You will primarily be using Kolbert’s “Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds”
For this essay, you will generally be responding and comparing results of minor research to the claim made by Elizabeth Kolbert. In your essay, I want you to address these following questions:
Do you think you are rational and revise your beliefs when you encounter facts? When had your belief been proven incorrect? Examine and develop a situation for when you did revise and when you did not? (That is the funny duality of being human)
Why was there a difference in the results? Why did you change or not change?
Do you agree with the article’s conclusion? Support with evidence and examples.
Point of clarification: Believe is something you think you know; this is not an exercise about examining faith, as you cannot really pose up facts against it.
To help develop your response, I want you to also find an article that either supports or refutes the content Kolbert proposes. Just a quick reminder, Wikipedia is never an acceptable source; it is a great place to start if you do not know about a subject but cannot be cited as a source. Neither are encyclopedias or reference sources of similar standing—the issue with these sources is they already summarize the general highlights point for you; you need to be able to the basic research necessary to support an argument.
You are required to cite from both Kolbert’s article and the one you find for the assignment. I expect at least two citations from each. Make the evidence you use worthwhile. Do not pull a quote that lends nothing to your writing or that is so mundane or obvious it needs not be stated. All of your evidence should be worked into sentences you create; it is there to support YOUR words. Quotes never stand alone. Example:
“Humans’ biggest advantage over other species is out ability to cooperate” (Kolbert).—This is incorrect; it is a quote standing alone.
It seems incongruous that if out “biggest advantage over other species is our ability to cooperate” (Kobert), that we will then refuse to cooperate when our beliefs do not match with facts.—This sentence takes some evidence and incorporates it in a fashion which supports the writer’s point.
Finally, you should have a Works Cited page which contains both Kolbert’s article and the one you use. This should be the last page of your essay, as a separate page titled Works Cited. Remember to organize alphabetically.
at, between 500 and 750 words (100 words below or above this range and I deduct 50 points from the final grade). Turn in only as a word doc with file name: Yourlastname_Limitations.
