1. In your own words, identify the argument of your peer's persuasive essay. What is he or she aiming to prove?
The student attempts to convince the audience that palliative care is an important healthcare service that should be embraced. Although the subject appears scary to many people, the student proves that it is as well significant, particularly to people that need intensive care.
2. Has your peer adequately addressed opposing viewpoints?
Although the essay clearly outlines that there are opposing viewpoints to the argument presented, the student fails to indicate what are they. It is speculated that those against palliative care feel that family members have to be separated from their loved ones. However, this needs to be captured clearly in an outlined paragraph.
3. Which of the summaries (or which sections of the summaries) could use more clarification? How could your peer's summaries be improved? Please paste an example and, if appropriate, offer your own edits.
I think that the first argument of the essay needs more clarification. The student has distinctly stated that palliative care helps in improving the life of patients as they get physical treatment. The author should, however, add that as the patient receives care, the medical team provide critical medication for pain, shortness of breath, nausea, difficulties in sleep, or fatigue which improve the general quality of life.
4. Has your peer provided adequate credentialing information? If so, how can you tell the source is credible? If not, what could your peer add to establish the reliability of the source?
The sources used by the student are of high quality as they provide credential information that support the arguments made. The credibility of the authors of the two sources are evident from the fact that they both have experience in the field of nursing and health science. Additionally, the sources are up-to-date, all written within the past 5 years. They are also peer reviewed which is one more proof that they are credible.
5. Do the sources your peer describes in the annotated bibliography connect to his/her argument in a clear and easy-to-understand manner? If so, how so? If not, what are some ways in which your peer could strengthen those connections?
The sources annotated by the student are clearly supporting the arguments made. They tend to focus on the palliative care and how interventions using this medical approach can improve the life of a patient.
6. Does your peer acknowledge a counterargument in one of the annotations? If a counterargument is presented, does he/she provide a persuasive rebuttal? If no counterargument is presented, can you anticipate some of the objections your peer should take into consideration?
There is no counterargument that the student addresses regarding the annotations. However, one of the possible objections would be that palliative care is a costly process that requires families to incur more expenses to ensure their family members are taken care of. Another anticipated counterargument is that palliative care may not be necessary used only for the terminally ill but also for the mentally ill and the elderly.
7. Evaluate the sources your peer has selected. Which sources do you find to be the strongest? Why do you think they are strong, and how do they support your peer's key points? Are there ways the sources could support those key points that your peer has overlooked? Be specific.
The source I feel is the strongest is the third one which is a health psychology article about the tole of a palliative care intervention in moderating the relationship between depression and advanced cancer.
This source had been published by the American Psychological Association which is one of the journal sites that print nursing-related articles that address the palliative care. The source supports the student’s argument by suggesting that palliative care offers quality life by reducing cases of depression.
