Argument essay: The following editorial appeared in the Broomall County Times-Picayune:

Topic:  The following editorial appeared in the Broomall County Times-Picayune:

"The Gordon Act, which established a wildlife refuge in the Big Dark Swamp, is currently up for reauthorization. The act prohibits the building of roads or cutting of old growth trees in the swamp, though it permits hunting. Many blamed logging activities for the decline of the bird population, especially that of the dappled grackle. The grackle population has continued to decline since the passage of the law, demonstrating that the Gordon Act has not been sufficient to protect the species. Another nearby refuge, the Wayne County Marsh Habitat, bans all mining, logging, and hunting. Wayne County officials have not reported a decline in the grackle population there. This proves that hunting, not logging, was responsible for the population drop in Broomall County. Thus, Broomall County should not reauthorize the Gordon Act unless it is amended to include the same provisions as those in Wayne County."

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

The given passage is an editorial in the Broomall County Times explaining why the reauthorization of the Gordon act should be banned. The passage looks quite lucid at first but is filled with assumptions and flaws. The author feels that the Gordon Act is responsible for the current conditions in the Big Dark Swamp and prohibiting the reauthorization of the Gordon Act will contribute to the improvement of such conditions for sure. However the author fails to consider multiple points and hence does not provide satiating points to bolster his argument. The reasons provided by the editor are also not completely convincing for banning the mentioned Act. The following points make it clearer to understand.

Firstly, the author mentions that The Gordon Act does not allow the contruction of roads and cutting of old trees in the swamp but provides the permit to hunting. He considers this as a reason for the decline of the bird population especially the drappled grackle. However, the author ignores to consider that even though there are trees, the Big Dark Swamp is a swamp and may lack habitation of other animals or insects. It is also possible that place might be deficit in treees that are suitable for vegetation and might not provide ample food for the breeding of bird species. The climate and environment are also important factors to be considered for the sustainability of the drapple grackle. Therefore hunting is not the only factor responsible for the scarcity of the population of the grackle. The author should have considered the above points or atleast mentioned the factors that are necessary for the bird to survive in a Swamp area. Had he provided the above data, his point would have been more lucid. 

The author makes comparison between a Swamp and a Marsh. He mentions that the a nearby refuge, the Wayne County Marsh habitat, has enacted few new regulations which in term have helped in controlling the decline of the bird population. However, the author fails to realize that he is making a comparison between a marsh and a swamp, both of which are quite dissimilar in the characteristics, environment and supporting habitat. The size and environment and population also differ in the two. Hence the two do not stand a chance for clear comparison. The author should have, instead, picked a point that is similar in the two places, like the population of the drapple grackle or the kind of environment they require. Instead, the focus was on the steps taken by the govenment of the Wayne County to save their grackle population, like ban on hunting, mining, logging etc which might not support the same improvements in the Broomall County Swamp. 

Finally, the author feels that it's only the Gordon act that is responsible for the decline of the grackle population and amends to the act is the only way of saving the declining bird population. Other important factors like activities inside the Swamp areas, food requirement by the birds to survive and climatic conditions and the population in the surrounding areas and their cooperation towards sustaining the habitat also matter. 

In conclusion, it can be said that, had the author kept the above points in mind while writing the editorial, then the argument would have been much more convincing, coherent and lucid. The premises provided by the author to bolster his claim do not make the argument convincing enough to ban the reauthorization of the Gordon Act and hence might not be put to action. 

Issue Essay: The way a message is delivered is often more important than the message itself

Topic- The way a message is delivered is often more important than the message itself.


A message is a means of expressing one's feelings when one needs to express them to other people or for some purpose. Messages aren't always good or bad. There can be messages that are important, messages that are happy, one's that are sad, a few that bring bad news and some that just pass information. So is the way in which a message is delivered, important? Yes it is. We often do not realize the value of expression. Delivering one's thoughts or information or feelings in the right way is very important. If this is not done in the right way, then things might go haywire and we might not get the expected output out of it. Hence it is very important to deliver a message in the right way. The following examples make this point more lucid and convincing. 

Let us consider the example of the terror attacks going on worldwide. One of the major instance of such an attack was the attack on the World Trade Centre in US. Every time there's a terror attack, or a warning about such an attack, there's always an ulterior motive to it. No terrorist does this for the benefit or pleasure of anybody. Every attack has a message and a purpose. So did the attack by Bin Laden on the world trade centre. The way of expressing his demands were very violent and inconsiderate. The way he executed his purpose caused a huge loss of life and property and ultimately did no good to even the people who attacked. Instead, Osama Bin Laden, could have kept his terms and conditions before the government and discussed the same and conveyed his demands first rather than attacking the massive sky skrapper. The way in which this message was delivered was not only harmful but also did not help in any way. 

Another such example is the example of the great writings by authors like Ruskin Bond and Oscar Wilde. These authors have always loved nature and romance and have conveyed their ideas and messages in such subtle yet convincing manner, that the reader can do nothing but fall in love with the story and portray himself in one such scenario. They also write many such prose and poetries that motivate people to do better for the society and themselves. Even the recent book written by the famous Youtuber Lilly Singh, that happens to be one of the top books in the New York best sellers list doesn't fail to convey Lilly's message to tackle with the different problems of life in a bold yet relaxed way. "How to be a Bawse" is a book that conveys Lilly Singh's story of how she pulled herself out of the difficult phase in life and helps others to motivate themselves to do the same. If the same work would have been put in the form of a movie or a video by the same person, then maybe, the results wouldn't have been so great and successful. 

Another example is one from a classroom. When a student performs well in an exam, the teacher appreciates them and gives them rewards. But the ones that do not perform so well, need to be tackled very tactfully by the teacher as his/her behavior might encourage or discourage the student to perform better next time. Therefore, a message when expressed well, it helps the other person to understand the intention of the message better and hence we get what we desire. So the way a message is delivered is often more important than the message itself, as it helps and makes a huge difference. 

Issue Essay: A person who knowingly commits a crime has broken the social contract and should not retain any civil rights or the right to benefit from his or her own labor.

Topic: A person who knowingly commits a crime has broken the social contract and should not retain any civil rights or the right to benefit from his or her own labor.

Crime is a wrong thing. And a crime done intentionally is even worse mainly because the person knows the deed he will be committing is wrong and yet he does so. A person who intentionally commits a crime definitely breaks the social contract and social protocol and should pay for his deeds. He should be punished for whatever he has done to go against the regular syntax of the society and should not be able to retain any civil rights or the right to benefit from his or own labor. Therefore it will not be wrong to agree with the given statement. 

As citizens of a country, we follow a certain societal norm and protocol set up by the government. Law and order are the checks put on such protocols and when a person breaks these protocols and goes against them, he commits a crime. In most of the cases, the crime is intentionally committed, knowing that the action taken is against the society's set rules and protocol. Every citizen abides by these rules and this is what makes a country disciplined and civilized. The higher the crime rate, the more dangerous and abominable the place becomes. A place with a high frequency of crime can never flourish and it's citizen can never find themselves safe or be at ease. Therefore a person who intentionally commits a crime, cannot be granted a chance to feel safe. For an instance, consider the case of the famous leaders of India, such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawarharlal Nehru. The leaders went on strikes and freedom struggles to get independence, and as per morality, there was nothing wrong in fighting for one's freedom. However, the national leaders did go against the law and declared war, where there was a massive loss of life and property to win the freedom struggle and this in turn caused the leaders to be severly punished by the British government. The were kept in prison for days and worked like slaves till the point of getting tortured to death. This was extreme punishment but at the end of the story, the government had to follow the rules set in law. 

Another such instance in the case of breaking speed limits in country of Tokyo. When a person crosses the speed threshold, the driver is charged with a heavy fine and might even be jailed for a certain period for breaking the speed limits. Driving a vehicle beyond the set limits, is considered a crime in Tokyo, as this might cause a loss of life as well propertyboth which are important aspects in life. Money cannot buy life. Hence the people in Tokyo follow very strict traffic rules. The person once jailed, does not hold any civil rights to benefit from his or her own labor and hence is bound to pay for the crime he committed. this in return, teahes the driver a lesson and makes sure that this doesn't happen again. This in turn contributes to driving within speed limits and also imbibes a feeling of responsibility and awareness among the drivers henceforth. 

Therefore, in conclusion, it can be said that, it is not right to forgive a person who intentionally commits a crime, because the repercussions of this crime an be severe and can have immense effects affecting others as well. Such people should be punished well, even to the extent that the person who commits the crime intentionally is considered to break the social contract and should not retain any civil rights or the right to benefit from his or her own labor. 

Argument essay: A movie producer sent the following memo to the head of the movie studio.

Topic: A movie producer sent the following memo to the head of the movie studio. 
“We need to increase the funding for the movie Working Title by 10% in order to ensure a quality product. As you know, we are working with a first-time director, whose only previous experience has been shooting commercials for a shampoo company. Since the advertising business is notoriously wasteful, it stands to reason that our director will expect to be able to shoot take after take, without concern for how much time is being spent on any one scene. In addition, while we have saved money by hiring relatively inexperienced assistant producers and directors, this savings in salary will undoubtedly translate to greater expenditures in paying the actors and unionized crew overtime for the extra hours they will spend on the set waiting for the assistant directors and producers to arrange things. If we don’t get this extra money, the movie is virtually assured to be a failure.”

The movie producer tries to convince the head of the movie studio about the extra funding that they'll be needing to make the movie, "Working Title" a success or ensure a good quality result. The author provides multiple reasons bolstering his claim for the increase in funding , which,however, are filled with doubts, flaws and assumpions. The following points give a better idea of the loopholes in the premises presented by the producer:-

Firstly, the producer claims that they would require an exact increase of 10% in the funding of the movie to ensure a better quality product. However, the producer does not give a measure or provide appropriate calculations to strengthen this point. Nowhere has he given a clear-cut calculation of why the movie requires only 10% increase and not a higher or lower quotation. Had the producer given more numerical and statistical values proving his points for the 10% increase in funding, would it make his justification and reasoning more lucid and convincing. The producer could also give values of salary given to the actors and other crew members, as he mentions that the money saved in hiring inexperienced director and producers compensates for the payment of the actors and crew. Therefore these points needed to be considered. 

Secondly, the producer mentions that the director hired for the movie is not well experienced in directing movies as he had a short term experience in shooting advertisements which have no similarity to shoots of a movie. So the director might not understand the necessity to focus on individual scenes for the perfection of the takes and might end up in a onerous process of shooting take after take. The author fails to consider that even though the director had experience in commercials previously, his background study might be generic and that the director might have a considerable knowledge in shooting movies. Otherwise, why would someone hire him to shoot something on which the director did not have any knowledge? The producer also assumes that since the director has less experience in the line, they might cut a little on the salary and use that amount for a better purpose, but the producer can also pay the director well to get a better outcome and shoot the movie in a better way. 

Finally, the author also says that the movie will be a virtually assured failure if the funding is not increased, but there can be multiple other reasons that can also contribute to the movie's failure apart from the increased funding. Factors like inappropriate setup, bad storyline, bad direction, improper acting etc can also contribute to the failure of the movie. The producer should mention the exact reason why he feels that the movie will not work if the funding isn't proper and must provide satiating reasons to support his point. 

Hence, in conclusion it can be said that, had the author considered the above flaws in his memo to the head of the movie studio, and supported his points with the good clarity, cohesive premises bolstering his claim and convincing factors to increase the funding, the memo would have been much more clear and easy to convince the head of the movie studio to hike the funds and contribution costs for the movie.  

Argument essay: The following opinion was provided in a letter to the editor of a national aeronautics magazine:

The following opinion was provided in a letter to the editor of a national aeronautics magazine:

“Manned space flight is costly and dangerous. Moreover, the recent success of a series of unmanned space probes and satellites has demonstrated that a great deal of useful information can be gathered without the costs and risks associated with sending men and women into space. Therefore, we should invest our resources in unmanned space flight."

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

The author of the given passage suggests that the National Aeronautics magazine should invest their resources in unmanned space flight rather than manned ones. The argument however does not completely hold strong on the grounds of the above claims. The author provides many such faults that show chance for doubt to the author's claim and hence the following reasons can be considered to bolster the fact that the argument is flawed and inconsistent. 

Firstly, the author mentions that the space flight that accomodate men or women are costly and dangerous. The author doesn't give any instance or examples to prove his point. How is the space flight carrying men be costly and expensive? Is it the additional expense that is given to the pilots or is it the cost of the high quality equipments used in the flight? On grounds of being dangerous, if the flight is a manned one, how does it show that it is dangerous? The problem can also lie in with the parts used in the flight or their might seem to be a problem with the machinary or mechanism during the build. In fact , if the flight is a manned one, their can be regular updates about the proceedings or faults in flight during the mission and the working can turn out to be more efficient. However the author provides no statistics or analogy to prove his point. 

Also the author feels that a larger and wider amount of information can be obtained from unmanned space probes than from manned ones. The author compares two probes that are not analogous to each other. Maybe a manned flight is differently built than an unmanned one. Maybe the cost of construction is more for the unmanned one as it substitutes all the requirements that a man could perform in a machine, which would surely require a more complicated and convoluted machinary as well as higher chances of failing. Likewise, a manned system will have different machinary and workings depending on the strength of the people travelling in it and human expertise required to update data and information. Therefore the grounds of comparison here, are flawed and not proven correctly.

Finally the author also feels that investing their resources in unmanned flights is more useful and maybe profitable for them. However the author fails to realize that the unmanned version of the space flight might require a higher amount of time, money, effort and human interference during its construction and would have to be fed with a set of pre fed instructions to gather information as per the requirement. Also the author should not forget the fact that a machine can never be 100% efficient and any failure can lead to a huge and massive debacle. Therefore the national aeronautics dept should give this consideration another thought.

Hence in conclusion, we can say that the above argument gives the above points for it to be considered as flawed and hence cannot be averred to. If the author kept the above points in mnd during his analysis of the manned and unmanned space probe, then he could have proven his point in a better and stronger way with valid points and justification. 

Issue Essay: Men and women, because of their inherent physical differences, are not equally suited for many tasks.

Men and women, because of their inherent physical differences, are not equally suited for many tasks.  



Men and women can never be the same. The statement given in the topic can be completely agreed upon. This is so because their structure and body patterns are not the same. Their built is different. The way each sex is traeted in the society is different and the way the society in general perceives things about females and males is different. But even after all these facts, I would like to disagree with the statement that "Men and Women, because of their inherent physical differences, are not equally suited for many tasks". Is this really true? Can this actually be averred to? Today the world has advanced till the moon and stars.Theres a women in every field. Women in noway are set back on any grounds whether it be physical or mental abilities. Someone rightly said, "Give a women a penny and she'll show you the power of that single currency within no time". That's how advanced women are today. And that's how advanced we as a society have become today. 

Now let us consider the example of the great Indian Boxer Anju Bobby George, whose trainer for the Olympics was her husband and who undoubtedly gave a brilliant performance in the Olympics and made all her country men proud. Boxing per say is a sports which needs a lot of hard work and physical efforts. From practicing over 5hours to maintaining diets and punching heavy boxing bags and practicing for long stretches. Long back this was a game meant only for boys. Girls were nowhere close to even the boxing arena. And today there are these luminaries who not only prove their gender but also make their country proud. And their partners support them immensely in doing so. This is something to be proud of. 

To take another instance, we can consider the case of Sania Mirza and Maria Sharapova who are world famous sports people. Even Kiran Bedi and Priyanka Chopra do not fail to surprise the world with their talent. If Neil Armstrong can touch the moon, so can Kalpana Chawla as a female. Even politics doesn't stand behind with female luminaries partiipating actively. Every field, every chapter, every page of todays history has instances of how women have proved their abilities against men and so do men. There sure is a huge contribution from today's male members as well who actively support every step of their female partners and not only encourage but also help them in rising in all ways possible. So why do men and women need to consider their physical differences when it comes to performing different tasks. If men can do it, so can women and if women can, so do men. There's no doubt in bolstering to this statement. 

Therefore in conclusion, I would like to say that no matter what the physical differences are, women can compete with men on all grounds. In fact they are all set to prove male sovereinism wrong and show the power of their gender. No physical difference can stop a women from doing the same job that a man can do. Whether it be weight lifting, playing tremendously strenous games like hockey or the all time rough sport- boxing. Whether it be the NASA or the Olympics, Women are leaving the mark of their amazing and incredible work in every field. The case is the same with men as well. Today, men support their ladies in every aspect. Whether it be household work or the regular office chores. Every field that had a dominance for men has the same for women and vice versa.Hence there is no doubt in denying to the above given topic that men and women, because of their inherent physical differences, are not equally suited for many tasks. The world today is a place where men and women share their duties and responsibilities equally. Whether it be on grounds of competition or partnership, sports or IT, work or household. They are equally responsible for for it all. 

Argument Essay: Sun-Beem Facial Cleanser

The regional brand manager sent the following memo to the national brand manager for Sun-Beem Facial Cleanser.
“We need to institute a huge publicity campaign for the launch of Sun-Beem’s improved formula. Without an enormous media blitz, including television, radio, internet, and magazine ads, potential new customers will not be aware of our product. And previous customers will not be aware that Sun-Beem’s new, non-carcinogenic formula is on the shelves. The best way to combat the negative publicity Sun-Beem’s old formula received is to fight fire with fire, by using the media’s insatiable interest in any new news about Sun-Beem to sell the new formula. This will erase the negative connotations in the minds of former customers, and will ensure that Sun-Beem is once again the best-selling facial cleanser on the market.”
Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument

The given argument is from the Regional brand manager to the national brand manager about promoting the new Sun Beam Facial Cleanser. The manager suggests that the company should have a huge media coverage for the release of this product as this is the most convenient way to build up a good reputation about the brand, as they faced a few criticisms about their previous products before. However, the argument does not seem to be cohesive and lucid and the points provided by the author to bolster his claim do not seem to be satiable or fully strengthen his points. Hence the argument has multiple flaws and the following points give a more pellucid picture of the same. 

Firstly, the regional manager feels that instituting a huge publicity campaign for the new product by involving media like magazine, television, radio etc, would make the product famous and attract potential customers towards it. However, the manager fails to consider the point that the quality and history of the product and the brand name also matter to some extent. The customers who already know about the previous impressions about the past products would be skeptical about trying the new ones and the one's that are new to the brand would buy it only if the product is affordable and of good quality. Therefore, the brand should focus on these intricacies rather than throwing an enormously exaggerated product release in the media. 

Secondly, the author mentions that the new formula is non-carcenogenic and wants to make the customers aware of it. However the author does not provide any evidence for the same, such as some test results or some guarantee stating that the product is safe to use. This makes things bewildering and unsure for the customers as the product that does not claim to be safe, cannot be used by the public, no matter how luxurious the branding is. The author, therefore, should have provided some strong supporting background data to make his point more cohesive and convincing. 

The author also mentions that the branding of the product through a huge media coverage would be like fighting fire with fire and would help remove the previous impression of people about the product and would also give media a chance to publicize the new product in a better way. However, there have been multiple other sources through which peple would get reviews about the product and would also know about previous impressions of the same. And as the famous quotation goes, first impression lasts long, hence this would make it difficult for the product to make a clean entry into the cosmetic and skin care market. Had the author presented the article with some good reviews or evidences proving that the new product is improved and the customers must try it once before judging it on pre-conceived notions, would the point have made a better meaning. 

In conclusion, it can be said that, had the Regional manager kept the above points in mind, his argument would have been much more coherent and convincing. However, since the author fails to consider the above points, the argument remains incoherent and doesn't provide satiating reasons for the customers to buy the new product from Sun-beem facial cleanser.