Entering the Conversation

1
Entering the Conversation

• English 101
• September 22, 2008

2
To succeed with Paper 2, understand

• How to introduce what others are saying
• How to summarize what others are saying
• How to quote (and cite) what others are saying
• How to respond to what others are saying
• How to signal the differences between what you
  are saying and what others are saying

3
Surprise!

• All of the items on that list are in chapters 1
  through 5 of They Say/I Say
• However
• You are also responsible for knowing how to use
  parenthetical citations and how to create a
  proper works cited list.
• See Maimon, A Writers Resource or another such
  handbook.

4
Entering the Conversation

• When we say entering the conversation, we mean
  that when you are responding to a text you must
  put it in context and interact with it as you
  make your point(s).
• A REPORT simply restates what has been said.
• An ANALYSIS shows that you can break things apart
  and show how they fit together as a whole.
• A conversation requires both report and
  analysis but also your own assertions (the
  ARGUMENT).

5
Structuring the Conversation

• Provide context for your claim.
• Present your claim.
• Support your claim, which includes (but is not
  limited to)
• Summarizing, framing, clarifying, pointing out
  flaws in, and amending their claims
• Remember to always keep what they say in view.
• Wrap it up.

6
They Say Context for Your Own Claim

• Common sense dictates that _____.
• Explain, then make your own claim
• Ive always believed that ________.
• Explain, then make your own claim.
• Although not stated directly, A appears to
  believe _________.
• Explain, then make your own claim.

7
The Art of Summarizing

• Concise
• Accurate
• Brief
• Independent
• Neutral

8
The Art of Summarizing (contd)

• Understand what you are summarizing.
• Avoid LIST SUMMARIES.
• Use signal verbs.
• argue, assert, believe, claim, etc.
• acknowledge, agree, endorse, support, etc.
• complain, contend, question, refute, etc.
• demand, encourage, implore, urge, etc.

9
Citing a Summary

• When you are summarizing a text, you still have
  to cite the page numbers you are summarizing, if
  you are summarizing only part of the text.
• Smilansky discusses gossips and terrorists to
  make a point about the contradictions inherent in
  moral complaints (92-93).
• Smilansky, Saul. The Paradox of Moral
  Complaint. 10 Moral Paradoxes. Malden, MA
  Blackwell, 2007. 90-99. Print.

10
Parenthetical References

• Parenthetical references should point the user
  directly to the citation at the end.
• (Author Last Name Page ) -gt (Smith 25)
• There should be an entry in the works cited for
  Smiths text.
• However, if the author is already stated, the
  reference looks different
• According to John Smith, we are doomed (51).

11
Parenthetical References

• The reference always appears at the end of the
  sentence in which the quotation or paraphrasing
  is located.
• The period goes after the parenthesis.
• There is no page number used for parenthetical
  references of web sites.

12
Works Cited

• ALWAYS refer to a handbook or a legitimate web
  site before creating your works cited page(s).
• All references in your text should match up with
  a citation in the works cited list.
• Entries are arranged alphabetically by the
  author's last name, or by the title of the work
  if there is no author
• Indent entries that break across lines.
• Entries are double-spaced

13
The Art of Quoting

• Write the arguments of others into your own
  textliterally.
• Provides credibility to your own argument
• Ensures your argument is fair and accurate
• Quotations act as evidence
• BE WARY! Do not
• quote too little
• quote too much

14
Quoting is More than Putting Words in Quotation
Marks

• Quote relevant passagesbut only quote what you
  need
• Frame every quotation avoid hit and run
  quotations
• Use the QUOTATION SANDWICH
• Introduction
• Quotation
• Explanation

15
The Quotation Sandwich

• According to Smilansky, a person cannot complain
  when others treat him or her in ways similar to
  those in which the complainer freely treats
  others (91). In other words, Smilansky believes
  that if Bob kills my family, Bob doesnt have the
  right to complain if I kill his. This situation
  exemplifies the paradox of moral complaint.
• Smilansky, Saul. The Paradox of Moral
  Complaint. 10 Moral Paradoxes. Malden, MA
  Blackwell, 2007. 90-99. Print.

16
Three Ways to Respond

• Agree, disagree, or some combination of agreement
  and disagreement.
• The point is that you RESPOND AT ALL.
• Declare your stance quickly and clearly.
• Responding well takes practice it is more
  difficult than it seems.

17
Disagreeand Explain Why

• Disliking something is not the same as
  disagreeing with it.
• If you disagree with something you must fully
  explain why that is the casewith a logical
  argument.
• Disagreeing is MORE than simply adding not to
  what someone else said.

18
Disagreeand Explain Why

• I think X is mistaken because she overlooks an
  entire field of research which I will now
  summarize for you.
• I disagree with Xs view that grass is blue
  because, as recent research has shown, grass is
  only ever blue in Kentucky and we are in
  Washington.

19
AgreeBut With a Difference

• Avoid parroting back what someone else has said.
• I agree that coffee in the morning is a good
  thing, because my experience as a coffee drinker
  confirms it.
• Smilanskys theory of the paradox of moral
  complaint is useful as it sheds light on the
  problems of guilt and innocence.

20
Agree and Disagree Simultaneously

• Move beyond the is too/is not exchanges and the
  potential for shouting matches.
• Complicate your argument and provide nuance so as
  to highlight your skills.
• It does not have to be a 50/50 proposition.

21
Agree and Disagree Simultaneously

• Although I agree with Jones up to a point, I
  cannot accept her overall premise that grass is
  always blue.
• Sometimes grass is blue
• Most of the time grass is green
• Grass can be other colors
• There is plenty of evidence to work through and
  another conclusion to be made.

22
Distinguishing What YOU Say From What THEY Say

• Who says what should always be clear.
• Use VOICE MARKERS
• When you read texts, pay close attention to voice
  markers in use.

23
Distinguishing What YOU Say From What THEY Say

• X argues ______.
• According to X, ______.
• The evidence shows that ______.
• It is widely held that ______.
• I wholeheartedly endorse what X calls the
  ___________.
• The conclusions regarding ________, which X
  refers to as _______, add weight to the argument
  that _________.

24
Effective Uses of I

• Assertiveness // Clarity // Positioning
• Original In studying American popular culture
  of the 1980s, the question of to what degree
  materialism was a major characteristic of the
  cultural milieu was explored.
• Better In my study of American popular culture
  of the 1980s, I explored the degree to which
  materialism characterized the cultural milieu.

25
Ineffective Uses of I

• When its already clear its your statement, or
  you have already asserted your position
• Original I think that Aristotle's ethical
  arguments are logical and readily applicable to
  contemporary cases, or at least it seems that way
  to me.
• Better Aristotle's ethical arguments are
  logical and readily applicable to contemporary
  cases.

26
Style, aka your voice

• Say what you mean
• Say it clearly
• Say it an appropriate tone
• Be yourself
• BUT

27
AVOID WORDINESS

• Common reasons for wordiness
• Uncertainty about your topic
• Lack of a developed argument
• Lack of evidence
• Uncontrollable urge to use adjectives for
  everything.

28
Common Wordiness Problems

• Lots of qualifiers
• WORDY Most people usually think that many
  puppies are generally pretty cute.
• CLEAR Most people think that puppies are cute.
• Using words that mean the same thing
• WORDY Adrienne fulfilled all our hopes and
  dreams when she saved the whole entire planet.
• CLEAR Adrienne fulfilled all our hopes when she
  saved the planet.

29
Common Wordiness Problems

• Overuse of prepositional phrases
• WORDY The reason for the failure of the economic
  system of the island was the inability of
  Gilligan in finding adequate resources without
  incurring expenses at the hands of the
  headhunters on the other side of the island.
• CLEAR Gilligan hurt the economic system of the
  island because he couldn't find adequate
  resources without angering the headhunters.

30
Common Wordiness Problems

• Using stock phrases you can replace with one or
  two words
• WORDY The fact that I did not like the aliens
  affected our working relationship. The aliens
  must be addressed in a professional manner.
• CLEAR My dislike of the aliens affected our
  working relationship. The aliens must be
  addressed professionally.

31
Ostentatious Erudition

• Never use a long word where a short one will
  do. George Orwell
• Do not blindly use multi-syllabic words in an
  effort to sound more collegiate.
• Can make you sound like you don't know what you
  are talking about
• Can give the impression that you are plagiarizing
  from a source you don't understand

32
Ostentatious Erudition

• Never use a word you can't clearly define.
• If you know one, and can use it correctly, and it
  fits with your tone, then great.
• BAD "That miscreant has a superlative aesthetic
  sense, but he's dopey.
• Its okay to repeat the same word(s) in your
  paper, particularly when they are significant or
  central terms.
• Dont try to fix something that isnt broken.

33
Ostentatious Erudition

• Something nice, from Ecclesiastes
• I returned and saw under the sun, that the race
  is not to the swift, nor the battle to the
  strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet
  riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to
  men of skill but time and chance happeneth to
  them all.

34
Ostentatious Erudition

• What happened when some overzealous student got
  hold of that passage
• Objective considerations of contemporary
  phenomena compel the conclusion that success or
  failure in competitive activities exhibits no
  tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity,
  but that a considerable element of the
  unpredictable must invariably be taken into
  account.

35
Arguing is Not Just Talking Loudly

• You cannot produce a scholarly argument simply by
  using exclamation points and calling people
  names.
• Instead
• Make a claim.
• Provide evidence.
• Acknowledge or make a counterargument.
• Have an awareness of your audience.
• Cite your source.

36
Avoid Fallacies!

• Hasty generalization
• Missing the point
• Post hoc ergo propter hoc
• Appeal to false authority
• Ad populum
• Ad hominum
• Appeal to ignorance
• Trust me, there are more