TPO 28 Integrated Writing Task

The reading and the lecture are both about Robert E. Peary's expedition to the North Pole. The author of the reading feels that this expedition made Peary international celebrity and he provides 3 arguments to Peary's claim. The lecturer challenges the claims made by the author. He is of the opinion that there is not any legitimate evidence that proves Peary's expedition was real.

To begin with, the author says that the National Geographic Society commissioned a committee to investigate records of Peary. The article mentions that Peary was right and committee announced that Peary indeed reached the North Pole. This specific argument is challenged by the lecturer. He claims that it is true that an investigation was conducted but the committee which investigated these records was not objective, because committee was composed of Peary's close friends. Additionally, he says that investigation lasted merely 2 days and it was not meticulously conducted.

Secondly, the author mentions that Peary did this expedition in only 37 days and it seems impossible to do. The article clarifies this by mentioning Tom Avery, who has done the same trek in less than 37 days. The lecturer, however, rebuts this by claiming that Tom's expedition was different. He elaborates on this by explaining that because Tom was not carrying food with him, he has much less weight and Tom has made this trek under highly favorable weather conditions.

Finally, the author posits that photographs taken by Peary proves his claim. With the help of the photographs, the Sun's position in the North Pole was calculated, and these measurements demonstrated the convincing results. In contrast, the lecturer asserts that photographs do not prove anything, because shadows should be measured precisely. He notes that these photographs have become faded and blurry in time. Therefore photographs should not be used for determining the Sun's position.