of Earth.

• The accomplishments of civilization are far more important than those of nature.