Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/the-simple-life-in-a-dumpster/379947/
Instructions:
Context and Purpose—The audience for your critique are people who have not read the essay yet but
who are interested to know your detailed evaluation of its ideas. Your critique will help shape how the
audience thinks about the source essay and its subject. For yourself, writing a critique is important to
help you articulate your response to someone else’s ideas.
Content Development—To develop the content of your critique, you should consider the following
questions:
1. What is the author’s purpose? Is she or he trying to inform, persuade, or entertain? How can you
tell?
2. To what extent does the author succeed in realizing that purpose? What means does she or he use?
Consider the author’s rhetoric. What assumptions does the author make?
3. To what extent do you agree—or disagree—with the author? Why?
4. What assumptions are you making? State them clearly.
Organize your critique into five sections: introduction, summary, assessment of the presentation (on its
own terms), your response to the presentation, and conclusion.
Thus, your first body paragraph should offer a fair and accurate summary of the essay that you will be
critiquing. This summary should be no fewer than five sentences and no more than ten.
Genre and Disciplinary Conventions: Use MLA format and in-text citations throughout your
manuscriipt. Include an MLA Works Cited page.
Sources and Evidence: Each body paragraph of your essay should contain at least one quotation or
paraphrase from the source essay that you are critiquing. Every quotation and paraphrase should
include a signal phrase and an MLA in-text citation.
To earn at least a C (70) on this assignment, you must do all of the following things:
1. Write at least 850 words and not more than 1100.
2. Present your essay in MLA manuscriipt format.
3. Give your essay an interesting and original title.
4. Form a one-sentence thesis that is assertive, specific, and responsive to the prompt. Remember that
the thesis is neither an announcement nor a list.
5. Develop body paragraphs that are unified and coherent.
6. Include at least one outside source in your critique.
7. Prepare a correct and complete MLA Works Cited page.
8. Produce an essay that is substantially free of major errors of standard written English
