Reading and summarizing

138 CHAPTER ó I rRoM FrNDrNc To EVALUATTNG souRcEs

What is left out? You should check further into some of these links, read- ing the sources cited and keeping in mind the four criteria for evaluating a claim-recency, relevance, accuracy, and reliability. Because you cannot be certain that Internet sources are reviewed or monitored, you need to be scrupulous about examining the claims they make: How much and what kind of evidence supports the writer's (or site's) argument? Can you offer counterarguments?

In the last analysis, it comes down to whether the information you find stands up to the criteria youîe learned to apply as a critical reader and writer. If not, move on to other sources. In a Web-based world of informa- tion, there is no shortage of material, but you have to train yourself not to settle for the information that is most readily available if it is clearly not credible.

A Proclice Sequence: Evoluoting lnternel Sources

For this exercise, we would like you to work in groups on a common topic. The class can choose its own topic or use one of the topics we suggest on page l27.Then google the topic and agree on a Web site to analyze:

Group 1.' Evaluate the author of the site.

Group 2: Evaluatethe organization that supports the site. Group 3.' Evaluate the purpose of the site.

Group 4: Evaluate the information on the site.

Next, each group should share its evaluation. The goal is to determine the extent to which you believe you could use the information on this site in writing an academic essay.

I Evaluate the author of the site. Determine whether the author is an expert.

p Evaluate the organization that supports the site. Find out what t}i,e organization stands for and the extent of its credibility.

p Evaluate the purpose of the site. What interests are represented on the site? What is the site trying to do? Provide access to legiti- mate statistics and information? Advance an argument? Spread propaganda?

@ Evaluate the information on the site. Identify the type of infor- mation on the site and the extent to which the information is recent, relevant, accurate, and reliable.

Steps to Evoluqling lnternet Sources

From Summory to Synthesis Usíng Sources to Buíld on Argument

\ A /lren you start to use sources to build your argument, there are cer- VV tuin st.ut.gies for working with the words and ideas of others that

you will need to learn. Often you can quote the words of an author directly; but just as often you will restate and condense the arguments of others (paraphrasing and summanzing) or make comparisons to the ideas of oth- ers in the process of developing your own argument (synthesizing). We walk you through these more challenging strategies in this chapter. We also briefly discuss plagiarism and ways to avoid it and how to integrate quotations into your writing.

SUMMARIES, PARAPHRASES, AND QUOTATIONS

In contrast to quotations, which involve using another writer's exact words, paraphrases and summaries are both restatements of another writer's ideas in your own words, but they differ in length:

. A paraphrase is usually about the same length as the original passage'

. A summary generally condenses a significantly longer text, conveying the argument not only of a few sentences but also of entire paragraphs, essays, or books.

In your own writing, you might paraphrase a few sentences or even a few paragraphs, but you certainly would not paraphrase a whole essay (much less a whole book). In constructing your arguments, howeve4 you will often have to summarize the main points of the lengthy texts with which you are in conversation.

l4O CHAPTER z I FRoM suMMARy To syNTHESts

Both paraphrasing and summarizing are means to inquiry. That is, the act of recasting someone else's words or ideas into your own lan- guage, to suit your argument and reach your readers, forces you to think critically: What does this passage really mean? What is most important about it for my argument? How can I best present it to my readers? It requires making choices, not least of which is the best way to present the information-through paraphrase, summary, or direct quotation. In gen- eral, the following rules apply:

. Paraphrase when all the information in the passage is important, but the language may be difficult for your readers to understand.

. Summariz¿ when you need to present only the key ideas of a passage (or an essay or a book) to advance your argument.

c Quote when the passage is so effective-so clea4 so concise, so authori- tative, so memorable-that you would be hard-pressed to improve on it.

WRITING A PARAPHRASE

A paraphrase is a restatement of all the information in a passage in your own words, using your own sentence structure and composed with your own audience in mind to advance your argument.

. When you paraphrase a passage, start by identifying key words and phrases and substituting synonyms for them. A dictionary or thesaurus can help, but you may also have to reread what led up to the passage to remind yourself of the context. For example, did the writer define terms earlier that he or she uses in the passage and now expects you to know?

. Continue by experimenting with word order and sentence structure, combining and recombining phrases to convey what the writer says without replicating his or her style, in the best sequence for your read- ers. As you shuffle words and phrases, you should begin arriving at a much better understanding of what the writer is saying. By thinking critically, then, you are clarifying the passage for yourself as much as for your readers.

Let's look at a paraphrase of a passage from science fiction writer and scholar James Gunn's essay "Harry Potter as Schooldays Novel"*:

ORIGINAL PASSAGE

The situation and portrayal of Harry as an ordinary child with an extraordi- nary talent make him interesting. He elicits our sympathy at every turn. He plays a Cinderellalike role as the abused child of mean-spirited foster parents

*Gunn's essay appears in Mapping the World. of Harry Potter: An UnauthoriTed Explo- ration of the Bestselling Fantasy series of All Time, edited by Mercedes Lackey (DalÌas: BenBella,2006).

WRITING A PARAPHRASE I4I

who favor other, Ìess-worthy children, and also fits another fantasy role, that

of changeling. Millions of children have nursed the notion that they cannot be the offspring of such unremarkable parents; in the Harry Potter books, the

metaphor is often literal truth.

PARAPHRASE

According to James Gunn, the circumstances and depiction of Harry Potter as a

normal boy with specìal abitities captìvate us by ptaying on our empathy. Gunn

observes that, tike Cinderella, Harry is scorned by his guardians, who treat him far

worse than they treat his less-admirable peers. And tike another fairy-tate figure,

the changeting, Harry embodìes the fantasies of children who refuse to believe that

they were born of their undistinguished parents (146).

In this paraphrase, synonyms have replaced main words (circumstances and depiction for "situation and porrrayal," guardians for "foster parents"), and the structure of the original sentences has been realTanged. But the paraphrase is about the same length as the original and says essentially the same things as Gunn's original.

Now, compare the paraphrase with this summary:

SUMMARY

James Gunn observes that Harry Potter's character ìs compelting because readers

empathize wìth Harry's faìry tal"e-Like ptight as an orphan whose gifts are ignored by

hjs foster parents (144-45).

The summary condenses the passage, conveying Gunn's main point with- out restating the details. Notice how both the paraphrase and the sum- mary indicate that the ideas are James Gunn's, not the writer's -

"According

to James Gunn," "James Gunn observes"-and signal, with page refer- ences, where Gunn's ideas end. It is essential thøt you acknowledge your sources, a subject we come back to in our discussion of plagiarism on page

180. The point we want to make here is that borrowing from the work of others is not always intentional. Many students stumble into plagiarism, especially when they are attempting to paraphrase. Remember that it's not enough to change the words in a paraphrase; you must also change the structure of the sentences. The,only sure way to protect yourself is to cite your source.

You may be wondering: "If paraphrasing is so tricky, why bother? What does it add? I can see how the summary of Gunn's paragraph pre- sents information more concisely and effrciently than the original, but the paraphrase doesn't seem to be all that different from the source and doesnt seem to add anything to it. Why not simply quote the original or summarize it?"

Good questions. The answer is that you paraphrase when the ideas in a passage are important but are conveyed in language your readers

142 CHAPTER 7 | FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHES|S

may have difûculty understanding. When academics write for their peers, they draw on the specialized vocabulary of their disciplines to make their arguments. By paraphrasing, you may be helping your readers, providing a translation of sorts for those who do not speak the language.

Consider this paragraph by George Lipsitz from his academic book Time Passages: Collective Memory and American Popular Culture, 1,990), and compare the paraphrase that follows it:

ORIGINAL PASSAGE

The transformations in behavior and collective memory fueled by the contradictions of the nineteenth century have passed through three major stages in the United States. The first involved the establishment and codification of commercialized leisure foom the invention of the tele- graph to the 1890s. The second involved the transition from Victorian to consumer-hedonist values between 1890 and 1945. The third and most impor- tant stage, from World War II to the present, involved extraordinary expan- sion in both the distribution of consumer purchasing power and in both the reach and scope of electronic mass media. The dislocations of urban renewal, suburbanization, and deindustrialization accelerated the demise of tradi- tion in America, while the worldwide pace of change undermined stability elsewhere. The period from World War II to the present marks the final triumph of commercialized leisure, and with it an augmented crisis over the Ioss of connection to the past.

PARAPHRASE

Historian George Lipsitz argues that Americans'sense of the past is rooted in cultural changes dating from the 1800s and has evolved through three stages. In the first stage, technological innovations of the nineteenth century gave rise to widespread commerciaI entertainment. In the second stage, dating from the 1890s to about 1945, attitudes toward the consumption of goods and ser- vices changed. Since 1945, in the third stage. increased consumer spending and the growth ofthe mass media have led to a crisis in which Americans find themselves cut off from their traditions and the memories that give meaning to them (12).

Notice that the paraphrase is not a word-for-word translation of the origi- nal. Instead, the writer has made choices that resulted in a slightly briefer and more accessible restatement of Lipsitz's thinking. (Although this para- phrase is shorter than the original passage, a paraphrase can also be a little longer than the original if extra words are needed to help readers understand the original.)

Notice too that several specialized terms and phrases from the origi- nal passage-the "codification of commercialized leisure," "the transition from Victorian to consumer-hedonist values," "the dislocations of urban renewal, suburbanization, and deindustrial ization"

-have disappeared.

The writer not only looked up these terms and phrases in the dictionary

WRITING A PARAPHRASE I43

but also reread the several pages that preceded the original passage to understand what Lipsitz meant by them.

The paraphrase is not an improvement on the original passage-in fact, historians would probably prefer what Lipsitz wrote-but it may help readers who do not share Lipsitz's expertise understand his point without distorting his argument.

Now compare this summary to the paraphrase:

SUMMARY

Historian George Lipsitz argues that technotogicat, socia[, and economic changes dating from the nineteenth century have cutminated in what he calts a "crisis over the loss of connection to the past," in which Americans find themsetves cut offfrom the memories of their traditions (12).

Which is bettel the paraphrase or the summary? Neither is better or worse in and of itself. Their correctness and appropriateness depend on how the restatements are used in a given argument. That is, the decision to paraphrase or summarize depends entirely on the information you need to convey. Would the details in the paraphrase strengthen your argument? Or is a summary sufficient? In this case, if you plan to focus your argu- ment on the causes of America's loss of cultural memory (the rise of com- mercial entertainment, changes in spending habits, globalization), then a paraphrase might be more helpful. But if you plan to define loss of cultural memory, then a summary may provide enough context for the next stage of your argument.

I Decide whether to paraphrase. If your readers dont need all the information in the passage, consider summarizing it or presenting the key points as part of a summary of a longer passage. If a pas- sage is cleal concise, and memorable as originally written, con- sider quoting instead of paraphrasing. Otherwise, and especially if the original was written for an academic audience, you may want to paraphrase the original to make its substance more accessible to your readers.

B Understand the passage. Start by identifiiing key words, phrases, and ideas. If necessary reread the pages leading up to the passage, to place it in context.

p Draft your paraphrase. Replace keywords and phrases with synonyms and alternative phrases (possibly gleaned from the context provided by the surrounding text). Experiment with word order and sentence structure until the paraphrase captures your understanding of the passage, in your own language, for your readers.

Steps to Wrifing o Porophrose

L44 CHAPTER Z I FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHESIS

!l Acknowledge your source. That's the only sure way to protect yourself from a charge of plagiarism.

A Proctice Sequence: Porophrosing

I In one of the sources you've located in your research, find a sen- tence of some length and complexity, and paraphrase it. Share the original and your paraphrase of it with a classmate, and discuss the effectiveness of your restatement. Is the meaning clear to your reader? Is the paraphrase written in your own language, using your own sentence structure?

2 Repeat the activity using a short paragraph from the same source. You and your classmate may want to attempt to paraphrase the same paragraph and then compare results. What differences do you detect?

WRITING A SUMMARY

As you have seen, a summary condenses a body of information, present- ing the key ideas and acknowledging their source. Summarizing is not an active way to make an argument, but summaries do provide a common ground of information for readers so that you can make your argument more effectively. You can summarize a paragraph, several paragraphs, an essay, a chapter in a book, or even an entire book, depending on the use you plan to make of the information in your argument.

We suggest a method of summarizingthat involves

1. describing the author's key claims, 2. selecting examples to illustrate the author's argument, 3. presenting the gist of the author's argument, and 4. contextualizing what you summarize.

We demonstrate these steps for writing a summary following Clive Thompson's article "On the New Literacy."

CLIVE THOMPSON

On the New Literacy

A print journalist at New York Magafine, Clive Thompson started his blog, Collision Detection, in September 2002, when he was beginning his year as a Knight Fellow in Science Journalism at MIT. Collision Detection has

THOMPSON I ON rnr NEW LITERACY 145

become one of the most well-regarded blogs on technology and culture. The blog receives approximately 3,000 to 4,000 hits a day. His piece on lit- eracy appearedinWired rnagazine in 2009.

¡[ s the school year begins, be ready to hear pundits fretting once llagain about how kids today can't write-and technology is to blame. Facebook encourages narcissistic blabbering, video and Power- point have replaced carefully crafted essays, and texting has dehydrated language into "bleak, bald, sad shorthand" (as University College of London English professor John Sutherland has moaned). An age of illit- eracy is at hand, right?

Andrea Lunsford isn't so sure. Lunsford is a professor of writing and rhetoric at Stanford University, where she has organized a mammoth project called the Stanford Study of Writing to scrutinize college stu- dents' prose. From 2001 to 2006, she collected 14,672 student writing samples-everything from in-class assignments, formal essays, and jour-

nal entries to emails, blog posts, and chat sessions. Her conclusions are

stirring. .I think we're in the midst of a ìiteracy revolution the likes of which we

havent seen since Greek civilization," she says. For Lunsford, technology isnt killing our ability to write. It's reviving it-and pushing our literacy in bold new directions.

The first thing she found is that young people today write far more than any generation before them. That's because so much socializing takes place online, and it almost always involves text. Of all the writing that the Stanford students did, a stunning 38 percent of it took place out of the classroom-life writing, as Lunsford calls it. Those Twitter updates and lists of 25 things about yourself add up.

It's almost hard to remember how big a paradigm shift this is. Before

the Internet came along, most Americans never wrote anything, eve11 that

wasnt a school assignment. Unless they got a job that required producing

text (like in law, advertising, or media), they'd leave school and virtually never constru cf a paragt:aph again.

But is this explosion of prose good, on a technical level? Yes. Lunsford's

team found that the students were remarkably adept at what rhetoricians call lcairos-assessing their audience and adapting their tone and tech- nique to best get their point across. The-modern world of online writ- ing, particularly in chat and on discussion threads, is conversational and public, which makes it closer to the Greek tradition of argument than the

asynchronous letter and essay writing of 50 years ago. The fact that students today almost always write for an audience

(something virtually no one in my generation did) gives them a different sense of what constitutes good writing. In interwiews, they defined good

2

3

1

5

6

7

146 CHAPTER 7 | FRoM SUMMARY ro sYNTHEsls

prose as something that had an effect on the world. For them, writing is about persuading and organizing and debating, even if it's over some- thing as quotidian as what movie to go see. The Stanford students were almost always less enthusiastic about their in-class writing because it had no audience but the professor: It didnt serve any purpose other than to get them a grade. As for those texting short-forms and smileys defil- ing serious academic writing? Another myth. When Lunsford examined the work of first-year students, she didn't find a single example of texting speak in an academic paper.

Of course, good teaching is always going to be crucial, as is the mas- tering of formal academic prose. But it's also becoming clear that online media are pushing literacy into cool directions. The brevity of texting and status updating teaches young people to deploy haiku-like concision. At the same time, the proliferation of new forms of online pop-cultural exegesis-from sprawling TV-show recaps to 15,000-word videogame walkthroughs-has given them a chance to write enormously long and complex pieces of prose, often while working collaboratively with others.

We think of writing as either good or bad. What today's young people know is that knowing who you're writing for and wþ you're writing might be the most crucial factor of all.

r Describe the Key Cloims of the Text As you read through a text with the pu{pose of summarizing it, you want to identify how the writer develops his or her argument. You can do this by what we call "chunking," grouping related material together into the argu- ment's key claims. Here are two strategies to try.

Nofíce how poragrophs begìn and end. Often, focusing on the first and last sentences of paragraphs will alert you to the shape and direction of an author's argument. It is especially helpful if the paragraphs are lengthy and full of supporting information, as much academic writing is.

Because of his particular journalistic forum, Wiredmagazine, Thomp- son's paragraphs are generally rather short, but it's still worth taking a closer look at the first and last sentences of his opening paragraphs:

Paragraph,l: As the school year begins, be ready to hear pundits fretting once again about how kids today cant write-and technology is to blame. Face- book encourages narcissistic blabbering, video and PowerPoint have replaced carefully crafted essays, and texting has dehydrated language into "bleak, bald, sad shorthand" (as University College of London English professor John Sutherland has moaned). An age of illiteracy is at hand, right?

Paragraph 2: Andrea Lunsford isnt so sure. Lunsford is a professor of writ- ing and rhetoric at Stanford University, where she has organized a mam-

WRITING A SUMMARY I47

I

moth project called the stanford study of writing to scrutinize college

students'prose. From 2001 to 200ó, she collected 14,672 student writing

samples-errerything from in-class assignments, formal essays' and journal

entries to emails, blog posts, and chat sessions. Her conclusions are

stirring.

Right away you can see that Thompson has introduced a topic in each puiugr ph--pundits' criticism of students'use of electronic media in the

hrrt,ã"å a national study designed to examine students'literacy in the sec- ond-and has indicated a connection between them' In fact, Thompson is explicit in doing so. He asks a question at the end of the first paragraph and

thån raises doubts as to the legitimacy of critics' denunciation of young

people's reliance on blogs and posts to communicate' How will Thompson

ãIaborate on this connection? What major points does he develop?

Nofice lhe oulhor's point ol view ond use of tronsitíons. Another strategy for identifying major points is to pay attention to descriptive words and

transitions. For example, Thompson uses a rhetorical question ("An age

of illiteracy is at hand, right?") and then offers a tentative answer ("Andrea

Lunsford isnt so sure") that places some doubt in readers'minds. Notice, too, the words that Thompson uses to characterize the argt-

ment in the frrst paragraph, which he appears to challenge in the second paragraph. Specificalty, he describes these critics as "pundits," a word that

tr.ailionatty iefers to àn expert or knowledgeable individual. Howeve' the

notion of a pundit, someone who often appears on popular talk shows' has

also been used negatively. Thompson's description of pundits "fretting,"

wringing their hands in worry that literacy levels are declining, under- ,"or.i this negative association of what it means to be a pundit. Finally, Thompson indicates that he does not identify with those who describe stu-

d"rrts às engaging in "narcissistic blabbering." This is clear when he char-

acterizes the professor as having "moaned"'

once you identifu an author's point of view, you will start noticing con-

trasts and oppositions in the argument-instances where the words are

less positive, or neutral, or even negative-which are often signaled by

how the writer uses transitions. For example, Thompson begins with his own concession to critics'

arguments *hen h" acknowledges in paragraph 8 that educators should .r,["., students to "lmaster] formal academic prose." However, he follows this concession with the transition word "but" to signal his own stance in

the debate he frames in the first two paragraphs: "online media are push-

ing literacy into cool directions." Thompson also recognizes that students

wño write on blogs tend to write short, abbreviated texts. Still, he qualifies

his concern with another transition, "at the same time." This transition serves to introduce Thompson's strongest claim: New media have given

students "a chance to write enormously long and complex pieces of prose,

often while working collaboratively with others'"

9

I48 CHAPTER 7 I FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHESIs

These strategies can help you recognize the main points of an essay and explain them in a few sentences. For example, you could describe Thompson's key claims in this waY:

1. Electronic media give students opportunities to write more than in previous generations, and students have learned to adapt what they àre writing in order to have some tangible effect on what people think and how they act.

2. Arguably, reliance on blogging and posting on Twitter and Facebook can foster some bad habits in writing.

3. But at least one major study demonstrates that the benefits of using the new media outweigh the disadvantages. This study indicates that

students write lengthy, complex pieces that contribute to creating sig-

nificant social networks and collaborations.

r Select Exomples to lllustrote the Author's Argument A summary should be succinct, which means you should limit the num- ber of examples or illustrations you use. As you distill the major points of

the argument, try to choose one or two examples to illustrate each major point. Here are the examples (in italics) you might use to support Thomp- son's main points:

1. Electronic media give students opportunities to write more than in previous generations, and students have learned to adapt what they àre writing in order to have some tangible effect on what people think and how they act. Exømples from the Stanford study: Students "defined

good prose as something thøt had an ffict on the woild. For them, writ- ing is about persuading and organizing and debating" (para' 7)'

2. Arguably, reliance on blogging and posting on Twitter and Facebook can foster some bad habits in writing. Examples of these bad høbits includ.e critics' charges of "narcissistic blabbering," "bleak, bald, sad shorthand," and "dehydrated language" (para. I). Thompson's descrip- tion of texting's "haiku-tike concision" (para. 8) seems to combine praise (haiku can be wonderful poetry) with criticism (it can be obscure and unintelligible).

3. But at least one major study demonstrates that the benefits of using the new media outweigh the disadvantages. Exarnples include Thomp-

sonb point that the writing in the new media constitutes a "paradigm shift" (para.5). Andrea Lunsford obserues that students are "remarkably

adept àt what rhetoricians cøll kairos-øssessing their audience and adapting their tone and technique to best get their point across" (para. 6).

A single concrete example may be sufficient to clarify the point you want

to make about an author's argument. Throughout the essay, Thompson derives examples from the Stanford study to support his argument in the

r Present the Gist of the Author's Argument Whenyoupresentthegistofanargument,youareexpressingtheauthor's central idea in a sentence or two. The gist is not quite the same thing as

the author's thesis statement. Instead, it is your formulation of the author's

main idea, composed for the needs of your own argument'

Thompsont observations in paragraph 8 represent his thesis: "But

it,s also becoming clear that online media are pushing literacy, into cool

directions. . . . [T]he proliferation of new forms of online pop-cultural exe-

gesis-from sprawling TV-show recaps to 15,000-word videogame walk-

Ihrorrghs-hai given lstudentsl a chance to write enormously long and

.o*pi"* pieces of pror", often while working collaboratively with others." ln this pãrugtuph, Thompson clearþ expresses his central ideas in two sentencãs, *¡itè utro conceding some of the critics' concerns. Howeve' in formulating the gist of his argument, you want to do more than para-

phrase Thompson. You want to use his position to support your own' For

ex^mple, suppose you want to qualifu the disapproval that some educators

h.rr" ""p."åãd

irr drawing their conclusions about the new media. You

would want to mention Thompson's own concessions when you describe

the gist of his argument:

WRITING A SUMMARY I49

fi.nal two paragraphs. The most concrete, specific example of how the new

media benefit students as writers appears in paragraph 6' where the pri-

mary research of the stanford study describes students' acquisition of im-

po*ä", rhetorical skills of developing writing that is opportune (kairos)

årrd prrtporeful. This one example may be suffi'cient for the purposes of

summarizing ThomPson's essaY.

GIST

In his essay,,0n the New Literacy,,'C[ìve Thompson, whi[e acknowledgìng some aca-

demic criticism of new medìa, argues that these media give students opportunities

to write more than ìn previous generations and that students have learned to adapt

what they are writing in order to have some tangible effect on what people think

and how theY act.

Notice that this gist could not have been written based only on Thomp-

son's thesis statement. It reflec-ts knowledge of Thompson's major points,

his examples, and his concessions'

r Contextuolize Whot You Summorize Yoursummaryshouldhelpreadersunderstandthecontextofthe conversation:

. Who is the author?

. What is the author's exPertise?

150 CHAPTER 7 I FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHES|S

. What is the title of the work?

. Where did the work appear? ¡ What was the occasion of the work's publication? What prompted the

author to write the work? ¡ What are the issues? . Who else is taking part in the conversation, and what are their perspec-

tives on the issues?

Again, because a summary must be concise, you must make decisions about how much of the conversation your readers need to know. If your assignment is to practice summarizing, it may be sufficient to include only information about the author and the source. Howeve4 if you are using the summary to build your own argument, you may need to provide more context. Your practice summary of Thompson's essay should mention that he is a journalist and should cite the title of and page references to his essay. You also may want to include information about Thompson's audi- ence, publication information, and what led to the work's publication. Was it published in response to another essay or book, or to commemorate an important event?

We compiled our notes on Thompson's essay (key claims, examples, gist, context) in a worksheet (Figure 7. 1). All of our notes in the worksheet constitute a t)?e of prewriting, our preparation for writing the summary. Creating a worksheet like this can help you track your thoughts as you plan to write a summary. (You can download a template of this worksheet at bedfordstmartins. com/frominquiry. )

Knv Cr-ul,r(s) Ex¡ttprr's Grsr Corurnxr

1. Electronic media prompt more stu- dent writing than ever before, and students use their writing to make a difference.

2. Arguably,reliance on blogging and posting can foster some bad writing habits.

3. But one major study shows the benefits of new media on student writing.

The Stanford study: Students "defrned good prose as some- thing that had an effect on the world" (para.7).

Complaints of "bleak, bald, sad shorthand" and "narcissistic blab- bering" (para. 1); texting can be obscure.

A "paradigm shift" (para. 5) to fluency in multiple formats and skill in assess- ing and persuading audiences.

In his essay "On the New Literacy," Clive Thompson, while acknowledging some academic criti- cism of new media, argues that these media give students opportunities to write more than in previous genera- tions and that stu- dents have learned to adapt what they are writing in order to have some tan- gible effect on what people think and how they act.

Thompson is a journalist who has written wideìy on issues in higher education. His essay "On the New Lit- eracy" appeared in Wired in August2009 (http://www.wired .com/techbiz/people/ magazine/17-091 st_thompson). Under consideration is the debate that he frames in his open- ing paragraphs.

FIGURE 7.1 Worksheet for Writing a Summary

The gíat of-fhompaonb argument.

Thíø aonaesaîon helpø lo balance enthuai' asm baseà on a sínqle stuày.

Thompøon's main poínt wíth example.

WRITING A SUMMARY 15 T

Here is our summary of Thompson's essay:

In his essay "On the New Literacy," Clive Thompson, while

acknowledging some academic criticism of new media,

argues that these media give students opportunities to write

more than in previous generations and that students have

learned to adapt what they are writing in order to have some

tangible effect on what people think and how they act. Argu-

ably, reliance on blogging and posting on Twitter and Face-

book can foster some bad habits in writing. But at least one

major study demonstrates that the benefits of using the new

media outweigh the disadvantages. Students write lengthy,

complex pieces that contribute to creating significant social

networks and collaborations.

I Describe the key claims of the text. To understand the shape and direction of the argument, study how paragraphs begin and end, and pay attention to the author's point of view and use of transi- tions. Then combine what you have learned into a few sentences describing the key claims.

B Select examples to illustrate the author's argument. Find one or two examples to support each key claim. You may need only one example when you write your summary.

p Present the gist of the author's argument. Describe the author's central idea in your own language with an eye to where you expect your argument to go.

@ Contextualize what you summarize. Cue your readers into the conversation. Who is the author? Where and when did the text appear? Why did the author write? Who else is in the conversation?

Steps fo Writing q Summqry

A Proctice Sequence: Summorizing

Summarize a text that you have been studying for research or for one of your other classes. You may want to limit yourself to an excerpt ofjust a few paragraphs or a few pages. Follow the four steps weïe described, using a summary worksheet for notes, and write a summary of the text. Then share the excerpt and your summary of it with two of your peers. Be prepared to justify your

I52 CHAPTER 7 I FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHESIS

choices in composing the summary. Do your peers agree that your summary captures what is important in the original?

2 With a classmate, choose a brief text of about three pages. Each of you should use the method we describe above to write a sum- mary of the text. Exchange your summaries and worksheets, and discuss the effectiveness of your summaries. Each of you should be prepared to discuss your choice of key claims and examples and your wording of the gist. Did you set forth the context effectively?

SYNTHESIS VERSUS SUMMARY

A synthesis is a discussion that forges connections between the argu- ments of two or more authors. Like a summary, a synthesis requires you to understand the key claims of each author's argument, including his or her use of supporting examples and evidence. Also like a summary a syn- thesis requires you to present a central idea, agist, to your readers. But in contrast to a summary which explains the context of a source, a synthesis creates a context for your own argument. That is, when you write a synthe- sis comparing two or more Sources, you demonstrate that you are aware of the larger conversation about the issue and begin to claim your own place

in that conversation. Most academic arguments begin with a synthesis that sets the stage

for the argument that follows. By comparing what others have written on a given issue, writers position themselves in relation to what has come before them, acknowledging the contributions of their predecessors as they advance their own points of view.

Like a summary, a synthesis requires analysis: You have to break down

arguments and categorize their parts to see how they work together. In our summary of Thompson's essay (p. 151), the parts we looked at were the key claims, the examples and evidence that supported them, the central idea (conveyed in the gist), and the context. But in a synthesis, your main purpose is not simply to report what another author has said. Rathe4 you

must think critically about how multiple points of view intersect on your issue, and decide what those intersections mean.

Comparing different points of view prompts you to ask why they dif- fer. It also makes you more aware of counterarguments-passages where claims conflict ("writer X says this, but writer Y asserts just the oppo- site") or at least differ ("writer X interprets this information this way, while writer Y sees it differently"). And it starts you formulating your own counterarguments: "Neither X nor Y has taken this into account. What if they had?"

Keep in mind that the purpose of a synthesis is not merely to list the similarities and differences you find in different sources or to assert your agreement with one source as opposed to others. Instead, it sets up your argument. Once you discover connections among texts, you have to decide

HAVEN I THE NEW LITERACY 153

what those connections mean to you and your readers. What bearing do

they have on your own thinking? How can you make use of them in your

argument?

WRITING A SYNTHESIS

To compose an effective slmthesis, you must (1) make connections among

ideas in different texts, (Z) decide what those connections mean, and (3) formulate rhe gist of what you've read, much like you did when you

ìr.o,. u summary. Íh" diff"."nce is that in a synthesis, your gist should be a succinct statement that brings into focus not the central idea of one text

but the relationship among different ideas in multiple texts' To help you grasp strategies of writing a synthesis, read the follow-

ing essays by ¡oninuliits Cynthia Haven and Josh KeIIer, which, like Clive

fh-=ompson's-"rruy, deal with the effects of new media on the quality of stu-

d"nts'^-riting. w" hurr" annotated the Haven and Keller readings not only to comment on their ideas but also to connect their ideas with those of

Thompson. Annotating your texts in this manner is a useful first step in

writing a synthesis. Following the Haven and Keller selections, we explain how annotat-

ing contributes to writing a synthesis. Then we show how you can use a

worksheet to organíze your thinking when you are formulating a gist of your s5mthesis. Èinally, we present our own synthesis based on the texts of

Thompson, Haven, and Keller.

CYNTHIA HAVEN

The New Literacy: Stanford Study Finds Richness

and Complexity in Students' Writing

Cynthia Haven was born in Detroit and educated at the University of Mich-

igan. A writer who has received more than a dozen literary and journalism

aiwards, Haven is currently a literary critic at t]ne San Francisco Chronicle.

She has long been affiliatéd with Stanford University and is a regular con-

tributor to its magazine, Stanford Report, where this article appeared in

2009.

Begíns wíth claíms in the firøt iwo paragrapha for our conøiàeratíon.

tTroday's kids dont just write for grades anymore I tf,* write to shake the world.

Moreover, they are writing more than any previous

generation, evetr in history. They navigate in a bewil-

dering new arena where writers and their audiences

2

have merged.

Cítea a atudy that supportø these cla¡m, and 5eþs up the term6 of a áebâte: that new medía may not. be eroding líteraay as'bonventíonal w¡edom" mí7ht euøøe5t.

Obøerving the way t"he øtuày employeà a ranàom sample helpo give legítí- macy þo the etuày anà aupport for the etuàyb claime.

154 CHAPTER Z I FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHESIS

These are among the startling findings in the Stan- 3 ford Study of Writing, spearheaded by Professor Andrea Lunsford, director of Stanford's Program in Writing and Rhetoric. The study refutes conventional wisdom and provides a wholly new context for those who wonder "whether Google is making us stupid and whether Facebook is frying our brains," said Lunsford.

The five-year study investigated the writing of Stan- ford students during their undergraduate careers and their first year afterward, whether at a job or in grad- uate school.

The study began in September 2001, when Luns- ford invited a random sample of the freshman class to participate in the study. Of the 243 invited, 189 accepted the invitation-about 12 percent of that

class.

The volume and range of writing reìnforceø the iní- tíal alaîm: Toàayb stuàents are wrít' ing more than previ- ous generations,

Students agreed to submit the writing they did for 6 all their classes, including multimedia presentations, problem sets, Iab reports, and honors theses. They also submitted as much as they wanted of what Lunsford calls "life writing," that is, the writing they did for themselves, their families, their friends, and the world at large.

Lunsford was unprepared for the avalanche of 7 material that ensued: about 15,000 pieces of writing, including emails in 11 languages, blog postings, pri- vate journal entries and poetry. The last, in particula4 surprised her: "If there's any closeted group at Stan- ford, it's poets."

Only 62 percent of the writing was for their class- 8 work.

While data analysis is ongoing, Lunsford said the s study's first goal was "to paint a picture of the writing that these young writers do" and to portray "its rich- ness and complexity."

Her conclusion: Although today's kids are "writing t0 more than ever before in history" it may not look like the writing of yesterday. The focus of today's writing is "more about instantaneous communication." It's also about audience.

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lmplîeá comparíson between the cur- renþ øenerat¡on, which communí- cate6 to ôreate change, anà previ' ou6 øeneratíon5, who wrote to fulfill clasoroom assign- mentâ.

Haven provîàes a represenlatíve ôa9e example from the ãtu¿y to íllustrate one of the conalu' siona àrawn from þhe re6earch: that 6tu¿entt5 arc writ' íng more outaíàe of ô1a59 to Zet gome' thíng àone."

HAVEN I THE NEW LITERACY T55

Writing as Vehicle of Change

For these students, "Good writing changes some- t I thing. It doesn't just sit on the page. It gets up, walks off the page, and changes something," whether it's a website or a poster for a walkathon.

More than earlier generations, said Lunsford, 12 "Young people today are aware of the precarious nature of our lives. They understand the dangers that await us." Hence, "Writing is a way to get a sense of power."

Twenty-six-year-old Mark Otuteye, one of 3ó stu- 13 dents in the study group who agreed to be interviewed once a yeaç is in many ways representative. While at Stanford, he started a performance poetry group in response to 2003 student protests against growing involvement in lraq.

"Academic writing seemed to be divorced frorn a ta public audience. I was used to communicating not only privately, with emails, but publicly, with web- sites, blogs, and social networks," said Otuteye, CEO of AES Connect, a social media design company (he's

also worked at Google). "I was used to writing transactionally-not just for ts

private reflection, but writing to actually get some- thing done in the world." For Otuteye, a half-Ghanaian student in the Program in African and African Ameri- can Studies who went on to get a Stanford master's degree in modern thought and literature (2005) and, with a Marshall Scholarship, a master's degree from the University of Sussex in artificial intelligence (2008),

academic writing was often "less important" than his writing for the "real world"-for example, the fli- ers he put up all over Stanford to promote his poetry group.

Lunsford cautioned that "audiences are very slip- t6 pery," and that, in the Internet age, "in a way the whole world can be your audience. It's inspirational, really, but it's hard to know who they are or what they'll do."

Anyone anywhere can be an overnight pundit 17 with an audience of millions-or can ramble on in

156 cHAeTER z I FRoM suMMARy To syNTHEsts

Haven raiaes a quest¡on ìhat many ôrítics hâve âboui øtuàentq being trappeà ín a límiteà víew of the worlà.

an unregarded cyberspace tirade. A lively blog "con- versation" may consist largely of one writer assuming different masks. Does much of this writing, more- ovel trap them in a world of other 19-year-olds, their peers?

The caoe example helpø øupport the alaím ühat new meàia enable stuàento to learn to value rheþoriaâl çkills.

Is íi higher eàu- catíon - notstudente-that needø to ohan1e to meetthe àemanàs of new meàía?

Thîa ís Haven'o own stanà, lt'ø clear þhat these proøno5tícatoro were wron6, anà they may be wrong agaín,

Audiences Change over Time

Otuteye noted that the students in the study were already writing for professors, friends, and parents. Moreove4 as they transition into the work world after graduation, they begin to see "those audiences begin to mix and overlap. All the communication that they do online, with the exception of email, can become public."

"The skill of being able to manage multiple, over- lapping audiences is a principle of rhetoric, a skill I was able to hone and perfect not only in academic writing, but in the performance writing I did and all the rhetorical activi ty I was engaged in at Stanford."

He said that even the computer code he writes now follows "the same principles of rhetoric, specifically around audience, that is used in poetry and academic writing." Aline of code, he said, couldhavefourormore audiences, including other engineers and computers.

Lunsford underscored the need for higher educa- tion to adapt; for example, students could post their essays online, accommodating their preference for an audience and online discussion. But Lunsford said adaptation must go even further: What does an En- glish professor say when a student approaches her and says, "I know you'd like me to write an essay, but I'd like to make a documentary"?

In light of this brave new world, it can be hard to remember that only a few decades ago doomsday prophets were predicting the death of the written word, as telephones and television increased their domination over a culture, and business CEOs dic- tated their letters into Dictaphones.

In those days, graduation from college largely meant goodbye to wr-iting. An office memo, letters, or "anno-

tated cookbooks" were about the only written expres-

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Defrneø a epecíal' izeá þerm, "epìetemía,"

But b the h/ritíng "three tímeø" as effeolive? ls it gooà wrítínø?

Counterar0ument to Lunaforàb poai- þion:,tuàentø have not maslere¿ þhe techní6al agpect? of wríting. However, the quotatíon àoes not really anower the queatíon.

HAVEN I THE NEW LITERACY I57

sions of the adult world, said Lunsford, unless they were headed for jobs in the media or in academia. Writing was "instrumental"-designed for a purpose, such as a purchasing agreement, or advefiising to sell

a product.

Redefining "Writing"

Today's landscape alters fundamental notions of what 24 writingis. Accordingto Lunsford, "The everydayunder- standing of writing is usually operational as opposed to epistemic."

Epistemic writing creates knowledge. (Think of 2s all those times when you don't know what to think till you begin writing.) Such epistemic writing is an ex- ploration, rather than declaration. It's the writing that dominates journals, letters, and many blogs. Clearly, the students'sense of agency extends to seÌf-

knowledge as well as changing the world.

Comparing the Stanford students' writing with 26 their peers from the mid-1980s, Lunsford found that

the writing of today! students is about three times as

long-they have "the ability to generate more prose'" They are also likely to make different kinds of 27

errors. The number one eïTor 20 years ago was spell-

ing-a problem easily circumvented today by a spell- checker. Today's number one elror is using the wrong

word-"constraint" instead of "constrained," for example, or using the wrong preposition.

Lunsford recalls one student writing "I feel 28 necrotic" rather than "neurotic."

Some nevertheless insist that writing today is sub- 2e standard, Iittered with too many LOLs and OMGs' However, Lunsford noted that Stanford students were adept ät different writing for different audi- ences. Moreove4 they are changing the game: For a

graphic novel such as Chris Ware's Jimrrty Corrigan:

The Smat-test Kid on Earth, "traditional reading strat-

egies do not work. Every single word is important"'

And websites, though they can be skimmed with a click, can be very labor- and thought-intensive'

158 CHAPTER z I FRoM SUMMARY To sYNTHEsls

Conaluàes wíth a quotatíon abouþ how the uae of new meàîa àoeø not àevalue traàítional aonceptionø of lÍt' eraay, writínq, anà claçsíc líterature.

"College writers need to be able to retain the best 30 of print literacy, and know how to deploy it for their own purposes," said Lunsford. "They also need and deserve to be exposed to new forms of expression."

With the more playful, inventive and spontaneous 31 forms of writing available to them, are today's stu- dents losing the taste for more complex English?

"Every time I pick up Henry James, I have to 32 relearn how to read Henry James. We dont want to lose the ability to do that kind of reading and writ- ing," said Lunsford.

"Thinking about hard things requires hard prose. 33 We can boil things down, prepare for a different audi- ences, but when it comes to hard things, I dont think it can be worked out in 140 characters."

Keller uaes the same ,tudent example ao Haven to make the aame poínl about college writíng aøoígn- mentâ.

JOSH KELLER

Studies Explore Whether the Internet Makes Students Better Writers

Josh Keller is a reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education in Wash- ington, D.C. The weekly publication focuses on issues in higher education and on news and serves as a job-information source for college and univer- sity faculty members, administrators, and students. His piece appeared in 2009.

À s a student at Stanford University, Mark Otuteye Awrote in anv medium he could find. He wrote blog posts, slam poetry, to-do lists, teaching guides, e-mail and Facebook messages, diary entries, short stories. He wrote a poem in computer code, and he wrote a computer program that helped him catalog all the things he had written.

But Mr. Otuteye hated writing academic papers. Although he had vague dreams of becoming an En- glish professo4 he saw academic writing as a "soul- less exercise" that felt like 'jumping through hoops." When given a writing assignment in class, he says, he

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KELLER I WHETHER THE INTERNET MAKES STUDENTS BETTER WRITERS 159

would usually adopt a personal tone and more or less

ignore the prompt. "I got away with it," says Mr' Otut-

eye, who graduated from Stanford in 200ó' "Most of the time."

The rise of online media has helped raise a new 3 generation of college students who write far more, and in more-diverse forms, than their predeces- sors did. But the implications of the shift are hotly debated, both for the future of students'writing and

for the college curriculum. Some scholars say that this new writing is more 4

engaged and more connected to an audience, and that

colleges should encourage students to bring lessons from that writing into the classroom. Others argue that tweets and blog posts enforce bad writing hab- its and have little relevance to the kind of sustained, focused argument that academic work demands'

?ume uptwo oppoaeà poínta of víew on the àebate.

Goes beyonà Haven to aíte an aààítíonal ,tu¿y ât Míahiøan 5tate that reacheà øímí- Iar aonaluaíona as the Stanforà atuày.

Aààítional eviàence that supporte the îtanforà atuày.

A new generation of longitudinal studies, which s track large numbers of students over several years, is attempting to settle this argument. The "stanford

Study of Writing," a five-year study of the writing lives

of Stanford students-including Mr. Otuteye-is probably the most extensive to date.

In a shorter project, undergraduates in a first-year 6 writing class at Michigan State University were asked

to keep a diary of the writing they did in any environ-

ment, whether blogging, text messaging, or gaming'

For each act of writing over a two-week period, they recorded the time, genre, audience, location, and pur-

pose of their writing. "What was interesting to us was how small a per- 7

centage of the total writing the school writing was,"

says Jeffrey T. Grabill, the study's lead authoç who

is director of the Writing in Digital Environments Research Center at Michigan State. In the diaries and in follow-up interviews, he says, students often described their social, out-of-class writing as more persistent and meaningful to them than their in-class

work was. "Digital technologies, computer networks, the 8

Web-all of those things have led to an explosion in

1ó0 CHAPTER 7 | FRoM SUMMARY To SYNTHES¡s

Keller aààs the voîces of acholaro of writing lo õom' ment on þhe value of new media.

writing," Mr. Grabill says. "People write more now than ever. In order to interact on the Web, you have to write."

Kathleen Blake Yancey, a professor of English at e Florida State University and a former president of the National Council of Teachers of English, calls the

current period "the age of composition" because, she says, new technologies are driving a greater number of people to compose with words and other media than ever before.

"This is a new kind of composing because it's so 10 variegated and because it's so intentionally social," Ms. Yancey says. Although universities may not con- sider social communication as proper writing, it still has a strong influence on how students learn to write, she says. "We ignore it at our own peril."

But some scholars argue that students should tt adapt their writing habits to their college course work, not the other way around. Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University, cites the reading and writing scores in the National Assess- ment of Educational Progress, which have remained fairly flat for decades. It is a paradox, he says: "Why is it that with young people reading and writing more words than ever before in human history, we flnd no gains in reading and writing scores?"

Unlíke Thompeon anà Haven, Keller províàeø the aoun' terarguments of scholarç who àís' pute Þhe ñndíngø of ihe 9tanfor¿ etudy,

Unáergcoreg the àîfñculty of drawíng conclusíons eîther way.

The Right Writing

Determining how students develop as writers, and why they improve or not, is difficult. Analyzing a large enough sample of students to reach general con-

clusions about how the spread of new technologies affects the writing process, scholars say, is a monu- mentaì challenge.

The sheer amount of information that is relevant to a student's writing development is daunting and diffr- cult to collect: formal and informal writing, scraps of notes and diagrams, personal histories, and fleeting conversations and thoughts that never make it onto the printed page.

Thíø summary of the 5tanforà etudy suøgeets þhat researahera there have responded to þhe aomPlexítY of measuríng out' comea of wríting ín any meàíum.

Cítee the stuàY at Georqe Maoon. Wrítinq on bloga îa rnore enøaøínø than writín4 in achool, an¿ it repregents the ways atudents suotain social networkø (parae, 17-20).

KELLER I WHETHER THE INTERNET MAKES STUDENTS BETTER WRITERS 161

The Stanford study is trying to collect as much of

that material as possible. Starting in 2001, research-

ers at the university began collecting extensive writ-

ing samples from 189 students, roughly 12 percent

of the freshman class. Students were given access to

a database where they could upload copies of their

work, and some were interviewed annually about their writing experiences. By 2006 researchers had amassed nearly 14,000 pieces of writing'

Students in the study "almost always" had more enthusiasm for the writing they were doing outside

of class than for their academic work, says Andrea A'

Lunsford, the study's director. Mr. Otuteye submitted

about 700 pieces of writing and became the study's

most prolific contributor. The report's authors say they included nonaca-

demic work to better investigate the links between academic and nonacademic writing in students'writ-

ing development. One of the largest existing longi- tudinal studies of student writing, which started at Harvard University in the late 1990s, limited its sample

to academicwriting, whichpreventedresearchers from

drawing direct conclusions about that done outside

of class. In looking at students' out-of-class writing, the

Stanford researchers say they found several traits that

were distinct from in-class work. Not surprisingly, the

writing was self-directed; it was often used to connect

with peers, as in social networks; and it usually had a

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The writing was also often associated with accom-

plishing an immediate, concrete goal, such as orga-

,riri.rg a group of people or accomplishing a political

end, says Paul M. Rogers, one of the study's authors'

The immediacy might help explain why students stayed so engaged, he says. "When you talked to them

about their out-of-class writing, they would talk about

writing to coordinate out-of-class activity," says Mr'

Rogers, an assistant professor of English at George

Mason University. "A lot of them were a lot more

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162 CHAPTER 7 | FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHES|S

conscious of the effect their writing was having on other people."

Mr. Rogers believes from interviews with students that the data in the study will help show that students routinely learn the basics of writing concepts wher- ever they write the most. For instance, he says, stu- dents who compose messages for an audience of their peers on a social-networking Web site were forced to be acutely aware of issues like audience, tone, and voice.

"The out-of-class writing actually made them more conscious of the things writing teachers want them to think about," the professor says.

Mr. Otuteye, who recently started a company that develops Web applications, says he paid close atten- tion to the writing skills of his peers at Stanford as the co-founder of a poetry slam. It was the students who took their out-of-class writing seriously who made the most progress, he says. "Everybody was writing in class, but the people who were writing out of and inside of class, that was sort of critical to accelerating their growth as writers."

Although analysis of the Stanford study is still at an early stage, other scholars say they would like to start similar studies. At the University of California, several writing researchers say they are trying to get financial support for a longitudinal study of 300 stu- dents on the campuses in Irvine, Santa Barbara, and Davis.

Why doeø it have to be'biþheilor"? lôn't ít poøøible that thereb a míàdle grounà?

Gnbill crítícízes lhe crítîcs, poíntíng out that they have lost eíght of an ¡mportant. øoal: 9tuàents çhoulà be able to wrìte þo

Curricular Implications

The implications of the change in students' writ- ing habits for writing and literature curricula are up for debate. Much of the argument turns on whether online writing should be seen as a welcome new direction or a harmful distraction.

Mr. Grabill, from Michigan State, says college writ- ing instruction should have two goals: to help stu- dents become better academic writers, and to help them become better writers in the outside world. The second, broader goal is often lost, he says, either

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a general, publíc auàience, notiugt aoaâemíc reaàerø (pans.24-30).

Thís øeemç rather ânecàotal.

But àoes thíø occur-avoíàing a "ñre wall"?

One critic conaeàea that wríiíng în electroníc meàía aan help øtru4glíng wríterç, but he aløo

KELLER I WHETHER THE INTERNET MAKES STUDENTS BETTER WRITERS 163

because it is seen as not the college's responsibility, or

because it seems unnecessary. "The unstated assumption there is that if you can 2s

write a good essay for your literature professo¡ you

can write anything," Mr. Grabill says. "That's utter nonsense."

The writing done outside of class is, in some ways, 26 the opposite of a traditional academic paper, he says'

Much out-of-class writing, he says, is for a broad audience instead of a single professo4 tries to solve real-world problems rather than accomplish aca- demic goals, and resembles a conversation more than

an argument. Rather than being seen as an impoverished, sec- 27

ondary form, online writing should be seen as "the

new normal," he says, and treated in the curriculum as such: "The writing that students do in their lives is

a tremendous resource." Ms. Yancey, at Florida State, says out-of-class writ- 28

ing can be used in a classroom setting to help students

draw connections among disparate 6pes of writing'

fn one exercise she uses, students are asked to trace the spread of a claim from an academic journal to less

prestigious forms of media, like magazines and news-

papers, in order to see how arguments are diluted' In anotheç students are asked to pursue the answer to

a research question using only blogs, and to create a

map showing how they know if certain information is

trustworlhy or not. The idea, she says, is to avoid creating a "fire wall" 29

between in-class and out-of-class writing. "If we dont invite students to figure out the lessons 30

they've learned from that writing outside of school and bring those inside of school, what will happen is

only the very bright students" will do it themselves, Ms. Yancey says. "It's-the rest of the population that

we're worried about." Writing in electronic media probably does benefit 31

struggling students in a rudimentary way, says Emo-

ry's Mr. Bauerlein, because they are at least forced to string sentences together: "For those kids who

164 CHAPTER z I FRoM suMMARy To syNTHEsts

warng thaþ eàuôa- tors shoulà temper their enthusíaøm for blo1gínq anà oþher onlîne wrítínø (pana.32-55).

wouldnt be writing any words anyway, that's going to improve their very lowlevel skills."

But he spends more of his time correcting, not integrating, the writing habits that students pick up outside of class. The students in his English courses often turn in papers that are "stylistically impover- ished," and the Internet is partly to blame, he says. Writing for one's peers online, he says, encourages the kind of quick, unfocused thought that results in a scarcity of coherent sentences and a limited vocabu- lury.

"When you are writing so much to your peers, you're writing to other l7-year-olds, so your vocabu- lary is going to be the conventional vocabulary of the 17-year-old idiom," Mr. Bauerlein says.

Students must be taught to home in on the words they write and to resist the tendency to move quickly from sentence to sentence, he says. Writing scholars, too, should temper their enthusiasm for new tech- nologies before they have fully understood the impli- cations, he says. Claims that new forms of writing should take a greater prominence in the curriculum, he says, are premature.

"The sweeping nature of their pronouncements to me is either grandiose or flatulent, or you could say that this is a little iresponsible to be pushing for practices so hard that are so new," Mr. Bauerlein says. "We dont know what the implications of these things will be. Slow downl?"

Hao he stuàíeà thi6?

Anoìher øcholar reaffrrms a frnà- inq in the Stan- forà stuày: that eleatronic meäía represent a cultural qhífþ that. e¿uca- tor6 mu6t learn to acaept an¿ aàapt to.

Really, people are not shapeà W what they reaà?

Deborah Brandt, a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who studies the recent history of reading and writing, says the growth of writing online should be seen as part of a broader cultural shift toward mass authorship. Some of the resistance to a more writing-centered curriculum, she says, is based on the view that writing without read- ing can be dangerous because students will be un- tethered to previous thought, and reading levels will decline.

But that view she says, is "being challenged by the literacy of young people, which is being developed

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KELLER I WHETHER THE INTERNET MAKES STUDENTS BETTER WRITERS 165

primarily by their writing. They're going to be read- ing, but they're going to be reading to write, and not to be shaped by what they read."

r Moke Connections Among Different Texfs The texts by Thompson, Haven, and Keller all deal with the emergence of new electronic media and their effects on students' development as writers. These texts are very much in conversation with one anothe4 as each author focuses on what research tells us are the beneflts of the new

media and the potential ways that electronic media can limit young writ- ers'growth:

. Thompson uses the Stanford study to emphasize the ways that students' participation on blogs and the like helps students learn to adapt their writing for specific audiences and to write fairly complex texts to affect the ways readers think and act.

. Haven provides a more elaborate analysis of the Stanford study to argue that we are witnessing a revolution in literacy, the likes of which we have

not experienced since the development of classical rhetoric'

. Keller offers converging pieces of evidence to support the flndings from the Stanford study that Thompson and Haven discuss, but addition- ally he provid.es a more detailed counterargument that is also based on research.

All three authors seem to agree that the introduction of new electronic media has contributed to a paradigm shift in the uses of writing-to cre- ate agency and community-but they seem to vary in the concessions they make to counterarguments.

Notice how our annotations call out connections. "Keller uses the same student example as Haven to make the same point about college writ- ing assignments." "Keller adds the voices of scholars of writing to com- mãnt on the value of new media." "Unlike Thompson and Haven, Keller provides the counterarguments of scholars who dispute the findings of the

Stanford study." With these annotations, we are starting to think critically about the

ideas in the essays. Notice, howeve4 that rtot all of the annotations make

connections. Some note examples that support the argument that elec- tronic media benefit writers, while others point to examples that provide

compelling evidence for the counterargument. Still other annotations raise

questions àbout the basis on which researchers and teachers reached their

conclusions. In the end, you should not expect that every annotation will contribute to your synthesis. Instead, use them to record your responses and also to spur your thinking.

166 CHAeTER z I FRoM suMMARy To syNTHEsts

r Decide Whof Those Connections Meon Having annotated the selections, we filled out the worksheet inEigure 7.2, making notes in the grid to help us see the three texts in relation to one another. Our worksheet included columns for ¡ author and source information . the gist of each author's arguments . supporting examples and illustrations o counterarguments . our own thoughts A worksheet like this one can help you concentrate on similarities and differences in the texts to determine what the connections among texts mean. (You can download a template for this worksheet at bedfordstmartins .com/frominquiry.) of course, you can design your own worksheet as well, tailoring it to your needs and preferences. If you want to take very detailed notes about your authors and sources, for example, you may want to have separate columns for each.

once you start making connections, including points of agreement and disagreement, you can start identifiiing counterarguments in the read- ing-for example, Keller quotes a scholar who cites a national study, the National Assessment of Education Progress, to dampen enthusiasm for the claims that Thompson and Haven give so much attention to. Identify- ing counterarguments gives you a sense of what is at issue for each author. And determining what authors think in relation to one another can help you realize what is at issue for you. Suppose you are struck by Haven,s implicit argument that a revolution in literacy is occurring and that insti- tutions of higher education, not students, need to respond to changes in the nature of literacy and communication. But you also recognize in Keller's analysis that questions persist about studies conducted to assess the development of students' growth and development as writers. How persuasive are the studies conducted at stanford, Michigan state, and George Mason? what do we really know? And how can we further test the claims experts make about electronic media and paradigm shifts? Turning these ideas and questions over in your mind, you may be able to decide on a topic you want to explore and develop.

r Formulote the Gist of Whot You've Reod Remember that your gist should bring into focus the relationship among different ideas in multiple texts. Looking at the informarion juxtaposed on the worksheet, you can begin to construct the gist of your synthesis: . clive Thompson cites research conducted at Stanford to chailenge pre-

vailing arguments about electronic media's effects on students'literacy.

WRITING A SYNTHESIS 167

Cou¡,¡rnn¡ncuu¡,Nrs Wn¡r I Tsrrvx Aut¡¡on ¡No Souncr

Clive Thompson, "On the New Literacy," Wired (200e)

Cynthia Haven, "The New Lit- eracy: Stanford Study Finds Richness and Complexity in Students'Writ- ing," Stanford Report (2009)

Josh Kelle4 "Studies Explore Whether the Internet Makes students Better Writers," Chronicle of Higher Education (200e)

Grsr or Ancuuerut

Research chal- lenges prevail- ing arguments about electronic media's effects on students' iiteracy, suggest- ing they may be more literate than in the past.

A study indicates a possible revo- lution in literacv. Using online social networks to create change, students now write more, more persuasiveiy, and more adaptively than ever before.

Two studies suggest that elec- tronic media, in giving students more opportuni- ties to write and honing their sense of audi- ence, have made them better writ- ers than previous generations. But an emerging body of evidence challenges these recent claims, which force educators to con- sider what they consider good writing.

ExrnrprEs/ ILLusrn¡trorrts

The Stanford study, wirh its sample of more than 14,000 pieces of writing and random- ized sample of student partici- pants. One câse example.

Stanford study and case example of one student.

Studies at Stan- ford, Michigan State, and George Mason. Expert opinion from faculty at Florida State and the Universitv of Wisconsin.

Student writing is full of "texting- speak."

Students who spend most of their time writing on electronic networks do not attend to the technical aspects of communication and have a limited sense of their audience.

The Stanford study is persua- sive, especially given the size of the study. Not much counter- evidence.

This is a more thorough review of the Stanford study. It empha- sizes how much more meaning- ful writing is outside of the classroom.

Critics like Profes- sor Bauerlein at Emory University argue that literacy is not progressing steadily, as some have observed, at least not based on standardized tests. He suggests that writing solely to one's peers online encourages spon- taneous but unfo- cused thought and a limited vocabulary.

The three stud- ies together are quite powerful. I am not sure that standardized tests developed a generation ago are the best way to measure increases in literacy. And Bauerlein relies on anecdotal evi- dence to make his argument: thãt writing in electronic media Iimits think- ing or wdting quality. I should check if any studies exist to support Baeurlein.

FIGURE 7.2 Worksheet forWriting a Synthesis

1ó8 CHAPTER 7 I FRoM SUMMARY To SYNTHESIS

Indeed, despite pundits'complaints, students may be more literate than in the past.

. Cynthia Haven also analyzes the Stanford study, which indicates that we may very well be experiencing a revolution in literacy. Students use electronic media to sustain social networks and create change. As Thompson also points out, students are writing more than ever before and are more adept at applying principles of rhetoric than were students in previous generations. Those in higher education may have to change in order to respond to students' uses of electronic media, not the other way around.

. Josh Keller points to two additional studies of writing to suggest that students are developing literate practices that are more impressive than those of previous generations. This can be attributed to the fact that cur- rent students have more opportunities to write and they know what it means to write for an audience. But he also observes that an emerging body of evidence challenges these recent claims, forcing educators to consider what constitutes good writing.

How do you formulate this information into a gist? You can use a tran- sition word such as although or however to connect ideas that different authors bring together while conveying their differences. Thus, a gist of these essays might read:

GIST OF A SYNTHESIS

Although Clive Thompson and Cynthia Haven suggest that new electronic media have created a paradigm shift in the ways educators think about writ- ing, journalists such as Josh Keller have also cited evidence that dampens enthusiasm for the benefits of writing on blogs without students' having instruction in formaÌ, academic writing.

Having drafted the gist, we returned to our notes on the worksheet to complete the synthesis, presenting examples and using transitions to signal the relationships among the texts and their ideas. Here is our brief synthesis of the three texts:

The gíst of our øynthe- øis. "Although" aígnals that Thompøonb anà Haven'a argumento are qualîñeà.

9pecífrc example of a key píeae of eviàence that has øparkeâ àebate.

Although Clive Thompson and Cynthia Haven suggest that new electronic media have created a paradigm shift in the ways educators think about writing, journalists such as Josh Keller have also cited evidence that dampens enthusiasm for the benefits of writing on blogs without students' hav- ing instruction in formal, academic writing. In particula4 Thompson cites research conducted at Stanford University to challenge prevailing arguments about electronic media's effects on students'literacy. The Stanford study, with its sample of more than 14,000 pieces of writing and random- ized sample of student participants. seems verv oersuasive.

Transitíon: Both Thompaon anà Haven gíve lese aþtentíon to the counþerarqument than they shoulà.

Queetíonâ eet up àíreatíon of whaþ ís to follow.

WRITING A SYNTHESIS 169

Indeed, despite pundits'complaints, students may be more literate than in the past.

Cynthia Haven also analyzes the Stanford study, indi- cating that we may very well be experiencing a revolution in literacy. Students use electronic media to sustain social networks and create change. As Thompson also points out, students are writing more than ever before and are more adept at applying principles of rhetoric than were students in previous generations. Those in higher education may have to change in order to respond to students' uses of electronic media, not the other way around.

Finally, Josh Keller points to two additional studies of writing to suggest that students are developing literate prac- tices that are more impressive than those of previous genera-

tions. This can be attributed to the fact that cuffent students have more opportunities to write and they know what it means to write for an audience. Howeve¡, Kelle¡, more than Thompson and Haven, observes that an emerging body of evidence challenges these recent claims, forcing educators to consider what constitutes good writing. Keller's analysis reveals that questions persist about studies conducted to

assess the development of students'growth and development

as writers. How persuasive are the studies conducted at Stan-

ford, Michigan State, and George Mason? What do we really

know and what do we need to know? Furthel how can we test the claims experts make about electronic media and

paradigm shifts?

Writing a synthesis, like writing a summary is principally a strategy for framing your own argument. In writing a synthesis, you are conveying to your readers how various points of view in a conversation intersect and diverge. The larger point of this exercise is to find your own issue-your own position in the conversation-and make your argument for it.

ll Uake connections between and among different texts. Annotate the texts you are working with, with an eye to comparing them. As you would for a summary, note major points in the texts, choose relevant examples, and formulate the gist of each text.

B Decide what those connections mean. Fill out a worksheet to compare your notes on the different texts, track counterargu- ments, and record your thoughts. Decide what the similarities

Steps to Writing o Synthesis

I7O CHAPTER 7 I FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHESIS

and differences mean to you and what they might mean to your readers.

fl Formulate the gist of what you've read. Identify an overarching idea that brings together the ideas you've noted, and write a syn- thesis that forges connections and makes use of the examples you've noted. Use transitions to signal the direction of your syn- thesis.

A Proctice Sequence: Writing o Synthesis

1 To practice the strategies for slmthesizing that we describe in this chapter, read the following three essays, which focus on the role that electronic media play in conveying information to diverse groups of readers or viewers. As you discuss the strategies the authors use to develop their arguments, consider these questions:

o How would you explain the popularity of blogs, Twitte4 and YouTube?

. What themes have the writers focused on as they have sought to enter the conversation surrounding the use of electronic media?

¡ To what extent do you think the criticisms of new media pre- sented by the authors are legitimate?

. Do blogs, Twitter, and YouTube pose a threat to traditional journalism?

¡ Do you think that blogs, Twittet and YouTube add anything to print journalism? If so, what?

2 To stimulate a conversation, or a debate, we suggest that you break up into four different groups:

Group -1.' Print journalism

Group 2; Blogs

Group 3; Twitter

Group 4; YouTube

Students in each group should prepare an argument indicating the strengths and limitations of the particular mode of communi- cation that they represent. In preparing the argument, be sure to acknowledge what other modes of communication might add to the ways we learn about news and opinions. One student from each group will present this argument to the other groups.

KENNEDY I eoLmcALaLoos l7l

3 Based on the discussion you have had in exercise 1 and/or exercise 2, write a s¡mthesis of the three essays using the steps we have out-

lined in this chaPter:

. Summarize each essaY.

.Explainthewaysinwhichtheauthors,argumentsaresimilar or àifferent, using examples and illustrations to demonstrate

the similarities and differences'

r Formulate an overall gist that synthesizes the points each author makes.

DANKENNEDY

Political Blogs: Teaching Us Lessons About CommunitY

Dan Kennedy, an assistant professor of journalism at Northeastern uni-

l*rrù, *tl"í on media issues for The Guardian and for CommonWealth *.gu;n". His blog, Media Nation, is online at medianation'blogspot'com'

tTrhe rise of blogging as both a supplement and a challenge to tradi-

I tional ¡ournaùsm has coincided with an explosion of opinion mon- g;.ir,g. Blågs-and the role they play in how Americans consume and

I"rpo"rra tolnformation-are incieasingly visible during our political

,"uron, when our ideological divide is most apparent' From nakedly

partisan sites such as oaiþ Kos on the left and Little Green Footballs tn th" right, to more nuanced but nevertheless ideological enterprises such as Talking Points Memo, it sometimes seems there is no room in

blogworld for straight, neutral journalism'

The usual reasons given foi this are that reporting is difficult and

"rp.^i'rr" and that fe',Jbloggers know how to research a story develop

and interview sources, andãsemble the pieces into a coherent' factual

narrative. Far easie4 so this line of thinking goes, for bloggers to sit in

their pt;amas and blast their semi-informed opinions out to the rlorld'

fnerå is some truth to this, although embracing this view wholeheart-

edly requires us to overlook the many journalists who are now writing

blogr, t, well as the many bloggers who are producing journalism to u gI"u,", or lesser degree.-But wã make a-mistake when we look

at the

op"irriorr-oriented natr-ie of blogs and ask whether bloggers are capable of

bàing ..objective,,, to use a hoary and now all but meaningless word. The

ù.*å qrrË*ion to ask is why opinion-oriented blogs are so popular-and

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172 CHAPTER 7 | FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHESIS

what lessons the traditional media can learn from them without giving up their journalistic souls.

Perhaps what's happening is that the best and more popular blogs pro-

vide a sense of community that used to be the lifeblood of traditional news organizations and, especially, of newspapers. Recentþ I reread part

of Jay Rosen's book, What Are Journalists For?,his 1999 postmorlem on the public journalism movement. What struck me was Rosen's descrip- tion of public journaÌism's origins, which were grounded in an attempt to

recreate a sense of community so that people might discover a reason to

read newspapers. "Eventually I came to the conclusion . . . that journal- ism's purpose was to see the public into fuller existence," Rosen writes. "Informing people followed that."

Rosen's thesis-that iournalism could only be revived by reawakening the civic impulse-is paralleled by Robert Putnam's 2000 book, Bowling Alone, in which he found that people who sign petitions, attend public meetings, and participate in religious and social organizations are more

likely to be newspaper r-eaders than those who do not. "Newspaper read-

ers are olderl more educated, and more rooted in their communities than

is the average American," Putnam writes' Unfortunately for the newspaper business, the traditional idea of com-

munity, based mainly on geography, remains as moribund today as it was when Rosen and Putnam were analyzing its pathologies. But if old-fashioned communities are on the decline, the human impulse to form communities is not. And the Internet, as it turns out, is an ideal medium for fostering a new tlpe of community in which people have never met, and may not even know each other's real names, but share certain views and opinions about the way the world works. It's inter- esting that Rosen has become a leading exponent of journalism tied to these communities, both through his PressThink blog and through NewAssignment.net, which fosters collaborations between professional and citizen iournalists.

Attitude First, Facts Second

This trend toward online community-building has given us a mediascape in which many people-especially those most interested in politics and public affairs-want the news delivered to them in the context of their àttitudes and beliefs. That doesnt mean they want to be fed a diet of self-

reinforcing agit-prop (although some do). It does mean they see their news consumption as something that takes place within their commu- nity, to be frt into a pre-existing framework of ideas that may be chal- lenged but that must be acknowledged.

4

Earlier this year John Lloyd, a contributing editor for the Financial

Times, talked about the decline of just-the-facts journalism on open

Sorr"'", a Web-based radio program hosted by the veteran journalist

christopher Lydon. It has become increasingly difficult, Lloyd said, to report fàcts thàt are not tied to an ideological point of view The emerging

pu*aigr.r, he explained, may be "that you can only get facts through by

ãttu"lrirrg them to a very strong left-wing, right-wing, Christian, atheist

positionlOdy then, only if you establish your bona fides within this par-

ti"ula. communify, will they be open to facts'" No less a blogging enthusiast than Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily

Kos, has obr".u"d thut politi.^l blogs are a nonentity in Britain, where

the newspapers themselves cater to a wide range of different opinions' .,you look ai the media in Britain, it's vibrant and it's exciting and it's fun,

because they,re all ideologically tinged," Moulitsas said at an appearalìce

in Boston last fall. "end that's a good thing, because people buy them and

und.erstand that their viewpoints are going to be represented'"

The notion that journalism must be tied to an ideological community

may seem disheartening to traditionalists' In practice, though' journal-

ism based on communities of shared interests and beliefs can be every bit

as valuable as the old model of objectiviry if approached with rigor and

respect for the truth. iast year, for instance, Talking Points Memo (TPM) and its related

blogs hetped break the story of how the u.S. Department of Justice had

fi.ed eigft U.S. attorneys for what appeared to be politically motivated

."uro.r.l a scandal that ied to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto

Gonzales. TPM'S reporting was based in part on information dug up and

passed along by its tiUerãl readership. The founder and editor Joshua

ivticah MarsÈail, received a George Polk Award, but it belonged as much

to the community he had assembled as it did to him personally.

of course, we still need neutral, non-opinionated journalism to help us

make sense of the world around us. TPM's coverage of the U.S' attorneys

scandal was outstanding, but it was also dismissive of arguments that it was much ado about .rothlr,g, or that previous administrations had done

the same or worse. Liberals or conservatives who get all of their news

from ideologically friendly sources dont have much incentive to change

their minds.

KENNEDY I POLITICALBLOGS 173

Connecting to Communities of Shared Interests

Even news outlets that excel at traditional, "objective" journalism do so

within the context of a community. Some might not find liberal bias in

the news pages of t]ne Nøu York Tìmes, as the paper's conservative critics

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174 CHAPTER Z I FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHES|S

would contend, but there's little doubt that the Times serves a community of well educated, affluent, culturally liberal readers whose preferences and tastes must be taken into account. Not to be a journalistic relativist, but all news needs to be evaluated within the context in which it was pro- duced, even an old-fashioned, inverted-pyramid-style dispatch from the wires. Who was interviewed? Who wasn't? Why? These are questions that must be asked regardless of the source.

We might now be coming full circle as placeblogs-chatty, conver- sational blogs that serve a particular geographic community-become more prevalent. Lisa Williams, founder of H2otown, a blog that serves her community of Watertown, Massachusetts, believes that such fomms could help foster the sense of community that is a necessary precon- dition to newspaper readership. williams also runs a project called Placeblogger.com, which tracks local blogs around the world.

"The news creates a shared pool of stories that gives us a way to talk to people who arent family or close füends or people who we will never meet-in short, our fellow citizens," Williams says by e-mail. "The truth is, people still want those neighbor-to-neighbor contacts, but the tradi- tional ways of doing it dont fit into the lives that people are actually living today. Your core audience is tired, sitting on the couch with their laptop, and watching /^osf with one eye. Give them someone to sit with."

critics of blogs have been looking at the wrong thing. while tradition- alists disparage bloggers for their indulgence of opinion and hyperbole, they overlook the sense of community and conversation that blogs have fostered around the news. What bloggers do well, and what news organi- zations do poorly or not at all, is give their readers someone to sit with. News consumers-the public, citizens, us-still want the trrth. But we also want to share it and talk about it with our like-minded neighbors and friends. The challenge for journalism is not that we'll lose our objectivity; it's that we wont find a way to rebuild a sense of community.

JOHN DICKERSON

Don't Fear Twitter

11

t5

16

John Dickerson is slate magazine's chief political correspondent and a political analyst for cBS News. Before joining slate, Dickerson covered politics for Time

''.'agazine, including four years as the magazine,s White

House correspondent. Dickerson has also written for the New york Times and washington Post and is a regular panelist on washington week in Ret,iew. This essay first appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of Nieman Reports.

DTCKERSON I OON',r FEARTWTTTER 175

Jf I were cleverer, this piece on Twitter and journalism would fit in I ITwitter's l4O-character limitation. The beauty of Twitter when prop- erþ used-by both the reader and the writer-is that everyone knows what it is. No reader expects more from Twitter than it offers, and no one writing tries to shove more than necessary into a Twitter entry which is sometimes called a Tweet, but not by me, thank you.

Not many people know what Twitter is, though, so I'm going to go on 2 for a tew hundred words. Twitter is a Web site that allows you to share your thoughts instantly and on any topic with other people in the Twit- ter network as long as you do so in tight little entries of 140 characters or less. If you're wondering how much you can write with that space limita- tion, this sentence that you're reading right now hits that mark perfectly.

For some, journalism is already getting smaller. Newspapers are 3 shrinking. Serious news is being pushed aside in favor of entertainment and fluff stories. To many journalists and guardians of the trade, the idea that any journalist would willingly embrace a smaller space is horrifiring and dumb. One journalism professor drew himself up to his full height and denounced Twitter journalism-or microjournalism, as someone unfortunately called it-as the ultimate absurd reduction of journal- ism. (I think he may have dislodged his monocle, he was waving his quill pen so violently.) Venerable CBS newsman Roger Mudd had a far lighter touch when he joked to me that he could barely say the word "texting" when he and I were talking about the idea of delivering a couple of sen- tences and calling it journalism.

We can all agree that journalism shouldnt get any smalle4 but Twitter 4 doesnt threaten the traditions of our craft. It adds, rather than subtracts, from what we do.

As I spend nearly all of my time on the road these days reporting on the s presidential campaigns, Twitter is the perfect place for all of those asides I've scribbled in the hundreds of notebooks I have in my garage from the campaigns and stories Iïe covered over the years. Inside each of those notebooks are little pieces of color Ive picked up along the way. Some- times these snippets are too off-topic or too inconsequential to work into a story. Sometimes they are the little notions or sideways thoughts that become the lead of a piece or the kicker. AII of them now have found a home on Twitter.

As journalists we take people places they cant go. Twitter offers a little 6 snapshot way to do this. It's informal and approachable and great for con- veying a little moment from an event. Here's an entry from a McCain rally during the Republican primaries: "Weare, NH: Audience man to McCain: 'I heard that Hershey is moving plants to Mexico and I'lI be damned if I'm going to eat Mexican chocolate."' In Scranton covering Barack Obama I sent this: "Obama:'What's John McCain's problem?'Audience member: 'He's too old.' Obama: 'No, no that's not the problem. There are a lot of

176 CHAPTERZ I FRoMsuMMARyTosyNTHEsts

wise people. . . ."' With so many Democrats making an issue of McCain's age, here was the candidate in the moment seeming to suggest that cri- tique was unfair.

Occasionally, just occasionally, reporters can convey a piece of news that frts into 140 characters without context. If Twitter had been around when the planes hit the World Tiade Centeç it would have been a perfect way for anyone who witnessed it to convey at that moment what they'd seen or heard. With Twitteq we can also pull back the curtain on our lives a little and show readers what it'.s like to cover a campaign. ("Wanna be a reporter? On long bus rides learn to sleep in your own hand.")

The risk for journalism, of course, is that people spend all day Twit- tering and reading other people's Twitter entries and dont engage with the news in any other way. This seems a pretty small worry. If written the right way, Twitter entries build a community of readers who find their way to longer articles because they are lured by these moment-by- moment observations. As a reade{, Ive found that I'm exposed to a wider variety of news because I read articles suggested to me by the wide vari- ety of people I follow on Twitter. I'm also exposed to some keen political observers and sharp writers who have never practiced journalism.

Twitter is not the next great thing in journalism. No one should try to make Twitter do more than it can and no reader should expect too much from a l40-character entry. As for the critics, their worries about Twitter and journalism seem like the kind of obtuse behavior that would make a perfect observational Twitter entry: "A man at the front of the restaurant is screaming at a waiter and gesticulating wildly. The snacks on the bar arent a four-course meal!"

STEVE GROVE

YouTube: The Flattening of Politics

Steve Grove directs all news, political programming, and citizen journal- ism for YouTube. He has been quoted as saying that he regards himself less as an editor than as a curator of the Web site's "chaotic sea of content." A native of Northfield, Minnesota, he worked as a journalist at the Boston Globe andABC News before moving to YouTube.

Eot a little over a year; I've served as YouTube's news and political I director-perhaps a perplexing title in the eyes of many journalists. Such wonderrnent might be expected since YouTube gained its early notoriety as a place with videos of dogs on skateboards or kids falling off of trampolines. But these days, in the 10 hours of video uploaded to

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GROVE I YOUTUBE: THE FIATTENING OF POLITICS 177

YouTube every minute of every day (yes-every minute of every day), an increasing amount of the content is news and political video. And with YouTube's global reach and ease of use, it's changing the way that politics- and its coverage-is happening.

Each of the 16 one-time presidential candidates had YouTube chan- nels; seven announced their candidacies on YouTube. Their staffs uploaded thousands of videos that were viewed tens of millions of times. By earþ March of this year, the Obama campaign was uploading two to three videos to YouTube every day. And thousands of advocacy groups and nonprofit organizations use YouTube to get their election messages into the conversation. For us, the most exciting aspect is that ordinary people continue to use YouTube to distribute their own political content;

these range from "gotcha" videos theyve taken at campaign rallies to questions for the candidates, from homemade political commercials to video mash-ups of mainstream media coverage.

what this means is that average citizens are able to fuel a new meri- tocracy for political coverage, one unburdened by the gatekeeping "mid-

dleman." Another way of putting it is that YouTube is now the world's largest town hall for political discussion, where voters connect with can- didates-and the news media-in ways that were never before possible.

In this new media environment, politics is no longer bound by tra- ditional barriers of time and space. It doesnt matter what time it is, or where someone is located-as long as they have the means to connect through the Web, they can engage in the discussion. This was highlighted in a pair of presidential debates we produced with CNN during this elec- tion cycle during which voters asked questions of the candidates via You-

Tube videos they'd submitted online. In many ways, those events simply brought to the attention of a wider audience the sorl of exchanges that

take place on YouTìrbe all the time. . . .

News Organizations and YouTube

Just because candidates and voters find all sorts of ways to connect clirectly on YouTübe does not mean there isn't room for the mainstream media, too. In fact, many news organizations have launched YouTube channels, including the Associ'ated Press, tLIe New York Times, the BBC,

CBS, and theWøl| Street Journal. why would a mainstream media company upload their news content

to YouTübe? Simply put, it's where eyeballs are going. Research from the Pew

Internet & American Life project found that 37 percent of adult Internet

users have watched online video news, and well over half of online adults

have used the Internet to watch údeo of any kind. Each day on YouTube

hundreds of millions of videos are viewed at the same time that televi-

sion viewership is decreasing in many markets. If a mainstream news

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178 CHAPTER Z I FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHESIS

organization wants its political reporting seen, YouTube offers visibility without a cost. The ones that have been doing this for a while rely on a strategy of building audiences on YouTube and then trying to drive view- ers back to their Web sites for a deeper dive into the content. And these organizations can ear¡ revenue as well by running ads against their video content on YouTube.

In many ways, YouTube's news ecosystem has the potential to offer 8 much more to a traditional media outlet. Here are some examples:

1. Interactivity: YouTube provides an automatic focus group for news content. How? YouTube wasnt built as merely a "series of tubes" to distribute online video. It is also an interactive platform- Users comment on, reply to, rank, and share videos with one another and form communities around content that they like. If news organiza- tions want to see how a particular piece of content will resonate with audiences, they have an automatic focus group waiting on YouTübe. And that focus group isnt just young people: 20 percent of YouTube users are over age 55-which is the same percentage that is under 18. This means the YouTube audience roughly mirrors the national population.

2. Partnerwith Audiences: YouTube provides news media orgarttza- tions new ways to engage with audiences and involve them in the programming. Modeled on the presidential debates we cohosted last yea4 YouTube has created similar partnerships, such as one with the BBC around the mayoral election in London and with a large public broadcaster in Spain for their recent presidential elec- tion. Also on the campaign trail, we worked along with Hearst affiliate WMUR-TV in New Hampshire to solicit videos from vot- ers during that primary. Hundreds of videos flooded in from across the state. The best were broadcast on that TV station, which high- lighted this symbiotic relationship: On the Web, online video bubbles the more interesting content to the top and then TV ampli- fies it on a new scale. We did similar affangements with news orga- nizations in lowa, Pennsylvania, and on Super Tuesday, as news organizations leveraged the power of voter-generated content. What the news organizations discover is that they gain audience share by offering a level of audience engagement-with opportunities for active as well as passive experiences'

For news media organizations, audience engagement is much easier s to achieve by using platforms like YouTübe than it is to do on their own. And we just made it easier: Our open API (application programming interface), nicknamed "YouTube Everywhere"-just launched a few months ago-allows other companies to integrate our upload function- ality into their online platforms. It's like having a mini YouTube on yogr

GROVE I YOUTUBE: THE FIATTENING OF POTITICS I79

Web site and, once it's there, news organizations can encourage-and publish-video responses and comments on the reporting they do.

Finally, reporters use YouTube as source material for their stories. With hundreds of thousands of video cameras in use today, there is a much greater chance than ever before that events will be captured-by some- one-as they unfold. No need for driving the satellite truck to the scene if someone is already there and sending in video of the event via their cell phone. It's at such intersections of new and old media that YouTube dem-

onstrates its value. It could be argued, in fact, that the YouTube platform is the new frontier in newsgathering. On the election trail, virtually every

appearance by every candidate is captured on video-by someone-and that means the issues being talked about are covered more robustþ by more people who can steer the public discussion in new ways. The phe- nomenon is, of course, global, as we witnessed last fall in Burma (Myan-

mar) after the government shut down news media outlets during waves

of civic protests. In time, YouTube was the only way to track the violence

being exercised by the government on monks who'd taken to the streets. Videos of this were seen worldwide on YouTube, creating global aware- ness of this situation-even in the absence of journalists on the scene.

Citizen journalism on YouTübe-and other Internet sources-is often criticized because it is produced by amateurs and therefore lacks a degree of trustworthiness. Critics add that because platforms like YouTube are fragmenting today's media environment, traditional news- rooms are being depleted of journalists, and thus the denominator for quality news coverage is getting lower and lower. I share this concern about what is happening in the news media today, but I think there are a couple of things worth remembering when it comes to news content on YouTube.

Trusting What We See

When it comes to determining the trustworthiness of news content on YouTube, it's important to have some context. People tend to know what

they're getting on YouTube, since content is clearly labeled by username

as to where it originated. A viewer knows if the video they're watching is coming from 'ietþean1o9" or "thenewyorktimes." Users also know that YouTube is an open platform and thãt no one verifies the truth of content better than the consumer. The wisdom of the crowd on YouTube

is far more likely to pick apart a shoddy piece of 'iournalism" than it is to elevate something that is simply untrue. In fact, because video is ubiqui tous and so much more revealing and compelling than text, YouTube can

provide a critical fact-checking platform in today's media environment. And in some ways, it offers a backstop for accuracy since a journalist

t0

11

12

180 CHAeTER z I FRoM suMMARy To syNTHEsts

cant afford to get the story wrong; if they do, it's likely that someone else who was there got it right-and posted it to YouTube.

Scrutiny cuts both ways. Journalists are needed today for the work they do as much as they ever have been. While the wisdom of crowds might provide a new form of fact checking, and the ubiquity of technol- ogy might provide a more robust view of the news, citizens desperately need the Fourth Estate to provide depth, context, and analysis that only comes with experience and the sharpening of the craft. Without the work of journalists, the citizens-the electorate-lose a critical voice in the process of civic decision-making.

This is the media ecosystem in which we live in this election cycle. Candidates and voters speak directly to one anothe¡ unfiltered. News organizations use the Internet to connect with and leverage audiences in new ways. Activists, issue groups, campaigns, and voters all advocate foç learn about, and discuss issues on the same level platform. YouTübe has become a major force in this new media environment by offering new opportunities and new challenges. For those who have embraced them-and their numbers grow rapidly every day-the opportunity to influence the discussion is great. For those who havent, they ignore the opportunity at their own peril.

AVOIDING PTAGIARISM

Whether you paraphrase, summarize, or synthesize, it is essential that you acknowledge your sources. Academic writing requires you to use and document sources appropriately, making clear to readers the boundaries between your words and ideas and those of other writers. Setting boundar- ies can be a challenge because so much of academic writing involves inter- weaving the ideas of others into your own argument. Still, no matter how difficult, you must acknowledge your sources. It's only fair. Imagine how you would feel if you were reading a text and discovered that the writer had incorporated a passage from one of your papers, something you slaved ove4 without giving you credit. You would see yourself as a victim of pla- giarism, and you would be justified in feeling very angry indeed.

In fact, plagiarism-the unacknowledged use of another's work, passed off as one's own-is a most serious breach of academic integrity, and colleges and universities deal with it severely. If you are caught pla- giarizing in your work for a class, you can expect to fail that class and may even be expelled from your college or university. Furthermore, although a failing grade on a paper or in a course, honestly come by, is unlikely to deter an employer from hiring you, the stigma of plagiarism can come back to haunt you when you apply for a job. Any violation of the principles set forth in Table 7.1 could have serious consequences for your academic and professional career.

13

11

AVOIDINGPIAGIARISM T81

TABLE 7.1 Principles Governing Plagiarism 1- Afl written work submitted for any purpose is accepted as your own

means it must not have been written even in part by another person' work. This

2. The wording of any written work you submit is assumed to be your own'-This- ;;;". ;;ñ._r.t ,råt submit workthat has been copied, wholly or partially, from a book, an article, an essay, a newspapel another student's paper or notebook'

or any ãther source. Another writei's phrases, sentences' or paragraphs can be

incluäed only if they are presented aJquotations and the source acknowledged.

3. The ideas expressed in a paper or report are assumed to originate with you' the- *rit".. Writtèn work thafpáraphrasès a source without acknowledgment must not be submitted for credit. Iáeas hom the work of others can be incorporated in

your

work as Starting points, governing issues, illustrations, and the like, but in every

instance the source must be cited.

4.Rememberthatanyonlinematerialsyouusetogatherinformationforapaperare ãlro go'".rr"d by túe rules for avoiding plagiarism. You need to learn to cite elec-

tronic sources as well as printed and other sources'

5. You may correct and revise your writing with the aid of reference books. You also

may discuss your writing with your peers in a writing grouP or with peer tutors at

your campus writing center. Howeveç you may not submit writing that has been

revised substantially by another Person.

Even if you know what plagiarism is and wouldnt think about doing it,

you can stili plagiarize unintentionally' Again, paraphrasing can be espe-

lldly t.i.ky: Attempting to restate a passage without using the original words and sentence structure is, to a certain extent, an invitation to plagia-

rism. If you remember that your paper is your argument' and understand that any paraphrasing, summari zing, ot synthesizing should reflect your

,roi." ,rd- styl,e, you will be less likely to have problems with plagiarism.

Your paper should sound like you' And, again, the surest way to protect

yourself is to cite Your sources.

ll always cite the source. Signal that you are paraphrasing' summa- rizing, or synthesizing by identi$ring your source at the outset - "AccÀrding to James Gunn," "Clive Thompson argues"' "Cynthia

Haven and Josh Keller . . "- point out'" And if possible' indicate

the end of the paraphrase, summary, or synthesis with relevant

page references to the source. If youcite a source several times in

ioí, pup"t, don't assume that your first citation has you covered; acknowledge the source as often as you use it'

B Provide a full citation in your bibliography' It's not engugh to cite a source in your paper; you must also provide a fuIl citation

for every source you use in the list of sources at the end of your

paper.

Steps to Avoiding Plogio n5m

182 CHAPTER 7 I FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHESIS

INTEGRATING QUOTATIONS INTO YOUR WRITING

When you integrate quotations into your writing, bear in mind a piece of advice we've given you about writing the rest of your paper: Take your read- ers by the hand and lead them step-by-step. When you quote other authors to develop your argument-using their words to support your thinking or to address a counterargument-discuss and analyze the words you quote, showing readers how the specific language of each quotation contributes to the larger point you are making in your essay. When you integrate quo- tations, then, there are three basic things you want to do: (1) Take an active stance, (2) explain the quotations, and (3) attach short quotations to your own sentences.

r Toke on Active Stonce Critical reading requires that you adopt an active stance toward what you read-that you raise questions in response to a text. You should be no less active when you are using other authors'texts to develop your own argument.

Taking an active stance when you are quoting means knowing when to quote. Dont quote when a paraphrase or summary will convey the infor- mation from a source more effectively. More important, you have to make fair and wise decisions about what and how much you should quote to make your argument.

. It's not fair (or wise) to quote selectively-choosing only passages that support your argument-when you know you are distorting the argu- ment of the writer you are quoting. You want to show that you under- stand the writer's argument, and you want to make evenhanded use of it in your own argument.

. It's not wise (or fair to yourself) to flesh out your paper with an over- whelming number of quotations that could make readers think that you do not know your topic well or do not have your own ideas. Dont allow quotations to take over your paragraphs. Remember that your ideas and argument-your thesis-are what is most important to the readers and what justifies a quotation's being included at all.

Above all, taking an active stance when you quote means taking con- trol of your writing. You want to establish your own argument and guide your readers through it, allowing sources to contribute to but not dic- tate its direction. You are responsible for plotting and pacing your essay. Always keep in mind that your thesis is the skewer that runs through every paragraph, holding all of the ideas together. When you use quotations, then, you must organize them to enrich, substantiate, illustrate, and help support your central claim or thesis.

INTEGRATING QUOTATIONS INTO YOUR WRITING I83

r Exploin the Quototions When you quote an author to support or advance your argument' make

sure that r"ád.., know exactly what they should learn from the quotation.

Read the excerpt below from one student's earþ draft of an argument

that focuses on the value of service learning in high schools. The student

reviews several relevant studies-but then simply drops in a quotation'

expecting readers to know what they should pay attention to in it'

0ther research emphasizes community servìce as an integral and ìntegrated part

of moral identity. In this understandìng, community service act'ivities are not

isotated events but are woven into the context of students'everyday lives (Yates'

1995); the personal, the moral, and the civìc become "inseparabte" (cotby' Ehrtich'

Beaumont, & Stephens, 2003, p. 15). In their study of minority high schoolers at

an urban cathot'ic school who votunteered at a soup kjtchen for the homeless as

part of a ctass assignment, Youniss and Yates (1999) found that the students under-

went significant identìty changes, coming to perceive themsetves as lifetong activ-

ists. The researchers'findings are worth quoting at Length here because they depict

the dramatic nature ofthe students'changed viewpoints. Youniss and Yates wrote:

Many students abandoned an ìnitiatl.y negative view of hometess peopte and a

disinterestinhomelessnessbygainingappreciationofthehumanityofhome-

less people and by showing concern for homelessness in relation to poverty,

jobtraining,low-costhous'ing,prisonreform,drugandatcohotrehabititation'

careforthementallyil'l.,quatìtyurbaneducation,andwelfarepo['icy.Sev-

eralstudentsalsoalteredperceptionsofthemselvesfrompolitìcallyimpotent

teenagers to involved citizens who now and in the future coutd use their tat-

entandpowertocorrectsocialproblems.Theyprojectedartìculatedpìctures

of themselves as adutt citìzens who could affect housìng policies, education

for minorities, and government programs within a ctear framework of social

justice. (P.362)

Thestudent'sintroductiontothequotedpassageprovidedarationale for quoting Youniss and Yates at length, but it did not help her readers seehowtheresearchrelatedtoherargument'Thestudentneededto frame the quotation for her readers. Instead of introducing the

quotation

by saying "Youniss and Yates wrote," she should have made clear that the

,i.ray r.rfports the argument that community service can create change' A

*orå ^pp.opriate

fraire for the quotatioii might have been a summary like

this one:

Frameø the quota- One partìcular study underscores my argument that service tíone' exPla¡níng ít ¡n can motivate change. particutarLy when that change begins the context ofthe sþu' ' ;;;;;;;;;;;r:. within the students who are involved in service. Youniss and

iates (1999) wrote that over the course of their research' the

184 CHAPTER z I FRoM suMMARy To sYNTHEsts

students devetoped both an "appreciation of the humanity of

homeless peopte" and a sense that they woutd someday be

able to "use their tatent and power to correct social problems"

(p.362).

In the following example, notice that the student writer uses Derrick Bell's text to say something about how the effects of desegregation have been muted by political manipulation." The writer shapes what he wants readers to focus on, leaving nothing to chance.

The effectiveness with which the meaning of Brown v. Board of Education has

been manipulated, Derrick Be[[ argued, is also evidenced by the way ìn which

such thinkìng has actua[[y been embraced by minorìty groups. Be[[ clajmed that

a btack school board membels asking "But of what value is it to teach btack

children to read in atlbLack schoots?" indicates this unthinking acceptance

that whiteness is an essentiaI ingredient to effective schooling for b[acks. Bett

continued:

The assumptìon that even the attaining of academic skitls is worthless

unless those skitls are acquired ìn the presence ofwhite students iltustrates

dramatical"l"y how a [ega[ precedent, namety the Supreme Court's decision in

Brown v. Board of Educotion, has been so constricted even by advocates that

its goa[- equal educational opportunìty - is rendered inaccessjbte, even unwanted, untess it can be obta'ined through racial balancing of the school population. (p.255)

Bet[s argument is extremely competling, partìcu[ar[y when one considers the

extent to which "racial balancing" has come to be defined in terms of large white

majority poputations and smatl nonwhite minority poputations.

Notice that the student's last sentence helps readers understand what the quoted material suggests and why it's important by embedding and extending Bell's notion of racial balancing into his explanation.

In sum, you should always explain the information that you quote so that your readers can see how the quotation relates to your own argument. ("Take your readers by the hand . . .") As you read other people's writing, keep an eye open to the ways writers introduce and explain the sources they use to build their arguments.

r Attoch Short Quototions to Your Sentences The quotations we discussed above are block quotations, lengthy quota- tions of more than five lines that are set off from the text of a paper with

*This quotation is from Derrick Bellt Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Refonrz (New York: Oxford UP, 2005).

INTEGRATING AUOTATIONS INTO YOUR WRITING 185

indention. Make shorter quotations part of your own sentences so that

yourreaderscanunderstandhowthequotationsconnecttoyourargu- ment and can follow utorrg .u,ity' How ão you make a

quotation part of

your own sentences? There are two main methods:

. Integrate quotations within the grammar of your writing'

. Attach quotations with punctuation'

Ifpossible,usebothtomakeyourintegrationofquotationsmoreinterest- ing and varied.

lnlegrale quololions wi¡hin the grommor oÍ o senlenca When you integrate

a quotation into a sentence, the quotation must make grammatical sense

and read as if it is part of the sentence:

Fine,We'iss,andPowell(1998)expandeduponwhatothersca[[,,equa[statuscon-

tact theory,, by using a ,,framework that draws on three traditional'ly independent

literatures-those on community, difference, and democracy" (p'zl).

If you add words to the quotation, use square brackets around them to

Iet reaâers know that the words are not original to the quotation:

SmìthandWellner(2002)assertedthatthey,,arenota[one[inbel.ìeving]thatthe facts have been incorrectty interpreted by Mancini"

(p' 24)'

Ifyouomitanywordsinthemiddleofaquotation,useanellipsis,three f"rioat with spaces between them, to indicate

the omission:

Riquetme argues that "El.'iot tries ' ' ' to provide a definition by negations' which he

also turns into positive terms that are meantto correct misconceptions" (156)'

If you omit a sentence or more, make sure to put a period before the ellip-

sis points:

Eagletonwrites,,,WhatEliotwasinfactassault'ingwasthewholeideologyof middle-classlìberal.ìsm....El.iofsownsolutionisanextremeright-wingauthori-

tarian.ism: men and women must sacrifice theìr petty'personatities' and opinions to

an imPersonal order" (39)'

Whatever you add (using square brackets) or omit (using ellipses)' the sen-

tence must..ta gru;-:utiialiy' end' of course' your additions and omis-

sions must not distort the author's meaning'

At¡och qvolalions wilh punctuolion' You also can attach a quotation to a

sentence by using punctuation' For example' this passage attaches the

run-in quotation with a colon:

Fortheseresearchers,thereneedstoberecognitionofd'ifferencesinawaythat witl'ìncl,udeandaccepta[[students'specificatLy'theyasked:"Wìthinmuttìracial

settings,whenareyoungpeopteinvitedtodiscuss'voìce'critique'andre-viewthe

18ó cHAeTER z I FRoM suMMARy To syNTHEsts

very notions of race that feel so fixed, so hierarchicat, so damaging, and so accepted

in the broader cutture?" (p. 132).

In conclusion, if you dont connect quotations to your argument, your readers may not understand why you've included them. You need to explain a significant point that each quotation reveals as you introduce or end it. This strategy helps readers know what to pay attention to in a quo- tation, particularly if the quotation is lengthy.

A Prqctice Sequence: lntegroting Quototions

I Using several of the sources you are working with in developing your papet try integrating quotations into your essay. Be sure you are controlling your sources. Carefully read the paragraphs where you've used quotations. Will your readers clearly understand why the quotations are there - the

points the quotations support? Do the sentences with quotations read smoothly? Are they grammati- cally correct?

2 Working in a small group, agree on a substantial paragraph or passage (from this book or some other source) to write about. Each member should read the passage and take a position on the ideas, and then draft a page that quotes the passage using both strategies for integrating these quotations. Compare what you've written, examining similarities and differences in the use of quotations.

AN ANNOTATED STUDENT RESEARCHED ARGUMENT: SYNTHESIZING SOURCES

The student who wrote the essay "A Greener Approach to Groceries: Community-Based Agriculture in LaSalle Square" did so in a first-year writing class that gave students the opportunity to do service in the local

I fake an active stance. Your sources should contribute to your argument, not dictate its direction.

B Explain the quotations. Explain what you quote so your readers understand how each quotation relates to your argument.

fl ettach short quotations to your sentences. Integrate short quota- tions within the grammar of your own sentences, or attach them with appropriate punctuation.

Steps to lntegroting Gluototions into Your Writing

AN ANNOTATED STUDENT RESEARCHEDARGUMENT 187

community. For this assignment, students were asked to explore debates

about cornmunity and citizenship in contemporary America^ ald to focus

their research and writing on a social justice-related issue of their choice'

The context of the .orrrrã guided their inquiry as all the students in the

course explored community service as a way to engage meaningfully and

to develop relationships in the community' Wehaveannotatedheressaytoshowthewaysthatshesummarized

and paraphrased research to show the urgency of the problem of food inse-

curiiy that exists around the world and to offer possible solutions. Notice

rrr*,rr" synthesizes her sources, taking an active stance in using what she has read to advance her own argument'

Nancy Pau[

Professor McLaugh[in

Engtish 2102

May 11. 20-

Pau[ L

A Greener APProach to Groceries:

Community-Based Agriculture in LaSa[te Square

In our post-9/11 society, there is incessant concern for

the security of our future. Bitl,ìons of doltars are spent tighten-

'ing borders, instaLlLìng nuctear detectors, and adjudicating safety

measures so that the citìzens of the United States can grow and

prosper without fear. Unfortunatel'y, for some urban poor' the

threat from terrorism is minuscute compared to the cruetty of

their ìmmediate environment. Far from the sands of the Afghan

plains and encapsulated in the midst of inner-cìty deterioration'

many find themsetves in gray-tot deserts devoìd of vegetat'ion

The sþu¿entb theeíe an d rel,iabl"e food sources. Abandoned by corporate supermar-

kets, millions of Americans are maimed by a "food insecurity"-

the nutritional poverty that crippLes them developmentatly'

physical.l"y, and psychologica[[y.

The mìdwestern cìty that surrounds our unìversity has

a food-desert sittìng just west of thefamously lush campus'

Known as LaSa[te Square, it was once home to the lucrative Ben-

dix pl"ant and has featured both a Target and a Kroger supermar-

2

'he calls attentíon

to boih the ¡mme' diacy anà urgencY of lhe problem

ket in recent years. But previous economìc development

decisions have driven both stores to the outskirts of town' and

without a [oca[ supplieç the onty food avaitabte in the neighbor-

hood is prepackaged and sotd at the few sma[[ convenience

stores. This avaitabte food is virtuatl"y devoìd of nutrition and

i i

188 cHApTER z I FRoM suMMARy To syNTHEsts

Pau[ 2

inhibits the abitity of the poor to prosper and thrive. Thus, an aging strip ma[t, industrial site, and approximately three acres of an empty grass lot between the buiLdings anchor - and

_unfortunately defi ne - the neighborhood. White there are multipte ways of providing food to the

destitute, I am proposing a co-op of community gardens built on the grassy space in LaSa[te Square and on smaller sites within the neighborhood, supptemented by extra crops from Michiana farmers, which woutd suppl.y fresh fruit and vegetabtes to be

the proposes a pos- sible aolution.

5he plaaea her aolu- tion in a larger con- texþ to ¡nàiaate ii6 víabilíty.

More context

sotd or distributed to the poor. Together the co-op could meet the nutritionaI needs of the people, provide plenty of nutritious food, not cost South Bend any additionaL money, and contribute to neighborhood revitalization, yietding concrete increases in property values. Far from being a pipe dream, LaSatte Square atready hosted an Urban Garden Market this fa[t, so a co-op woutd simpþ buitd upon the atready recognized need and desire for heatthy food in the area. Similar coalitions around the world are harnessing the power of community to remedy food insecu- rity without the aid of corporate enterprise, and South Bend is perfectly situated to reproduce and possibl.y exceed their successes.

Many, myself previous[y included, beüeve that the large_ votume. cheap industrialization of food and the welfare system have obliterated hunger in the United States. Supermarkets [ike Wa[-Mart and Kroger seem ubiquitous in our communities, and it is difficult to imagine anyone being beyond their influence. However, profit-driven corporate busjness ptans do not mix wetl with low-income, high-crime populations, and the gap between the two is growing wider. This potarization, combined with the vitamin deficiency of our high-fructose corn syrup society, has created food deserts in atready struggLing communities where malnutrition is the enemy inconnu of the urban poor.

LaSalte Square's food insecurity is typicat of many urban areas. The grocery stores that used to serve the neighborhood have retocated to more attractive real estate on the outskirts of the city. and only [oca[ convenience stores, stocking basic neces_

items and tobacco products, remain profitabte. Linda Wotfson. a member of the steering committee for the LaSa[te

1

5

Syntheaizínq helpe ¡llusirate the ertent. ofthe problem and bolster her view that the poor øuffer the moøt from the problem ahe íàenti- fres (Garnett; Brown anà Carter).

Here she para- phraøee finàings.

AN ANNOTATED STUDENT RESEARCHED ARGUMENT 189

Pau[ 3

Square Redevetopment P[an, notes that if the community was fiscatl.y heal,thy, jt woutd be reasonable to expect the inhabi- tants to simpþ drìve the six miles to the strip ma[[ district, but unfortunately many are marginalty employed and do not have

access to cars. For them, it is economica[[y irresponsible to spend the extra money to get to the supermarket, and so they feed thejr families on the cheap soda, chips, and processed food

that are readi[y avaitable at the convenience store. Especiatly since high-calorie, [ow-nutrient, packaged food tends to be denser, urban mothers find that it hetps their children feel futl. (Garnett). Sadty, a health investigation released in 2006 conctuded that by the age of three, more than one-thjrd of urban chitdren are obese, due in large part to the consumption of low-quality food obtained from corner stores (Smith). A

recent analysis of urban stores in Detroit found that on[y 19% offer the healthy food array suggested by the FDA food pyramid

(Brown and Carter 5). The food that is offered contains 25%

[ess nutrient density, and consequentLy. underpriviteged socio-

economic populations consume significantly lower levels of the micronutrients that form the foundation for proper protein and brain development. In a recent study of poor househo[ds, it was found that two-thirds of children were nutritionatþ poor and that more than 25olo of women were deficient in iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin 86, thiamin, and riboftavin (Garnett).0f course. some may challenge the retevance of these vitamins

and nutrients since they are not something the average person

consciously incorporates into his or her diet on a daity basis. Yet modern research, examining the severely homogenous diets of

the poor, has found severe devetopmentaI consequences assoc'i-

ated with the lack of nutritional substance. For those afflicted,

these deficiencies are nöt simply inconvenient, but actuatly

exacerbate their pLight and hinder their progress toward a sus-

tainab[e l"ifestyl"e.

The human body is a comptex system that cannot be sus- tained merely on the simple sugars and processed carbohydrates

that comprise most cheap and fitling foodstuffs. and research shows a retationshìp between nutritional deficiencies and a host

of cognitive and developmental impairments that are prevalent

Again øhe both oum' marízea anà cites a relevant gtuàY to aàvanae her argu' ment.

190 cHAPTER 7 | FRoM SUMMARY To sYNTHEsls

Pau[ 4

in the undernourished families from urban America' Standard-

ized tests of impoverished sibLings, one of whom received nutri-

tìonal supplements and the other who dìd not, showed cognìtìve

gains in the wetl-nourished chiid as wetl as increased motor

skil.Ls and greater ìnterest in socìal ìnteractions when compared

to the other child. In the highLy formatìve toddter years' under-

nutrition can inhibìt the myetination of nerve fibers. wh'ich is

responsible for neurotransmitting and proper brain function'

Cotlaborators Emity Tanner from the Universìty of 0xford and

Matia Finn-Stevenson from YaLe University pubtìshed a compre-

hensive anatysis of the I'ink between nutrition and brain

development in 2002.Their anaLysis, which they Unked to social

potìcy, ìndicated that a shortage of legumes and leafy green

vegetables, whìch are nearty ìmpossìble to find in corner stores'

is the Leadìng cause ofthe iron-deficiency anemia afflictìng25olo

of urban chìl"dren. This extreme form of anemìa is characterized

by impaired neurotransmission, weaker memory. and reduced

attention span (Tanner and Finn-Stevenson 186)' For those who

do not have access to the vitamins, minerals. and micronutrients

found in frujts and vegetabtes, these matadies are not distant

risks, but constant, ìnescapable threats'

In iìght of these severe consequences of undernutrition'

the term "food insecurity" encapsutates the condition wherein

the economicaLty disadvantaged are vutnerabl"e simpty because

their bodìes are unable to receive adequate fuel for optimal

functìoning. Just as one cannot expect a dry, parched ptant to

bloom and poltinate a garden, by constraining the devetopment

of ìndividuats, food ìnsecurity atso constrains the devetopment

of the neighborhoods ìn which the individuats contribute' For

the heal.th of a city and its communities, atl roadblocks to prog-

ress must be removed, and food insecurity must be cut out at its

roots so that individuats have the resources for advancement'

As socialty conscious c'itizens and [oca[ governments

have recognized the prevalence and danger of food insecurity in

inner cities, there have been attempts at a remedy' Obviously'

the easiest sotution is simpiy to introduce a grocery store that

would provìde a variety of quaLity, heaLthfuL foods' However' for

big-box supermarkets driven by the bottom [ine, urban areas are

7

8

AN ANNOTATED STUDENT RESEARCHED ARGUMENT T91

Pau[ 5

less than desirabLe business locates from a standpoint of both

profitabil.ity and maintenance. It is simpty irratìonal for a super-

market to invest in an urban area with less revenue potential,

sìze constraints, an unattractive [oca[e, and an increased threat

of theft and defacement when it is so easy to turn a profit ìn

spacious and peaceful suburbia (Eisenhauer 131). Supermarkets

must have signìficant incentive, beyond humanitarian ends, ìf

they are to take the financiaI risk of entering a poor, urban mar-

ketp[ace.

Certain cities are usìng the power of Tax Ïncrement

Financing (TIF) districts to encourage supermarkets to invest in

urban centers. Under these redevelopment [aws, tax revenues

from retaiI development or other commercial enterprises are

devoted. for a specified number of years, to infrastructural

improvement of the district ("TIF Reform"). Thìs approach has

been effective in enticìng new businesses; in fact, the exterior

growth around South Bend is the resutt of a TIF district estab-

Lished in the Late 1980s. LaSatl"e Square is currentty part of a TIF

district, but there is discussion as to how the TIF monies shoutd

best be appl.ìed (Wotfson). It may be possible to use the power

of the TIF to encourage another large retaìler such as Kroger to

establish a presence in the square, but a smalter enterprise may

be a better option. Experts indicate that for the destitute and

food-insecure, retiance on a corporate entity ìs not optimal'

El.izabeth Eisenhauer, a researcher from the State Unìvers'ity of

New York, investigated the interplay between supermarkets and

the urban poor; she conctuded that large big-box stores lack a

commitment to the commun'ities they serve and can be reüed

on only when it is clear they wiLl" make a profit. which may or

may not happen when TIF benefits expire (131)' Even when a

portìon of proceeds is used in the communìty, the majority of

the cash ftow from a supermarket is going to a corporate head-

quarters elsewhere, not dìrectLy suppõrting the surroundìng

neighborhood. Likewìse, white some employees may be locat'

the highest-sa[ary management positìons are genera[[y gìven

to outsiders. makìng the stores and their emptoyees set apart'

rather than ìntegrated into the neighborhood (Eisenhauer 130)'

CertainLy a supermarket in an urban area wi[[ greatly contribute

9 the takes an actíve stance ín a¡þínø în¡' liatívea that aoulà be applieà more effeclîvely to lhe problem of food inseaurity.

1he paraphnoes a reøearcherb ñnàíngø.

the cíþes a num- ber of examples as evídence to àemon- 6traþe the víabílity of þhe soluþion she offers.

The use of multíple gource6 woulà make her case even stron- øet than usîng just one çource of infor- mat¡on, ¡n this case Erown anà Carten

192 CHAeTER z I FRoM suMMARy To syNTHEsts

Pau[ 6

to the reduction of food insecurity, but it is not the only avail- able option, and the city of South Bend is ripe for atternative solutions. The city is primed for a cooperative effort that couLd shift the paradigm for urban renewal from a quick. corporate sotution, to a long-term enterprise buitt on community contri- butions and under locat contro[.

Around the gtobe, many destitute urban areas have found the means to reverse nutritional poverty through a [iteral and figurative grassroots effort. In an effort to avoid packaged, convenience store food, neighbors in the Bronx, San Francisco, Los Angetes, London, and most successfulty in phitadetphia, have been planting their own crops right in the heart of the city (Brown and Carter 3-4). Truty farming the food desert, coati- tions that [ink community gardens. locaI farmers. and urban markets are providing heatthy, sustainabte food sources without a supermarket. Interestingly, in the process, such coalitions are generating jobs, increasing property vatue, and, in some cases. actuatly reversing the effects of poverty. The city of South Bend, uniquely situated in the breadbasket of the United States, is in the perfect position to launch a "greening" effort, modeted after the successes in other parts of the wortd, which woutd both solve the probtem of food insecurity of LaSail.e Square and invigorate the [oca[ economy.

White modern Americans have the tendency to think that food production shoutd be, and atways has been, industrialized, countries around the world, especiatty economicalty disadvan- taged nations, are exemptilying the possibititjes of [oca[ garden-

ta

1I

ing efforts. Far removed from industrial farms, Cubans grow half their vegetables within the city; vacant land in Russjan cities produces 80% of the nation's vegetables, and specifica[[y in Mosco4 650lo of families contribute to food production. Singa- pore has L0,000 urban farmers, and nearly haif of the residents of Vancouver grow food in their gardens (Brown and Carter 10). These habits are not simply a novetty; rather, populations that garden tend to be heatthieç eating six out ofthe fourteen veg- etabte categories more regularLy than non-gardeners and atso consuming fewer sweet and sugary foods per cap.ita (Brown and Carter L3). These data, compiled by the North American Urban

AN ANNOTATED STUDENT RESEARCHED ARGUMENT I93

Pau[ 7

Agriculture Committee, were synthesized from the Journol of Public Health Polícy and the Journal of Nutition Education and

show the interrelatedness of nutritionaI access and availability

to heatthy personaI choices. Whi[e these trends toward heatth-

ful l"ifestytes and gardening have been gaìnìng ground slowly in the Unjted States, when food insecurity and poverty take thejr

tot[, cities are finding that urban agriculture is an increasingþ

attractjve and profi tab[e atternative.

American communitjes have shown that creativìty and

cotlaboration can be quite effective at reversing food insecurity.

The Garden Project of the Greater Lansing Food Bank has suc-

cessfully combined gardenìng and Midwest access to [oca[ farms

to bring food security to urban residents and senior citizens.

Theìr eighteen community gardens and votunteers provide fresh

fruits and vegetabtes year-round to [ow-income famities, food

1he ayntheaízes pa ntries, the el"derty, and social service organizations. Com- Sources to make her ptetety bypassing the commercial market, the Garden Project has

trained 500 families to grow their own food in backyard ptots

so that they can always have healthy food in the midst of the

city (Brown and Carter 1). The gardens are supplemented by a

process known as "gleaning," in which volunteers harvest extra

crops from [oca[ farmers that woutd otherwjse go to waste, and

detiver it to residents of subsidized housing ("Gteaning"). In 2008 atone, the Garden Project actively involved 2.500 individ-

ual gardeners and was able to provide over 250,000 pounds

of produce from gleaning alone, ptus the yietds of the commu-

nity plots that were used directty by the gardeners ("GLFB

Facts"). This Lansìng coatition serves over 5,000 jndividua[s

per month. yet onþ 4,400 reside under the poverty üne in the

LaSa[te Sq uare area (City- D ata. co m). If h atf of the i n habita nts

loint.

of LaSaLte Square became engaged in the gardening effort, a

similar coltaboration cou[d meet thê needs of the region, and

greater participation coutd yield an excess.

Sjmitar efforts have demonstrated not on[y that inner-

city food production is achjevable but atso that jt can be cost- effective and self-sufficient, unlike a food bank. Frustrated by

the inner-cìty downturn she describes as "an overgrown dog

toi[et." industrious London entrepreneur Julie Brown created a

2

In thiø pan1raph, ahe summarizee research to aààreoø the posgible counter' arøument.

the aqaín cites research þo aààreso the counterargu' menþ,

I94 CHAPTER 7 | FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHESIS

Pau[ 8

community gardening company aimed at providing unmecha-

nized, loca[, sustainabte food. The company. Growing Communi-

ties, uses organic box gardens and small farms to supply more

than 400 homes with weekl"y deliveries of organic fruits and veg-

etables. After a ten-year investment in [oca[ farmers and mìni-

gardens within the city, Growing Communities is now financiatty

independent and generates over $400,000 per year (WiLl'ìs 53).

Compel"Led by both capitaLism and sociaI concern, Brown's

efforts have shown that communìty-supported agricutture not

onl"y is possibte but can be profitable as we[l! Our own commu-

nity agriculture program shoutd not be an entrepreneuriaI

endeavor, but Brown's work in London indicates that it need not

be a financial burden to the cìty either. Ratheç the co-op would

be financia[[y setf-sufficient, with the potential to generate rev-

enues and fiscal growth in the citY.

There are environmentaI factors that make South Bend

an even better place to launch a profitabte community agricut-

ture program than London. Chiefly, South Bend has many more

farms ìn the immediate vicìnity than Ms. Brown could ever have

dreamed of in the U.K. Whil"e Brown was Limited to 25 [oca[ farms

within L00 mites ofthe city, South Bend has over 50 farms within

25 miLes of LaSal"l"e Square (Local Horuest).0ffering a broader

production base creates more potential for profits by decreasing

transportation time and increasing product, thereby making it easier for a coalìtion to become financìally setf-sufficient in a

shorter time frame than Ms. Brown's ten-year ptan.

l4

Urban Phil"adeLphìa has led the way in demonstrating

the profitabitity of community solutions to food insecurity

through an offshoot of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

(PHS) known as Phitadetphia Greens. Since the 1970s' this

coatition has reclaimed parks, ptanted trees, and created com-

munity gardens, both to revitatize the neìghborhood and to

serve the nutritiona[[y and economically poor. Through a process

that pl"ants trees, builds wooden fences, and gardens the more

than 1,000 vacant lots of Phìtadetphia. PHS combines housing

projects and reclaimed space to "green" and reinvìgorate the

neighborhood ("The Effects"). Since LaSa[[e Square ìs essentially

a large empty grassy area at the moment, a communìty agricul

AN ANNOTATED STUDENT RESEARCHED ARGUMENT 195

Pau[ 9

tural co-op should turn this vacant tot and others in the neìgh-

borhood ìnto community gardens, which would work in tandem

with the gleaning from [oca[ farms. Similar to the Phitadel"phia

project, these gardens wou[d simultaneousty yield produce and

improve the appearance of the neighborhood.

One PHS project, jn the New Kensington neighborhood of

north Phitadetphìa, was the subject of a recent socioeconomic

study conducted by the University of Pennsytvania's renowned

Wharton School of Business. In the New Kensington area,

PHS recentty planted 480 new trees. cleaned 145 side yards,

developed 217 vacanl [ots, and estabtished L5 new communìty

gardens. The effort was a model of the cotlaborative strategy

between PHS and the locaI community development corporation,

making it the ideat subject of the Wharton study. The findings, pubtished in 2004, showed significant increases in property va[- ues around the PHS greening projects and were the first step in

quantifying the fiscal returns of neighborhood greening beyond

the quatitatìve benefits of remedying food insecurity. After ana-

tyzing the sales records of thousands of New Kensington homes

between L980 and 2003, the study reported that PHS greenìng

had ted to a $4 million gain in property value from tree plant-

ings atone and a $12 mìllion gain from vacant lot improvements.

Simply greening a vacant lot increased nearby property values

by as much as 30% ("Seeing Green"). WhiLe a supermarket might

modestly improve property vatues for those immediately near

the store, community greening involves multipte plots across an

area, benefiting many more peop[e and properties. The Wharton

study showed that community greenìng wou[d provìde increases

in the vatue of any property near a green space, up to multipte

mittions of dotlars. The New Kensington neìghborhood covers

1.4 square miles, which is approximately the size of LaSa[[e

Square. so while the overatt property vatues are lower simpty

because South Bend is a smatter city, the gains might be propor-

tional (CÌty-Data.com). It is reasonable to betieve that cleaning up LaSa[e Square and ptanting gardens wou[d quantitatively

benefit the fiscal situation of the city and increase assets of the

homeowners whi[e subsequentty improving the quatìty of ['ife

over many acres.

16

1he aummarízes a îtuày anà then pâra- phraaes.

196 CHAeTER z I FRoM suMMARy To syNTHEsts

Pau[ ].0

Certainiy there are challenges to the sort of dynami- cat, community-based sotution that I am proposing. Such an agricutturaI co-op hinges on the particìpation of the people it serves and cannot be successfuI without the dedicated support

of the neighborhood. It could be noted that lower-income eco- nomic groups are less sociatty invotved than their higher-income counterparts, and some might belìeve that they are unlikely to

contribute to, or care about, a greening effort. Yet I betieve that there is a distjnction between potitìcal invotvement and

neighborhood interaction. Middte-ctass Americans are conscious

of gas prices and the fluctuations of the stock market that affect theirjob security and ability to provìde for their famities; yet

the unemptoyed poor without cars must rety on their neighbor-

hoods to eke out a lìving. Their sustenance comes not from a salary, but from odd jobs, wetfare, and the munificence of fate.

The battte to put food on the table is more familiar to the poor

than foreign conflict and is one that they fight every day. There- fore, white the poor are less inctined to vote or worry about gov- ernmental affairs because of the difficuLties associated simpty

with daity living, they are acuteþ aware of their immediate sur-

roundìngs and how those surroundings challenge or contribute

to their success. This position makes them uniquely inclined to 'invest in the betterment of their surroundings since it can have a dramatic effect on their personal lives. The real success of

the sustainable food movement may come from harnessing the power of urban communities that can derive great. immediate, and lasting benefit from neighborhood revitatization.

It has been argued that urban growers, especìatly from lower socioeconomic classes, do not have the expertise or

knowledge base to generate successful yìetds that wi[[ ensure

l7

ln this paragraph, ehe takes an actíve ,tanae ¡n u1ínø reøearah to allevíate fearø that the local community woulà have to start from scratch with Iimited expertiae.

food secu rity. Fortu natety, a g ricu lture is India na's fou rth -targest ìndustry, and the state boasts over 63,000 farms ('A Look"). In addition to the many inhabitants of LaSa[[e Square who have a

background in agrìculture, there is a weatth of knowtedge about proper ptanting methods availab[e from the farmers around the

[oca[ area. Many of these farmers have atready shown a wilting-

ness to help by seltìng or donating their produce to the [oca[ Urban Market. Additionatty. nationaI urban agricutture nonprofit

AN ANNOTATED STUDENT RESEA.RCHED ARGUMENT I97

Pau[ LL

groups, such as Master Gardening and Cooperative Extension,

offer free pubtic education to cities beginning community

agrìculture programs, and some wi[[ even perform on-site train- 'ing (Brown and Carter 16). By harnessing the assets of [oca[,

gratuitous knowledge and supplementing that knowtedge with

national support groups, South Bend has multiple resources

availabte to train and encourage its burgeoning urban farmers.

The economic and nutritionaI gains of the peopte wou[d

onty be heightened by the personat wett-beìng that is born of

interpersonal cotlaboration that crosses racial and sociaI bound-

aries. Such an effort is ambitious; jt witl indeed require the time and talents of many people who care about the heatth of their

community. But the [oca[ community is rìch with the necessary

seeds for such a project, which may, in time, blossom and grow

to feed jts peopte.

Paul 12

Works Cited

Brown, Katherine H.. and Anne Carter. Urban AgicuLture and Com-

munity Food Security in the Uníted States: Farming from the City

Center to the Urban Fringe.Venice, CA: Community Food Security

Coatition, Oct. 2003. PDF fite.

Cíty-Dato.com. Advameg. 2008. Web. 16 Apr. 20-. "The Effects of Neighborhood Greening." PHS. Pennsylvania Horticut-

tural Society, Jan. 2001.. Web. 8 Apr. 20-. Eisenhauer, Elizabeth. "In Poor Health: Supermarket Redlining and

Urban Nutrition." GeoJournal 53.2 (2001):125-33. Print.

Garnett, Tara. "Farming the City." Ecologist 26.6 (1996): 299. Aca-

demic Search Premíer. Web. 8 Apr. 20-. "Gleaning." Greater Lansing Food Bank. Greater Lansing Food Bank,

n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 20-. "GLFB Facts." Greater Lansing Food Bank. Greater Lansing Food Bank,

2005. Web. 15 Apr. 20-.

t9

r98 CHAPTER 7 I FROM SUMMARY TO SYNTHESIS

Pau[ 13

Local Haruest. LocatHarvest, 2008. Web. 15 Apr. 20-. '1 Look at Indiana Agricul.ture." AgicuLture in the Classrooø. USDA-

CSREES, n.d. PDF fite.

"Seeing Green: Study Fìnds Greening Is a Good Investment." PHS.

Pennsylvania HorticutturaI Society, 2005. Web' 8 Apr. 20-. Smith, Stephen. "0besìty Battte Starts Young for Urban Poor." Boston

Globe. NY Times, 29 Dec. 2006. Web. 18 Apr. 20-. Tanner, Emity M., and Matia Fjnn-Stevenson. "Nutrition and Brain

Development: Social" PoLicy Imptications." American Journal of

1tthopsychi otry 7 2.2 (2002): 1'82-93. Academic Seorch Premíer.

Web. 8 Apr. 20-. "TIF Reform." New Rules Proiect. Institute for Local 5e[f-Re[iance'

2008. Web. 15 APr. 20-. WiLl.is, Ben. "Julie Brown of Growing Communities." The Ecologíst

June 2008: 52-55. Print.

Wolfson, Linda. Personal interview. 20 Apr.20-.

From Ethos to Logos Appeoling lo Your Reoders

\ A /ho you believe your readers are influences how you see a particu- VY Ur situation, defin" an issue, explain the ongoing conversation sur- rounding that issue, and formulate a question' You may need to read widely to understand how different writers have dealt with the issue you

address. And you will need to anticipate how others might respond to your

argument-whether they will be sympathetic or antagonistic-and to compose your essay so that readers will "listen" whether or not they agree with you.

io achieve these goals, you will no doubt use reason in the form of evi- dence to sway readers. But you can also use other means of persuasion: That

is, you can use your own characte4 by presenting yourself as someone who

is knowledgeable, fair; and just; and you can appeal to your readers' emo-

tions. Although you may believe that reason alone should provide the means

for changing people's minds, people's emotions also color the way they see

the world. Your audience is more than your immediate reader, your instructor or

a peer. Your audience encompasses those you cite in writing about an issue

und thot" you anticipate responding to your argument' This is true no matter what you writã about, whether it be an interpretation of the novels

of a particulár authot an analysis of the cultural work of horror films, the ethics of treating boys and girls differently in schools, or the moral issues

surrounding homelessness in America. Inthis chapterwe discuss differentways of engagingyourreaders, cen-

tering on threè kinds of appeals: ethos, appeals from character; pathos,

.pp"ál, to emotion; and logos, appeals to reason' Ethos, pathos, andlogos