24

When reading an essay, we expect the writer to have thought carefully about the topic. We don’t want to read every false start, every fuzzy thought, every ill-organized paragraph that the writer knocked off. Yes, writers make false starts, put down fuzzy thoughts, write ill-organized paragraphs; but then they revise and revise yet again, ultimately producing a readable essay that seems effortlessly written. Still — and this is our main point — writers of argumentative essays need to show readers that they have made some effort; they need to show how they got to their final (for the moment) views. It isn’t enough for the writer to say, “I believe X”; rather, he or she must in effect say, “I believe X — and I hope you’ll believe it also — because Y and Z, though attractive, just don’t stand up to inquiry as well as X does. Y is superficially plausible, but … , and Z, which is an attractive alternative to Y, nevertheless fails because….”

Notice in the following short essay — on employers using biometric devices to monitor employees’ performance — that the author, Lynn Stuart Parramore, positions herself against these workplace technologies in a compelling way. As you read, think critically about how she presents her position, how she encourages readers to sympathize with her views. Ask questions about what she includes and excludes, whether she presents other perspectives amply or fairly, and what additional positions might be valid on these recent developments in the rapidly growing field of biometrics in business.