Causes And Impacts Of Economic Recession Of 2007
Guidelines for Critical Essay (XCR opportunity)
Once you find your topic of interest, raise a ‘critical thinking question’ about your topic (ex: Should the government decrease the national debt?) and start working on your research paper of about 5 pages (word count: 1200-1500 words).
Your paper should include an introduction with your thesis. The main body and paragraphs should include arguments and supportive evidence in favor of your topic (ex: pros for a decrease in the national debt) and arguments and supportive evidence against that topic (ex: cons for decrease in the national debt). It should become a well-rounded argumentative essay.
For the conclusion I would like YOUR critical analysis and your viewpoint on the topic, i.e. your opinion – based on and supported by evidence. You should try and support your arguments with some positive economics: find facts and data (i.e. charts, tables, graphs) and include those as well. Your paper should include scholarly sources (provide references to sources throughout your essay and the bibliography at the end of the paper).
Be sure to avoid plagiarism, i.e. copy and paste from other authors. You need to re-write the information in your own words and cite the sources throughout the paper, so I can see where you found your information.
I am also including a rubric that I use to grade your paper:
Critical essay rubric:
| Feature | Present | Absent | Comment |
| Is the paper typed? | |||
| Attention grabbing sentence? | |||
| Introduction: Is focus of essay explicitly stated? What is the research question? | |||
| Definitions of the main concept?
Ex: Economic Growth, Unemployment, Hyper Inflation or Inflation, Deficit versus Debt, Great Recession/Great Depression |
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| Is the research question clear? | |||
| Graphs? | |||
| Balance of pros and cons?
Are the arguments convincing? Based on evidence? |
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| Conclusion? | |||
| Cite References? Scholarly Sources?
How many scholarly references? |
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| Word Count? | |||
| Charts? |
General Feedback:
Grammatical errors: MINOR/MAJOR?
(IF MAJOR, WRITING CENTER is recommended)
For Each Topic: what additional features are included?
Examples:
ECONOMIC GROWTH: Compare one original Asian Tiger with either China or India
UNEMPLOYMENT: Compare the unemployment rates with other states or cities or nations and identify the reasons.
HYPERINFLATION / INFLATION: Compare with Argentina or Zimbabwe or Venezuela.
DEFICIT VS DEBT: Compare US with another country.
GREAT RECESSION/GREAT DEPRESSION: Compare within the US or with another country.
