For example, if you wish to write about the Enron debacle, you can assert that "Enron situation is a political scandal, because it has pitted one branch of the federal government against another and distracted the American public from other pressing political matters." Your thesis, if this were your thesis, has three parts: The X term: The Enron situation; the Y term: a political scandal; and two criteria that the X term must fulfill in order to be a compelling argument: pitted one branch of the government against another and distracted the American public.

Write a two to four page essay that defends your claim. Your essay should use newspaper articles as its principal sources, although other sources that give you background information would be helpful. We will work together to learn to quote sources effectively.

We will come up with evaluative criteria for your essay together, but pay close attention to the expectations set out on your syllabus.

Choose one of your sources for your essay assignment with which you disagree on some fundamental point. Determine whether you question your source’s claims, warrants, reasons, evidence. Compose a five-minute speech in which you rebut your source’s argument. You should have a Toulmin outline of your source that demonstrates which part of the argument you find faulty.