The Thesis is difficult to master. Go here, for a good exercise.
If time permits, go here
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Writing Process 1
Writing Strategies: Getting Started
Writing is easy. This is the truth. Anyone with five words at his command can slap together a sentence. It may be a grammarless and guttural burp, but it is writing.
Writing well, however, is hard. Unfortunately, it is made even harder when we stop to consider how hard it really is. When we are scared, when we sit there, pen in hand, and consider Shakespeare. And Hemingway. And Fitzgerald. And Tolstoy. And Baldwin... When we think about all the stuff of language—tone, voice, syntax and all the decisions we must make regarding how and in what order to take all the words of the English languages and lay them down on a sheet of paper so that they mean something—we hesitate. We over think it. We stall. We see that brilliant shining essay at the end of the rainbow. We see its perfections, its charming smile and bright eyes. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?
Surely, that can’t come from this pukey thing before us, we think. We seize up. We stop. We wait for inspiration that never comes.
Our problem: Most of us don’t want to start with the ugliness. I won’t lie to you. Writing is hard work. It is walking forty miles only find you have forty more to go. It stings. But my friends, if you want to write a good paper, you have to start here, in the trenches of the mud field where the sloppy first drafts grow.
How do we get out of here? Write To Discover.
Myth: The first draft is the best draft.
Reality: This way of thinking will cause you to stall. If you strive too hard for perfection in your first draft, you will no doubt come up short and you won’t get a very good grade. A better strategy is to sit down and get started knowing full well you will come back to fix and redo part of it later. This relieves the pressure of having to be perfect. It also allows you the freedom to go back and improve your thinking and your writing after you’ve had a shot at it once or twice. Writing is exploring. Your first draft is are the first crunchy footfalls and there’s a white out up ahead.
Myth: You have to have a clear organized outline before you sit down to write.
Reality: While some people are into outlines and fill one out before they ever write a word, it is more helpful to most of us to build some kind of plan, a flow chart of sorts, that helps keep us on topic without restricting our exploratory process. Not knowing exactly how you are going to pull it off shouldn’t be a reason to stop writing.
Myth: Write your introduction first, then your body, then your conclusion.
Reality. Many good writers write their introduction last. We might even change the thesis after they have written out the rest of the paper. Often, we write entire sections of the paper independently from others. The place we start might turn out to be paragraph 28 in your final draft. There are no global rules for how to do this. You have to develop your own strategies. I use sticky pads. I compose in my head. I compose freehand. I compose outside the constraints of order, keeping faith in the idea I am hunting. Sometimes it works. Sometimes I have to revise a lot.
Myth: You should write an entire draft in one sitting. Don’t stop until it’s done.
Reality: We usually do better if we break the business of writing into bite-sized chunks. If we come back to the paper often, after a break, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to re-read what we have written, to rewrite and revise it, and rediscover what we are up to. It is a process, remember. Make it one.
Reality: You might not be done with your research. You might be unsure of where to go, how to argue, what your point is, and even what your thesis is. It’s okay. Just start. Once you get going, it gets easier. In the end, it is our writing that guides us. We have to trust in it to show us where we are going. We have to have the courage to follow.
Exercise. Aristotle’s Freewriting. Just write. Don’t stop. Don’t worry.
2.5 minutes: Take your topic and define it. For example, under the general heading of “Definition” are questions like "How does the dictionary define _________?" and "What earlier words did ________ come from?" Ex: “The role of adjunct professors in the state of Colorado” Defined: “Who are they? What do they teach? What’s the history of using adjunct teachers and what is their role today?”
2.5 minutes: Comparison: Take your topic, break it into parts, and compare it. Ask, "From what is ________ different?" and "_________ is most like what?" Divide it into categories; compare its parts “How much we pay adjuncts to teach English. How much to teach at community colleges. How much to teach a private schools. What they teach. How they teach it. Etc.”
3 mins: Relationship, "What causes _________?" and "Why does ________ happen?"
3 mins: Testimony, "What have I heard people say about ________?" and "Are there any laws about ________?"
3 mins: Circumstances, "Is _______ possible or impossible?" and "If ________ starts, what makes it end?" Similarly, what are the good and bad consequences of ________?
Writing is easy. This is the truth. Anyone with five words at his command can slap together a sentence. It may be a grammarless and guttural burp, but it is writing.
Writing well, however, is hard. Unfortunately, it is made even harder when we stop to consider how hard it really is. When we are scared, when we sit there, pen in hand, and consider Shakespeare. And Hemingway. And Fitzgerald. And Tolstoy. And Baldwin... When we think about all the stuff of language—tone, voice, syntax and all the decisions we must make regarding how and in what order to take all the words of the English languages and lay them down on a sheet of paper so that they mean something—we hesitate. We over think it. We stall. We see that brilliant shining essay at the end of the rainbow. We see its perfections, its charming smile and bright eyes. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?
Surely, that can’t come from this pukey thing before us, we think. We seize up. We stop. We wait for inspiration that never comes.
Our problem: Most of us don’t want to start with the ugliness. I won’t lie to you. Writing is hard work. It is walking forty miles only find you have forty more to go. It stings. But my friends, if you want to write a good paper, you have to start here, in the trenches of the mud field where the sloppy first drafts grow.
How do we get out of here? Write To Discover.
Myth: The first draft is the best draft.
Reality: This way of thinking will cause you to stall. If you strive too hard for perfection in your first draft, you will no doubt come up short and you won’t get a very good grade. A better strategy is to sit down and get started knowing full well you will come back to fix and redo part of it later. This relieves the pressure of having to be perfect. It also allows you the freedom to go back and improve your thinking and your writing after you’ve had a shot at it once or twice. Writing is exploring. Your first draft is are the first crunchy footfalls and there’s a white out up ahead.
Myth: You have to have a clear organized outline before you sit down to write.
Reality: While some people are into outlines and fill one out before they ever write a word, it is more helpful to most of us to build some kind of plan, a flow chart of sorts, that helps keep us on topic without restricting our exploratory process. Not knowing exactly how you are going to pull it off shouldn’t be a reason to stop writing.
Myth: Write your introduction first, then your body, then your conclusion.
Reality. Many good writers write their introduction last. We might even change the thesis after they have written out the rest of the paper. Often, we write entire sections of the paper independently from others. The place we start might turn out to be paragraph 28 in your final draft. There are no global rules for how to do this. You have to develop your own strategies. I use sticky pads. I compose in my head. I compose freehand. I compose outside the constraints of order, keeping faith in the idea I am hunting. Sometimes it works. Sometimes I have to revise a lot.
Myth: You should write an entire draft in one sitting. Don’t stop until it’s done.
Reality: We usually do better if we break the business of writing into bite-sized chunks. If we come back to the paper often, after a break, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to re-read what we have written, to rewrite and revise it, and rediscover what we are up to. It is a process, remember. Make it one.
Reality: You might not be done with your research. You might be unsure of where to go, how to argue, what your point is, and even what your thesis is. It’s okay. Just start. Once you get going, it gets easier. In the end, it is our writing that guides us. We have to trust in it to show us where we are going. We have to have the courage to follow.
Exercise. Aristotle’s Freewriting. Just write. Don’t stop. Don’t worry.
2.5 minutes: Take your topic and define it. For example, under the general heading of “Definition” are questions like "How does the dictionary define _________?" and "What earlier words did ________ come from?" Ex: “The role of adjunct professors in the state of Colorado” Defined: “Who are they? What do they teach? What’s the history of using adjunct teachers and what is their role today?”
2.5 minutes: Comparison: Take your topic, break it into parts, and compare it. Ask, "From what is ________ different?" and "_________ is most like what?" Divide it into categories; compare its parts “How much we pay adjuncts to teach English. How much to teach at community colleges. How much to teach a private schools. What they teach. How they teach it. Etc.”
3 mins: Relationship, "What causes _________?" and "Why does ________ happen?"
3 mins: Testimony, "What have I heard people say about ________?" and "Are there any laws about ________?"
3 mins: Circumstances, "Is _______ possible or impossible?" and "If ________ starts, what makes it end?" Similarly, what are the good and bad consequences of ________?
Sunday, March 29, 2009
The Research Process Part III
Critical Reading and Critical Writing
We are finding sources. They are coming from journals and books, but what now? Oh my, look at all this stuff!
Look, the truth is you have to develop a strategy to effectively analyze your sources in a timely fashion. We are not working on our Post-doc fellowship here, we don’t have five years to do this research, our papers are due in a few weeks and we need to get a move on. To do that, we need to chop this stack of papers in half and make sense of what we have left.
Reading critically is one of the most important aspects of this entire process. In order to write your own analysis of a subject and to add your voice to the larger cultural and academic debate, you have to understand the information before you.
As we grow as readers and writers, we develop our own methods of doing this. However, across these, I think the following advice holds up.
• Read with the intent to understand, to decipher, to make sense of this
• Take breaks
• Read slowly
• Print or make photocopies of articles or book passages and mark them up
• Don’t give up
My advice is to break this practice into two parts: Initial Appraisal of the Text, and Context Analysis.
A. Initial Appraisal: This entails your first approach to the text wherein you discover if it has any value to you and your paper. We start by looking critically at some of the physical characteristics of the text, without delving too deeply into the text. Remember, our job here is to determine usefulness. Start by flipping through the text. Look at:
I. Author: Is this author credible. Will including his words in my paper help my ethos or will it make my paper seem unwontedly slanted or biased (for example, what happens if your papers is full of Rush Limbaugh quotes?)
Does this author have the necessary authority and expertise so that his ideas can serve as evidence in your argument? If no, ditch the article.
II. Date: Is the publication date of this source current enough to meet the demands of your topic? Be reasonable. If I am writing about meatpacking, sure, it won’t hurt to throw in an Upton Sinclair quote from The Jungle, but I can’t rely on that for evidence. I need information that pertains to meat packing plants now. If it’s not timely enough, if it is out-of-date, ditch it.
III. Relevance: Occasionally, I have found a really interesting article that I enjoyed reading and want to use in my paper. The problem, it has nothing to do with my topic. I can either change my topic to fit this in, or ditch it. Quickly analyzing a document’s worth to your own ends takes practice, but remember, in the end doing this saves you time in the long run.
Research III, page 2
So How? My first impressions of a book/article and its material come from browsing. Read the Table of Contents, the Abstract, the introduction, discussion or conclusion. Read any tables or graphs or appendices you find. Look at how the chapters of sections of the text move from beginning to end. Look at the work’s cited. If you see any titles there that might be helpful go find them. Mostly, use this initial analysis to determine if the text before has worthwhile information that will help YOUR argument.
B. Content Analysis: You hooked a nice source, now you have to get it into the boat. To do this, you have to sit down and make some sense of it. Reading complex material can be not unlike reading something in a foreign language that you don’t speak well. Here, read to decipher. To understand. Piece together meaning. Read slowly. Take notes. Look at:
I. Make a Rhet. Precis if the article is argumentative. Look at the Author’s Intentions. Find the thesis of this argument. Analyze the evidence. Examine the author’s purpose.
II. Mark possible passages you may want to use in your paper. Mark them so that you can find them later. Write what it is and why you can use in the margin. Example: “This is a good counter argument to smoking is bad for ducks.”
III. Take notes. Write on sticky notes. Scribble on your articles. You have to organize this information so you can quickly access it later.
IV. Ask yourself, as library.cornell.edu does, if “the work update[s] other sources, substantiate[s] other materials you have read, or add[s] new information? Does it extensively or marginally cover your topic? You should explore enough sources to obtain a variety of viewpoints” (http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref).
V. Contextualize. Dive into text. Separate fact from opinion. Opinion from propaganda. Is the information here well researched? What assumptions does this author rely upon? Is she in line with the others arguments you’ve encountered on this topic? Is she in line with the others, adding to their points, furthering a bit passed over by most. Does this use primary or secondary sources (try to find both)? To do this, you should read everything TWICE.
Mostly, all I can say is this is never an easy process. It gets less painful, however, the more you practice. The good side to this is this process can and should lead to new source material and improved ideas as you go along.
Also, remember that this process is recursive. Reflect on what you are doing often. Fiddle with your topic as need be. Go back and redo. That’s the name of the game.
Critical Reading and Critical Writing
We are finding sources. They are coming from journals and books, but what now? Oh my, look at all this stuff!
Look, the truth is you have to develop a strategy to effectively analyze your sources in a timely fashion. We are not working on our Post-doc fellowship here, we don’t have five years to do this research, our papers are due in a few weeks and we need to get a move on. To do that, we need to chop this stack of papers in half and make sense of what we have left.
Reading critically is one of the most important aspects of this entire process. In order to write your own analysis of a subject and to add your voice to the larger cultural and academic debate, you have to understand the information before you.
As we grow as readers and writers, we develop our own methods of doing this. However, across these, I think the following advice holds up.
• Read with the intent to understand, to decipher, to make sense of this
• Take breaks
• Read slowly
• Print or make photocopies of articles or book passages and mark them up
• Don’t give up
My advice is to break this practice into two parts: Initial Appraisal of the Text, and Context Analysis.
A. Initial Appraisal: This entails your first approach to the text wherein you discover if it has any value to you and your paper. We start by looking critically at some of the physical characteristics of the text, without delving too deeply into the text. Remember, our job here is to determine usefulness. Start by flipping through the text. Look at:
I. Author: Is this author credible. Will including his words in my paper help my ethos or will it make my paper seem unwontedly slanted or biased (for example, what happens if your papers is full of Rush Limbaugh quotes?)
Does this author have the necessary authority and expertise so that his ideas can serve as evidence in your argument? If no, ditch the article.
II. Date: Is the publication date of this source current enough to meet the demands of your topic? Be reasonable. If I am writing about meatpacking, sure, it won’t hurt to throw in an Upton Sinclair quote from The Jungle, but I can’t rely on that for evidence. I need information that pertains to meat packing plants now. If it’s not timely enough, if it is out-of-date, ditch it.
III. Relevance: Occasionally, I have found a really interesting article that I enjoyed reading and want to use in my paper. The problem, it has nothing to do with my topic. I can either change my topic to fit this in, or ditch it. Quickly analyzing a document’s worth to your own ends takes practice, but remember, in the end doing this saves you time in the long run.
Research III, page 2
So How? My first impressions of a book/article and its material come from browsing. Read the Table of Contents, the Abstract, the introduction, discussion or conclusion. Read any tables or graphs or appendices you find. Look at how the chapters of sections of the text move from beginning to end. Look at the work’s cited. If you see any titles there that might be helpful go find them. Mostly, use this initial analysis to determine if the text before has worthwhile information that will help YOUR argument.
B. Content Analysis: You hooked a nice source, now you have to get it into the boat. To do this, you have to sit down and make some sense of it. Reading complex material can be not unlike reading something in a foreign language that you don’t speak well. Here, read to decipher. To understand. Piece together meaning. Read slowly. Take notes. Look at:
I. Make a Rhet. Precis if the article is argumentative. Look at the Author’s Intentions. Find the thesis of this argument. Analyze the evidence. Examine the author’s purpose.
II. Mark possible passages you may want to use in your paper. Mark them so that you can find them later. Write what it is and why you can use in the margin. Example: “This is a good counter argument to smoking is bad for ducks.”
III. Take notes. Write on sticky notes. Scribble on your articles. You have to organize this information so you can quickly access it later.
IV. Ask yourself, as library.cornell.edu does, if “the work update[s] other sources, substantiate[s] other materials you have read, or add[s] new information? Does it extensively or marginally cover your topic? You should explore enough sources to obtain a variety of viewpoints” (http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref).
V. Contextualize. Dive into text. Separate fact from opinion. Opinion from propaganda. Is the information here well researched? What assumptions does this author rely upon? Is she in line with the others arguments you’ve encountered on this topic? Is she in line with the others, adding to their points, furthering a bit passed over by most. Does this use primary or secondary sources (try to find both)? To do this, you should read everything TWICE.
Mostly, all I can say is this is never an easy process. It gets less painful, however, the more you practice. The good side to this is this process can and should lead to new source material and improved ideas as you go along.
Also, remember that this process is recursive. Reflect on what you are doing often. Fiddle with your topic as need be. Go back and redo. That’s the name of the game.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Research Process Part 2
The Research Process Part 2
(General Guidelines For Building a Good Paper)
Focusing Your Topic
By this point you know a lot about what you will be writing about. You’ve done background research—reading about the history of the topics, discovering who some key players are in this debate and mapping out the various positions held in the controversy. Now, you are ready to add your opinion to the larger academic discussion about this topic.
But why?
Failing to focus a topic is a common mistake students make. When the topic is too broad, there is too much to cover, which results in a paper that feels superficial or shallow. If you topics is too narrow—i.e. “what are the psychological effects of 7 am classes on CCD students with brown, well kept hair…” you won’t be able to find enough evidence to support your points.
What does this mean?
Focusing a research topic (or occasionally broadening it) is narrowing your topic (and choosing to focus on specific parts of it) so that you can demonstrate your expertise on a subject and effectively argue a position in that debate.
Let’s say you like animals. Developing a focus for your paper (and your research) means you start here:
Animals have feelings
And go here:
The use of dogs in the United States Military is useful, but at what cost?
This isn’t necessarily your thesis, but it has narrowed your interests into something you can work with. The point is with the later you have specific research needs; you are working with a specific type of animal in a specific situation—something you can tackle in 10-15 pages.
Note: You will not immediately know what your focus should be. It will come to you, most likely, through trial and error, through reading a lot articles and other literature that you will not ultimately use. Realize, you are shaping your thinking on this topic and as you learn more, your thoughts will change.
Start by defining your terms. How can your terms be broken down?
Example:
War is wrong
Defining the terms:
"War": What type (self-defense, aggressive preemptive strikes, rooted in ideology…)? By whom? What commonalities do you see in the wars you think are wrong?
"Wrong": How so? Results in unnecessary bloodshed? Has a drastic effect on the economy? Fail to foresee and plan for the complexities on the ground?
Focused:
In American history, wars that are rooted in ideology often have dire consequences for the economy.
You can always define again, and again, if need be. Do you see how this is putting the proper restraint on the topic? How you can now find specific examples and evidence to support this idea?
Try focusing on:
A specific location: Colorado’s community colleges have the best students.
Age group: Violence on television begets violence among pre-Kinder kids.
Species: While testing cosmetic products must be done, Chimpanzees should be spared because…
Ethnicity: What are the effects of our current immigration laws on Mexican-American families in the US?
Do Not Merely Restate Terms. War is bad because it’s war. No. Don’t do it.
Most of all, this is the moment to consider your approach to the subject. Are you writing about a specific element of smoking (marketing to children in Third World Countries) or about its more general elements (Smoking is still a big problem among today’s youth). You have to figure out where to go and how to get there.
Test your topic early. The night before a draft is due is a poor time to discover your topic is still too broad. The research process is a recursive one. You will need to come back to your topic time and time again if it isn’t working out. A lot of this is Goldilocks and porridge. You have to try a lot to find what is just right. Remember—Writing takes time.
(General Guidelines For Building a Good Paper)
Focusing Your Topic
By this point you know a lot about what you will be writing about. You’ve done background research—reading about the history of the topics, discovering who some key players are in this debate and mapping out the various positions held in the controversy. Now, you are ready to add your opinion to the larger academic discussion about this topic.
But why?
Failing to focus a topic is a common mistake students make. When the topic is too broad, there is too much to cover, which results in a paper that feels superficial or shallow. If you topics is too narrow—i.e. “what are the psychological effects of 7 am classes on CCD students with brown, well kept hair…” you won’t be able to find enough evidence to support your points.
What does this mean?
Focusing a research topic (or occasionally broadening it) is narrowing your topic (and choosing to focus on specific parts of it) so that you can demonstrate your expertise on a subject and effectively argue a position in that debate.
Let’s say you like animals. Developing a focus for your paper (and your research) means you start here:
Animals have feelings
And go here:
The use of dogs in the United States Military is useful, but at what cost?
This isn’t necessarily your thesis, but it has narrowed your interests into something you can work with. The point is with the later you have specific research needs; you are working with a specific type of animal in a specific situation—something you can tackle in 10-15 pages.
Note: You will not immediately know what your focus should be. It will come to you, most likely, through trial and error, through reading a lot articles and other literature that you will not ultimately use. Realize, you are shaping your thinking on this topic and as you learn more, your thoughts will change.
Start by defining your terms. How can your terms be broken down?
Example:
War is wrong
Defining the terms:
"War": What type (self-defense, aggressive preemptive strikes, rooted in ideology…)? By whom? What commonalities do you see in the wars you think are wrong?
"Wrong": How so? Results in unnecessary bloodshed? Has a drastic effect on the economy? Fail to foresee and plan for the complexities on the ground?
Focused:
In American history, wars that are rooted in ideology often have dire consequences for the economy.
You can always define again, and again, if need be. Do you see how this is putting the proper restraint on the topic? How you can now find specific examples and evidence to support this idea?
Try focusing on:
A specific location: Colorado’s community colleges have the best students.
Age group: Violence on television begets violence among pre-Kinder kids.
Species: While testing cosmetic products must be done, Chimpanzees should be spared because…
Ethnicity: What are the effects of our current immigration laws on Mexican-American families in the US?
Do Not Merely Restate Terms. War is bad because it’s war. No. Don’t do it.
Most of all, this is the moment to consider your approach to the subject. Are you writing about a specific element of smoking (marketing to children in Third World Countries) or about its more general elements (Smoking is still a big problem among today’s youth). You have to figure out where to go and how to get there.
Test your topic early. The night before a draft is due is a poor time to discover your topic is still too broad. The research process is a recursive one. You will need to come back to your topic time and time again if it isn’t working out. A lot of this is Goldilocks and porridge. You have to try a lot to find what is just right. Remember—Writing takes time.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Analysis Workshop
Workshop: The Analysis Paper
First: Read the paper through to get a feel for what it is about.
Second: Read it again. This time, comment in the text.
To do so:
First: Block out a section of the paper (from a paragraph to a page) and edit it heavily. In the margin the paper, identify any repeating grammatical or syntactical errors (ie run-ons, prepositions, etc).
Second: Examine the following.
Evaluate the way the issue is presented. Does the writer include information about the history of this debate, current relevance or its importance, the various positions in the debate and who the main players are. On the back--List any questions you have that were unanswered. List any information that the essay doesn’t include.
Are the opposing position clearly and accurately identified? Do you know enough about the various sides to this debate? Is the essay too biased (it is clear what the author thinks)? If so, on the back, tell the writer to take a more neutral tone and explore the “other” side in more depth to more fully understand it.
Here are some common problems:
The essay does not focus on the topics developed in the debate.
What topics need further explanation?
Is the issue clear?
The essay seems to be taking a position in the debate or evaluating one or both of the position essays.
Look at the Sources. Here are some issues with them:
The sources are not clearly identified, in part because of vague pronoun reference errors.
Quotes are used too much or not enough from the two position essays.
Citations are not smoothly incorporated into the writer’s text.
Sources are not paraphrased or quoted accurately
Omissions are evident on the works-cited page.
The writer needs to do more research.
Lastly, list the items in bold that the writer needs to focus on for his revision of this essay before he hands it in on Weds.:
Organization. Look at the beginning. Is it engaging? Does it forecast the direction of the essay to come? Does it have a thesis? Are there transitions that guide you through the paper—ie intro’s to each section that link it back to the main idea? Does the conclusion close the paper well, or should it do further.
Look at the transitions from section to section. Do you logically understand how the paper moves from point to point
Requirements: Paper is 2-5 pages, typed and double-spaced. Source material is cited.
Background: The paper presents adequate background information. Key events are identified, and the history of this controversy including how it became a controversy is evident. It is apparent the author has done ample research and uses that expertise to put this topic in context for the reader.
Mapping the Controversy: The paper adequately explores the various positions held in this debate. It presents the arguments from both sides (and in between) to give the reader an idea of what and how this topic is disagreed upon.
Consequences: This paper weighs what’s at stake in this controversy (ie why one side believes what they do, how they benefit from those beliefs, etc.).
Insight : The paper shows insight into the topic. The author explores this subject in all its complexity and reveals and examines the nature of that complexity in his/her essay. Such insights should not be implied but revealed and developed through good examples from the texts.
Grammar/Syntax: Your essay's prose is written in grammatically correct English; it has no spelling or grammatical errors; it shows a sound understanding of the structure of a good sentence and paragraph.
Now: rejoin your group and discuss what you:
A. Liked most about the draft
And B. Discuss how and where the draft needs to improve. Offer suggestions.
First: Read the paper through to get a feel for what it is about.
Second: Read it again. This time, comment in the text.
To do so:
First: Block out a section of the paper (from a paragraph to a page) and edit it heavily. In the margin the paper, identify any repeating grammatical or syntactical errors (ie run-ons, prepositions, etc).
Second: Examine the following.
Evaluate the way the issue is presented. Does the writer include information about the history of this debate, current relevance or its importance, the various positions in the debate and who the main players are. On the back--List any questions you have that were unanswered. List any information that the essay doesn’t include.
Are the opposing position clearly and accurately identified? Do you know enough about the various sides to this debate? Is the essay too biased (it is clear what the author thinks)? If so, on the back, tell the writer to take a more neutral tone and explore the “other” side in more depth to more fully understand it.
Here are some common problems:
The essay does not focus on the topics developed in the debate.
What topics need further explanation?
Is the issue clear?
The essay seems to be taking a position in the debate or evaluating one or both of the position essays.
Look at the Sources. Here are some issues with them:
The sources are not clearly identified, in part because of vague pronoun reference errors.
Quotes are used too much or not enough from the two position essays.
Citations are not smoothly incorporated into the writer’s text.
Sources are not paraphrased or quoted accurately
Omissions are evident on the works-cited page.
The writer needs to do more research.
Lastly, list the items in bold that the writer needs to focus on for his revision of this essay before he hands it in on Weds.:
Organization. Look at the beginning. Is it engaging? Does it forecast the direction of the essay to come? Does it have a thesis? Are there transitions that guide you through the paper—ie intro’s to each section that link it back to the main idea? Does the conclusion close the paper well, or should it do further.
Look at the transitions from section to section. Do you logically understand how the paper moves from point to point
Requirements: Paper is 2-5 pages, typed and double-spaced. Source material is cited.
Background: The paper presents adequate background information. Key events are identified, and the history of this controversy including how it became a controversy is evident. It is apparent the author has done ample research and uses that expertise to put this topic in context for the reader.
Mapping the Controversy: The paper adequately explores the various positions held in this debate. It presents the arguments from both sides (and in between) to give the reader an idea of what and how this topic is disagreed upon.
Consequences: This paper weighs what’s at stake in this controversy (ie why one side believes what they do, how they benefit from those beliefs, etc.).
Insight : The paper shows insight into the topic. The author explores this subject in all its complexity and reveals and examines the nature of that complexity in his/her essay. Such insights should not be implied but revealed and developed through good examples from the texts.
Grammar/Syntax: Your essay's prose is written in grammatically correct English; it has no spelling or grammatical errors; it shows a sound understanding of the structure of a good sentence and paragraph.
Now: rejoin your group and discuss what you:
A. Liked most about the draft
And B. Discuss how and where the draft needs to improve. Offer suggestions.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Analysis Due Tuesday
On Tuesday please bring 3 copies of your Analysis of the Controversy paper to class. We will work with them in class then you will turn them in.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sample Paper
ENG 122-002
October 20, 2008
Jeff Becker
Analysis Paper
Analysis of the Male Body Image Controversy
Introduction:
No one argues that male body image has become prevalent in American society today. All one has to do is observe a magazine rack in a local grocery store and see the titles that pertain to how men should look and feel, like “Men’s Health,” and “Men’s Fitness.” Society demands that men focus on their appearance more than ever today. Harrison G. Pope, Jr., Katherine A. Phillips, and Robert Olivardia are doctors who have studied male body issues for years and are authors of the book, The Adonis Complex. These and other experts agree that body image issues have become as much of a concern for men in the last thirty years as women (Pope, Phillips, Olivardia 17). However, because of the recalcitrant nature of men in general and their fear of being labeled as feminine for talking about their feelings, these issues have remained on the back-burner for years. Experts agree that male body issues exist and are becoming more apparent every day. The controversy, therefore, comes from the causes of these issues. Some experts believe that feminism is to blame, others steroids, others the post-industrial nation and the death of the self-made man, and still others believe that the media should ultimately be held responsible for the negative feelings men have toward their bodies.
Male Body Image and Feminism:
The book, The Adonis Complex, and the study, “Competition and Male Body Image: Increased Drive for Muscularity Following Failure to a Female,” both postulate that male body issues stem from the hypothesis that women can now compete with men in the workforce. Women can now work in pretty much any field that in the past was almost exclusively male. Women can join the military, become police chiefs, or interview football players in the locker room. According to Pope et al, “women have increasingly approached parity with men in many aspects of life, leaving men with primarily their bodies as a defining source of masculinity” (48). Since men can no longer justify their masculinity through the work they do to earn a living, they use their bodies instead. Women can work and run companies; however, women cannot build muscle like men can. Men’s muscles are their way to ensure that they remain noticeably masculine. According Pope, Phillips, and Olivardia, this can become an emotional problem which they call “threatened masculinity,” in which men try to establish their maleness within a societal group yet feel like they cannot do so (23). Jennifer Mills and Sante D’Alfonso ran a study that concluded that after perceiving losing to a female, men felt worse about themselves and wanted to increase their musculature (514). This becomes an issue because men are not only in competition with women, men are in competition with other males. This leads to a drive to increase muscle beyond natural means, which leads us to the next argument.
Male Body Image and Steroids:
According to Pope et al, the drive for muscularity and negative male body image come mainly from the availability of steroids. Steroids allow men to bulk up to levels unattainable by natural means alone, and “it’s impossible to extremely lean and muscular with chemical assistance” (Pope et al 35). Steroids are easy to obtain through the black market and have very little short-term side effects, yet provide immediate and profound results (Pope et al 105). Society seems to be under the impression that steroid use is maybe reserved for professional wrestlers and not those regular guys working out in the gym. However, regular men do use steroids on a regular basis. It is estimated that 2 to 3 million men have used anabolic steroids (Pope et al 104). Steroid use, according to Pope, Phillips, and Olivardia, contributes to a condition called “muscle dysmorphia” (Pope et al 87). Muscle dysmorphia is a condition in which men become preoccupied with how their muscles look and feel that they are always too “small” regardless of their actual size.
Male Body Image and the Post-Industrial Nation:
Some experts argue that male body image issues have stemmed back farther than the feminist movement in the 1960’s. Lynne Luciano, author of Looking Good, argues that since America turned industrial, the nature of how men looked and perceived their looks changed. In the 19th century, for example, most men were self-employed and worked from their hands. A man’s work became the focal point of his masculinity, not his looks. To be concerned about one’s looks would be the hallmark of femininity, and anathema to men. However, when the nature of work moved from individual production to factory production, and then from factory production to corporations and the global marketplace, men and male body image shifted. Identity became based on others’ perceptions and not handiwork any longer. According to Luciano, “the fate of the white-collar employee depended on his ability to please others, forcing him to develop a whole new social character in which his personality and appearance mattered most”(40). Grooming became essential, and bald, fat, or old men, once considered desirable because of their expertise and character, were deemed undesirable because of their looks. Outward pleasantness replaced inward character and loyalty—traits no longer desired by mega-corporations all too willing to replace old men with fresh-faced young ones.
Male Body Image and the Media:
Blaming male body image issues on the media is a touchy subject, since no one can be sure what came first. Did people demand what they see on television, which obligingly supplies, or did the media dictate to men and women what they want? No one can be sure, but some experts do believe that the media at least perpetuates the ideas of male body image. Studies have been done that show the relationship between viewing media images and feelings of dissatisfaction. For example, Daniel Agliata and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn, in “The Impact of Media Exposure on Males’ Body Image,” conclude that men feel dissatisfied with their bodies after viewing media images of the ideal male body (16). Not only do media images play a role in how men feel about their bodies, but action toys as well. Like Barbie for girls, G.I. Joe for boys has increasingly grown more muscular over the years, to the point where if he were life-sized he would have a 36.5” waist, a 54.8” chest, and a 26.8” bicep(Pope, Olivardia, Gruber, Borowiecki 69). After they play with toys in elementary school, children graduate to more grown-up ventures like World Wrestling Entertainment, or the WWE, where wrestlers bulk up to girths unattainable by natural means alone(Pope et. al 45). Even if men do not play with toys or watch WWE, many magazines and movies exist that perpetuate male body image ideals that are simply unnatural without steroids (Pope et al 46).
Implications of Male Body Image: Winners and Losers
Many benefactors exist from men being insecure about their body image and wanting to enhance their muscularity. For examples, the dozens of magazines that line grocery store shelves, the hundreds of gyms with expensive memberships, the countless pricey supplements that promise to enhance musculature all promote insecurity to men and signal that the natural male form is just not good enough. One of the priciest benefactors of men’s insecurities is cosmetic surgeons. In 1996, men spent several million dollars and had 690,361 cosmetic procedures performed (Pope et al 31). Besides the countless millions spent on legal means to attain body satisfaction, men also spend thousands of dollars on anabolic steroids and other medications in order to improve their bodies.
Conclusion:
So what if men seem to overly care about their bodies? Health and fitness are important and necessary, but some men become so overwrought about the state of their bodies that their thoughts become obsessions, and they end up hurting themselves. No one can deny that men have become more focused on their bodies and they image they project on society. However, experts disagree on the causes of why this occurs. Some think the cause stems as far back as the industrial revolution; while others seem to think the problem comes from feminism or the abundance of steroids. No one can agree whether the media begets male body image concerns or simply perpetuates them. However, no expert can deny that male body image issues exist and cause problems for the men who fall prey to their insecurities.
Works Cited Page:
Agliata, Daniel, and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn. "The Impact of Media Exposure on
Males' Body Image." Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 23.1 (2004):
7-22. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Community Coll. of Denver, CO. 20
Oct. 2008
Luciano, Lynne. Looking Good: Male Body Image in Modern America. New York: Hill
and Wang, 2001.
Mills, Jennifer S., and Sante R. D'alfonso. "Competition and Male Body Image:
Increased Drive for Muscularity Following Failure to a Female." Journal of
Social and Clinical Psychology 26.4 (2007): 505-518. Academic Search
Premier. EBSCO. Community Coll. of Denver, CO. 20 Oct. 2008
Pope, Harrison G., Jr., et al. "Evolving Ideals of Male Body Image as Seen
Through Action Toys." International Journal of Eating Disorders 26.1
(1999): 65-72. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Community Coll. of Denver,
CO. 20 Oct. 2008
Pope, Harrison G., Jr., Katharine A. Phillips, and Roberto Olivardia. The Adonis
Complex: The Secret Crisis of Male Body Obsession. New York: The Free
Press, 2000.
Weber, Brenda R. "What Makes the Man? Television Makeovers, Made-Over
Masculinity, and Male Body Image." International Journal of Men's Health
5.3 (2006): 287-306. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Community Coll. of
Denver, CO. 20 Oct. 2008
October 20, 2008
Jeff Becker
Analysis Paper
Analysis of the Male Body Image Controversy
Introduction:
No one argues that male body image has become prevalent in American society today. All one has to do is observe a magazine rack in a local grocery store and see the titles that pertain to how men should look and feel, like “Men’s Health,” and “Men’s Fitness.” Society demands that men focus on their appearance more than ever today. Harrison G. Pope, Jr., Katherine A. Phillips, and Robert Olivardia are doctors who have studied male body issues for years and are authors of the book, The Adonis Complex. These and other experts agree that body image issues have become as much of a concern for men in the last thirty years as women (Pope, Phillips, Olivardia 17). However, because of the recalcitrant nature of men in general and their fear of being labeled as feminine for talking about their feelings, these issues have remained on the back-burner for years. Experts agree that male body issues exist and are becoming more apparent every day. The controversy, therefore, comes from the causes of these issues. Some experts believe that feminism is to blame, others steroids, others the post-industrial nation and the death of the self-made man, and still others believe that the media should ultimately be held responsible for the negative feelings men have toward their bodies.
Male Body Image and Feminism:
The book, The Adonis Complex, and the study, “Competition and Male Body Image: Increased Drive for Muscularity Following Failure to a Female,” both postulate that male body issues stem from the hypothesis that women can now compete with men in the workforce. Women can now work in pretty much any field that in the past was almost exclusively male. Women can join the military, become police chiefs, or interview football players in the locker room. According to Pope et al, “women have increasingly approached parity with men in many aspects of life, leaving men with primarily their bodies as a defining source of masculinity” (48). Since men can no longer justify their masculinity through the work they do to earn a living, they use their bodies instead. Women can work and run companies; however, women cannot build muscle like men can. Men’s muscles are their way to ensure that they remain noticeably masculine. According Pope, Phillips, and Olivardia, this can become an emotional problem which they call “threatened masculinity,” in which men try to establish their maleness within a societal group yet feel like they cannot do so (23). Jennifer Mills and Sante D’Alfonso ran a study that concluded that after perceiving losing to a female, men felt worse about themselves and wanted to increase their musculature (514). This becomes an issue because men are not only in competition with women, men are in competition with other males. This leads to a drive to increase muscle beyond natural means, which leads us to the next argument.
Male Body Image and Steroids:
According to Pope et al, the drive for muscularity and negative male body image come mainly from the availability of steroids. Steroids allow men to bulk up to levels unattainable by natural means alone, and “it’s impossible to extremely lean and muscular with chemical assistance” (Pope et al 35). Steroids are easy to obtain through the black market and have very little short-term side effects, yet provide immediate and profound results (Pope et al 105). Society seems to be under the impression that steroid use is maybe reserved for professional wrestlers and not those regular guys working out in the gym. However, regular men do use steroids on a regular basis. It is estimated that 2 to 3 million men have used anabolic steroids (Pope et al 104). Steroid use, according to Pope, Phillips, and Olivardia, contributes to a condition called “muscle dysmorphia” (Pope et al 87). Muscle dysmorphia is a condition in which men become preoccupied with how their muscles look and feel that they are always too “small” regardless of their actual size.
Male Body Image and the Post-Industrial Nation:
Some experts argue that male body image issues have stemmed back farther than the feminist movement in the 1960’s. Lynne Luciano, author of Looking Good, argues that since America turned industrial, the nature of how men looked and perceived their looks changed. In the 19th century, for example, most men were self-employed and worked from their hands. A man’s work became the focal point of his masculinity, not his looks. To be concerned about one’s looks would be the hallmark of femininity, and anathema to men. However, when the nature of work moved from individual production to factory production, and then from factory production to corporations and the global marketplace, men and male body image shifted. Identity became based on others’ perceptions and not handiwork any longer. According to Luciano, “the fate of the white-collar employee depended on his ability to please others, forcing him to develop a whole new social character in which his personality and appearance mattered most”(40). Grooming became essential, and bald, fat, or old men, once considered desirable because of their expertise and character, were deemed undesirable because of their looks. Outward pleasantness replaced inward character and loyalty—traits no longer desired by mega-corporations all too willing to replace old men with fresh-faced young ones.
Male Body Image and the Media:
Blaming male body image issues on the media is a touchy subject, since no one can be sure what came first. Did people demand what they see on television, which obligingly supplies, or did the media dictate to men and women what they want? No one can be sure, but some experts do believe that the media at least perpetuates the ideas of male body image. Studies have been done that show the relationship between viewing media images and feelings of dissatisfaction. For example, Daniel Agliata and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn, in “The Impact of Media Exposure on Males’ Body Image,” conclude that men feel dissatisfied with their bodies after viewing media images of the ideal male body (16). Not only do media images play a role in how men feel about their bodies, but action toys as well. Like Barbie for girls, G.I. Joe for boys has increasingly grown more muscular over the years, to the point where if he were life-sized he would have a 36.5” waist, a 54.8” chest, and a 26.8” bicep(Pope, Olivardia, Gruber, Borowiecki 69). After they play with toys in elementary school, children graduate to more grown-up ventures like World Wrestling Entertainment, or the WWE, where wrestlers bulk up to girths unattainable by natural means alone(Pope et. al 45). Even if men do not play with toys or watch WWE, many magazines and movies exist that perpetuate male body image ideals that are simply unnatural without steroids (Pope et al 46).
Implications of Male Body Image: Winners and Losers
Many benefactors exist from men being insecure about their body image and wanting to enhance their muscularity. For examples, the dozens of magazines that line grocery store shelves, the hundreds of gyms with expensive memberships, the countless pricey supplements that promise to enhance musculature all promote insecurity to men and signal that the natural male form is just not good enough. One of the priciest benefactors of men’s insecurities is cosmetic surgeons. In 1996, men spent several million dollars and had 690,361 cosmetic procedures performed (Pope et al 31). Besides the countless millions spent on legal means to attain body satisfaction, men also spend thousands of dollars on anabolic steroids and other medications in order to improve their bodies.
Conclusion:
So what if men seem to overly care about their bodies? Health and fitness are important and necessary, but some men become so overwrought about the state of their bodies that their thoughts become obsessions, and they end up hurting themselves. No one can deny that men have become more focused on their bodies and they image they project on society. However, experts disagree on the causes of why this occurs. Some think the cause stems as far back as the industrial revolution; while others seem to think the problem comes from feminism or the abundance of steroids. No one can agree whether the media begets male body image concerns or simply perpetuates them. However, no expert can deny that male body image issues exist and cause problems for the men who fall prey to their insecurities.
Works Cited Page:
Agliata, Daniel, and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn. "The Impact of Media Exposure on
Males' Body Image." Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 23.1 (2004):
7-22. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Community Coll. of Denver, CO. 20
Oct. 2008
Luciano, Lynne. Looking Good: Male Body Image in Modern America. New York: Hill
and Wang, 2001.
Mills, Jennifer S., and Sante R. D'alfonso. "Competition and Male Body Image:
Increased Drive for Muscularity Following Failure to a Female." Journal of
Social and Clinical Psychology 26.4 (2007): 505-518. Academic Search
Premier. EBSCO. Community Coll. of Denver, CO. 20 Oct. 2008
Pope, Harrison G., Jr., et al. "Evolving Ideals of Male Body Image as Seen
Through Action Toys." International Journal of Eating Disorders 26.1
(1999): 65-72. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Community Coll. of Denver,
CO. 20 Oct. 2008
Pope, Harrison G., Jr., Katharine A. Phillips, and Roberto Olivardia. The Adonis
Complex: The Secret Crisis of Male Body Obsession. New York: The Free
Press, 2000.
Weber, Brenda R. "What Makes the Man? Television Makeovers, Made-Over
Masculinity, and Male Body Image." International Journal of Men's Health
5.3 (2006): 287-306. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Community Coll. of
Denver, CO. 20 Oct. 2008
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Grading Rubric: Analysis of the Controversy
1. /15 Requirements : Paper is 2-5 pages, typed and double-spaced. Source material is cited.
2. /15 Background: The paper presents adequate background information. Key events are identified, and the history of this controversy including how it became a controversy is evident. It is apparent the author has done ample research and uses that expertise to put this topic in context for the reader.
3. /15 Mapping the Controversy: The paper adequately explores the various positions held in this debate. It presents the arguments from both sides (and in between) to give the reader an idea of what and how this topic is disagreed upon.
4. /15 Consequences: This paper weighs what’s at stake in this controversy (ie why one side believes what they do, how they benefit from those beliefs, etc.).
5 /15 Insight : The paper shows insight into the topic. The author explores this subject in all its complexity and reveals and examines the nature of that complexity in his/her essay. Such insights should not be implied but revealed and developed through good examples from the texts.
6. /10 Grammar/Syntax: Your essay's prose is written in grammatically correct English; it has no spelling or grammatical errors; it shows a sound understanding of the structure of a good sentence and paragraph.
7. /15 Benchmark : quality of this work in relation to what I expect you to be able to do in this class at this time on such an assignment.
GRADE /100
2. /15 Background: The paper presents adequate background information. Key events are identified, and the history of this controversy including how it became a controversy is evident. It is apparent the author has done ample research and uses that expertise to put this topic in context for the reader.
3. /15 Mapping the Controversy: The paper adequately explores the various positions held in this debate. It presents the arguments from both sides (and in between) to give the reader an idea of what and how this topic is disagreed upon.
4. /15 Consequences: This paper weighs what’s at stake in this controversy (ie why one side believes what they do, how they benefit from those beliefs, etc.).
5 /15 Insight : The paper shows insight into the topic. The author explores this subject in all its complexity and reveals and examines the nature of that complexity in his/her essay. Such insights should not be implied but revealed and developed through good examples from the texts.
6. /10 Grammar/Syntax: Your essay's prose is written in grammatically correct English; it has no spelling or grammatical errors; it shows a sound understanding of the structure of a good sentence and paragraph.
7. /15 Benchmark : quality of this work in relation to what I expect you to be able to do in this class at this time on such an assignment.
GRADE /100
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Don't Forget: Monday: Meet in Library @ 7:30
Don't Forget: Monday: Meet in Library @ 7:30. Bring your topic proposal.
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