WRITING TASK National secrets are kept in order to protect the nation since they keep important information hidden from enemies while also protecting some citizens. However, some national secrets are kept to conceal frightening truths.

Weigh the claims on both sides, and then write an argumentative essay in your own words about whether or not it is important to keep national secrets and why.

Be sure to use evidence from BOTH texts in your argumentative essay. Write your answer in the space provided.

Before you write, be sure to:

think about ideas, facts, definitions, details, and other information and examples you want to use;
think about how you will introduce your topic and what the main topic will be for each paragraph;
develop your ideas clearly and use your own words, except when quoting directly from the source texts;
be sure to identify the sources by title or number when using details or facts directly from the sources.
Now write your argumentative essay in the space provided. Be sure to:

introduce your claim;
support your claim with logical reasoning and relevant evidence from the texts;
acknowledge and address alternate or opposing claims;
organize the reasons and evidence logically;
use words, phrases, and clauses to connect your ideas and to clarify the relationships among claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence;
establish and maintain a formal style;
provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented; and
check your work for correct grammar, usage, capitalization, spelling, and punctuation.

Please use two line spaces (using the "enter" key twice) between each paragraph.