Instructions: Summarize, analyze and evaluate two news articles. Practice lessons in language analysis and evaluation of evidence in Making Sense.Practice discerning and anticipating a reader’s acceptance or rejection of premises in the articles. Employ terms and concepts learned in Making Sense, Chapters 1-4 and lessons in analytical writing from Chapters 1 and 2 in Writing Analytically.
The essay will have an introduction, body and conclusion, of course, but your critical thinking will be assessed mostly by what you provide in the body of the paper. This will have three parts but you may organize as you see fit. The first part will provide a summary of the articles. The second will analyze elements of the articles in order to lead to the third part, which will be an evaluation that suits the purpose of the paper (see below)
Review the Essay Standards before finalizing your paper.
Length: 1250 words, not including quoted material.
Format: MLA style
Works Cited page? Yes.
Sources: Two articles on the effects of the coronavirus. They should differ insofar as their credibility, but should not be extremely incredible. The differences should require analysis, not be obviously apparent.
Purpose: This paper will be written in order to enlighten your readers regarding what makes an article credible as a source of news and what can cause an article to be less credible, less newsworthy.
You will want to engage your reader in analyzing information. As you read/research articles, consider: What language elements would we not expect to see in an article that is lacking in newsworthiness? To what degree does the author’s reputation or the reputation of the news source increase or decrease ethos appeal? Does an article written for a smaller audience make certain assumptions that might decrease its credibility for a wider audience?
During your academic experience, you will be required to research sources that will help support your arguments or analyses. This essay requires research and will test your skill learned so far in our class at discerning between objective information, credible evidence and subjective assertions or declarations that include language and logic elements that should not be present in a reliable, credible news source. Read the information titled “Evaluating Online Sources” before beginning your research. Use our LPC Library databases instead of Google.
Develop skills in critical thinking and reading for objective information, discerning between claims of fact or value; validating and verifying information on the Internet; questioning and qualifying testimony from experts.
Point of view: write objectively and analytically.
Contents: Summarize each article, according to directions in Making Sense for how to write a summary. Analyze each article, according to directions in Making Sense for how to write an analysis. Then, evaluate each of the articles for their reliability, credibility.
Introduction: The introduction should contain the author’s names and the fact that both were 2020 articles written in order to inform the audience of the same event. It should also focus the reader on the purpose of the essay, which is to analyze the articles for their relative credibility in order to point out to the reader what makes for a reliable source of news. The introduction should not be long or contain any extra fluff.
Ex: Two articles published this year provide facts and details concerning the …..Journalist Tom Jones provides…., explaining how and why this event ….Similarly, Professor Sally Watkins describes the event and reasons for the….. The reporting varies insofar as the sources, types of evidence used to support the author’s inferences and the objectivity of the language. Comparing these two articles reveals ….and is a good lesson in how to choose a factual article and avoid considering as credible a less than reliable news source.