Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
After we finish reading the book Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, you will write a brief
response paper.
This paper is to be about 2 pages long.
This paper is due Friday, January 15
1) Read the assigned material: Carefully read the book. Remember, you only have to read
“Serving in Florida, “Selling in Minnesota” and “Evaluation”. Take notes on the author's feelings
and your thoughts of agreement or disagreement. Highlight any parts of the writing that
particularly jump out to you.
2) Write a summary: For the first paragraph of your reaction paper, write a summary of the text
and describe the author's position on the subject he has covered.
3) Evaluate the text: In the second and following paragraphs, tell your feelings on the text and
how they relate to the author's thoughts. You may find yourself either agreeing or disagreeing.
Each paragraph should detail a specific piece of evidence from the original text and include your
position as well as the author's. You should be able to discern, a) what point/s the author was
trying to get across, and b) what strengths and weaknesses exist in the argument.
One last note: Comments like, “The text was interesting” or, “The text was boring” are not
useful—they tell me nothing about what you took away from the reading. Instead, I am asking
you to summarize and evaluate arguments:
Does the author obviously exclude or not account for certain groups/points of view?
What are the implications of these leaps of logic or exclusions?
Identify key arguments and discuss their relative strengths and weaknesses.
In addition, this is your evaluation and response to this essay and the author’s opinion and
argument. It is NOT meant to be your own personal diatribe on the issue. Evaluate the text and
the evidence presented.
4) Write a conclusion: The final paragraph is your conclusion. This should summarize your
position on the material you read. Overall, what were your feelings about the author's opinions?