Choose ONE the tasks below. Write an essay of approximately 200 – 250 words. Your essay must consist of an introduction, body paragraph(s), and conclusion.

Task One

The United States is suffering from an overweight and obesity epidemic and it is not alone. The World health Organization (WHO) has reported that more than 1.4 billion adults, age 20 and older, worldwide are overweight and more than 500 million of these people are obese (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/).  

See the figures for Saudi Arabia: http://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/117265

Health care systems in many countries are being overwhelmed by weight-related illnesses. What should be done? Using the critical thinking cycle discussed in chapter one (Inch & Tudor, p. 20) how would you address this issue?  Your essay should answer, but not limited to the questions below:

1.     Question at issue: What is the need that has arisen?

2.     Purpose: What is your goal with this inquiry?

3.     Information: What information do you need to reach a reasonable conclusion?

4.     Concepts: What laws, rules, and principles guide your inquiry as you look for an answer?

5.     Assumptions: What are our presuppositions? Do any need to be questioned?

6.     Points of View:  What perspectives come into play here? Are individuals responsible? Should the sale of sugary items and fast food be restricted?

7.     Interpretations and Inferences: What conclusions can you reach given the material found? How did you arrive at your conclusions?

8.     Implications and Consequences: What would be likely to happen if your solutions were adopted?

What would critics say or do? What would supporters say or do?

Task Two

  The passage below uses one of the four cultural argument patterns for stating a point of view (see Inch & Tudor p. 97).  Identify the pattern used and justify your choice. What is the stated or implied viewpoint of the writer or speaker? How does he or she support it?

Passage

More and more of our communication is not face-to-face, and not with people we know. The proliferation and increasing portability of technology isolate people in a bubble. When I was a child, my family got the first television on our block, and the neighborhood children gathered in our dining room to watch Captain Majed and Tash Matash. Before long, every family had its own TV- but each had just one, so in order to watch it, families came together. Now it is common for families to have more than one television, so adults watch what they like in one room and the children can watch their choice in another- or maybe child has a private TV to watch alone.