Guided Critical Essay Assignment

Guided Critical Essay Assignment

CH. 11 OPINION POLL ABOUT THE DEATH PENALTY
TASK:
Put together your own plans for an Opinion Poll on the Death Penalty, however,
according to the questions provided below. You may use these questions as headings to
format your journal entry but this is not required.
(See Exercise 11.3 on pg. 296) The textbook asks you to plan for a “campus” poll. This is
not necessary. You can choose to plan a poll at a public event, through an email list-
serve, etc.
Format: Guided Critical Essay
MS Word Doc., 1.5 Line Spacing, 12 pt font.
Submission: Upload Word document
Word Count: 1000 – 1500 words. Be concise. Points will be deducted for entries that are under
or over the word count. Reviewing your entry for grading will cease at 1500 words.
Relevant Textbook Material:
Chapter 11: Inductive Generalizations
 Pg. 286-288: The poll and the supporting descriptions and explanations you are asked to
provide construct an inductive argument, and in particular an inductive generalization.
This section explains the key aspects of an inductive generalization argument. These
distinguish this project from a basic descriptive essay.
o What are your claims? What are your inductive generalizations? (main conclusion
and sub-conclusions) Are the claims adequately specific in relation to the issue,
rather than merely making claims about quantitative accuracy?
o Is there an argument? Is there a coherent line of reasoning? What is the
relationship between the premises and conclusion?
o Are your premises relevant? Do they support your claims? Do you avoid making
a fallacious generalization?
 Pg. 288: Evaluating Inductive generalizations, Do you present a strong argument?
 Pg. 289-291: Three Criteria
o Avoid restating what is stated in the book. Stating that your argument is good
because it meets the criteria does not explain how it meets the criteria but only
stipulates that it does.
 Pg. 292-296: Opinion Polls and Inductive Generalizations
o A critical review of different methods or strategies of polling, sample collecting.
o Explains the general purposes and aims of Opinion Polls.
o Identifies basic problems with designing a poll.
PAPER SECTIONS & GUIDING QUESTIONS:
THE POLL and Language
1) What questions will you ask?
a) List at least 3 and no more than 5 questions about the death penalty.
b) List at least 3 and no more than 5 questions about the person taking the poll, (age, gender,
etc.)
2) How will you phrase the questions to avoid pointing to a “right answer”?
a) List or explain at least 3 guidelines that you will follow to check your questions. (See
Chapter 4 on Language.)
CRITICAL EXPLANATIONS, addressing normative concerns.
3) Polling Aims: claims/thesis statement about what you believe is important to know about
this issue and why.
a) How many people do you aim to include in the sample population?
b) What social categories are you interested in capturing? (gender, age, economic class, etc.)
c) What percentages would be ideal for your poll? (50% male and 50% female?)
d) Briefly explain why you chose these numbers and categories (thesis).
e) How are they important or significant to the topic?
i) How are these numbers and categories important or significant to the topic?
ii) Does the explanation account for conventional language and social norms?
iii) Does the explanation address how the social categories chosen are particularly
relevant and significant to the topic? What, other than representation, motivates your
questions and methods?
iv) Avoid merely reiterating the descriptions in the textbook. Explain how they are
specific to the issue. Ex. … aim to determine what people think about … (a particular
view of the issue, not just the death penalty in general). This should be reflected in
your pole questions so that your argument is coherent. (More on this in the following
pages of the instructions.)
4) Polling Structure and Mechanics: Sample Collecting Strategy.
a) Describe the context—where, when, and how will you collect opinions?
i) The textbook asks you to plan for a “campus” poll. This is not necessary. You can
choose to plan a poll at a public event, through an email list-serve, etc.
b) How does this approach address/ensure your sample is representative?
i) As noted above, do not merely state that ―your approach will ensure the sample is
representative‖, explain how and why it does this in relation to your claims.
c) Explain how and/or why this strategy supports your polling aims. Is your argument/essay
coherent? Does it reflect consistent line of reasoning from the questions to the aims, to
the practical application?
d) Explain how your strategy deals with the general problems explained in the textbook.
i) Often these general problems are unavoidable. You should explain how your poll
either avoids these problems and/or recognize that your poll entails certain problems
and explain why you are not concerned, or why these problems do not weaken your
argument.

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