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181

Visually Speaking

In his plays, William Shakespeare creates characters, families, and even plot lines that mirror each other. As a result, we see Hamlet in relation to Laertes and the Montagues in relation to the Capulets. In the process, we do precisely what the writer wants us to do—we compare and contrast the subjects. The result is clarity and insight: by thinking about both subjects in relation to each other, we understand each one more clearly.

But writers in college and in the workplace also use comparison/contrast as an analytical strategy. To help you read and write such documents, the following pages include instructions and four model essays.

Look closely at the photograph above. What does it suggest about how comparing and contrasting help explain a topic?

Learning Outcomes ▶ Understand how to read carefully for compare- contrast strategies in essays.

▶ Structure subject-by- subject and trait-by-trait comparisons.

▶ Use details and transitional words to support and clarify compare-contrast claims.

▶ Practice revision and editing strategies that strengthen compare-contrast writing.

▶ Develop an essay that effectively uses compare- contrast strategies.

Comparison and Contrast

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Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).

Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

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■ Reading Comparison-Contrast Writing When writers use compare-contrast, what should you as a reader look for? The instruction below will help you read essays like those that follow.

Consider the rhetorical situation. Think about how a writer might use comparison-contrast to achieve her or his purpose, address an audience, and analyze a topic.

■ Purpose: Writers compare and contrast subjects in order to understand their similarities and differences. Their purpose may be to stress the similarities between seemingly dissimilar things or the differences between things that seem quite similar.

■ Audience: A compare-contrast writer may have virtually any reader in mind—the instructor for a student essay or potential clients for a marketing document. Whatever the situation, the writer sees readers as people whose understanding of a topic, an issue, or a phenomenon can be deepened with comparative analysis.

■ Topics: Writers address a wide range of topics through compare-contrast: people, events, phenomena, technologies, problems, products, stories, and so on. The writer simply thinks through what aspects of the topic may be illuminated through comparison and/or contrast.

Consider the compare-contrast practices used. As you read an essay using compare-contrast, look for the following:

■ Criteria Used for Comparison: Writers anchor their analyses in specific points of comparison. For example, a comparison of two characters in a play might focus on their backgrounds, their actions in the play, their psychology, their fate, and so on. As you read, trace the features compared, thinking through the writer’s choices.

■ Organization of the Comparison: Such writing is generally structured either subject by subject (first dealing with one topic fully and then the other) or trait by trait (holding up the topics side by side, feature by feature).

■ The Point of the Comparison: Writers use comparison to illuminate topics through a key idea about connections and distinctions. Identify the essential insight of the comparison, whether the writer states it at the beginning or leaves it to the end.

Reader’s Checklist Why is the writer comparing these topics? Is the goal to stress similarities, differences, or both? How does the comparison speak to specific readers?

What features or traits of the topics are compared? Why?

How does the writer present the topics and the criteria for comparison?

What conclusion does the writer develop through analysis?

182 Analytical Writing

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Sethe in Beloved and Orleanna in Poisonwood Bible: Isolation, Children, and Getting Out

Toni Morrison’s Sethe and Barbara Kingsolver’s Orleanna Price seem to be vastly different women, living in different times and cultures, descended from different races. One has had a faithful spouse forced away from her by circumstances; the other lives in a devastating marriage. One is a former slave, while the other is a comparatively well-off minister’s wife. However, these two women are more alike than they first appear. Both live in isolation and loneliness, both are haunted by the past, both risk everything to get their children out of devastating circumstances—and both reap the consequences of such risks.

Sethe lives in house number 124, a house generally believed to be haunted, “full of a baby’s venom” (Morrison 3). The child’s ghost inhabiting the house throws things around, makes spots of colored light appear, shakes floors, and stomps up the stairs. The people of the surrounding community—remembering Sethe’s past, fearing ghostly retribution, and resenting the long-ago extravagance of Sethe’s mother-in- law, Baby Suggs—diligently avoid the house and its residents. Sethe’s one remaining daughter, Denver, will not leave the yard (Morrison 205). The two of them live with the ghost, ostracized.

Orleanna lives in a less malignant but equally isolated situation. When she and her daughters follow her husband on his zealous missionary trip to the Congo, she is the only white woman in a village of people with whom she shares nothing, not even a word of their language. Preoccupied with the troubles in her own house, she remains separated from the villagers by a gulf of cultural misunderstanding—from how to behave in the marketplace to where to get her drinking water (Kingsolver 89, 172). Even when she returns to the United States, Orleanna lives in isolation, hidden among her flower gardens, set apart by the stigma of her past (Kingsolver 407).

The cause of all this isolation, for both women, is the past. When Sethe saw a slave catcher coming for her, she attempted to kill all four of her young children in order

Comparison and Contrast In the essay below, student writer Rachel De Smith analyzes characters from two novels by comparing and contrasting their history, cultures, experiences, and personalities.

Essay Outline Introduction: Sethe and Orleanna as surprisingly similar characters 1. Living and isolation and loneliness 2. Haunted by the past 3. Grueling journeys of escape Conclusion: Sethe and Orleanna as suffering but strong women

183Chapter 12 Comparison and Contrast

The title identifies the topics compared and the traits examined.

Introduction: two seemingly different characters share similar lives.

1 Both women live in isolation and loneliness.

(a) Sethe

(b) Orleanna

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to prevent them from becoming slaves (Morrison 149, 163). She succeeded in killing only her second-youngest, known as Beloved. No one went back to the plantation; Sethe went to jail instead. Years later, her two oldest children (sons) run off, unable to face the specter of their dead sister knocking over jars and leaving handprints in cakes. Beloved’s death is thus the defining moment not only for Sethe’s haunted life but also for Denver’s, Baby Suggs’, and, in many ways, the entire community’s.

Orleanna, like Sethe, has lost a child, though not by her own hand. Her youngest daughter, Ruth May, died of snakebite after an ugly disagreement (involving much shouting and plenty of voodoo) between the Price family and the rest of the village. Orleanna is not immediately responsible for Ruth May’s death—in fact, she has recently brought the girl miraculously through a bout with malaria (Kingsolver 276). However, Orleanna still feels tremendous guilt about Ruth May’s death, and even about being in Africa at all. In much of Orleanna’s narration, she attempts to move past this guilt, periodically asking her absent daughter’s forgiveness. Sethe, also hoping for reconciliation, explains herself in a similar way to Beloved. But Beloved seems to feed off of Sethe’s remorse, whereas Ruth May, as portrayed in the final chapter of the novel, bears no such ill-will. Ruth May says, “Mother, you can still hold on but forgive, forgive . . . I forgive you, Mother” (Kingsolver 537, 543). Beloved continually punishes Sethe for leaving her behind, but Ruth May is willing to forgive.

Both Sethe and Orleanna endure grueling journeys of escape, though the journeys begin very differently. Sethe has spent a long time planning an escape with her fellow slaves. When the opportunity finally comes, Sethe sends her children on ahead and then follows, pausing on the way to give birth to Denver. Oddly enough, the final stage of her journey to “freedom” seems to be her time in jail, an episode that kept her from going back to the Sweet Home plantation. However, even after Sethe leaves jail and begins a life free from the degradations of the plantation, she cannot escape the stigma of her past, particularly Beloved’s violent death.

Orleanna’s journey, though also long-anticipated or at least long-desired, is a spontaneous event. Following Ruth May’s tragic death (the impetus for her journey), Orleanna simply walks away: her daughter Leah recalls that “Mother never once turned around to look over her shoulder” (Kinsolver 389). Their unplanned journey ends up as a fiasco, culminating in malaria during the rainy season somewhere in the depths of the Congo, but all of Orleanna’s remaining daughters survive. Though obvious differences exist between the deaths of Ruth May and Beloved, both deaths allow their families some form of escape. In addition, Orleanna, like Sethe, is willing to give up her children in order for them to escape; she sends Rachel with Eeben Axelroot and leaves Leah with Anatole when she and Adah leave the country for good. Orleanna’s actions parallel Sethe’s, as Sethe sends her children ahead of her (in escape or death) in order for them to leave the plantation. Orleanna sees very little of Rachel and Leah for the rest of her life, but they have escaped the devastation of their lives in the Congo, or at least their lives under Nathan Price, and that is—or must be—enough for her.

184 Analytical Writing

3 Both women take journeys to escape.

2 Isolation for both women is rooted in a haunting past.

(a) Sethe

(b) Orleanna

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Reading for Better Writing

Sethe and Orleanna are both haunted women. The deaths of their daughters and estrangement from their remaining children prevent these women from finding peace. Both are haunted by guilt—Sethe for her own actions in the murder of Beloved, and Orleanna for her complicity both in Ruth May’s death and in the chaos that enveloped the Congo at the same time. Both women are also isolated and lonely, distanced by distrust and misunderstanding from the people around them. And both women, in the long run, risk everything to gain freedom for their children. Distrust, rage, fear, and bad dreams accompany that risk, but both women keep their children from the evil awaiting them—a plantation, a father’s oppression. Paul D. questions Sethe on this point, wondering if other circumstances might be even worse than the plantation. Sethe responds, “It ain’t my job to know what’s worse. It’s my job to know what is and to keep them away from what I know is terrible” (Morrison 165). Sethe is never able to achieve true reconciliation with Beloved, but her relationships with Denver and Paul D. help to make up for this loss, while Orleanna is forgiven by Ruth May and eventually reunited (albeit briefly) with her other children. Despite the attendant circumstances, both Sethe and Orleanna are revealed to be strong women, and both eventually move past their paralyzing guilt in their efforts to “walk forward into the light” (Kingsolver 543).

Note: The Works Cited page is not shown. For sample pages, see MLA (pages 526–527 and APA (page 557).

Working by yourself or with a group, do the following:

1. Review the title and opening paragraph, describe how the writer focuses her essay, and explain why you do or do not find that introduction well written.

2. A thesis is a type of contract in which the writers states what he or she will do in the essay. Review the writer’s thesis and explain whether she does what she promises.

3. Select two paragraphs and explain why they do or do not clarify the topic and develop the thesis.

4. Based on your reading of this essay, explain why you think that compare-contrast reasoning is or is not an effective strategy for analyzing literature.

5. Explain why the writer’s voice is or is not appropriate for this essay. For example is the voice informed or uninformed, objective or manipulative, respectful or disrespectful? Cite passages that support your assessment.

6. Explain how you could use compare-contrast reasoning to complete specific writing assignments in your major, and describe why the strategy would be effective.

185Chapter 12 Comparison and Contrast

Conclusion: these two haunted characters are strong women who eventually move beyond guilt.

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Shrouded in Contradiction

I grew up wearing the miniskirt to school, the veil to the mosque. In the

Tehran of my childhood, women in bright sundresses shared the sidewalk with

women swathed in black. The tension between the two ways of life was palpable.

As a schoolgirl, I often cringed when my bare legs got

leering or contemptuous glances. Yet, at times, I long

for the days when I could walk the streets of my country

with the wind in my hair. When clothes were clothes.

In today’s Iran, whatever I wear sends a message. If it’s

a chador, it embarrasses my Westernized relatives. If

it’s a skimpy scarf, I risk being accused of stepping on

the blood of the martyrs who died in the war with Iraq.

Each time I return to Tehran, I wait until the last pos-

sible moment, when my plane lands on the tarmac, to

don the scarf and long jacket that many Iranian women

wear in lieu of a veil. To wear hijab—Islamic covering—is to invite contradiction.

Sometimes I hate it. Sometimes I value it.

Most of the time, I don’t even notice it. It’s annoying, but so is wearing

pantyhose to work. It ruins my hair, but so does the humidity in Florida, where

I live. For many women, the veil is neither a symbol nor a statement. It’s simply

what they wear, as their mothers did before them. Something to dry your face

with after your ablutions before prayer. A place for a toddler to hide when he’s

feeling shy. Even for a woman like me, who wears it with a hint of rebellion, hijab

is just not that big a deal.

Except when it is.

“Sister, what kind of get-up is this?” a woman in black, one of a pair, asks me

one summer day on the Caspian shore. I am standing in line to ride a gondola up

a mountain, where I’ll savor some ice cream along with vistas of sea and forest.

Women in chadors stand wilting in the heat, faces gleaming with sweat. Women in

makeup and clunky heels wear knee-length jackets with pants, their hair daringly

Comparison and Contrast Gelareh Asayesh grew up in Iran before moving to Florida. She writes about her experiences in Saffron Sky: A Life Between Iran and America. The article below appeared in the New York Times in November 2001.

186 Analytical Writing

Two contrasting scenes appear in the first sentence.

Italics distinguish hijab as a non-English word.

Notice the one-sentence paragraph.

As a schoolgirl, I often cringed when my bare legs got leering or contemptuous glances.

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exposed beneath sheer scarves.

None have been more daring than I. I’ve wound my scarf into a turban,

leaving my neck bare to the breeze. The woman in black is a government employee

paid to police public morals. “Fix your scarf at once!” she snaps.

“But I’m hot,” I say.

“You’re hot?” she exclaims. “Don’t you think we all are?”

I start unwinding my makeshift turban. “The men aren’t hot,” I mutter.

Her companion looks at me in shocked reproach. “Sister, this isn’t about men

and women,” she says, shaking her head. “This is about Islam.”

I want to argue. I feel like a child. Defiant, but

powerless. Burning with injustice, but also with a hint

of shame. I do as I am told, feeling acutely conscious of

the bare skin I am covering. In policing my sexuality,

these women have made me more aware of it.

The veil masks erotic freedom, but its advocates

believe hijab transcends the erotic—or expands it. In

the West, we think of passion as a fever of the body, not

the soul. In the East, Sufi poets used earthly passion

as a metaphor; the beloved they celebrated was God.

Where I come from, people are more likely to find

delirious passion in the mosque than in the bedroom.

There are times when I feel a hint of this passion. A few years after my

encounter on the Caspian, I go to the wake of a family friend. Sitting in a mosque

in Mashhad, I grip a slippery black veil with one hand and a prayer book with

the other. In the center of the hall, there’s a stack of Koranic texts decorated with

green-and-black calligraphy, a vase of white gladioluses and a large photograph of

the dearly departed. Along the walls, women wait quietly.

From the men’s side of the mosque, the mullah’s voice rises in lament. His voice

is deep and plaintive, oddly compelling. I bow my head, sequestered in my veil

while at my side a community of women pray and weep with increasing abandon.

I remember from girlhood this sense of being exquisitely alone in the company

of others. Sometimes I have cried as well, free to weep without having to offer

an explanation. Perhaps they are right, those mystics who believe that physical

love is an obstacle to spiritual love; those architects of mosques who abstained

from images of earthly life, decorating their work with geometric shapes that they

187Chapter 12 Comparison and Contrast

The veil masks erotic freedom, but its advocates believe “hijab” transcends the erotic—or expands it.

Contradictory feelings are pushed together in a compact list.

The writer offers definitions of passion reflecting three different perspectives.

The writer uses terms of limited certainty, such as perhaps and all I know.

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Reading for Better Writing

believed freed the soul to slip from its worldly moorings. I do not aspire to such

lofty sentiments. All I know is that such moments of passionate abandon, within

the circle of invisibility created by the veil, offer an emotional catharsis every bit

as potent as any sexual release.

Outside, the rain pours from a sullen sky. I make my farewells and walk

toward the car, where my driver waits. My veil is wicking muddy water from the

sidewalk. I gather up the wet and grimy folds with distaste, longing to be home,

where I can cast off this curtain of cloth that gives with one hand, takes away with

the other.

Working by yourself or with a group, answer these questions:

1. Sometimes writers use comparison-contrast organization to take a position on an issue—in some cases to show that one side is better than the other, but in others, to show the difficulty of choosing one side over the other. What do you think is Asayesh’s position on hijab, and why?

2. Find Asayesh’s one-sentence paragraph (paragraph 3). Why might the writer have constructed the paragraph in this way? How would this excerpt differ if that sentence had been part of either the preceding or the following paragraph?

3. What contrasts are listed in paragraph 4? How does the writer use sentence structure and punctuation to mark the contrasts?

4. In paragraph 13, Asayesh uses words that indicate limited certainty, such as perhaps and all I know. How do these phrases temper her claims?

5. In what ways are the opening and closing sentences alike? How are these similarities significant for readers?

188 Analytical Writing

14 The final line summarizes the contradictions described in the essay.

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Comparison and Contrast Shankar Vedantam is a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, a science reporter for The Washington Post, and the author of the recent book, The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars and Save Our Lives. In this essay, Vedantam analyzes how people judge others based on the shade of their skin. (The essay was published in the New York Times on January 18, 2010.)

Shades of Prejudice

LAST week, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, found himself in trouble

for once suggesting that Barack Obama had a political edge over other African-

American candidates because he was “light-skinned” and had “no Negro dialect,

unless he wanted to have one.” Mr. Reid was not expressing sadness but a gleeful

opportunism that Americans were still judging one another by the color of

their skin, rather than—as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose legacy we

commemorated on Monday, dreamed—by the content of their character.

The Senate leader’s choice of words was flawed, but positing that black

candidates who look “less black” have a leg up is hardly more controversial than

saying wealthy people have an advantage in elections. Dozens of research studies

have shown that skin tone and other racial features play powerful roles in who

gets ahead and who does not. These factors regularly determine who gets hired,

who gets convicted and who gets elected.

Consider: Lighter-skinned Latinos in the United States make $5,000 more

on average than darker-skinned Latinos. The education test-score gap between

light-skinned and dark-skinned African-Americans is nearly as large as the gap

between whites and blacks.

The Harvard neuroscientist Allen Counter has found that in Arizona,

California and Texas, hundreds of Mexican-American women have suffered

mercury poisoning as a result of the use of skin-whitening creams. In India,

where I was born, a best-selling line of women’s cosmetics called Fair and Lovely

has recently been supplemented by a product aimed at men called Fair and

Handsome.

This isn’t racism, per se: it’s colorism, an unconscious prejudice that isn’t

focused on a single group like blacks so much as on blackness itself. Our brains,

shaped by culture and history, create intricate caste hierarchies that privilege

those who are physically and culturally whiter and punish those who are darker.

189Chapter 12 Comparison and Contrast

The writer uses an anecdote to introduce and illustrate his thesis.

He asserts that research supports his thesis, but he cites no sources.

He supports his point by referring to his colleague’s research.

He offers examples.

The writer distinguishes racism and colorism by comparing and contrasting the nature and effects of each.

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Colorism is an intraracial problem as well as an interracial problem. Racial

minorities who are alert to white-black or white-brown issues often remain silent

about a colorism that asks “how black” or “how brown” someone is within their

own communities.

If colorism lives underground, its effects are very real. Darker-skinned

African-American defendants are more than twice as likely to receive the death

penalty as lighter-skinned African-American defendants for crimes of equivalent

seriousness involving white victims. This was proven in rigorous, peer-reviewed

research into hundreds of capital punishment-worthy cases by the Stanford

psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt.

Take, for instance, two of Dr. Eberhadt’s murder cases, in Philadelphia,

involving black defendants—one light-skinned, the other dark. The lighter-skinned

defendant, Arthur Hawthorne, ransacked a drug store for money and narcotics.

The pharmacist had complied with every demand, yet Mr. Hawthorne shot him

when he was lying face down. Mr. Hawthorne was independently identified as the

killer by multiple witnesses, a family member and an accomplice.

The darker-skinned defendant, Ernest Porter, pleaded not guilty to the

murder of a beautician, a crime that he was linked to only through a circuitous

chain of evidence. A central witness later said that prosecutors forced him to finger

Mr. Porter even though he was sure that he was the wrong man. Two people who

provided an alibi for Mr. Porter were mysteriously never called to testify. During

his trial, Mr. Porter revealed that the police had even gotten his name wrong—his

real name was Theodore Wilson—but the court stuck to the wrong name in the

interest of convenience.

Both men were convicted. But the lighter-skinned Mr. Hawthorne was given

a life sentence, while the dark-skinned Mr. Porter has spent more than a quarter-

century on Pennsylvania’s death row.

Colorism also influenced the 2008 presidential race. In an experiment that

fall, Drew Westen, a psychologist at Emory, and other researchers shot different

versions of a political advertisement in support of Mr. Obama. One version showed

a light-skinned black family. Another version had the same script, but used a

darker-skinned black family. Voters, at an unconscious level, were less inclined

to support Mr. Obama after watching the ad featuring the darker-skinned family

than were those who watched the ad with the lighter-skinned family.

190 Analytical Writing

The writer compares and contrasts how people are treated by the legal system.

He compares colorism in the legal system with colorism in politics. To support his claim, he offers an example.

He cites a similarity and a difference.

To support his claim, he gives an example and cites a study.

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Reading for Better Writing

Political operatives are certainly aware of this dynamic. During the

campaign, a conservative group created attack ads linking Mr. Obama with

Kwame Kilpatrick, the disgraced former mayor of Detroit, which darkened Mr.

Kilpatrick’s skin to have a more persuasive effect. Though there can be little

doubt that as a candidate Mr. Obama faced voters’ conscious and unconscious

prejudices, it is simultaneously true that unconscious colorism subtly advantaged

him over darker-skinned politicians.

In highlighting how Mr. Obama benefited from his links to whiteness, Harry

Reid punctured the myth that Mr. Obama’s election signaled the completion of

the Rev. King’s dream. Americans may like to believe that we are now color-blind,

that we can consciously choose not to use race when making judgments about

other people. It remains a worthy aspiration. But this belief rests on a profound

misunderstanding about how our minds work and perversely limits our ability to

discuss prejudice honestly.

Working by yourself or with a group, answer these questions:

1. Describe how Shankar Vedantam uses an anecdote to open and close his essay. Then explain why you do or do not find that strategy effective.

2. The writer asserts that (a) colorism and racism are different and that (b) colorism is both an intraracial problem and an interracial problem. Explain what he means by each assertion and why you do or do not agree.

3. Review paragraphs 7–10 in which the writer compares and contrasts penalties meted out by the legal system. Then explain why these passages do or do not develop his thesis.

4. Note how the writer uses dashes in paragraphs 8 and 9, and then explain why that use is or is not correct.

5. In January 18, 2010, the writer published this essay in the New York Times. Cite words or sentences showing that his voice is or is not appropriate for his subject and audience.

191Chapter 12 Comparison and Contrast

To restate his thesis and unify his essay, the writer refers to the anecdote used in the opening.

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Comparison and Contrast Peter Baldwin, a history professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, has written a number of books, including The Narcissism of Minor Differences: How America and Europe Are Alike. In the essay below, adapted from that text, he compares and contrasts Europe and America. As you read the essay, use underlining or highlighting, as well as notes in the margin, to trace and respond to Baldwin’s compare-contrast thinking and writing.

The Likeness Across the Atlantic

The Atlantic gets ever wider. Not just in a physical sense, as oceans rise and

coastlines recede, but also in ideological terms. Europe and America appear to

be pitted against each other as never before. On one shore, capitalist markets,

untempered by proper social policies, allow unbridled competition, poverty,

pollution, violence, class divides, and social anomie. On the other side, Europe

nurtures a social approach, a regulated labor market, and elaborate welfare

networks. Possibly it has a less dynamic economy, but it is a more solidaristic

and harmonious society. “Our social model,” the voice of British left-liberalism,

The Guardian, describes the European way, as opposed to “feral capitalism” in

the United States.

That major differences separate the United States from Europe is scarcely a

new idea. But it has become more menacingly Manichaean over the past decade.

Foreign-policy disagreements fuel it: Iraq, Iran, Israel, North Korea. So does

the more general question of what role the world’s one remaining superpower

should play while it still remains unchallenged. Robert Kagan, a senior

associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, has famously

suggested that, when it comes to foreign policy, Americans and Europeans

call different planets home. Americans wield hard power and face the nasty

choices that follow. Europeans, sheltered now from most geopolitical strife,

enjoy the luxury of approaching conflict in a more conciliatory way: Martian

unilateralism confronts Venusian multilateralism. But the dispute goes beyond

diplomatic and military strategy. It touches on the nature of these two societies.

Does having the strongest battalions change the country that possesses them?

After all, America is not just militarily strong. It is also—compared with

Europe—harsh, violent, and sharp-elbowed. Or so goes the argument.

192 Analytical Writing

As you read the essay, use this column to record your observations and questions.

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The idea that the North Atlantic is socioculturally parted is elaborated

in both Europe and America for reasons that are as connected to domestic

political needs and tactics as they are to any actual differences. American

criticism of Europe, when it can be heard at all, typically concerns foreign

policy or trade issues. American conservatives occasionally make the old

continent a symbol for what they see as the excesses of the welfare state and

statutory regulation. But the longstanding European criticism of America has

become more vehement and widespread and is now shared by right and left

alike. Europeans are keen to define an alternative to American hegemony,

now that Europe no longer needs the protection of the United States in a post-

cold-war world. Beset with internal fractures and disagreements, they have

rediscovered the truism that nothing unites like a common enemy.

A small library of books has been published over the past few years debating

whether a sociocultural chasm separates (continental) Europe from the

(Anglo-) American barbarians. America’s unregulated capitalism is a danger

to Europe, warns the French historian and sociologist Emmanuel Todd. The

notion of a unified West has lost whatever meaning it once had, adds Claus

Offe, a professor of political sociology at the Hertie School of Governance, in

Berlin. A recent letter-writer to the Financial Times agrees, although placing

Britain on the side of the Continentals. A common language should not, this

writer claims, obscure the distance between Britain and the United States:

Americans carry guns, execute prisoners, go bankrupt, drive large cars, and

live in large houses. Their men are circumcised and their working class is poor.

The humanist and secular Europeans, by contrast, enjoy socialist hospitals,

schools, and welfare systems. They pay high taxes, live longer, and take the

train. One ponders what unspoken motives inspire such letters. Andrei S.

Markovits, a professor of comparative politics and German studies at the

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and author of one of the most interesting

recent books on the subject, Uncouth Nation: Why Europe Dislikes America

(Princeton University Press, 2007), suggests that anti-Americanism helps fire

the engines of pan-European nationalism. Europeans have less in common

than the aspiring empire builders of the European Union would like. But at

least they can agree on being different from the Americans. Or can they?

193Chapter 12 Comparison and Contrast

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Polemic and vituperation abound in the discussion of trans-Atlantic

difference; caricature, rather than portrait, is the dominant genre. It is time

to examine more closely what it is we do know. It is time, in other words, to

bring a little empirical meat to the table.

The evidence shows two things. First, Europe is not a coherent or unified

continent. The spectrum of difference within even Western Europe is much

broader than normally appreciated. Second, with a few exceptions, the United

States fits into the average range of most quantifiable measures that I have

been able to find. We may therefore conclude either that there is no coherent

European identity, or—if there is one—that the United States is as much a

European country as the usual candidates are. We might rephrase this by

saying that both Europe and the United States are, in fact, parts of a common,

big-tent grouping—call it the West, the Atlantic community, the developed

world, or what you will. America is not Sweden, for sure. But nor is Italy

Sweden, nor France, nor even Germany. And who says that Sweden is Europe,

any more than Vermont is America?

Consider the following examples:

Social welfare: As a portion of the total economy, American public social

expenditures narrowly make it into the European norm, sneaking in above

Ireland. But because the American gross domestic product is greater than

those of most European nations, the per capita spending is higher than

this rank suggests. In terms of how much money is paid out on average for

each person, the United States ranks in the lower middle of the European

spectrum, above most of the Mediterranean countries and Iceland and in the

same league as Britain, the Netherlands, and Finland.

Beyond that, a complete accounting of welfare efforts cannot focus only

on what the state does through social policy. Other avenues of redistribution

are also important: voluntary efforts, private but legally mandated benefits,

and taxes. If we include all those, the American welfare state is more extensive

than is often realized. By taking account of all these components of social

welfare—public, voluntary, and mandatory—the total effort made in the

United States falls into the middle of the European spectrum.

Foreign travel: Americans are often thought to take little interest in the world

around them, except perhaps when invading it. The paucity of Americans

with passports is often held up as an indication of uninterest. Eighty-five

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percent of American tourism and travel is domestic. If it follows that 15

percent is international, then Americans join the company of the Greeks,

Spaniards, and French, among whom, respectively, 12, 13, and 17 percent of

holidays are taken abroad. And that does not take into account the distance

needed to travel before the Great Abroad begins. That more than 99 percent

of Luxembourgeois vacations of four nights or more were enjoyed outside the

nation’s borders does not surprise; where else could they possibly have been

taken? Assuming that for a European to leave Europe is an effort roughly

analogous to that of an American leaving the United States, the figures

become more comparable. In 2006, 9.7 million Western Europeans visited

the United States, and 13 million Americans visited Europe. Thus, in the

realm of travel, Americans were proportionally more interested in Europeans

than the other way around. The same year, significantly more Americans (30

million) traveled overseas (other than to Mexico and Canada) than overseas

visitors came to the United States (22 million).

Reading, writing, and culture: Americans do not need to read, Simone

de Beauvoir was convinced, because they do not think. Thinking is hard

to quantify, reading less so. And read the Americans do. There are more

newspapers per head in the United States than anywhere in Europe outside

Scandinavia, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. The circulation of American

newspapers is higher per capita than in most of the Mediterranean countries

and in Ireland and Belgium. The United States is also well equipped with

libraries. The long tradition of municipally supported public libraries in the

United States means that average American readers are better supplied with

library books than their peers in Germany, Britain, France, Holland, Austria,

and all the Mediterranean nations. Americans also make better use of those

public-library books than most Europeans do. Average Americans borrowed

6.4 books each in 2001, more than their peers in Germany, Austria, Norway,

Ireland, Luxembourg, France, and throughout the Mediterranean. And with

America’s amply endowed universities, it is no surprise that the supply of

books per capita in college libraries is higher than in any European country

other than Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. Not content with borrowing,

Americans also buy more books per head than any European population for

which we have numbers. Proportionately more Americans claim to read a

book per month than anyone but the Swiss, Swedes, Germans, and Irish. And

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Americans write more books. Per capita, they come in at the high end of the

European spectrum as authors, measured in terms of volumes in print.

It is true that the American government spends less as a percentage of

gross domestic product than almost any European government on what

the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development defines as

“recreation and culture,” though not less than Greece and only a bit less than

Britain and Ireland. Those figures, it should be noted, include government

payments to Europe’s established churches. American households spend more

on recreation and culture privately than any Europeans but the Icelanders,

the Austrians, and the British. Add state and private money together, and

total American outlays on the finer things in life fall in the upper half of the

European middle ground.

In short, for most of the quantifiable measures of socioeconomic reality,

the divergence within Europe is greater than that between Europe and

the United States. Hand on heart, which cities more resemble each other:

Stockholm and Minneapolis or Helsinki and Thessaloniki? And as the

European Union widens eastward—possibly even to accept Turkey, a Muslim

country mostly in Asia—the most recent newcomers (many from regions

once called European Turkey, which were part of the Ottoman Empire) efface

many of the issues that do distinguish the United States from Europe. These

new arrivals, along with Europe’s many recent immigrants from Asia and

Africa, are very religious, skeptical of a strong state, unenthusiastic about

voting, and allergic to high taxes. From the vantage of old Europe, they are,

in other words, more like Americans. How odd, really, that Europeans seek

to identify an enemy in a culture with which they have so much in common,

just at the moment when they are being joined by ones with whom they

actually share even less. How odd to turn their backs on a country which, like

their own continent, espouses the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution,

the Enlightenment, democracy, liberalism, free but appropriately regulated

markets, and religious toleration.

Even a few minutes watching the Eurovision Song Contest strengthens

both a belief in the continued vitality of relations that span the Atlantic and

a belief in a hugely variegated Europe, diverse to the point of incoherence.

This must be the nightmare that keeps the empire builders in Brussels

awake at night: a vastly expanded Europe, stretching from Kamchatka to

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Reading for Better Writing

the Azores, from the North Pole (now festooned with Danish flags and

Russian submarines) to the Dead Sea, with its pidgin English lingua franca

and droning, generic, ritual Europol incantations of “Hello Europe” even as

the voting descends into unabashed tribalism. Imagine now that Europe’s

voters were given a choice also between the Australians and the Serbs. With

whom would, say, the Norwegians cast their lot? Place your bets, ladies and

gentlemen.

Of course, this choice will never be on offer. The world is too complicated

a place for the binary clumpishness of all-or-nothing alternatives between

America and Europe. Both sides of this particular divide would do well

to consider how proximate and similar the two slopes of their supposed

conceptual chasm in fact are. Whether American conservatives or Europeans,

each enamored of their own reflection, unless we break this spell of self-

enchantment, we risk suffering the fate of Narcissus. Readers will recall that

Ovid’s ill-fated hero dies of thirst, for fear that kissing the water’s surface will

disrupt the image that has so enthralled him.

Working by yourself or with a group, answer these questions:

1. First describe how Baldwin introduces his topic and thesis, and then explain why the opening is or is not engaging and clear.

2. In the opening 4 paragraphs, the writer focuses on differences between Europe and the U.S; in paragraph 5, he builds a transition; and in the remaining paragraphs, he focuses on similarities. Review these organizational choices and then explain why they do or do not help the writer develop his thesis.

3. Review paragraph 6 and explain how it (a) re-focuses the writer’s argument and (b) introduces the claims in the remaining paragraphs.

4. Review paragraphs 8-10, noting how the writer classifies “examples” of similarities into three types, each introduced by a boldfaced title. Then explain why his classification strategy does or does not help him develop his argument.

5. Cite examples from the essay to prove or disprove that Baldwin’s document is written in an academic style. (For information about an academic style, see pages 79–80.)

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Writing Guidelines

Audio Video ModelWeb Link Exercise Interactive

Planning 1. Select a topic. List subjects that are similar and/or different in ways that you find

interesting, perplexing, disgusting, infuriating, charming, or informing. Then choose two subjects whose comparison and/or contrast gives the reader some insight into who or what they are. Note: Make sure that the items have a solid basis for comparison. Comparable items are types of the same thing (e.g., two rivers, two characters, two films, two mental illnesses, two banking regulations, two search engines, two theories).

2. Get the big picture. Using a computer or a paper and pen, create three columns as shown below. Brainstorm a list of traits under each heading. (Also see the Venn diagram on page 52.)

3. Gather information. Review your list of features, highlighting those that could provide insight into one or both subjects. Research the subjects, using hands-on analysis when possible. Consider writing your research notes in the three-column format shown above.

4. Draft a working thesis. Review your expanded list of features and eliminate those that now seem unimportant. Write a sentence stating the core of what you learned about the subjects: what essential insight have you reached about the similarities and/ or differences between the topics? If you’re stuck, try completing the sentence below. (Switch around the terms “similar” and “different” if you wish to stress similarities.)

Whereas and seem similar, they are different in several ways, and the differences are important because .

5. Get organized. Decide how to organize your essay. Generally, subject by subject works better for short, simple comparisons. Trait by trait works better for longer, more complex comparisons, in that you hold up the topics side by side, trait by trait. Consider, as well, the order in which you will discuss the topics and arrange the traits, choices that depend on what you want to feature and how you want to build and deepen the comparison.

Subject by Subject:

Introduction

Subject #1 ■ Trait A ■ Trait B

Subject #2 ■ Trait A ■ Trait B

trait by trait:

Introduction

Trait A ■ Subject #1 ■ Subject #2

Trait B ■ Subject #1 ■ Subject #2

Features Peculiar to Subject #1

Shared Features

Features Peculiar to Subject #2

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Revising 7. Get feedback. Ask someone to read your paper, looking for a clear thesis, an

engaging introduction, a middle that compares and/or contrasts parallel traits in a logical order, and a unifying closing.

8. Rework your draft. Based on feedback, revise for the following issues: Ideas: The points made and conclusions drawn from comparing and contrasting provide insight into both subjects.

Organization: The structure, whether subject by subject or trait by trait, helps readers grasp the similarities and differences between the subjects.

Voice: The tone is informed, involved, and genuine.

Editing and Proofreading 9. Carefully edit your essay. Look for the following issues:

Words are precise, clear, and defined as needed. Sentences are clear, well reasoned, varied in structure, and smooth. The copy is correct, clean, and properly formatted. Graphics are well-placed. Page design is attractive and follows MLA or APA guidelines.

Publishing 10. Publish your essay. Share your writing by submitting it to your instructor, posting it

on a website, sharing it with friends and family who might be interested in the topic, crafting a presentation or demonstration, or reshaping your comparison as a blog.

Drafting 6. Write your first draft. Review your outline and draft the paper.

Subject-by-subject pattern: ■ Opening: get readers’ attention, introduce the subjects, and offer a thesis. ■ Middle: discuss the first subject, then analyze the second subject, discussing

traits parallel to those you addressed with the first subject. ■ Conclusion: summarize similarities, differences, and implications.

Trait-by-trait pattern: ■ Opening: get readers’ attention, introduce the subjects, and offer a thesis. ■ Middle: compare and/or contrast the two subjects trait by trait; include

transitions that help readers look back and forth between the two subjects. ■ Conclusion: summarize the key relationships and note their significance.

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Learning-Outcomes Checklist After reading the essays in this chapter, developing your own comparison-contrast essay, and getting feedback from classmates and your instructor, use this checklist to assess how effectively you achieved the learning outcomes for this chapter:

I understand comparison-contrast reasoning, both as a reader and a writer.

I am able to structure compare-contrast writing either subject by subject or trait by trait, and I understand when to use which pattern.

I know how to support compare-contrast reasoning with concrete and precise details, as well as with transitional words that clarify similarities and differences.

I can strengthen compare-contrast writing by using effective revising and editing strategies.

I have effectively planned, drafted, revised, and polished a compare- contrast essay.

Critical-Thinking and Writing Activities As directed by your instructor, complete the following activities.

1. Review Rachel De Smith’s analysis of Toni Morrison’s Sethe and Barbara Kingsolver’s Orleanna Price. Then choose two characters from other literary works and write an analysis of them using compare and/or contrast organization.

2. Review Gelareh Asayesh’s article “Shrouded in Contradiction,” noting how she uses comparison-contrast strategies in order to take a position. Draft or revise an essay in which you use comparison-contrast to develop or support your thesis.

3. Re-examine how Shankar Vedantam opens and closes “Shades of Prejudice” with an anecdote (or a news story) that was current when he wrote the essay. Revise one of your recent essays by selecting a recent news story that you can use to develop your thesis. For example, you might use the story to get readers’ attention or to compare the story with a parallel situation addressed in your paper.

4. Re-read Peter Baldwin’s “The Likeness Across the Atlantic” in which he analyzes Europeans’ and Americans’ differences and similarities. Choose two other collectives (e.g., countries, cities, states, colleges, or groups of people) and write an essay in which you compare and contrast characteristics that distinguish these communities.

5. Write an essay in which you compare and contrast two people, using subject- by-subject organization. Then revise the essay using trait-by-trait organization. Finally, discuss the essays with a classmate to determine which piece is better.

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■ Creating a Working Bibliography A working bibliography lists sources you have used and intend to use. It helps you track your research, develop your final bibliography, and avoid plagiarism. Here’s what to do:

Choose an orderly method. Select an efficient approach for your project:

■ Paper note cards: Use 3✕5 inch cards, and record one source per card. ■ Paper notebook: Use a small, spiral-bound book to record sources. ■ Computer program: Record source information electronically, either by capturing

citation details from online searches or by recording bibliographic information using word-processing software or research software such as TakeNote, EndNote Plus, or Bookends Pro.

Including Identifying Information for Sources Start by giving each source a code number or letter: Doing so will help you when drafting and documenting your paper. Then include specific details for each kind of source listed below, shown on the facing page.

A. Books: author, title and subtitle, publication details (place, publisher, date) B. Periodicals: author, article title, journal name, publication information

(volume, number, date), page numbers

C. Online sources: author (if available), document title, site sponsor, database name, publication or posting date, access date, other publication information, URL

D. Primary or field research: date conducted, name and/or descriptive title of person interviewed, place observed, survey conducted, document analyzed

Adding Locating Information Because you may need to retrace your research footsteps, include details about your research path:

A. Books: Include the Library of Congress or Dewey call number. B. Articles: Note where and how you accessed them (stacks, current periodicals,

microfilm, database).

C. Webpages: Record the complete URL, not just the broader site address. D. Field research: Include a telephone number or an e-mail address.

INSIGHT: Consider recording bibliographic details in the format of the documentation system you are using—MLA (pages 491–528) or APA (pages 529–558), for example. Doing so now will save time later. In addition, some research software allows you to record bibliographic information and then format it according to a specific system.

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Annotating the Source Add a note about the source’s content, focus, reliability, and usefulness.

Sample Working Bibliography Entries

#2 Howells, Coral Ann. Alice Munro. Contemporary World Writers. Manchester and New York: Manchester UP, 1998.

PS 8576.U57 Z7 1998

Book provides good introduction to Alice Munro’s fiction, chapters arranged by Munro’s works; contains intro, conclusion, and bibliography; 1998 date means author doesn’t cover Munro’s recent fiction

#5 Valdes, Marcela. “Some Stories Have to Be Told by Me: A Literary History of Alice Munro.” Virginia Quarterly Review 82.3 (Summer 2006): 82-90.

EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier http://web.ebscohost.com

Article offers good introduction to Munro’s life, her roots in Ontario, her writing career, and the key features of her stories

#3 “Alice Munro.” Athabasca University Centre for Language and Literature: Canadian Writers. Updated 31 January 2011. Accessed 17 April 2011.

http://www.athabascau.ca/writers/munro.html site offers good introduction to Munro’s writing, along with links to bibliography and other resources

#4 Thacker, Robert. E-Mail interview. 7 March 2011.

rthacker@mdu.edu

author of critical biography on Munro, Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives, offered really helpful insights into her creative process, especially useful for story “Carried Away”

A. Book Source Note:

B. Periodical Source Note

C. Internet Source Note:

D. Interview Source Note:

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■ Developing a Note-Taking System Accurate, thoughtful notes create a foundation for your research writing. The trick is to practice some sensible strategies and choose an efficient method.

Develop note-taking strategies. What are you trying to do when you take notes on sources? What you are not doing is (a) collecting quotations to plunk in your project, (b) piling isolated grains of data into a large stack of disconnected facts, or (c) intensively reading and taking notes on every source you find. Instead, use these strategies:

Take good notes on graphics in sources—tables, line graphs, photo graphs, maps, and so on. Such graphics are typically packed with information and powerfully convey ideas. (See “Critical Thinking Through Viewing,” pages 12–17.)

INSIGHT: Different disciplines use different note-taking practices. In your major, learn these practices through courses that introduce you to the subject matter. Here are two examples:

■ In literature studies, students conduct literary analyses by annotating print texts. Students may also take notes through keyword searches of e-books (for example, a Shakespeare play) and reviews of literary criticism.

■ In environmental studies, students conduct research by (a) taking notes on published research to develop literature reviews, and (b) using a standard field notebook to collect data, make drawings, and reflect on results.

Be selective. Guided by your research questions and working thesis, focus on sources that are central to your project. From these sources, record information clearly related to your limited topic, but also take notes on what surprises or puzzles you. Be selective, avoiding notes that are either too meager or too extensive. Suppose, for example, that you were writing a paper on the engineering problems facing the International Space Station. If you were reading an article on the history and the future of this facility, you might take careful notes on material describing the station’s technical details, but not on astronauts’ biographies.

Develop accurate, complete records. Your notes should . . . ■ Accurately summarize, paraphrase, and quote sources (pages 436–438). ■ Clearly show where you got your information. ■ Cover all the research you’ve done—primary research (e.g., interviews,

observations), books and periodical articles, and online sources.

Engage your sources. Evaluate what you are reading and develop your own responses. (See pages 4–11.) For example, with an article about the International Space Station, you might test the author’s biases, credentials, and logic; and you might respond with knowledge you have gained about other space endeavors.

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Note-Taking Systems A good note-taking system should help you do the following:

■ Avoid unintentional plagiarism by developing accurate records, distinguishing among sources, and separating source material from your own ideas.

■ Work efficiently at gathering what you need for the project. ■ Work flexibly with a wide range of resources—primary and secondary, print and

electronic, verbal and visual. ■ Engage sources through creative and critical reflection. ■ Record summaries, paraphrases, and quotations correctly. ■ Be accurate and complete so that you need not reread sources. ■ Efficiently develop your paper’s outline and first draft.

Four note-taking systems are outlined on the pages that follow. Choose the system that works best for your project, or combine elements to develop your own.

System 1: Paper or electronic note cards. Using paper note cards is the traditional method of note taking; however, note-taking software is now available with most word-processing programs and special programs like TakeNote, EndNote Plus, and Bookends Pro. Here’s how a note-card system works:

1. Establish one set of cards (3 × 5 inches, if paper) for your bibliography.

2. On a second set of cards (4 × 6 inches, if paper), take notes on sources: ■ Record one point from one source per card. ■ Clarify the source: List the author’s last name, a shortened title, or a code

from the matching bibliography card. Include a page number. ■ Provide a topic or heading: Called a slug, the topic helps you categorize and

order information. ■ Label the note as a summary, paraphrase, or quotation of the original. ■ Distinguish between the source’s information and your own thoughts.

Upside: Note cards are highly systematic, helping you categorize material and organize it for an outline and a first draft.

Downside: The method can be initially tedious and time-consuming.

1 PROBLEMS WITH INTERNAL-COMBUSTION CARS

“In one year, the average gas-powered car produces five tons of carbon dioxide, which as it slowly builds up in the atmosphere causes global warming.” (p. 43)

-helpful fact about the extent of pollution caused by the traditional i-c engine

-how does this number compare with what a hybrid produces?

Slug Quotation

Page Number

Comments

Source

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System 2: Copy (or save) and annotate. The copy-and-annotate method involves working with photocopies, print versions, or digital texts of sources:

System 3: The computer notebook or research log. The computer notebook or research log method involves taking notes on a computer or on sheets of paper. Here’s how it works:

1. Selectively photocopy, print, and/or save important sources. Copy carefully, making sure you have full pages, including the page numbers.

2. As needed, add identifying information on the copy—author, publication details, and date. Each page should be easy to identify and trace. When working with books, simply copy the title and copyright pages and keep them with the rest of your notes.

3. As you read, mark up the copy and highlight key statements. In the margins or digital file, record your ideas:

■ Ask questions. Insert a “?” in the margin, or write out the question. ■ Make connections. Draw arrows to link ideas, or make notes like “see

page 36.” ■ Add asides. Record what you think and feel while reading. ■ Define terms. Note important words that you need to understand. ■ Create a marginal index. Write keywords to identify themes and main parts.

1. Establish a central location for your notes—a notebook, a file folder, a binder, or an electronic folder.

2. Take notes one source at a time, making sure to identify the source fully. Number your note pages.

3. Using your initials or some other symbol, distinguish your own thoughts from source material.

4. Use codes in your notes to identify which information in the notes relates to which topic in your outline. Then, under each topic in the outline, write the page number in your notes where that information is recorded. With a notebook or log, you may be able to rearrange your notes into an outline by using copy and paste— but don’t lose source information in the process!

Upside: Copying, printing, and/or saving helps you record sources accurately; annotating encourages careful reading and thinking.

Downside: Organizing material for drafting is inconvenient; when done poorly, annotating and highlighting involve skimming, not critical thinking.

Upside: Taking notes feels natural without being overly systematic. Downside: Outlining and drafting may require time-consuming paper shuffling.

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System 4: The double-entry notebook. The double-entry notebook involves parallel note taking—notes from sources beside your own brainstorming, reaction, and reflection. Using a notebook or the columns feature of your word-processing program, do the following:

1. Divide pages in half vertically.

2. In the left column, record bibliographic information and take notes on sources.

3. In the right column, write your responses. Think about what the source is saying, why the point is important, whether you agree with it, and how the point relates to other ideas and other sources.

Upside: This method creates accurate source records while encouraging thoughtful responses; also, it can be done on a computer.

Downside: Organizing material for drafting may be a challenge.

Cudworth, Erika. Environment and Society. Routledge Introductions to Environment Series. London and New York: Routledge, 2003.

Ch. 6 “Society, ‘Culture’ and ‘Nature’— Human Relations with Animals”

chapter looks at how social scientists have understood historically the relationship between people and animals (158)

the word animal is itself a problem when we remember that people too are animals but the distinction is often sharply made by people themselves (159)

“In everyday life, people interact with animals continually.” (159)–author gives many common examples

I’ve actually had a fair bit of personal experience with animals—the horses, ducks, dogs, and cats on our hobby farm. Will this chapter make trouble for my thinking?

Yes, what really are the connections and differences between people and animals? Is it a different level of intelligence? Is there something more basic or fundamental? Are we afraid to see ourselves as animals, as creatures?

Many examples—pets, food, TV programs, zoos—apply to me. Hadn’t thought about how much my life is integrated with animal life! What does that integration look like? What does it mean for me, for the animals?

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■ Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Source Material As you work with sources, you must decide what to put in your notes and how to record it—as a summary, a paraphrase, or a quotation. Use these guidelines:

■ How relevant is the passage to your research question or working thesis? ■ How strong and important is the information offered? ■ How unique or memorable is the thinking or phrasing?

The more relevant, the stronger, and the more memorable the material is, the more likely you should note it.

The passage below comes from an article on GM’s development of fuel-cell technology. Review the passage; study how the researcher summarizes, paraphrases, and quotes from the source; and then practice these same strategies as you take notes on sources.

When Karl Benz rolled his Patent Motorcar out of the barn in 1886, he literally set the wheels of change in motion. The advent of the automobile led to dramatic alterations in people’s way of life as well as the global economy—transformations that no one expected at the time. The ever-increasing availability of economical personal transportation remade the world into a more accessible place while spawning a complex industrial infrastructure that shaped modern society.

Now another revolution could be sparked by automotive technology: one fueled by hydrogen rather than petroleum. Fuel cells—which cleave hydrogen atoms into protons and electrons that drive electric motors while emitting nothing worse than water vapor—could make the automobile much more environmentally friendly. Not only could cars become cleaner, they could also become safer, more comfortable, more personalized—and even perhaps less expensive. Further, these fuel-cell vehicles could be instrumental in motivating a shift toward a “greener” energy economy based on hydrogen. As that occurs, energy use and production could change significantly. Thus, hydrogen fuel-cell cars and trucks could help ensure a future in which personal mobility—the freedom to travel independently—could be sustained indefinitely, without compromising the environment or depleting the earth’s natural resources.

A confluence of factors makes the big change seem increasingly likely. For one, the petroleum-fueled internal-combustion engine (ICE), as highly refined, reliable and economical as it is, is finally reaching its limits. Despite steady improvements, today’s ICE vehicles are only 20 to 25 percent efficient in converting the energy content of fuels into drive-wheel power. And although the U.S. auto industry has cut exhaust emissions substantially since the unregulated 1960s—hydrocarbons dropped by 99 percent, carbon monoxide by 96 percent and nitrogen oxides by 95 percent—the continued production of carbon dioxide causes concern because of its potential to change the planet’s climate.

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Summarize useful passages. Summarizing condenses in your own words the main points in a passage. Summarize when the source provides relevant ideas and information on your topic.

1. Reread the passage, jotting down a few key words. 2. State the main point in your own words. Add key supporting points, leaving out

examples, details, and long explanations. Be objective: Don’t mix your reactions with the summary.

3. Check your summary against the original, making sure that you use quotation marks around any exact phrases you borrow.

Paraphrase key passages. Paraphrasing puts a whole passage in your own words. Paraphrase passages that present important points, explanations, or arguments but that don’t contain memorable or straightforward wording. Follow these steps:

1. Quickly review the passage to get a sense of the whole, and then go through the passage carefully, sentence by sentence.

■ State the ideas in your own words, defining words as needed. ■ If necessary, edit for clarity, but don’t change the meaning. ■ If you borrow phrases directly, put them in quotation marks.

2. Check your paraphrase against the original for accurate tone and meaning.

Sample Summary:

While the introduction of the car in the late nineteenth century has led to dramatic changes in society and world economics, another dramatic change is now taking place in the shift from gas engines to hydrogen technologies. Fuel cells may make the car “greener,” and perhaps even safer, cheaper, and more comfortable. These automotive changes will affect the energy industry by making it more environmentally friendly; as a result, people will continue to enjoy mobility while transportation moves to renewable energy. One factor leading to this technological shift is that the internal-combustion engine has reached the limits of its efficiency, potential, and development—while remaining problematic with respect to emissions, climate change, and health.

INSIGHT: Whenever possible, include a page number, paragraph number, or other locating detail with your paraphrase, summary, or quotation. Such identification at this stage is crucial to avoiding plagiarism down the road (see pages 474–479).

From Burns, L. D., McCormick, J. B., and Borroni-Bird, C. E. “Vehicle of Change.” Scientific American 287:4 (October 2002): 10 pp.

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