Argument 2
The
fear of being a parent is inevitable. Everyone experiences this fear in some
capacity whether or not they are planning on having a child, or are even
capable of it. Every couple experiencing their first pregnancy is thrown into
the new role of ‘parent’. This can be extremely difficult, scary, and
especially vulnerable. Most pare
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Argument 2
The
fear of being a parent is inevitable. Everyone experiences this fear in some
capacity whether or not they are planning on having a child, or are even
capable of it. Every couple experiencing their first pregnancy is thrown into
the new role of ‘parent’. This can be extremely difficult, scary, and
especially vulnerable. Most parents go through the same kind of fears and
struggles. I believe that if we as a society were to put more resources into
classes and promoting education for new parents as well as parents in general,
then individuals would be significantly more comfortable and prepared for
something as scary and important as parenting. Opening classes would be
beneficial because it helps long term child and parent relationships, it would
help both men and women learn how to move through pregnancy
during/before/after, and parenting classes could help prepare us for the hard
things our children will go through.
A critique is an
analysis of and a commentary on another piece of writing. It generally focuses
on technique as well as on content. A critical response essay (or interpretive
essay or review) has two missions: to summarize a source’s main idea (briefly)
and to respond to the source’s main ideas with reactions based on your
synthesis. This critical response also incorporates counterpoint, or a
counterargument. As a critic you are taking a skeptical or even opposing
position – does the essay convince you?
I. Summarizing
The first step to writing is to read actively and
thoughtfully, seeking answers to the following questions as you go:
What are the main points, ideas, or arguments of the work
(book, article, play essay, etc.)?
How is the work organized?
What evidence/support does the author give?
What is the primary purpose of the work?
II. Analyzing (interpretation and evaluation)
To help you generate content for your analysis, consider the
following questions:
Does the work achieve its purpose? Fully or only
partially?
Was the purpose worthwhile to begin with? Or was it too
limited, trivial, broad, theoretical, etc.?
Is any of the evidence weak or insufficient? In what way?
Conversely, is the evidence/support particularly effective or strong?
Can I supply further explanation to clarify or support any
of the main points, ideas, and arguments?
Are there sections you don’t understand? Why?
Was there any area where the author offered too much or
too little information?
Is the organization of the work an important factor? Does
its organization help me understand it, hinder my understanding, or neither?
Is anything about the language or style noteworthy?
III. Counterargument
Consider the above questions in those two sections as a
foundation to argue your point (and please don’t assume that there is no other
position – that is a narrow ideological view). Your goal in the final section
is to take the two previous sections (summary/synthesis, and
analysis/evaluation/interpretation) as an opportunity to posit (make, state,
etc.) an argument or position that undermines, problematizes, debunks or
otherwise causes a problem for the argument you are assessing. This sort of
analysis that resists glazing over potential problems in favor of a
complimentary review provides an opportunity (a vital one) to strengthen the
original argument, amend it, or otherwise take into consideration something
that was omitted or misstated.
Organization
The length or your essay and whether you respond to a single
passage or to an entire work will vary with the assignment. Regardless of
length and breadth, all critical responses include the following basic
elements:
Introduction:
Body:
o Summary
o Transition
o Analysis: Evaluate the evidence: sufficient (enough
evidence, examples), representative (large enough pool/sample), relevant
(accurate correlations), accurate, claims fairly qualified
o Transition
o Response: base reaction on your own experience, prior
knowledge, and opinions (?)
o Counterargument
Conclusion:
Documentation:
There is flexibility in how you arrange things (as we’ve
discussed during this semester) but the parts should be there, and in a way
that a reader can distinguish your purpose in each section/paragraph. You don’t
have to use a hamburger 5-paragraph/5-section model, but the things you are
trying to accomplish should not be a mystery for the reader to unpack.
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