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Javier Montes De Oca

Senior Defense

09 February 2019

Argumentative Reflection

The title of this assignment is, “America’s Characterization Still Holds,” which is an

essay I did based on a claim Thomas Paine argued to America. This assignment was completed

on the 14th of April in 2018, my junior year of high school. In this assignment, I was asked to

develop an organized essay that examines the extent to which Paine’s characterization of

America holds true today. I Utilized evidence to support my argument based of Thomas Paine’s

passage from “Rights of Man” a book written by Paine in 1791. The assignment is an

argumentative artifact because I was defending my claim on whether Paine’s assertion of

America still holds true today. Using evidence from his passage, and by making connections to

the present day, I was able to show how Paine’s argument; “America is one of the best

independent country there is.” still is strongly agreeable. I agreed with Paine’s message based of

his claim, and I believe that America is the best country that allows independence to all people as

seen through religion, races, opportunities and government.

While doing this assignment I was able to meet the SLOs of being a critical thinker and

effective communicator. One example, of being a critical thinker would be creating a strong

thesis that will support my argument, which is “Paine characterization of America still holds true

today.... Religion, races, opportunities, and government.” A second example is being able to

provide real life examples from today’s society that supports my claim in my essay. Paine argued

that, “America is a nation made up of different people from different nations.” I agreed with
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Paine’s message because it is true. The last example, that can be utilized as a piece of evidence

for being a critical thinker would be creating a counterclaim and rebuttal that goes against my

argument. For the counterclaim, I had to think of ideas other people may disagree with Paine and

my claim. Then that counterclaim lead to my rebuttal that connects back to my thesis of the

argumentative essay. Now, three pieces of evidence that will support the SLO of being an

effective communicator in this assignment, would be my explanation, analysis, and connections

to the real world. For instance, I effectively explained my thoughts in each of my body

paragraphs using strong topics such as race, culture, and religion in America to prove why

America is one of the best independent nation there is.

This assignment helped me work on the SLO’s because it allowed me to critically think

on how I was going to support my argument. My argument needed to be clear and well

developed so that it can show why Paine’s assertion of America still holds true up to this day. I

made sure I used evidence from today’s society connecting it back to Paine’s characterization of

America. In addition, I was also able to practice the skill of being an effective communicator by

practicing and articulating my ideas clearly to my intended audience. Which in this case was my

classmates, and my english teacher Ms.Vanhill. Based on the SLO’s I can still improve on

elaborating my ideas more specifically, so that the audience can understand and agree with my

argument. For example, knowing how to think of persuading statements that can be applied to

make my argument much more stronger. Practicing skills like such are always going to be very

beneficial because when attending college skills like being an effective communicator and

critical thinker will allow me to stand out more, and be more competitive. Not just in college will

these skills be useful, but also in any work field or profession. Being an effective communicator

is needed almost in every job. It allows other employees to know and understand your ideas,
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rules, expectations, and will result in better success. The same goes with being a critical thinker,

it is important and necessary to know how to brainstorm, and gather up information, and then

know how to execute all that information or thinking. In short, I was able to demonstrate why my

essay regarding Thomas Paine’s argument was an example of an artifact that fit the criteria of an

Argumentative Piece.