ESSAY ASSIGNMENT 111
WRITING A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
GUIDELINES
Assignment III requires students to
demonstrate their skills and processes of
analyzing, evaluating and synthesizing through the
application of social studies knowledge and
understanding.
WHAT ARE YOU TO DO?
Students must respond to an issues-
focused question. This is done in the
form of a letter to an editor.
AND HOW DO YOU DO THIS?
 Several brief responses from
fictitious citizens will be provided to
serve as a prompt for students.
UH OH…A LETTER?
Don’t Stress! All you have to do is write a
response in paragraph form that shows that
you are critically responding to the question
LET’S DO ONE TOGETHER!
Your local newspaper asked three citizens selected at random
to respond to the following question:
How should we respond to globalization
in terms of it’s effects on our environment?
GUIDELINES
 Write a letter to the editor in which you must:
 explore the issue of how to respond to globalization
 analyze various points of view on the issue
 explain and defend your position on the question
 support your point of view using your understanding of social
studies
CITIZEN 1
 The increase in global economic activity and our dramatic increase
for products demands that our environment needs to be taken care of
in order for economic globalization to reach its full potential. If we
do not have a safe and conserved environment, globalization will not
function effectively in the long haul.
CITIZEN 2
 If the environmental quality goes down, this puts our security and
quality of life at risk. When insecurity increases due to environmental
issues, violence erupts and in our global economy we see this in
Venezuela and Ukraine: Countries rich in resources such as oil and
agriculture. Lack of care for the environment puts our security at
risk.
CITIZEN 3
 What will happen if our fresh water reserves run out and all the ice
melts? The results of CO2 pollution and the global climate increase
has caused an increase in natural disasters around the world and
devastation of people everywhere. It is not only the minority groups
and third world countries being effected, first world countries are too.
If we keep turning a blind eye to what our industries are doing to the
environment through the oil sands and clear cutting, we are putting
our future generations in jeopardy.
HOW IS IT MARKED?
Exploration and Analysis 8%
Defense of Position
8%
Communication
4%