Research Essay #1: Evaluation

Purpose: This essay is an opportunity to critique and analyze a position on a controversial issue,
identifying the criteria of evaluation and exploring the various perspectives and contexts.
Learning Goals: In this essay you will practice
synthesizing evidence from scholarly sources
utilizing textual evidence in order to argue a position
presenting an evaluative claim critically and interrogatively
examining multiple perspectives
articulating a coherent thesis that will frame your essay
Assignment: Compose an essay that challenges a claim with which you disagree, providing sound
reasons and solid evidence for challenging this existing and perhaps commonly held view. Maybe you
believe that children today are healthier than the media gives them credit for or that people who criticize
video games really dont understand them. Explain why the issue needs to be reconsidered, examining why the
current criteria of evaluation are insufficient. Provide reasons, evidence, and different criteria of evaluation for
doing so (see Evaluations PowerPoint on D2L).
Cite evidence from books, government websites, newspaper articles, and/or consumer press sources
(Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, etc) to both represent and critique the opposing position. It is important
to give the side youre criticizing the space to speak for themselves through direct quotations.
Guidelines: This essay should give readers a reason to care about the issue (perhaps through an evocative
narrative), should respond to and critique different claims from the opposing side, including their
criteria of evaluation, and should discuss the implications of keeping the status quo and/or the benefits to
the opposing side if they considered your perspective instead.
Read: To prepare for this assignment, read Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted
Target Audience: Readers of the New Yorker, a magazine with a mostly college-educated readership that
is best known for commentary on popular culture and social issues, and thorough fact-checking.
Format & Guidelines: 3-4 pages, double-spaced, MLA style (7th ed.), 12 pt. serif font (like Times New
Roman, Georgia, Didot).
Sources: 4 sources (credible)
Submission: You will submit three drafts of this essay: the rough draft, which will receive peer feedback;
the second draft, which will receive instructor feedback; and the polished final draft.
Due: Rough Draft: Thursday 03/03
peer reviewbring 3 copies
Second Draft: Tuesday 03/08
Final Draft: Thursday 03/17