Topics
identifying and evaluating claims
Required reading
Homework due
Revision of Essay 1
In-class assessment
Quiz 2 - identifying and evaluating claims
Identify the key claim (thesis statement or topic statement) of the paragraph below:
The years since the early 1970s are unprecedented in terms of the volatility in the prices of commodities, currencies, real estate and stocks, and the frequency and severity of financial crises. In the second half of the 1980s, Japan experienced a massive bubble in its real estate and in its stock markets. During the same period the prices of real estate and of stocks in Finland, Norway, and Sweden increased even more rapidly than in Japan. In the early 1990s, there was a surge in real estate prices and stock prices in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and most of the nearby Asian countries; in 1993, stock prices increased by about 100 percent in each of these countries. In the second half of the 1990s, the United States experienced a bubble in the stock market; there was a mania in the prices of the stocks of firms in the new industries like information technology and the dot.coms.
Kindleberger, C.P. (2005). Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A history of financial crises. 5th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Identify the better thesis statement, and explain why it is better than the others:
Queen Victoria set the tone of the British Empire, and she allowed powerful prime ministers to take political control of Britain.
Victoria set the tone for later monarchs by ruling through a series of prime ministers.
The United Nations Organization has major weaknesses and cannot prevent a major war.
The organization of the UN makes it incapable of preventing a war between major powers.
There are serious objections to today's horror movies.
Because modern cinematic techniques have allowed filmmakers to get more graphic, horror flicks have desensitized young American viewers to violence.
Although the timber wolf is a timid and gentle animal, it is being systematically exterminated.
Although the timber wolf is actually a timid and gentle animal, it is being systematically exterminated because people wrongfully believe it to be a fierce and cold-blooded killer.
There are advantages and disadvantages to using statistics.
In order to ensure accurate reporting, journalists must understand the real significance of the statistics they report.
In this paper, I will discuss the relationship between fairy tales and early childhood.
Not just empty stories for kids, fairy tales shed light on the psychology of young children.
We must save the whales.
Because our planet's health may depend upon biological diversity, we should save the whales.
Hoover's administration was rocked by scandal.
The many scandals of Hoover's administration revealed basic problems with the Republican Party's nominating process.
Because the Montessori method was thought to weaken school discipline, it aroused much opposition in the 1930s, but interest revived and many schools adopted it in the 1960s.
I will never forget the two years I spent attending a Montessori school.
The Bonus March in 1932 was a spontaneous uprising by unemployed veterans.
Suppression of the Bonus March was a major reason for Herbert Hoover's defeat in the election of 1932.
Insistence on economy and efficiency and ruthless pressure on competitors enabled John D. Rockefeller to dominate the early years of the oil refining industry.
John D. Rockefeller was born in 1839 in Richford, New York.
American English and British English are very different.
Different terms for the same professions illustrate differences between British and American English.
This paper will discuss the sodhouse days on the central plains of the United States.
The sodhouse illustrates the pioneers' ability to adapt to their environment and to use what nature provided.
The polygraph was developed by Dr. John A. Larson in 1921.
Even under the most controlled conditions, the polygraph test has not been proved reliable; this is why its use by employers should be banned.
