Analyzing the Effectiveness of Sources

Answer one of the prompts below in your response:

1. What makes a source effective? Pick one characteristic of an effective source to discuss (credibility, persuasive logical reasoning, accuracy of information, or substantial evidence).
2. How can a source that disagrees with your potential argument still be a useful source when writing a research essay?

The 200-300 word response should follow the body paragraph structure.

1. 1. It should start with a topic sentence that expresses a focused claim. The topic sentence’s claim should provide a clear answer to the prompt in a single sentence. You do not need to provide all the answers you can think of to answer the prompt. A paragraph should focus on and develop a single idea. Keep the answer focused. Coming up with a strong topic sentence will take some revision since most of us do not come up with strong topic sentences in the first draft. After writing the first draft, look for a sentence that clearly expresses the paragraph’s main idea. Once found, move that sentence and/or idea to the start of the paragraph.
   2. Provide specific evidence from the assigned reading to support the topic sentence’s claim. Follow MLA formatting for in-text citations, even when summarizing or paraphrasing the text.
   3. Thoroughly explain how the evidence supports the topic sentence’s claim. Do not assume that the reader will immediately reach the same conclusion when presented with the evidence. Explain your reasoning.