Welcome to your second R&R (revise & respond) paper! The rest of this is all going to seem very familiar. In this first part of the project, though, you’ll be setting the stage for that R&R stuff. There are three components to this assignment (plus writing), and it makes sense to break it into three paragraphs. Explain an author’s argument. First, you’ll need to explain an author’s argument. For this R&R paper, you’ll be limited to the non-Vaughn papers in our textbook in the Euthanasia & Physician-Assisted Suicide unit. Don’t forget to refer back to Explaining Arguments. You don’t need to include a numbered outline of the argument, but it wouldn’t hurt. At the very least, I strongly recommend that you do a numbered outline of the argument you’re explaining, even if you just do it on a piece of scrap paper. This will make your job of explaining the argument much, much easier.  Critique that argument. Explain what you think of that argument (the one you just explained) and tell me why. Note that this does not have to be a negative critique. Ideally, it should be balanced, telling me what you think is good as well as what’s bad about the argument. Remember that you should have an appropriate attitude here. Saying something like “Clearly Foot was an idiot,” is not at all appropriate, for several reasons. Explain your own position. Finally, you’ll need to explain your own position on the topic of the argument you explained. That’s important! Don’t change topics here. If the argument is on the distinction between killing and letting die, you should be offering your position on that issue, not, say, the permissibility of doctors helping people die.  Remember, explaining your position includes not only telling me what your position is but explaining why you think that’s the right position to have. Proofread! Remember that you are being graded on the quality of your reading. So, be sure to proofread carefully. You want to both eliminate errors but also try to make things as clear as you can. Work on concision; something should be in your paper because it has to be. Get rid of anything that doesn’t have to be there to make things clear. I strongly recommend reading each paper out loud to yourself before you submit it. What’s next? Right after this first part is due, I’ll go through to grade and comment on them. The comments will include things you need to fix and ask a question, or maybe two. In the next part, you’ll revise what you’ve written and add a paragraph responding to my question(s). About Grading See the grading rubric, below, for how this assignment will be graded. Note that the next part of the R&R paper will be worth twice as many points. The whole point of this exercise, meaning the R&R papers generally, is to emphasize the value of both revising your work after you’ve gotten feedback and to engage with someone else in your thinking. Take both parts of this seriously and you’ll not only get better grades but you should improve as a writer and a thinker.