1. The essay should be double-spaced using a standard 12-point font (Times, Times New Roman, and so forth).
2. Paragraphs should consist of grammatically correct sentences that address a single idea/argument. In other words, do no combine arguments from the “letter to the editor” since these are independent premises that do not depend on the other arguments.
3. Your essay needs to clearly identify what the main conclusion of the argument the “letter to the editor” is making and to assess each argument, especially in terms of any informal fallacy committed as well as an explanation as to how such a fallacy occurs. This does not mean every argument in the letter is fallacious.
4. Your essay should clearly take a position on the letter that was written. For instance, do you agree with the author and think she has made a strong argument? Do you agree with the author and think she has made a weak argument? Do you disagree with the author and think her argument is weak? Regardless, your essay will serve as evidence to substantiate your claim and in doing so you will be assessing the argument. [Note: it does not matter if you actually know anything about the city, the point is whether the intermediate arguments that serve as premises for the main conclusion are adequate to support the claims being made.]
5. Both The Critical Thinking Toolkit and Bad Arguments may be helpful in your critical analysis and evaluation. Please specifically cite page numbers if you rely on these sources as follows (Title page numbers). Any other sources consulted must have a specific intertextual citation (Author’s last name page number) and a complete citation in a Works Cited page.
6. Your essay should have an Introduction that provides the audience with the issue question that motivates the writing of your essay, and other relevant information about what the essay is doing, where it is heading, and how it plans to achieve its goal. Likewise a concluding paragraph is necessary that pulls your overall argument together.
7. In between, the body must analyze and evaluate the argument given in the “letter to the editor.” What type of argument is the author making? If inductive, is it an analogy, a generalization, or a causal argument? If so, your evaluation will differ depending on the type of inductive argument. Should an argument be deductive, your evaluation must clearly demonstrate formally or structurally whether it is is valid or invalid.
8. Pay attention to paragraph transitions. Avoid listing or bullet points.
