Assignment
Research question: Is the claim made in the ETs-on-Earth passage reasonable and possibly true?
Length: 750-1000 words (about three to four pages), double-spaced, in MLA format. Your Works Cited page does not count toward the assignment length.
Sources: You need at least one credible secondary source. Your primary source is How to Think About Weird Things. You may find your secondary source on the Internet.
Thesis statement: In this essay, your thesis statement should be your answer to the research question.
Explanation: SEARCH the following passage, from page92 of How to Think About Weird Things:
The evidence that extraterrestrials are visiting Earth and currently operating in our skies on a regular uninterrupted basis is extensive beyond a shadow of a doubt both in scope and detail. In its totality it comprises a body of evidence so profound that it has numbed the human experience of all government and religious leaders around the world into an absolute de facto policy of denial. This would also include most if not all members of the mainstream scientific community who fear the social stigma associated with the subject. (From a UFO/alien visitation Web site.)
Helpful hints:
• Include concepts discussed in Chapters 1 through 4 in our textbook. For instance:
o Do you spot any logical fallacies in the claim?
o Can you diagram the logical argument used in the claim?
o What guiding principles are you able to use when looking at the claim?
o What kind of evidence is present in the claim?
o How do beliefs affect the claim?
Text Book: How to Think about Weird Things by Theodore Schick, Jr., SEVENTH EDITION.