STAAR Reading and Writing

Using Young Innovators:

In paragraph 1, the author quotes William Chang to show that -

• typical internships are boring

• Teevan was given to the freedom to experiment

• Teevan caused problems as an intern

• supervisors are required to have strict oversight

Using Young Innovators:

In the article, what is most likely reason Teevan wouldn't discuss the commercial release of her programs?

• The programs had not yet been tested and shown to be operational.

• She is modest about her accomplishments.

• Microsoft's competitors might use the information to develop similar programs.

• Microsoft is responsible for the programs' release.

Using Young Innovators: An image of the Bing home page is included primarily to-

• call attention to some of Teevan's work at Microsoft

• explain why Teevan was named 2009 Young Innovator

• direct the reader to the best place to learn more about Teevan

• illustrate the size and complexity of the Internet

Using Young Innovators: The author organizes the article by-

• describing the work of several young software experts

• providing a chronological summary of Teevan's carrer

• reviewing the history of search engine technology

• profiling Teevan's current and future projects

Using Young Innovators:

Which of these is the best summary of the selection?

• Jaime Teevan, who works for Microsoft, has become a leader in the field of personalizing Internet search results. Through her research, she has found that people often repeat the same searches. She has developed ways of using this knowledge to make future searches more productive.

• Microsoft Research, a division of the country’s largest software company, hires only the most promising and creative students emerging from leading graduate programs. By recruiting these talented employees, Microsoft has developed cutting-edge programs such as the search engine Bing.

• Jaime Teevan created the field of personal information management. After many failures, which included crashing Infoseek’s search engine on one occasion, she discovered some data on the Internet that convinced her that search engines were poorly designed.

• Personal information management has become an important field of study for computer programmers. Since discovering that people search the Internet in different ways, programmers have been building tools that sort search results according to a user’s personal preferences.

Why does the author end the article with a quotation?

• To imply that Microsoft prefers to keep its research secret

• To hint that Teevan is preparing to change careers

• To interest the reader in following Teevan’s contributions

• To show the reader that Microsoft employs many talented people

Using Digitial Dad: In paragrpah 7, which term refers to a belief that is contrary to prevailing opinion?

• heresy

• info junkie

• environmentalist

• petri dish

Read the sentences from paragraph 4:

One former publisher told me recently that Barry Binghman Jr. "was the visionary among us. He said what we didn't want to hear and we ran from it."

The primary purpose of the above text is to -

• indicate the competitive nature of the newspaper business

• describe how surprised the author’s father was at how things turned out

• explain Barry Bingham, Jr.’s success in the newspaper business

• support the idea that Barry Bingham, Jr.’s predictions were accurate

Using Digital Dad:

In paragraph 7, why does the author refer to saving trees and conserving fuel?

• To show that environmental considerations are her top priority

• To suggest that one of her father’s motives was concern for the environment

• To support her assertion that her father was unrealistic and propelled by wishful thinking

• To make a connection between the assumed benefits versus the actual results of digital publishing

Using Digital Dad:

In paragraph 4, why does the author choose the word “crusty” to describe newspaper people?

• To indicate that they didn’t allow outsiders in very easily

• To express what was wrong with traditional newspapers

• To suggest one reason why they weren’t receptive to her father’s ideas

• To establish the difference between her father and his colleagues