AccelePrep for the ACT Test 2nd Edition Student Text

238 • S URGE TO S UCCESS ! W RITING T EST P REP

Essay Task ”‹–‡ ƒ —‹ϐ‹‡†ǡ…‘Š‡”‡– ‡••ƒ› ‹ ™Š‹…Š ›‘— ‡˜ƒŽ—ƒ–‡ —Ž–‹’Ž‡ perspectives on the impact of direct popular election of the President of the United States. In your essay be sure to: • Analyze and evaluate the perspectives given • State and develop your own perspective • Explain the relationship between your perspective and those given Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different. Whatever the case, support your ideas with logical reasoning and detailed, persuasive examples . SAMPLE ESSAY OUTLINE I. Paragraph 1: Introduction A. Thesis statement: (Agrees with Perspective 1) The Electoral College should be abolished, or at least redesigned, and the president should be elected by a process that gives more power to the popular vote. II. Paragraph 2: The Electoral College undermines the popular vote, and therefore, the outcome of the presidential elections does not ‡…‡••ƒ”‹Ž› ”‡ϐŽ‡…– –Š‡ ‘’‹‹‘ ‘ˆ –Š‡ ƒŒ‘”‹–› ‘ˆ –Š‡ ’‡‘’Ž‡Ǥ A. In a few cases, such as the 2000 election, the outcome went against the popular vote. B. If the results of the election are consistent with the popular vote, one could argue that the Electoral College is redundant and serves no real purpose. III. Paragraph 3: The Electoral College forces presidential candidates to focus on winning in key states, rather than winning the votes of the ƒŒ‘”‹–› ‘ˆ –Š‡ ’‡‘’Ž‡Ǥ A. Campaigning is state-focused; the battleground is in more moderate swing states that may elect either a Democrat or Republican (such as Ohio or Florida), and other states do not receive as much attention. B. If you don’t live in a swing state, you may feel like your vote doesn’t matter and you might be less likely to vote. C. Since states contain a mix of Republicans and Democrats, they should not allocate all their Electoral College votes to one candidate; however, this is what usually happens. IV. Paragraph 4: Although it would be a radical change to the Constitution, an amendment would require bipartisan support. A. Address Perspectives 2 and 3; abolishing or even modifying the Electoral College would be a radical change, and it is true that it should not be taken lightly. B. However, the Constitution has been amended before, and it was designed to be amended. Adding a constitutional amendment is a lengthy legislative process that would require bipartisan support and the approval of three-fourths of the states. C. The Constitution has been amended in the past to make voting a more democratic process. For example, amendments were necessary to give racial minorities and women the vote. V. Paragraph 5: Conclusion A. Restatement of thesis: Although abolishing the Electoral College would be a radical change to the Constitution, it would make presidential elections a more democratic process by giving greater power to the popular vote.

CLOSER LOOK The prompt points you in the right direction. It asks you to evaluate the given perspectives and lists a few •’‡…‹ϐ‹…–Š‹‰• ›‘— —•– include in your response.