Directions
This writing assignment will require you to pick an opinion piece or editorial from an online news source (i.e. Washington Post, Los Angeles Times) and conduct a thorough analysis of its content. The news source must contain a relevant topic at a global, domestic, or local level and must be from an article within the last 30 days, up until the due date of the assignment. This is a longer assignment and worth a good deal of points, so please don’t overestimate it.
YOU CAN USE THE FOLLOWING LINKS TO FIND AN OPINION ARTICLE:
- https://www.cnn.com/opinions
- https://www.foxnews.com/opinion
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/?noredirect=on
- https://www.wsj.com/news/opinion
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/opinion
Having trouble with a “paywall”? You can read daily articles for free using Pierce College’s Database Proquest. You can find it here (though be sure to remember your LACCD or Pierce College log-in: https://search-proquest-com.p-libpxy.piercecollege.edu/usmajordailies?accountid=41041 or https://library.piercecollege.edu/az.php?
ESSAY FORMAT TO FOLLOW
Answer the following questions in your essay. Each paragraph or section needs to have clear statements about the article, direct in-text citations and quotations to show proof of your claims, and use of concepts from the textbook. This assignment is worth 100pts. The instructor will assess submissions via Canvas using the attached rubric. To view the rubric, click the Options icon (3 vertical dots) in the upper-right corner of the discussion. Detailed feedback will be provided in Assignment Comments. You should expect feedback within the submission comments and rubric within one week that these assignments are due. You can access the rubric to see what objective points you needed to improve on, and review the submission comments to review any specific language about your work. Please read the Canvas Feedback and Submission Comments webpage for more guidance on how to view these comments.
Please exclude the questions in your response and write your paper as a traditional essay:
- Who is the speaker and what is his or her purpose? – Dig into the foundations of the author’s credibility, as well as what he or she sets out to do in this article. In other words, who is the author and what are their qualifications? Do their qualifications help or hinder the credibility of this article?
- What is the article about? – This question requires you to clearly identify the argument that the speaker is trying to advance throughout their piece. What is the purpose for this argument? Find and quote the author’s and explain what it means in your own words. You should also explain what kind of proposition it is (policy, value, or fact).
- What support has the speaker given on behalf of this conclusion? – Look for any and all pieces of supporting material that the author has used in order to support their perspective (i.e. statistics, personal interviews, etc.). Did their use or misuse of evidence help/hinder this article?
- What themes or points of clash have emerged from this article? – Explain what debate the author is getting into and which side would they be on. What audience would his/her argument appeal to and why?
- What solutions can you provide for this crisis? – Please provide possible or alternative views to the article. In other words, play devil’s advocate and argue the opposing side. Also, explain how you personally feel about the topic. Be sure to provide support for your own analysis and argument.
GRADING CRITERIA
Your papers should be thoughtful, engaged, developed, clear, and responsive to all of the prompts. In other words, you will be graded on how well you answer the above questions. You should clearly answer the question with an understanding of course concepts. Don’t simply answer the question, your job here is to make solid connections from the article and key terms that we’ve learned about in class.
Please review the attached criteria/rubric to complete this paper well. You will be graded on how well you answer the above questions.
- You should clearly answer the question with an understanding of course concepts. Don’t simply answer the question, your job here is to make solid connections from the article and key terms that we’ve learned about in class.
- You must reference and effectively use material from both Arguments and Arguing textbook and include at least 4 key terms throughout your paper. Please directly cite these key terms by bringing in quotations from the textbook. This means that you should bring in at least 4 different quotations that have to deal with 4 concepts we’ve learned about in class. Connect them to your analysis of this article to provide developed commentary.
- Papers must be typed, double spaced with standard margins, size 12 font, Times New Roman. Two to three page limit. MLA format and an updated (and complete) works cited page is required.
Requirements:
