Econ365 Melinda Gates Book paper

• Melinda Gates, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World (Flatiron Books, 2019)

As you read and write, think of the following questions: How does Gates define and describe progress? What are her most important fundamental assumptions? What kinds of evidence does she use?

Your paper should go beyond merely summarizing the books you’ve read. Instead, they should analyze the books. Writing an analytic paper means addressing some of the following points:

1. What is the main argument or arguments the author is making? Do you agree? Disagree? Why?

2. Are there any important points about the subject area that you think the author has omitted or under-emphasized? Over-emphasized? Why?

3. What are the key assumptions the author had to make in order to make the arguments in this book? If those assumptions were different, how would the author’s argument have to be different?

4. How do the arguments in the book you’re reading compare and contrast with the other readings we’ve done so far?

5. How does the information presented by the author relate to recent important world events? Does the author’s work seem still to be relevant today? Or is the world changing so quickly that even recently-published books on international issues soon grow out of date?

6. What recommendations might you have for United States policy makers — the President, the Departments of Defense, State, Commerce, etc., the Congress, or others — to cope with the issues presented in the author’s work?

7. How might you, as a concerned and informed citizen, take steps to cope with the issues presented in the author’s work?

You may answer any or all of these questions in your paper, or you may write a paper that deals with the assigned book from a completely different perspective. I am quite flexible in that there is no standard format for these papers. I simply want your thoughtful, reasoned, analytic reaction to the ideas presented in each assigned reading.