Counterpoint: Addressing Climate Change Requires a Cool-Headed, Gradual Response Thesis: While climate change is an issue that needs to be solved, alarmism over human-generated climate change is counterproductive to solving the problem. The United States should instead focus on slower changes to create long-term solutions. Talking Points • While most scientists are in agreement about the need to curb climate change, there are opposing views about how to make those changes. • Climate alarmism can lead to eco-anxiety and an overreaction that could harm rather than help reduce climate change. • Immediate action is financially irresponsible and takes focus and funding away from more pressing global issues. Summary Climate alarmists use statistics about increasing carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere to argue that immediate action needs to be taken, otherwise the planet will be unrecognizable by 2030 and could lead to a decimated population by 2050. These statements, which are spread through media outlets and social media platforms, have caused eco-anxiety among a wide range of the younger population, as reported by environmental writer Michael Shellenberger in a Forbes opinion piece. While climate alarmists are trying to call people to action, experts state that this rhetoric can actually have the opposite effect, causing people to believe that it is already too late to correct climate change and that the youngest generations will be inheriting an unfixable earth. Shellenberger argues that these apocalyptic views are not only exaggerated, but that alarmism does more psychological harm than environmental good. Instead of immediate action and alarmist rhetoric, critics believe a slower, and more thought-out process would be beneficial to curbing climate change. Those who disapprove of drastic climate action argue that current plans are expensive, yet will not provide the changes necessary to create a real impact. As climate activism critic Bjorn Lomborg explained for Forbes, "The cost would vastly outweigh the benefit to the extent that each dollar spent will avoid just 11¢ of global climate damage." Lomborg further argued that such spending would be better used for more immediate problems, like funding vaccinations or investing in solving poverty and food shortages. Supporters of a gradual response to climate change argue that a smarter way to tackle this problem is to invest in current green initiatives, including green energy suppliers like solar and wind energy, and phase out the use of fossil fuels. These long-term investments will work to battle climate change, while remaining fiscally responsible. In addition, constant progress in technologies, such as improvements in manufacturing, alternative energy sources, and cleaner burning automobiles all help to make lowering our greenhouse gasses a realistic option without taking drastic, immediate action. Ponder This • The author has presented the fundamental positions for this p ...

1. Counterpoint: Addressing Climate Change
Requires a Cool-Headed, Gradual Response
Thesis: While climate change is an issue that needs to be
solved, alarmism over human-generated climate change is
counterproductive to solving the problem. The United States
should instead focus on slower changes to create long-term
solutions.
Talking Points
• While most scientists are in agreement about the need
to curb climate change, there are opposing views about
how to make those changes.
• Climate alarmism can lead to eco-anxiety and an
overreaction that could harm rather than help reduce
climate change.
• Immediate action is financially irresponsible and takes
focus and funding away from more pressing global
issues.
Summary
Climate alarmists use statistics about increasing carbon dioxide
and methane in the atmosphere to argue that immediate action
needs to be taken, otherwise the planet will be unrecognizable
by
2030 and could lead to a decimated population by 2050. These
statements, which are spread through media outlets and social
media platforms, have caused eco-anxiety among a wide range
of the younger population, as reported by environmental writer

2. Michael Shellenberger in a Forbes opinion piece. While climate
alarmists are trying to call people to action, experts state that
this
rhetoric can actually have the opposite effect, causing people to
believe that it is already too late to correct climate change and
that
the youngest generations will be inheriting an unfixable earth.
Shellenberger argues that these apocalyptic views are not only
exaggerated, but that alarmism does more psychological harm
than environmental good.
Instead of immediate action and alarmist rhetoric, critics
believe
a slower, and more thought-out process would be beneficial
to curbing climate change. Those who disapprove of drastic
climate action argue that current plans are expensive, yet will
not
provide the changes necessary to create a real impact. As
climate
activism critic Bjorn Lomborg explained for Forbes, "The cost
would vastly outweigh the benefit to the extent that each dollar
spent will avoid just 11¢ of global climate damage." Lomborg
further argued that such spending would be better used for more
immediate problems, like funding vaccinations or investing in
solving poverty and food shortages.
Supporters of a gradual response to climate change argue that
a smarter way to tackle this problem is to invest in current
green initiatives, including green energy suppliers like solar
and wind energy, and phase out the use of fossil fuels. These
long-term investments will work to battle climate change, while
remaining fiscally responsible. In addition, constant progress
in technologies, such as improvements in manufacturing,
alternative energy sources, and cleaner burning automobiles all
help to make lowering our greenhouse gasses a realistic option

3. without taking drastic, immediate action.
Ponder This
• The author has presented the fundamental positions for
this perspective in the debate. Outline the strengths and
weaknesses of each perspective.
• If asked to begin forming an argument for this position,
what sources would you need to build your case? What
fundamental information do you need? What opinion
leaders in this debate would you look to in solidifying
your argument?
• What are the weakest aspects of the position outlined
by the author? How might those weaker arguments help
you prepare a counter argument?
• What additional Talking Points could you add to support
this position?
Bibliography
"Climate Change." Environmental Protection Agency,
United States, 22 Oct. 2021, www.epa.gov/climate-
change. Accessed 3 Dec. 2021.
Lomborg, Bjorn. "Pressing Pause in Climate Alarmism in
Favor of Smarter
Solution

4. s." Forbes, 20 May 2021,
www.forbes.com/sites/bjornlomborg/2021/05/20/
pressing-pause-in-climate-alarmism-in-favor-of-
smarter-solutions/?sh=fc73e35529a2. Accessed 2 Dec.
2021.
Copyright © EBSCO Information Services, Inc. • All Rights
Reserved
Page 1
Shellenberger, Michael. "Why Climate Alarmism Hurts
Us All." Forbes, 4 Dec. 2019, www.forbes.com/
sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/12/04/why-climate-
alarmism-hurts-us-all/?sh=2052c1b36d89. Accessed 2
Dec. 2021.
By Amy Witherbee
Copyright © EBSCO Information Services, Inc. • All Rights
Reserved
Page 2

5. Copyright of Points of View: Global Warming is the property of
Great Neck Publishing and
its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or
posted to a listserv without the
copyright holder's express written permission. However, users
may print, download, or email
articles for individual use.
Copyright of Points of View: Global Warming is the property of
Great Neck Publishing and
its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or
posted to a listserv without the
copyright holder's express written permission. However, users
may print, download, or email
articles for individual use.
Table of ContentsCounterpoint: Addressing Climate Change
Requires a Cool-Headed, Gradual ResponseTalking
PointsSummaryPonder ThisBibliography
Unit 3
Critical Race Theory

6. ⁃ Draws on legal scholarship, sociology, Black Feminist
Theory, economics, and philosophy to raise questions about the
construction of race in the US and other modern societies.
⁃ A framework that provides a race-conscious approach to
understanding issues like structural racism
⁃ Race cannot be understood without considering how law has
constructed race and subordinated people of color.
⁃ Racism is not the work of extremists, but instead is a socially
constructed concept that is built into the structure of our
society.
Five basic tenants of critical race theory
1.Racism is ordinary and not aberrational
⁃ Concerned with questions of discrimination, oppression,
difference, equality, and lack of diversity (especially in the
legal profession).
2.Interest convergence: BIPOC individuals achieve civil rights
victories when white and minority interests converge
⁃ For that brief moment in time the interests of the black
indigenous people of color converged with the majority,
converged with the interest of the elite whites

7. 3. Race is a social construct: Race and races are products of
social thought and relations. They are not objective, inherent, or
fixed; they correspond to no biological or genetic reality.
⁃ Physical differences take on social significance in society,
resulting in unequal treatment of minority racial or ethnic
groups in society
⁃ While skin color tends to denote race in American society, the
more significant aspect is the importance that the members of
society ascribe to skin color - in historical contexts, social
interactions, law, etc.
⁃ Tend to use skin color in our society as a way to distinguish
people according to race.
4. Intersectionality and anti-essentialism: no person has a single
identity; people, experiences, and perspectives must be
considered in light of these multiple identities
5. Unique voice of color: Because of their different histories,
experiences with oppression, BIPOC writers, thinkers, and
scholars may be able to communicate matters White writers,
thinkers, and scholars, are unlikely to know.

8. ⁃ Focuses on the experiences/narratives of BIPOC
Becomes extremely important to amplify and to consider the
experiences and voices when we talk about critical race theory
When we try to interpret the experiences of people of color
through maJority lenses End up not losing some of the
significance / not seeing parts of importance of their
experiences as a person of color.
Basic Tenants
Attempts to locate problems beyond traditional doctrine
⁃ Racism is not only a matter of individual prejudice, but a
phenomenon that is deeply embedded in language and
perception
⁃ Unconscious racism is often ignored by the legal system
⁃ Freedom from racism is possible through reason and efforts to
separate legal reasoning and institutions from their roots
Critiques

9. Oversimplified
Methods/tenants not fully tested in traditional social scientific
ways - but this is also a strength
Growing movement - more work should expand tenants
Other Critical Perspectives
Queer Legal Theory
⁃ "focuses on the manner in which heterosexuality has, silently
but saliently, maintained itself as a hidden yet powerfully
privileged norm; and an implicit, if not explicit, questioning of
the goals of formal equality that, on their face simply reify the
very categories that have generated heterosexual privilege and
queer oppression....." (Kepros,1999/200, p. 284)
⁃ In legal thought queer theory has been used to challenge some
of the accepted categories of law, especially regarding
relationships, the family, employment, property
⁃ Bostock v. Clayton County (2020)
⁃ Three cases in which an employer fired a long-time employee
for being homosexual or transgender
⁃ Clayton county Georgia fired Gerald Bostock for conduct on
becoming a county employee shortly after he participated in a

10. gay softball league
⁃ Donald Zaria brought a women on a jump. Women did not
want to be strapped to him but he told her don’t worry I’m gay.
Fired a few days later for being gay
⁃ Harris funeral homes fired Amy Stevens who presented as
male when she was hired and after she informed employer that
she planned to work as a women transgender. Fired for being
gay.
⁃ Title VII makes it ‘unlawful for an employer to fail or refuse
to hire or discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate
against any individual… because of an individual’s race, color,
sex, or national origin’
⁃ Does discrimination based on a person’s status as LGBTQ
constitute sex discrimination?
⁃ Because discrimination on the basis of LGBTQ+ requires an
employer to intentionally treat individual employees differently
because of their sex, an employer who intentionally
personalizes an employee for being [LGBTQ+] violates Title
VIl...Just as sex is necessarily a but for cause when an employer
discriminates against [LGBTQ+], an employer who
discriminates on these grounds inescapably intends to rely on
sex in its decision making.
Intersectionality Approaches

11. ⁃ People are situated in different locations in the social
structure hierarchy - these positions are related to advantages
and disadvantages
⁃ Understanding one, two, or more social positions individuals
is an incomplete understanding
⁃ The whole is greater than the sum of the parts
⁃ Most often used to analyze race along w/ other social
positions - gender, class, sexuality.
⁃ Kimberly Crenshaw - coined the term intersectionality
⁃ When facts do not fit with the available frames, people have a
difficult time incorporating those facts into their way of
thinking about a problem
⁃ When there’s no name for a problem, you can’t see the
problem.
⁃ Is there race discrimination? Is there gender discrimination?
Neither African American men nor white women needed to
combine these two questions to explain their experiences.
⁃ Intersectionality accounts for something in addition to ones
singular identities. Its not enough to just consider one identity
but the product of those identities.
In the ruling, the court said that LGBTQ people were protected
at wrk bc but for their sex, they would have not been fired.

12. Basic Choices
Justice William Blackstone
⁃ Judge in England in the 1760s
⁃ Included this ratio in treatise the Commentaries on the Laws
of England: “It is better than 10 guilty persons go free than one
innocent person suffer”
⁃ If a person is found guilty but is not that’s an error and other
way as well.
Rights of the Individual VS Society as a Whole
⁃ The law functions to protect both of these rights.
⁃ e.g., the law should both protect citizens from crime, but also
protect the accused from an unfair trial
⁃ However, what is best for the individual or seems a logical
right is not always best for the common good
⁃ Through time, the tension between these two rights is
illustrated in legal decisions
⁃ Miranda v. Arizona, 1966
⁃ court decided that rights should be read to the suspect when
the suspect is detained and question. What Miranda v arizona
found is that the avg person likely isn’t aware their rights in the
criminal justice system. Have to make sure that we inform them
of their rights when those rights become pertinent to protect the
individuals legal rights.

13. ⁃ Taken the decision that was weighed towards right of
individual and became more toward society as a whole.
⁃ The courts do not permit anticipatory invocations: suspects
cannot invoke the Miranda rights unless they were in custody at
the time and the invocation occurred during actual or pending
investigation.
⁃ Idea behind this is in response to a series of situations in
which it wasn’t clear whether Miranda was correctly invoked
for a suspect.
⁃ E.g. Bobby vs Dickson:
⁃ Murder suspect walked into police station in Ohio to retrieve
his car after it was towed for traffic violation.
⁃ Homicide detective happened to see him and the detective
decided to use the opportunity to question him about the
murder.
⁃ Dickson refused to answer q unless lawyer present; thought he
was invoking Miranda rights
⁃ Few days lter, detective developed probable cause and
Dickson was arrested. Detective mirandized (Miranda was
waved) Dickson, made incriminating statement.
⁃ Question of court was whether Dicksons first invocation of
Miranda rights invoked that right to council for post arrest.
⁃ Court said statement was attained in violation of Miranda
since Dickson invoked right to council during police station.
⁃ Supreme Court overturned since it was plainly wrong; obvious

14. he wasn’t in custody during his chance encounter with
detective.
⁃ Miranda cannot be invoked prior to being in custody.
⁃ Reflective of two competing models of criminal justice
(Packer, 1964)
1.Due Process Model: places the primary value on the
protection of citizens from possible abuses by the police and
law enforcement system generally.
⁃ Assumes the innocence of suspects
⁃ Accounts for the human error in the criminal justice process
⁃ Fairness over efficiency
⁃ " Insistence on formal, adjudicative, adversary fact Finding
processes in which the factual case against the accused is
publicly heard by an impartial tribunal and is evaluated only
after the accused has had a full opportunity to discredit the case
against [them]" (packer)
2.Crime Control Model: Seeks the punishment of lawbreakers,
emphasizing the efficient detection and detention of suspects
and prosecution of defendants so that society can be assured
that criminal activity is being contained or reduced
⁃ Repression of criminal conduct is the most important function
in the criminal justice process
⁃ Efficiency: "The capacity to apprehend, try, convict, and
dispose a high proportion of criminal offenders whose offenses
become known"

15. ⁃ Early determination of probable guilt or innocence
⁃ Presumption of guilt, meaning a complex of attitudes toward
the case
⁃ E.G. Californias three strikes law: idea is that if you are found
guilty of a third felony, receive triple the regular sentence to
life in prison. No matter what punishment.
⁃ "If the Crime Control Model resembles an assembly line, the
Due Process Model looks very much like an obstacle course.
Each of it's successive stages is designed to present formidable
impediments to carrying the accused any further along in the
process.. (Packer, 1964)
⁃ How do we protect both the rights of individuals and rights of
society as a whole knowing that these two rights need to be held
in balance?
Kaylor 2014
⁃ Uses Packer's Crime Control and Due Process models to
evaluate the policy debate about evidence exclusion at trial
(stemming from the 4th Amendment)
⁃ Exclusionary Rule: designed to prevent the prosecution from
introducing evidence obtained in violation of a defendant's
constitutional rights.
⁃ Evidence has to be obtained fairly in order to be introduced at
trial.
⁃ Fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine: evidence is inadmissible
when a defendant can demonstrate a causal connection between

16. the evidence and a prior rights violation.
⁃ Analysis illuminates the values underlying the ebb and flow of
evidentiary rules
The adversarial system
⁃ The feature of the U.S. legal system that is most fundamental
to its definition, operation, and character is its central tenet:
that conflict resolution is best achieved through an adversary
process
⁃ Relies on the skill of the different advocates representing the
parties' positions and not on a neutral party
⁃ Assumes three things:
⁃ Those who the dispute affects should be responsible for
making their arguments
⁃ The biases of self-interest.
⁃ ..are necessary motivators in discovering the truth
⁃ …are offset by placing the dialogue in the courtroom (a
neutral place with neutral supervision)
⁃ The conflict can take place within our system of law
Adversarial vs Inquisitorial
⁃ Adversarial System (Common Law Countries)
⁃ US, Canada, UK
⁃ Each side presents its best evidence and an independent fact-
finder decides the outcome

17. ⁃ Judges ensure due process and decide what evidence to admit
⁃ Inquisitorial approach (Civil Law Countries)
⁃ France, Germany, Spain, etc.
⁃ The judge asks the questions of the witnesses (who testify for
the court) and makes a decision
A vs I: Historical Polarities
Values
⁃ Adversarial System
⁃ Fundamental fairness is paramount - even if ‘unjust’ results
occur occasionally
⁃ Belief that competitive advocacy is the best way to the truth
⁃ Individual rights may trump the truth
⁃ Inquisitorial System
⁃ Search for truth is paramount - even if unfair means are used
occasionally
⁃ Belief that judicial control of a criminal case is the best way
to the truth
⁃ The truth may override individual rights
Role of Attorneys

18. ⁃ Adversarial
⁃ Active, responsible for producing evidence and questioning
witnesses
⁃ Act as an extension of their client
⁃ Prosecutors and defense attorneys are more partisan,
competitive
⁃ Inquisitorial
⁃ Less active, less responsible for developing evidence
⁃ Prosecutors and defense attorneys less partisan, mainly aid in
the search for truth
Role of Judges
⁃ Adversarial
⁃ Passive; not actively producing evidence, or asking witnesses
questions. Instead, regulating the procedure in the court room
and ensuring that the fundamental fairness value is met in the
court room. Due process rights not violated and everyone gets a
fair shot.
⁃ Like umpires or referees; not responsible for ‘investigating’
truth
⁃ Inquisitorial
⁃ Active; plays active role in both constructing truth and
making a decision in the final outcome of the trial.
⁃ Considered the ‘examining magistrate’; responsible for

19. developing truth.
Roles of Parties and Witnesses
⁃ Adversarial
⁃ More party control of disputes and less intervention
⁃ More oral testimony
⁃ Short questions and answers
⁃ Inquisitorial
⁃ Less party control of disputes; more control by judge
⁃ More written testimony
⁃ Long narratives
Rules of Evidence
⁃ Adversarial
⁃ Stricter, more complex rules of evidence
⁃ More exclusionary rules to control police, prosecutors, and
judges
⁃ Presented to laypersons
⁃ Inquisitorial
⁃ Fewer, more lax rules of evidences
⁃ More discretion for judge and governmental decision makers
⁃ Presented to jurists
Rights of the accused
⁃ Adversarial
⁃ More due process rights
⁃ Right to remain silent; may not be able to question the

20. accused
⁃ More privacy rights
⁃ Model weighted toward due process; protect society by
protecting individuals from excessive governmental interference
⁃ Presumption of innocence
⁃ Confessions end investigation
⁃ Inquisitorial
⁃ Fewer due process rights
⁃ May be a non-incrimination right; can 'inquire' of and
question the accused
⁃ Fewer privacy rights
⁃ Model weighted toward crime control; protect society by
granting more power to governmental officials
⁃ Presumption of cooperation; talk to attorneys, police officers
⁃ Confessions entered as evidence; the judge still spends a lot
of time constructing other pieces of evidence or other versions
of the truth.
Advantages and critiques of systems
Advantages of the adversarial system
⁃ Both parties investigate the case; get "both sides of the truth'
⁃ Trial lawyer has ample opportunity to uncover truth
⁃ Motivates each party to put forth efforts to find truth and
persuade the fact finder in a competitive trial

21. ⁃ Promotes more respect for individual rights
⁃ Formal rules preserve an equal playing field; assume fair
administration of justice
⁃ Less removed from the average citizen
⁃ Trial by jury - better than the government paid agent
⁃ Because cases in the adversarial system are resolved by plea
bargaining/settlement, the above criteria are called into question
Advantages of the inquisitorial system
⁃ One investigation of the case
⁃ Brings investigation of cases before a detached magistrate -
avoids overzealous detectives and prosecutors
⁃ Promotes more respect for individual duty, responsibility and
security of society as a whole
⁃ Informal and less complicated process assures efficient
administration of justice
⁃ Panel of judges or government paid agents are less biased than
the average citizen
Critiques of Adversarial
⁃ Truth suffers when rights become obstacles (e.g., to
investigation, exclusion)
⁃ Complex rules of evidence are difficult for laypersons to
understand
⁃ Investigative work is left to partisans

22. ⁃ The judge has too little power
⁃ Trials become length, process is slow, backlog develops
⁃ Backlog discourages trials, huge pressure to plea bargain
⁃ Excess law and unequal resources give more justice to
wealthy
⁃ Desire to assure fair means may lead to unjust ends
Critiques of Inquisitorial
⁃ Fairness suffers when duty to the court overrides individual
rights and privacy
⁃ Lack of rules of evidence give too much discretion to judges;
they may be prone to biases
⁃ Investigative work is left to government
⁃ The judge has too much power
⁃ Trials become ‘showcases', process is too efficient to be fair
⁃ Huge percentage found guilty
⁃ Excess discretion and gov control
⁃ Desire to assure just ends may deny fair means
The Adversarial system
⁃ Criticized for promoting a competitive atmosphere that can
distort the truth
⁃ Jurors have to choose between two versions of the truth, both
of which are inaccurate and incomplete
⁃ However, participants feel they've been treated fairly

23. Resolving Disputes: The Adversarial System
The ethics of advocacy; Charles Curtis
⁃ talks about how the attorney is similar and diff from other
types of professionals
⁃ A lawyer devoted his life and career to acting for other
people. Handles other peoples troubles. Attorneys loyalty runs
to his client.
⁃ The priest handles other peoples spiritual aspirations.
⁃ The loyalty of a priest/ clergyman runs to his church
⁃ The banker handles peoples money. Banker loyalty looks to
his bank
⁃ Talks about how the lawyers official duty required of him by
the court is to devote himself to the client. Only reason exists is
because of that need.
⁃ The lawyer devotes theirselves to the interest of another at the
peril of urself. Vicarious action tempts a man too far from
himself.
⁃ Men will do for others what they are not willing to do for
themselves because their acting on behalf of a client.
⁃ Talks about how the attorney can maintain their own sense of
values or secure a detachment from the client when their asked
to act and do things on behalf of the client that perhaps they
wouldn’t necessarily do themselves.

24. ⁃ Attorneys may treat the whole thing as a game. Not talking
about the sporting theory of justice; rather, lawyers personal
relations with his client and necessity of detaching himself from
his client.
⁃ Never blame a lawyer for treating litigation as a game.
However, as much as u may blame the judge, the lawyer is
detaching himself. Must stay on upland of his own personality
⁃ Sense of craftsmanship: he says perhaps comes to the same
thing but not quite.
⁃ There’s a satisfaction in playing the game the best you can as
their is in doing anything as well as you can which is distracting
from making a good score.
⁃ The lawyer must treat the practice of law as if it were a game
but if he relies on craftsmanship it may become an art.
⁃ Contextualises the role of the attorney in light of both the
attorney maintain sense of value while also doing the duty
required of them by the court, which is representing client as if
it were themselves on the line.
The fight theory vs truth theory; Jerome Frank
I have nothing to do with justice; Martin urdman

25. A response paper communicates your intellectual reactions to
one or more books, ideas, or events. For this response paper,
your job is to pick a theme from the book that you can relate to
course material to give an intellectual response and analysis of
the book. For example, a response paper on the book Just
Mercy might start with overview of the book and its context,
but then choose to focus on the writer’s concern about the
problems inherent in juvenile sentencing, or the specific case of
Walter McMillian
Once you have read the book well and taken notes, review your
notes carefully. Can you identify patterns in your notes? What
you are looking for is your theme. Since you can’t possibly
respond to every idea in the book in the limited number of
pages, you will have to be selective here and choose the most
important and most interesting ideas to which you will respond.
You will probably find that you could write several response
papers. This is intentional! The project is designed so that you
can write on a theme that you identify that you want to learn the
most about or that resonates most with you. Do not try to write
on every theme. Pick one theme and write a great paper.
1. Title page. This identifies the paper as yours and provides a
descriptive title that gives the reader a hint of what your paper

26. is about (hint – do not use ‘Just Mercy: A Reaction Paper’).
2. Introduction. Identifies major theme(s) of the book and your
intellectual reaction to them. Typically, this is accomplished in
a paragraph starting broadly and ending with your identified
theme.
3. Body. Systematically addresses your areas of agreement and
disagreement with the author(s), giving reasons, facts, and
examples from both the course and the book. Be specific and
detailed. The evidence should be connected to your major
theme, established in the introduction. You may compare and
contrast authors/theories/etc based on your major theme. Be
sure to cite the page and the source (of either the book or text)
when you are using specific ideas or quotes.
4. Note that your personal beliefs, if they are to be considered
valid, must be supported by facts and logic. You may not simply
say “Sentencing juveniles to life in prison is wrong” or
“Sentencing juveniles to life in prison is right”. If you want to
state that this topic is right or wrong, you must give the reader
facts and logic that lead the reader to that inescapable
conclusion. If you cannot back up a statement with facts and
logic, leave the statement out of the paper.
5. Conclusion. Summarizes your reaction and sets out your
ideas about the significance of the book and its implications.
6. 5. References. A good writer always gives credit where credit
is due. Make sure to cite your sources in text (in any style you

27. prefer). Then, list the sources you used on an additional page
tacked on to the end of your paper.