1.Which question should you ask during your first read of the multi-draft reading process?

1. What is the author's purpose in writing this piece?
How has this work increased my knowledge of a subject, issue, or event?
What evidence does the author present to explain or support the central idea?***
What is the author's point of view or opinion?

We have a huge waste-management problem in the United States. On average, over the course of their lives, Americans will throw away 600 times their weight in garbage. That translates into legacy of about 90,000 pounds of trash for a 150-pound adult. Where does all this trash go? Trash is burned, buried, dumped into bodies of water, or recycled. Only the last option is friendly to the environment.

By using materials more than once, we conserve natural resources and the energy needed to create and process new materials. Recycling also reserves landfill space for items that cannot be recycled. Some experts estimate that each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, over 300 gallons of oil, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, and 7,000 gallons of water.

Some students feel that the problem is too big to be solved. They do not believe that one person, one school, or even one community can make a difference. This is just not true, because students can do a great deal to help reduce waste. For one thing, students can start a recycling program at school. A committee comprised of students, teachers, administrators, and custodians should plan how to best collect, store, and transfer recyclable paper products. Students and teachers can deposit recyclable paper at a specific location in the classroom. After school, someone can transfer the paper from the classrooms to storage area, where it can be kept for eventual transport to a recycling center. Someday you might be buying paper made from the material you helped recycle. That is what the process is all about.

2.What is the central idea of the selection?
Recycling is important to solving the waste-management problem in the United States
The waste-management problem in the United States is too big to be solved***
Students and teachers can deposit recyclable materials in their classroom
Recyclable materials create about 90,000 pounds of trash during a person's lifetime

3.Which answer choice best states the author's point of view?
It is more important to recycle paper than any other product
Americans can only do a little to help the environment
Recycling will help solve or waste-management problem***

4.With which of the following statements would the author most likely agree?
It is not the responsibility of adults to help the recycling effort
Burning trash is not as harmful to the environment as buying it
Buying recycled paper is an important step in the recycling process***
It is more important to recycle at school than at home