journal 2 Evaluating Your Sources

Order Description

Required Journal Entry 13: Evaluating Your Sources
Describe when it’s appropriate to use sources in an essay. Why is it important to differentiate
between facts, opinions, and bias when choosing sources for your research? (2 paragraphs,
6-8 sentences each)

Required Journal Entry 14: Organizing Your Information
Review page 606–611 in Successful College Writing. Describe at least two ways to organize
your information effectively. Choose the method that would work best for you and explain why.
(2 paragraphs, 6 sentences each)
Reflect: Take a look back to your response to Journal Entry 10. Briefly describe what counts as
plagiarism. When is it appropriate to cite information? What information doesn’t need to be cited?
(1 paragraph, 6–8 sentences)

Required Journal Entry 15: Using Your Sources Responsibly
Review the definitions of direct quotation, paraphrase, and summary in Chapters 22 and 23 in
Successful College Writing and in Chapter 39 in The Little, Brown Essential Handbook. In your
own words, define these terms. Then explain the most effective use of each of these three types
of sources. (2 paragraphs, 6–8 sentences each)

Required Journal Entry 16: Planning Your Argument
Study the argument essay topics on page 167–168 in your digital study guide and choose your
topic for your argument. This journal entry will help you begin to plan, research, and organize
your paper. Please note that both topics are very broad, so you should narrow your chosen topic
appropriately to suit your purpose and interest as well as the research and length requirements.
Review “The Basic Parts of an Argument” on pages 514–520 in Successful College Writing. Once
you’ve chosen your topic and identified your issue (516), you need to develop support. According
to your text, the three common types of support for an argument are “reasons, evidence, and
emotional appeals” (517).
I. State your claim
A. Identify the type of claim (fact, value or policy).
B. Explain your purpose or goal for your research paper.
II. Identify your reasons
A. Reason 1
B. Reason 2
C. Reason 3
III. Start your research to develop support for your claim (provide at least two examples of
each):
A. Support your reasons with evidence
1. Facts*
2. Statistic*
3. Expert opinions*
4. Examples*
5. Personal Experiences
B. Identify your emotional appeals
1. Appeal to needs
2. Appeal to values
* Cite your sources using MLA citation and documentation format (i.e., parenthetical citations and
a list of works cited).
To research effectively and efficiently, use the Expanded Academic ASAP database in Penn Foster’s
digital library. For more information about using Expanded Academic ASAP or other library
resources, visit https://community.pennfoster.edu/docs/DOC-57990.

Required Journal Entry 17: Recognizing Your Opposition
Identify and define the three ways you can recognize opposing views in your argument. In your
own words, explain why it’s valuable to include the opposition in your essay. (1 paragraph,
6 sentences)
Reflect: Read Lisa Hamilton’s “Eating Meat for the Environment” and review the graphic organizers
on pages 554 and 556–557.
In your opinion, does acknowledging Dr. Pachauri’s opposing
viewpoint strengthen or weaken Hamilton’s
argument?

Required Journal Entry 18: Course Reflection
Reflect: Review your journal, starting with your first entry and the learning inventory. Reflect on
how knowing who you are as a learner has helped you with the course activities. Consider your
progress as a writer through each journal entry and essay. How has your writing changed since
you started the course? Identify the improvements you’ve made and the skills you still need to
practice. (3 paragraphs, 6 sentences each)
Evaluate: What goals did you set for yourself at the beginning of this course? Did you accomplish
everything you hoped? Explain what you would have done differently, and describe the
approach to writing you’ll use in your future assignments. (2 paragraphs, 6 sentences each)

Journal 3
Unit 1: Introduction to Composition, Entries 13–18
Your journal will be evaluated according to the following requirements:
Ideas and Content: How accurately and effectively you responded to the entry; your writing
focused on the topic of the entry and is based on the correct reading assignments in your texts;
you effectively engaged with the content of the reading assignments and composed thoughtful
original responses to each entry; when required, you cited and documented all secondary source
material appropriately and correctly.
Organization: How well prewriting or organizing entries are developed; all paragraphs begin
with an appropriate topic sentence and are developed fully by using examples, illustration, and/or
evidence; each entry meets the required minimum length.
General Correctness: How well entries meet the expectations of college-level academic writing
in the areas of sentence structure, grammar, word choice and spelling, and punctuation.
Format: How accurately you followed the prescribed format for the journal by including the
required header, entry title and date, and used correct margins, font, and line spacing.