PART 1: read
and summarize two (2) interesting and relevant articles from different news
sources that talk about the global issue topic. News sources can be newspapers,
magazines, blogs…any internet or paper news source…but you are not allowed
to use a source twice. The purposes of this assignment are to become familiar
with new sources of information from an international perspective and to
discover what the world is talking about. U.S. outlets such as
Wikipedia, any encyclopedia, the New York Times and CNN are not eligible for
use in this assignment. BRANCH OUT and examine newspapers/magazines from around the
globe. The best strategy is to identify your topic and international sources
and begin to monitor them from early in the term for articles on your
theme. I am looking for a concise yet thorough description of the two article’s
content. Summarize both articles on a single word-processing documenting two
detailed, one paragraph for each article.
A good rule of thumb in doing these assignments is to remember that I am
not reading the articles, so it is your job to fully explain and summarize
them, as well as apply them to the questions asked for that week.
PART 2: An
op-ed is an opinion piece of writing, written in response to a news article or
story. The writer discusses the issue,
states an opinion, and backs it up with supportive facts or reasons, designed
to persuade his or her target audience. You need to write an open ed based on
the articles that you summarized. You
may argue positions in favor or against a particular viewpoint but make your
argument clear and concise. I am looking
for an understanding of Global Issues concepts and their application to the
real world. Clear and detailed writing assignments will earn the most points,
and short submissions or ones with a lack of detail and explanation will
receive fewer points. When writing your op-ed, it helps sometimes to consider
some of the following questions about your topic:
• What are the root problems or
challenges inside your topic area?
• What political or economic solutions
have been tried to correct this problem?
• How do states and non-state actors
interact inside this issue?
• Who has come out better (or worse)
because of the responses to this issue?
