AP Language and Composition
Room for Debate, NYT
30 points
Due Monday, 8/14 – 2nd, 3rd, and 5th
1st hour: Due Tuesday, 8/14
1. Go to Lab 31. Login to the computer using your full email address and password. Keep
talking to a minimum. Create an environment that is conducive to quiet, in-depth
thinking. If you are doing this at home, find a quiet place to work.
2. Click on the WH webpage, teacher page, Lauren Hill and look at the class website. Be
sure to locate and click on the calendar. You will find this assignment and the graphic
organizer under “Class Documents”.
3. Search for “New York Times Room for Debate.”
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate
4. Scroll through the topics and find one that interests you. There are over 30 pages of
topics, so do not pick too quickly. If you want to browse by subject, scroll down the first
page and look for the list. DO NOT pick the same topic as anyone sitting around you.
We want as many topics represented as possible.
5. Read all of the articles that apply to your topic. You may print them out and read them
on paper or read them online. Consider saving what you can to your skydrive for easy
access to it later.
6. As you read all of the supporting documents, fill out the graphic organizer. When
you’ve reviewed everyone else’s ideas on the subject, come up with your own
conclusion (thesis) and put it in the square at the bottom. Be sure to word it carefully.
You do not need a clearly affirmative or negative position. You can qualify your
response, offering criteria under which you might agree or disagree with a particular
idea. (For example, “The death penalty is not an ethical way to deal with crime, except
when …”)
7. Turn in your paper. Be sure your name is on it.
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AP Language Western Hills High School