Is there enough background information to understand the topic?
Is the thesis clearly stated? Could it be more specific?
Do the body paragraphs adequately support the thesis? Could they be improved?
Does the writer include useful citations? Are they relevant? Are they persuasive?
Are the author's arguments for his/her position compelling? Could they be improved?
Is the conclusion adequate?
What are some objections or counterarguments to the author's view?
If you had to write an essay OPPOSING the author's point of view, what reasons or arguments would you use as support?
Single Parent Struggle
For many years, children growing up in a single parent family have been viewed as different. Being raised by only one parent seems impossible to many yet over the decades it has become more prevalent. In today’s society many children have grown up to become emotionally stable and successful whether they had one or two parents to show them the rocky path that life bestows upon all human beings. The problem lies in the difference of children raised by single parents versus children raised by both a mother and a father. Does a child need both parents? Does a young boy need a father figurearound? Does the government provide help for single parents? What role do step-parentsand step-siblings play? With much speculation, this topic has become a very intriguing argument. What people must understand is that properly raising a child does not rely on the structure of a family but should be more focused on the process or values that are taught to these children as they learn to mature. Children of single parents can be just as progressive with emotional, social and behavioral skills as those with two parents.
People claim that the only way for children to gain full emotional and behavioral skills is to be raised by both a mother and a father. When a topic such as this one has a broad amount of variables it is