Return to Course

Return to Home Page

Go to Project Four

Practice with Evaluation Arguments

Creating a Rubric 

Project Four Rubric Activity

Constructing a Strong Paper

• Supporting a Thesis
• ORGANIZING A PARAGRAPH
• Using Support Effectively
• Considering Your Audience  
• Citing Your Sources (avoiding plagiarism)

In the Comment Section of one of these sections, give me a GOOD EXAMPLE and ANALYZE IT. 

Minute Paper Citations

Go Green - Evaluating Environmentalism

Most Americans agree that protecting the environment is a good thing. Although different environmentalist groups emphasize the dangers of failing to preserve natural resources, the real challenge of these arguments is in offering solutions (proposing how) the problem should be solved. On the other hand, once a proposal is made, individuals must evaluate the quality of that proposal - whether it is a good or bad idea (is it feasible, is it sustainable, is it cost-effective...) - and then decide what course of action to take in order to best protect the environment.  

Environmentalism: Eco-friendly to Eco-terrorism - proposals for a Greener Earth!

The environmentalist groups Environmental Defense Fund, Greenpeace, and (eco-terroist group)Earth Liberation Front, all propose plans for reducing (or eliminating) America's reliance on fossil fuels.

Group Assignment:

• Break into groups.

• Using today's reading to create CRITERIA for a good source of renewable energy.  What constitutes a "good" eco-friendly strategy (refer back to Introduction to Evaluation Argument (Project 4) for CRITERIA).   
• http://www.sirc.org/articles/recycle.htm
• Death_of_Environmentalism.pdf  
• EDF mission statement: EDF Fact Sheet .pdf   
• Link to Greenpeace mission statement: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/   
• ELF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Liberation_Front   

• Use the criteria you come up with to EVALUATE one of the three articles below (refer back to the criteria-matching above):  

In-Class Reading: 

1. Environmental Defense Fund:  
1. Link to "Ushering in a New Era for Coal" http://www.edf.org/article.cfm?contentID=6025   
2. Greenpeace:
1. GP Solar Gernation 2010.pdf
1. link to article http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/reports/Solar-Generation-2010/
3. Earth Liberation Front:
1. link to ELF Press Office http://www.elfpressoffice.org/ - select "Renewable Energy" option
2. link to ELF http://earth-liberation-front.org/  

Environmentalist Scavenger Hunt: 

1. Break into groups and find articles on Environmentalism in Detroit. 
2. Choose the BEST article and post it here.
3. Create CRITERIA for evaluating the proposal in the article.
4. Evaluate the proposal in the article in one paragraph. 

More Practice with Evaluation Arguments:

In the time remaining, go to the Opposing Viewpoints Resource located on the English 1010/1020 Library page. Use this to research your topic for Project Four. Find and POST two articles with OPPOSING views on your Roster page.