Source Evaluation

Crocco, Margaret Smith. "The Road to the Vote: Women, Suffrage, and the Sphere."
Social Education. Sept. 1995: 257-264. SIRS Researcher. Web. 25 Jul 2010.

I found this article on the Sirs database. I plan to use this source in my paper because the information I found on this was relative to the topic I had chosen to write about. My topic is the women’s rights movement and this is primarily about voting and other basic rights. The source I found has a lot of great information about this journey in American history and I can use this to help me understand why the women in Atwood’s book put up with the way they were treated.

Imbornoni, Ann-Marie. "Women's Rights Movement in the U.S.." Women's Rights Movement in
the U.S: Timeline of Events (1848-1920). Information Place Database, 2007. Web. 25 Jul
2010.

This source is pretty good because it lists specific events on a timeline so I can look for key points in history and dates. I can use this sight to see what events transpired and then go into further research on the specific event at a later time.

Analysis: I researched the author, Anne-Marie Imboroni, and found out that she is a published children’s author as well as an editor. She wrote the book The American Heritage Student Thesaurus. As far as I can tell, this organization, Information Please Database, is part of an educational network so it would make sense that it would be very well edited and maintained. Because my paper is based on information that happened almost 90 years ago, it is not important that the information is kept current, since I just need dates in the past. The information on this site seemed solid, as I would use this as a reference and research the date and information and it always matched up with what other information I found. I could not find any outside factors that would make me think this source is infected with influences that might make the information less valid. From what I can tell, this source is a very good source for me to use as a reference.

Shane Webb
July 16, 2010
Laura Darrow
Topic Proposal
For my essay about a topic that relates to The Handmaids Tale, I would like to research the women’s movement in the United States. The main reason that I want to write this is during the book, it seemed that the women had no choice but to be submissive. In my history class, we briefly talked about the women’s movements and the life they had before hand. It seemed that they too had to be submissive to the men in their lives, be it their father or brother or even husband. I think my question would be why did they not stand up sooner, why did it takes long for the women of the United States to stand up for themselves against oppression. I believe this will help me understand Atwood’s book more because I feel like the women in that book are treated almost as good as the furniture, which in some cases the protagonist makes ties to how she is like furniture.

Thesis

1. A is the weaker thesis statement. It is short and not specific enough. It covers a very ambiguous topic whereas the latter one is more defined and focused.
2. Again, A is the more ambiguous and therefore weaker. The latter explains where the paper is going, whereas the first does not.
3. For once, B is the weaker thesis. It is unfocused, where A is more direct in where the paper will head.
4. A is the weaker thesis. Othello is more than just a play about love and jealousy, the first thesis does not get that point across. The second one says what the first one says, yet expounds on it and explains further.
5. A is the weaker of the two. It does not stay focused and is more than one sentence long. The second sentence says almost the same thing in a much more composed manner.

Check in

July 9, 2010
Ms. Laura Darrow
Good Afternoon,
First and foremost, thank you for such a wonderful class. The assignments are challenging and therefore, rewarding. My biggest challenge so far has been scheduling my time for this class. I have been going out of state a lot for family and medical reasons, and also I work full time, so getting time out of the day to do school work can be nearly impossible. My goals for the second half of the semester is to pass primarily, as well as getting everything turned in on time. The readings have been very interesting, as well as challenging for me. I try not to think much about the war or war in general because I have family overseas so it was difficult.

Thank you,
Shane Webb