Assignment Task: Use this guide to help you formulate the issues you would like to bring up during the discussion.
1) Briefly State the topic of the reading in one or two sentences (Think of it as a motto, a bumper sticker or a t-shirt slogan).
2) List and discuss 3 important facts/lines of evidence/data the author uses to support the main idea. Use specific examples, not generalized statements, but the actual evidence that supports the author's main idea (these should be complete sentences and as detailed as possible).
3) What ideas/items seem significant, intriguing, or puzzling? Items can be anything-a statement, the setting, a name, the situation, a conflict, and an irony-anything of interest about the article. Prepare questions about these to ask during discussions. Write at least three questions.
4) How would it relate this work to other materials you have read in this class or in other classes? Where are these ideas located (e.g., textbook chapters and page numbers or article name, author and page numbers)? Use examples from BOTH Larsen and other assigned readings.
5) List any examples of bias or faulty reasoning that you found in the article. Be as specific as possible as to WHY you believe it to be biased. DO NOT say, "I guess the discussion was kind of faulty." Or the article may have faulty reasoning by not fully explaining whose right or wrong. This should be bias of the AUTHOR not bias of the history (these should be complete sentences and as detailed as possible).
6) Note words that are unfamiliar to you or seem to have been used in a special manner to create an impression. Note the context of the phrase where you first saw it, the page number from which it came, and provide a definition of the word. Cite your source for the definition.
7) What is your opinion of this selection? Provide a reason for your opinion.
8) What is the "take home message" of this article (what did you learn)?
Article: Immanent benefit America by Steven J gold