Argument Annotations Read the passage. Petroski, Henry. The Evolution of the Grocery Bag. American Scholar 72.4 (Autumn 2003). (2003) CCSS Appendix B, page 98 That much-reviled bottleneck known as the American supermarket checkout lane would be an even greater exercise in frustration were it not for several technological advances. The Universal Product Code and the decoding laser scanner, introduced in 1974, tally a shopper s groceries far more quickly and accurately than the old method of inputting each purchase manually into a cash register. But beeping a large order past the scanner would have led only to a faster pileup of cans and boxes down the line, where the bagger works, had it not been for the introduction, more than a century earlier, of an even greater technological masterpiece: the square-bottomed paper bag. The geometry of paper bags continues to hold a magical appeal for those of us who are fascinated by how ordinary things are designed and made. Originally, grocery bags were created on demand by storekeepers, who cut, folded, and pasted sheets of paper, making versatile containers into which purchases could be loaded for carrying home. The first paper bags manufactured commercially are said to have been made in Bristol, England, in the 1840s. In 1852, a Machine for Making Bags of Paper was patented in America by Francis Wolle, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. According to Wolle s own description of the machine s operation, pieces of paper of suitable length are given out from a roll of the required width, cut off from the roll and otherwise suitably cut to the required shape, folded, their edges pasted and lapped, and formed into complete and perfect bags. The perfect bags produced at the rate of eighteen hundred per hour by Wolle s machine were, of course, not perfect, nor was his machine. The history of design has yet to see the development of a perfect object, though it has seen many satisfactory ones and many substantially improved ones. The concept of comparative improvement is embedded in the paradigm for invention, the better mousetrap. No one is ever likely to lay claim to a best mousetrap, for that would preclude the
inventor himself from coming up with a still better mousetrap without suffering the embarrassment of having previously declared the search complete. As with the mousetrap, so with the bag. Write an essay that identifies and defends the most important factor in the invention of the paper bag. Support your claim with logical reasoning and relevant evidence from the passage. ************************************************************************************ Holistic Score: 1 The pepper bag was a good invention. It changed grocery shopping in a lot of ways. Especally made it easier to shop you would come out the store faster. Then you would suspect and also made it easier to carry your gorceryes to yoru car and to your house.francis woll created a machine the would make the paper bags faster it would make eighteen hundred per hour.francis help us a lot now the stores would rarely run out of paper bags and we can use the paper bag and we can use the paper bag for other reasons now instead just at stores. This paper is inadequate and does not meet grade level standards. The writer attempts to develop an opinion, but there is little to no support. The paper is not focused and the writer jumps from reason to reason with no transitions. There are serious violations in mechanics and Standard English. Holistic Score: 2 The invention of paper bags seem like nothing to us now, but the actual process of making it was a great deal to everyone. grocery bags were created on demand by storekeepers, who cut, folded, and pasted sheets of paper.proves how hard it was to make the groceries easier and faster to carry for their customers. Yet thanks to Francis Wolle, his machine made
the perfect bags After his progress of making things easier on us, many other people, just like him, have made machine at their perfection to make things easier on us. Many of us have opinions on perfection, but it can be extremely difficult to perfect such a thing as the perfect bags. This paper is inadequate and approaches grade level standards. There is some development of the topic, but some examples do not fit or are awkward in the essay. The introduction is apparent, but the conclusion leads to confusion. The writer attempts to use supporting textual evidence, but does not go into any detail to support the essay. There is an attempt to address the audience, but not enough depth. Holistic Score: 3 The most important factor in the invention of the paper bag was the Machine for Making Bags of Paper. This was most important because not only did it give us a more efficient amount of paper bags, (18,000 an hour) it gave us a more supportive bag that we could use in order to carry our groceries around in. If we had to spend cold hard cash to have people glue together pieces of paper, that would be a waste of money and a waste of time. Machines (such as the Machine for Making Bags of Paper ) make life easier and do the things that most people wouldn t want to do in everyday life. I don t exactly love the idea that we are down on our workers and have machines do things for us, but if its for a simple thing to do like make paper bags, I fully agree with that idea. This paper meets standards. The paper is focused and has a clear stance. The writer gives just enough evidence to support their claims and develop their ideas. Organization is satisfactory and meets standards. The writer demonstrates sufficient use of mechanics and grammar.
Holistic Score: 4 The paper bag was a very important contribution to the human race. It has many important factors that are very useful for it. To me I believe that the most important factor of the paper bag is its unique shape. The reason is because it is very simple, yet very useful to the human society. Another reason is because it is very useful to carry things. It consist of a squarebottom, rectangular sides, and a wide opening at the top. The paper bag also helps carry things and has been very helpful throughout the years. When you first take a look at the paper bag you think of something that is not very useful, but instead it is the exact opposite of that. The paper bag is highly important and is used daily by many people. It has helped people all over the world carry things from one place to another. It also has helped people from back then to make things a little easier to do. Although the paper bag was a simple invention it has great use and value for today s society. The paper bag has a very unique shape to it. It allows you to carry many things in its simple formation. The shape of the paper bag allows you to put things in it from its opening at the top. The bottom or base of the paper bag allows you to put many things in it without it falling to the ground. Although the paper bag is a simple invention is has very important components that make the shape unique. In conclusion the paper bag is really neat! It has a lot of value and use for it. It is important and is used daily by many people. Its unique shape and useful format has made it a lot easier for people to carry things throughout the world. The paper bag may be simple, but it has made things throughout life much easier.
This paper exceeds standards. The ideas are very detailed and insightful as the audience can easily relate to the topic. The writer uses references from the passage. The point is convincing and the writer has support and uses relevant information. Organization is coherent and conclusion is deliberate. Varied sentence structure adds to the paper and enhances it for stylistic effect.