Evaluating Arguments About the Environment

Evaluating Arguments About the Environment is part of Crabtree’s new series, “State Your Case”. This series teaches readers how to construct an effective argument using six steps.

1. Identify your core argument, where you stand on an issue.
2. State your claims that support the core argument.
3. Give detailed reasons to support your claims.
4. Support your reasons with credible evidence.
5. Counter claims from the opposite point of view.
6. Finish with a strong restatement of your main argument.

Students are then guided to evaluate three current high-interest topics to determine whether each side of a topic has presented a strong argument considering the core arguments, claims, reasons, evidence, counterclaims, and conclusion.

Evaluating Arguments About the Environment follows the standard format for nonfiction: table of contents, text and photographs, glossary, additional resources, an index, and a short biography about the author. Also included is an extensive bibliography.

The three topics that students evaluate in “Evaluating Arguments About the Environment” are “Should Clear-Cutting Forests for Agriculture Be Allowed?”, “Does Bottled Water Do More Harm Than Good?”, and “Should Schools Go Paperless?”. Arguments for and against each topic are presented and then summarized. Students are reminded, “When it comes to any issue, you need to look at arguments on both sides before you decide where you stand”. Students are then asked to “state your own case”.

Following the format of the book, I am going to present my reasons for and against purchasing Evaluating Arguments About the Environment.

For:

Information on what makes a good argument and how to critically evaluate an argument is clear and age-appropriate.

Information on the three forms of rhetoric – pathos, ethos, and logos – is clear and includes an example for students to use to practice identifying the forms of rhetoric.

Photos show a diversity of people engaged in environmental activities around the world.

Topics for discussion are high-interest and should engage students.

A few Canadian statistics are use, including mention of the fact that “some First Nations communities in Canada do not have the option of drinking water from the tap unless it is boiled, and may choose to use bottled water.
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The information in the introduction and the organization used in “Evaluating Arguments About the Environment” are consistent with the information and organization in the other books in the “State Your Case” series, making these books well suited to use in small groups.

Against:

Photos are sometimes blurry.

Photo captions are sometimes confusing or incomplete. For example, is a red-backed poison frog the most persuasive argument against habitat destruction caused by clear-cutting?

Research cited and examples are frequently from US sources.

The information in the introduction and the organization used in “Evaluating Arguments About the Environment” are so consistent with the other books in the “State Your Case” series that you may only want to purchase one book from the series.

Note: The text in the first two chapters of each book in the series is almost word for word identical with different examples inserted to demonstrate the points made in the content. It is hard to understand how two different authors could claim to have written these books.

Conclusion:

The information on creating and evaluating arguments is useful content for Grade 5-9 students. Although there is an emphasis on American statistics, the concerns raised in the argument topics are global.

If you are looking for a book to help your students write and recognize effective arguments based on logic and evidence, Evaluating Arguments About the Environment is the best of the “State Your Case” series.