Essay # 3 Evaluating Essay

Review pages 305-310

For this paper you can choose any topic you are interested in and research the issue by using such sources as journals, reviews, magazines (for current political and social issues); books (for assessing judgments about history, policy, etc.); biographies (for assessing people); research reports and scientific studies; periodicals that cover entertainment and sports; blogs for exploring current affairs. To formulate a claim, you may ask the following questions:
What exactly is my opinion? Where do I stand?
Do I need to qualify my claim?
Can I make my judgment more specific?
According to what standards am I making my judgment?
Will readers accept my criteria, or will I have to defend them, too?
What major reasons can I offer in support of my evaluation?
The major focus for this paper is not only for finding a specific claim, but also coming up with very clear criteria of evaluation. Why do you think, for example, that health care plan is going to ruin our country for future generations? Is it really bad for our seniors? What do you expect from an “ideal” (in your opinion) health care plan? The main features of your expectations may serve you as your criteria. Criteria are clear reasons that you choose while evaluating. You can take any fact and examine it if it’s good/bad. For whom is it good/bad? Remember to support your claim with specific examples (quotations from the text). Write 4.5-5 pages (at least 1250-1500 words). Your audience are your peers and your teacher who do not know anything about your subject. Research and quotations are mandatory. For this paper you must have at least 3 sources. However, I do not limit your research to library databases.