discussion

Chapter 3

Exploratory Essay

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Exploratory Essay Assignment Guidelines

As its name implies, the Exploratory Essay allows you to explore a complex issue to not only

better understand the issue itself but also to inform your readers and better situate yourself as

a critical thinker within the cultural conversation. Because of its investigative nature, the

Exploratory Essay’s purpose is informative and its tone is neutral and invitational, allowing you

to build on the skills you developed in the Reading Reflection (Chapter 2).

What will you do?

For this assignment, you will write a 1,000–1,200-word (4–5 double-spaced pages) essay that

explores a sociocultural issue related to socioeconomic status or social class from multiple

points of view. You will read several articles together with your classmates to better understand

the scope and complexity of the conversations around social class in the United States; you will

also supplement these sources with independent outside research. Your independent research

should help you identify a topical focus that will serve as the thematic frame for your own

exploratory essay. Additionally, because the essay is designed to help readers understand the

conversation around your topic, your essay must include at least three sources.

To explore a sociocultural issue from multiple viewpoints, you should read a variety of sources,

such as newspaper articles, editorials, and policy reports. These are not meant to be models of

exploratory writing. Their purpose is to provide some of the core knowledge that will help you

to contextualize this issue in your own essay. As you read, keep in mind the purpose of your

writing: you are not arguing in favor of or against a particular stance; you are not attempting to

prove which authors are right or wrong; instead, you are respectfully engaging with all authors’

ideas to present a neutral overview of the conversations happening around your topic.

To put it another way, keep the idea of an invitation in mind. When we send an invitation (to a

party or a wedding), we are letting recipients know that they are welcome to attend, but they

are in no way required to come—they can accept or decline as they see fit. Think of this paper

in a similar way: you are inviting your audience to look at the different facets of an issue, but

you are not requiring them to agree or disagree with any of them. They may consider what you

say and form their own opinion; you are not trying to persuade them to accept a certain

position. You do want them to engage seriously with your writing, though, and we will talk

about strategies to help you do so without falling into argumentative or persuasive language.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of writing an Exploratory Essay is how the invitation you will

extend to others extends to you, too: in the same way that you are inviting your audience to

consider different perspectives, you also are inviting yourself to explore these same

perspectives.

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Who is your target audience?

While your instructor ultimately will assess your success in respectfully engaging the larger

conversation on your topic and consistently maintaining an invitational tone, you should

imagine your target audience as a reader who may have a partial, or even firmly narrow, view

about the issue. Your reader might come from a different background, might have different

knowledge, and/or might have experienced the world differently than the authors with whom

you engage. Remember that your goal is not to convince your reader that they are wrong (or

right); instead, you are inviting them to understand the many facets of the issue.

Objectives

By the end of this assignment, you should be able to do the following:

• Demonstrate your ability to respectfully examine a complex issue from multiple

perspectives

• Maintain a neutral, invitational tone

• Show that you understand and respect the perspectives of others

• Objectively and accurately summarize writers’ main points

• Organize sources thematically to inform an audience about a larger conversation

• Synthesize sources in terms of their common and diverging points

• Effectively integrate outside sources into your essay

• Effectively and purposefully organize your ideas to convey a clear topic focus in your

writing

Rationale

An exploratory essay invites you to imagine, understand, and engage diverse perspectives — an

important aspect of critical thinking and global citizenship, as reflected in Kansas State

University’s Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes and its Principles of Community. Such

an assignment also asks you to think through how issues such as gender, race, and class impact

your life in the academy and within the larger social realm. In fact, part of being an engaged

student and citizen is a willingness and ability to consider not only your own perspective but

also the perspectives of others. This assignment will help prepare you to consider and articulate

these multiple viewpoints or angles of vision; it also will prepare you to analyze a written text

and to put that text in conversation with other texts. Such analytical skills will prove crucial

throughout your college career and will serve you well throughout your life.

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You will also encounter “exploratory writing” in many of your classes. If you are a student in the

sciences or social sciences, your professors are likely to assign a similar essay called a Review of

Literature or Literature Review. This type of essay shares the informative goal of the

Exploratory Essay in its quest to capture the state of research on a topic at a given point in time.

Academic researchers use Literature Reviews to ground their own research projects, while

professional readers might use them to stay in touch with current events in their field.

If you are a biology major, for example, you might be asked to write a Literature Review about

the rise of antibiotic resistant microbes; if you’re a health and nutrition major, your topic could

be diet trends such as “paleo”; and, if you’re an education major, you could work with a topic

like special education inclusion models. The paper you would write, then, would not be based

on your personal experience or interpretation, but instead be based on the objective

presentation of data, theories, and other research material. Finally, similar to the Exploratory

Essay, though the paper’s topic might be framed as a problem, the Literature Review is not

solution-oriented or argumentative in nature.

In short, the Exploratory Essay is a typical academic essay, one that will help you in your

academic career.

Considering Social Class

Socioeconomic Class in the U.S.

In the United States, socioeconomic class can be surprisingly hard to talk about. Part of this

resistance is likely tied to the investment in American individuality and the “American Dream.”

Within these concepts, anyone can succeed if they work hard enough. Additionally, many

middle- and upper-class Americans were raised to believe that it’s impolite to talk about issues

of money and income. In Great Britain, on the other hand, social class is much more obvious.

Social class determines the dialect, the words one uses (e.g., what upper-class folks call a

“sofa,” working-class people call a “couch”), eating times for lunch and dinner, and even the

way one makes a cup of tea. In the United States, however, class involves cultural distinctions

that can be more subtle and harder to classify. Social class identity may also blend with regional

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identity, and it may be difficult to untangle working-class culture from rural, Midwestern, or

Southern identities.

What complicates social class even more is that it is not directly or solely correlated with

income levels, although income levels certainly impact class. In a series of articles about social

class, The New York Times defines class as a status system involving such variables as

occupation, education, income, and wealth.1 Some also include patterns of consumption,

recreation habits, language, taste – both aesthetic and culinary – and etiquette. In other words,

social class is tied to the subjective perception of behaviors, dispositions, and refinement, as

well as simple income. Additionally, the kind or source of income impacts social class. You

might have heard the term “old money,” or “passive income,” for example, indicating that a

person’s family simply “has” wealth or simply “is” wealthy. All these variables (often the “socio”

part of “socioeconomic class”) help determine an individual’s status in society and influence

how we judge others.

As you can already see, socioeconomic class (or social class, or sometimes just “class”) is a

complicated topic. It’s made more complicated by the fact that scholars still don’t really agree

on just what class is or which term or terms most aptly describe what it is we’re talking about.

For example, most of us have probably heard of a three-tiered class system in which people are

sorted into the upper, middle, or lower (or sometimes “working”) class. Such a system likely

dates back to 19th century cultural critic Matthew Arnold’s categorizations of class. These three

categories are often now broken down further into five: upper, upper- middle, middle, lower-

middle, and lower.2

Activity

Below, you’ll find a 2008 table that employs these categories in an American context. What’s

important to note is that these data are based on participants who defined themselves as

“middle-class.”

While you look at these data, consider these following questions:

1 These articles are available at www.nytimes.com/pages/national/class/index.html. 2 Fussell, Paul. Class: A Guide Through the American Status System. Touchstone, 1983. p. 27.

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• What take-away points can you make about how different groups of people represent

themselves as “middle-class”?

• How might these responses have changed since 2008?

• What surprises you about these responses? (What might you want to explore some

more in this chapter?)

The Middle Classes: Who Makes Up Each Group

Top of the Class

Satisfied Middle

Anxious Middle

Struggling Middle

Gender % % % %

Male 56 45 49 37

Female 44 55 51 63

Race/Ethnicity White, non-Hispanic

79

75

73

56

Black, non-Hispanic 10 7 10 20

Hispanic 6 12 11 19

Other 5 6 6 5

Age 18-29

16

31

13

35

30-49 46 19 59 32

50-64 30 16 26 18

65+ 8 34 3 15

Education College or more

41

15

30

8

Some college 29 29 30 16

High school or less 30 56 40 76

Family Income $100,000 or more

32

14

$50,000-&99,000 68 1 62

$30,000-$49,000 60 24 19

$20,000-$29,000 23 23

$20,000 or less 16 58

Marital Status Married

69

37

67

22

Not married 31 62 32 77

Quality of Present Life High

46

41

16

24

Medium 42 36 43 27

Low 12 23 40 47

Will Children Have Better Life Than You? Better

49

63

44

58

Worse 17 12 28 16

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Same 24 17 20 18

No Children 6 3 6 4

Figure 1. Attitudes & Demographics about Middle Class Identity in the United States, Pew Research Center. 3

Activity

Here are two more recent examples to help us make sense of these categorizations. In the first,

Kansas writer Sarah Smarsh describes her experience as a first-generation college student. The

second is an excerpt from journalist Sarah Sugar’s (Vox) interview with author and University of

Michigan lecturer, S. Margot Finn, over Finn’s 2017 book, Discriminating Taste: How Class

Anxiety Created the American Food Revolution.

Sarah Smarsh: Even at a Midwestern state university, my background – agricultural

work, manual labor, rural poverty, teen pregnancies, domestic chaos, pervasive

addiction – seemed like a faraway story to the people I met. Most of them were from

tidy neighborhoods in Wichita, Kansas City, the greater Chicago area. They used a

different sort of English and had different politics. They were appalled that I had grown

up with conservative ideas about government and Catholic doctrine against abortion. I

was appalled that they didn't know where their food came from or even seem to care

since it had always just appeared on their plates when they wanted it.4

Sarah Sugar: You talk about one of the failures of the food revolution being the way it’s

“helped stigmatize the foods and bodies associated with the poor,” while convincing

middle- and upper-middle classes that their dietary choices mean they “deserve” their

status. In the book, you say that trying to get other people to eat “higher quality” foods

is a kind of bigotry, because it feeds into “pernicious social divides.” But at the same

3 Morin, Rich. “America’s Four Middle Classes.” Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends, Pew Research Center, 29 July 2008. Pew Research Center, www.pewsocialtrends.org/2008/07/29/americas-four-middle-classes/. 4 Smarsh, Sarah. Heartland. Scribner, 2018.

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time, aren’t there reasons — environmental reasons, health reasons — you might want

to try to get people to change their behavior?5

Smarsh begins her paragraph with a list of class descriptors – “agricultural work, manual labor,

rural poverty, teen pregnancies, domestic chaos, pervasive addiction.” In what ways are we to

understand how these are in tension with the “tidy neighborhoods” in the more urban places of

“Wichita, Kansas City, [and] the greater Chicago area?” What class is she describing? Do your

own experiences lead you to agree or disagree with her observations?

Similarly, what clues does Sugar’s interview questions provide about social class and culinary

tastes? What other examples can you think of to explore this topic (i.e., think about

“Lunchables” and charcuterie boards, American cheese, and the size of your grocery store’s

cheese selection)?

The American Dream: Social Mobility

Some might wonder why we worry about socioeconomic class at all. After all, it doesn’t matter

what class one is born into; if you work hard, you can be successful and change your social

class, right? This is what we call a classic “bootstraps narrative,” popularized by authors such as

Horatio Alger. The phrase now refers to a person who improves his or her station with

individual hard work (interestingly, it seems the phrase originally was meant to refer to

something impossible—one cannot, after all, actually pull oneself up by one’s own bootstraps).

In terms of socioeconomic class, it refers to the ability to improve one’s social class through

hard work and perseverance. This is commonly referred to as economic mobility.

Scholars are somewhat divided on this topic, but most research suggests that it is actually very

difficult to move up the socioeconomic ladder. That isn’t to say that children make the same

5 Sugar, Rachel. “‘Good Taste’ is All About Class Anxiety.” Vox, 26 Sept. 2019, https://www.vox.com/the-

goods/2019/9/26/20873938/good-taste-class-anxiety-s-margot-finn.

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amount of money as their parents—as we’ll see, they often do—but it is rare for people to

actually move into a different level of socioeconomic status than that of their parents.

Additionally, because social class is marked by more than simply income, some research shows

that it is nearly statistically impossible to move from one social class level to the next. Professor

of Economics Gregory Clark cautions that focusing solely on changes in one factor (such as

income, occupation, or education) allows us “to confuse the random fluctuations of income

across generations, influenced by such things as career choices between business and

philosophy, with true generalized social mobility.”6 Instead, Clark believes we need to look

across generations, analyzing larger trends as well as the variety of factors that play a role in

social class. As a result of his intergenerational study of social mobility in Sweden, Clark found

that when we take a variety of factors into consideration—income, occupation, education,

etc.—we find that there is almost no change in social status. If your family was middle class in

the 18th century, they are statistically likely to be middle class in the 19th, 20th, and 21st

century. While income levels fluctuate more in the United States than they do in Sweden, Clark

argues that his study shows how single-factor or single-generational studies within the U.S.

overinflate the possibility of sustained social mobility.7

Let’s take a moment to consider the implications of Clark’s findings. In short, Clark found that

while individuals might move between social classes across time and generations— the

daughter of a mechanic with a high school diploma might become a neurosurgeon, thereby

moving up the ladder of social class in education, occupational status, income, and wealth—it is

statistically much more likely that the future generations of this same family will fall within the

working class than the upper-middle class. Structurally, then, while there will be individual

cases of members of the upper class moving down the social ladder (due to such things as stock

market crashes, for example) and individual cases of members of the lower or working class

moving up the ladder, across generations—across hundreds of years, in fact—most members

within a family line will maintain the same class status as their ancestors. If this is true, and

much recent research implies that it is, then we must grapple with the fact that sheer individual

hard work is rarely enough for most people or families to break class barriers, at least not for a

sustained period of time.

How Americans think about social mobility changes over time as well. According to a 2014

article using survey results from 2009, “When the Pew Economic Mobility Project conducted a

6 Clark, Gregory. “Low Mobility Associated with Inherited Ability is No Social Tragedy.” Free Exchange: Economics, 13 Feb. 2013. The Economist, www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/02/ mobility-2. 7 Clark, Gregory. “What is the True Rate of Social Mobility in Sweden? A Surname Analysis 1700- 2012.” Gregory Clark: Professor of Economics. “Economics: Faculty,” UC Davis, faculty.econ.ucdavis.edu/ faculty/gclark/papers/Sweden%202012%20AUG.pdf.

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survey in 2009—hardly a high point in the history of American capitalism—39 percent of

respondents said they believed it was ‘common’ for people born into poverty to become rich,

and 71 percent said that personal attributes like hard work and drive, not the circumstances of

a person’s birth, are the key determinants of success.”8

These attitudes about the “American Dream” may be shifting. Compare the results from the

2009 survey to Pew Research Center’s 2020 survey results about the same question. Note how

the responses differ more sharply based upon the political affiliation of the respondent.

In your opinion, which generally has more do with…

Why a person is rich? Why a person is poor?

They have had more advantages in life than most other people.

They have worked harder than most other people.

They have faced more obstacles in life than most other people.

They have not worked as hard as most other people.

Total 65% 33% 71% 26%

Republican or Rep-leaning 45% 53% 55% 42%

Democrat or Dem-leaning 82% 16% 86% 12%

Figure 2. Attitudes about Social Mobility in the United States, PEW Research Center9

Social Mobility & Race

Recently, the non-partisan research group based out of Harvard, Opportunity Insights,

published a report summarizing its findings of 2018 Census data as they related specifically to

questions of race and social mobility:10

Finding #1: Hispanic Americans are moving up in the income distribution across

generations, while Black Americans and American Indians are not.

8 Swansburg, John. “The Self-Made Man: The Story of America’s Most Pliable, Pernicious, Irrepressible Myth.” Slate, 29 Sept. 2014, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2014/09/ the_self_made_man_history_of_a_myth_from_ben_franklin_to_andrew_carnegie.html. 9 Pew Research Center. “Most Americans Point to Circumstances, Not Work Ethic, for Why People Are Rich or Poor.” 2 March 2020. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/03/02/most-americans-point-to-circumstances- not-work-ethic-as-reasons-people-are-rich-or-poor/.

10 Chetty, Raj, et.al. “Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States,” Non-technical summary pdf, Opportunity Insights, May 2020, https://opportunityinsights.org/paper-category/race/.

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Finding #2: The black-white income gap is entirely driven by differences in men’s, not

women’s, outcomes.

Finding #3: Differences in family characteristics — parental marriage rates, education,

wealth — and differences in ability explain very little of the black-white gap.

Finding #4: In 99% of neighborhoods in the United States, black boys earn less in

adulthood than white boys who grow up in families with comparable income.

Finding #5: Both black and white boys have better outcomes in low-poverty areas, but

black-white gaps are bigger in such neighborhoods.

Finding #6: Within low-poverty areas, black-white gaps are smallest in places with low

levels of racial bias among whites and high rates of father presence among blacks.

Finding #7: The black-white gap is not immutable: black boys who move to more

affluent neighborhoods as children have significantly better outcomes.

Here are some additional findings to broaden our understanding of the relationship between

social mobility and race or ethnicity in the U.S.:

• “Black Americans and American Indians have much lower rates of upward mobility and

higher rates of downward mobility than whites, leading to persistent disparities across

generations.”11

• “Today, income inequality in the U.S. is greatest among Asians [Asian Americans]. From

1970 to 2016, the gap in the standard of living between Asians near the top and the

bottom of the income ladder nearly doubled, and the distribution of income among

Asians transformed from being one of the most equal to being the most unequal among

America’s major racial and ethnic groups.”12

11 Chetty, Raj, et al. “Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States: An Intergenerational Perspective.” Abstract. Unites States Census Bureau, Sept. 2018, https://www.census.gov/library/working- papers/2018/adrm/CES-WP-18-40R.html. 12 Cilluffo, Anthony and Rakesh Kochhar. “Income Inequality in the U.S. Is Rising Most Rapidly Among Asians.” Pew Research Center, July 12, 2018, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/07/12/income-inequality-in-the- u-s-is-rising-most-rapidly-among-asians/.

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Note: While this chapter is primarily about socioeconomic class, other identity factors such

as race, class, region, ethnicity, and able-bodiedness impact social class. We call this

“intersectionality,” a useful concept to help us better understand and explain social mobility

discrepancies between demographic groups in this country. You might find this approach

helpful as you decide the thematic focus of your Exploratory Essay.

Social Mobility & Education

This is not to say that hard work and perseverance never pay off. Of course, they can, and as a

student in college, you are expected to work hard, to study, to take your education seriously.

Why? In part, because it will result in better grades than if you had simply blown off all your

exams, essays, assignments, and responsibilities. But there is also a longer chain of effects:

better grades can result in scholarships, which might result in your ability to work fewer hours

to pay for college, which can result in more time to study and more time to sleep so that you’re

not falling asleep while studying. This can then result in, again, high marks, maintained

scholarships, maintained time to study and sleep. Additionally, it means you can list academic

scholarships on your resume, as well as graduating summa cum laude. Such accomplishments

can make you more competitive when applying for jobs, and your perceived investment in your

education can result in stronger letters of recommendations from professors. In this way, hard

work and education can help you get a good job, can help you make a decent wage, and can

help you shift those New York Times scales higher on the education, occupation, income, and

wealth categories. You might then find yourself making more money than your parents, having

a level of education equal to or higher than your parents, and perhaps owning a nicer car or

home than your parents.

In fact, according to a 2012 PEW report on social mobility, researchers found that “a four-year

college degree” promotes upward mobility from the bottom and prevents downward mobility

from the middle and top.

In other words, a college degree makes it easier to move up the socioeconomic ladder and

harder to fall down it. More specifically, researchers found:

• Almost one-half (47%) of those raised in the bottom quintile of the family income ladder

who do not earn a college degree are stuck there as adults, compared with 10% who do

earn a college degree. Similarly, 45% without a college degree are stuck in the bottom of

the family wealth ladder compared with 20% with a degree.

• Having a college degree makes a person more than three times more likely to rise from

the bottom of the family income ladder all the way to the top and makes a person more

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than four times more likely to rise from the bottom of the family wealth ladder to the

top.

• 39% raised in the middle of the family income ladder who do not get a college degree

fall from the middle, compared with less than a quarter (22%) of those with a degree.

Similarly, 39% raised in the middle of the family wealth ladder who do not earn a degree

fall down the wealth ladder, compared with 19% with a degree.

An Extended Example: Liam & Jason

A college degree, then, makes social mobility easier, but how does familial social class impact

education and future success? To get a sense of the possible effects of social class, imagine two

high school students who are, by most visible markers, pretty similar. Liam and Jason live in the

same town and attend the same high school. They have the same IQ, both are hardworking,

and both plan to attend college. But Jason’s parents would be categorized as upper middle

class, while Liam’s are working class. Both Jason and Liam grew up seeing at least one of their

parents read the newspaper before heading off to work, but Jason’s parents had a bit freer

time in the evening and would often watch the national news and read books about politics,

education, and history, in addition to some of the great classic novels. Jason was encouraged to

do the same, and such books were readily available to him. Additionally, because his parents

had the time to keep up with national and world events, Jason and his parents often talked

about politics and history at the dinner table. Jason quickly learned the vocabulary, the

concepts, and the ways to structure a persuasive argument as he listened to his parents and

participated in their discussions.

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Liam’s parents were also interested in world and national events, but his dad worked the night

shift and wasn’t around for dinner. His mom often worked two jobs and tended to be too tired

for serious conversation or leisure reading when she got home. Liam spent a good amount of

his time helping around the house—making meals for himself and his parents, doing the dishes,

doing laundry. In other words, despite levels of interest or education, there was simply little

time for heavy reading and spirited dinner conversation about that night’s news. Because his

parents didn’t have much time for reading, there weren’t a lot of books in the house for Liam to

pick up out of curiosity.

As Liam and Jason entered high school, Jason found he had already read quite a few of the

required novels, so those classes were relatively easy for him. Liam, on the other hand, had

never encountered the kinds of language he was seeing in books by Jane Austen and Nathaniel

Hawthorne, so he struggled a bit—not for lack of intelligence, but for lack of experience.

Additionally, by his sophomore year Liam was working a part-time job to help pay the bills and

to try to save for college, so he didn’t have as much time to devote to homework as he’d like.

Because most of those books were familiar for Jason, though, he found himself in Advanced

Placement classes in both English and History.

By the time Liam and Jason graduated high school, Jason had taken the AP exam in English and

History, earning him college credit for the introductory courses in both subjects. His teachers

thought of him as bright, dedicated, and college bound. Liam had done well in most of his

classes and his teachers liked him quite a bit, but they noticed that he hadn’t always completed

all of the assignments or the reading. Jason was better prepared for the ACT exam, having read

more of the expected literature and history, so he scored higher than Liam. All these factors

impacted which colleges would accept each student.

Let’s imagine that both Jason and Liam get into college, but based on his ACT scores, his GPA,

and a call from one of his high school teachers who happens to be an alumnus, Jason is

accepted to an Ivy League school. Proud of his success, Jason’s parents buy him a car. Liam

doesn’t even apply to Ivy League colleges but is quite happy to be able to attend the local state

school. Granted, he’s not quite sure how he’s going to pay for it. Based on his parents’ income,

he qualifies for financial aid, but not enough to cover all the costs, and his parents can’t afford

to help out. So, Liam gets a part time job to help cover the expense and he takes out two school

loans. Because his parents make more money than Liam’s, Jason only gets a little bit of financial

aid, but his grades and ACT scores qualify him for an academic scholarship. His parents can

cover the remainder of the cost. As you might imagine, Jason and Liam have similar experiences

in college as they did in high school—Jason has more time to study and sleep because he’s not

working to help pay the bills. Liam does relatively well, but, again, he never quite finished all

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those books in high school because he was working part time and just couldn’t find enough

time to study, so he feels a little behind before he even gets to campus.

When the two men graduate, Jason has a degree from an Ivy League school—itself not enough

to guarantee a job, but it puts Jason’s job application on the top of most piles. Jason leaves

school with a car that he didn’t have to pay for, no college loans, and a degree from a nationally

respected school. Liam graduates with the same degree, albeit from a less respected college,

but he has car payments and now school loans to pay off. In other words, Liam starts off his

post- graduate career in some steep debt with which his parents can’t help.

At this point, even if Jason and Liam get similar jobs, Jason will likely be able to buy a better car,

nicer clothing, and a bigger house, simply because he is not also trying to pay off a car loan as

well as school loans.

All of Jason’s income can go toward savings or purchases, whereas a good portion of Liam’s

must go toward debt. Jason’s credit is likely better as a result, too, and he’ll have an easier time

qualifying for a home mortgage. Additionally, Jason’s parents can help with a down payment on

a house if necessary, making Jason’s monthly mortgage payments lower. Not so with Liam.

Even if Jason and Liam start out making the same monthly salary, Jason’s paycheck will simply

go further, as he doesn’t have to make monthly payments on his school loans.

Did Jason work harder than Liam? No. He worked differently, as he could study more, sleep

more, maybe even travel more with his family and see other perspectives on the world. Liam

worked just as hard, but part of that time was spent at a part time job. Additionally, Liam

wasn’t as practiced in what one might call scholarly debates—that’s not how his mealtimes

were spent—nor did he grow up reading classic literature and discussing it with his parents.

Such benefits might be the result of Jason’s parents working harder (or at least working at

higher-paying jobs) and earning more money than Liam’s, but, as we see from the example of

Jason and Liam themselves, it’s not simply about how hard one works, but also about the often-

unseen benefits that come from being in a higher socioeconomic class. Jason wasn’t handed his

high school or college degree—far from it—but the amount of time that he could devote to

school coupled with the economic benefits of not accruing student debt simply put him further

ahead of Liam in ways he might not have even noticed.

Granted, many of you might be thinking that money doesn’t buy happiness. Jason might be

miserable and Liam might be happy. Absolutely. But let’s also keep in mind the added stress

that Liam has each month when he has to not only pay the same bills Jason has, but also his

student loan and his car payment. This also means that he has less of his paycheck to spend

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going out with his colleagues and making valuable business connections, buying groceries, and

maintaining his car. All these aspects can also impact how much money Liam can put away for

his own children’s education.

Simply being in a higher socioeconomic class doesn’t guarantee happiness, nor does it

guarantee success, but what we hope this story shows are the real-life impacts of class status.

Jason and Liam aren’t real of course—they’re hypothetical characters designed to make a point.

Except that they are real, as these are the experiences of actual people in this country. They

are, in fact, your experiences, as each of us is born into a socioeconomic class and there are

real-life implications of that placement, a placement that you had no control over.

Reading Strategies

Research

For this assignment, you need at least three appropriate and credible secondary (“outside”)

sources. Check the credibility of your sources by asking the following questions:

1. Who is the author? If there’s no stated author, what is the publishing organization?

What potential biases might this author or organization have? How do you know? In

what ways could those biases impact the text’s conclusions?

2. Is the piece published in a reputable source? How do you know? (Note: Remember

that anyone can publish something online. Because of this, it’s better to find reputable

news sources and professional sites. It’s even better to find peer-reviewed scholarly

journals or books.)

3. How recent is the source? If it was published thirty years ago, the source probably

does not provide the best information on socioeconomic class in the U.S.

Your secondary sources need to be integral to your essay. Make sure that each secondary

source fills an important role in your draft. What do you still not know about socioeconomic

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class in the U.S.? What information would help you better place your experience within a larger

context? What viewpoints do you feel you’re still not familiar with? Be sure to keep an open

mind as you research and be prepared to follow threads of the strongest sources by resisting

the temptation to just use the first source you find, and/or to only relying upon sources

compatible with your own point of view.

Remember, too, that the best research is not solely someone’s discussion of personal

experience on a personal blog. These types of sources, similar to Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter,

and other online or social media platforms, may be a good place to get started, but look for

more authoritative and credible sources.

As a good starting point, go to K-State’s library homepage and use the “Search It” box. Some

useful key terms might be “socioeconomic class,” “class status,” and “social class.” Remember

that you’ll need to read several articles to find at least three that are relevant and useful.

Don’t forget that you need to cite all sources using both in-text citations in MLA, APA, or

another system and a properly formatted Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA).

As you will likely be reading the secondary sources online, you must figure out a way to

highlight and/or annotate texts, keep notes, capture important quotes, etc. An old-fashioned

notebook and pencil/pen are always an option as is keeping a running Google or Word

document. If you find yourself reading sources on your phone or tablet, you might find the

“Notes” feature useful as well.

Reading for the Conversation

We stress the importance of good notetaking for this assignment because you are not simply

responding to just one source; instead, you will be actively searching for a variety of sources to

familiarize yourself with the many perspectives that make up an issue. Gerald Graff and Cathy

Birkenstein call this critical reading approach reading for the conversation: “Reading for the

conversation is more rigorous and demanding than reading for what one author says. It asks

that you determine not only what the author thinks, but how what the author thinks fits with

what others think, and ultimately with what you yourself think.”13

There is a strong relationship between your ability to read critically and your ability to write

critically, which is one of the most important goals of this class and of your entire academic

experience. We can’t mature as writers without understanding that nothing happens in a

vacuum: there is almost always an ongoing cultural conversation occurring for any topic you

13 Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say. 5th ed. W. W. Norton, 2021.

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can imagine. Consider your Snapchat stories, Twitter threads, Reddit lists, GroupMe messages,

and TikTok trends – all examples of ongoing cultural conversations with multiple

communicators, themselves possessing many experiences, values, priorities, examples, and

themes.

When we read for the conversation, we read for these contextual clues, or behind-the-scenes

reveals, just as much as we read to understand the text itself. According to Graff and

Birkenstein, these three reading approaches will help you accomplish this goal:

• Read for Background

• Read for New Information

• Read for the Author’s Motivation

Read for Background – Authors may explicitly provide the context for their research, usually in

the introduction. For example, authors refer to previous studies, articles, authors and theorists,

and statistics to help situate their own work within the larger conversation. Other writers

establish context by using phrases that indicate a “gap in knowledge” or a “lack of discussion”

around their issue (Graff and Birkenstein 182).

Sometimes, however, writers are not explicit about the context for their work, and you might

be led to think that their ideas exist in isolation; or, their work may be republished or reposted

in different online forums where the original intent becomes less clear. In these cases, you must

do some additional work to determine context by doing the following:

• Searching the text for clues related to time, place, and stakeholders (people, organizations, or institutions involved in the conversation) and asking yourself these questions:

o How long has the conversation been going? Look for dates and words such as “historically” or “currently.” Is it a well established conversation (e.g., theories about evolution) or are they newly formed, incipient conversations (e.g., politicized conversations related to Critical Race Theory)?

o What scale is the conversation at? Is it a local, regional, national, or global concern?

o Who are the people impacted, either directly or indirectly, within the conversation?

o Who are the main “experts” (authors, researchers, theorists, and other stakeholders) who lead the conversation?

o What are the main theories, ideological positions, and methods that are used to frame this conversation?

• Tracking down and reading cited or referenced sources

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• Conducting additional research to supplement the context

Read for New Information – This is a commonsense strategy for us because it relates to

understanding the overall purpose and main points of a reading. You read for many purposes,

such as to discover new research contributions and research results and to learn about and

explore a favorite subject. You’ll want to look for the ways in which authors and researchers

separate themselves from the background and context – the previous context of the

conversation that you explored in the Read for Background strategy. What is the new and

unique contribution they are making? What is their main point? How is their main point or

research findings different from those of previous writers? How are they different?

Depending upon the type of reading, authors will oftentimes signal these new contributions in

the title of their text or in the abstract; they may state their new point in the introduction,

which they then may emphasize and repeat at the beginning of new sections or in the

conclusion.

Read for the Author’s Motivation – When we talk about evaluating a writer’s credibility and

trustworthiness, we are in part talking about determining their motivation: why are they

writing? Are they writing to inform readers as part of their job (i.e., journalists reporting current

events or scientists publishing trial data) or to persuade readers to think or feel a certain way

about a topic (i.e., editorial writers and political pundits)? Seeking to understand writers’

motivations and what they themselves have to gain (or lose) in relation to their issue can help

you trust them and also help you see the ways in which the overall conversation matters. You

may also get insights into the ideological commitments or biases that motivate them and frame

the ways in which they present information and form arguments.

Though these reading strategies are time consuming, you will find them rewarding when you

begin drafting your essay.

Summarizing

Reminders

As you begin to find secondary sources or consider readings that your instructor provides, you’ll

want to make sure you have a strong grasp over them by finding main points and summarizing

them. Recall your strategies from Chapter 2 and look at these following questions to get

started:

1. In one sentence, how would you sum up the main point of the reading?

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2. Next, note any important sub-claims. Sub-claims are smaller arguments made to

support the main idea.

3. What evidence do the authors use to support their main claim? Do they provide a

few convincing examples? Statistics? Write what you believe to be

the most important points of evidence or support below.

4. What do the authors say such evidence shows? What does it do for their

argument?

5. Do the authors provide any possible alternative interpretations of their examples?

Do they include any important counterpoints to their argument? If so, what are

they?

When you have a clear sense of the larger argument, you can start to structure your summary. A

good summary, however, does not follow the same organization of the reading. In other words,

you should not write down each point in the order that the authors listed them in their article.

Good summaries do not follow an “and then” organization (i.e., “and then they said this, and

then they said that”). Instead, good summaries are organized hierarchically; they generally list

the most important points first, then supporting points, and only the most relevant examples

and evidence.

You should also always write in present tense. You must also make it clear that you are

summarizing the work of another author by first introducing the author and text, and then by

using attributive tags and phrases (remembering that you should never refer to an author by first

name alone):

• [The author’s last name] goes on to claim that…

• She provides an example…

• Garland concludes with…

• Mencimer argues for…

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“Says” and “Does” Statements

You must also read to understand the text, of course. While preparing for your previous major

assignments, you may have discovered how difficult it is to write an accurate, thorough

summary if you only skimmed an article and jotted down a few remembered main ideas. Or,

your memory could have been faulty, and you may not have completely understood the text.

Such rushed reading might inadvertently lead you to plagiarize the author’s words in your

notes.

To avoid such problems, we offer “says” and “does” statements as a useful strategy for

summary writing. This method of analysis is borrowed from Kenneth Bruffee’s A Short Course in

Writing and can be used to help you better understand something you are reading, plan your

essay, and/or analyze your own writing.

“Says”

“Says” statements are just that. They answer the question: what is the paragraph saying? What

is its main point? Boil down the meaning of the paragraph to its essence, its main idea, its

“gist.” Do not simply paraphrase the paragraph. These “says” statements are more general than

the original paragraphs, omitting specific details such as the author’s supporting details

(sometimes called “particulars”). These statements should be no longer than one or two

sentences. Occasionally, however, when summarizing a short paragraph (such as those in an

editorial or news article), you may find that your “says” statement is longer than the original

paragraph.

“Does”

“Does” statements answer the question: what is the paragraph doing? These statements are

related to the paragraph’s function in the text as a whole, including how it’s related to the

paragraphs around it. Does statements, then, do not include information on the content of the

paragraph. For instance, a typical “does” statement might look like this: “Paragraph 1

introduces the topic and provides some background information.” These statements help you

understand how the paragraph is structured, as well as how the writer is supporting (or failing

to support) their points.

How “Says” and “Does” Statements Are Different

The major distinction between “says” and “does” is that “says” statements are directly related

to a paragraph’s meaning, but “does” statements are related to a paragraph’s function. A

“says” statement will relate to the topic of the article.

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On the other hand, since “does” statements describe a paragraph’s function, they are not

specifically related to the topic of the text being considered. In fact, if your “does” statement

includes anything about the text’s subject, you need to try again. Instead of summarizing a

paragraph’s point (as “says” statements do), “does” statements can be applied to other similar

kinds of paragraphs in similar kinds of texts. The functions of a paragraph are categorizable, and

you should be able to discover some of these possible functions from the following list. “Does”

statements usually begin with verbs and verb phrases.

Here is a sampling of the terms useful for determining what a paragraph does:

introduces topic provides background

explains a complex issue provides an example in support of

claim/subclaim

presents a subclaim quotes an expert in support of

claim/subclaim

provides a transition summarizes an argument of the

opposition

forecasts the structure of the

essay

presents a claim

rebuts an argument of the

opposition

provides a definition

Below, you will find an example of the “Says/Does” strategy using three paragraphs from the

middle of Sarah Garland’s “When Class Became More Important to a Child’s Education Than Race”14:

14 Garland, Sarah. “When Class Became More Important to a Child’s Education Than Race,” The Atlantic, 28

Aug 2013, www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/when-class-became-more-important-to-a-childs-

education-than-race/279064/.

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The country is far from fulfilling [Martin Luther] King’s

dream that race no longer limit children’s opportunities, but how much income their parents earn

is more and more influential. According to a 2011

research study by Stanford sociologist Sean Reardon, the test-score gap between the children of the poor (in

the 10th percentile of income) and the children of the

wealthy (in the 90th percentile) has expanded by as much as 40 percent and is now more than 50 percent

larger than the black-white achievement gap—a

reversal of the trend 50 years ago. Underprivileged

children now languish at achievement levels that are

close to four years behind their wealthy peers.

These days, middle-class children are also falling

further behind their affluent peers. The test-score gap between middle-income (the 50th percentile of income)

and poor children has remained stagnant; it’s the gap

between the top earners and the rest that is growing rapidly. And though more poor and middle-income

children are completing college these days, they can’t

keep up with the growth in college graduates among

the wealthiest families. A 2012 study by Reardon also

found that “more and more seats in highly selective

schools have been occupied by students from high-

income families.”

“Income has become a much stronger predictor of how

well kids do in school,” Reardon says. “Race is about as

good a predictor as it was 30 years ago. It’s more that income has gotten more important, not that race has

gotten less important.”

Says: There has been an increase in the achievement levels separating wealthy children from underprivileged children. Does: Refers to a powerful authority, Martin Luther King, and uses a sociology study. Says: Wealthy students are accelerating beyond their middle- class peers as well. Does: Extends the previous point and cites a study to support the point about wealthy students. Says: Income correlates directly with school achievement. Does: Uses a quotation from a sociologist.

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Activity

Using the summary strategies that were described above, choose one of the secondary sources

that you are considering for your Exploratory Essay and do the following:

1. Focus on what the author(s) said/argued and summarize their argument in

approximately 250 words.

2. Using the same general organizational strategy, summarize the source in 100

words.

3. Now Tweet it: In 140 characters (characters, not words) or less, summarize the

main claim.

Why summarize in so many different lengths? When you write your Exploratory Essay, you’ll

need to illustrate that you understand the primary texts you’re putting into conversation. But

that doesn’t mean you simply drop a long summarizing paragraph into your essay. Instead, you’ll

need to think rhetorically about how to use summary information: how much you need to

include in order to respond, and what points are most relevant to your purpose. Sometimes that

might be a brief paragraph; other times, it might be a brief sentence or two.

Annotated Bibliographies

You can also develop your summary writing skills by creating an annotated bibliography for the

sources you anticipate using in the essay. Annotated bibliographies are often assigned in

conjunction with literature reviews because of their value in helping writers organize their

research, start to internalize what they are reading, and better see the overlap and gaps among

the content of the readings. Because the bibliographies are organized by citation style, you will

not be left scrambling to put together the references page at the end of the writing process.

Here’s an outline of how to complete an annotated bibliography for your own research.

1. Provide the citation of the secondary source

2. Provide an overview or summary of the source

3. Contribute a critical analysis of the source

4. State the usefulness of the source and/or its relationship to your own essay

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You already know how to complete the first two steps – citation information and the objective

summary itself – but the last two steps might be new. For the “critical analysis” step, you will

assess the source’s credibility as well as attempt to situate the source within the larger context

of the issue (much like the critical reading strategy we discussed in the previous section). Lastly,

you will use the “statement of relevance” step to situate the source within the scope of your

essay.

Example Annotated Bibliography

In this following example, the four major parts of an annotated bibliography have been

showcased in different paragraphs so that you can clearly see how they serve different

purposes:

Lisle, Deborah. The Global Politics of Contemporary Travel Writing. Cambridge University

Press, 2006.

In Chapter 1, “Introduction: The Global Imaginary or Contemporary Travel Writing,”

Deborah Lisle focuses her readers on one key question when it comes to contemporary

travel writing: how do travel writers and commentators deal with the historical past of

contemporary travel writing, which oftentimes involved crude, racist, and Orientalizing

depictions of Africans, Asians, and others and showcased imperialist and colonialist

strategies? According to Lisle, there are two key strategies: to reinforce a “colonial

vision,” in which contemporary travel writers, such as Paul Theroux, still cling to the

superiority of North Americans and Europeans (4); or, conversely, to use a

“cosmopolitan vision,” in which travel writers try to project a more ethical stance when

it comes to dealing with human difference.

Lisle’s argument is influential, as her book on contemporary travel writing was one of

the first to examine the political potentials of travel writing published after 1975, and

she provides a useful colonial/cosmopolitan binary to help future scholars confront the

challenges of these texts.

For my attempts to analyze travel writing in Central Asia and China, Lisle’s introductory

concepts will be a useful way to define the ethical purposes of many of the 21st century

travelers. Although there are few travelers with an explicit “colonial vision” – there are

many who claim that their travel is being conducted for ethical purposes and to show

the cultural and social harmony that exists in a globalizing world. Like Lisle, I will need to

examine closely the motivations of these travelers.

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Choosing Your Issue & Focus

Follow the Research

There are two levels of focus to the Exploratory Essay: the issue itself, that falls under the broad

umbrella topic of “socioeconomic status in the U.S.,” that you have chosen to pursue, and the

thematic angle that emerges from your research. For example, you might have already decided

that you’re interested in the broader category of education and its relationship to social class in

the U.S. As you conduct research, then, you might read about student loan debt and its impact

on millennial homeownership rates, about the “engagement gap” that hurts college admission

rates for under privileged kids, or about the connections between affordable early childhood

education and lifetime earning potential. All of these topics relate to the overall focus of

education, but they don’t relate to each other in any clear and manageable way.

So, you would have to choose the angle that you find the most compelling, the most relevant,

or the most unfamiliar – whatever criterion you prefer to apply for an assignment that you’ll be

spending time with. Let’s say you decide to go with “engagement gap” because it’s not

something you’d heard about before, and now you’d like to know more. Congratulations,

you’ve then used the research process itself to help you find a more specific thematic angle!

Use Your Personal Interest & Experience

The Exploratory Essay is less interested in your personal experience than other types of essays,

but that doesn’t mean that you can’t use that experience at all; in fact, identifying your

personal interests in the huge topic of socioeconomic status in the U.S. will help you narrow

your focus and choose a research area that will prove engaging for the time you’ll spend on the

assignment.

Freewriting is a good way to reflect on your own experiences with social class. Please use the

following questions to help guide your thoughts:

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• What is your major? Why did you choose it? If you don’t yet have a major, what subjects

are you hoping to learn more about while at college? How do your major or academic

interests relate to social class or socioeconomic status?

• What attitudes related to work and social class do you and your family members and

friends hold? How are these attitudes different? How have they changed?

• Did you grow up in an urban, rural, suburban, or other type of setting? How did that

place shape your attitudes towards work, wealth, and other similar concepts?

• In what ways do you think your future life and lifestyle will be different from that of

your parents?

• How would you define your own social class? What is the “evidence” (i.e., facts about

your life) what would help support this definition? (For example, a study about social

class differentiated “upper class” families if they possessed such items as an unabridged

dictionary or original art.)

Use Class Discussion

Talking about examples related to social status in the U.S. is another way to help identify areas

of focus for the Exploratory Essay. For example, as a class or in small groups designed by your

instructor, you might discuss these prompts:

What are some pop culture depictions of class in the U.S.? In what ways are audiences “in on

the jokes” for comedic genres? How do they know who to root for and who to root against?

How do these sociocultural messages about social class in the U.S. add to or challenge our

understanding?

o Television, e.g., Bob’s Burgers & Everyone Hates Chris

o Music, e.g., Hip Hop & Country

o Film, e.g., Us & The Wolf of Wall Street

o Literature: e.g., The Great Gatsby & Crazy Rich Asians

o Social Media: e.g., Influencer Culture & Side Hustle

You can also use the mind map below to make connections between your personal reflections

(in the freewrite) and the examples you and your classmates came up with and discussed in the

previous activity to determine a specific focus for your Exploratory Essay.

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Figure 3: Social Class Mind Map

For example, here are some issues that you might generate using the four major categories in

the mind map.

Education & Health Jobs & Economy Region & Politics Race, Gender, & Ability

Student Debt Higher Education & Social Class First-Generation College Students The Digital Divide Food Insecurity

The Gig Economy (no contract jobs) Welfare Benefits Social Mobility Meritocracy Inequality Unemployment

Rural Poverty Blue States, Red States Food Deserts

Social Class & Law Enforcement Social Class & Disability Single Mothers Women in STEM Masculinity & Social Class

Once you have narrowed the focus of your research, you should review your existing notes

from shared readings, looking for useful examples and potential leads to new sources. Follow

up on statistics, click on links to references, and keep an open mind.

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Synthesis

Summary vs. Synthesis

Synthesis is one of the key goals of your Exploratory Essay. Instead of only including summaries

or descriptions of your secondary sources, you are being asked to place them in conversation

with each other, allowing your readers to see the ways in which these sources interact,

converge (i.e., make similar points), or diverge (i.e., make contrasting points).

We also need to acknowledge that summarizing played an important role in your Reading

Reflection essay, as it served as a touchstone for your own response, and it is playing a key role

in helping you track ideas and develop your own thoughts for the Exploratory Essay.

Summarizing your sources helps you internalize what you’re reading and makes it less likely

that you’ll inadvertently plagiarize; in short, it is good critical thinking and writing practice. But

now it’s time to build further on those skills by producing explanatory synthesis that helps

readers learn more about the underlying perspectives on a topic related to social class in the

U.S. by identifying similarities and differences among sources engaged in the topic and probing

those connections for meaning. You must seek to put multiple sources in conversation with

each other to craft a more sophisticated thematic approach than just a collection of sources

and information.

How do you know when you are summarizing information versus when you are synthesizing

information? Here’s a handy guide:

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Summary: How to Present Information Accurately and Fairly

Synthesis: How to Shape Information to Support Your Thesis

Reports others’ ideas Uses writer’s own observations about others’ ideas

Highlights important information of one source

Provides a specific focus under which to categorize the information and points from the sources

Remains objective in tone Guides readers through multiple perspectives from more than one source at a time

Avoids making claims in support of or against the source’s argument or content

Reflects on the meaning of sources’ arguments or content

Organizes source material content chronologically

Organizes source material through connections, comparisons/contrasts, or other ways to support the overall theme or thesis

You might be wondering, though, how you could put those summaries you’ve written for your

“reading for the conversation” notes and/or annotated bibliographies to good use? One answer

is to create a “synthesis table” that begins with your summary, perhaps edited to its finest one-

sentence clarity, and then uses guiding questions to help you see the conversation in which

they’re participating more obviously. Here is an example table:

Source citation

What is the primary focus or main idea

of the text?

What are the points of agreement among

texts?

What are the points of disagreement among

texts?

Source #1

Source #2

Source #3

You can continue to analyze these three sources by extending this table with other questions,

such as the following:

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• Does one author extend the research of another?

• Does any author raise new questions or ideas about the topic?

• Are there any author viewpoints that need to be acknowledged?

We can see evidence of synthesis planning in this student example paragraph where the writer

acknowledges the ways her sources interact with each other, and build off each other’s work:

In a different article written by Rotman, he continues to add to the conversation by

writing that, “The biggest factor is that the technology-driven economy greatly favors a

small group of successful individuals by amplifying their talent and luck” (Rotman). This

directly connects to the information provided by Kvochko, who discussed the addition

of jobs that advanced technology would bring. What Rotman includes in his

perspective is who is gaining those jobs, making the point that not everyone is making

money off the technology industry. Connecting this back to socioeconomic class means

that the technology industry cannot help everyone gain socioeconomic status.15

Activity

As you read the next example, ask yourself what specific words the writer uses to

• identify other writers’ ideas

• connect writers’ ideas

• show the relationship between writers’ ideas

• provide original analysis

While Garland and Wallace relate earnings of parents and educational opportunities for

children, O’Shaughnessy and Burnsed relate SAT scores and degree fields to future earnings.

Finally, the Pew Research Center manifests how earnings can, but ultimately don’t, affect

economic mobility or enable the Millennial generation to change their class. While these topics

may seem uncorrelated, there is a connection between all of the arguments. Because Garland

suggests that income affects early educational opportunities and O’Shaughnessy argues that

15 This paragraph is from Ayoka Lee’s “Socioeconomic Status and Technology,” which she wrote in Anna Goins Fall

2018 ENGL 100.

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college readiness (by means of SAT score) in high school can indicate income, these respective

conclusions can work together to form an argument that parent’s income can affect

prospective earnings in the workforce. Garland also reasons that the experiences a child has

can affect their educational path, which relates to Burnsed’s assertion that field of study is a

great gauge for income. These separate arguments correlate in their respective logic that as

Garland alludes that if a child were exposed to a STEM career or experience as a child and are

led to pursue that path, which Garland indicates is likely, Burnsed would contend that this

choice in career path will positively affect their income. With Garland’s argument, she would

conclude that the parent’s income affected earnings. While each author argues about different

aspects of education, all of the arguments are correlated in either a direct or indirect manner.

All authors argue that education affects class, and class affects education.16

Activity

Drafting Activity & Mini-Workshop

In your notes, look for shared ideas and moments of disconnect or tension among your

research, but make sure that you’re not stretching to make a connection that’s not relevant to

the material or your theme or thesis. Then, using what you’ve learned about synthesis, write

one body paragraph for your Exploratory Essay that references three (the required minimum)

sources.

When you have completed your synthesis paragraph, exchange your paragraph draft with a

classmate, or as the instructor directs, and use these questions to help each other achieve

strong synthesis.

• What has the writer done to identify each source’s ideas?

• What has the writer done to connect sources’ ideas to each other?

• What specific words has the writer used to show the relationship between sources’

ideas?

• Do you see the writer’s own analysis among the connections being made?

16 This paragraph is from Gracie Danner’s “Education in the United States,” which she wrote in Cailin Roles’ ENGL 100 class. Danner’s essay appeared in the 2018 Prairie Lights (Expository Writing Program, Kansas State University).

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Organizational Approach

When you’re ready to outline or otherwise plan your exploratory essay, you will use a topical or

thematic approach rather than a chronological or methodological pattern you might see in a

science-related Literature Review. Organizing by theme helps you build on the thesis you’ve

developed and stay focused on central ideas more so than particular writers or texts and is the

most common approach for humanities-based work. This means that the body of your

exploratory essay should not read as a mere list of summarized material but as a cohesive

spotlight on the topic you’ve chosen.

The Exploratory Essay will consist of these three main sections:

Introduction

• Provide a title that highlights the overall focus of your issue or conversation.

• Introduce your overall issue or conversation; make sure you have reflected on

your own interests and your audience’s needs. If you can’t articulate why the

issue is compelling, you’re not going to be able to emphasize its importance to

your readers. Spend some time, preferably in a freewrite, identifying to yourself

why you picked your topic, what you are finding interesting about it, what

questions your research is raising, and what the societal implications and overall

stakes are, among other questions.

• Highlight your thesis statement, your controlling main idea or claim; however, do

not offer an argumentative claim or conceive of your issue as a problem-to-be-

solved; instead, you are using your thesis to invite your readers to explore the

multiple perspectives (i.e., your sources) that make up your conversation.

• Tell your readers what you hope they’ll learn from your Exploratory Essay and

why you think it matters.

• Forecast what you will be doing in your Exploratory Essay.

Body

• Guide your readers, allowing them to explore the conversation that you have

introduced; let your readers know about the multiple perspectives that make up

the conversation.

• Organize according to the main points, themes, or content of the conversation.

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• Incorporate your secondary sources and synthesize them, bringing the sources

into conversation with each other; your writers should know, at the very least,

what is similar and what is different about these perspectives.

• Use topic sentences and transitions to explicitly tell your readers what you are

doing and what to expect.

• When appropriate, state what is important or significant about your secondary

sources and about what you are doing.

• Reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of sources.

Conclusion

• Provide a brief overview or summary of your most significant points.

• indicate where there might have been missing information in your essay –

perhaps because you were unable to find the data you wanted – and address the

ways you intended to use that information.

• Keep your focus on your readers and the conversation by reminding them of the

overall significance of your topic – the “So what?” factor – and make sure you

return to where you started.

In the chart below, you will find the different moves that you can make in each of the three

major sections of the Exploratory Essay:

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Figure 4. Organizational Approach for Exploratory Essay17

Listing Versus Synthesis

In the body of your Exploratory Essay, aim for synthesis – organizing your paragraphs according

to a theme or points that connect to your overall thesis. Try to avoid listing, a simple

organizational strategy in which writers describe or summarize one source after another, in

which there is little interlinking of the different sources together.

What does synthesis look like, then, as an organizational approach? Perhaps the clearest way to

answer this question is to count how many sources are being referenced in each paragraph.

In the two-paragraph excerpt below, the writer is offering marketing recommendations based

on “generational differences” and utilizes the same source for each paragraph, a type of listing

that prevents stronger analysis from developing.

Millennials are slowly taking over the workforce. They are most likely on social media so

this is a great user base for LinkedIn. The first strategy to utilize when marketing to

Millennials is to focus on innovation. Marketing to Millennials should take an approach

that shows a new perspective on a common problem or task. This generation is easily

infatuated by new things on social media. The second strategy is to use reviews.

Millennials like to talk with their friends; 68% report that they won’t make a major

decision until they have discussed it with other people. This is a great way to market to

17 The organization graphic was adapted from “Drafting an Exploratory Essay,” University Writing & Speaking Center, The University of Nevada-Reno, https://www.unr.edu/writing-speaking-center/student-resources/writing- speaking-resources/drafting-an-exploratory-essay.

•Identify topic's context & significance

•Pose question(s) for exploration

•Clarify controlling theme w/thesis

Intro

•Summarize & acknowledge each source

•Reflect on source material

•Make connections among source material

Body •Provide brief summary

•Address any gaps in information

•Return to guiding question & overall significance

Close

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Millennials indirectly. The third and final strategy to utilize are radio commercials.

Although this is a very old-fashioned, 93% of millennials listen to the radio for a total of

around 11 hours per week. Another idea could even be to pay for an ad spot on

podcasts since they are very popular in today’s society (Generational Marketing).

Generation Z is very digitally savvy. The attention span of this generation user is just

eight seconds – so first impressions really count. The first strategy to utilize when

marketing to Generation Z is to sell experiences, and not products. This generation is

more focused on the experience they will gain. The second marketing strategy to utilize

are videos. Video content is key for Generation Z. 85% of teenagers are active on

YouTube every day; and this is a perfect platform to get them hooked. The third strategy

is to engage with customers. Building brand trust is extremely important to Generation

Z. This generation believes that the key to an authentic brand is to respond to feedback

and give responsiveness. The fourth and finally strategy is offer privacy. More than 88%

of Gen Zers agreed that protecting their privacy was very important. It is important to

be transparent and ensure their date is safe and secure (Generational Marketing).

Conversely, in this example, the student writer makes use of four different sources in their

exploration of the theme, “Community.”18 This is an example of synthesis. The items in bold

highlight the ways in which the writer is allowing the various sources to interact with each

other.

Creating a sense of community is an important element of any graduate school for a

variety of reasons including an increased ability of students to network and advocate for

each other, a sense of teamwork created, and the bonds formed between students and

faculty that lead to increased happiness of the students. Monica Moore argues that

people should create programs that focus on community building among graduate

students, which agrees with the interview of Anna Beyer, where she stated that more

social events at the start of the MAcc would help make connections early on and also

help to include students with undergraduate degrees from different colleges. Moore

also challenges the idea that graduate students are not willing to give up time for

orientation activities, but Beyer’s suggestion of an increase in social events at the start

18 You will find this student example in Chapter 4: Hannah Schneider’s “Strength and Impact of Community

Factors on Graduate Students in the Kansas State University Master of Accountancy Program.”

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of the program supplements this claim, demonstrating that graduate students do care

about bonding with their peers. . .

Community can be important to build within graduate school, as previously shown by

Moore, for a variety of reasons. Derek Attig provides two main arguments as to why

community is important to graduate school. First, Attig claims that a strong community

is crucial in providing a support system for students where they can advocate for each

other and provide academic, professional, and personal support and encourage growth.

This statement is similar to what Dr. Terry Mason, the director of the MAcc program,

expressed in his interview, stating that the program provides many opportunities for

career-changing networking, and allows for strong bonds to be formed amongst the

students . . . According to the K-State College of Business Administration, the college

features “small classes where interactions with professors and colleagues are

encouraged.”

Topic Sentences and Transitions

Once you have designed the overarching structure of your essay and begun to place your

important quotes, data, and other source material in their potential paragraphs, it’s time to

consider how you will move readers through your work. Remember that while you have been

spending a lot of time with your sources, reading carefully and taking thoughtful notes, your

own readers have not – so you must guide them on the exploratory path you’ve set. There are

two writing strategies to employ for this endeavor: topic sentences and transitions.

Topic sentences are those opening lines of a paragraph that establish focus, and they also often

function as transitions between sections and examples and signal the writer’s attitude.

Transitions are those linking words or phrases that highlight the nature of connection –

sequence, cause/effect, contrast, similarity, in addition, etc. – between or among examples.

The Purdue Online Writing Lab is a good source to expand your transition vocabulary.

Here is one student example that demonstrates the working relationship between the topic

sentence and transitions.

Let’s not be discouraged by the claims that social mobility is next to impossible in the

U.S; it is difficult but not unachievable (topic sentence). Effective strategies require

planning and perseverance, and efforts must begin somewhere, despite any

reservations about the speed of progress. In a similar observation that reinforces

Clark’s stance on education and social background as a legitimate mobility driver,

social psychologist Wendy Johnson and fellow researchers claim (transitional phrase

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that identifies relationship between sources), “Previous studies have established that

family social background and individual mental ability and educational attainment

contribute to adult social class attainment. We propose that social class of origin acts as

ballast, restraining otherwise meritocratic social class movement, and that post-

secondary education is the primary means through which social class movement is both

restrained and facilitated.” It would appear the best chances at real and long-lasting

upward movement are achieved via intergenerational mobility coupled with self-

improvement through continuing education.19

Here’s an example taken from the student sample essay shared later in this chapter that

synthesizes source information in the useful “if, then” transitional format:

If affordability and quality of health care that Amadeo and Levey concern themselves

about are truly the issues linking income and health care inequality, Diamond’s concerns

about the cost and effectiveness of the solution are valid ones.20

You can also use those attributive tags (please see “A Note About Quoting and Paraphrasing”

below) to transition from one example to another, a strategy that can also help you avoid

dropped quotations (i.e., quotations that will jar readers, as they appear to be dropped in

without any preparation or introduction).

The examples above demonstrate how the organizational approach that supports discursive

prose allows for the writer’s analysis to be develop in a more sophisticated and thoughtful way

than the listing approach.

19 This paragraph is from Rodney Tsoodle’s “Post-Secondary Education, the Root of Upward Mobility in America,” written in Anna Goins’ Fall 2019 ENGL 100. 20 This paragraph is from Sheldon Wilson’s “Wealth Determines Health,” which you will find at the end of this chapter (pp. 43-47).

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Tone & Style: Invitational Approaches

What does it mean to say that you should take an invitational (i.e., neutral and engaging)

approach as the tone and style of your Exploratory Essay? You know that you are not making an

argumentative claim around the topic, such as “We can solve the problem of housing in the U.S.

by doing a, b, and c.” You know, instead, that you are making an informative claim on the issue

or conversation, such as “We can learn more about the problem of housing in the U.S. by

looking at a, b, and c.”

Because of this neutral, informative purpose, your introduction plays a crucial role in

establishing tone. Here’s a student example:

Minimal Costs or Not?

Currently, the fifteen-dollar minimum wage is a hotly debated topic. Workers are

holding strikes in a “Fight for Fifteen” all over the United States. The question must be

raised, is raising the federally mandated minimum wage the solution to poverty, or

will it negatively affect employment, hurting those it is meant to help? While everyone

would agree higher wages would greatly benefit the poor, there is disagreement about

whether a minimum wage is the most effective approach. To gain an informed

understanding, we must look at the ripple effects of minimum wage on workers,

businesses, and the labor market as a whole. By having a conversation, learning from

the views of others, and acting in one accord, we can learn and achieve more than by

competing against each other.21

21 From Nathan Featherstone’s “Minimal Costs or Not?” (Re)Writing Communities and Identities, 5th ed., pp. 173- 176.

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Notice the choices this student writer has made in this introduction, starting with the title itself,

written as a question, to establish an invitational tone for the essay. Specifically, consider how

they use additional questions to engage readers and set a path toward learning together. We

should also note how the writer has established a clear issue on which to focus – the

relationship between minimum wage and poverty – under the larger umbrella topic of

socioeconomic status in the U.S.

Overall, the following list offers a variety of strategies you can employ to create and maintain

an appropriate tone for your exploratory essay.

• Make the conversation clear and engaging

o Establish an explicit purpose for the essay.

o Ask questions to interact with readers.

o Make comparisons or contrasts between two or more sources (i.e. synthesis).

▪ Utilize transitional words and phrases that highlight the relationship

between examples.

o Reflect on what you have learned, or come to realize, in the course of

researching-for-and-writing this essay.

• Demonstrate your own fairness and neutrality

o Summarize sources accurately and objectively.

o Choose specific and accurate words to describe the topic.

o Use a variety of sources to prove your ability to see the topic from multiple

viewpoints.

o Show the common ground between different positions.

o Offer your own perspective, likely in the conclusion, as a way of supporting the

significance of the conversation.

A Note about Quoting and Paraphrasing

As you work to summarize your sources for this essay, you’ll want to keep in mind when to

paraphrase and when to quote directly. You should only quote directly when the exact wording

is important to your purpose. When you do directly quote a source, you need to use the exact

words from the original source. Those words MUST also be in quotation marks and you must

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include citation information either in the signal phrase, in the parenthetical citation, or a

combination of the two.

However, often you simply need to summarize or paraphrase the information. In fact, using too

many direct quotes can result in other peoples’ words taking over your essay. You’ve been

practicing summarizing, which is, in many ways, just another word for paraphrasing. When you

paraphrase source material, you must be true to the content of the original source material, but

you must change the wording and the sentence structure. To properly paraphrase, you need to

put the source material into your own words. Paraphrased material should not be in quotation

marks but you still MUST include the citation information (the author, the name of the source

text, and the page number) either in the signal phrase, in the parenthetical citation, or a

combination of the two.

Below are examples of improper and proper paraphrasing.

Original source material

“Millennials are also the first in the modern era to have higher levels of student loan debt,

poverty and unemployment, and lower levels of wealth and personal income than their two

immediate predecessor generations (Gen Xers and Boomers) had at the same stage of their life

cycles” (Pew Research 149–150).

Improper Paraphrasing

Millennials are the first in the recent years to have more college debt, fewer jobs, and

less money than the previous generations had at the same time in their lives (Pew

Research 149–150).

While we have changed some of the words, we haven’t changed the sentence structure.

Instead, we’ve just plugged synonyms into the original sentence structure. Even though we’ve

included the citation information, this paraphrase would be considered (unintentional) plagiarism

because it’s too close to the original source material.

Improper Paraphrasing

People from my generation (called Millennials) are the first generation to be doing

better than the generations before them (Pew Research 149–150).

In this case, while we’ve changed the words and sentence structure, we’ve lost the actual

meaning of the original text. In fact, we’ve completely misrepresented the content of the

original source material.

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Proper Paraphrasing

According to the Pew Research Center, Millennials are the first group to be doing worse

than the two generations that have gone before them. More specifically, Millennials

tend to be less likely than previous generations to have good jobs and the wealth that

accompanies those jobs. They also find themselves further in debt (especially in regard

to school loans) than their parents and grandparents were (149–150).

Here we’ve kept the same information as the original source material, but we’ve changed the

wording and the sentence structure. We’ve included the information about the author in the

signal phrase, letting a reader know where the paraphrase/ summary starts and we’ve included

the page numbers in the parenthetical information at the end, which lets a reader know where

the paraphrase ends.

In-Text Citations & Attributive Tags

You must also remember to include citations for all outside source information, whether that

information is directly cited or paraphrased, and to make clear for readers where/from what

source that information is coming. We do this by including parenthetical citations and

attributive tags/introductory phrases that provide source identification.

You can see an example of the parenthetical citation in the “Original Source Material” example

above: (Pew Research 149–150). These citations coordinate with the Works Cited page and

offer readers an easy way to follow-up on your sources.

You can see an example of an attributive tag in the “Proper Paraphrasing” example above:

“According to the Pew Research Center.” Such tags work to differentiate your words from your

sources and help build and maintain credibility with your readers.

If the author of your source is a person, you would use their last name (or, in the case of

multiple writers, last names) in the citation along with the page number of the referenced

material; the attributive tag uses the author’s full name upon first reference and then only the

last name in subsequent citations.

Workshop

Use the following workshop guide to interact with drafts of the Exploratory Essay as directed by

your instructor. Reviewing the assignment guidelines from the beginning of the chapter is

helpful before you start reading. Treat your classmate’s draft just as carefully as you’ve been

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treating your own writing process: thoughtful engagement and specific example are necessary

for a productive workshop.

Purpose/Focus

• Even though the writer should not be making an explicit argument in this essay, the

essay should still have a clear sense of purpose and focus. Where does the writer

establish purpose in the introduction? What would you add or takeaway?

• As you read, underline any parts of the essay that do not seem to fit within the larger

focus and purpose of the essay.

Development

• Pay close attention to how the writer uses their required three outside sources.

o Do you, as a reader, get enough information to understand the gist of the

outside sources? Does the writer include too much or too little summary

information? Why do you think so?

o Where is the writer using synthesis to show the relationship among sources? In

what ways is the synthesis effective or ineffective?

• If the writer has included personal experience or observation, does it help you as a

reader better understand the topic and/or the topic’s significance? Does it support the

exploratory nature of the essay, or detract from the overall effectiveness of the essay?

Organization

• Is there a recognizable structure to the essay with a clear introduction, body, and

conclusion? How can you tell?

• Has the writer relied too much on the list approach rather than using synthesis as an

organizational tool? Why do you think so?

• Do the topic sentences and transitions help guide you from one moment to the next?

Point out one clear positive example and note any weaknesses.

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Tone/Style

• Keeping a neutral and engaged tone is crucial to this essay. Highlight any words or

phrases within the draft that could be read as aggressive or dismissive or could make a

reader feel defensive.

• Has the writer achieved an invitational tone? What makes you think so?

Overall

• On your separate sheet of paper, explain the two strongest parts of the draft. Keeping

the assignment objectives in mind, why are these the two strongest parts of the essay?

How do they help meet important objectives?

• On your separate sheet of paper, explain the two areas of the essay that the writer

should most focus on in revision. Keeping the objectives in mind, why are those two

areas the most important for revision?

Student Example

Wealth Determines Health

Sheldon Wilson

Sheldon Wilson wrote this exploratory essay in Taylee Helms’ ENGL 100 Spring 2021 class. It

won second place in the 2020 Expository Writing Program Essay Awards. Note: Wilson wrote

this for a previous version of the assignment.

The issue of health care in America can bring disagreeing factions to a frothing rage of vitriol as

they argue what should and should not be done. Casting aside the stances these factions would

take, the issue of affordable health care is becoming inseparable from the issue of increasing

income disparity in America. Over the past few decades, the threshold for quality health care

has risen at a rate that is leaving more Americans behind. Proponents of universal health care

argue that it would cast a lifeline down to these Americans sinking further toward economic

despair. The opposition are concerned with the problems of how it would be paid for or if it

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would reduce quality even further. If one listens long enough to both sides, at times it seems as

if productive debate has ceased. As complicated issues often seem to do, the debate has boiled

down to being for or against trying to fix the system. A better understanding of those on both

sides and the underlying issues stoking the fiery debate is necessary to fully grasp how we have

reached this point.

Tying health care to class requires looking beyond what the literal obstacles to health care are.

Most Americans gain access to health insurance, and thus health care, through their jobs.

Which seems like it makes for a quick first round for the opposition; be a productive member of

society by having a job and you get access to health care. This has some truth to it but runs the

risk of ignoring some potential gray areas. Insurance does not immediately beget affordable

health care, which is the root of the issue. In the article “Health Insurance Deductibles Soar,

Leaving Americans With Unaffordable Bills”, Noam N. Levey, finds that even amongst

Americans with insurance through their jobs, deductibles and premiums are outpacing incomes

of millions of American families. Casting the issue of health care as one of access is

disingenuous at best. As an investigative reporter, Levey thoroughly researched the passing of a

recent attempted solution, the Affordable Care Act. Ultimately, he asserts, an act that failed to

address the true roots of the issue. The “affordable” part is a misnomer, as the act ignored the

issue of affordability for most Americans: deductibles, premiums, and other hidden costs of

health care. Most Americans already have insurance through their jobs; a solution that granted

more access to insurance is not going to pay unaffordable medical bills. Soaring costs of every

aspect of health care is ultimately pricing the average American out of even being able to use

the insurances they do have. To highlight how this has not always been the case, Levey note in

his research that “As recently as 2006, nearly half of workers had a health plan with no

deductible at all: Their insurance began immediately covering medical costs, often requiring

them to pay, at most, a small percentage of their bills” (Levey). Rising costs is making health

care something for only those with the means to afford it. As more Americans live paycheck-to-

paycheck every year, those with the means becomes a smaller and smaller number. Levey

would seem to believe that any effective solution needs to address the issue of affordability,

not accessibility.

The consequence of medical costs growing alongside the wage gap in America means those

without expendable income are forgoing trips to the doctor for what they perceive as minor

illnesses and injuries. This does have a positive effect of reducing the overall strain on the

health care industry by lowering the number of ultimately unnecessary doctor visits, which

would increase availability and lower costs. The issue can arise when minor problems are

ignored long enough to become serious. In “Health Care Inequality in America”, economic

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analyst Kimberly Amadeo presents a more direct relation of the overlap between income and

health care inequality; maintaining the same overall issue as Levey: affordability. She furthers

the idea that minor issues can become major, or even chronic, issues. Issues that can create a

vicious cycle degrading both income and health care. Poor health requires more of the

expensive medical treatment and can cause job loss from too many sick days; medical bills and

job loss reduce expendable income which impact the ability to afford health care. She notes

that being lower income usually implies living in more impoverished areas, which often have

lower quality health care facilities than more affluent areas. Eventually desperation finds its

way to the emergency rooms of hospitals, the one place that cannot turn patients away.

Amadeo uses this to address the concerns of universal health care increasing taxes by

demonstrating that these only choice visits already do so: “These uninsured patients cost

hospitals a staggering $10 billion a year. The hospitals passed this cost along to Medicaid. That

cost is added to your tax bill” (Amadeo). In her eyes, universal health care would grant

everyone access to proper health care while not changing or even reducing overall costs.

Concerned voices in opposition to the idea of universal health care believe that income

inequality is not the driving cause behind health care inequality, and such systems would be a

hopeful solution with destructive outcomes. Voices such as Dr. Michael A. Diamond, who in his

article” Con: Single-Payer Health Care, Why It’s Not the Best Answer,” expresses his concern

with these solutions. These concerns being the inevitable bloating of government-run systems,

proper use even with access, and a degradation in the quality of health care in America. Clever

use of data allows supporters such as Amadeo to make the argument that administrative costs

are the reason for increased health care costs. Increasing government oversight would just shift

these costs from taxed private insurers to government bureaucracies, payed for by the

taxpayers. Another issue he raises is that even those with access to adequate insurance and

care do not seek preventative care properly as is. The system would become burdened when

people continue to wait until the issue is dire and costs to the system have increased

exponentially. Government oversight is a further concern of Diamond’s. Medical workers would

become regulated by a single payer with no competition for prices. He points out an already

existing problem with government-operated systems by stating “Physicians are already

inadequately reimbursed for services provided under Medicaid, and reductions in Medicare

reimbursement over the years have demonstrably affected access and quality of care in a

variety of health care venues” (Diamond). Health care for all is in his mind is still a noble goal

that should be achieved, but systems proposed by those such as Amadeo are further problems

and not solutions.

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If affordability and quality of health care that Amadeo and Levey concern themselves about are

truly the issues linking income and health care inequality, Diamond’s concerns about the cost

and effectiveness of the solution are valid ones. Health care inequality runs deeper than just

being the costs associated, however. Returning to the reality that insurance is often linked to

employment, I once found myself taking and keeping a job I hated entirely because it provided

me with insurance I could afford to use at the time. I, like many others outside of higher-income

brackets, found myself making life choices around being able to just afford health care. Even

with insurance I began to realize how little it really helped me feel financially comfortable.

Increasing deductibles, as mentioned by Levey, make insurance feel almost pointless unless you

have the money to meet them. I was lower-middle class at best and certainly didn’t, and I was

not alone. “In 2016, the most recent year with available data, just half of single households and

six in 10 multi-person households had even $2,000 in available savings” (Levey). High-

deductible plans such as mine can easily double or triple that $2,000 mark. Even with insurance

I realized the outcome of something catastrophic happening to me was crippling bills for years

or bankruptcy, and again I was not alone. “Even those in the middle class who have insurance

face devastation from health care inequality. In 2015, medical bankruptcies affected 1 million

people. The insured were 3% more likely to declare bankruptcy than the uninsured” (Amadeo).

As income inequality increases, the lower and middle classes are one accident away from losing

everything they’ve worked for. Those with means are not only less concerned with such things,

but even get better treatment. The recent pandemic of Covid-19 has made for a demonstration

of this effect. Many deemed “essential” personnel are only tested when they meet a strict set

of circumstances or symptoms. Yet a quick browse through social media shows well-off

celebrities, many of which are asymptomatic, stating the results of their tests.

If income and health care are so intertwined, the increasing of income disparity will need to be

addressed in order to find a solution. Amadeo suggests universal health care through whatever

means necessary to even the playing field. Others such as Levey aren’t so ready to make a

choice yet provide countless pieces of evidence that the problem is getting worse, not better.

Even critics to single-payer universal systems such as Diamond “…would welcome a system that

can provide health care for all…” (Diamond). It’s an issue not easily solved, but one that cannot

wait forever to be addressed.

Works Cited

Amadeo, Kimberly. “How Health Care Inequality Increases Costs for Everyone.” The Balance, Dotdash, 11 Jan. 2020, www.thebalance.com/health-care-inequality-facts-types-effect- solution-4174842.

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Diamond, Michael A. “American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, vol. 180, no. 10, 15 Nov. 2009, pp. 921– 922.

Levey, Noam N. “Health Insurance Deductibles Soar, Leaving Americans with Unaffordable Bills.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2019, www.latimes.com/politics/la-na- pol-health-insurance-medical-bills-20190502-story.html.

Chapter 3 Exploratory Essay (Re)Writing Communities and Identities

Ch 3 Appendix 1

Chapter 3 Appendix: Additional Student Examples

Organic Agriculture and Social Class Callista Moore Callista Moore wrote this exploratory essay in Tolu Daniel’s ENGL 100 class. The growing divide between the public and the agricultural industry has led to an abundance of disagreements and differing opinions between both consumers and producers. In recent years, there has been an increase in the demand for organic products. Consumers who can afford it are willing to pay a higher price for these organically produced foods due to their perception of them. According to Kylee Sigmond, an honors student in the Bumpers College of Agricultural Food and Life Sciences, in her thesis, “Consumer Perceptions of Organic, Natural, and Conventional Products When Provided at the Same Price,” most consumers would choose natural or organic products over conventional products if price were not a factor, but many consumers are unaware of what qualifies a product to be considered either natural or organic. Sigmond says that most consumers perceive organic or natural products as better than conventional products because they have made a connection between these agricultural practices and health and food safety. She explains the differences between natural and organic foods as well as how consumers can recognize these differences on their labels. She also acknowledges the fact that consumers want to know where their food comes from but are not sure how to find out more. Sigmond encourages the agricultural industry to bridge this gap between consumer and producer and give those with no agricultural ties access to the industry. In “Fashionable Food: A Latent Class Analysis of Social Status in Food Purchases,” Marco A. Palma et al. explore how food connects to social class and what impact this has on food choices. They conducted experiments to see how consumer perception of food would affect what they buy and how much they are willing to spend. Palma et al. found that members of lower classes purchased prestigious foods, such as organic products, to appear higher in class whereas members of upper classes purchased these prestigious foods as an attempt to separate themselves from lower classes. In this study, they also saw evidence which connects food choice and quality with income, showing that those with higher income are able to have a higher quality diet and wider variety of food choice. The main point Palma et al. are trying to convey is that food choices are linked with socioeconomic class and that more prestigious products such as organic food are associated with a higher socioeconomic class. On the one hand, Sigmond says that consumers make food choices based on health and food safety. She connects consumer ignorance to a disconnect from the agricultural industry and a confusion surrounding food labels. On the other hand, Palma et al. state that consumer food choices are driven by social class and prestige. They believe that those who purchase organic products are doing so in an attempt to boost their social status or detach themselves from lower social classes. Despite their differing views on

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consumer motivation behind purchasing organic foods, both Sigmon and Palma et al. agree that many buyers perceive organic or natural products as the better option when purchasing food. One of the most controversial aspects of this conversation is whether or not organic farming will be able to support the world’s growing population. Most researchers accept that changes need to be made in order to feed the increasing population, but that is where the agreement ends. In his article “Why Organic Farming is not the Way Forward,” Holger Kirchmann says that there is little scientific evidence to back the removal of synthetic mineral fertilizers from production and argues that a complete conversion to organic farming will not be able to feed the world. He provides statistics which state that organic agricultural practices produce 35% less total yield than conventional agricultural practices. He goes on to say that making up for this difference would require a 50% increase in arable land. Kirchmann also examines the emission rates from both conventional and organic practices and provides research showing that organic farming produces significantly more greenhouse gas emissions per equal yield to conventional farming. His main purpose is to provide data to show the negative impacts of organic agriculture and why it is not feasible for only organic agriculture to support the world’s increasing population. Although Kirchmann focuses on differences in production and environmental impact, and Sigmond focuses on consumer perception of different agricultural practices, both would agree that the general public should be given more access to the agriculture industry as a whole. In other words, they believe that consumers should be able to easily acquire scientific information from the agricultural industry so that they can make better educated decisions when it comes to purchasing agricultural products. Ocean Robbins, CEO of Food Revolutions Network, would disagree with Kirchmann’s position on organic agriculture feeding the world. In his article “Is Organic Food Worth the Cost?” Robbins argues that if the entire population were to cut meat out of their diet or at least cut back on meat consumption, then calories going towards animal feed could be redirected to humans, which would be more than enough to support the growing population. He acknowledges the higher cost of organic food and explains that it is due to the certification process that organic farms have to go through. Robbins continues this point by implying that if similar policies were put into place for conventional practices, then conventional products would cost more, too. He also explores the dangers of pesticides and addresses which conventionally grown products carry the most pesticides. Robbins’s main purpose is to encourage those who can afford it to buy organic products while affirming to those who cannot afford organic that it is okay to buy conventional products. As we have seen, Robbins places an emphasis on purchasing organic products due to health and safety reasons, which is similar to the reason given by Sigmond to explain why consumers buy organic food rather than conventional products. However, Robbins also discusses the higher prices of organic products and would agree with Palma et al. that it is much easier for those in higher classes to purchase organic foods than those in lower classes. With that being said, this might be a big issue when it comes to the idea of completely replacing conventional agriculture with organic methods as suggested by Robbins. The higher cost of organic products may be difficult for members of lower classes to pay for which would create a whole new problem. On

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the flip side, continuing the expansion of conventional agriculture as suggested by Kirchmann could lead to many issues within crops such as less variability and decreased drought toleration. If organic farming is going to become more dominant in the world, then the cost differences between conventional and organic production need to be addressed. Whether it be through Robbins’s suggestion of lowering the price of certifying an organic farm or some other method, something needs to be done to make organic products accessible to members of all socioeconomic classes. Ignoring these issues for any longer will only cause organic foods to become more representative of higher classes and make it increasingly difficult for organic products to be available to lower classes. Although it may seem impossible, by looking at organic agriculture costs through a variety of perspectives, researchers can work together to come up with a solution and make organic products obtainable for everyone.

Works Cited

Kirchmann, Holger. “Why Organic Farming is Not the Way Forward.” Outlook on Agriculture, vol. 48, no. 1, 2019, pp. 22–27.

Sigmon, Kylee. "Consumer Perceptions of Organic, Natural, and Conventional Products When

Provided at the Same Price," Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology Undergraduate Honors Theses, May 2019.

Robbins, Ocean. “Is Organic Food Worth the Cost?” Food Revolution Network, Apr. 2021. Palma, Marco A., et al. “Fashionable Food: A Latent Class Analysis of Social Status in Food

Purchases.” Applied Economics, vol. 49, no. 3, 2017, pp. 238–50.