Challenging the Evidence Paper:
3 pages, typed double spaced

Goal: Have students use scholarly sources and to develop their analytical powers and their powers of discernment after attending the Information Literacy session.

For this requirement, make use of the Information Literacy session in the library. Find two different articles with different views or positions the same topic using scholarly databases (like Academic Search Premiere), scholarly websites, or a chapter from a book, and have them compare and contrast the evidence presented.

Be sure to analyze two different sources that present information on the same topic (a scholarly journal and a website, for instance). You should summarize the contentions made (through contrast and comparison), determine the author's credentials, date of information, sources used, etc.

Introduction:

Start with an introduction that describes the issue on which you are focusing, summarizes an assertion, even quoting a particular claim, and then include your own thesis statement (arguable assertion) based on your research. For example, you may have found that the number of parents actually obtaining additional time on the SATs for their child is quite small, but in response to such practices, the SAT Board has tightened its criteria for such accommodations, your thesis might read, "Though the author is correct in his assertion that parents help their fully capable children to gain an unfair advantage on the SATs by having them labeled "disabled," the number of unqualified students being granted more time is quite small, and the Scholastic Aptitude Board has recently narrowed the qualifications of those allowed more time on the tests."

Body: For the body of the paper, present the evidence you have found in emphatic order (least substantial or important to most convincing and important), quoting from your sources, as appropriate. All evidence and opinions taken from your sources must be cited according to MLA format (see handout from library).

Conclusion: The final paragraph is your conclusion. Here, you summarize what you have presented (do not simply restate what is in your introduction), showing the logical progression to your final point.

Works Cited page: You must include a Works Cited page in correct MLA format. See handouts from the library and see MLA website.