The Damned Human Race by Mark Twain

Assignment Instructions
Your first essay – the critical evaluation essay – is due at the end of Week 3 on Wednesday of Week 4. In this essay, you will be critically evaluating a historic argument, and making an argument about whether the essay’s structure (how it makes its point) is a success or a failure.

Basic requirements:
700-850 words in length
MLA essay style and citation style (include a work cited entry for the essay you’re evaluating)
Third person voice (he, she, it, they and related forms)
No outside sources allowed

Instructions/Process:
Choose 1 essay from the Historic American or Historic Global works lists in the “Supplemental Readings” section of the course lessons.
Read your chosen essay and decide whether this essay’s argument structure is successful or not.
Begin to outline your evaluation.
If you decide this essay’s argument structure is successful, discuss why.
If you decide that the essay’s argument structure is not successful, explain why.
You may also discuss how the essay’s argument structure is successful with reservations.
Post your outline and a thesis that sums up your judgment of success/failure as part of your main post for the Week 3 forum by the Wednesday deadline.
Gather feedback on the forum and draft your essay, making use of the feedback to make your argument stronger, finally revising and editing before uploading and submitting your final draft here. Make sure that your essay has an introduction with a clear thesis, body paragraphs that discuss one proof at a time (one paragraph per example), and a conclusion.

Note that you may not use outside sources to support your evaluation. You should discuss only writing structures to support your argument about success/failure. These include things like organization of ideas, tone, types of support (ethos, pathos, logos), clarity, etc. If you’re discussing elements of the structure that don’t work, consider also addressing any fallacies the essay uses. Remember, the main question is NOT whether you agree with the essay; it is whether or not the argument structure is effective/successful. You should focus on evaluating that argument structure, not on explaining your response to the essay’s ideas.