INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, ROHTAK

IPM Batch 02
END Term Exam (Term VI)
Critical Thinking and Writing Skills - II

Name: SUBHA SHIVUMA

Roll No: IPM02065

Section: ____A_________________

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 Please write in the given space only

PART 1
Question 1

According to me, the illustrated essay is an example of a proposal essay that helps us in
analyzing a problem, evaluating the feasibility of alternative solutions, and ultimately moving
readers to take particular actions to solve the problem.

QUESTION 2

The illustrated essay in part 1 depicts the problem faced by more than 40% of American
adults in reading and writing. The topic of the proposal is low adult literacy. The essay has
described Dawne’s pain of not being able to help his children with their homework, and
inability to work because of lack of education. To solve this issue an organisation named
Literacy Network- a local, Madison-based, non-profit organisation came forward with its
initiative to educate people so that they can do their daily chores easily and work at offices.
However, this organisation lacks volunteers and needs free services from its volunteers and
through the essay, they have put a proposal for all the educated people to volunteer and help
low educated people in Madison to lead a happy life.

Question 3

3.1> The introduction has sincerely put forward the problem of adult literacy in America
through the example of Dwayne MacNamara. It has a sadist approach that can touch the heart
of any reader. It has displayed the pain of a father unable to fulfil his responsibilities toward
his two daughters and his inability to make sound decisions due to lack of education.

3.2> The body of the essay has portrayed the problem of literacy in America and has vivid
statistics to show how grave the situation is in America regarding the low adult literacy rate.
90 million people which make up more than 40% of the American population have difficulty
in basic reading and writing. Moving forward, then they have also described how they are
trying to improve the situation through their local, non-profit, Madison-based organisation
named Literacy Network. This organisation works for educating people with less than basic
skills to be able to live a normal life with the help of volunteers who guide them. But then,
this organisation also faces the problem regarding free volunteers as they are a non-profit
organisation and lack funds.

3.3> The conclusion has sufficiently requested all its readers to volunteer for the noble cause
they strive for bringing to the city. They provided the example of Dwayne MacNamara, about
how the organisation helped him and how Dwayne got a job at a home-improvement store
and his ability to help his children with their homework and reads them stories before bed is a
clear indication of providing evidence to gain trust from all its readers and get volunteers for
the noble cause.

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 PART 2

Question 1

The illustrated essay in part 2 is a cause-and-effect essay in my opinion because here, we

want to understand the event why cell phones are posing dangers and prevent their dangerous
recurrence as what happened in Alan Mark’s case and we need to speculate about what
caused it.

Question 2

In this essay, the writer has described how mobiles are threatening human lives. The writer
has firmly mentioned that they are not favouring banning mobile phones but persuading us to
change the ways we have made mobile phones a dominant part of our life. There are several
credible references from various organisations like the University of Pittsburgh, World
Health Organisation, research journals Journal of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine”, Ann Gittleman’s book “Zapped” and a case study of a fifty-eight-year-old Alan
Marks to provide logical reasoning to their propositions. The pieces of evidence to the
writer’s support are trustworthy and their handling of objections is fair and balanced. The
writer has addressed the issue and answered why cell phones are dangerous and have
explained effectively that the radiations it emits are harmful and the one’s responsible for
posing danger to human beings’ lives also it has been mentioned by the writer that companies
like Apple and BlackBerry have a mentioned five-eighths of an inch and an inch distance
respectively from the phone. The evidence presented by the writer made me state that the
illustrated essay is a persuasive cause and effect essay.

Question 3

3.1> The introduction of the essay is very powerful in my opinion. The writer knew that the
subject they are addressing can immediately result in an aggressive response from the
audience so they chose to keep it simple and true for all their readers. The sentence, “you use
it at home, in class, at the gym, before going to sleep at night and first thing when you wake
up in the morning” clearly draws an idea in the reader’s mind about what the author is
referring to, so they would not ultimately judge the writer rather see the logical side to it and
read ahead. Then the writer used statistics and provided the reference from a book named
“Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation” to provide reasoning for stating cell
phones pose danger to our health.

3.2> The body of the essay starts by realising the fact that abandoning cell phones cannot be a
solution but to change the ways we use them. This clearly shows that the essay is not a
position essay and is not taking sides. It is rather an essay which is speculating the causes of
cell phones posing danger to our health and the effects the cell phones are causing in our life.
The writer has provided several credible references from organisations like the World Health
Organisation, New York Times, University of Pittsburgh and several others which suffice the
writer’s opinion that cell phones pose a danger to our life.

3.3>The conclusion has a very optimistic approach towards handling cell phones cautiously.
It stated that stopping the usage of cell phones is not possible but if we change our habits we
can stay healthy. It also reflects upon the human beings’ tenacity and consistency towards
things and tries to motivate people to change themselves knowing that it can be very hard so
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that there are no other Alan Marks and avoid the slow epidemic that the scientists and doctors
are warning us about.

PART 3

Question 1

Before starting their research project, one needs to first plan their research project and then
move forward. The student here has not started the project by planning due to which the
sources and knowledge they are receiving are overwhelming and confusing the student. The
student needs to follow the steps given below for a successful and good research project.
They are:

1. Analyzing their rhetorical situation and setting a schedule

2. Choosing a topic and getting an overview

3. Focusing on their topic and drafting research questions: is a very crucial step because
it helps the student to centralize on what they want to look for as the Internet is full of
infinite resources on a particular topic that can cause information overload. The
answers devised throughout their research can form the basis for their thesis
statement, however, they might need to make one or 2 research questions for
developing their thesis statement.

4. Establishing a research log: a logbook whether digital or handwritten with the

sources, files and notes on the research topic HIV needs to be in one place for them to
keep themselves organized while mentioning their bibliography.

5. Creating a working bibliography: working bibliography is an ongoing record of the

sources you discover as you research your subject.

6. Annotating their working bibliography: The student might have piled up many
resources but they would not be using all of them. Those who are using need to be
separated for a clear distinction between their work

7. Taking notes on their sources

The student must understand that a research question is key to an effective research
project. They need to take just one topic of their prime interest. It is a common mistake
that students stake multiple topics for a research project and then the sources overwhelm
them and the key research questions remain unaddressed. The student must use proper
keywords on Google for getting accurate results.