Evaluating Arguments About Food

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

The three topics that students evaluate in Evaluating Arguments About Food are “Should There Be an Age Restriction on Buying Junk Food?”, “Should Genetically Modified Foods Be Banned?”, and “Should Schools Cut Break Times to Provide Cooking Classes?” 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, my reasons for and against purchasing Evaluating Arguments About Food are listed below.

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 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 food-related activities.

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

Some Canadian market research and expert opinion is included in the introductory information.
The information in the introduction and the organization used in “Evaluating Arguments About Food” 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, “A healthy diet is especially important for young people. Eating healthy food helps their bodies develop as they grow”. Aren’t ‘bodies developing’ and ‘growing’ the same thing? This type of writing seems sloppy in a book focused on using language effectively.

Research cited and examples are frequently from US sources.

The information in the introduction, and the organization used in Evaluating Arguments About Food is 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:

Overall, the information about creating and critically evaluating arguments is very important and timely in this age of social media and instant ‘information’. Evaluating Arguments About Food gives you the tools to judge what you hear and read, but the presentation has too many shortcomings to be highly recommended. Buy it only if you can’t find something better.