Can you qualify a ToK Essay?

[cashinapig]

We're doing a practice essay in class, and I was just wondering if it was okay to qualify. Here's our practice topic:


Statistics can be very helpful in providing a powerful interpretation of reality but also can be used to distort our understanding. Discuss some of the ways in which statistics can be used or misused in different Areas of Knowledge to assist and mislead us, and how we can determine whether to accept the statistical evidence that is presented to us.

[cashinapig]

also, can you use second-person tense when writing the paper, or does it have to be all third-person?

[moneyfaery]

You can write in first person as well as second person. Even if you 'pick a side', you still have to qualify the title, so no, you don't necessarily have to pick a side. If you pick a pick and write it like a persuasive essay, it's considered 'unbalanced'.

[Chelleee]

[quote name='Irene' post='37109' date='Feb 17 2009, 09:38 AM']You can write in first person as well as second person. Even if you 'pick a side', you still have to qualify the title, so no, you don't necessarily have to pick a side. If you pick a pick and write it like a persuasive essay, it's considered 'unbalanced'.[/quote]

yup exactly, your meant to show both sides of the argument (hopefully fairly) and then come up to a final conclusion.
thats basically what your topic is asking you, to show how statistics assist you, then how statistics mislead you, and then the final bit involves a bit of personal engagement as you weigh the arguments against each other which is the conclusion.