Michael D. answered • 10/13/20
MA English, PhD (ABD) Rhetoric & Writing Studies, professor, trainer
Hi, Miriam. I'm guessing the exercise lists "So what" questions about current events or controversial topics, such as "Should we have stronger gun control?" "Should all students have access to free or reduced college tuition?" or "Is vaping really a national crisis?" and so on. Your task is to evaluate how well several news sources address one question. While this may be challenging on several levels, we can break the task down into manageable steps.
First, identify a topic or "So what" question to explore. Pick something that is interesting and personally relevant - that makes it easier already, because you want to know the information and will be intrigued by the different information provided by different news sources. Let's say you choose the question about free or reduced college tuition.
Second, search for "reduced college tuition New York Times" to find a list of articles by that newspaper. Pick a recent one and skim it to get the general idea of its position and content. Does it address your "So what?" question? Print or save the article so you can go back later.
Third, search for the same topic but a different newspaper name. Carefully review to be sure to choose another recent article on a very similar topic.Save and skim.
Then pick a third article from a different news source.
While reviewing sources, you might want to get some insight on their reliability and credibility. The media bias evaluator at https://www.adfontesmedia.com/ is very good.
Now you are ready to do your analysis of the three sources.
Now read the articles closely. Take notes or highlight important things in the articles.
Then compare the three on whatever criteria your assignment requires. Here's a good start:
Focus: How does each discuss a slightly different aspect of the topic?
Depth: Does one give more detail, more background, more supporting quotes from reliable sources? Is one missing important parts of the issue?
Position: Do any show a bias or opinion about the topic or have a message that criticizes or praises?
Take notes on these!
Ultimately, you can use this information to answer the assigned question about how well each has answered the "So what" question. Ready to write? Yes, you are!
Be sure to write an introduction paragraph in which you state your question, mention the three articles, and give your overall opinion about how well they answer the question. This last sentence is your thesis. Don't forget to include it in your intro!
Write a body paragraph for each source. Be sure to begin with a topic sentence that identifies the author, article and newspaper source. Give a very brief summary of what the article contains. Spend most of your time on your analysis of its coverage of the question using the criteria.
Conclude by pulling together your observations to support your final answer about whether the sources answered the "So what" question. Restate your thesis with something like this: "While Article X and Y only addressed a small part of the question or just gave an opinionated rant without much actual information, Article Z provided a very credible and complete answer supporting the position that only some students should qualify for entirely free tuition."
Revise and proofread, then submit your outstanding analysis!
I'll be happy to give your paper a review, if you would like.
Write on!
Michael
