COMP 1020 Essay #1  

What is it?

This first essay is a short summary and response. We are calling it the “Agree/Disagree Summary” because in this essay you will practice making a concise summary of an author’s main points and exploring your response to that argument.

How do I do it?

You should write an essay in which you agree or disagree (or both!) with the ideas presented in one of the essays listed below. You only need to write about one of the essays listed below for this assignment and should not use any outside sources for this paper.

Option 1:  “The Social Media Myth about The Arab Spring” https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/1/27/the-social-media-myth-about-the-arab-spring 

Option 2:  “How COVID19 Has Changed the Rules of the Game in the Aid Sector”

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/1/25/how-covid-19-has-changed-the-rules-of-the-game-in-the-aid-sector 

An Agree/Disagree-Summary paper asks you to do three things with an essay.

1. Summarize the author’s argument. What are the author’s claims and reasons?  (This represents the “They Say” principle: see p. 19-51 in TSIS). Do not quote from the essay in this section. This is a summary of the author’s argument in your own words, not a complete re-telling of the content of the entire essay.
2. Agree or disagree (or both) with the author’s claim. Explain why you believe as you do using reasons. (Use the templates from our text They Say/ I Say to help you frame your response if necessary: see p. 54-67 in TSIS).   
3. Discuss the author’s believability. Is the author credible? Why or why not?  Give specific examples based on the author’s use of language, ethos, bias, appeal to emotion, assumptions, kinds of evidence, etc.  

Why are we doing it?

The first step in doing good research is to know what your sources are saying. While this seems like a simple task, in order to do research efficiently and craft an argument, we need to practice looking for the main points and building our own response to what our sources are arguing.