Critical Thinking Paper # 1Topic
Due April 11 in Day Class
Due April 9 in Night Class;
You can say a lot in 500 words, but you have to winnow out the substantive, the relevant, the pertinent from the dross ("stultifying rubbish"--Am. Heritage Dictionary).
There is a beauty in conciseness and succinctness. Steve Cook
Above all, discard the irrelevant." Barbara Tuchman, Historian.
It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. ~Robert Southey
Good things, when short, are twice as good Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom
It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what other men say in whole books - what other men do not say in
whole books. ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols
The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. ~Thomas Jefferson
This paper would be twice as good if it was half as long. Gordon Matzke
Never say in seven words what you can say in three. E. B. White
Let's go to South Asia for our first paper. "South Asia" includes, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Nepal.
Within this geograhic region, I am going to give you a variety of topics to address, including: Biofuels versus Food; Embodied Energy; Crop diversity; The Green revolution; GMOs; Globalization and food; Globalization and poverty; Exporting Environmental Damage.
Look at the maps and tables in Allen that relate to your issue. Find your chosen country and note the information presented. Then go to Brown and see what he says in general on the topic, and specifically any information on your country (or at least region). Then look further in other acceptible sources--peer-reviewed journals in OSU Libraries EBSCO (we only accept peer-reviewed journals listed in EBSCO) or books. to fill out your discussion of your issue. Remember that you are NOT required to use Brown or Allen, but they are a good place to begin your research.
Follow the Critical Thinking Guidelines exactly.
1. Begin by writing a 600 word version of the "Analysis" section in the paper. Attach this to your final version of the paper when you turn it in.
2. You then MUST wring the dross out of this 600 words, keeping the essence, bringing the "Analysis" section within the 400 + or - 25 words requirement.
The Analysis section is worth 20% of the paper grade. Not attaching the 600 word rough draft will cost you half of this.
Remember that you MUST use sources as noted on the Critical Thinking Paper Guidelines. Failure to have four sources from this list will result in a score of zero on the paper. Why? Because you can't argue effectively without utilizing effective sources.
To force you to think and write concisely, we require that the "Analysis" section contain betweem 375 amd 425 words.
The maximum paper length is 550 words. This gives you 125-175 words for the other five headings (depending upon the total in "Analysis." My suggest is to use 'em all. Write a 550 word paper. The "Interpretation" section is very important, it leads into your topic.
The following information MUST appear on your paper:
1. Word count for "Analysis" = ___________. [375-425]
2. Total word count = ______________ [550 max-serious deduction for too many words]