for professor Geek

Lebofsky-Downs English 711

Essay Assignment #1

Due: Tuesday, September 22 nd

. You must bring TWO typed copies of your essay to class for peer review.

You will have the opportunity to revise the essay to hand in Thursday, September 24 th

’; you must also upload

this revised essay to the SafeAssignments link on our Blackboard page.

Please write a typed, double-spaced essay. Include MLA in-text citations and a Works Cited page.

Length: three to four pages (not including Works Cited)

Evaluation of an Argument through Analysis – In this assignment, you are required to show your abilities to

summarize and evaluate the effectiveness of an argument, based on your analysis of it.

Thus far in the course, we have explored the ways in which we read and analyze an argumentative text critically.

Critical analysis of a text requires us to look for what the author claims (the main idea/thesis) and to closely examine

how the author presents and supports the claim and evidence and how he or she addresses his or her opposing views.

Write an essay in which you evaluate the effectiveness of Janet Holmes’s essay “Women Talk Too Much”

based on your analysis of its claims, evidence, and the presentation of the claims and evidence. Is the essay

persuasive? Why or why not? Which elements of the argument make it persuasive and which do not?

In order to complete this assignment successfully, you need first to analyze and evaluate Holmes's essay thoroughly

by asking the following questions:

A. Claims

(1) What is the author’s main claim (thesis)? Is it clearly stated? Does it reflect the purpose of the essay?

(2) What are her subsidiary claims? That is, what are the claims that she uses to support her main claim?

Are they clear and valid? Are they related to the main claim?

(3) Does the author address opposing views fairly and counter them successfully?

B. Evidence

(1) What kind of evidence does the author use? (e.g., facts, statistics, examples, personal experience, expert

testimony, analogy)

(2) Is the evidence sufficient, specific, relevant, and convincing?

C. Presentation

(1) What is the author’s tone? Is it neutral, sincere, respectful, humorous, sarcastic, pessimistic, etc.?

How do you know? How does it contribute to the argument?

(2) How is the text organized? Is the organization effective?

Once you have analyzed the essay and made the evaluation, decide on several areas (points) about which you can

write substantially in this assignment. These are called your “points of evaluation.” These points of evaluation

need to be included in your thesis statement, and each needs to be supported in your body paragraph(s).

In your introduction, introduce Holmes’s essay by summarizing it accurately, beginning with its thesis. After the

summary, end the introduction with your own thesis statement that is focused and reflects the evaluative purpose of

your essay.

In your body paragraphs, support each point of evaluation in each body paragraph by providing several pieces of

specific evidence from Holmes’s essay and by explaining how such evidence proves your point. While writing

your body paragraphs, try to use, whenever relevant, such terminology as audience, purpose, claims, evidence,

reasoning, credibility, opposing views, counterargument, language, tone, and organization.

In your conclusion, restate your focused thesis and write other insightful concluding remarks.

For all essay assignments, try to meet the Grading Criteria for Portfolios.