Critical Thinking. Paper
Find a statistic, preferably a graph or pictogram, in a recent news article. In three separate paragraphs, you must do the following:
(1) Discuss the statistic in detail. For example, if you choose a graph, then you should discuss the variable on the horizontal axis (X-axis), the variable on the vertical axis (Y-axis), the relationship between the variables as depicted by the graph (e.g., bell curve, exponential growth), and any peculiarities about the graph (e.g., scale).
(2) Discuss the relationship between the statistic and the argument being made. In other words, how does the statistic work within the overarching argument being made in the article. For example, the article discusses the recent drop in car sales since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and the graph shows the drop.
(3) Discuss why you think the statistic provides good support for the argument, or fails to provide good support. In other words, how helpful is the statistic in either illustrating or supporting the argument being made in the article. This is also the place to discuss if the statistic is tricky (or misleading) in any way. For example, if the variable on one of the axes is scaled, but this is not made explicit.
You should spend about 1/2 page discussing the first two points and 1/2 page discussing the final point. The goal of this assignment is to get some practice interpreting a statistic in relation to an argument.
In order to minimize plagiarism issues, the statistic you discuss must have been published in the last three months! Be sure to include a link to the article containing the statistic so I can have a look at it. If you don’t know where to begin, I suggest looking at news articles about either the coronavirus outbreak or the economic downturn, as they are likely to contain some good statistic for you to discuss.
The assignment must be written in the following format: font ‘Calibri’, font size 12, line spacing 1.5, and normal page margins (1” on each side). At the top of the page, you should only include the title, not your name, as I can track your submission through D2L.
This is the article
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-graph-pandemic-intervention-models.html
