Gina L. Vallis - Reason To Write. Applying Critical Thinking To Academic Writing (2011)

REASON TO WRITE
This handbook is a practical guide designed to offer students the means to
GINA L. VALLIS
apply critical thinking to academic writing.
Critical thinking is a challenging term. Sometimes it is presented in
relationship to formal logic, which is too rigid to use as a strategy for writing
instruction. Sometimes critical thinking is made synonymous with analysis,
although they can be clearly differentiated as separate cognitive activities.
Sometimes critical thinking is reduced to writing prompts on selected readings,
or exemplar asides.
Reason to Write introduces the critical question, a pre-writing strategy that
both stipulates a working definition for critical thinking, and, in doing so,
reorients the approach to academic writing as fundamentally inquiry-based.
REASON TO WRITE
Critical thinking provides specific strategies designed to help student writers
to work through the relationship between thinking and writing. When given the
opportunity to develop a line of inquiry based upon a question, students
acquire not only critical thinking skills, but also the means to be
self-corrective in their writing, and to transfer those skills into new contexts.
In three major sections, students are guided through steps that build upon
foundational critical thinking skills, and that reinforce academic writing as a
practice designed to answer a question, solve a problem, or resolve an issue.
Gina L. Vallis received her Ph.D. in Literature with an emphasis in critical

theory, and teaches Writing at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
She writes and presents on topics concerning rhetoric, communication,
critical and literary theory, and film and visual studies. She is certified in
graphic design, has published poetry, and vendors an intervention program
for children with ASD, in relationship to which she contributed a chapter for a
book on autism intervention. She is currently completing a pending
publication of a collaborative web-text for the praxis category of Kairos, as
well as preparing a manuscript concerning writing about film, titled Screening
Arguments.
GINA L. VALLIS
REASON TO WRITE:
Applying critical thinking
toacademic writing
FM.indd i 11/4/10 4:43 PM

FM.indd ii 11/4/10 4:43 PM
REASON TO WRITE:
toacademic writing
T his handbook is a practical guide designed to oer students the means to

Critical thinking is a challenging term. Sometimes it is presented in relationship
to formal logic, which is too rigid to use as a strategy for writing instruction.
Sometimes critical thinking is made synonymous with analysis, although they
can be clearly dierentiated as separate cognitive activities. Sometimes critical
thinking is reduced to writing prompts on selected readings, or exemplar asides.
both stipulates a working denition for critical thinking, and, in doing so, reori-
ents the approach to academic writing as fundamentally inquiry-based.
Critical thinking provides specic strategies designed to help student writers to
work through the relationship between thinking and writing. When given the
opportunity to develop a line of inquiry based upon a question, students acquire
not only critical thinking skills, but also the means to be self-corrective in their
writing, and to transfer those skills into new contexts.
In three major sections, students are guided through steps that build upon foun-
dational critical thinking skills, and that reinforce academic writing as a practice
designed to answer a question, solve a problem, or resolve an issue.

theory, and teaches Writing at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She
writes and presents on topics concerning rhetoric, communication, critical and
literary theory, and lm and visual studies. She is certied in graphic design,
has published poetry, and vendors an intervention program for children with
ASD, in relationship to which she contributed a chapter for a book on autism
intervention. She is currently completing a pending publication of a collabora-
tive web-text for the praxis category of Kairos, as well as preparing a manuscript
concerning writing about lm, titled Screening Arguments.
FM.indd iii 11/4/10 4:43 PM

Kona Publishing and Media Group
Higher Education Division
Charlotte, North Carolina
Copyright 2010 by Kona Publishing and Media Group
All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photography, or any informational storage and retrieval system, without
permission from the publisher.
All names of teachers, teacher learners, students and places are pseudonyms or are used with permission.
Teacher and student work samples are used with permission.
Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders for permission to reprint borrowed material. We
regret any oversights that may have occurred and will rectify them in future printings of this work.
ISBN: 978-1-935987-09-3
FM.indd iv 11/4/10 4:43 PM

REASON TO WRITE:
to academic writing
Gina L. Vallis
KONA
p u b l i s h i n g & m e d i a g ro u p
FM.indd v 11/4/10 4:43 PM

FM.indd vi 11/4/10 4:43 PM
contents
Acknowledgements xi
Preface xiii
SECTION I
CRITICAL QUESTION, CONTEXT, DEFINITION 1
1 a reason to write 3
Blinking Cursor Syndrome 4
Questions and Answers 5
The Case Against the Five-Paragraph Form 8
Process vs. Product 11
Review 14
2 critical thinking 19
Whats Dierent about Critical Thinking? 20
Critical Thinking and Logic 20
Critical Thinking and Academic Writing 23
Why is Critical Thinking Important? 25
The Role of Curiosity 27
The (Provisional) Case Against the Prompt 28
Writing is Risky Business 30
Review 34
The Critical Question 36
STEP 1 CRITICAL QUESTION GUIDE 36
Sample Critical Questions 37
3 questions in context 39
Revising Five Writing Rules 40
Review 49
FM.indd vii 11/4/10 4:43 PM

The Question Map 52
Three Parts to the Question Map 53
Example Question Map 54
STEP 2 THE QUESTION MAP GUIDE 57
4 saying what we mean-meaning what we say 59

Writing has Words in it 60
Language and Associates 61
Metaphor: Words are Slithy Toves 67
Guard Rails for the Tricky Bits 69
Review 76
Ways to Dene 77
Types of Denitions/Examples 78
STEP 3 WAYS TO DEFINE GUIDE 80
Example Completed Ways to Dene Guide 82

The Shortcut 87
SECTION II
ANALYSIS, ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE, ARRANGEMENT 91
5 performing analysis 93
Two Principles of Analysis 94
Opinions, Facts, and Analysis 99
Types of Analysis: General Analysis 101
Analysis and Roller Skating 106
Formalist Analysis 109
Rhetorical Analysis 112
Review 114
Performing Analysis 116
STEP 4 ANALYSIS GUIDE, OR HOW TO
ROLLER SKATE 117
Example Analysis Guide 119
viii REASON TO WRITE
FM.indd viii 11/4/10 4:43 PM

6 nding common ground 123
The Organizing Principle 124
First Things First: The Title 130
Exordium: Yo or Lo 131
Types of Openings 133
Review 136
Organizing/Opening the Essay 138
STEP 5 THE OPENING/ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE
GUIDE 139
7 arrangement 141
Beyond Exordium 142
Fancy Names and Functions 143
Formatting is Fun! -Not 151
Primary and Secondary Sources: Raw or Cooked 155
Review 157
The Draft 160
STEP 6 THE DRAFT GUIDE 162
SECTION III
RHETORIC, REVISION, PUBLICATION 165
8 communication and rhetoric 167

Thats Just Rhetoric 168
Appeals 172
Fallacies and Other Fallacies 175
Getting Our Darned Ice Cream Cone 177
Review 181
9 feedback and revision 185

Everyones a Critic 186
On Beyond Spellcheck: Editing vs. Revision 188
Mirroring Documents 189
Contents ix
FM.indd ix 11/4/10 4:43 PM

The Secret of the Hard-Copy Edit 190
Revision 190
STEP 7 SELFDIAGNOSTIC GUIDE 191
10 joining the conversation 193

Kinds of Writing 194
Writing in Professional Contexts 195
Conference Presentation/Publication for Undergraduates 196
Joining the Conversation 199
STEP 8 CONFERENCE/JOURNAL PUBLICATION
GUIDE 200
Sample Undergraduate Conference CFP 201

Sample Undergraduate Journal CFP 202
recommended Readings 203
WORKS CITED 207
x REASON TO WRITE
FM.indd x 11/4/10 4:43 PM

acknowledgements
F irstly, I would like to say how grateful I am to Roy, both for building the fort,
and also for holding it down.
Secondly, I would like to thank my students for their generosity in allowing
me to use their writing in this text. All samples of student writing included in
this text were drawn from undergraduate, lower-division writing, primarily in
entry-level courses.
Finally, my thanks for the support of my colleagues.
xi
FM.indd xi 11/4/10 4:43 PM

FM.indd xii 11/4/10 4:43 PM
preface
O ne of the challenges facing writing instructors is that while students will

tend to recognize quality academic writing, they often do not appear to
translate that recognition into practice in relationship to their own prose.
Nor can an instructor assume that students will automatically adopt a habit of
inquiry merely by being exposed to the questions of others. In addition, this
form of instruction reinforces the idea that it is the students function to provide
answers, but it does not allow them to rehearse generating their own questions.
For as long as students are given tools for recognizing the elements that facili-
tate or inhibit academic inquiry, they can engage in critical thinking through
the composing of a question-based essay, from an initial point of curiosity.
Reason to Write makes a clear distinction between critical thinking, rhetoric,
informal and formal logic, and analysis, for the purpose of demonstrating various
connections between ways of thinking, and stages of writing. Writing exercises
are broken down into steps that engage with those relationships, from pre-writing
to nal draft, as well as conference presentations and publication guidelines.
This handbook would be appropriate for use by any instructor engaged in entry-
level post-secondary education courses for the purpose of an introduction to
critical thinking and academic writing.
It can also be used as a supplement to course material, across disciplines, for
the purpose of writing instruction, provided that the course structure allows the
student to generate independent questions, upon which to write, based upon
the course topic.
How to use this text
Reason to Write is a practical guide, and is designed as a map to guide students

through steps to writing. Each chapter oers a clear explanation of a given way
of thinking, and matches it to a stage in the writing process, culminating in a
writing step that allows the student to put that relationship into practice.
Through these sequential stages, each step serves to advance the student toward
the nal paper that will be produced, using the strategies covered in that sec-
tion. As such, while perfectly suitable for use in conjunction with other instruc-
tional material, all sections should be included, and taken in order.
xiii
FM.indd xiii 11/4/10 4:43 PM

SECTION I
CRITICAL QUESTION, CONTEXT, DEFINITION
A REASON TO WRITE
This section serves as an introduction to a basic reorientation of academic writ-
ing as inquiry-based, and opens by drawing attention to common diculties
students face with the thesis statement.
The demand to produce a thesis in the rst stage of writing often generates
confusion between the process of academic writing, which is inquiry-based,
and the nal presentation of the written product. This nal presentation is often
reorganized in a rewrite in order to forefront conclusions.
By putting the steps into their proper order, students come to understand that
thinking and writing are related acts, the components of which can be subse-
quently redistributed in the nal draft stage, based upon the conventions within
a given discipline.
CRITICAL THINKING
After learning about the role of inquiry within academic writing, students are
introduced to a clear denition for critical thinking, its relationship to academic
writing, and common sources of cognitive bias that impede eective reasoning.
This section culminates in Step 1, the Critical Question Guide, in which the stu-
dent formulates a critical question based upon a set of guidelines that explain
how to formulate an area of inquiry upon which to write, providing the tools for
students to begin the pre-writing stage of independent inquiry into a specic
issue.
QUESTIONS IN CONTEXT
Because students have often been given contradictory or ambiguous directives
in relationship to academic writing, this chapter explores the reasoning behind
common writing rules. In doing so, it translates those rules into practical guides
for understanding the role of academic writing.
Once a student has a critical question upon which to begin to write, the stu-
dent then engages in Step 2, the Argument Map Guide, designed to rene the
question to an appropriate level of specicity for the length of the writing, and
to connect the question to a context from which to draw elements for analysis.
xiv REASON TO WRITE
FM.indd xiv 11/4/10 4:43 PM

SAYING WHAT WE MEANMEANING WHAT WE SAY
Until students have the opportunity to gain a basic understanding of how
language functions in written argumentation, they may not understand the
need for precision in the transmission of ideas, linked, as it is, to the metaphori-
cal quality of language.
In addition to providing a new way for students to evaluate the prose that they
produce, this chapter oers the opportunity for students to explore the notion
of stipulating the denition of a term, a practice that is common in writing
drawn from critical thinking.
This chapter provides Step 3 in the series, the Ways to Dene Guide, in which
the student advances the critical question upon which he or she is working. The
student is given the opportunity to explore and engage in a controlled denition
of the terms of that question.
Finally, the end of Section 1 oers The Shortcut, a condensed model for
prewriting designed to initiate critical thinking in relationship to writing an
essay. This model can be quickly implemented for future writing in which
the student will engage, after the student has a working understanding of the
tools necessary to generate ideas, how to avoid common traps that impede
critical thinking, and has gained a sense of precision and control over aca-
demic prose.
SECTION II
ANALYSIS, ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE, ARRANGEMENT
PERFORMING ANALYSIS
In dening critical thinking as a strategy of informal logic designed to aid a
writer in remaining conscious of those elements that facilitate or inhibit clear
reasoning, analysis can be dened, for the student, in contradistinction.
As the primary act in which the student will engage in order to move from ques-
tion to answer within academic writing, analysis is treated as an act involving
the breaking down of an element into its constituent parts, for the purpose of
producing knowledge.
This chapter oers Step 4, the Steps to Analysis Guide, in which the student
completes four steps of analysis on the question that the student has posed,
Preface xv
FM.indd xv 11/4/10 4:43 PM

in the process drawing conclusions that will eventually serve in the recursive
strategy of writing the body of the essay.
FINDING COMMON GROUND

In performing analysis, students will encounter categories through which to
produce an organizing principle for the essay. Bypassing common writing for-
mulas, the organizing principle develops from the unique quality of the answers
at which the student arrives, allowing a paper organization that follows from
that reasoning.
Thus, the essay may follow a pattern of hierarchical, comparative, categorical,
chronological, etc., organization, based upon the specic nature of the rela-
tionship between the questions and answers that the student produces within
analysis.
Once the student has established an organizing principle, strategies for
exordiumthe papers openingare reviewed, and the student begins the
paper by writing the opening paragraph, which includes elements the student
has acquired through previous exercises: the question at hand, context, and
denition. The student then provides a plan for the organization of the paper.
The execution of this plan comprises Step 5, the Opening/Organizing Principle
Guide.
ARRANGEMENT
Once the student has all of the requisite elements, and has introduced the paper,
the student is ready to produce a draft of the essay. In this chapter, students
initiate the rst step of their organizing principle, and proceed through that
organization, returning each conclusion to the question at hand.
Students are also given information regarding typical elements found within
the critical essay, which the student comes to understand not as formulaic in
nature, but as specic functions that each serve a purpose within the communi-
cation of ideas within academic writing.
In previous exercises, students will already have worked on rhetorical elements
such as exordium, denitio, narratio, partitio, and amplicatio, and come to
understand those terms through the work they have already completed, in a way
that does not result in the alienation often produced by those terms. Students
are then exposed, in a straightforward manner, to refutatio, stasis, and epilogus
xvi REASON TO WRITE
FM.indd xvi 11/4/10 4:43 PM

as additional functions of the academic essay, which students can then plan in
the execution of their draft.
Because students will be engaged in the drafting stage of the paper, at this point
in the writing process, this chapter gives a brief explanation of established rules
that govern the citation of source material.
The resulting Step 6, the Essay Draft Guide, closes this section with the pro-
duction of a provisional essay of requisite length upon which students could
potentially receive feedback, and begin the process of revision and preparation
for publication.
SECTION III
RHETORIC, REVISION, PUBLICATION
COMMUNICATION AND RHETORIC

In many instructional situations, the student will be waiting to receive feedback
on a draft. In other situations, the student will be best served by combining
Chapter 7 (Arrangement) and Chapter 9 (Feedback/Revision), as well as Steps 6
and 7, before submission of a nal paper.
This chapter covers further issues of rhetoric and its relationship to critical
thinking, by exploring those elements of rhetoric that provide information
regarding common sources of cognitive bias, and elements of communication,
including communication designed to produce suasion.
Students learn about the ve elements of communication, rhetoric as a disci-
pline, fallacies, and appeals. Although not directly applicable to the advance-
ment of the production of the nal essay, students are oered practice exercises
that deepen their understanding of these rhetorical concepts. These exercises
allow the student to engage with the notion of rhetoric as a discipline, provide
more sophisticated general tools for analysis of real-world issues, and reinforce
strategies for attending to the elements of communication situations.
FEEDBACK AND/OR REVISION

Either following the return of the rst draft, or as rewrite strategy for the com-
pletion of a nal essay, this chapter covers strategies for making use of feedback,
Preface xvii
FM.indd xvii 11/4/10 4:43 PM

rewriting, editing, proofreading, and global revision for the purpose of crafting
a fully developed nal essay based upon critical thinking.
A careful distinction is made between those elements that pertain to all aca-
demic writing, across all disciplinary elds, and those elements that concern the
nal presentation of the paper according to standardized conventions within a
discipline, and that may dictate rules concerning such things as format, tone of
voice, positioning of elements, etc.
In addition to the information provided regarding rewriting, this chapter pro-
vides Step 7, the Self-Diagnostic Guide. This guide presents a comprehensive
checklist of all information covered in this text, against which the student com-
pares the nal writing that he or she has produced. It serves as a review of
important concepts of critical thinking, and a check for ways in which the stu-
dent may have engaged in areas of cognitive bias that impede the full explora-
tion of his or her question to produce a valid and true conclusion, or thesis.
JOINING THE CONVERSATION

In the nal chapter of Reason to Write, students are oered a breakdown of dif-
ferent kinds of writing that occur in a variety of contexts, in order to emphasize
the role of academic writing in facilitating a conversation related to the produc-
tion of knowledge.
This is reinforced through discussion concerning conference presentation and
academic publication. This serves to redirect the notion of academic writing as
a classroom activity, instead of a scholarly dialogue in which students can, and
do, participate. It oers information regarding submitting a paper for submis-
sion for conference presentation or publication.
Reason to Write concludes with Step 8, the Submission Guidelines Page. While
this step does not require students to actually follow through in submitting
papers for presentation or publication, it does include preliminary work that
would be required to do so, including the acquisition of guidelines pertaining to
submissions to the specic conference or journal.
xviii REASON TO WRITE
FM.indd xviii 11/4/10 4:43 PM

SECTION I
CRITICAL QUESTION
CONTEXT
DEFINITION
Contents 1
Chapter_01.indd 1 10/28/10 5:04 PM

Chapter_01.indd 2 10/28/10 5:04 PM
Chapter 1
A Reason to Write
1 BLINKING CURSOR SYNDROME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3 THE CASE AGAINST THE FIVE-PARAGRAPH FORM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4 PROCESS VS. PRODUCT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5 REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chapter_01.indd 3 10/28/10 5:04 PM

1 blinking cursor syndrome
Writing is easy: all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper

untildropsofblood form on your forehead.
Gene Fowler
I f this book were to begin with one suggestion regarding how to begin writing an
essay, it would be this: Find common ground with your reader. In other words, it is
often helpful to open with a series of simple statements that a typical reader would
nd reasonable and fair.
Of course, many students have been taught to summarizeand therefore com-

pressall of an essays argument into the opening paragraph. This is why one of the
more common complaints about the whole business of starting to write an essay is
something that one could call Blinking Cursor Syndrome. You sit down to write an
essay. You call up a new document in a word processing program. Within the frame,
the page is empty except for a single cursor that blinks with mechanical indierence.
It blinks for as long as it takes you to muster something to say. There you sit. There
it blinks.
Writers can experience this moment as a kind of pre-defeat. In part, this is because
the rst thing that many students have often been taught is that they should begin
writing an essay with a strong, original idea, often called a thesis statement. The
second thing that students have often been taught is that it is their task, upon
the spontaneous arrival of this strong, original statement, to spend the rest of the
essay arguing for that statement until it has been proved to a reasonable readers
satisfaction.
EVER WONDERED? Yet our hypothetical writer may be a bit confused:

From what tree of inspiration, exactly, is one
A hyphen is used when two or
more words are brought together supposed to pluck this strong, original statement?
to describe another word, as in Is one supposed to have an arsenal of such
star-crossed lovers or plant- statements at hand? A writer may even begin
covered yard. The hyphen is to suspect, having checked his or her internal
NOT necessary if the descriptive thesis-statement stockpile, and found it to be
word is an adverb, as in lovely
rattling about with a few fairly interesting, but
night or slippery walk. There is a
dierence between a hyphen and half-formed speculations, that a clever person
a dash. would have had a few good ones stashed away, for
just such an occasion.
4 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_01.indd 4 10/28/10 5:04 PM

In this case, Blinking Cursor Syndrome can sometimes turn into a source of
self-judgment, like: I dont really have anything important to say, or Im just not
good at this kind of writing. This often leads to the student to conclude: If I must
perform this task, it is probably best to nd a thesis statement that is easily defen-
sible. I will, therefore, pick one that is not too boring or dicult.
One of the things covered in this text is that while academic writing may be hard
work, it is actually quite a logical process. If something about writing an essay doesnt
make sense, theres probably a reason. Critical thinking is designed to help writers to
recognize the way in which writing follows from thinking, not by memorizing a for-
mula, but by understanding that relationship. Critical thinking is a series of strate-
gies designed to help you to pay attention to the way you think through a given idea.
Most people, when faced with a problem to be DEFINITION

solved, will employ what is called a heuristic. A heuristic is a word for the infor-
People have commonsensical ways in which to mal ways in which most people go
go about puzzling through a problem. This is about thinking when they solve
because people are thinking, rational beings. problems or answer questions.
Some are more eective than
Critical thinking takes this a step further. Critical
others.
thinking oers specic and sophisticated tools for
An example would be trial-and-
paying attention to the way we think through a error.
question. As an aside, one treats an h asa
vowel (hence a heuristic) if the
To illustrate, one could pose the question:
h sound is not aspirated (if you
Why do so many students nd it dicult, in begin- do not hear the h sound in the
word). Thus, it would be an hour,
ning to write, to spontaneously produce a thesis
and a hat.
statement?
2 questions and answers
How do I know what I think until I see what I say?

Graham Wallace
T he thesis, although not always a single statement, is an essential part of an

academic essay. One helpful general critical thinking tool is to carefully dene
what one means by a given word or phrase. In this case, the question becomes: What
is a thesis statement?
SECTION I CHAPTER 1 A Reason to Write 5
Chapter_01.indd 5 10/28/10 5:04 PM

Although students are taught to use a thesis, it is often not clearly dened. Without
looking it up, write a short, precise denition of a thesis statement:
A thesis statement is
Many students will use the phrase thesis statement synonymously with topic or
argument, or opinion.
Starting from what you might have written, here,

DEFINITION it is helpful to understand that there are many
A Negative Denition is a way of ways to dene a word or phrase. One could go to
dening a word or a phrase by a dictionary. One could use examples. One could
comparing it to what it is not.
oer synonyms. Each way of dening a word can
Example: An apple is not an
serve a specic purpose. One of ways to dene a
orange, a peach, or a banana.
word is called a Negative Denition.
A Negative Denition can help to clear up confusion when a word has an ambiguous
meaning, or is routinely misunderstood. Following is an example of negative deni-
tion, and how it can be useful.
A Thesis is not the topic of an essay
A thesis is not the topic of an essay, because a topic refers to the papers area of
inquiry, or what the essay is about.
One could say: The topic of the essay is global warming.
One would not say: The thesis of the essay is global warming.
DEFINITION
A Thesis is not an argument
Logic is a systematic method for A thesis is only one part of an argument. The idea
establishing what is valid and of argumentation goes back to formal logic, and
true based upon inference from
formal logic oers several parts to an argument,
premises.
each of which serves a purpose.
6 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_01.indd 6 10/28/10 5:04 PM

The most formal system of logical argumentation uses something called the Logical
Syllogism.
It may be surprising to learn that formal logic is not very helpful in composing
academic writing. Formal logic is useful for evaluating existing arguments, but is too
rigid to use as a writing strategy. Logic is very precise; mathematics, for example, is
a subset of logic.
The following example of a logical syllogism should be familiar to you. All logical
syllogisms must be True (the premises are true) and Valid (the conclusion follows
the premises).
Major Premise: All Men (A) are Mortal (B) A=B
Minor Premise: Socrates (C) is a Man (A) C=A
Conclusion: Socrates (C) is Mortal (B)* C=B
True (The Premises are True)
Valid (The Conclusion follows from the Premises)
* Sadly, in fact, it is true: Socrates is dead.
In logic, a true conclusion follows from true premises. The conclusion is not, by
itself, the argument. It is the logical result of the inferences drawn from those
premises. The combination of all of these elements is, in total, an argument.
The conclusion of a syllogism is designed to answer a question. In this example, the

obvious (although unstated) question is: Is Socrates Mortal? The conclusion, or
answer, to this question, is supported by the premises, and could be written in the
following way: Socrates is mortal because he is a man, and all men are mortal. This
is classical formal argumentation.
Real-life questions are not always so straightforward. However, it is true that, because
academic writing is logical in nature, there are certain similarities. The essay serves
the same purpose as a syllogism: it answers a question that has been posed, based
upon valid conclusions that are derived from true premises, and results in an answer.
That answer serves as the thesis of the essay.
By coming to reasoned conclusions, academic writing answers questions, solves

problems, and resolves issues. A Thesis, then, is an answer to a question that the
Chapter_01.indd 7 10/28/10 5:04 PM

writer poses. In syllogistic form, the question What is a thesis? would be answered
in the following way:
Major Premise: An Answer is the Result of a Question A=B
Minor Premise: A Thesis is an Answer C=A
Conclusion: A Thesis is the Result of a Question C=B
What all this means is that, in academic writing, or in any system of inquiry that
seeks to further knowledge, answers usually follow from questions, and not the other
way around. While this statement seems obvious, many students have been taught
to begin to write the academic essay with an answer. In other words, one cannot
produce a thesis without rst having a question,
EVER WONDERED?
and then working through that question in a rea-
Only italics are used for emphasis soned manner. This is because it is commonly
within an essay. Bold or underline
understood that all academic writing is specically
are never used to emphasize a
word or sentence in an essay. designed to answer a question, solve a problem, or
resolve an issue.
3 the case against the ve-paragraph form
The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in shock-proof shit-detector.
Ernest Hemmingway
HERE IS A FORMULA WITH WHICH MANY OF YOU WILL BE FAMILIAR
Paragraph 1 Opening Introduce the thesis statement

Thesis Statement A single, original statement to be
proved inthepaper
Paragraph 2 Point 1 The strongest point that supports

the thesis statement
example 1 A single example of Point 1
Paragraph 3 Point 2 The next point that supports the

thesis statement
8 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_01.indd 8 10/28/10 5:04 PM

Paragraph 4 Point 3 The next point that supports the
thesis statement
Paragraph 5 Conclusion Restate the thesis statement with

the three main points included
HERE IS AN EXAMPLE ESSAY WRITTEN ACCORDING TO THAT FORMULA
Dogs Should Be Leashed

Opening Every year, thousands of people are bitten, pets are
lost, and people are exposed to health risks because
Thesis pet owners do not leash their dogs. All dogs should be
onaleash.
Point 1 Dogs that are unleashed are a danger to people.
example 1 Last year my neighbors dog bit my cousin. He had to get
stitches, and my aunt had to pay $300 for the hospital bill.
Point 2 Without a leash to restrain them, dogs will run away,
causing heartbroken owners who want them back.
example 2 You can hardly pass a street without seeing a lost
dogsign.
Point 3 Dogs that are allowed to wander can be a health
hazard to people. Wandering dogs can eliminate in public
parks. Dogs can carry some diseases, like rabies.
example 3 A child coming into contact with animal waste can
become very ill.
Conclusion In conclusion, all dogs should be on a leash. If not,
they are a danger to people, they can get lost, and they
can be a health hazard.
Unfortunately, such writing formulai do little to advance students as critical thinkers
and writers. In fact, because it privileges the structure of the essay over any kind of
content, as Rosenwasser and Stephen note, it actually disables critical thinking:
The ve-paragraph form has the advantage of providing a mechanical

format that will give virtually any subject the appearance of order [but]
lops o a writers ideas before they have a chance to formThis simplis-
tic scheme blocks writers abilities to think deeply or logically, restrict-
ing rather than encouraging the development of complex ideas. (111)
Chapter_01.indd 9 10/28/10 5:04 PM

EVER WONDERED?
A longer quotation from a source is set o from your text by the indenting the whole quotation
ve spaces. There are no quotation marks needed. The period goes after the quotation, and
before any citation. How long a quotation should be before it must be put in this form depends
on the type of formatting that you are using in your essay. For example, in MLA style, it must be
over 4 lines before requiring indentation.
Academic writing is a lot like thinking, on paper. When one writes, one employs
logic. One groups, categorizes, nds similarities and dierences, and makes sure to
account for all sides of a given issue.
If an instructor were to assign the example-essay titled: Dogs Should Be Leashed

as a reading for classroom discussion, students, being reasoning people, would prob-
ably immediately challenge the conclusion that is drawn. Students might ask:
Is a leash the only way to control a dog? What about keeping the dog in a
fenced yard, or in a house? What about a well-trained dog? Dont wan-
dering dogs also increase the population of unwanted animals? Does a
dog need to be leashed on a farm?
In other words, even though this example essay provides the requisite structure for
a ve-paragraph essay, including thesis statement, main points, and examples, it still
fails, logically. If a thesis is always an answer to a question that has been posed, it is
easier to understand why such an essay fails to support its thesis statement if one
knows the question that it answers.
Any statement can be turned into a question, and any question can be turned into a
statement. The statement The ball is round could be changed to the question: Is
the ball round? The question Is the box square? could be changed to the statement
The box is square. Between a question and a statement is the real issue at hand
their true relationship to one another.
The statement in the example essay is: All dogs

DEFINITION should be leashed. It is the thesis of this essay, and
If something is implicit, it is not therefore it is an answer to a question. The implicit
stated outright, but oered question this thesis answers is: Should all dogs be
indirectly. If something is explicit,
leashed-yes or no?
it is stated directly. All academic
writing is based upon a question, Lets do a reality check. Most people, if asked, and
whether that question is implicit,
given a moment or two to consider the question,
or explicit.
would probably respond by saying that a far more
10 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_01.indd 10 10/28/10 5:04 PM

accurate and fair answer to that question would be: Many dogs should be leashed,
under certain circumstances, but not all dogs. Thats why this essay fails to prove its
thesisnot because it does not have a structure, but because it provides an inad-
equate answer to the question that it poses.
Yet far more important than the essays failure to prove its thesis is the fact that the
real answer to this question is obvious: one might as well produce a thesis from a
question querying the existence of rocks, or whether a human is a piece of fruit, or if
two-plus-two usually turns out to equal four.
In other words, the real aw of this essay is: Whats the point? Who cares? This is
what happens when writers are required to provide an answer before being given the
opportunity to formulate a thoughtful question.
4 process vs. product
We dont write what we know. We write what we wonder about.

Richard Peck
A thesis is an essential part of an academic

essay. The thesis is present even if it is
implicit. It is present even if it is explicit, no mat- EVER WONDERED?
ter where it is placed in the nal draftin the Double quotation marks () are
beginning, shortly after the beginning, or at the used to indicate that you are quot-
end of the paper. ing someone elses words within
your prose. Single quotation marks
So, too, a question always plays an essential part () are used only to indicate that
in academic writing. That question is present even the person whom you are quoting
if it is implicit. It is present even if is explicit, and is quoting someone else, as in
wherever it is placed in the body of the paper, Jane said I like you.
although it usually shows up pretty early in the In general, all punctuation goes
inside of single or double quota-
writing, because the reader needs to know whats
tion marks, like this. The only
in question. exception is if there is an interrup-
tion between the end of the words
Following are excerpts from three essays taken
in a sentence, and the end of the
from a textbook entitled: Making Sense: Essays sentence, as when one is quoting
on Art, Science, and Culture. The authors of from a source (Author 11).
this anthology included these essays because the
Chapter_01.indd 11 10/28/10 5:04 PM

textbook is designed to provide examples, to students, of eective academic writing,
across disciplines.
In the excerpt of each essay, pay attention to how the writer treats the issue at hand:
Sven Birkerts: The Owl Has Flown
Reading and thinking are kindred operations, if only because both are
invisible.How do people experience the written word, and how have those
experiences, each necessarily unique, changed in larger collective ways down
the centuries? (70)
Julie Charlip A Real Class Act

I once asked a sociology professor what he thought about themiddle class.
His denition was: If you earn thirty thousand dollars a year working in an
assembly plant, come home from work, open a beer and watch the game,
you are working class; if you earn twenty thousand dollars a year as a school
teacher, come home from work to a glass of white wine and PBS, you are mid-
dle class. How do we dene class? Is it a matter of values, lifestyles, taste? Is it
the kind of work you do, you relationship to the means of production? Is it a
matter of how much money you earn? Are we allowed to choose? (79)
Richard Florida
The Transformation of Everyday Life
Heres a thought experiment. Take a typical man on the street from the year
1900 and drop him into the 1950s. Then, take someone form the 1950s and
EVER WONDERED?
Some writing instructors discourage the use of I (rst-person voice) although it is used routinely
in published academic essays. George Orwell used rst-person voice in his famous 1946 essay
Politics in the English Language.
Some instructors also discourage the use of passive voice, which is one of the best ways a writer
can avoid rst-person voice. Passive voice is also frequently used in essays, because it produces
acertain eect: The experiment was conducted sounds more objective and credible than
Iconducted the experiment.
Both are a stylistic and genre choice, and both are sometimes eective. How else could politicians
say things like: Mistakes were made? That said, there are a few things to keep in mind: 1) Always
follow your instructors guidelines; 2) I voice is no reason to make an essay a personal narrative;
3) Passive voice gets boring, very quickly, for the reader.
12 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_01.indd 12 10/28/10 5:04 PM

move him Austin Powers-style into the present day. Who would experience
the greater change? (194)
Obviously, there are no thesis statements in these opening paragraphs. Rather, the
writer poses an interesting question. In posing this question, the writer strikes an
attitude of curiosity and promises to try to answer this question in a thoughtful,
reasonable manner.
Some academic writing does, in the opening, oer an answer to the question that the
writing poses. However, that answer, or thesis, is not placed at the beginning because
the writer thought of the thesis when she he or she started to write.
Scholarship is the ability to ask smart questions,

DEFINITION
and to answer them well. It is more than becoming
A convention is an established
a walking encyclopedia of factual information; it is rule or set of rules that have
to have a certain ability to put the knowledge that built up over time. Sometimes
one has acquired to good use. People do not place these conventions make sense,
answers in front of questions. Rather, the answer and sometimes theyre just the
is moved, in a rewrite, because disciplines have result of habit. Wearing a tie,
for example, used to be for the
developed conventions in the writing that occurs
purpose of wiping ones mouth
in certain academic disciplines. after dinner. Now it is merely a
convention.
Rather, the thesis is placed in the opening in the
nal draft, or revision. This is especially true in the
case of papers written within the sciences, including the social sciences. Often, this
answer comes in the form of an Abstract. The abstract covers:
1. What the writer was trying to accomplish
2. The results (answer, or thesis)
3. How those results could be applied

In the writing product, the abstract is presented rst. In the writing process, the
abstract is almost always written last, because the writer wouldnt know the answer
until after the question has been posed.
Writing that has an abstract usually occurs in APA style, and APA style is usually
used within the social and hard sciences, especially those that concentrate on quan-
titative data.
Writing in these disciplines routinely requires that the writer rst submit what
is called a Proposal, before even beginning the research, much less a draft of the
Chapter_01.indd 13 10/28/10 5:04 PM

writing, itself. The proposal always covers the initial area of inquiryor, in other
words, a question. The proposal covers:
1. The question to be posed, problem to be solved, or issue to be resolved
2. The method that will be used to answer that question or resolve that issue
3. Why answering that question or resolving that issue is important
Lets say that a scientist is going to write an article, based upon an experiment in
a laboratory. No scientist steps into the laboratory, glances at the experiment, and
immediately turns to the computer to write an article on his or her ndings. The
experiment is conducted around something in question, and the scientist must work
with that question before coming to a conclusion. In writing up his or her ndings,
the scientist may produce a nal article that places those conclusions on the rst
page, but the process begins by identifying the question at hand.
5 review
I dont wait to be struck by lightning, and dont need certain slants

oflightinorder to write.
Toni Morrison
CHAPTER REVIEW
The information to take from this chapter is that academic writing is for the purpose
of answering questions, solving problems, or resolving issues. No matter where the
thesis is presented in the nal draft of the writing that you produce, the following will
always apply:
An answer is the logical end of the aca-

EVER WONDERED?
demic writing process
When listing, use bullets (or
equivalent) if the order of the A question is the logical beginning of the
items on the list doesnt matter, academic writing process
and numbers if the order of the
items on the list does matter. That is because all academic thinking and writing
begins with the idea that something is in ques-
tion. If there were not something in question, wellthere wouldnt be a reason
towrite.
14 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_01.indd 14 10/28/10 5:04 PM

GRAMMAR REVIEW
The Hyphen and Dash
The hyphen (-) is used to indicate that two or more words have been brought together
to provide a description. Thus, one can be a no-nonsense person.
The hyphen is also always used in numbers, which, unless they are very large, are
always spelled out (e.g.: twenty-one).
The hyphen is not needed if there is one adjective that is being used to describe the
word. Thus, one can have a strict person.
A hyphen is also not needed if the descriptive word is already an adverb, often
indicated by ending in -ly. Thus, one can have a slovenly person.
A Dash () is slightly longer than the hyphen. A dash should be used sparingly.
Basically, it indicates an interruption of thoughta kind of sidelinewithin the
writing. It can replace the colon, semi-colon, or the parenthesis, but be carefulits
dicult to use correctly, and can become tiresome for the reader. Use it only if you
understand the rules that govern what it replaces.
A dash is also used as a replacement for the word to, as in:
January to March becoming JanuaryMarch

Emphasis
The preferred way to emphasize a word is to use italics. Just be consistent.
Bold and Underline are not used to emphasize words in academic writing.
Quotation Marks ( or )
Double quotation marks serve the main purpose of telling the reader that you have
taken someone elses writing, and inserted it into your own. It means that theseare
not your words, but someone elses, and you have copied them directly.
This is not the same as paraphrasing, which is an indirect quotation, and does not
need quotation marks. Warning! Do not paraphrase someone elses words unless you
understand the rules that allow your reader to separate your words and ideas from
other peoples words and ideas.
Single quotation marks tell the reader that there is a quotation inside of a quo-
tation. In other words, you copied the words of someone who copied the words
Chapter_01.indd 15 10/28/10 5:04 PM

of someone else. In either case, all punctuation goes inside of single or double
quotation marks.
Lengthy Quotations
Quotations that go on for more than a certain number of lines are set o from the rest
of the text. The number of lines depends on the formatting style you are using. Even
though these words are someone elses, there is no need for quotation marks. The
left margin of the quotation is moved in ve spaces to indicate that it is a quotation.
Check a style guide for exact rules.
First-Person and Passive Voice
There is a great deal of grumpy ghting about this one, so make sure you know what
your instructor expects in your writing. If you are instructed to use neither rst-
person, nor passive voice, its going to be dicult, because one is used to avoid the
other. An example would be:
I attended the conference on grammar. (rst-person)
The conference on grammar was attended. (passive voice)
So, you might have to get somewhat creative, as in: At the conference on grammar,
speakers covered the use of rst-person and passive voice.
Bullets or Numbers
This is not a typical stylistic choice in academic writing, but its not bad to know that
when thinking about the visual presentation of a document, one should use bullets
for a list when the order doesnt matter, and numbers when the order of the items
does matter.
A human requires:
food
water
shelter
When boiling water, one should:
1. ll the pan with water
2. put the pan on the stove
3. light the re under the pan
16 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_01.indd 16 10/28/10 5:04 PM

VOCABULARY REVIEW
heuristic
The informal ways in which most people go about solving problems or answering
questions, including such things as trial-and-error, speculation, drawing a picture, etc.
negative denition
A way of dening a word by naming things to which it is similar, but that it is not.
For example, a pencil is dened by the fact that it is not a pen or a marker
implicit
Something that is not stated, but that is implied, or suggested, or commonly
understood to be so. The opposite is explicit, where something is stated without
ambiguity or equivocation
convention
In this sense of the term, a practice that has become a tradition or custom,
sometimes just from extensive usage, and sometimes for a reason. Conventions
can be very formal (one signs a contract for a legal agreement) or informal
(thepersonwho foolishly goes to investigate the noise in the cemetery in the
scarymovie is always the rst to die)
Chapter_01.indd 17 10/28/10 5:04 PM

Chapter_01.indd 18 10/28/10 5:04 PM
Chapter 2
Critical thinking
1 WHATS DIFFERENT ABOUT CRITICAL THINKING? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2 CRITICAL THINKING AND LOGIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3 CRITICAL THINKING AND ACADEMIC WRITING ............................. 23
4 WHY IS CRITICAL THINKING IMPORTANT? ...................................... 25
5 THE ROLE OF CURIOSITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
6 THE (provisional) CASE AGAINST THE PROMPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
7 WRITING IS RISKY BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
8 REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
9 THE CRITICAL QUESTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
STEP 1 CRITICAL QUESTION GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Sample Critical Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
19
Chapter_02.indd 19 04/11/10 1:21 AM

1 whats different about critical thinking?
Writing and learning and thinking are the same process.

William Zinsser
EVER WONDERED?
When you introduce the name
A cademic writing, in essence, is a clear record
of a writers reasoning from a question to an
answer. As Hans Guth explains:
ofthe person from whom you
arequoting, within your own The writer appeals to the readers
prose, it is called a signal phrase.
willingness to think a matter through
on the merits of that logic. This
systematic writing is the mode of most academic writing, from an econ-
omists analysis of the causes of ination, to a philosophers examina-
tion of logical proofs for the existence of God. (18)
Academic writing uses a style that tends to oer a question, in an implicit or

explicit manner, and then to move, step-by-step, to a conclusion, through reasoned
argumentation.
So, what role does critical thinking play in academic writing? People often have a
hard time guring out what exactly is meant by the term critical thinking. Some-
times it seems like analysis, sometimes like logic, and sometimes like just basic com-
mon sense.
2 critical thinking and logic
And as you come to practice this habit of thought more and more
youwillget better and better at it. To penetrate into the heart of the
thingeven a little thing, a blade of grass, as Walt Whitman saidis to
experience a kind of exhilaration that, it may be, only human beings
of all the beings on this planet can feel. We are an intelligent species
andtheuse of our intelligence quite properly gives us pleasure. When
wethink well, we feel good. Understanding is a kind of ecstasy.
Carl Sagan
20 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_02.indd 20 04/11/10 1:21 AM

C ritical thinking appears to be somehow both logical, but also to require a kind of
creative leap on the part of the thinker, as when we speak of someone thinking out-
side the box. Sometimes, critical thinking is referred to as critical-creative thinking.
Creativity and logic often strike people as a strange combinationarent people art-
ists or accountants? Of course, we know such binaries are reductive. People are both
creative and logical.
Critical thinking does involve a kind of speculative capacity, much like other forms of
informal logic. The way that we think through things that we encounter may require
an intuitive or experimental willingness to imagine other possibilities. Such think-
ing often yields unconventional answers to which people would not necessarily have
arrived by more formal means.
For example, riddles are just such an exercise in intuitive leaps, because they appear,
on the surface, to be logically unsolvable. Heres a simple one that many schoolchil-
dren know:
What can run, but never walks, has a mouth, but never talks, has a head, but never
weeps, has a bed, but never sleeps?
At rst, it doesnt seem like it is possible to oer a logical answer to this riddle
which is, if you will notice, like many riddles, in the form of a question.
If one tries to tackle the question logically, all that seems to happen is a series of dead
ends. Things that run are probably able to walk, so that doesnt make sense. There
are lots of animals with mouths that dont talk, but we know thats not the answer.
While a shark may be an animal that rests more than it actually sleeps, that doesnt
fulll theother criteria. More than that, its not funnyor, at least, it doesnt fulll
our expectations of the answer to a riddle.
For as long as we stay within the box, we cant answer the riddle. To answer the
riddle, we need to understand that it is the box itself that is keeping us from imagining
other possible answers. We dont need to think outside the box; we need to examine
the box and see if it is really what we assume that it is.
Many interesting ideas and discoveries have been made by informal logic. We are not
computers: a part of the way we think often involves imagining other possibilities, as
Carl Sagan notes:
But the scientic cast of mind examines the world critically as if many
alternative worlds might exist, as if other things might be here which
SECTION I CHAPTER 2 Critical Thinking 21
Chapter_02.indd 21 04/11/10 1:21 AM

are not. Then we are forced to ask why what we see is present and not
something else. Why are the Sun and the Moon and the planets spheres?
Why not pyramids, or cubes, or dodecahedra? Why not irregular, jum-
bly shapes? Why so symmetrical, worlds? (17)
Once we allow the possibility that it is the box itself that is preventing an answer
to the riddle, by constraining the possible answers we can come up with, the answer
becomes obvious.
What can run, but never walks, has a mouth, but never talks, has a head, but never
weeps, has a bed, but never sleeps? The answer is: a river.
However, it is very important to note that informal

DEFINITION
logic can also be very ineective, because it leaves
Cognitive bias is a term from
cognitive science that refers to the the thinker vulnerable to cognitive bias. More for-
ways in which our thinking can mal forms of logic oer a very stable position from
be routinely distorted, and lead which to evaluate the world, as well as beautifully
us to erroneous conclusions and clear and nal answers. Informal logic, while gen-
decisions. erative, is both messier and more subject to error.
One example of a cognitive bias would be something called anchoring. It is our ten-
dency to focus on one attribute when making a decision, to the exclusion of others
that may be just as important. An example would be if you were so intent on choosing
a desk for your room based upon the number of drawers it contained, you did not
nd out whether the desk would t through the doorway.
Or, another cognitive bias would be if one were to assume that wearing the color
black is universal to persons who are in mourning. This is called cultural bias; in
some cultures, the color to wear, while in mourning, would be white.
Critical thinking is related to informal logic. The element that distinguishes critical
thinking is that it is a mode of thinking that serves the purpose of helping the thinker
to self-regulate against cognitive bias. Although there are many ways that people
dene the phrase, for the purpose of this book, the following denition will apply:
Critical Thinking: Remaining conscious of the limitations and potentialities of

ones own thinking.
Or, as Richard Paul and Linda Elder dene critical thinking, it is: that mode of
thinkingabout any subject, content, or problemin which the thinker...takes
charge of the structures inherent in thinking, and imposes intellectual standards
upon them (4).
22 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_02.indd 22 04/11/10 1:21 AM

It is very important to understand the specic function of critical thinking. If critical
thinking is confused with logic, or with analysis, one can miss the role that critical
thinking plays in academic writing.
When people talk about thinking outside the box, what they seem to mean is
that one should try to imagine possibilities outside of the structure of the waythat
a given issue is typically understood. This requires an intellectual capacity that
seems to be missing from formal logic, yet is also much less reliable. It helps
to understand critical thinking as a way to remain alert to the nature of those
thingsthat inhibit clear thinking in informal logic, while retaining the possibilities
it provides.
If the Box represents the limitations and possibilities inherent to the way in which
we commonly think through problems, then:
Critical Thinking is not about thinking Outside of the Box
Critical Thinking is about thinking about the Box, itself.
3 critical thinking and academic writing
I write to discover what I think

Joan Didion
I f you think of the academy not as a single university, but as all the universities
and places of learning, across the world, put together, you would start o with a
collection of things and people: scholars; students; buildings; classrooms; etc.
Chapter_02.indd 23 04/11/10 1:21 AM

However, the academy is also something else: its an ongoing conversation
concerning all of the knowledge, in any discipline, that we have accumulated up to
this point, in our history. That conversation happens in classrooms, in oces, in
conferences, and in publication. However, the place it happens the most is in writing.
A physicist writes. An economist writes. A psychologist writes. A biologist writes.
An astromer writes. This writing continues, and the conversation continues. With
few exceptions, the primary activity, within the academy, is writing.
Sometimes this knowledge produces things: cures for diseases, new computer pro-
grams, more sophisticated technologiesbut before those things are produced,
they are written and shared with others in the eld. Whether the thing is made,
or not, it is the idea that is treated as property. Thats why, at universities, people
refer to intellectual propertyand that property is claimed, and held, through
academic publication.
Critical thinking serves a lot of purposes, but its

DEFINITION
main purpose is not directly involved with mak-
Ideology is a shared worldview
that gives order or structure or ing arguments. It operates in the background of
meaning based upon assump- arguments, encouraging the thinker to pay atten-
tions that individuals get from tion to the social, ideological, epistemological,
participation in particular social and historical forces that operate, often invis-
groups, and that are usually held ibly, all around us. These forces shape how we
in common by persons within
understand such things as other people, objects,
that group. An example of ideol-
ogy, in the United States, would issues, the world, institutions, language, and
be certain common ideas about ourselves. In other words, they are the things
individuality that shape much of that help to form the box that tends to structure
how people perceive themselves, our thinking.
others, society, and politics.
Epistemology is a branch of In relationship to this conversation, critical think-
knowledge that studies the ing and writing operate in a specic kind of rela-
nature, origin, and limitations of tionship. While it may sound strange, critical
human knowledge, itself, and the thinking functions not to answer a question, but
various ways in which we come to
to answer to the way you are asking a question.
that knowledge.
Critical thinking is about the very act of inquiry.
Its about being curious about everyday things,
forming questions to which we do not yet have answers, and staying honest in trying
to answer those questions. It is about taking nothing for granted. Its about regu-
lating our own thought processes, so that we proceed in a way that is sound and
ethical. Critical thinking is, in essence, about cultivating a kind of active and careful
curiosity.
24 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_02.indd 24 04/11/10 1:21 AM

4 why is critical thinking important?
I dont pretend we have all the answers. But the questions

are certainly worth thinking about.
Arthur C. Clarke
W hy is critical thinking important? It is important because how we ask a

questionplays a very important role in the answers at which we arrive.
Think of it this way:
Imagine a plant on a hillside. There is a lot of knowledge that could be produced by

studying this plant, and by asking dierent questions.
We could examine its cellular structure. We could determine its

place in the taxonomy of other plants. We could discover its poten-
tial medicinal value. We could track the history of its migration.
Wecould determine its life cycle. We could look up its Latin name.
We could conduct research to see if it plays a role in any ancient
myths. We could determine its role within the local ecology, etc.
For each way in which we ask a dierent question of that plant, we
would get a dierent answer.
Even if we put all of those questions and answers

DEFINITION
together, we still wouldnt know everything about
Existent refers to the simple
that plant. That is because the plant is what is stateof being of a thing,
called existent. In the end, it does not matter how beyond the knowledge that we
many ways we measure it, or how many other produce about that thing, or our
kinds of things to which it is compared: the plant experience of it.
simply is what it is. It might be a dicult notion to
wrap ones head around, but being and knowledge
are simply not the same things.
That does not mean that truth is relative, or that we cant say something important,
useful, and accurate about the plant. We can produce knowledge about it; we can be
right, or wrong, in the knowledge that we produce.
Rather, it is that we have dierent structures for determining what is true. Producing
knowledge is often systematic. We compare things according to criteria that are
already established. We process an object that we nd, in the world (e.g.: Milkweed),
through a system that is designed to produce answers (e.g.: Botany-the study of
Chapter_02.indd 25 04/11/10 1:21 AM

plants), and get a variation of the same answer that we receive when we run a dierent
object (e.g.: Chrysanthemum) through that system. In doing so, we generate catego-
ries and taxonomies, and we understand things better.
We can ask the same question of dierent objects, or we can ask dierent questions
of the same object.
In other words, the questions that we ask, and how we ask them, and why we ask
them, play an important part in determining the answers we receive. We like to orga-
nize the world, and that requires repeating the same questions, in the same way, of
similar objects.
Critical thinking is about paying attention to the
DEFINITION
way that we think when we ask these questions and
There is a great deal of
disagreement regarding the get our answers, including what were taking for
meaning of the phrase discursive grantedsuch as the notion that Latin and plants
practice, but in this context it are related, or how we would dene a myth. Most
means: The various rules that of all, it is a way to understand how our discursive
determine the possibilities of the
practices aect our view of the signicance of that
production of knowledge about
knowledge. All skilled academic thinkers and writ-
objects, people, or ideas.
ers pay close attention to critical thinking. People
are not quality thinkers just because they nd
answers; they are quality thinkers because they remain mindful of the way in which
they are asking questions.
Thats why the history of ideas is not just a history of the steadily growing accumu-
lation of answers to which we have arrived. It is also a history of the ever-changing
ways that our questions have limited, or expanded, the range of the answers that it is
possible for us to receive.
The tricky thing about critical thinking is accepting that it is not about answers, but
rather the way that we get to them. Critical thinking is an ongoing, self-corrective
habit-of-mind that helps academic writers to understand how thinking is structured,
the elements that inuence the way that we think, how those inuences can bias our
thinking, how to guard against those biases, and the strengths and limitations of the
language we use to express those thoughts.
In relationship to writing, critical thinkers raise vital questions, formulate them in

language that is precise and clear, identify any assumptions made in asking the ques-
tion, adjust when encountering valid points that contradict expectations, and remain
rigorously honest. Writers who engage in critical writing do that, on paper, for a
reader. Thats what academic writing is supposed to do.
26 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_02.indd 26 04/11/10 1:21 AM

5 the role of curiosity
Curiosity has its own reason for existence. The important thing
is not to stopquestioning.
Albert Einstein
F or a moment, imagine that academic writing is like a popular Hollywood lm.

In the beginning, the lm establishes a situation that is basically stable. Life
is just kind of going along, as it tends to do. Then, something changes. Conict is
introducedsomeone has a ght, an airplane has mechanical diculties, or a villain
plots the end of civilization-as-we-know-it.
This conict leads to a feeling of unease or tension in the audience, which triggers the
desire for resolution of the conict. Desire for resolution compels the main character/s
to action that will lead to the resolution of the conict. Thats why you can often think
of characters within lms less as people than as functions: an element that serves a
specic purpose. For example, the function of a vil-
lain is the same as the function of a natural disaster: DEFINITION
to compel the hero to action. Thats the basic arc of In Narrative Theory, when conict
popular Hollywood lm. This desire to resolve the is introduced in a story, the
conict and reach resolution, whether it occurs in resulting desire, on the part of the
a lm, or in a novel, (or anything with a narrative), audience, to see resolution of that
is called Narrative Drive. conict, is called Narrative Drive.
So, too, in academic writing, all knowledge begins in a settled statein textbooks,
and in lecture halls, and in practice, people teach about, and act upon, what we know.
Then, something changes: a question arises, or something doesnt seem right, or
doesnt make sense, or perplexes us.
We can only begin to write when conict is introduced. This conict leads to tension
on the part of the writer, which leads to the desire for resolution of the conict.
Wehave a name for the drive to resolve the conict that questions produce.
Its called curiosity.
People who write academically tend to value curiositynot just in the intellectual
sense, but also as a part of the emotional satisfaction of nding the means to answer
a question. In other words, people often nd thinkingnot just memorization, but
actually thinking through somethingpleasurable.
Chapter_02.indd 27 04/11/10 1:21 AM

This means that, in order to begin, an academic writer does not need a thesis to
defend. Without conict, or a question, theres no answer to defendeverything has
been questioned and answered, already. Rather, an academic writer needs a question
about which to get curious.
Until a writer has a question, a writer cannot really begin eective analysis. Until a
writer performs eective analysis, the writer cannot really oer valid conclusions
based upon that analysis. Until the writer can oer valid conclusions, the writer
cannot produce a thesis, or answer, to the initial question.
6 the (provisional) case against the prompt
I would rather have a writing instrument [that was] bent and dull, and know
I had to put it on the grindstone, and hammer it into shape, and know I had
something to write about, than to have it bright and shining and nothing to say.
Ernest Hemingway
S ometimes, instruction that is oered in textbooks, or classrooms, or even test

situations, will attempt to stimulate curiosity in students by providing what
are called writing prompts. Writing prompts are almost always in the form of a
question, usually related to a source of some kind, such as a reading.
Asking questions is an important part of learning, and examples of good questions

do serve an important purpose. In learning specialized knowledge, it can be essential.
However, learning to ask good questions is also an important part of learning, and
is vital to critical thinking. Writing prompts often tend to limit that learning, in the
following ways:
Answering a prompt usually triggers learned behavior in the student that
results in a relationship to writing that is more like: What answer does this
instructor want? than What can be said, in truth, about this question?
Composing a critical question is itself a process that teaches critical thinking.
An independent critical question is far more likely to activate curiosity, for a

writer. Therefore, an independent question is more likely to help the writer to
perceive the resulting answer as something for which he or she is responsible.
28 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_02.indd 28 04/11/10 1:21 AM

Control over the way a question is posed helps to determine the possible
answers. New questions produce new answers. In this case, students partici-
pate in the conversation, instead of simply listening in to the record of a
conversation that has already taken place.
It is also understandable that instructors would tend to want to retain control over
the questions upon which students will write. Instructors usually want to be helpful,
and it is often helpful to provide models of questions that are worth asking. At the
same time, education is, in part, learning to pay attention to thinking, and a part of
that is learning the nature of how to question eectively. Learning to question eec-
tively means getting a solid foundation in recognizing those elements that tend to
create bias in our thinking.
Cognitive bias simply means that our thinking has, in some way, been hindered by
those elements of thought that distort reasoning. Such distortions can aect not only
the conclusions that people produce, but also the way that people form questions.
Questions formed with cognitive bias will typically result in conclusions that repro-
duce that cognitive bias.
For example, the type of questions that would probably result in cognitive bias would
include, but not be limited to, those that exhibit:
A. Binary Thinking
B. Speaking for others
C. Generalizations
D. Opinion
E. Projecting into the future
F. Lack of specicity
G. Reporting on existing knowledge

As an exercise, circle the kinds of bias that you judge the following questions pro-
duce, from the list above. There may be more than one answer; choose the best one.
There is an answer key at the end of this section.
1. Why do we get angry? ABCDEFG
2. When should people get married? ABCDEFG
3. Who invented the light bulb? ABCDEFG
Chapter_02.indd 29 04/11/10 1:21 AM

4. What will society look like in fty years? ABCDEFG
5. Why do men like sports? ABCDEFG
6. What is the meaning of life? ABCDEFG
7. Is poverty based on circumstances or behavior? ABCDEFG
Learning about these issues not only claries academic inquiry, but also oers the
opportunity to understand what causes bias, and to recognize it in future writing and
thinking.
Answer Key: 1-B; 2-D; 3-G; 4-E; 5-C; 6-F; 7-A
7 writing is risky business
A writer is a person for whom writing is more dicult

than it is for otherpeople.
Thomas Mann
T he rst step to academic writing is nding a reason to write, which means nding
a question about which to get curious. Since critical thinking is designed to help
thinkers to be aware of the way that they think things through, a critical question
would be designed to guide the student away from questions that would produce
cognitive bias. In this way, a critical question is not a set of rules but a learning tool
a guide to help a writer to avoid bias, but also to understand what constitutes a ques-
tion that will yield further thinking. That doesnt mean its easy.
A lot of writing involves risk. First of all, in no other area, except perhaps in speak-
ing, do we reveal more of ourselves, to others, than when we commit words to paper.
People judge us based upon our writingnot just in classrooms, but in other places
in which we produce it. We invest in our writing, because when we write, we invite
others into our worldview.
Academic writing is especially risky, not only because we are actually evaluated on our
eorts, but also because quality academic writing begins in a state of curiosity, and
curiosity means you dont know something. Curiosity is a kind of alert uncertainty
that remains open to possibilities. This state of uncertainty can be uncomfortable,
30 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_02.indd 30 04/11/10 1:21 AM

as one student reected in a response to the assignment of coming up with a critical
question:
Imagine sitting nervously in your rst ever college writing class, fresh
out of high school, and foreign to university-level teaching. Your profes-
sor begins to talk about your rst ever homework assignment, one that
will be due at the beginning of the next class. As she rst presents the
assignment it seems as though it will be a simple task that should take
no longer than ten or fteen minutes, but as she goes into greater detail,
suddenly a challenge arises. The task is to come up with a critical ques-
tion, which is dened by a certain criteria. Suddenly the ten or fteen
minutes that you planned on spending to come up with this question
seems like an endless search for the perfect question, one that will yield
intellectual thought, and a good grade, as well.
This was the exact situation that I found myself in, just a few weeks ago.
The assignment ustered me so much that I came to the next class with
noquestion written down, and not even the slightest clue of what my poten-
tial question would be. I began to think about this process of coming up
with a question, and I asked myself: Just what is it that makes this assign-
ment so dicult? The question in itself t the criteria of a critical question.1
This students response is understandable. It bad enough not to know the answer,
but it is even more unsettling not to know the question. In much of our understand-
ing of what it is to be in a classroom, students who display this level of ignorance are
usually students who are doing poorly. However, if a writer already knows the answer
before writing, unless the writer does a great deal of pre-writing, its very likely that
everyone else knows the answer, too.
In academic writing, this initial state of uncertainty is necessary. Writing is a unique

activity that requires investment, and investment involves putting something on the
line, in order to get something back. Richard E. Miller calls this initial state of uncer-
tainty one of discontinuity:
Typically, a positiona thesis or argumentwill remain fairly vague

until we have done a great deal of preliminary writing. Discontinuities
lead us to search for a shared horizon, and from this shared horizon our
own questions come. Then, provided we are willing to push far enough,
a coherent position begins to emerge, not all at once in a grand vision
1
Matthew Townsend, Writing 1 Fall 2007. UCSB.
Chapter_02.indd 31 04/11/10 1:21 AM

but cumulatively, with one insight building on the next. At some point,
all these insights begin to cohere, we recognize the directions of our
thoughts, a direction that writing itself has revealed. We write and then
we see where our writing has taken us. Only then are we in a position
to convey our discoveries to others in a well-crafted presentation. (xvii)
In other words, theres no way to oer students a pre-mixed formula for thinking,
and writing is linked to thinking. An instructor can only endeavor to provide the best
map, the best tools, and the best guard-rail for the tricky bits. The critical question
is the rst step.
When asked to come up with a critical question, students often feel daunted, because
they know that there is specialized knowledge out there that people have been study-
ing for years. For example, a writer would need specialized knowledge within a given
eld to ask the question:
If the Second Law of Thermodynamics introduces the concept of fric-

tion, to what degree would reducing the relative mass of an object
decrease entropic forces?
or
How does the pictographic quality of sign language usage impact upon
Ferdinand de Saussures rejection of the onomatopoeic quality of words
in his postulation of the arbitrariness of the sign?
No doubt about itacademics get interested in strange topics. However, the thing
that divides students from scholars is not class standing (freshmen vs. senior, or
undergraduate vs. graduate student), or even whether a writer has, or doesnt have,
an advanced degree.
Rather, it is that students tend to assume that all the answers are already out there.
Inother words, they assume that the conversation is over, and theyre just showing up
to listen in to the record. Scholars tend to know that the conversation is still open,
and any good question can lead to a new way of looking at something, and therefore
can produce new knowledge in any given eld.
Specialized knowledge gives a writer an edge, because the writer knows the termi-
nology, and can move condently through the writing that has been done in that
eld, by other thinkers. However, nobody can write critically merely based upon the
accumulation of specialized knowledge, because he or she would merely be repeat-
ing known information. A person with specialized knowledge, but without curiosity,
32 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_02.indd 32 04/11/10 1:21 AM

or the ability to make critical leaps between kinds of information, cannot create new
knowledge. He or she is merely a walking encyclopedia. We have computers and
libraries for that kind of storage.
A person who is curious, but who may not yet have a huge amount of specialized
knowledge, has all the makings of a critical writer. A writer does not have to have a
Mathematics Ph.D. to wonder about the paradox of the concept of zero. A writer does
not have to have a Sociolinguistics Ph.D. to wonder how and why the word ghetto
has moved from a noun to an adjective. A writer does not have to have a Ph.D. in
Political Science or Geography to wonder about how topography aects politics in
the Middle East. A writer does not have to have a Ph.D. in Media Studies to wonder
how and why television animation has moved from childrens entertainment to adult
social satire. A writer does not have to have a Ph.D. in Anthropology to wonder how
the Internet has changed how we think about our identities within groups.
In responding to the diculty in producing a critical question, this student illus-

trated one of the benets of the critical question. He became genuinely curious about
why coming up with a critical question was so dicult, and concluded his response,
at the end of the course, with a level of honesty in his writing that was missing from
what he initially perceived as a copout for the work:
When the time came for me to present my critical question, I received

laughs for questioning the actual assignment in itself. I, myself, did
not see the question as being a very good one until I began writing the
actual paper.
However, I was able to understand for myself a question that at rst did
not make sense to me. Through analyzing the idea of critical thinking
and critical questions, I was able to attain this skill for myself, and gain a
better understanding of why it can be dicult for people to do.
By no means is thinking critically easy to do, and it is, from my own

experience, one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. It involves
a long thought process that not only challenges an individual to see the
other side of an argument, but to question assumptions and beliefs.
Critical thinking is not just an approach to nding answers to dicult
questions, but also a method of retaining ones individuality.
The last statement in this response not only demonstrates the way in which this student
answered the question, but the manner in which his exploration of the issue extended
his own understanding of his role as a student in the university, as a participant.
Chapter_02.indd 33 04/11/10 1:21 AM

The purpose of this book is, in part, to help you to rehearse how you would work
from a question, through an analysis, to an answer, on paper, for a reader. This pro-
cess provides generalized skills that are applicable in both the public and private sec-
tor, in all academic elds of specialization, as well as in professional life.
The more you look at the world critically, the more you will notice; the more you
notice, the more you will question what you see; the more you question what you
see, the better you will become at producing answers about the world, and join in the
conversation that furthers our knowledge of it.
In other words, if you can do it here, you can do it there.
8 review
CHAPTER REVIEW
The information to take from this chapter is that there are dierent ways of creating
knowledge. The questions that we ask help, in part, to determine the answers that
we receive. Critical thinking is not about generating answers. Rather, its about pay-
ing attention to the way in which one questions in order to get to an answer. Doing
so requires intellectual self-regulation, which can become a habit-of-mind that one
develops, and that can be applied to other contexts.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
Signal Phrase
A signal phrase is a way for you to indicate the person/s from whom you are quoting,
instead of just putting that persons name in a citation or footnote. Its often required,
and even if it was not, its the polite thing to do. Your reader will appreciate it, because
she or he may recognize the name of the other writer, and better understand your use
of the quotation.
VOCABULARY REVIEW
cognitive bias
From cognitive science, refers to the many ways in which our chain of thinking can
become awed, and lead to erroneous conclusions, actions, and decisions
34 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_02.indd 34 04/11/10 1:21 AM

ideology
This is a dicult term that is used in a variety of ways in dierent disciplines and by
dierent theorists. For our purposes, it indicates the shared worldview that gives
order or structure or meaning to the communication in which we engage, because
we share a common social group or a common language. This ideology is often a
source of cognitive bias
epistemology
Closely related to critical thinking, refers to a branch of knowledge that studies
knowledge itself: the history of knowledge, how we produce it, what pressures
to which it is subject, who has control over that production, and how it aects
peoples perceptions over time
existent
From philosophy, this simply means that producing knowledge is a human activity
the real world doesnt particularly care, nor is it aected, except to the degree that
we apply that knowledge (e.g.: the production of fossil fuels). In otherwords, we
are the ones who wonder, and experience, and speculate, and question. In doing so,
we engage in an activity alongside the world, not with it. We record ourmeans of
understanding and experiencing the world. We do not record the world, itself
narrative drive
One of the strange things about people is our ability to get excited about things
that not only dont exist, but that we know dont existlike ctional characters.
People love them, or hate them, or cheer for them, or mourn for them
Our ability to do so has to do with empathy and imagination. Empathy is the ability
to imagine oneself in the position of another, and feel emotionally invested. Its an
important part of being human. If one couldnt empathize, one not only wouldnt
care if Romeo jumped o a cli in the middle of the play, one probably wouldnt
care if a real person jumped o of a cli
A good portion of the human brain is devoted to empathythats why people are
social. Thats also why people without empathy are called sociopaths
Narrative drive is the emotion we experience when our empathy is engaged
through a process of plot production, which involves putting someone or
something (a person, a character, a country, an animal, a treewere pretty
versatile) into conict, and then briey withholding the resolution of that conict
Thats what gets us to the theater, to the sports arena, and to the newscast
Chapter_02.indd 35 04/11/10 1:21 AM

9 The critical Question
STEP 1: CRITICAL QUESTION GUIDE
For the rst step, write a Critical Question:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Make sure that this question follows the eight critical question guidelines listed
below. Check each one. If the question does not t a guideline, nd a way to revise it,
or choose a new question.
Guideline True
1. The question is not a question that can be answered by yes or no ____
2. The question does not have the word should, nor is it phrased as a
should question ____
3. The question may be one around which you have some ideas, but it is
not a question to which you already have the answer ____
4. The question is not a question that someone else has already answered
in the same way, or that requires extensive secondary sources, or an
advanced degree, to answer ____
5. The question does not require you to generalize groups of people, as in
Men like sports ____
6. The question does not require you to speak for others. A good way to
check this is to ask yourself if the only reasonable answer is: It depends
upon whom you ask ____
7. The question should be as specic as you can make it, because general
questions such as What is the meaning of life? would probably not be
something you could answer comprehensively within the length of an
essay ____
8. The question should not require you to imagine future events ____
36 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_02.indd 36 04/11/10 1:21 AM

SAMPLE CRITICAL QUESTIONS
How is fashion a medium of communication?
How have two political parties in the United States generated packaged
values?
What is the tension between truth, falsehood, and art, in photography?
How do public spaces structure human experience?

What determines the details that are left out of a given historical narrative?
What kind of identity stakes are involved in online gaming?
What are the consequences of the new positioning of the university as a transi-
tion between high school and work?
How has the web changed the possibilities for accessing, owning, and exchang-
ing information?
What are the similarities and dierences between health, tness, and beauty?
How did the culture wars change the face of democracy and debate in U.S.
discourse?
In what ways has the image of the vampire in popular culture become roman-
tic, moving into the teen-pic ick genre?
How much of human perceptual experience is attention-based, and how much
is spent in a state of distraction?
What is the history of persuasive strategies used within the anti-drug cam-
paign in the United States?
How do theme parks structure experience, and what message does that experi-
ence provide?
When a celebritys life is given the status of real news, what does this say
about a kind of national gossip?
What is the current popular image of Christianity in the U.S.?
In what way is there a double standard for male and female promiscuity?
Chapter_02.indd 37 04/11/10 1:21 AM

How does the image of American individuality conict with action directed
toward the common good?
How are new forms of political expression used for prot, and then exhausted?
What is the nature of the fans fanatical investment in sports in the U.S.?
How do styles of music generate social groupings and self-identity?
What is behind various representations of the end-of-the-world, from Y2K

to 2012?
What appeals do recruitment posters, for dierent branches of the military,
make in the United States?
To what degree is our identity shaped by the roles that we play?
What is the role of metaphor, illustration, and/or photography in scientic or

legal or historical discourse?
What is the shift, in sports, between direct engagement in the activity, and
spectatorship?
What is the nature of the division between logic and faith, and what role might
faith play in logic, and logic in faith?
In what ways is multiculturalism a description of American culture, and in
what ways is it a description of an individuals experience within that culture?
Why do our love stories in popular lm often end at the altar?
Why are toys often gendered, and what does this say about the training of
people in regard to gender roles?
What factors go into determining the gender/age of a given voiceover for a
product in a TV commercial?
38 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_02.indd 38 04/11/10 1:21 AM

Chapter 3
Questions in context
1 REVISING FIVE WRITING RULES ............................................................ 40
2 REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3 THE QUESTION MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
THREE PARTS TO THE QUESTION MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
EXAMPLE QUESTION MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
STEP 2 THE QUESTION MAP GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
39
Chapter_03.indd 39 27/10/10 5:28 PM

I dont know what you mean by glory, Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. Of course you donttill I tell you.

Imeant theres a nice knock-down argument for you!
But glory doesnt mean a nice knock-down argument, Alice objected.
When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, it means
just what I choose it to meanneither more nor less.
The question is, said Alice, whether you can make words mean so many dierent
things.
The question is, said Humpty Dumpty, which is to be masterthats all.

Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There
1 revising ve writing rules
Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge

Kahlil Gibran
G eneral writing rules are often designed to accompany a formula for writing the
essay. In this section, you will have the opportunity to examine ve typical writ-
ing rules, how they are designed to help, and how they might be reoriented toward
developing skills toward critical thinking and writing.
Students are often told that academic writing:
Is for the purpose of winning an argument

Is where one should express ones opinion
Involves agreeing or disagreeing on a topic
Involves the writer choosing a topic of interest
Tells the reader what we should do
40 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_03.indd 40 27/10/10 5:28 PM

In relationship to academic writing, these directions are like having assembly
instructions that are almost helpful, yet somehow t neither the parts provided, nor
the nature of the nal product. Each rule forces the writer to think a certain way, and
therefore to write a certain way. It is helpful to examine the way in which these rules
constrain the possibility of the way that writers think through a given issue, and to
examine how to revise the rule so that writers can work through a question in the
process of academic inquiry.
THE PURPOSE OF ACADEMIC WRITING IS TO WIN AN ARGUMENT
The idea that, in a paper, one is to argue that one is right, at all costs, is based upon a
model of adversarial debate. While academic writers often respond to other writers, an
academic article is not an editorial or a speech, and rarely adopts an adversarial tone. As
such, there are several ways in which this rule gets in the way of quality academic prose:
Writers become more concerned with defense of a statement than curiosity

about what is so
Writers tend to ignore any information that does not support winning the
argument, which impedes honesty
Writers will tend to polarize a complex issue in order to take a side
When you write in academics, you have an obligation to your reader to be honest, and
to fully explore an idea. There is a dierence between winning or losing an argument,
and persuading an audience through honest inquiry.
Most readers can sense very quickly if a writer is more invested in being right than
in telling the truth. Readers are persuaded by writers:
Who are invested, but reasonable
Who are careful and honest
Who are fair, and look at all sides to an issue
Who take other points of view into account
Who endeavor to be of service to their readers
In other words, readers are best served by writers who can be trusted not to sacrice
intellectual and personal integrity for the sake of winning a one-sided argument on
paper, just to prove that he or she can do so.
SECTION I CHAPTER 3 Questions in Context 41
Chapter_03.indd 41 27/10/10 5:28 PM

One of the most important features of academic writing is an attitude of genuine
curiosity that demands that you take your own writing seriously. This means taking
responsibility for the ethical dimension of writing: the responsibility, to yourself, and
to your reader, to tell the truth, and to get to the heart of the matter at hand, without
bias or agenda.
Unfortunately, the word argument often gives the wrong impression. The word
argument is not a poor description for what one does in academic writing, if one
denes it. However, in modern day language, an argument sounds like a ght. It
sounds like competition. One ghts, and one ghts to win.
However, the word argument, in this case, refers to a logical progression of ideas
that invests in the truth of a matter as opposed to winning. One does not persuade
by battering the opposition. One persuades by demonstrating that one is a reasonable
person. Persuasion is usually not the result of winning, but the result of the reader,
in encountering the writers prose, coming to trust in this attitude of honesty on the
part of the writer.
Old Rule: The purpose of academic writing is to win an argument
New Rule: The purpose of academic writing is to be honest, and to determine

the truth the best that you can.
ACADEMIC WRITING IS THE PLACE TO EXPRESS YOUR OPINION
Encouraging students to write about their opinions is, quite frankly, careless, and
probably stems from the underestimation of young peoples ability to think eectively,
or to have something of value to say. Critical thinking, or critical writing, is never the
place for opinion.
Yet it is also entirely understandable to ask how one can tell the dierence between
when something is an opinion and when its a valid point. After all, most of us think
that our opinions are pretty reasonable.
To answer, one can employ a Dictionary Denition, which should be familiar.

Adictionary denition is useful for pointing out the general meaning of a term, when
that meaning is often misunderstood or confused. The Oxford English Dictionary
oers the following denition for opinion:
opinion: 1) a belief or assessment based on grounds failing to reach or amount to

reasonable proof.
42 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_03.indd 42 27/10/10 5:28 PM

In other words, an opinion is distinguished from other kinds of statements precisely
because:
The statement can be argued, but is never held to any standard that would
establish its truth or accuracy
The statement may be commonly believed, but it is not a statement that is

based upon fact, reasoning, logic, or established knowledge
If a statement ts the above, it is an opinion. One can argue it, but in doing so, one
must remember that one is arguing something that, to qualify as an opinion:
has no proof or sound reasoning to back it up
contradicts existing proof or sound reasoning
is based upon personal preference, or taste
Again, this is where a misunderstanding of the term argument makes things confus-
ing. Just because it is possible to argue for ones opinion, this does not make it appropri-
ate material for academic writing. Opinion and belief have no place in academic writing.
Its not that every opinion is wrong; it is that, to qualify as an opinion, the statement
cannot allow us to reliably determine whether it is true or valid by using formal or
informal logic.
We argue our opinions all the time. People can hold long debates over whether a
hard or a soft mattress is more comfortable. People have conspiracy theories. People
hold views on politics, religion, morality, and whether one sports team is better than
another sports team.
The attempt to write academically based on an opinion almost always gets an

academic writer into troublenot only because what he or she writes is not logically
defensible, but because it can very quickly cross genres and become an editorial.
Reasoning from opinion usually results in faulty

DEFINITION
reasoning. In rhetoric, faulty reasoning is called
A fallacy is an unsound or unfair
afallacy. way to present ones thinking,
and usually represents either an
For example:
error in reasoning (a cognitive
1. One could hold the opinion that wearing a bias), or a deliberate attempt to
obscure ones meaning in order to
lucky bracelet will cause one to do well on
persuade through unfair means.
a test.
Chapter_03.indd 43 27/10/10 5:28 PM

One could even argue: I wore my lucky bracelet, and then I did well on
the test.
This is a fallacy called False Cause. False Cause makes it look like there
is a relationship between a cause and an eect, even when there is not
a logical relationship. In other words, just because there is an eect
(doing well on the test) does not mean that you have established the
cause (wearing the bracelet). Maybe you got lucky. Maybe you studied.
Maybe the test was easy.
Another famous example of false cause would be: The rooster crows
at sunrise. Therefore, the rooster causes the sun to rise.
2. One could hold the opinion that aliens have taken over the government.
One could even argue: Anybody who thinks aliens havent taken over
the government is nave.
This fallacy is called an ad hominim attack. In an ad hominim attack,

one ignores the issue at hand, and, instead, launches a personal attack
against any person holding an alternative view.
Another example of ad hominim attack would be: You may have a

point, but woahis that tie ugly!
3. One can hold the opinion that Titanic (1997) was a great lm.
One could even argue: Women love the lm Titanic
This fallacy is called Hasty Generalization. In Hasty Generalization,

almost any opinion can appear to be supported if a person makes a
general statement meant to speak for everyone, (or a group of people).
Thus, we could say that, even though Titanic is the type of lm that,
in American culture, is supposed to appeal to women, the plain fact is
that not every woman loved (or, indeed, even viewed) the lm, and one
could probably nd a female who saw the lm, and couldnt wait for the
ship to go down.
Another example of Hasty Generalization would be: Men want their

sons to grow up to be baseball players. This is false. Some men dont
care for sports. Some men would rather their sons grew up to be doctors
or lawyers. Some men are not very concerned with their sons eventual
employment. Some men are not fathers. Some men would rather their
44 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_03.indd 44 27/10/10 5:28 PM

sons grew up to be football players. Some men live in countries where
the sport is not even played.
Trying to oer legitimate support for an opinion is inevitably frustrating, because
opinions, by denition, dont require proofthats why theyre opinions.
Opinions are almost never reasoned responses. Some have to do with personal taste
(I like blue). Some have to do with our personal beliefs or values. Some are the
product of conventional wisdomhidden cultural assumptions that one acquires
by sharing a common culture or language with others, even if one is not aware of
those hidden assumptions. At times, one can make a conscious assumption, such as
a proposition (e.g.: let x=2), but it is the unconscious ones that are at issue, here.
Assumptions can hide in a lot of places. In fact, theyre impossible to avoid. Behind
all of our statements, and questions, are a series of assumptions. Often these assump-
tions are totally true, quite simple, and very obvious:
Request: Tomorrow, when you go to the store, would you pick up
somemilk?
Assumptions: There will be a tomorrow; you will be alive; the store will be open;
the store will have milk; you know that when I say pick up some
milk I do not mean that you should look for some on the ground,
or that you should steal it, but that you should purchase it with
money; the store will be willing to sell you the milk for money; you
will have money to buy the milk; you will bring the milk back, and
not drink it along the way; etc.
These assumptions are simple common sense; we cant go around questioning basic
reality every time we ask a question or make a statement. Weve simply got to have
some kind of mutual agreements, that are unspoken, and that we all get.
The problem is that sometimes we get unspoken assumptions that have less to do
with reality-as-we-know-it (tomorrow will come), and more to do with ideology.
Sometimes we dont question the information that we absorb through social, cul-
tural, familial, educational, and popular culture sources.
There is a riddle that illustrates hidden cultural assumptions quite eectively. If youve
already heard it, then youll get the reference. If you dont know the answer, notice
how much time it takes for you to come up with the answer, before looking:
A man witnesses his son in a terrible bicycle accident. He scoops up his
boy, puts him in the back of his car, and races to the emergency room.
Chapter_03.indd 45 27/10/10 5:28 PM

As the boy is rolled into surgery, the surgeon cries out in shock: I cant
operate on this boy! Hes my son! How is this possible?1
Argument from opinion can be tempting, because it absolves one from the respon-
sibility of examining ones assumptions. Thats why its very important for one to get
into the habit of avoiding statements that begin with: I believe or In my view
or In my opinion. If the statement is sound, one can just state it.
Listen to the dierence between the following statements:

Statement 1
In my opinion, a free press is essential to a functioning democracy.
Statement 2
A free press is essential to a functioning democracy.
The dierence between the two statements is that Statement 1 does not require any
reasoning to back it upwe all have the right to our opinion, dont we?
On the other hand, Statement 2 requires reasonable justication, such as:
A functioning democracy relies upon citizens being able to access reliable informa-
tion upon which to make informed decisions in order to actively participate in the
political process.
The moment one reads a piece of writing that contains the phrase, In my opinion
or I believe one can assume that the writer is either feeling uncertain about whether
or not the statement is true or valid, and is trying to hide that fact, or the writer would
like to assert a biased point of view, without being obligated to logically justify it.
Old Rule: Academic writing is the place to express your opinion.
New Rule: Academic writing is the place for reasoned exploration of an idea.
ACADEMIC WRITING INVOLVES AGREEING OR

DISAGREEING ON ANISSUE
There are a series of important topics that represent controversial issues within
public discourse in the United States. They include: abortion; gun control; health
care; prayer in schools; the legalization of marijuana; assisted suicide; etc. They are
1
Answer to the riddle: The doctor is the boys mother.
46 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_03.indd 46 27/10/10 5:28 PM

often issues about which people feel very strongly, and unless you have been living
under a rock, you know the list.
Writing can get very personal, especially when a writer feels compelled to write
about something that the writer has experienced personally, or in regard to which
the writer feels a certain call to action.
This is often the case with binary issues. There is no reason not to feel strongly in
regard to such issues. It is rather that academic writing demands a specic response
in regard to those issues that is dierent from opinion writing.
Within public discourse, these kind of issues have been reduced to what is called
a binary, or an either/or argument. One is for-or-against, or one is pro-or-con.
Thus, one is pro-life or pro-choice. One is for, or against, gun control.
No matter how strongly you feel about a given side EVER WONDERED?
of an issue, the act of simply repeating, on paper,
When referring to a general
the same arguments that are usually oered, for
person, a writer can use the
that side, does not in any way constitute criti- phrase he or she or him or
cal thinking, or writing. Your reader has already her. Because it is one or the
heard those arguments. Your reader either doesnt other, such a pronoun is always
agree, or you are preaching to the converted. treated as singular, as in: When
a person blushes, he or she is
While it is true that it is dicult to write on polar- embarrassed. The writer can also
ized issues, this does not mean that they are not use the pronoun one, which
vital issues. Rather, it means that writing upon them is formal, but always refers to
every-single-person. It is always
requires a formidable degree of critical sophistication.
treated as singular: When one
There is a reason for this. Academic writing is logical; blushes, one is embarrassed.
if an issue hasnt yet been reasonably resolved within
public discourse, several things may be going on.
We are missing important information or have not yet asked the right questions
A value system or moral judgment may be the test of truth, as opposed to logic
The issue is complicated, and cannot be resolved by only one of two answers
The impulse to agree or disagree is sometimes a very dicult habit for student writers
to shake, because they have been routinely prompted to take a side on an issue. The
reason students are often encouraged to do so is in order to rehearse rhetorical
strategieswhich, while it may provide instruction in certain stylistic approaches to
persuasion, denies the student the ability to recognize the complexity and real-life
context of important issues that impact upon real people.
Chapter_03.indd 47 27/10/10 5:28 PM

It is possible to write critically on a pro/con issue. However, to do so, one would have
to let go of ones own investment in the issue, and disrupt the opposition itself. This
is the most dicult form of critical thinking. To break a binary, one would have to do
the following steps, in order, within a critical paper:
1. Re-represent the pro side of the argument in a way in which someone who
strongly held that view would nd both reasonable and fair.
2. Re-represent the con side of the argument in a way in which someone who
strongly held that view would nd reasonable and fair.
3. Ask a pertinent critical question of the issue in a way that breaks the binary
in other words, that asks a question in a way that neither side has before, or
discover the single point of contention that prevents this issue from being
logically resolved, and then resolve it.
In most cases, real-life questions are simply not adequately addressed through only
two options.
For example, the answer to the question: Does popular culture create public opin-
ion, or reect public opinion? is, of course: Yes.
Old Rule: Academic writing involves agreeing or disagreeing on a Topic.
New Rule: Academic writing involves recognizing the complexity of an

issue.
ACADEMIC WRITING INVOLVES THE WRITER CHOOSING

A TOPIC OF INTEREST
Writing about what interests you seems so reasonable. Yet it is often a real trap. Theres a
dierence between being curious about something, and having an interest in something.
Imagine having an interest in a businessit means youve got something at stake.
If you feel strongly about womens issues, and you end up writing an emotional rant
about the unfairness of it all, youre caught in this trap. If you lean strongly toward the
left or the right side of the political spectrum, and you end up sputtering indignantly
through an essay, youve fallen into this trap.
Grace Paley once said: You write from what you know, but you write in what you
dont know. If youre interested in something, its probably not only because you
know something about it, but also because you hold an strong position on the matter,
often with a whole lot of emotional baggage attached.
48 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_03.indd 48 27/10/10 5:28 PM

If youre personally invested, its more dicult to step back. The bottom line is: If
youve got some sort of agenda before you begin to write, your ability to examine the
issue in a fair way is already compromised. It is a perfectly understandable for us to be
reluctant to question what we think we already know, or to take an objective stance
on an issue about which we feel strongly.
Old Rule: Academic writing involves the writer choosing a topic of interest.
New Rule: Academic writing involves becoming curious about a question.
THE PURPOSE OF ACADEMIC WRITING IS TO TELL THE READER WHAT WE

SHOULD DO
When we write academically, it is true that we intend to persuade our reader.

However, successful persuasion is actually the result of telling the truth about what
we have found, from a point of curiosity.
Telling a reader that something is so, or telling the reader what to do or think, without
telling the reader why, is just not very persuasive. As a reader, you probably recog-
nize the fact that you would resent such a maneuver, and that you would be much
more likely to become engaged if, upon reading what someone has written, you said
to yourself: That seems reasonable and I never thought about it that way, before.
At that point, the job of the academic writer is done. As for compelling someone to
actiontelling the reader what he or she (or all of us) should think or do, or should
not think or dothat is not our job. In writing, we trust readers to think or act
according to their own judgment.
Old Rule: The purpose of academic writing is to tell the reader what we
should do.
New Rule: The purpose of academic writing is to tell the reader what we
have come to understand.
2 review
CHAPTER REVIEW
The important information to take from this chapter is:
The purpose of academic writing is not to win an argument, but to persuade by being
honest, and determining the truth the best that you can.
Chapter_03.indd 49 27/10/10 5:28 PM

Academic writing is not the place to express opinion, but a place for reasoned
exploration of an idea.
Academic writing does not involve agreeing or disagreeing on a topic, but rather
involves recognizing the complexity of an issue.
Academic writing does not involve choosing to write about what interests you, but
about becoming curious about a question.
The purpose of academic writing is not to tell the reader what we (everyone) should
do, but, rather, what the writer has come to understand.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
Pronoun Usage: Replacing Specic Nouns
A pronoun replaces a noun, such as a person or a thing. If, instead of saying: Clara
hits the ball, one says: She hits it, then Clara and ball have been replaced by the
pronouns She and it.
Singular pronouns replace one unique thing in the world, in a specic context, as in
Clara (she) or that particular ball (it).
Plural pronouns often replace unique groups of things in the world in a specic con-
text, as in The Johnson family has three cars as They have them.
Pronoun Usage: Replacing Non-Specic Noun
The tricky thing is if a pronoun refers to a kind of non-specic every-single-person

(singular) or all-people (plural).
Singular Every-Single-Person
The writer can use the phrase he or she or him or her. Whether one or the
other, the pronoun is always treated as singular, as in:
When a person blushes, he or she is embarrassed.
The writer can also use the pronoun one, which is formal, but always refers
to every-single-person. It is always treated as singular:
When one blushes, one is embarrassed.
Plural All-People
Provided one is not referring to a specic group of people, but just people, in
general, a writer can use the plural. In doing so, the writer should remember
50 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_03.indd 50 27/10/10 5:28 PM

that he or she is, in that moment, speaking for all persons, and make sure that
the statement justies that level of generality, as in:
Its true of all people. When we are embarrassed, we often blush.
THREE COMMON ERRORS
1. Singular to Plural:
If what you are replacing is singular or plural, keep it singular or plural:
When one goes to the store, one shops.
NOT: When one goes to the store, they shop.
2. Pronoun Switching:
If you use a pronoun, keep using that same pronoun for what it replaces, as in:
If one goes online, one can buy almost anything, especially if one has
the money to do so in ones bank account because one was born wealthy.
NOT: If one goes online, he or she can buy almost anything.
3. He for every-single-person.
He can never substitute, by itself, for every-single-person.
One can alternate between the genders as long as it is not confusing to the
reader, as in:
A student studies a great deal. He may stay up all night to read. She
may get up early to write a paper.
One can use the phrase he or she (or she or he), as in:
A student studies a great deal. He or she may stay up all night and
read. She or he may get up early to write a paper.
NOT: A student studies a great deal. He may stay up all night and read. He
may get up early to write a paper.
If you are wondering why this last rule applies, ponder the following statement:
A human is a mammal. He breastfeeds his young.
Chapter_03.indd 51 27/10/10 5:28 PM

3 the question map
O nce you have a critical question, the next step is to prepare for analysis. Analysis
involves breaking the question down into manageable parts that will allow you
to answer the original question, or simply allow you to rene your original question
to one that is more specic.
One can rene a critical question by determining general and specic elements of
that question, outlined in the Question Map Guide that follows. It should both clarify
the complexity of your question, and also oer a specic context in which your ques-
tion operates. Once you have a specic context, you will have the material you need
in order to perform eective analysis.
The Question Map is broken into three steps.
1. Three Parts to the Question Map
2. Example Question Map
3. Step 2: The Question Map Guide
52 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_03.indd 52 27/10/10 5:28 PM

THREE PARTS TO THE QUESTION MAP
STEP 1
In Step 1, gather details by asking: Who? What? Where? How? When? Why? Each of
these could be answered in either a general way, or a specic way. You will need to use
your judgment in formulating them, in sentence form. Each will provide details that
will be separated into General or Specic information.
General details should be given only when the list is too large to give you important
patterns.
Example: What needs air to breath?
Obviously, it would be too much to try to oer a detailed list of living creatures that
need air to breath (e.g.: monkeys, antelope, koala bears, dogs, eagles). Therefore,
your answer would be general in nature.
Answer: In general, living creatures with respiratory systems needair

to breath.
Specic examples should be given whenever possible. Your list should be specic if
there are a variety of possibilities, but it is reasonable to provide a list of them, even
if that list is somewhat incomplete.
Example: What kinds of transportation do people use?
This would be a manageable list of details, and therefore your answer would be specic
in nature. A response that says: In general, people use vehicles for transportation
would not be useful.
Answer: Specically, people use trains, bicycles, airplanes or helicopters,

walking, cars or trucks, rocket ships, boats, wheelchairs, sleds,
horses, and buses, as transportation.
STEP 2
From all questions that you responded to with the words In general construct a
single sentence that describes what you know, in general, about your question.
STEP 3
From all questions that you responded to with the words Specically begin to
combine those details into new patterns to rene your question.
Chapter_03.indd 53 27/10/10 5:28 PM

EXAMPLE QUESTION MAP
Original Critical Question: How has modern technology changed human

interaction?
STEP 1
Gather details in whole sentences. Establish whether they are general or specic
WHOuses modern technology? General
In general: humans in all social contexts, public and private. Corporations, institutions,
public gures, and private citizens, use it, or are subject to having it used, upon them.
WHATtechnology is used? Specic
Specically: computers, cell phones, radar detectors, ATM machines, video games,
televisions, weapons tech, medical tech., satellites, MP3 players, scanners, X-rays,
voting machines, assembly lines, motion sensors, cameras, telescopes, lming
equipment, vehicle technology such as GPS.
WHEREis the technologically used? General
In general: In all social contexts, including the home, workplace, places of business,
schools, hospitals, prisons, places of transit.
HOWis the technology used? Specic

Specically: databases (identication, taxation, immigration, voter registration,
vehicle records, legal records, social security, crime records, medical records,
census, school records, statistical data, market research, property records, credit
records), timecards, scientic and humanities research, entertainment, production
of goods, performance of services, forensic investigation, advertising, voting, testing,
medical assessment and procedures, transportation, accounting, stock trade, news,
art, navigation, polling.
WHENis the technology used? General

In general, in all contexts, when aordable, except as legislation for reasons of: pri-
vacy or ethics.
54 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_03.indd 54 27/10/10 5:28 PM

WHYis this technology used? General
In general, to make ecient the management of systems handling the ow of people,
time, labor, goods, services, information.
STEP 2
In Step 2, use General details to create a single sentence that establishes what you
know, in general, about your question.
Example:
In general, technology: 1) is used by, or used upon, corporations, institutions, public
gures, and private citizens, 2) in all social contexts, including the home, workplace,
places of business, schools, hospitals, prisons, and places of transit; 3) when aord-
able, except as legislated for reason of privacy or ethics, 4) for the purpose of increasing
theeciency of the ow of people, time, labor, goods, services, and/or information.
STEP 3
In Step 3, use Specic details, matching dierent details into patterns in order to form
new questions.
Examples:
In what ways have personal computers aected privacy in the United States?
What role does surveillance play in the life of the average United States citizen?
How does popular culture technology encourage the notion of the average United
States citizen as celebrity, through things such as reality TV or YouTube?
How does the technology in institutions (schools, prisons, hospitals) aid the ow of
people through systems, and what does it say about the individual?
In what ways does the instantaneous quality of communication (e.g.: texting) result
in a shift in the way that time is treated in cultural discourse?
How has the Internet shifted language usage in regard to the perception of space?
If the acquisition of information is no longer a question of access, what other factors

now aect its transmission?
Chapter_03.indd 55 27/10/10 5:28 PM

How does access to technology aect social mobility?
How do virtual selves complicate the division between appearance and personality?
How does the means of communication aect the message that is conveyed?
How has the cellphone changed adolescent/parent relationships in the United States?
What signicance does the keyword play in accessing information?
56 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_03.indd 56 27/10/10 5:28 PM

STEP 2: THE QUESTION MAP GUIDE
STEP 1
In relationship to your question, answer the following, in as much detail as possible.

Indicate whether it is a general or a specic answer:
Who? _________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What? _________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Where? _______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
How? _________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
When? ________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Chapter_03.indd 57 27/10/10 5:28 PM

Why? _________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
STEP 2
From the list in Step 1, being as inclusive as possible, answer the question: What can
I say, IN GENERAL, about this question? In general,__________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
STEP 3
From the list in Step 1, being as inclusive as possible, match specic details to other
specic details to create a new list of related questions:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
58 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_03.indd 58 27/10/10 5:28 PM

Chapter 4
Saying what we mean-meaning
whatwe say
1 WRITING HAS WORDS IN IT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2 LANGUAGE AND ASSOCIATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3 METAPHOR: WORDS ARE SLITHY TOVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4 GUARD RAILS FOR THE TRICKY BITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5 REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6 WAYS TO DEFINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Types of Denitions/Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
STEP 3 WAYS TO DEFINE GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Example Completed Ways to Dene Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
7 THE SHORTCUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
59
Chapter_04.indd 59 11/4/10 1:54 PM

1 writing has words in it
Does it trouble you that

They call what doctors do practice?
People who invest your money are called brokers?
You board an airplane from something called a terminal?
The time when trac is slowest is called rush hour?
To write well is not just about organizing ideas; writing is a product of the use of
language. Exploring the nature of wordswhat they mean, how they mean, why they
mean, and any dierence between those elements and what we intend to say, when
we use themseems like important information to have, when writing.
The fact is, no matter how erudite, nobody knows all the words in a given language.
Nor are all the words in a given language in the dictionary. Language is in use, all
around us, every day. The whole of a language is actually held collectively by all per-
sons who speak it.
We choose which words to speak or write at any given moment. However, our power
over language is limited. Lets say that I were suddenly to decide that I was tired of
using the word door for describing that swinging thing that lets us in and out of
buildings. Lets say that I dislike the word door, and believe that the word snart
would be entirely more pleasant. That does not mean that when I went to work in the
morning, someone would say: Here, let me get that snart for you.
Family members and friends, and even secret soci-

DEFINITION
eties, may have private words they trade with one
vernacular: More than just
another, but it is rare for those words to travel into
language, this term indicates
what is spoken in a given country the general vernacular. When a word does become
or region, as it is used, whether a part of general usage, its origin is often obscured.
proper or not. This is also Who was the rst person to use the word cool to
dierent from dialect, which can mean really good in a particularly new way? It is
indicate a variety of distinct forms almost impossible (unless one is a large corpora-
of that language spoken within a
tion with a talented advertising team) to introduce
given country or region.
a new word into general usage, on purpose.
This means three things. First, language is always changing, but it is also, at any given
moment, complete. Second, people use the words that are available to themif they
want others to understand their meaning. Third, our choicesthe particular words
60 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 60 11/4/10 1:54 PM

we use when we speak or writeprofoundly aect meaning in ways that have nothing
to do with the dictionary denition of the words that we use.
2 language and associates
L anguage is powerful. People are persuaded by language. Religious texts, political

speeches, philosophical treatise, laws, contracts, and constitutions have com-
pelled people to all sorts of actions and beliefs. Despite our protestations that only
sticks and stones have the ability to do so, such things as profanity or racial slurs can
oend or hurt people.
In turn, even how one uses language can reect ones origin, ones class, and ones
level of education. People judge others based upon the way that that they speak. Even
a persons name, which usually wont be found in a typical dictionary, can provide
huge amounts of information to others about a person. Yet, as so many people have
pointed out, these are just words.
One of the things that gets in the way of understanding why these are not just
words is our reliance upon the dictionary to dene what language is, for us. A dic-
tionary gives people the impression that language is merely a bunch of unrelated
words organized in an alphabetical list.
In our use of language, however, it is quite the opposite. All language is what could
be described as associational: each word is linked to words to which it is alike, to
words in which it is in opposition, and to words to which it is in some other kind of
relationship. Those associations are often not so much logical as much as categorical,
or even based simply on how the word sounds. Each word shares a variety of things
in common with other words, and those relationships impact upon the way that we
perceive the world, which is determined, to a large degree, by language.
This is why one could pick practically any word and begin to create an associational
web of related words, even if the relationship has nothing to do with the denition
of the words, themselves. Lets take a simple example: the word boat.
From a dictionary, boat would probably be listed following a word such as boast-
ful, to which it has little relationship besides sharing the rst few letters. The word
boat, in general, would probably be dened as a noun and a verb. It would probably
be described as a man-made means of transportation that travels on the water, that
SECTION I CHAPTER 4 Saying What We Mean-Meaning What We Say 61
Chapter_04.indd 61 11/4/10 1:54 PM

is propelled by sails, or an engine, or oars, and that is somewhat synonymous to such
words as ship.
If one accepts the way that the dictionary structures language, then one can imagine
that boat refers to those objects in the world that t that denition, and leave it at
that. However, its true associational relationships are much more complex than that:
Chips
5
Sad 8 Clown
Fish
3 7
Boat 1 Water 2 Blue

6
4
Yellow
Air 9
Sun
10
Son
Fig. 1: Associational Map
Obviously, this map could get a lot more complex. Even with the simple diagram,
here, if each number represents a certain kind of associational relationship, we could
catalogue them as follows:
1. boat/water: purpose association

A boat travels on water, and not air or land
2. water/blue: cultural association

Water is often represented as blue, and can look blue or green in certain
light, although, unadulterated, it is a clear liquid.
3. water/sh: purpose association

Fish live in water, and not on land or air
4. water/air: categorical association

The four elements: re, air, water, land
62 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 62 11/4/10 1:54 PM

5. sh/chips: cultural association
Fish and Chips is a common food pairing
6. blue/yellow: categorical association

Blue and Yellow are Colors
7. blue/sad: metaphorical association

Blue is Sad
8. sad/clown: cultural association

Clown faces are often painted in a Sad expression
9. yellow/sun: cultural association

The Sun is often represented as Yellow, although light provided by the sun
is actually a spectrum.
10. sun/son: homonym or homophone association

Sun and Son sound the same, although they have dierent spellings and
dierent meanings.
Shakespeare made good use of the last associative link in his famous line from the
play Richard III: Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by
this sun of York (1.1.712). In these lines in the play, sun has a double meaning,
because it also refers to the newly crowned eldest son of the Duke of York. Puns
also rely upon these kinds of associations, which is one of the reasons they can be so
painful, as in: A man sent ten dierent puns to friends, thinking at least one of the
puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.
In the associative map that is drawn, here, it is easy to see why Boat is associated
with Water (a boat oats on the water), and Water associated with Blue (water
is often perceived, and represented, as blue), and Blue is associated with Sad (to
be blue) and Blue is associated with Yellow (they are both colors), but its harder
to see the associational relationship between Boat and Clown. Thats because the
associational relationship depends upon proximity: the further away on the web two
words get, the weaker the association.
In the dictionary, words are alphabetized, with neat denitions. However, thats not
the way that words are organized in our heads. When we respond to language, we
respond to its syntagmatic and paradigmatic quality.
Chapter_04.indd 63 11/4/10 1:54 PM

Syntagmatic Axis
Paradigmatic Axis
The dog caught the ball
A cat missed that bat
His mouse longed for a belfry Fig 2.
The horizontal, left-to-right sequence is called the syntagmatic axis. You can think of
this as syntax: the order of words as they appear in a sentence, and that indicates the
words potential function (eg.: a verb). The English language tends to follow an S/V/O
pattern, as in: John (Subject) walked (Verb) the dog (Object).
Because we tend to pattern our sentences in this way, we are often able to ascertain
the function of words simply by the order in which they are placed, in the sentence,
even if we dont know their meaning.
For example, Lewis Carrolls famous poem The Jabberwocky begins with the line:
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves/Did gyre and gimble in the wabe (1.1.22). None of
this should make any sense; most of these words dont exist in the English language.
Yet we know that brillig and slithy are probably adjectives, and toves and wabe
are probably nouns, and gire and gimble are probably verbs. Why? Because of the
syntagmatic axis: the position of the words in the sentence.
The up-and-down lines make up the paradigmatic axis; this is where the earlier map
comes into play, because each association would create the potential for a new asso-
ciation. The paradigmatic axis in language is the relational quality of wordsthe way
we categorize meaning. It oers the connotative quality of words.
On the one hand, there is what a word denotes. (dictionary denition)
On the other hand, there is what a word connotes. (association)
Denotation: Rose: A type of owering bush.
Connotation: Rose: Romantic love, poetry, beauty, etc.
So what does all of this have to do with writing? Everything. Although we cant antici-
pate what personal association a reader may have with a word (maybe your reader
64 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 64 11/4/10 1:54 PM

was attacked by a rose bush), we are responsible, as writers, for accounting for our
shared associations of a word, especially when writing to those with whom we share
a common language.
Connotation is simply the associations of a word that give a word a certain slant
that we all recognize, but dont always notice, while were writing. That connotation
can change the meaning of what we really intend to say in using a given word.
Lets take the word individual. This term has connotations of rugged indepen-
dence, the rebel, innovation and invention, entrepreneurship, and refusal to relin-
quish ones moral fortitude. These connotations are what we transmit when we
use the term, not the standard dictionary denition of related to a single person
or thing.
To dene the term in a conscious manner is take control of connotation. If one were,
for example, to read Erving Goman, one would nd that society always oers its
members a prefabricated role to play within the group context. That role can be posi-
tive or negative (a jock, a prison guard, a police ocer, a student, a drug dealer, a
celebrity, etc.).
These roles have scripted lines (Step out of the car, please, maam), a uniform or
costume (one goes to the prom in a dress or suit), and expected behaviors (a preppie
is supposed to drive a certain car, have certain friends and love interests, etc.)
These roles exist before a particular individual steps into them, and continue to exist
after a particular individual is gone. An individual playing a certain role may stretch
the boundaries of that role (come to class in pajamas), but only so far. Cross a certain
line that has any societal stakes (a male jock ghts when challenged) and one may
quickly nd ones ability to play the role in jeopardy.
In addition, these roles include ways in which we form our identities at a given time
in our lives: if one is a white male reghter in the middle class who is the father of
two children, the underlined words give specic guidelines concerning what to do in
given situations, and how to act, but also make up a large portion of how others think
of us, as well as how we think of ourselves.
On the other end of the extreme, one can nd persons who refuse to conform to
established social roles. Such people are outcasts, living on the edges of societythe
extremists, the hermits, the criminals, or the insane. In this sense, occupying estab-
lished social roles has nothing to do with being individualistic, but with conforming
to what is expected.
Chapter_04.indd 65 11/4/10 1:54 PM

Therefore, an individual could be dened, in this sense, as a person who does not
conform: one who forms his or her primary identity outside of the predetermined
roles provided by the social context. It would also not necessarily represent a desirable
or comfortable role.
Here are three sets of words. Their denotation is the same (they are synonyms, in the
dictionary), but the words carry dierent connotations.
The best evidence that we communicate in language primarily at an associational

level is the fact that if there were no real dierences between these words, we wouldnt
have come up with several versions of them. Language is economicalno two words
are exactly the same. We use dierent words because we need them to convey slightly
dierent connotations, even if their denotations are too similar to notice a real
dierence.
Positive Negative Neutral Really Negative

public servant bureaucrat government employee pencil-pusher
detainee convict prisoner criminal
believer zealout religious person fanatic
Now lets see how this works in language usage. The following sentences say the same
thing, but the associations produce a dierent connotation:
1. Former prisoners are spied upon even after they return home.
2. Ex-cons are closely monitored after release from prison.
3. Former inmates are observed after release from penal institutions.
4. Criminals, when released into the civilian population, are placed under close
surveillance.
In writing, there is no innocent use of language: all words are guilty by association.
Words and their combination are the stu of writing, and a portion of the meaningful
communication we do with one another. The most powerful tool that you have in
crafting prose is to make the relationship between your intended meaning, and the
associative quality of the word or phrase you use to express that meaning, as close
as possible. This is what instructors mean when they talk about creating precision in
your writing.
66 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 66 11/4/10 1:54 PM

3 metaphor: words are slithy toves
Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize until you have tried to
makeit precise.
Bertrand Russell
EVER WONDERED?
The Latin e.g. and i.e. are often
M ost language is associational because it is
fundamentally metaphorical. A metaphor
is a situation in language wherein one thing is
used to list thing/s that refers
to the statement that is made. described in terms of another. Often we use a
The dierence between the two concrete term (e.g.: rose) to describe an abstract
is that e.g. means, basically, concept (e.g.: love). In doing so, we make a
for example. Use it to list one comparison.
or more items when there is a
range of examples you could have Metaphor: A=B
given, asin: There were toys in
the room(e.g.: blocks, crayons, Metaphor: Love (A) is a Rose (B)
and picture books). In contrast,
i.e. is used when you mean this If youll notice, this statement is profoundly illogi-
or these, specically, as in The cal. Love is not a rose. Love is an emotion. A rose
toyswere for young children is a plant.
(i.e.:twoveyears old).
However, we all understand that what we are
really saying is that love, like a rose, is beautiful,
transient, can hurt, etc. One could blame this on that darned literature stupoetry,
and the likewhich tends to mix up logic. However, its not that simple.
Think about the following statement:
Whenever I make it home, my brother cant stop going on about how I really got my
act together this last year, but my sister never stops talking about ancient history.
Seems pretty straightforward.
Yet every word that is underlined is metaphorical. How does one make it home,
beyond actually constructing a building, and whats the dierence between home
and it? How can someone go on regarding a topicice skates? Is the speaker in a
play, so that he or she has to act, and what is he or she bringing together in doing
so? If the speakers sister never stops talking, how does she sleep? And what does
the Neolithic Period have to do with anything?
Chapter_04.indd 67 11/4/10 1:54 PM

Although metaphor is so common in language that it is nearly impossible to avoid its
use, metaphor is a blunt toolit always leaves things out. Love may be beautiful, like
a rose, but we do not usually mean that love is long-stemmed or may have aphids.
Metaphor oers the gist of meaning through comparison. To use an extended meta-
phor, if you want to be clear in writing, youve got to sharpen the meaning of a term
to a more precise point.
Most metaphor in language is already in usage. We know the meanings because the
metaphors are idiomatic. When a statement is idiomatic, it means that we are rely-
ing on something other than the dictionary denitions of the words to understand
their meaning. Instead, were relying on context and on associational links, including
things such as shared cultural understanding.
When we say what we dont actually mean, we rely upon a shared understanding or
context, to prevent misunderstanding. If someone were to ask you: Were you born
in a barn? you would not respond with the answer No, I was born in a hospital,
unless you were profoundly oblivious to the idiomatic quality of the questionwhich
is not actually a question. Rather, it is a request with emotive kick, often meaning
something like: Close the door.
In writing, we lack our full arsenal of contextual clues to allow our audience to get
statements that are not to be taken literallywe dont have gestures, or a particular
timeframe, or even a physical context, to help us avoid such mishaps. To compensate
for the possibility of misunderstandingand to say what we really meanwe must
dene any ambiguous terms for a reader.
Lets take the word love, as we understand it. In the context of the English language,
at this time in history, in places such as the United States, this word will refer to,
(depending on when and how and where we use it, and who we are), the feelings
we have, among others, for a parent, a friend, a child, a sexual partner or spouse, a
hometown, a country, objects, a pet, states of mind, and, potentially, chocolate.
So how do we know what someone means when they use that word? Sometimes we
rely upon context. Terry Eagleton gives the following example:
Imagine that far into the future, all that is left are the ruins of our cur-
rent civilization. Even the simplest of signs might be confusing. How
would someone from that time, for example, interpret a sign that said:
Dogs Must be Carried on Elevators. Does this mean that, if one has
a dog, the dog must be carried while on the elevator? Or, does it mean
that, in order to get on the elevator, one must be carrying a dog? (6)
68 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 68 11/4/10 1:54 PM

Without the context, things get ambiguous, quickly. The other way to make our
meaning clear is to choose our words carefully, and to use denitions in our prose.
Theres no way of getting away from this slippery quality in language, but it is good
to know that it is slippery. This means paying attention to what you are really saying,
and not just what you think you mean.
Get the picture? Goodas Scott McCLoud says, Id like a copy.
4 guard rails for the tricky bits
B eing careful with language is more than just avoiding being careless. If you do
not dene your terms, language will happily take over and speak for you, either
obscuring your meaning, or hurting your credibility as someone capable of objective
analysis. Some typical examples include:
Emotional Language
Adjectivitis
Wine-Bottle-Label Language
Glidge
Generalities
Emotional Language
You probably could gure out that calling a religious person a zealot is not going
to result in writing that sounds objective. An essay is not an editorial, and emotional
language has no place in academic writing. For example, neither of these statements
sounds particularly objective:
Those no-good garbage-sorting atheistic latt-guzzling intellectual tree-hugging

environmentalists are ruining the country
Those no-good intolerant anti-civil-rights pro-business religious zealots are ruining

the country.
Any word that is loadedthat is, value-laden or biasedwill immediately signal to

a reader that a writers ability to be fair and honest may be in question. While there is
Chapter_04.indd 69 11/4/10 1:54 PM

no need to be sti, academic writing, across all disciplines, is a discourse that strikes
a tone of logical objectivity.
Adjectivitis
Most writers get into trouble in this area when they employ abstract adjectives
descriptive words that are left undened. An abstract term refers to something that
is not concrete, and therefore cannot be experienced in the world. If one were to walk
into a room and describe it, the dierence would be the following:
Abstract: A beautiful, cozy room with a delightful and welcoming ambience

designed to make people feel comfortable and relaxed.
Do you know what the room looks like? Probably not. Could a lot of rooms t such a
description? Probably.
Concrete: A small room with low lighting and dark blue walls with three over-
sized velvet armchairs placed in front of a warm replace.
This description is much more specic. Its not that a writer cant use abstract terms
writers must use abstract terms, in factbut rather that abstract terms dont convey
much meaning until they are dened for the reader.
Glidge, or Wine-Bottle Labels
Some descriptive phrases are so overused that you can create the impression of being
an untrustworthy writer, even if the rest of your reasoning is entirely valid, and you
intended to be fair. They are common phrases that we hear people use around us,
and that sometimes enter our keyboards, through our ngers, without being ltered
through our thought processes.
This can be called Wine-Bottle-Label-Language because it sounds great, but means

nothing, as in: A generous bouquet, yielding its darker hints to the soothing tones of
a sweet afterglow. Some examples of these phrases would include:
Law and order Military-industrial complex
Crime in the streets White power structure
Law-abiding citizen Hardened criminal
True Self Corporate greed
70 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 70 11/4/10 1:54 PM

The reason that the people who read our writing tend to see us as biased when we
use words with these kinds of connotations is because, frankly, we usually tend to use
those words because we do have a certain bias.
Such phrases can even be used to deliberately obscure what is actually being
described. There is a term for the deliberate use of these kinds of phrases to persuade
an audience, and its the same in the academic world as in the real world. Its called
lyingdeliberately obscuring the truth of a thing by making it sound dierent than
what it is. George Orwell points out a few of the following examples in his essay
Politics and the English Language:
elimination of unreliable elements

Shooting people who oppose your political viewpoint
collateral damage
Bombing the school when you were aiming for the airbase
nal solution
Genocide
transfer of populations
Removing a group of people from an area, against their will
These are obvious examples. However, some connotations are harder for us to spot,
and can even indicate a bias we may not know that we have.
Glidge
Most abstract terms are trickythey include such words such as freedom, natural,
human, love, smart, evil, or personality. If a writer does not dene these kinds of terms,
the associative quality of words will simply act on their own to control the meaning
conveyed. Why? For the same reason people climb mountainsbecause they can.
If one were to write: It is natural for people to fear snakes, what one could mean
is that: It is understandable for people to fear snakes, or It is common for people
to fear snakes. That is because natural and understandable and common are
associated terms.
Yet despite what one might have meant, that is not what one has said. What one has
said is that people are biologically predisposed to fear snakes. That is not a true state-
ment. It is not natural to fear snakesthere are plenty of people who nd snakes
quite delightful creatures, and who study them, and even have them as pets.
Chapter_04.indd 71 11/4/10 1:54 PM

To elaborate, here is the word natural used in a series of statements:
1. It is natural for poor people to commit crime.
2. Men and women cant be friends. Its not natural.
3. Religious people are more naturally moral than atheists.

There are a lot of things that a writer could mean by the word natural in these state-
ments. The writer could mean:
1. Poor people might have more incentive to steal than wealthy people.
2. Cultural norms in the United States tend to treat close friendships between
men and women as insincere, and secretly indicative of sexual desire.
3. People who have religious beliefs usually have a moral code that is clearly
communicated to them from a pre-existing value system within that religion,
and that is therefore more carefully dened than those who do not follow a
religious system of belief.
However, until the writer clearly indicates that this was his or her meaning, what the
writer has said is:
1. People who do not have money were born with the biological impulse to
commit crime.
2. Men and women are born biologically incapable of forming friendships with
one another.
3. People become religious because they are born with a biological

predisposition toward a sense of morality that is missing in those who do not
become religious.
Whatever your response to the second set of statements, the third set is much more
dicult to defend, logically. Use of the word natural in order to cover a bias on the
part of a writer or speaker is very commonbut it is not natural, and, therefore, it
is very much so avoidable.
Dening an abstract term forces the writer to gure out what, exactly, he or she is say-
ing. Sometimes the writer does not even know what he or she means until he or she
is forced to dene a term. A lot of terms are covers for unrened thinking, meaning
simply, in general, positive, or negative. Freedom sounds good; Oppression sounds
bad. Democracy sounds good; Fascism sounds bad. However, unless one denes the
terms, one might as well use good or bad, instead.
72 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 72 11/4/10 1:54 PM

Generalities
Dening terms addresses the tendency to generalize. We all do it. Generalization is a

habit; it helps us to group things in our minds in comfortable ways.
It helps to imagine generalities as a kind of default. For example, if you grew up in the
United States, and you were asked to quickly visualize a police ocer, you would be
more likely to visualize a person who is male, white, and in uniform. Its not that we
are sexist or racist, or that there are not female ocers, or ocers of color. Its simply
that we draw the default from the repetition of certain qualities within the images to
which we are repeatedly exposed within social systems. Theres no getting away from
the default; the problem is when we mistake it for something that refers to real people.
A default is a kind of generalization. Unconscious generalization inhibits critical

thinking; it is a cognitive bias. Its not just that it leads to the kind of thinking that
creates unfair stereotypes (Asians are smart), but also that it creates a lack ofpreci-
sion in our thinking. In each case, the test is always: What can I say that is true?
1. Is the statement Americans love football true?
No.
Some Americans hate football, some love it, and some are indierent.
2. Is the statement: In the United States, football is a popular sport true?
Yes. A sizeable portion of the citizenry shows an interest in playing,

watching, discussing, betting upon, and/or emotionally investing in the game.
One of the ways that we generalize is the tendency to take our own way of under-
standing the world, and letting it cover everyones experiences. However, critical
writing functions beyond the limitations of what a given writer has experienced, and
is oered within the context of a larger world. Consider the following:
3. Is the statement: Almost everyone uses the Internet true?
To answer, here is a breakdown that illustrates a small picture of that

largerworld:
If The Whole World Were a Village with 100 People
60 would be Asians [Presumably, those people residing on the Eastern

side of the Caucasusa mountain rangeon the
continent of Eurasia]
Chapter_04.indd 73 11/4/10 1:54 PM

12 would be Europeans [Presumably, those people residing on the Western
side of the Caucusesa mountain rangeon the
continent of Eurasia, including islands, often referred
to as Caucasians]
15 would be from America [Presumably, those residing on the land masses that
compose the Americas]
Of those 15:
9 would be from Latin America and Caribbean
5 would be from North America, including the U.S./Canada
1 would be from Islands surrounding the Americas
13 would be from Africa
51 would be men
48 would be women
18 would be white [Whatever that means]

82 would be [Whatever that means]
non-white
EVER WONDERED?
33 would be [Presumably, this would
Brackets, [which open and close Christian include all Christian
like this], are dierent than
denominations]
parentheses, (which open and
close like this). 67 would be [Presumably, this would
Brackets indicate the interruption, non-Christian include Muslims, Buddhists,
into a quotation from an external
Jews, Pyrrhomists, Hindus,
source, of the writers voice. In
other words, it is not a part of the as well as Atheists and
original quotation, but something Agnostics, etc.]
the writer has inserted into the
original quotation. 90 would be malnourished
In the above example, the brackets 1 would be dying of starvation
indicate this writers misgivings
concerning the way in which the 1 would be dying of HIV
terms of this list are being dened.
80 would live in substandard housing
74 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 74 11/4/10 1:54 PM

67 would be unable to read
***7 would have access to the Internet***
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be gay
1 would have a college education.1
So, if only an average of 7 out of 100 people has access to the Internet, is the state-
ment: Almost everyone has access to the internet, true?
No.
What the writer probably means is that Almost everyone I know has access to the
Internet.
In academic writing, statements must be explicit (the truth is out in the open) as
opposed to being implicit (the meaning is indirect). In another kind of writing, you
can get away with such generalities. In academic writing, you have an obligation to
clarify the meanings of the terms you are using by making their denitions clear. The
failure to dene terms generates mushy thinking, because they paint people and situ-
ations in broad, sloppy strokes.
You may have noticed, in this chapter, that

DEFINITION
word and term have been used interchange-
stipulate: to control the conditions
ably. To define the difference, a term is a word
of something, or to have authority
for which the definition is in question. You will over the rules that govern it.
not find this distinction in the dictionary; it is a
distinction that the writer of this text has cho-
sen, in order to make a point. In doing so, the
writer stipulates the meaning.
1
I have read numerous versions of this breakdown that offer a variety of statistics, but they all
fall into basically the same range. I have averaged them across sources, including the original
State of the Village Report from the Donella Meadows Archive (http://www.sustainer.org/
dhm_archive/index.php?display_article=vn33villageed), copyright Sustainability Institute,
Vermont; http://www.100people.org/statistics_detailed_statistics.php; as well as various
online and print sources that contest and revise the numbers. Statistically, the original study
is based upon an unrepresentative sampling of 1,000 people. However, the interest that it
generated and the subsequent duplication and reduplication of the study in various forums
means that it likely represent a the general state of things. The problem becomes the matter of
reduction: Who is being left out? Doesnt anybody live in Australia?
Chapter_04.indd 75 11/4/10 1:54 PM

5 review
CHAPTER REVIEW
The information to take from this chapter is that writing involves language, and
language functions in a complex manner involving more than the denotative quality
of words as they are found in a dictionary.
This requires awareness, as a writer, of the quality of language that can distort mean-
ing when terms remained undened. Since this distortion of meaning creates cogni-
tive bias, critical thinking involves remaining conscious, while writing, of elements
of language that can generate this distortion of meaning. These elements include
emotional language, unintended connotation, undened abstract terms and phrases,
and generalities.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
e.g. and i.e.
Used to list an example that refers to the statement that is made. The dierence
between the two is that e.g. means, basically, for example. Use it to list one or more
items when there is a range of examples you could have given, as in: There were
toys in the room (e.g.: blocks, crayons, and picture books). In contrast, i.e. is used
when you mean this example, specically, as in The toys were for young children
(i.e.:twove years old).
Brackets
Brackets indicate the interruption, into a quotation from an external source, of the
writers voice. In other words, it is not a part of the original quotation, but something
the writer has inserted into the original quotation.
There may be a variety of reasons to do this. If a writer were to quote from a source
in which there was a grammatical error, and the writer wanted to indicate that it
was not his or her goof-up, but in the original source, the writer would use brack-
ets, as in He was bigger then [sic] her. Since then should be than, the term
sic, in brackets, indicates that the writer is aware that the word is being used
incorrectly.
76 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 76 11/4/10 1:54 PM

VOCABULARY REVIEW
vernacular
Language spoken in a given country or region, as it is used, whether proper
or not
dialect
A variety of distinct forms of a language spoken within a given country or region.
For example, what is commonly called Standard English, or sometimes GA, is the
dialect of newscasters, and commonly used in formal education. It comes from a
regional Midland dialect. The Midland dialect is one of three to eight major dialects
spoken in the United States, (there is some disagreement on this), which are in turn
broken into various sub-dialects
stipulate
To control the conditions of something, or have authority over the rules that
govern it. As long as it is a plausible denition, one is free to stipulate the mean-
ing of a word for the purpose of clarifying ones meaning within ones own writing.
Inacademic writing, one can even create a new word (such as adjectivitis, which
you will not nd in the dictionary), on the condition that: one is willing to explain
ones denition; that the creation of the word is needful (it does not yet exist in
another form); that its creation serves a purpose. Such a term is called a neologism:
that which results from the creation of a new word or expression
6 ways to dene
On the following pages, you will nd:
1. Types of Denitions and Examples.
2. Step 3 Ways to Dene Guide for use in dening the terms of your critical
question in a manner that stipulates a clear denition of what you mean by
that word, in the context of your own writing.
3. Example completed Denition Guide.
Chapter_04.indd 77 11/4/10 1:54 PM

TYPES OF DEFINITIONS/EXAMPLES
WAY TO DEFINE EXAMPLE SAMPLE WORD

DICTIONARY JUSTICE
Dening a term by all The Oxford English justice: 1) fairness
possible meanings of a Dictionary denes or reasonableness,
term, in general trampas especially in the ways
1) v. walk heavily or people are treated or
noisily, or for a long decisions made;
distance; 2) the legal system,
2)n. a person who trav- or the act of applying
els in search of work, a or or upholding the
vagrant; law; 3)validity in law;
3)n. the sound of foot- 4)sound or good reason;
steps; 5) a judge, especially in a
4)n. a long way, on foot; high court.
5) adj. a cargo boat that
travels on an unxed
route (tramp steamer);
6) n. a promiscuous
woman;
7)n. a metal plate
protecting the sole of a
boot.
EXEMPLAR
Dening a term by bird: a canary, hawk, or justice: conviction of a
example pidgeon guilty person
ANALOGICAL
Dening a term by com- child: a blank page justice: a balancing of
parison to something else the scales
SYNONYMOUS
Dening a term by other wisdom: clever, smart justice: fairness
words
78 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 78 11/4/10 1:54 PM

WAY TO DEFINE EXAMPLE SAMPLE WORD
NEGATIVE
Dening a term by what apple: an apple is not justice is not revenge,
it not an orange, a peach, or a because revenge is
banana personal
ETYMOLOGICAL
Dening a word by its deadline: a line at a justice: purity;
roots prison past which, if an righteousness
inmate were to step, the
inmate would be shot
STIPULATIVE
Dening a term by For the purpose of this For the purpose this
stipulating its meaning essay, dream means essay, justice means to
in a way that is clear the way in which an establish the motive
within the context of individual imagines, and behind an illegal act,
your writing. may take action toward, and to determine a
a desirable future. consequence based
upon that motive.
Chapter_04.indd 79 11/4/10 1:54 PM

STEP 3: WAYS TO DEFINE GUIDE
STEP 1
Write your question, as it is now.
STEP 2
Delimitation of Question.
Can I, or do I want to, answer for all time? Yes/No
Rephrase ____________________________
Can I, or do I want to, answer for all places? Yes/No
Rephrase ____________________________
Can I, or do I want to, answer for all people? Yes/No
Rephrase ____________________________
Can I, or do I want to, answer for all instances? Yes/No
Rephrase ____________________________
STEP 3
Rewrite your question with the rephrased delimitation.
STEP 4
List any terms whose denition are in question, especially those that are abstract.
Treat all phrases as terms (e.g.: fashion sense would be treated as a whole term,
instead of dening fashion and sense, separately).
STEP 5
Dene each term as each type of denition, except for Dictionary.
Exemplar: Dene all terms by giving an example of that term.
Analogical Dene all terms by analogy: by comparison to something else
Synonymous Dene all terms through words that are similar in meaning.
Negative Dene all terms by what they are not.
80 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 80 11/4/10 1:54 PM

Etymological Dene all term by an origin.
Stipulative Stipulate your terms by dening what you mean by them, as

clearly as possible, within the context of your question.
STEP 6
Rewrite your critical question, in which you stipulate each of your terms/phrases.
The result will be lengthy, but will situate your question both within a context, and to
help you, as writer, to have a solid sense of what, exactly, you are asking.
Chapter_04.indd 81 11/4/10 1:54 PM

EXAMPLE COMPLETED WAYS TO DEFINE GUIDE
STEP 1
Write your question, as it is now.

Why is the main plot of Disney lms about a romance between young adults, when children
are its main audience?
STEP 2
Delimitation of Question
Can I, or do I want to, answer for all time? No
I want to keep my samples to a reasonable amount of lms, for analysis.
Rephrase Animated full-length Disney feature lms from

19302000
Can I, or do I want to, answer in all places No
Rephrase In the United States
Can I, or do I want to, answer for all people? No
Rephrase In the United States
Can I, or do I want to, answer in all instances? No.
Some Disney lms are not about romance, but most are.
Rephrase Most, but not all, Disney lms
STEP 3
Rewrite your question with the rephrased delimitation.

Why is the main plot of most, but not all, full-length Disney animated lms, made between
1930 and 2000, in the United States, about romance between young adults, when the main
audience is children?
STEP 4
List any term whose denition is up for question, especially those that are abstract.
Always keep your question in mind. Treat all phrases as terms. For example, fashion
sense would be treated as a whole term, instead of dening fashion and sense
separately.
82 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 82 11/4/10 1:54 PM

Romance
Plot
Children
Main Audience
Young Adults
STEP 5
Dene each term as a type of denition, except for Dictionary.
Exemplar: Dene by example

Term: Romance: Romeo and Juliet is a romance
Term: Main audience: Young males age 18-24 are the main anticipated audi-
ence of a horror lm.
Term: Plot: In Cinderella stories, a young and beautiful young

woman in negative circumstances escapes those circum-
stances by meeting and marrying a prince.
Term: Young Adults: College students are often young adults.
Term: Children: Children are students in elementary school.
NOTE
See how exemplar denition tends to put the term into a particular context, because
you must nd examples of the thing you are dening, in the world?
This makes this kind of denition very useful to you, as a writer.
For example, the denition for main audience provides valuable information,
because it claries that there is always an intention behind making stories. That
intention is to have an eectnot on all people, but on a certain kind of audience.
Thats important to remember in answering your question.
However, exemplar denition should not be the only way you dene a term, because
its often only one particular example. Your analysis may require a range of examples,
or examples of a specic type.
For example, Romeo and Juliet is not the only romantic story out there, and doesnt
t Disney plots, because Romeo and Juliet always die in the endevery time. No
Disney lm has ever had one of the lovers dieonly parents and villains.
Chapter_04.indd 83 11/4/10 1:54 PM

Analogical: Dene in relationship to something else
Term: Romance: Romance is the yearning heart united with its desire
Term: Main Audience: The main audience is the dupe of the story
Term: Plot: A plot is the satisfaction of uncertainty
Term: Young Adults: Young adults are old enough to step on the tracks, and
young enough not to see the train coming.
Term: Children: A child is an empty page
NOTE
See how analogical denition tends to encourage muddy thinking? Thats because
analogy is related to metaphor, and metaphor is an associational (illogical) compari-
son of things that are unlike one another.
For example, in the denition for romance, one gets wine-bottle language. Remem-
ber that in academic discourse, a heart would be a biological organit does not
yearn. It pumps blood.
The third denition for plot gives a writer some insight into what plots do: they
resolve uncertainty. Thats good to know. However, for the most part, analogical de-
nitions tend to be traps that encourage imprecision in denition, instead of clarica-
tion. Use this kind of denition with extreme caution.
Synonymous: Dene a term by related words

Term: Romance: Romance is love
Term: Main Audience: A main audience is the viewers
Term: Plot: A plot is a story
Term: Young Adults: Young adults are older teens.
Term: Children: A child is a baby
NOTE
See how synonymous denition actually moves the writer away from precision? No
word is equal to another, or we would just have kept the original. Romance is not
just love: its a specic kind of idealized love between two persons who are of an age
appropriate to establish such a bond, and who are not related to one another.
84 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 84 11/4/10 1:54 PM

In other words, synonyms just mean more words to dene. Synonyms are so rarely
useful that its better to abandon them altogether when dening terms.
Negative: Dene a term by what it is not

Term: Romance: Romance is not friendship
Term: Main Audience: A main audience is the not the unintended audience
Term: Plot: A plot is not a true history
Term: Young Adults: Young adults are not children
Term: Children: A child is not an adult
NOTE
See how negative definition can give you valuable information? For example,
keeping your question in mind, if children are the main audience of these Disney
films, wouldnt it makes sense that they might value friendship over romantic
love? Or that children might want to watch a story that tells of the adventures of
characters their own age? Or that children might value adventure stories more
than romantic stories?
Its also good to know that not all people who view a lm are the ones for whom it
is intended. Parents may not go out on a date and choose to watch a Disney lm,
but theyre certainly around when their kids watch Disney lms. That makes parents
an audience that the speaker (Disney) did not necessarily intend, which is called a
secondary audience.
Etymological: Dene a term by its origin

Term: Romance: Original denition: verse narrative.
Term: Main Audience: Audience: A hearing, related to a Judicial hearing
Term: Plot: Plot: Story structure, related to: a secret plan, scheme, out-
line, conspiracy
Term: Young Adults: Adult: Grown up, related to adult-: debauch, corrupt, fal-
sify, debase (e.g.: adultery, adulterate)
Term: Children: Child: a young human, related to womb, pregnant, and

chield (servant)
Chapter_04.indd 85 11/4/10 1:54 PM

NOTE
Obviously, a foray into etymological denition can often be limited in its immediate
uses. However, it is sometimes a source of important information.
For example, the reason that the original meaning of romance was verse narrative
is because marriage was not thought of as an exclusive heterosexual union based
upon a primary emotional/sexual bonding before early Medieval times (11th Century
France), where it begins as a topic of poetry for the upper class. These tales of courtly
love were still not what we would think of as romance, however, and referred to
stories having to do more with honor than mutual attraction, for its own sake.
Chivalry love did establish a hetero-normative emotional connection, although no

word meaning homosexuality existed until the 1860s.
The concept of an exclusive and unique emotional bond does not even begin to form until
the 17th century, and coincides roughly with the rise of the novel as a form of literature.
Romanticism introduces both: 1) the idea of a man or woman, by himself or herself,
as incomplete, without a romantic partner of the opposite gender, and; 2) the idea of
men and women, in relationship, as inherently antagonistic to one another.
It would certainly be important to note that the modern notion of heterosexual

romantic love, as we understand itthat is, as an emotional bond central to an
individuals life experienceis believed to have originated in the late 19th/early
20thcentury.
Stipulative: Dene a term in a way that stipulates a clear denition within the
context of your writing, and in relationship to your question.
Term: Romance: The idealization and expressions of the emotions that
attend a specic pairing between unrelated adults, and
that is often depicted as resulting in marriage.
Term: Main Audience: The specic type of person to whom a message is targeted.
Term: Plot: The introduction and resolution of the main conict in

the story.
Term: Young Adults: A human roughly between the age of 16 and 21.
Term: Children: A human roughly between the age of newborn and 12

years of age.
86 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 86 11/4/10 1:54 PM

NOTE
The opportunity to have control over what one means by a given word in a stipula-
tive denition can be a relief once you realize how many dierent ways there are to
dene a word. The nice thing about stipulating your denition is that, as long as it is
a reasonable denition, it allows you to tailor the denition both to what you mean,
and to what your question needs, in order to answer it.
STEP 6
Rewrite your critical question, in which you stipulate each of your terms/phrases.
The result will be lengthy, but will help you to situate your question both within a
context, and to help you, as writer, to have a solid sense of what, exactly, you are ask-
ing. Condense, when you can, without losing the specics.
Original:
Why is the main plot of Disney lms about a romance between young adults, when children
are its main audience?
Delimitation of Question:
Why is the main plot of most, but not all, full-length Disney animated lms, made between
1930 and 2000, in the United States, about romance between young adults, when the main
audience is children?
With Stipulative Denition:

Why is the main issue to be resolved, in most, but not all, full-length Disney animated
lms, made between 1930 and 2000, in the United States, about the emotions that attend an
exclusive pairing between unrelated young adults between the ages of 1621, often depicted
as resulting in marriage, when the specic type of person to whom the message is targeted is
between the age of newborn to 12 years old?
7 the shortcut
O nce one understands the general ideas behind these exercises, one can skip a
portion of the long process of going through every step each time one writes
a paper. Here is a basic outline of how to learn to think about a question, using the
skills in those exercises.
Original question: How has technology changed human social interaction?
Chapter_04.indd 87 11/4/10 1:54 PM

DELIMITATION
Since I cant answer that question for all time, Ill make it: modern technology.
Since I cant answer that question for all people/places, Ill make it in the United
States.
STIPULATE TERMS
modern
I will dene my timeframe as beginning with the routine use of the personal computer.
technology
I will dene it as both:
1. an object designed or re-purposed in order to allow the performance of a

specic action
2. the use of such an object to aid the ow of people, goods, and information
changed
I will dene this as altered from a previous stateneither good nor bad, just dierent
human social interaction
I will dene this as purposeful verbal and non-verbal communication between two or
more speakers, even if the speaker is not present at the time of transmission
3. REFINE QUESTION
The following illustrates what happens when one begins to ask: Who? What? Where?
How? When? Why? I would begin to map specics within the question that lead to
more rened areas of inquiry. I may not follow every linkjust ones that I nd of
interest.
88 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_04.indd 88 11/4/10 1:54 PM

With this map, I havent even scratched the surface of my original question. However,
I dont have dig that deep before more specic questions start to arise, across various
disciplines and areas of inquiry:
Public Policy What factors impact upon the possibility of public

transportation as viable transportation for the majority of
workers in the United States?
Science How has paternity testing changed the denition of

parenthood?
Sociology What is the purpose of technology in relationship to mak-

ing the life of individuals easier, and to what degree does it
achieve that goal?
Psychology What tensions are caused in virtual reality between private

and public selves?
Business What strategies are used to control consumer experience

within retail space?
Education In what ways does standardized testing serve as both a de-

nition of, and also a measure of, learning?
Visual Studies How does advertising sell mass-produced objects based

upon an image of individuality?
Chapter_04.indd 89 11/4/10 1:54 PM

Chapter_04.indd 90 11/4/10 1:54 PM
SECTION II
ANALYSIS
ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE
ARRANGEMENT
91
Chapter_05.indd 91 11/4/10 2:11 PM

Chapter_05.indd 92 11/4/10 2:11 PM
Chapter 5
Performing analysis
1 TWO PRINCIPLES OF ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
2 OPINIONS, FACTS, AND ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
3 TYPES OF ANALYSIS: GENERAL ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4 ANALYSIS AND ROLLER SKATING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5 FORMALIST ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
6 RHETORICAL ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
7 REVIEW ......................................................................................... 114
8 PERFORMING ANALYSIS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
STEP 4 ANALYSIS GUIDE, OR HOW TO ROLLER SKATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Example Analysis Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
93
Chapter_05.indd 93 11/4/10 2:11 PM

1 two principles to analysis
O nce a writer has established and rened a critical question, the next step is
to begin to answer that question. In many cases, however, when a person is
confronted with a question, there is a certain tendency to answer that question right
awayeven if the person who answers is not sure that the answer being oered is
actually true, or is simply a guess. In other words, when it comes to answers, people
tend to be in a hurry.
Being in a hurry makes a short paper and a shallow answer. Snap judgments sum up
an issue and make an instant decision: right/wrong, good/bad, loved it/hated it. It
will cause the writer to draw conclusions before the writer has really found out what
is going on.
A question worth asking has to be answered carefully, and that means the writer has
got to suspend judgment long enough to perform a thoughtful analysis. This analysis
will eventually serve as the body of the essay; it provides the step-by-step chain of
reasoning by which a writer outlines his or her conclusions, to a reader. A part of
critical thinking is recognizing that analysis takes time. If it didnt, everyone would
have all the answers, right away.
The rst answer that pops into ones mind is probably not the best answer, because
we draw knee-jerk conclusions from that part of our evaluative cognitive processes
that stores prejudgments and cultural ideology. The impulse to answer a question
right away is exactly what a writer must resist, in this case.
In the relationship between critical thinking and analysis, there are two fundamental
principles to follow, and they are counterintuitive:
All Analysis Begins with the Obvious
This is probably the single most important principle to follow when performing
analysis on a question. Analysis is painstaking and exhaustive, and the answer
to a given question lies not in searching for broad truths, but in discovery of
patterns that arise from breaking down the object of analysis into its constitu-
ent parts. One should begin with the most obvious elements. This means that:
1) One must pretend that there is no such thing as the obvious; 2) One must
proceed as if nothing is without signicance.
Analysis of detail is what make critical thinking look like a magic trick. For
any single detail that we take for granted, or dismiss as a given, or ignore, we
94 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 94 11/4/10 2:11 PM

lose an opportunity for insight. The most critically cogent analyses occur not
because the writer found some obscure fact that others missed. Rather, it is
because most people routinely miss the obvious.
The Best Analysis is done by Extra-Terrestrials
A vital part of critical thinking as it applies to analysis is integrating the notion

of the need to work around what you think you already know. To really perform
analysis, one must readjust ones pattern of thinking and approach a question
with an attitude of deliberate ignorance, as if one has never encountered it
before. One must pretend one doesnt understand a darned thing about it.
This is a critical thinking tool that gen-

erates what is called a defamiliarization DEFINITION
eect. Answers to questions often only defamiliarization eect: from
art and literary theory, a moment
come after we bypass the lters we have in of sudden insight created by the
place that oer easily accessible answers. In denaturalization of a common
other words, good critical writers look at experience or typical way of
a question as if they just stepped o of the understanding something.
Mothership.
Of course, oering such general principles are ne, in theory, but without an exam-
ple, they to end up led in our brains somewhere under:
Ill burn that bridge when I come to it.
The previous statement could stand in as an example of an eect of defamiliariza-

tion, because it combines two idiomatic sayings.
The rst is to burn ones bridges, meaning: to act in a way that produces conse-
quences one cannot undo.
The second is to cross that bridge when one comes to it, meaning: to delay working
through an issue or idea until it becomes a matter of urgency.
The combination of the two could mean, then: To delay understanding until that
delay cannot be undone.
Therefore, in the interest of arguing for delay in coming to an answer when perform-
ing analysis, and in the interest of arguing against delay in understanding why, a bet-
ter example would be one in which something familiar would be presented as if one
did not already understand it.
SECTION II CHAPTER 5 Performing Analysis 95
Chapter_05.indd 95 11/4/10 2:11 PM

The following example is drawn from philosopher Jacques Derrida, concerning what
he has to say about something as simple and straightforward as a gift. So, what are
the three most obvious things that can be said, in general, about a gift? They could be:
A gift is an object or service transferred from one person to another
with no expectation of anything in return, such as payment or compensation
often meant to convey aection
In other words, most people, if asked the question: What is a gift? would imme-
diately oer the answer: Usually, its something you give to someone else, for free,
most of the time because you are fond of that person.
If one were to perform analysis on this familiar way of understanding what a gift is,
one might come to a dierent series of conclusions regarding what we think we know
about a gift. To begin to create a defamiliarization eect in relationship to what we
think we know about a gift, imagine the following situation:
You give a gift to your friend. Without explanation, your friend takes it
and immediately turns around and walks away.
What kind of reaction is this most likely to produce in the one who gives the gift?
One would anticipate that most people would feel, at the very least, hurt, if not angry.
That is because we all know, if we slow down and think about it, that we actually do
expect something in return for a gift, even if it is an expression of gratitude. This
implies that gifts are not, in fact, something that one gives away for free, but rather
something for which one expects something, in return.
Of course, saying thank you hardly seems like equal compensation for goods or
services. However, that is because we have not yet dealt with the issue of receiving a
gift, and, in doing so, incurring debt. Here is another situation:
You approach your neighbor to ask if she can watch your dog while you
spend a few days out of town. She cheerfully agrees to do so. You spend
the time away, and return to nd your dog well-fed, exercised, groomed,
and in good spirits. You thank her.
A month later, your neighbor calls to say that her regular dog sitter is
ill, and she has plans to go out of town for over the weekend. She could
cancel, but asks if you would mind taking care of her dog while she is
away. You tell her you have plans to go to a new restaurant in town, and
regretfully and politely refuse.
96 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 96 11/4/10 2:11 PM

Again, the question becomes: what would be the anticipated reaction in such a
scenario? If gifts are given without expectation of return, then you would not feel
guilty in refusing, and your neighbor would not feel resentment at your refusal. Yet
the more likely reaction would be one of guilt, on the one hand, and resentment, on
the other. Nobody is going to kneecap anyone, but these are both signs of a debt that
has not been honored.
What this means, then, is not only that we expect others to say thank you when
we give them something, but also that the act of saying thank you usually trans-
lates roughly into: I owe you, and you can collect at your leisure. Here is another
situation:
It is graduation day, and two students who have spent some time
together outside of class meet at the ceremony. Student 1 gives student2
a concert t-shirt from a band they both like. Student 2 gives Student 1
a new sportscar.
Even if Student 2 were wealthy enough to give new cars away, at random, the gift
creates a radically unequal debt, one that Student 1 would probably nd dicult to
repay.
People foolish enough to gift cars to casual acquaintances would probably nd that,
in a shallow relationship, the recipient may be perfectly willing to drive away in her
or his new car, and never look back. However, the gift would still be perceived as
radically inappropriate. It would probably signal either an emotional attachment that
is inappropriately excessive and probably unreturned, or a sign of mental imbalance.
If a relationship is not a deep relationship (as between spouses, or family members),

people can be suspicious of extravagant gifts, and even outright refuse them, for fear
of incurring gift-debt they cannot repay. They may be apprehensive that they would
be asked to repay in a way that they would otherwise not willingly choose.
Even in a deep relationship, such as a close friendship, routine unequal gift-giving can
create an interpersonal crisis, especially if one person in the relationship is capable of
giving gifts of greater monetary value than the other, and actually does so. Whether
deep or shallow, casual or obligatory, gift-giving usually must be precisely balanced,
as in the following situation:
Anna has very recently become casual friends with someone who she
knows will also be celebrating Christmas, which is in a week or two. She
is in a dilemma: If she gives her new friend a gift, and the new friend
does not give her a gift, she could be embarrassed, having overstated the
Chapter_05.indd 97 11/4/10 2:11 PM

depth of the new friendship. If she does not give a gift, and her friend
oers one, she could be embarrassed, and embarrass her new friend,
having understated the potential depth of the friendship. So, like many
people, she will be just anxious enough to purchase a small gift, and put
it away, to present at the appropriate time, or notjust in case.
According to our original understanding of a gift, none of this makes sense. Are
we not free to give whatever we want, of whatever value, without people nding us
strange, or resenting us, if they are unable to give something of the same value in
exchange? Are we not free to take a gift, and not owe its value, in return? Evidently,
this is not the case. When words such as debt and exchange enter into the valuation of
a gift, one is forced to face the idea of the gift as one that participates in an economy.
This, in turn, raises the immediate question: If there is actually an economy to a gift,
whats the dierence between a gift, and approaching a stranger standing behind a
counter at the store to exchange your $1.50 for a candy bar?
In answer, one could say that a gift is involved in an economy of altruistic reciprocity.
These are the terms one nds anthropologists using to describe the nely balanced
social practices that involve the free transfer of goods or services that are actually
carefully balanced exchanges dictated by unspoken social rules.
In anthropological textbooks, description of such reciprocal exchanges tend to sound

as if those who engage in such practices are fully consciously of doing so, and even
in a way that is coldly calculating. In this way, one can recognize that the descrip-
tion of such an economy, from the outside, diers radically from what it feels like to
participate in such an economy, from the inside.
One could thus point out that this economy diers from market exchange because,
while objects or services are exchanged, those objects or services really stand in for
something else. They signal a quantity of emotional attachment. One gifts because
one cares, and one is given gifts because one is cared for. In the exchange, one is
reassured concerning the mutuality of the amount of caring by the equal exchange
of the goods or services, which are actually secondary to the message of reciprocal
emotional attachment.
In this way, through analysis, our understanding of a gift has altered from the one
with which most of us were familiar. In becoming unfamiliar, we learn things about
ourselves, and about gifts, about how the value of an object can indicate the depth of a
feeling, and that description of cultures diers from the unconscious and emotionally
charged participation in cultural practices by the persons within that culture.
98 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 98 11/4/10 2:11 PM

Even with this new understanding, this analysis still leaves important questions
unanswered, such as:
Is there such a thing as a gift as we originally conceived it-one that is really

free?
Can we escape this economy of a gift?
What if we give anonymously, or for charity? Does the satisfaction we receive,

from doing so, compensate us?
Would we escape this economy if we could forget that we had given a gift, and/
or if we could ensure the recipient would forget? Would there be a point to giv-
ing, at all, if we were able to do so?
Why do we all pretend there is no economy? Isnt that what happens when
someone thanks us for a gift, and we respond with something like: Its noth-
ing, or: Forget about it?
2 opinions, facts, and analysis
T o get to the hands-on how to of analysis that yields insights, one must also get
through a second obstacle: the common misunderstanding that there are only
two ways to produce conclusion: to oer opinions, or to cite facts found in secondary
source material.
As should be clear, by now, an opinion, by denition, is based upon a subjective

point of view, and relies upon such things as unsubstantiated taste or preference.
The answer that someone will provide to a question, if opinion is being solicited, will
depend entirely upon whom one asks. The statement Blue is the prettiest color is
a statement of opinion, oered in response to the question: What is the prettiest
color?
This question can be answered in many ways, because the truth is based upon
subjective experience. This is why there is no place for opinion in the academic essay,
which does not recognize such truth as valid in the context of knowledge acquisition.
A fact appears, at rst, to be the only other option, because it serves as the opposite
of opinion. A secondary-source fact is a statement that has already been established
as veried by the rules that determine truth and validity within a given academic
discourse.
Chapter_05.indd 99 11/4/10 2:11 PM

A fact may be a statement such as: The perception of color is caused by the refraction
of light, oered in response to the question: What causes the perception of color?
The library is full of established facts.
EVER WONDERED? A fact can also be common knowledge (e.g.: planets

are spherical). If it is not common knowledge, an
Common vs. Specialized
established fact is the product of someone elses
Knowledge: This is a dicult rule
to understand, because it depends published thinking and exploration on a ques-
upon both who is writing, and also tion. Established facts make up secondary source
to whom one is writing. material for a writer: the way in which others have
In an undergraduate paper, written looked at the same question that the writer is
for an undergraduate journal, any addressing.
specialized term in any given disci-
plinary eld falls under specialized This does lead some students to believe that, given
knowledge, and must be dened, that opinion is not an option for academic writing,
and the source identied, even if their task is to answer a question by:
the student, and/or students in
general, would probably recognize 1. Assembling together, through secondary
the term. source research, as many established facts
as possible that answer their question
2. Reassembling those facts into an essay form that reects other peoples
answers to the students question.
This is not an academic essay, or an academic research paper. It is a book report.

A book report is designed to reect what the student has learned about a given
subject, from other writers. An academic essay is designed to reect what the student
has to teach other people about what the student has come to understand.
The idea that academic writing is based on either opinion, or facts creates a binary.
Academic writing does not draw primarily on common knowledge or published
secondary source material, and it is never drawn from opinion.
The most fundamental way that people reason
DEFINITION
through a question, and establish the truth of the
analysis: the act of breaking an
object/idea/question/issue down, matter, and then write about it, is analysis. Analy-
into constituent parts, for the sis is a form of reasoning, and not a statement of
purpose of gaining knowledge opinion. Academic writing always relies primarily
about it. on the writers own analysis to move a question,
through a logical progression, to an answer.
Academic writers may use secondary sources for a variety of purposesto dene
terms, to show another writer to be in error, to reorient a question, to support a
100 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 100 11/4/10 2:11 PM

smaller point, or just to situate the context of the questionbut never, ever, for the
purpose of answering the primary question. That wheel has already been invented.
One cannot claim the ideas of others as ones own; it is one of the subtlest forms of
plagiarism.
3 types of analysis: general analysis
I n this chapter, we will cover the steps of general analysis, as well as two specic
types of general analysis: Formalist Analysis, and Rhetorical Analysis.
People usually already know that, in general, analysis has nothing to do with facts
memorized, and everything to do with acquiring a specic prociency. While the
following would be simplied, lets say that a scholar has a question. That question is:
What force causes many objects to fall downward

when dropped from a height?
Since Newton, and others, have already been so kind as to look into this question for
us, we know that the answer to this question is, in part: gravity.
Lets imagine, however, that we dont yet know the answer to the question: What
force causes many objects to fall downward? Heres how we would use analysis to
begin to answer that question.
Analysis begins with two steps, often called a demonstration.
Step 1: Ask a question based upon an observation
Step 2: Identify specic instances or samples or examples
Thus, our scientist may begin with the following:
Step 1: Many objects fall downward when dropped. What force causes these
objects to fall downward?
Step 2: Rocks, eggs, cannon balls, and vases will fall downward when dropped
from a height.
While these are important rst steps to analysis, the analysis is, at this point, incom-
plete. The question as to what forces causes this downward motion has been posed,
but has not yet been answered. This is a part of the problem with the ve-paragraph
form, which is drawn from demonstration: a statement of observation (objects fall
downward) followed by examples that are treated as proofs (rocks, eggs, cannon
Chapter_05.indd 101 11/4/10 2:11 PM

balls, and vases fall downward), followed by a repetition of the initial observation
(objects fall downward).
In other words, anyone can observe that objects tend to fall downward from a height,
and list some examples of objects doing so. It still doesnt answer the question of what
force causes them to do soand it never will.
This formula is incomplete without an answer to the question posed, which is why
these objects fall downward. Because the question is ignored, even though examples
are given, it is not a complete analysis.
What our scientists needs, at this point, are the next steps to analysis:
Step 3: Gather details, or data

DEFINITION
pattern: a discernable combina- Step 4: Identify patterns within those details or
tion of qualities that form a kind data
of relationship between two or
more elements, including physical, Step 5: Draw conclusions from those patterns
temporal, or spatial relationships.
Our scientist, then, might go through the follow-
ing steps:
Step 3: Beginning with the most obvious, the scientist will gather a lot of
detailsor dataregarding objects dropped from a height (whether
they fall downward, or not).
Step 4: Once the scientist has acquired enough detail, beginning with the
most obvious, he or she will examine that detail and begin to look for
patterns within that detail.
Step 5: Each pattern that the scientist nds will suggest a certain conclusion.
As each pattern leads to a conclusion, the scientist: 1) gathers true
information about this force; 2) recognizes additional patterns that
lead to further conclusions.
Thus, in gathering detail, certain patterns will suggest themselves, and those patterns
will lead to other questions, such as:
Why dont birds fall out of the sky?
Why do boats oat miles above the ground when in water, but would fall
downward if at such a height, on land?
Do all objects drop at the same speed?
102 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 102 11/4/10 2:11 PM

At what point does an object that is thrown upward begin to fall downward?
When I pick an object up, and it is heavy, is that related to this force?
If the Earth is round, are objects moving downward, really, or toward a center?
Why is this dierent?
Is rain being pulled downward by this force? Why isnt wind pulled downward?
Is this force something intrinsic to the object, or is it a result of a relationship
between one object, and another object?
While anyone with the most basic knowledge of physics would know the answer
to these questions, what the list illustrates is that questions often lead to questions.
Some people complain that, at the center of a critical question, there often seem to
be simply a whole lot more questions.
There is a reason for this. Analysis is a process whereby one answers a question by
breaking it up into manageable parts. Analysis produces a lot of questions, simply
because analysis requires a lot of answers in order to get to the truth. The element of
critical thinking, as it applies to analysis, is to take care to do the steps slowly, exhaus-
tively, and in order.
Example:
One writing student1 asked the question:
What are some elements that highly rated Reality TV shows have
in common that might explain the appeal of the genre?
She became interested in the genre because, in making it unfamiliar, she noted that
reality TV seemed to be a hybrid of three dierent genres: the documentary, the
game show, and the drama.
To initiate her analysis, this student began to gather information, beginning with the
most obvious.
1. In the rst part of her analysis, she went through a process of delimitation.
There were many Reality TV shows, and she couldnt look at all of them. She
didnt want to pick at random. So, she chose to limited her analysis to the
twenty-ve most popular Reality TV shows.
1
Writing 50 (Writing and Research). Winter 2010. UCSB.
Chapter_05.indd 103 11/4/10 2:11 PM

2. Once she had established her samples in these top twenty-ve shows,
she looked for the ve most obvious pieces of information she needed to
establish, in relationship to her question:
The name of the show
The television network
The date the show rst aired
The shows current ratings
How many seasons the show had run
3. Her second set of details, of which the following is an abbreviated list,

allowed her to begin to establish patterns among details, and included details
gathered from such questions as:
What advertising was typically aired during the course of a given show?
Did the show involve audience involvement, and, if so, to what degree, and
in what form?
If it did do so, in what way did the show engage in a process of eliminating
contestants? Who had control of how contestants were eliminated?
If an incentive was oered, what incentives were oered to the contestants,

including cash prizes?
Did the show fall into a category involved fantastical situations (stranded
on an island) or everyday situations (cameras placed in a room), or a
mixture of both?
Did the show function by placing participants in competition with one

another, or in a relationship of cooperation, or both, and in what way?
What specic kind of relationship, if any, did the show place into conict,
including: between strangers; between teams; among teammates; in
romantic relationships; in friendship; in family relationships?
Was the show lmed on a stage set, or at a specic location? How

important was that location, to the show?
Did participant involvement in the show rely primarily on skill, or on luck?
If skill, what skill was called for?
104 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 104 11/4/10 2:11 PM

From this process, this student gathered a great deal of insight regarding the appeal
of top Reality TV shows.
Another student became interested in the way in which the physical topography of a
university could aect the potential interactions between three groups, those groups
being: 1) students; 2) the university, including faculty; 3) the community, composed
of people living in that community.2
This student limited her analysis to three campuses that were very similar in other
ways (each from the University of California), but had radically dierent topogra-
phies that created a very dierent spatial conguration between these groups. The
three campuses were:
University of California Santa Barbara
University of California Santa Cruz
University of California Berkeley Fig. 2. Student Portfolio.
While she would eventually look at a

limited range of secondary sources for
other variables, such as undergraduate/
graduate student ratio, her initial strat-
egy for accessing the physical topography
of these relationships involved drawing
herself a visual. She assigned a key in
order to indicate the typical spatial rela-
tionships between students housing and
communal areas (squares), campus and
faculty areas (circles) and the community
(triangles) in which the university was
located.
In the most general terms, then, analysis

involves training in the ability to perform
the following series of actions, until the
question is answered:
Step 2: Identify specic instances or samples

2
Writing 50. Winter 2010. UCSB.
Chapter_05.indd 105 11/4/10 2:11 PM

Step 3: Gather details, or data, from those specics
Step 4: Identify patterns within those details or data
Step 5: Draw conclusions from those patterns
These ve basic steps to analysis apply, across disciplines, and in real-world situations.
They work whether one is trying to understand a natural law, or perform an analysis
of a sample in a laboratory, or interpret a poem, or solve a case, or examine an archeo-
logical dig, or understand a work of art, or conduct a psychological experiment, etc.
4 analysis and roller skating
Knowledge is not made for understanding. It is made for cutting.

Michel Foucault
T he dicult thing about analysis is that its like trying to explain how to use ones
muscles to roller skateits a complex act that people who roller skate just kind
of learn to do. Analysis may seem like some sophisticated academic skill, but, in
fact, we walk around doing complex analysis all the time. We perform analyses daily
because we are reasoning beings.
Analysis is fundamental to reasoning. We perform analysis on a daily basis about peo-

ple and situations, by establishing criteria through which we can break down infor-
mation that we receive, compare it to previous experience and ways of understanding,
identify patterns from detail that we observe, and draw conclusions, often without
doing so consciously.
Patterns are important. The most basic patterns that we observe in detail are those
that allow comparison and categorization: likeness; dierence; repetition; contrast.
These patterns are so pervasive to human experience that they function even in the
very language that we use.
Lets take something as basic as the word tree. We would probably agree that no two
trees are exactly alike. We would also probably agree that an Oak, and a Spruce, and a
Pine, and a Bonsai are not alike, either. Yet all of these things in the world are called,
in English, trees.
Yet how can things that are so dierent all be called the same thing? When we say or
write the word tree, we often assume that we are referring to those leafy green tall
106 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 106 11/4/10 2:11 PM

things out there in the world, even if they do dier from one another. Yet that is not
quite accurate.
When one uses the word tree, one is referring not to those green leafy things in the
world, but rather to something called a concept. A concept is a category of things in
the world. One is not referring to something in the world. Rather, one is referring to
a concept of tree-ness:
Living, but not an

tree-ness
animal, a kind of
plant, often grows
high off of ground,
often has a long
trunk and lateral
branches
Language is made up of concepts because we draw distinctions between things that

are alike, and things that are not alike, according to specic, concrete details.
A specic tree ts into our concept of tree-ness because it has a lot of important
qualities that are alike, even if it has a few that are not alike. These qualities make up
categories through which we order our perception of the world, and how we speak of
it. Trees, for example, t into the larger category of things that are living.
It is true that tree-ness may be like a rock-ness, because they both may have hard
surfaces upon which one could sit. Thats a pattern. However, because we care about
much more than just potential seats, when trying to make sense of the world, the
pattern is just not a very important one.
We tend to pay attention to patterns that are important to us. Patterns form rules,
and repetitions, and regularities, Without going too deep down the rabbit hole, one
can also think about the following:
A tree is a plant, but a plant is just another concept that includes other things
such as bushes, weeds, grasses, vegetables, fruits, etc.
This means that concepts are both associativeconnectedand also placed

within a taxonomy (types and subtypes). Thus, one can say: All trees are
plants, but one cannot say: All plants are trees.
We can stretch the concept of tree-ness into the icon, wherein we draw a
tree, and point to the drawing and say: Thats a tree, but it would be a draw-
ing, and not a tree.
Chapter_05.indd 107 11/4/10 2:11 PM

We can stretch the concept of tree into analogy, and speak of a family tree,
which is denitely not a plant.
Language is exible because it is not made of the stu of the world; it is formed in
our heads as systems of patterns and categories that allow us to order what would
otherwise be chaotic.
This cluster of similarities and dierences becomes a conceptual category to which

things in the world either t (Its a tree!), or dont t (Oh, its just a rock). For as
long as a given thing we encounter in the world ts our concept of tree-ness, then
we can accept that the leafy thing (over there) is both completely unique (no tree is
like any other tree), and also, at the same time, simply a tree, just like any other.
To really get to this idea, one could say that any tree in the word is what one could call
lack-full. It is lacking in that no single tree fully lives up to its conceptit would be
very dicult to nd The Tree. Yet even if no tree is The Tree, each tree in the world is
also fully described by the concept, because it is not anything but a tree.
Without these conceptual patterns, every tall leafy thing we encountered would have
to be considered a dierent thing, and wed have to come up with a dierent name for
each and every single one. That would be confusing, not to mention time-consuming.
However, were saved from such a fate because we are already reasoning, analyti-
cal beings. We already break things down into their constituent elements, and nd
patterns within and between those elements (things with bark, leaves, stems, etc.)
to organize the world. In other words, analysis is not a skill that we have to learn in
school; we acquire it very early.
Thinking, which includes analysis, is an activity in which we engage, whether we are

writing, or not. However, writing involves a self-conscious act of analysis. To write
is to follow the steps of analysis, in order to recognize those patterns that allow us to
draw conclusions about the world. Critical thinking is paying attention to how we do
that process.
There are dierent kinds of analysis, each yielding its own tools for performing the
steps, but the general steps are always the same: Ask a question; Gather details;
Establish patterns; Draw conclusions. We do this every day. The analytical skill we
need, in order to think critically in employing analysis, and write eectively, is the
ability to do these steps on purpose.
108 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 108 11/4/10 2:11 PM

5 formalist analysis
A formalist analysis can be applied to dierent

questions, but is especially eective in the
analysis of visual images, such as: 1) A work of art,
DEFINITION
visual eld: from visual studies,
indicates a two-dimensional area
or; 2) Visual images combined with text, such as an in which elements have been
advertisement, or; 3) Sequential images, such as manipulated in order to create
comics or lm. Formalist analysis is a nice way to a visual eect (e.g.: a painting, a
introduce analysis, because the detail is available photograph, an advertisement).
This should not be confused with
in one place: the image at which one is directing
eld of vision, which indicates all
ones attention. This area is called the visual eld. that a single hypothetical viewer
would be able to see, from a given
Because a given visual eld is limited, it serves as
position.
an easier example for beginning to understand the
way that analysis functions.
SAMPLE FORMALIST ANALYSIS
In The Possibility and Actuality of Visual Arguments, J. Anthony Blair performs a

formalist analysis in order to answer the question: Do Images Argue? We know that
images can be persuasive; what Blair wants to know is if there can be a translation
between visual persuasion and formal argumentation in language. In other words:
Can the persuasive quality of an image be called an argument if it can be translated
into written premises and a conclusion?
As a part of that essay, Blair performs a formalist analysis of an advertisement for a

United Colors of Benetton Clothing advertisement, in light of the question:
How does this image attempt to persuade its audience?
In dealing with images, there are analytical tools that one can use. A very sophis-
ticated formalist analysis might take into account visual elements such as balance,
composition, contrast, depth of eld, hue, color, etc. However, one does not have to
go so deeply into such specialized knowledge to simply pay attention to the image at
which one is looking.
At one point, Blair concentrates his attention upon the visual eld of a single
advertisement from Benneton Clothing Company, and begins his analysis of that
image.
Chapter_05.indd 109 11/4/10 2:11 PM

Vertical Axis Gather Detail
Blair begins by making a series of
Logo
obvious observations in which he pays
Horizontal Axis
sharp attention to the details of the

advertisement:
There are two gures within the

advertisement that mirror one
another. One could draw a vertical
Fig. 3. G. Vallis. Illustration inspired by line down the center of this image,
United Colors of Benetton advertise- and each side would basically
ment Handcus. match
By far, the most noticeable dierence between these mirrored image is that
the one hand in the advertisement is that of a black man, and the other of a
whiteman
The horizontal element that links the two mirrored images by crossing the
center of the visual eld is one of handcus
Both men are casually well-dressed in similar clothing

Recognize Patterns/Draws Conclusions:
From gathering detail, Blair notes patterns in relationship to that detail.
Pattern: The black-and-white image emphasizes that the mirrored images are
the same in almost all ways, including clothing, stance, positioning
of hands, lack of jewelry or other indicator of dierence
Conclusion 1: The similarity of the mirrored images indicates that the relationship
between the two gures is central to the message of the advertisement
Conclusion 2: A central part of that message is the lack of dierence between these
two men
Pattern: The lack of dierence emphasizes the one important dierence: one
of the men depicted is black, and the other is depicted as white
Conclusion 3: The message being conveyed regarding the relationship between

these two gures is one that both indicates a lack of dierence
110 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 110 11/4/10 2:11 PM

between these two gures, and emphasizes a single dierence,
specically in regard to race
Pattern: The element that links the two mirror images is one of handcus
Conclusion 4: Because it links the two mirror images, the handcus describe the
relationship between these gures
Conclusion 5: Handcus carry negative associations such as prison, inability to

escape, and oppression. Those associations are meant to describe
something about the relationship between these two gures
Pattern: Neither gure is depicted as taking more space within the visual eld,
or as having control over the handcus, or as signicantly taller, or in
any way dominant over the other
Conclusion 6: The associations that attend the handcus apply to both men,
equally. This is not something one man is doing to the other, but a
relationship in which both are trapped
Conclusion 7: Because the handcus indicate both a relationship and powerless-

ness, the relationship is involuntary, on both sides
This is how Blair not only draws his conclusions, but also supports those conclusions,
for the reader, using concrete details from his analysis. In drawing those conclusions,
he reassembles the details in order to show what he has found. He identies the
advertisement as one that delivers a series of messages:
We are locked together, whites and blacks
There is no escaping our condition together in the country and the world; we
are the prisoners of our own prejudices.
The identical clothing suggests equality; Freedom for either one entails
freedom for the other
We are joined together; We are prisoners of our attitudes
Racism is unjustied and should be ended (8)
The conclusions that Blair draws from the detail of the advertisement seem reason-
able because anyone looking at the advertisement will see them. They are drawn from
paying attention to the details of the obvious.
Chapter_05.indd 111 11/4/10 2:11 PM

If the image were a piece of art, and not an advertisement, Blairs analysis might end
there. However, this is an advertisement, and therefore Blair utilizes a dierent ana-
lytical strategy to continue: a rhetorical analysis.
6 rhetorical analysis
A rhetorical analysis places a given communication within the context of the ele-
ments that govern its communication. In rhetoric, there are ve basic elements
that qualify something as a communication:
A speaker (one who sends a message)
An audience (one who receives a message)
A message (what is being transmitted)
An intention (the purpose of that transmission)
A vehicle (the form that message takes)
These elements do not have to be physically present. A speaker of an advertisement

could be a corporation. An audience of a billboard on the freeway could be drivers on
the road. A speaker is the name for the narrator of a book one is reading, and when
one reads that book, one is the audience.
A great deal of information can be gained from rhetorical analysis, because it exposes
the underlying ideology of a given communication.
SAMPLE RHETORICAL ANALYSIS
Because Blair remains conscious of the rhetorical situation in which this image oper-
ates, in the world, he also performs a rhetorical analysis.
If the image that Blair analyzes were a political poster designed to persuade people
regarding the importance of ending racism, one would expect to see the following, in
a rhetorical analysis:
Speaker: Group of political activists
Audience: The general public (i.e.: on a street)
112 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 112 11/4/10 2:11 PM

Message: Racial prejudice should be ended
Intention: To persuade people that racial prejudice should be

ended
Vehicle: A public context (e.g.: a billboard)
However, since the image that Blair analyses is, instead, an advertisement for Benet-
ton Clothing, one would expect to nd the following:
Speaker: United Colors of Benetton Clothing Company
Audience: Middle-class consumers
Message: Benetton Clothing is good/fashionable/valuable
Intention: To sell Benetton Clothing
Vehicle: Various
In his rhetorical analysis, however, Blair does not nd either of these to be the case.
Instead, he establishes the following:
Speaker: United Colors of Benetton Clothing Company
Audience: Upper middle-class, predominantly white, predominantly

liberal, readership of the New Yorker, where the advertise-
ment appeared
Message: Racial prejudice should be ended

Intention: To sell Benetton Clothing
Vehicle: Advertisement in a magazine
In performing this analysis, Blair notes important patterns that do not t, and draws
conclusions from those patterns. Thus, he notes the following discrepancies, as a
result of that rhetorical analysis:
The audience is a primarily upper middle-class white liberal readership, which

excludes one of the gures depicted within the advertisement
The intention of the sender (to sell Benetton Clothing) is fundamentally

unrelated to the message (Racial prejudice should be ended)
Chapter_05.indd 113 11/4/10 2:11 PM

Blair returns these analyses to his initial question, which was:
How does this image attempt to persuade its audience?
His answer is the following:
They [Benetton the clothing company] supply no [direct] reasons for

buying the product or patronizing the company. What the ad does
is identify Benetton with the self-image of the racial attitudes held by
The New Yorker reader. Benetton is conveying the message, We share
your color-blind ideals, your opposition to racism, and your recognition
of the problems facing the ideal of blacks and whites living in harmony,
and your desire to see them overcome (23)
In other words, the advertisement attempts to persuade its audience not by mak-
ing an argument for some special quality about the clothing, itself, but precisely by
avoiding making that argument.
The advertisement appeals to its readership, instead, by creating an association

between social values commonly held by that readership, and the product that is
being sold, even though the two are not related. That there is no relationship is obvi-
ous, but not immediately apparent, unless one analyzes the image in a way that
employs critical thinking.
Blairs essay addresses a larger question of the dierence between persuasion and
argumentation, within visual images. This single reading is a part of his answer to
that question. In this way, observations drawn from individual analyses can be orga-
nized in such a way as to build a reasonable series of conclusions that lead to an
answer to a larger question.
Wherever there is detail, analysis can be performedin any discipline, with any
material. What is requires is recognizing that no detail is unimportant.
7 review
CHAPTER REVIEW
The information to be taken from this chapter is that there are three important things
to remember when performing analysis: slow down; begin with the obvious; do not
take anything for granted. Analysis is the primary tool for moving a question to an
answer, in academic writing, and not opinion, or misuse of secondary sources to reit-
erate established knowledge.
114 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 114 11/4/10 2:11 PM

Analysis is a process of breaking something down into its constituent parts, and is
based upon ve specic steps:
Step 3: Gather details, or data, from those specics

We do analysis all the time; critical thinking oers specic tools regarding how to do
analysis self-consciously, so that one can draw conclusions that are valid.
Although analysis always generally follows these steps, there are specic types of
analyses that are especially useful for the analysis of such things as a visual image
(formalist analysis) or a communication situation (rhetorical analysis).
VOCABULARY REVIEW
analysis
The act of breaking an object/idea/issue down, into constituent parts, for the
purpose of gaining knowledge about that object/idea/issue
defamiliarization eect
From art and literary theory, a moment of sudden insight created by the
denaturalization of a common experience or typical way of understanding
something
pattern
A discernable combination of qualities that form a kind of relationship between
two or more elements, including physical, temporal, or spatial elements or
relationships
GRAMMAR REVIEW
Common Knowledge vs. Specialized Knowledge:
This is a dicult rule to understand, because it depends upon both who is writing,
and also to whom one is writing.
Chapter_05.indd 115 11/4/10 2:11 PM

A biologist writing an article for a journal of biology, for other biologists to read,
would not have to explain the denition of and source for the term mitochondria.
Asociologist, writing an article for a journal of sociology, would not have to explain
the denition of intergenerational mobility.
However, a sociologist would have to dene mitochrondria to his her or audience of other
sociologists, and a biologist would have to dene intergenerational mobility to his or her
audience of other biologists, should the terms happen to arise in the article being written.
In an undergraduate paper, written for an undergraduate journal, any specialized term

in any given disciplinary eldthat is, any term that the common person on the street
would not access easilyfalls under specialized knowledge, and must be dened, even
if the student, and/or students in general, would probably recognize the term.
8 performing analysis
Step 4: Analysis Guide
Example Analysis Guide
116 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 116 11/4/10 2:11 PM

STEP 4: ANALYSIS GUIDE, OR HOW TO ROLLER SKATE
Analysis can be messy, so its best to go ahead and start with paper and a pen, instead
of trying to type out your ndings, right away.
Step 1: Locate the observation that led to your question
Whether you are aware of it, or not, your question is based upon an observation. In
other words, initially you observed something, and wondered why that was so.
Example: Disney lms are for children, but the main characters are young
adults. Why?
Example: The word ghetto was once used to be a noun, but now it is used
as an adjective. Why?
1. State your observation, and the question that arose from that observation.
In order to perform analysis, one must have material to work with. No question exists
in a vacuum. All you need is to nd something that can be broken down into its con-
stituent parts, and that, in being broken down, will yield information. If there are a lot
of examples, you will need to limit them in a way that makes sense to your question.
Example: 10 Top Disney Feature Films 19402000
Example: Use of the word ghetto, from its rst usage, through to the
present time, and the details of real-world instances, as well as
denitions/associations that the word had, then, and that the
word has, now. Specic situations of its usage.
2. Identify the specic instances or samples from which you will draw your
analysis.
Step 3: Gather details from those specics
On a separate piece of paper, write (dont type) every single detail that you nd within
those representative samples.
Begin with the ve most obvious details
3. Find at least 1520 (the more, the better) details, and write them on your
piece of paper. If you have too many details, return to step 2 and limit your
Chapter_05.indd 117 11/4/10 2:11 PM

samples in a logical way that relates to your question. If you cannot nd
enough examples, welllook harder.
Patterns describe relationships. Think of this as a game. What is the same about these
details? What is dierent? Which ones repeat? Which ones dont? Look very, very
closely, and say anything about details that represent any kind of pattern. The kinds
of patterns you nd could include, among others:
similarity dierence disjunction
repetition opposition causation
contrast association correlation
exception sequence group/s

4. Identify patterns within your details, using any means of creating
arelationship.
Once you have established a series of patterns from detail, your next task is to note the
way in which these patterns will begin to suggest categorieswhat patterns tend to
be dominant within the details, what ts, what doesnt t, and why. These categories
become conclusions: things that you can say, reasonably, about what you are analyzing,
and become a part of the way that you can oer answers in relationship to your question.
5. Draw conclusions from the patterns you nd, based upon the dominant
categories they suggest. Note any anomaliesdetails that dont t any
categories. These are often excellent places for insight into your question.
118 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 118 11/4/10 2:11 PM

EXAMPLE ANALYSIS GUIDE
Step 1: Locate the observation that led to your question
For his paper, a student3 made two important and linked observations: 1) movie post-
ers are required to oer a lot of information to an audience, all at once; 2) the genre of
the lmwhether it is a romantic lm, or a comedy, etc.is the primary information
oered in movie posters.
Movie posters are primarily designed to give information about the genre of a
lm to an audience that views the poster. How do movie posters communicate
genre to the audience?
I will draw my samples from movie posters found online from across
four genres: romance; horror; adventure; and comedy. I will limit my
samples to the top ve lms, within those genres, in the previous year.
Step 3: Gather details from those specics
This student found the following obvious details about movie posters:
Movie posters are released before the lm is released
Movie posters usually consist of both visuals and text
Movie posters usually consist of more visuals than text
Movie posters are advertisements for the lm
Movie posters are placed in public spaces, both real and virtual
Movie posters consistently transmit specic types of information
The type of information transmitted often depends on the genre
The information that movie posters transmit is sometimes explicit and sometimes
implicit
Movie titles are poor transmitters regarding the genre of a lm. For example, a lm
titled Brakeslam (year) could be a romance, a comedy, a horror lm, etc.
3
Writing 2. Spring 2008. UCSB.
Chapter_05.indd 119 11/4/10 2:11 PM

The information that all movie posters provide is usually:
The genre of the lm
The studio
The director
The date of release
The title of the lm
The lm rating (e.g.: R rating)
The information that movie posters sometimes provide is:
The main actor/s
A catchphrase or explanatory line
The origin of the story (e.g.: a book or true story)
Certain information is typically provided visually, including genre
Certain information is typically provided in text, including: Studio; Title of lm;

Date of release
Certain information is typically provided both visually and in text, including: main
actors
The way that information is presented is often determined by genre
This student then went on to create a substantial list based upon detail gathered from
posters within his samples, drawn from top lms, in four genres, over the period of
one year.
The following is an incomplete list of what this student found, which he oered
accompanied by visuals of lm posters that he imbedded into the body of his paper:
Since genre is typically provided visually, genres fall into specic patterns, leading
to the following conclusions:
Romance:
Two main characters tended to be visually dominant, with faces the largest,
often cut off at shoulders or waist, although sometimes full body depictions.
120 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_05.indd 120 11/4/10 2:11 PM

Two main characters are often in physical contact, or in a position indicating
the initial nature of their relationship (e.g.: antagonistic)
Male tends to be higher in visual eld than female.
Third gure may be present, if it is a love triangle story.
Other visual elements tend to be minimal, with second most typical visual
element being setting (ofce, beach, etc.).
Often includes catchphrase that highlights main dilemma.
Horror:
Most likely to have no fully represented human gure present
Any depiction of visible full-body human is usually in shadow or masked
Least explicitly informative, most implicit
Very typical to offer a single body part either entering visual eld (an arm,
etc.), or lling substantial portion of visual eld.
Body part (arm, leg, and often eye) is often mixed with other imagery implying
violence to the body, such as wires, knives, etc.
Least likely to include informative text.
Often has catchphrase that offers a direct address to the viewer, sometimes in the
form of a threatening invitation.
More likely to have a minimalist background.
Rarely includes supplementary visuals.
After establishing these details across all four genres, primarily visually, and often
according to implicit cues that the audience has learned to expect, this student then
examined posters that didnt t the dominant categories of his analysis.
This part of his analysis included hybrid genres (e.g.: a romantic-comedy), as well as
crossovers; lms that seemed like they should be in one genre, but that contained
visual cues that indicated that they were in another genre.
In this way, this student was able to establish that while a lm such as Twilight (2008)
could be considered a part of the horror genre, since it depicts supernatural creatures
traditionally a part of that genre (i.e.: vampires and werewolves), his analysis suggested
that it is visually depicted, in lm posters, as a part of the romance genrewhich it is.
Chapter_05.indd 121 11/4/10 2:11 PM

Chapter_05.indd 122 11/4/10 2:11 PM
Chapter 6
Finding common ground
1 THE OrGANIZING PRINCIPLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
2 FIRST THINGS FIRST: THE TITLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
3 EXORDIUM: YO! OR LO! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
4 types of openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5 REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
6 ORGANIZING/OPENING the essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
STEP 5 THE OPENING/ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
123
Chapter_06.indd 123 11/4/10 2:44 PM

1 the organizing principle
S ometimes, the organization of a paper is obvious; one can simply start at the
beginning, and work through ones question to arrive at an answer. However, once
one has performed a thorough analysis, one can also feel as if one is looking at a map
in which the arrow that indicates that You are Here is missing.
When this happens, one can have a lot of ideas and conclusions, all linked together in
dierent ways. Each seems to lead in a dierent direction, connected in dierent ways.
How does one choose which single path to follow? How does one turn that map back
into a linear progression of words on a page, without wandering o, or getting lost?
One of the most useful products of analysis is that details suggest patterns, and
patterns suggest conclusions. Yet these patterns also suggest something else: an orga-
nizing principle.
The conclusions produced from analysis tend to combine in a particular way, because
the question demands certain kinds of patterns in order to be answered. In other
words, if one can identify major points on the map, and how they relate to other
major points, one can nd a way to organize the chaos.
Let us say, for example, that one were the rst person to become interested in canine
behavior, and formed the question:
How do dogs communicate through body language?
One might draw a series of conclusions from ones analysis, and those conclusions
would also tend to break down in specic ways.
For example, one might nd oneself looking into this question in relationship to
specic actions connected to a breakdown of dierent parts of the dogs body: ear
position; eye contact; tail movement; coat appearance; stance of legs; etc.
At that point, the parts becomes a group. The thing that binds this group together
is the ways in which the dog uses dierent parts of its body to communicate. In this
way, by concentrating on how these details are broken down, and the pattern they
produce, one can organize ones paper in a sensible sequential order for each item
within that group.
As one deals with each conclusion within the group, one get more information in
regard to the question. As one reaches each conclusion, one can then return that
conclusion to the original question that was posed, adding a new layer to a growing
124 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_06.indd 124 11/4/10 2:44 PM

series of reasonable statements based upon ones
DEFINITION
analysis. Eventually, these conclusions result,
recursive writing: although this
cumulatively, in an answer to the original question technique can be used in several
that was posed. This is called recursive writing. ways, in this sense it means
returning individual conclusions
Or, one might nd that ones analysis has drawn that one nds in an analysis to
upon a breakdown of dog and human communica- the initial question that one is
tion, and the grouping may organize itself by analy- answering. Each conclusion builds
sis of a dogs typical behavioral response to a variety an overall series of reasonable
of human behaviors (e.g.: a persons approach; voice statements that support the nal
answer.
modulation; position of a persons hands, etc.)
Or, one might nd that ones analysis has drawn upon a breakdown involving the
comparison of dogs to another species. In this case, the grouping may be organized
by indicating similarities and dierences between those two species (e.g.: in both
dogs and cats, a xed, direct stare is a challenge).
Or, one might nd that ones analysis has drawn upon linking body language to social
groupings found in packs, in which case each conclusion drawn would be classied
under that connection (e.g.: a dog displays aection and indicates submission to a
fellow pack member by licking, which is a grooming behavior).
Anticipating an Organizing Principle
While one is performing analysis, one should be looking for the way one has broken
things down, and what it says about how ones conclusions might be organized.
Someone asking a question regarding popular representations of disability might
break down his or her analysis into four categories that account for all of the samples
he or she has found up to that point:
1. Using disability as an inspirational story of overcoming adversity (e.g.: Helen
Keller)
2. Using disability as a sign of hidden knowledge or abilities that would inspire
awe (e.g.: the blind prophet)
3. Using visible disability to indicate a villain (e.g.: a wooden leg, eye patch,
orscarring)
4. Using disability as a source of humor (mental disability)
An essay is, in many ways, an organized record of someones thinking on a given
question. Staying conscious of how you break down elements in analysis, and even
SECTION II CHAPTER 6 Finding Common Ground 125
Chapter_06.indd 125 11/4/10 2:44 PM

telling a reader why you made a certain choices in regard to organization, is not
unprofessional, and often helpful.
For example, in the sociological study The Cocktail Waitress, James P. Spradley and
Brenda J. Mann document their initial diculty in nding a way to organize the data
that they collected. These data were the result of extensive interviews in which they
asked cocktail waitresses about the names given to types of customers that come into
a typical bar in the United States.
Their original list was as follows:
girl regular cougar1 party Annie

jock real regular animal female obnoxo
person o street waitress bartender loner Hustler
businessman policeman greaser zoo Slob
drunk redneck bore Johnny Bastard
Bitch Pig Hands Creep Couple
king and court
The writers not only reported struggling with how to organize this list, but admitted
further confusion when they discovered that a regular could be an obnoxo or a bore,
a party could be a zoo, a cougar was always a jock, but a jock could also be a regular or
person o the street (25556).
The important thing to understand is that if the content of your analysis does not deter-
mine the structure of your writing, an inconsistent structure will serve to determine your
content for you. This will often result in simply listing, which is supercial analysis when
one is looking for patterns. The writers of The Cocktail Waitress knew this, and pushed
further until they found a solution regarding a reasonable way to break down their list.
In further analysis, they came to understand that the labels on this list could be grouped
in important ways. They were not the same. Some were xed, and some varied.
For example, certain labels, such as hands, pig, boor, or obnoxo, were based upon the
behavior of the customer, and therefore could shift as behavior changed.
Others, such as Annies or Cougars, were xed, based upon social identities outside
the bar, in this case related to the local college.
1
The term cougar does not have the same cultural connotation that it has now, this study
having predated the current use of the term in which it indicates an older woman who is
attractive to, or attracted to, younger men.
126 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_06.indd 126 11/4/10 2:44 PM

As criteria emerged from these groupings, an organizing principle developed. In this
case, the organizing principle was one of taxonomy: types and subtypes.
Common Organizational Principles
The following catalogues typical kinds of organizing principles that one nds in aca-
demic writing. They are not the only kinds of ways to organize a paper, but under-
standing how they function can be useful in determining what kind oforganization is
called for in translating the analysis that you perform into written form.
Categories: The most straightforward of the structures, an organizing

principle that would identify the major points on the map and
take them one by one, returning each conclusion to the question.
Example:
In Men, Women, and Chainsaws Carol Clover asks a question
regarding the hero in relationship to the slasher lm genre in the
1970s.
She analyzes approximately thirty slasher lms according to

the categories of: 1) killer; 2) locale; 3) weapons; 4) victims;
5)shock-eects.
Comparison: An organizational structure that locates specic points of simi-

larity or dierence between two things, or among three or more
things.
This organizing principle would result in a paper that would

compare elements in a specic area, draw a conclusion, return
that conclusion to the original question, and move on to the next
area of comparison.
Example:
In Professing History: Distinguishing Between Memory and the
Past, Elliot J. Gorn asks a question regarding the challenges and
importance of teaching history.
He uses the juxtaposition between:
History as a record of past events
National mythos, such as the story of Betsy Ross making

the American ag, which she did not do.
Chapter_06.indd 127 11/4/10 2:44 PM

Causality: An organizational structure that outlines a chain of reasoning
that is logical in nature and related to a conditional structure
of protasis/apodosis. That is, movement in the
DEFINITION
writing is based upon a series of claims that if
protasis/apodosis: the two parts
of a conditional statement, where x( protosis) is so, then y (apodosis) would be so.
the second statement depends on
This organizing principle will result in a paper that
the conditions of the rst.
would begin with the most obvious conclusion to
Example: If it rains, then I will
bring an umbrella. In this case, draw from analysis, and then make the next con-
the act of bringing an umbrella clusion a condition of the previous, etc. This could
(apodosis) is dependent upon become monotonous, after awhile, and should be
whether or not it rains (protasis). used with care.
Example:
In Brocas Brain: Reections on the Romance of Science. Carl
Sagan asks a question as to whether humans can know all of the
universe.
He demonstrates that if we try to understand every bit of informa-

tion about the universe in separate bits of information, then we
would not have enough memory to know even the smallest part.
However, if we can determine natural laws that are regular in the
universe, then we can know a portion of the universe.
Student example:
If we cannot separate the differences between individualism
and collectivism, then we do not understand forms of govern-
ment. If we do not understand the idea of government, then we
are not educated enough to choose who will lead our country.2
Taxonomy: An organizational structure wherein one introduces a type of
thing, and then identies subtypes of that thing, and relation-
ships between, and among, types and subtypes.
This organizing principle would result in a paper that would

identify criteria by which a type would be identied, and then
specify criteria by which other things would belong to that type,
or fail to belong, according to those criteria.
2
128 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_06.indd 128 11/4/10 2:44 PM

Example:
In The Egg and the Sperm: How Science has Constructed a
Romance based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles, Emily
Martin ask a question regarding how analogy based upon gender
is used to describe scientic processes in textbooks.
The author uses a subtype of scientic discourse (biology) in

order to answer a question regarding how a type of discourse
(science) treats this issue in textbooks.
Focus: An organizational structure wherein one uses something exter-

nal to what is being analyzed as a kind of lens through which to
organize conclusions.
This organizational principle would result in a paper that would
focus conclusions through a single issue, and that single issue
would become an anchor through which one returns conclusions
to the question.
Example:
In Pedagogy of the Oppressed Paulo Friere asks a question regard-
ing the type of education that relies primarily on the memoriza-
tion of information outside of context.
He uses the extended metaphor of banking, including the ideas

of deposit and withdrawal of information, as a focus to describe
the consequences of this form of education.
Chronology: An organizational structure in which conclusions are presented

as spanning established time periods, from most recent to earli-
est, or earliest to most recent.
Example:
In A Chorus of Stones Susan Grin asks how historical events,
instead of beginning and ending, actually remain connected with
one another, over time.
She uses the analogy of a train that begins in the present, and
moves backward in time to 1945, and then returns to the present,
to illustrate these connections.
Chapter_06.indd 129 11/4/10 2:44 PM

When people talk of creating an outline, they are often engaged in the act of locating
an organizing principle for their writing. While outlining can be very useful for this,
and for other reasons, it is not included as a step for writing within this text.
It is not included, in this way, because writers tend to divide up primarily into two
groups: pre-writers or re-writers. While people who write a great deal spend a goodly
amount of time doing both, they will usually favor one or the other. Some people pre-
write to the point where the nal paper is merely a matter of starting at the top of an
outline and working ones way down. Others like to get their ideas down, right away,
and then shape the nal product.
In either case, recognizing the structure that ones content suggests, once one has per-
formed analysis, is necessary in order to guide a reader through ones map. It does not
mean that one has to meticulously chart every turn; it just means nding an entrance,
or opening, from which to begin, and a general idea of where one will go from there.
2 First things rst: the title
F or the opening of an essay, it might be helpful to begin with the most obvious
element: the title.
The role of the title for an essay in academic writing is often misunderstood. It has
a specic function related to the reason that academics write: publication. When
someone performs secondary-source research, on what other people have published,
they do not stumble around the stacks hoping to chance upon the information they
would like to have. They tend to use a keyword search.
Since articles and chapters are catalogued according to titles, it is important that any
title that you give to what you write have the proper keywords that would allow the
article to be accessed in a search.
The convention in academic writing, for a title of an essay or article, is for it to have
two lines, separated by a colon. The rst line is often snappy, in that it represents some
kind of play on words. The second line is usually explanatory, and holds important
keywords for a catalogue search. Following are some titles that include these elements:
We Were Always Happy:

The Distortion of Personal Histories in Personal Photograph Albums
Missing the Butch:

Representations of Lesbianism on Television
130 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_06.indd 130 11/4/10 2:44 PM

Whiteface/Blackface:
Representation and Race in American Film
Taking a Shot:
The Role of Imbedded Journalism, from Vietnam to Iraq
If the Jeans Fit:

The Use of the Image of Individualism in Product Marketing
The third example, above, for example, would ensure that any person seeking articles
that concern issues of race, American, or lm would be able to access that article
if he or she entered those keywords into a library database, whether at a physical
library, or a virtual one.
3 exordium: Yo! or Lo!
E xordium means introduction, or beginning. In rhetoric, it serves the purpose of

preparing an audience for the content that will follow. In some ways, the opening
to an essay is just like meeting someone face-to-face, for the rst time. The reader is
going to make a lot of judgments, conscious and unconscious, about the writer, based
upon that initial encounter.
While there are several strategies for opening a paper that will be covered in this
chapter, remember that the main point of your introduction is to establish common
ground with the reader. This means resisting the urge to sum up your whole paper in
one go.
The easiest, and often the most successful, openings, oer straightforward state-
ments that are very specic, directly related to the question at hand, and that a typical
reader would nd reasonable and fair. Three to ve such statements, in relationship
to your question, will build a foundation from which to begin to answer it, and create
an initial impression of the writer as a patient, trustworthy thinker.
In planning her opening, the student who was writing about Reality TV gathered
together a series of key points. Each point was something with which a typical reader
would probably agree, and each laid the groundwork for the way in which she would
begin her analysis. She ended the opening with a question. Her statements were:
1. Reality TV is a genre that is a mixture of documentary, drama, and

game show
Chapter_06.indd 131 11/4/10 2:44 PM

2. Reality TV generally has some kind of conict that main participants must
endeavor to overcome
3. Reality TV claims to be unscripted, but it is heavily edited.
Question: In what ways does reality television create specic effects

that explain its popularity as a genre?
EVER WANTED TO KNOW?

Break your prose into 23 paragraphs her page, assuming it is in typical 12-point, double-spaced
type. One long paragraph is exhausting.
Use common sense: dont break a paragraph in the middle of an idea, and dont start a new idea
in the middle of a paragraph.
ALERT! ATTENTION! WARNING! DANGER! BEWARE!

Beginning an essay with Since the beginning of time or From the moment humans rst
walked the Earth is like beginning a novel with: It was a dark and stormy night. Denitely to
be avoided.
More often than not, the opening to an essay is more than a single paragraph. It goes
on for as long as it takes to serve its purpose. In doing so, it performs its primary task:
to nd common ground with the reader and introduce a question.
In whatever discipline one is writing, the opening always oers the question to be
posed, problem to be solved, or issue to be resolved. Whether this is oered in an
implicit, or explicit manner, the opening sets up the issue at hand-what is in question.
Writers who are new to unlearning the ve-paragraph form are usually best served
by making the question explicit.
Other functions of the Opening
While it is important to keep the main function of the opening in mind, in regard to
establishing the question at hand, there are other purposes that the opening serves:
The essay opening introduces the voice of the writer. Readers will quickly form
opinions about writers within the rst paragraph or so, and its important that
a writer takes extra care to immediately establish ethos with the reader. In
other words, writers should strive to appear reasonable, unhurried, specic,
and honest, right away.
The primary way to do this is to make clear statements, and strike a tone of
honest curiosity in asking your question. This is the opportunity to draw your
132 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_06.indd 132 11/4/10 2:44 PM

reader in, catch his or her interest, and demonstrate that the question being
posed is one worth exploring.
At this point, the writer will also indicate the level of formality of the writing,
which can vary, stylistically and according to disciplinary convention.
Once established, this level of formality should remain consistent throughout

the essay. As a general rule, Yo is over the top, but This essay will begin... is
not very interesting, either. Somewhere in the middle of these two extremes
usually works.
Although it is not necessary at this point, the opening may introduce the ques-
tion within a specic context. It may oer an example, or a history of the issue,
or a general way in which the question is usually understood, or the way that it
is treated within current discourse, academic or otherwise.
This is really a combination of opening and background, and certain questions

yield themselves especially well to this kind of opening. Either way, one will
eventually have to deal with the context of ones question, in the world.
4 types of openings
A lthough there are many essays that do not open in these ways, there are some
typical types of openings that are good to know, and can be used if particularly
appropriate to a question, or if a writer is stuck in knowing how to begin.
The most eective opening for a writer who is learning the academic essay is still a
series of three to ve very specic statements, of direct pertinence to the question being
posed, with which a typical reader would agree. However, if one is feeling more adven-
turesome, and would like to open with stylistic air, there are several ways to do so.
Narrative Opening
A Narrative Opening, unlike one that begins with a series of statements, begins by
telling a story for the reader. It is briey informal, should be pertinent to the issue at
hand, and should be immediately followed by a clear switch to an objective, and even
clinical, tone.
This opening can be very useful for emphasis of the real-world consequences of an
issue, or simply as dramatic eect to draw the reader in.
Chapter_06.indd 133 11/4/10 2:44 PM

Note: It is very important to understand that a narrative, or story, is only eective in
an opening. To make this opening work, one must relate it quickly, and then refrain
from any storytelling for the rest of the essay. The only exception to this would be that
some essays, although not all, will return briey to the same story in the closing of the
essay, providing a kind of stylistic bookend eect.
From Phillip Zimbardo A Pirandellian Prison, commonly known as

The Stanford Prison Experiment:
The quiet of a summer morning in Palo Alto, California was shattered

by a screeching squad car siren as police swept through the city picking
up college students in a surprise mass arrest. Each suspect was charged
with a felony, warned of his constitutional rights, spread-eagled against
the car, searched, handcued and carted o in the back seat of the squad
car to the police station for booking. (36)
Student Sample:
Following the scent of my Moms apple-cinnamon pie, I see myself
staggering childlike to the table. I stretch out with my hand and tip up
my toes. My memory ends there.
It was my favorite memory, until recently, when I asked my mother

about it. My mom hesitated, and then told me that she had never made
apple pie when I was young.
I was shocked. The memory was so vivid. However, upon reection,

Icannot recall any other time that my mother baked. What is it about
memory, that we so often have a clear recollection of events that actually
never happened?3
The Baited Opening
A baited opening basically provides a hook for the reader. One can do so by leaving
the reader in anticipation of a particular fact, and then withholding it until the end of
the opening, thus creating anticipation.
Or, one can create tension by providing an opening that ends with a kind of twist. In the
following opening, there is a mixture between narrative opening and baited opening:
From Paul A. Cantors The Simpsons: Atomistic Politics and the

Nuclear Family.
3
Writing 1. Fall 2008. UCSB.
134 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_06.indd 134 11/4/10 2:44 PM

When Senator Charles Schumer...visited a high school in upstate
New York...[he] praised the Brad Bill, which he helped sponsor, for its
role in preventing crime. Rising to question the eectiveness of this eort
at gun control, a student named Kevin Davis cited an example no doubt
familiar to his classmates, but unknown to the senator from New York: It
reminds me of a Simpsons episode. Homer wanted to get a gun but he had
been in jail twice and in a mental institution. They label him as poten-
tially dangerous. So Homer asks what that means and the gun dealer says:
It just means you need an extra week before you can get the gun. (734)
The Oppositional Opening
An oppositional opening sets up an issue in a particular way that the reader would nd
familiar, and then abruptly reverses that position at the end of the opening, making
sure that the reader can follow the reason for the reversal. This tends to show how
one might look at an issue in a dierent way, creating justication for the question
that is being posed.
Student Sample:
I once believed that home was where I was born, the place where I
had always lived. Home was a sense of living under the same roof as
family members, being familiar with surrounding, and following the
same daily routines. Home, as I knew it, then, was my neighborhood,
my city, and my country: China.
Then I graduated from high school, and moved halfway around the
world, to the United States. While the environment was foreign and
the culture was completely dierent, I adapted. In doing so, the United
States has become home, too. What do we mean by home? Is it a
place? Is it a house, family, a country, a sense of permanence? Can there
be more than one?4
Direct Address Opening
My dear readers, or fellow scholars, or, as some might say, My Fellow Americans,this
type of address is often used in political speeches, as I am sure you will recognize.
A Direct Address Opening sets up a situation in which the writer speaks in a very
obvious manner, to a hypothetical reader, as if the reader and the writer were together
in the same room.
4
Chapter_06.indd 135 11/4/10 2:44 PM

Note: Although this type of opening is included on this list, frankly, most of the time,
it fails. Its like trying to pull o irony in an essayit is so tricky its almost not worth
attempting.
However, if one nds the idea irresistibly compelling, or if its just especially appro-
priate, remember that to avoid failing, three criteria have got to be met:
1. The direct address has got to serve a purpose, in the sense that it must relate
directly to the question.
2. The direct address should never solicit either the opinion or the emotional
reaction of a reader, which will strike the reader as suspect.
3. Immediately following direct address, youve got to switch very quickly to an

objective point of view directly after its use, and refrain from using it for the
rest of the essay.
Example:
Imagine yourself in a world where you could not read. That would be
illiteracy. Now, answer the following questions: Where is Baghdad,
on a map? What caused World War I? Who is the Prime Minister of
Britain? What resolution did the U.N. Security Council just pass? What
is Humanism? In the United States, many people are unable to answer
these kinds of questions. This is also a form of illiteracy. What are the
consequences of cultural illiteracy in the United States?
You are under no obligation to use any of these opening strategies. There are many
other ways to open an essay: provide a representative example; cite a quotation;
dene a context. One is also, again, free to simply begin with a few statement that
people would nd reasonable and fair, and that pertain directly to your question.
Remember that the important thing is to nd common ground with your reader, and
to introduce that question.
5 review
CHAPTER REVIEW
The information to take from this chapter is that you should use the content of
your analysis to determine the organization of your paper. Trying to pick an orga-
nizing principle at random, and then making the content t, will usually result in
either a lack of organization, or listing. Some principles of organization include,
136 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_06.indd 136 11/4/10 2:44 PM

but are not limited to: categories, comparison, causality, taxonomy, focus, or
chronology.
Once initial analysis is performed on a rened critical question, one is ready to

determine that organizing principle. In doing so, this creates the rst step in writing
the draft: the opening of the paper.
The opening of a paper includes a title, which should contain keywords for a catalogue
search of your essay. The opening serves two primary purposes: to nd common
ground with your reader, and to introduce your question.
There is no need to try to t your writing into any of the openings oered in this
chapter; there are many ways to open an essay. Examples of openings in this chapter
include: narrative, baited, oppositional, and direct address openings.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
Paragraphs
Break your prose into 23 paragraphs her page, assuming it is in typical 12-point,
double-spaced type. While the rules that are often given concerning transitions, or
the minimum/maximum number of sentences in a paragraph, are too rigid to actually
serve any useful direction in the actual act of writing academic prose, its important
to give your reader a break every once in awhile. One long paragraph is exhausting.
Unlike other forms of textual communication, such as a pamphlet or advertisement,

an essay has very few ways to visually organize information for a reader. Use common
sense: dont break a paragraph in the middle of an idea, and dont start a new idea in
the middle of a paragraph.
VOCABULARY REVIEW
apodosis: in the conditional statement If X, then Y, apodosis would be the Y

statement. For example, in the statement If it rains, then I will bring an umbrella,
the second part of the sentence would be the apodosis
Organizing Principles:
causality: outlines a chain of reasoning that is logical in nature, based upon

conditional statements of protasis and apodosis
categories: identies the major points of an analysis and take them one by one,
returning each conclusion to the question
Chapter_06.indd 137 11/4/10 2:44 PM

chronology: established time periods, from most recent to earliest, or earliest to
most recent
comparison: locates specic points of similarity or dierence between two things,
or among three or more things
focus: using something external to the element of analysis as a of lens through
which to organize conclusions
taxonomy: identifying types and subtypes
protasis: in the conditional statement If X, then Y, protasis would be the X
statement. For example, in the statement If it rains, then I will bring an umbrella,
the rst part of the sentence would be the protasis
recursive writing: although this technique can be used in several ways, in this
sense it means returning individual conclusions that one nds to the initial
question that one is answering. Each conclusion builds an overall series of
reasonable statements that support the nal answer
Types of Openings:
baited: hooks the reader by providing a twist at the end of the opening,
ormaking the reader wait until the end of an opening for a vital piece of
information
direct address: sets up a situation in which the writer directly addresses the
reader
narrative: telling a story to the reader
oppositional: introduces an issue, and then immediately opposes that point
of view
6 organizing/opening the essay
Step 5: The Opening/Organizing Principle Guide
138 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_06.indd 138 11/4/10 2:44 PM

STEP 5: THE OPENING/ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE GUIDE
PART 1
Provide the opening to your essay, usually less than 1 page, but sometimes more,
depending on the length of the paper involved.
Format this opening according to the discipline in which one is writing, or guidelines
given by an instructor. The guide you consult for formatting must be current, because
rules change every year.
If the essay falls under writing in the Humanities, and the instructor will
accept it, use the MLA style format oered in the example. Essays in the social
sciences can also use this format.
If the essay writing is in the Humanities, but especially in the discipline of
History, and the instructor will accept it, one has the choice of using Chicago
format. Essays in the social sciences can also use this format.
If the essay writing falls under the social or hard sciences, and the instructor
will accept it, use APA format. In this case, one would do the following, at this
initial stage:
Omit the Abstract page, which is written last
Leave space for, but do not yet include, the statement of ndings
(conclusion) in the opening of papers within these disciplines, since
they are also usually written last.
Instead, outline the elements that always follow the statement of nd-
ings, which is the statement of the question at hand, as well the meth-
odology that will be used.
PART 2
Explain how you plan to organize the paper in light of your analysis.
Remember that you should not yet come to any conclusions regarding your question.
This should be an introduction, followed by a plan for organizing the body of your paper.
The length of the explanation of your organizing principle will depend on whether
you tend to be a pre-writer (someone who lls in the detail within that organization
beforehand, resulting in what is commonly called an outline) or someone who is
content with a more general plan of action.
Chapter_06.indd 139 11/4/10 2:44 PM

As a result, Part 2 can range anywhere over 1 page in length, and sometimes
considerably longer. Either is ne, although the second will result in less work on the
draft, because you will have already resolved smaller organizational issues.
[in header] Lastname 1
FirstName LastName
InstructorName
Name of Class
00 Month 0000
First Line of Title:
Second Line of Title
The opening to an essay should provide certain elements to your reader. The
most important purpose that is serves is to establish that you are reasonable and
fair. The second is to create the opportunity to introduce the question at hand. For
writers learning the essay form, the question should be explicit, and placed at the
end of the opening.
One of the simplest ways to create the desired eect is to make three to ve
statements concerning the question at hand, and with which your reader would
tend to agree. This does not mean making sweeping, general statements, which
would be called throat-clearing. An opening that oers three to ve statements that
you make, to be eective, must be pinpoint specic, directly related to the question
at hand, and conclude with that question.

_________________________________________________________
On a separate page, explain your organizing principle. It does not have to follow one
of the kinds of openings listed in the chapter. You are creating a plan that outlines
how the material from your analysis suggests a means of proceeding in the body of
your paper.
140 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_06.indd 140 11/4/10 2:44 PM

Chapter 7
Arrangement
1 BEYOND EXORDIUM ............................................................................... 142
2 FANCY NAMES AND FUNCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
3 FORMATTING IS FUN! NOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
4 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES: RAW OR COOKED . . . . . . . . . 155
5 REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
6 THE DRAFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
STEP 6 THE DRAFT GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
141
Chapter_07.indd 141 11/4/10 2:51 PM

1 beyond exordium
O nce you have an opening, you are ready to begin drafting your paper. As you
do so, you will most likely nd yourself revising some of your previous conclu-
sions. Writing is a process, and no matter what kind of preparations you make, things
will change as you come to understand the answer that you are oering in relation-
ship to the question you have posed.
Developing and rening a critical question, dening the terms of the question,
analysis and organization, as well as drafting the opening of the essay, are all steps
to writing. These steps can be put into order, which makes them easier to put into
practice.
Each step roughly corresponds to a function of argumentation, if we remember that
argumentation is about discovering the truth of the matter. These functions have
names that describe dierent elements one would likely nd in an essay.
Step 1: The Critical Question is an exercise that helps to reorient the role of inquiry
in academic writing, and its relationship to the thesis: the answer that is oered, in
writing, from the initial question that is posed, implicitly, or explicitly, by a writer.
Step 2: The Question Map, is an exercise that can be called:
narratio: putting a question into a specic context in order to rene it and

prepare for analysis.
Step 3: Ways to Dene, is an exercise that can be called:
denitio: the act in which the writer stipulates the denition of any term that,
if undened, would convey a connotation over which the writer does not have
control.
Step 4: Performing Analysis, is an exercise that can be called:
amplicatio: the analytical exploration of a question based upon the break-

down of an issue into manageable parts, and drawing conclusions.
Although the step in this text involved performing a separate analysis, before
one sits down to write, it will become, essentially, the body of the paper.
Once an opening is established, one explains the rst conclusion drawn from
analysis, based upon the organizing principle. As one moves through the
breakdown of the question, each conclusion is returned to that question, until
one builds a reasoned response.
142 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_07.indd 142 11/4/10 2:51 PM

Step 5: The Organizing Principle, is an exercise that can be called:
partitio: the logical organization of the body of your paper based upon the
analysis that you perform.
Step 6: The Essay Opening can be called:
exordium: the point at which one prepares ones audience (the reader), in the
opening, for the writing that will follow.
It is often easier if one is introduced to such terms after one has a basic understanding
of the functions that they serve. This chapter will cover the nal three elements that
rhetoric denes as a of part reasoned argumentation: refutatio; stasis; and epilogus.
2 fancy names and functions
T hese terms have nothing to do with a writing formula; they are functions. In
other words, they serve a purpose, and are descriptions of strategies with which
writers routinely engage in composing a quality piece of academic writing. There are
three more strategies to cover, before one begins to draft the essay.
REFUTATIO
Disagreement between people is often the result of one party feeling like his or her
point of view is not being understood or acknowledged by the other party.
This is relatively easy to x within a conversation in which disagreement arises. If

one nds oneself in such a situation, there is a way to increase the chances of coming
to sort of agreement (or some sort of agreement to disagree), and doing so in an
amicable manner.
People want to feel heard. The best way to accomplish this is to tell the other person
that you are going to reect back what you hear, and then request that the other per-
son tell you if, and in what way, you may have mistaken her or his meaning.
This strategy will not only diuse some of the emotional charge of my point of
view versus your point of view, but will also: 1) Force your conversational partner
to evaluate and potentially clarify what he or she really means; 2) Help each of you
to nd points of agreement, as well as disagreement; 3) Discover if there is confusion
in the communication exchange; 4) Prompt each of you discover the specic points
upon which you diverge, and why.
SECTION II CHAPTER 7 Arrangement 143
Chapter_07.indd 143 11/4/10 2:51 PM

In doing so, you may not resolve these specic points of contention, but at least you
will both have a better idea of exactly what they are, and also why each of you holds
that point of view.
In writing, there is a similar strategy that you can use. However, in this case you are
obviously not able to directly solicit your readers participation. Instead, you must
play both roles. This means anticipating what a given reader might object to, or
areas about which he or she might need clarication, while you are in the process of
writing, and answering to that hypothetical reader.
One of the most damaging element to the credibility of a given writer is for the writer
to ignore specic points in his or writing that would most likely bring up potentially
opposing points of view in a typical reader. It is not only dishonest on the part of the
writer; it feels dishonest to the reader.
If you are being honest in your writing, there is no need to ignore such moments.
One should confront them immediately, and resolve them. In doing so, one goes
through the same process as one does within a conversation: one restates the poten-
tial opposing point of view, and responds to it in a way that is reasonable and fair. If
one cannot do so, one should revise ones position, and work it out.
This is refutatio. It can be called for at any point in which you anticipate an objection
on the part of the reader. If one is correct in ones reasoning, one can reiterate that
objection, and counter, or refute, that opposing point of view, in a way that neither
oends, nor ignores, the concerns of ones reader.
refutatio in action
In telling her reader that she is going to devote a whole book to analysis of the slasher
lm genre, Carol Clover immediately anticipates that a good portion of her read-
ership will nd such a topic of academic inquiry trivial, or inappropriate, or even
oensive.
The slasher lm is, after all, a part of popular culture that is considered lower than
lowbrow, and therefore probably unworthy of the attention of serious academic
scholars.
The most damning element of the slasher lm cycle, which is often said to have
started, roughly, with Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho (1960), and to have ended in the
mid-1980s with a series of monotonous serial remakes, was that it involved unself-
conscious, graphic, and unapologetic representations of gratuitous violence, directly
primarily (although not exclusively) against young women.
144 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_07.indd 144 11/4/10 2:51 PM

If that was not enough, the slasher lm adhered to a rigid plot formula of mind-numbing
repetition and predictability. For these reasons, few academics considered it worthy
of their attention. As such, at the time that Carol Clover wrote her study, the slasher
lm genre was viewed, in general, as a rather distasteful underside to American
popular culture that was best left alone, in the hopes that it would eventually go away.
Rather than ignore the likely reaction to her choice of subject matter, Carol Clover
raises the issue right away, opening her text with a single sentence that neatly sums
up the entire genre:
At the bottom of the horror heap lies the slasher (or spatter or shocker
or stalker) lm: the immensely generative story of a psycho killer who
slashes to death a string of mostly female victims, one by one, until he is
subdued or killed, usually by the one girl who has survived. (21)
In the style of refutatio, Clover reiterates these objections. She neither avoids, nor
minimizes, the underlying reason for those objections, nor does she make any
attempt to deny that these objections are valid.
Rather, Clover suggests that it is exactly those qualities that make the slasher lm
genre worthy of critical scrutiny: The qualities that locate the slasher lm outside
of the usual aesthetic systemare the very qualities that make it such a transparent
source for (sub)cultural attitudes towards sex, and gender in particular (22).
Without her anticipatory response to these objections, Clovers study might not
have been given the reception that it was within the academic eld, where it made
a considerable impact upon views of popular culture, gender, lm, and narrative
structure.
STASIS
This is the most dicult rhetorical concept in critical thinking to explain, mostly
because it has to do with the: A-ha! Thats what this is all about! moment that occurs
when one is writing. There is no mistaking when one has found stasis; all the lights go
on and every detail settles into place. It is related to the realization of the answerin
some ways, one could say it is what leads to the thesis of the essay.
In performing analysis, if one goes deep enough, one will nd the source of the
primary conict that rst motivated the initial question. One will discover what is
really at stake within that conict. The easiest way to dene stasis, without going into
formal logic, is to say that it is, between a writers question, and a writers answer, that
moment when one sees directly into the heart of the matter.
Chapter_07.indd 145 11/4/10 2:51 PM

stasis is action
Since stasis is easier to demonstrate than to describe, lets say that one were to ask the
following question:
In regard to categories oered in the United States census, what would

be the relationship among such concepts as race, ethnicity, nationality,
and culture?
Since denitiodening the terms of ones questionwould be a large part of

answering this question, one might imagine that exploration of the terms would yield
the following stipulative denitions, for the purpose of analysis of the question:
Race:
As it is understood within scientic discourse, race does not, in fact,

exist. Race is not an innate quality of a given individual human being,
but rather a means by which people identify, and are identied, within a
context that is entirely socially constructed.
Ethnicity :
Unlike race, ethnicity is the recognition of a particular politico-geo-

graphical point of origin for an individual, often involving a shared his-
tory and/or culture. The exact location of this point of origin appears to
be relatively arbitrary. That is, it may be a point of origin initiated within
the present lifetime of an individual, or it may represent a generational
regression to a past politico-geographical point of ancestry. In anthro-
pological terms, push it back far enough, and wed all be Pangeans.
Nationality :
Entirely political, nationality refers to the boundary in which one holds

legal status (citizenship).
Culture:
Overall, culture refers to the sum total of traditions practiced by any per-
sons who are of a given nationality (legal status within a political boundary).
In this way, culture refers to specic traditions that tend to accumulate

around ethnic identitya political-geographical point of originoften
linked to nationality. However, culture also refers to a political boundary
within which ethnicities may be diverse, since it is the political boundary
146 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_07.indd 146 11/4/10 2:51 PM

that binds that diversity. In this way, all cultural experiences within the
United States, for example, are American experiences, and all tradi-
tions practiced within its borders are a part of American culture.
The enduring quality of those traditions is often, although not always,

related to the degree of generational regressioncultural traditions that
are passed down from one generation to another will tend to transfer ethnic
identity, no matter from where they originate.
These traditions can include such things as: food; music; religious prac-
tices; the way one marries; the way one mourns the dead; the commonly
held ideals concerning what it means to be a father, or a mother, etc.;
rites of passage; clothing; language; etc.
Having established these denitions, one can return to the original question con-
cerning the United States census: the categories that it provides in relationship
to this question, and its relationship to these denitions, and begin to perform
analysis.
In doing so, one nd patterns within detail, and draw conclusions from those
patterns.
Patterns (Set 1):
1. According to these denitions, at no point is it possible for the census to

logically claim that the choices provided question anyones nationality, since
American or non-American are not categories that one is oered.
2. According to these denitions, at no point can the census claim to be

providing categories that refer to culture, since culture always refers, in
general, to nationality.
There is a wide range of cultural practices originating outside of the

UnitedStates (especially considering its history), directly linked to ethnicity
as a point of origin.
However, culture, in this sense, always refers to American culture, which is

composed of this range.
3. According to these denitions, and despite any wording on the form itself,
race does not, in fact, qualify as a valid criterion for collection of census
data, since there remains no reliable means of determining the validity of the
category.
Chapter_07.indd 147 11/4/10 2:51 PM

Conclusions returned to question:
In returning conclusions to a question, one looks at the question again, in light of what
one has determined, and draws a series of conclusions. In this case, they might be:
1. In order to function as an accurate system of data collection, the census can only
refer to a single criterion among these four denitions. Logically, in any collection
of statistical data, variables corrupt the data; one must measure the same thing.
2. The criteria for the census cannot be nationality (American/non-American),

or culture (American). Nor can it be race, since race is not an accurate
determinant of anything except for social attitudes.
3. To serve its function, the questions within the census can only refer to one
type of criterion: ethnicity. Ethnicity indicates a political-geographical point
of origin with which an individual identies, and by which an individual is
often identied, and that is sometimes attended by cultural practices that are
transmitted through generations.
4. In order to function as an accurate system of data collection, an accurate

list of choices indicating a given ethnicity must be available to any given
individual to whom the census might be administered.
5. In order to function as an accurate system of data collection, the persons who

answer to the census must be aware of the principle of this criterion.
Pattern:
1. Even though ethnicity is the logical criterion for the question, such choices as
the category White, on the census, do not indicate a political-geographical
point of origin, and therefore do not refer to ethnicity.
2. The category White is not an indicator of ethnicity, such as traditions

preserved from participation in a previous political boundary (nationality) as
an identifying point-of-origin (e.g.: French).
3. The range of external physical characteristics that construct White as an

identity is not based upon ethnicity, but is, instead, a racial category.
4. To indicate ethnicity, the external characteristics that are constructed as

racially white would have to be reoriented to a political-geographical area,
most likely originating from the Western side of the Caucuses, a mountain
range dividing the continent of Eurasia (i.e.: Caucasian).
148 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_07.indd 148 11/4/10 2:51 PM

5. However, on the census, for those who check the racial category of
White, the closest approximation of ethnicity available as a choice would
be Asian.
Conclusions returned to question:
1. The census refers to a range of criteria, and therefore does not measure the
same thing.
2. Those criteria are broken into categories that measure ethnicity, race,
nationality, and culture, depending entirely upon the choices oered within
the census, the person to whom it is directed, and without making any overt
distinctions among them.
3. Because the census contains more than one type of criteria in its question,
a choice indicating ethnicity may be either unclear or unavailable to a given
individual to whom the census might be administered.
4. The persons who answer to the census have no access to a reliable way to
determine to which criteria he or she is answering.
5. Therefore, if one checks the category Hispanic, one is not able to determine
if this category refers to: 1) How one is identied by ones appearance (race);
2) A political-geographical origin, which may go back one or ten generations
(ethnicity), 3) Ones traditional practices (subset of American culture), or
4)Ones nationality (citizenship).
6. Since the categories do not follow a single type, any given individual may nd
himself or herself in a situation in which he or she is:
Without a category into which he or she ts
Forced into a category with which he or she does not identify
Unable to determine which category is accurate
In a position where conict is present among the categories, because the

answer depends on to which of the criteria the person is answering
In continuing your analysis, you may nally conclude that:
The failure of the U.S. census to oer the same criteria, equally, to each
of its citizens, in answering this question, undermines the validity of the
statistical data that are collected.
Chapter_07.indd 149 11/4/10 2:51 PM

Stasis, however, might be something closer to the following:
The census may not produce reliable data in the spirit in which it was
created, but it does oer an important piece of information about
American national identity. What the census does suggest is that to be
of American nationality is to be someone who has diculty knowing
how to ask, or how to answer, this question.
EPILOGUS
The end of the paper is not always the same as ones thesisthe answer to the question
that one has posed. The epilogus, or closing, can be either simultaneous to, or even be
presented after, the presentation of ones answer.
The epilogus is the way that one exits ones paper, just as the exordium is the way that
one enters. Although it not necessary to do any of the following, certain forms of the
epilogus serve to stylistically wrap-up a paper, and may do so in a variety of ways,
past the point where one has answered the question at hand.
The following includes a few of those ways:
One could return, stylistically, to ones opening (e.g.: tell the second part of a
narrative opening)
One could show why it is important to look at the question in this light
One could show the implication of this answer in light of other questions, or
other contexts, or in relationship to real people or situations
One could show how a new question could be proposed, in light of this answer,
that would call for further academic inquiry (by someone else)
If the thesis, or answer, is placed somewhere else in the essay, in a rewrite (i.e.: in
the exordium, or opening, where answer and question can, in some conventions, be
given in quick succession), then the epilogus will always be dierent from the thesis.
What one does not do is merely to repeat ones thesis, if it has already been oered.
Repetition in an essay is a sign of poor organization.
epilogus in action
An epilogus that extends beyond the answer that one gives is not a requirement;
some questions simply end with their answers, and that is sucient. The following is
an example, from a student paper, of such an epilogus. The original question that it
answers is: What roles does the outcast play in society?
150 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_07.indd 150 11/4/10 2:51 PM

Outcasts play an important role in our society. First, they serve as an
example that those who are inside of a social system can observe. The
result can be positive or negative. Outcasts are visible, and tend to draw
attention. One can look at a person and think, I never want to be like
that. One can also look at a person and say to oneself, This is a person
who has taken risks, and whom I admire.
The gure of the outcast does the unusual, whether right or wrong.
Some become leaders because they act outside of the boundaries of
mainstream society, and some become examples of what happens when
one steps outside of those boundaries.
Being an outcast is what gives these people their ability to play this role,
in the rst place. To gain that viewpoint, an outcast has to be on the
outside, looking in. An outcast must view the society as a whole, and in
relationship to which he or she is slightly apart.
An outcast is a person who has the ability to see what someone on the
inside cannot. From this unique perspective, they sometimes develop
a means for change. And in this light, an outcast can be both one of the
most powerless people in society, and at the same time can also be one
the most powerful agents of change in society: the Activist, the Artist,
the Critic, or the Revolutionary.1
3 formatting is fun! not
I f it were possible to simply establish, once and for all, the rules for formatting the
academic essay, this would be an easy section-one would simply follow a template
and get on with ones life. What prevents this is that the rules of formatting change.
They are updated every year. As such, any attempt to provide the details of such rules
would quickly become obsolete. That is the reason college handbooks exist, and why
one must nd the newest edition of that handbook, if one is to format correctly.
Nevertheless, there are certain important pieces of general information to under-

stand about formatting. First of all, formatting is both a function of conventionlike
wearing a black suit to a funeraland also serves a purpose. The practical function
of formatting is to standardize a series of elements in the academic essay for the
purpose of publication. Those elements include the appearance of the article (size of
1
Writing 1. Winter 2008. UCSB.
Chapter_07.indd 151 11/4/10 2:51 PM

margins, placement of title, formatting of date, whether or not it has a cover page,
etc.), and ensures that anyone reading the article would have a reliable way to access
any source material presented within the article.
Many college handbooks are expensive. It is possible to nd the information online,

provided one is willing to take the time, and that one trusts the source (e.g.: a university
website), and that one knows that the information represents the most current update.
Otherwise, one must simply pay for the information.
There are several advantages to formatting a paper correctly. The most practical refers
to the nature of ones readership. Many instructors require it, and it can be a part of
your grade. Even if they dont require it, formatting an essay demonstrates academic
professionalism. In other words, instructors, like other people, are creatures of habit.
It is soothing to see the date in a uniform format. Few instructors respond well to
pink ink.
The stakes get higher when one submits an essay to a conference panel, or to an edi-
torial board for potential publication. Often, the rst wave of submissions is weeded
out on formatting alone. These go into the round le. The general feeling is that if you
cant be bothered to take the time and eort, wellright back at you. It doesnt mat-
ter if youve written brilliantly, any more than it matters if you have a lot of market-
able skills, but you show up at a corporate job interview in a wrinkled suit and badly
mismatched socks.
There is probably no more tiresome task than formatting an essay correctly. It is a

boring task, and it is a necessary task, and your willingness to engage in it will aect
such things as your G.P.A., as well as the reception of your writing within other aca-
demic contexts.
Formatting determines a series of rules that govern the presentation of

academic writing:
The physical layout of the document, including such things as page size,
margins and spacing between elements, tabs, indentation, how pages are num-
bered, and in what area of the document information is given, etc.
The text on the page, including such things as font size, title, subtitles, under-
lining or bold, date, author name, etc.
The order of presentation of the information, including the presence or

absence of a cover page, whether or not there is an abstract, where the docu-
ment begins, how one orders the information, the sorting of appendices, etc.
152 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_07.indd 152 11/4/10 2:51 PM

How one indicates sources, including in-text citations, or footnotes, or endnotes,
or a notes page, whether citation goes at the end of the paper or on a separate
page, what the citation page is titled, whether one indents lines on the source page,
what information must be included, what numerals are used to indicate sources,
what information must repeat within the text in regard to sources, etc.
These rules are laid out very precisely, and all formatting indicates a specic dierence
between how one indicates a source within the body of ones text, and how one indi-
cates a source within a separate source page. In all forms of formatting, both are
always present.
Formatting conventions are partially tied to disciplinary divisions. The three major
divisions are the humanities, the sciences, and the arts. In the strictest sense, the
sciences are constrained to those disciplines that employ a limited range of quantita-
tive methods: physics belongs to the sciences; archaeology is in the humanities. The
arts, as the third division, refer to disciplines that engage in the practice of producing
art. Any interpretationsuch as Art History or Art Appreciationwould fall under
the humanities.
To clarify, the U.S. Congress denes the humanities as the following:
The humanities include, but are not limited to: history; literature; phi-
losophy and ethics; foreign languages and cultures; linguistics; juris-
prudence or philosophy of law; archaeology; comparative religion;
the history, theory, and criticism of the arts; and those aspects of the
social sciences (anthropology, sociology, psychology, political science,
government, and economics) that use historical and interpretive rather
than quantitative methods.
The humanities are distinguished, within this tripartite structure, by emphasis on

logic, analysis, and the exchange of ideas.
The current compartmentalization of the disciplines within the university is rela-

tively new. After Aristotle, the Romans broke study down into: grammar; rhetoric;
logic; geometry; arithmetic; music; astronomy. When Christianity swept through
Europe, universities became primarily theological, and this continued well into the
17th century. In contrast, scholars in Iraq and Persia were already engaged in analysis,
experimentation, and publication of ndings as early as the 11th century.
The 19th century brought a radical secularization of the university. There was still
no word for scientist until 1833, and even then it still referred to Aristotelian con-
cepts of logic. It was not until the 20th century that Karl Popper, who died in 1994,
Chapter_07.indd 153 11/4/10 2:51 PM

formalized scientic method, and science splintered from the humanitiesalthough
still retaining much of the methodology derived from formal logic. This is why math-
ematics is a subset of logic.
This left the social sciences in an awkward positionon the one hand, it often
engages in study involving quantitative data, but, on the other hand, it also engages
in questions regarding humanity, and not just natural phenomena. As such, the social
sciences remain in the humanities, but the formatting that is used to present scientic
material was developed in the social sciences, from the eld of psychology.
There are three forms of formatting with which you should be familiar, broken down
according to how a typical reader of that kind of document would be best served in
terms of accessing the information contained within it. The three primary forms of
formatting, for the purposes of an introduction to academic writing, are:
MLA Formatting:
Appropriate to the Humanities
MLA formatting is governed by the Modern Language Association,

which also oversees ocial rules for the standardization of grammati-
cal and syntactical rules within the English language.
In general, MLA has no cover page or abstract, uses in-text citation

and signal phrases, utilizes footnotes or endnotes for commenting,
and includes a Works Cited page with citations that are formatted in a
specic style.
Chicago Style Formatting:
Appropriate to the Humanities, including Social Sciences, and especially for the pur-
pose of writing and research. Chicago Style is especially common within the disci-
plines of anthropology and history.
Chicago Style is governed by the University of Chicago, and also dic-

tates ocial rules for the standardization of grammatical and syntacti-
cal rules within the English language, as well as presentation of research
material. Chicago Style is the oldest of the formatting styles, and set
foundational standards for citation of source material in research
writing.
154 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_07.indd 154 11/4/10 2:51 PM

In general, Chicago style has a cover page, but no abstract, and does not
use in-text citation, but, rather, gives that information in either foot-
notes or endnotes, indicated by raised numerals within the body of the
text. Full citation material is given in what is called a Bibliography, with
citations that are formatted in a specic style.
APA:
Appropriate to the Social Sciences, especially to the degree in which the writing
engages with primarily quantitative data, and the Sciences. It is also adopted in non-
academic writing, with some variation, including grant and business proposals.
APA is governed by the American Psychological Association.
APA format, in general, has a title page, an abstract page, and utilizes
in-text citations and signal phrases. Full citation information is given in
what is called a References page, with citations that are formatted in a
specic style.
Which formatting style you use will, therefore, depend on the discipline in which
you are writing, the degree to which the writing engages in research, and instructor
preference. This formatting style will, in general, also determine how you present
elements: for example, APA style uses an abstract, and an abstract always oers, at
the beginning of the nal paper, the ndings, or answer, to the question posed within
the study.
4 primary and secondary sources: raw or cooked
T his is also an excellent time to deal with the issue of the dierence between pri-
mary and secondary sources. In the draft, the ideal initial situation is to try to
avoid secondary source material.
Unless there is a genuine need for a secondary source, such as an initial theory upon
which to build, analysis in a draft should initially consist of primary sources.
In academic writing, any research is original research, and original research is

almost exclusively performed, at this academic level, in the realm of primary sources.
Secondary resources are appropriate for a nal draft, in learning academic writing.
Chapter_07.indd 155 11/4/10 2:51 PM

Therefore, its important to know the dierence.
Primary Sources can be thought of as raw. For example, lets say your question
has to do with the preference, in the general population of the United States, for
pumpkinpie.
In your primary research, you locate the record of what kinds of pies are stocked, in a
typical months, from 1,000 supermarkets and bakeries. You nd that pumpkin pie is
not as popular as chocolate cream pie, although it is the most popular pie during cer-
tain holiday seasons. Those are your raw data drawn from primary source material.
Secondary Sources are cooked. For example, for your study, you could reference
Joe Schmoes article entitled: Study from a Survey Concerning Preference for Pumpkin
Pie in the General Population. Joe Schmoe has done his own primary research into
this question; you may have a conversation with him about those ndings, in your
writing, but you cannot take his primary source research, and call it your own.
The dierence between a primary and secondary source often doesnt have to do with
the source, itself. The dierence between a primary and a secondary source has to do
with how you use the source.
Lets say your question is, instead: Do more people prefer pies made from pud-
dings, or made from fruit? In that case, Joe Schmoes study on pumpkin pies is stilla
Secondary Source, even though he didnt answer your question directly. His study
provided you with cooked material to work withan answer that was not common
knowledge, and that the author did his own work to provide, and that speaks directly
to your question, in however small a way.
Then again, lets say your question is, instead:
How can the way that questions are posed, in a survey, change the answers that
people provide?
In that case, Dr. Joe Schmoes survey could become a Primary Source. In his study,
he performed research on piesnot on how surveys are worded. Thus, his survey
would provide you with raw material concerning his survey techniques, a topic
about which he did not intend to provide information.
Many primary sources cannot be cited in the typical way, although some can. For
example, if you were researching migration patterns of moose by tracking them in the
wilderness, you could hardly cite the moose, could you? However, if you were looking
at representations of certain types of music in a series of lms, you would have to cite
both the artists of the music, and the lms you used to conduct your analysis.
156 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_07.indd 156 11/4/10 2:51 PM

Primary Sources provide you with the information you need to conduct your own
original research. You analyze such data to draw conclusions.
Secondary Sources can be useful: they provide you with a comparison to your own
ideas. You can use them: as backup; to argue against; to set an example of; to illustrate
a technique for analysis you are going to use; etc. They also can be, and are, routinely
misused: an essay composed of other peoples work is the subtlest form of plagiarism.
Even if you nd 500 sources that support the claim that pumpkin pie is popular, so
that you can prove, in your essay, that pumpkin pie is popular, all youve assembled
is a book report. A book report is an assignment designed to reect what you have
learned; in university, we write to instruct others.
5 review
CHAPTER REVIEW
In academic writing, there are certain functions that can be identied. Each serve
a particular purpose in the process of creating reasoned conclusions. A particular
function may appear in a specic place within the writing (e.g.: opening), or the writer
may engage in an ongoing process that includes that function (e.g.: organization).
These functions include the following, although not all elements will be in this order:
Opening the essay and introducing the question at hand
Putting the question at hand into a specic context in order to rene it and
prepare for analysis
Dening any terms that are ambiguous
Performing analysis through breakdown of constituent elements. This includes

engaging in a recursive return to the original question, based upon informa-
tion drawn from the analysis
Determining a principle of organization for the writing
Anticipating and answering to legitimate points of contention
Establishing the heart of the matter
Oering an answer to the initial question
Closing the essay
Chapter_07.indd 157 11/4/10 2:51 PM

In rhetoric and logic, these functions break down, roughly, into:
Exordium
Narratio
Denitio
Amplicatio
Partitio
Refutatio
Stasis (Thesis/Antithesis/Synthesis)
Epilogus
Primary and secondary sources are dierent: primary sources are the raw mate-
rial of the world that you collect for analysis, in relationship to a question. Some
can be cited; some cannot. Secondary sources are the result of someone elses
research in primary source material. You cannot use secondary sources to answer
your question directly, because that would be merely stealing other peoples ideas
and work. A book report oers knowledge of other peoples ideas. Research is
original.
VOCABULARY REVIEW
APA formatting
From the American Psychological Association, a formatting style appropriate to
writing occurring within the sciences and social sciences, as well as non-academic
contexts, such as informal and formal proposals
arts
One of three disciplinary divisions in the university engaged in direct instruction in
the production of artistic works
Chicago Style formatting
From the University of Chicago, a formatting style appropriate to writing
performed in disciplines within the Humanities, including social sciences, but
especially history, anthropology and research-oriented writing
158 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_07.indd 158 11/4/10 2:51 PM

culture
In part, specic traditions that tend to accumulate around ethnic identity, often
linked to nationality
denitio
The act in which the writer stipulates the denition of any term
epilogus
The closing of the paper that can serve the function of answering the question or
stylistically wrapping up the paper
ethnicity
In part, a particular politico-geographical point of origin for an individual, often
involving a shared history or culture
exordium
The point at which one prepares ones audience (the reader), in the opening, for
the writing that will follow
formatting
Formal guidelines determining a wide range of rules for the physical presentation of
academic writing
humanities
One of three disciplinary divisions, with a primary emphasis on logic, analysis, and
the exchange of ideas
MLA formatting
A formatting style primarily appropriate to writing performed in disciplines within
the Humanities
narratio
Putting a question into a specic context in order to rene it and prepare for
analysis
nationality
In part, the boundary in which one holds legal status (citizenship)
partitio
The logical organization of the body of a paper based upon the analysis
performed
Chapter_07.indd 159 11/4/10 2:51 PM

primary source
Material that provides you with the information you need to conduct your own
original research. You analyze such data to draw conclusions
refutatio
Any point in which a writer anticipates an objection on the part of the reader and
engages actively with that objection
race
In part, a means by which people identify, and are identied, within a context that
is entirely socially constructed
sciences
One of three disciplinary divisions, with a primary emphasis on value-neutral
quantitative inquiry based upon scientic method
secondary source
Material that represents the results of other peoples analysis of primary sources,
and therefore used for the purpose of interacting with conclusions drawn from the
analyses of others, but never as representing ones own analysis
stasis
The source of the primary conict that rst motivated the initial question
6 the draft
D ierent writers have dierent approaches to drafting a paper. The important

thing to realize is that no paper can be simply written, printed, and submitted.
Re-writing, including editing, is as essential as any other portion of the process of
composing a quality academic essay.
However, rst one must get something down on paper. The more organized your rst
attempt is, the less work there will be on the other side. One of the rst things to do
is to determine the formatting in which the essay will be written, and set up a new
document for that formatting.
At this point, you should already have a title, opening paragraph, and an organizing
principle drawn from analysis. When composing writing, it is often helpful to imag-
ine the essay as a house. Writing is a lot like an act of hospitality; one invites another
160 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_07.indd 160 11/4/10 2:51 PM

into ones thoughts, and shows that person around, in an organized manner. This
means that the house has an entry, which is your readers introduction to you. Make
a good rst impression.
The shape of the house will depend on your organizing principle, but one thing will
always be consistent: at the center of the house is a question. Each time you lead your
guest into a particular room, and collect an item of value, you return your guest to
this main room in order to show how all of it ts together.
Your organizing principle should give you the rst step after the opening. You have
broken the issue down; pick the rst door that you will open. If your organizing prin-
ciple is chronological, the rooms will be taken in a particular order determined by
that order: earliest to latest, or latest to earliest, etc. If your organizing principle has
types and subtypes, you may show your guest to a room, and then several smaller
rooms connected to it, before returning to the main room.
Go slowly; take one room at a time, and be a gracious host. Do not rush through a
particular room, and make sure to explain any items with which the reader might
be unfamiliar. Explore all of its contents. If the room changes shape, let itthe nice
thing about extended analogies is that, unlike a real house, one is free to reorganize it
to accommodate that change without having to do any demolition.
Keep track of any details regarding source material, as you nd them, and make sure
to note all essential information for that source, so you do not have to nd them later,
which is time-consuming.
Chapter_07.indd 161 11/4/10 2:51 PM

STEP 6: THE DRAFT GUIDE
Taking into account all of the functions of the essay, as well as the elements you
already have in preparation to write the draft, format your paper and begin after
the opening. Deal with the rst issue called for by your organizing principle. As you
progress, it can sometimes help if you put in subheadings; you can always suck them
out, later.
Remember that your reader has not thought about this in the way that you have, and
needs to be introduced to your ideas in a way that is steady and logical. Your tone
should be objective, reasonable, and you should dene any terms that are ambiguous.
Do so in a casual way, and not: X is dened as Take into account paragraph breaks
(2-3 per page), and avoid emotional language.
There are certain places in which students commonly get stuck when learning how
to write the essay, and they correspond, interestingly enough, with the number of
pages a student has written, and the length of the nal paper. A ve-page paper
often gets blocked shortly after page three; a seven-page paper often gets blocked
after page ve, and so on. Inevitably, a part of learning to write is to learn how to get
around this blockage while avoiding two traps: 1) going o on a tangent; 2) repeating
oneself.
These blocks usually have to do with two issues:
1. Field too broad
If a question is too broad, because a writer is trying to cover his or her

bases in terms of meeting a length requirement, it will actually have the
opposite eect, and make a paper too short. Specic insight into details, not
generalities, is what generates things to say. Start out too broad, and you can
only skim the surface of an issue.
2. Depth of analysis.
This issue relates to the rst: without depth analysis into details, and the
patterns that they oer, one quickly runs out of material. In other words, one
can only say so much, if one only has only so much to say. This means one
must return to the analysis, rene it, and go into more depth in regard to
those specics.
162 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_07.indd 162 11/4/10 2:51 PM

If one is dealing with a critical question, and has rened it, dened ones
terms, and performed a competent analysis, length should not be an issue. If
it is, it would probably be helpful to return to the previous guidesincluding
the critical question guideand make sure that ones question has not caused
one to fall into a writing trap that would limit meaningful content.
Most of all, relax a bit, and treat the writing as exploratory; thats what drafts
are for.
Chapter_07.indd 163 11/4/10 2:51 PM

Chapter_07.indd 164 11/4/10 2:51 PM
SECTION III
RHETORIC
REVISION
PUBLICATION
Contents 165
Chapter_08.indd 165 11/4/10 2:54 PM

Chapter_08.indd 166 11/4/10 2:54 PM
Chapter 8
Communication and rhetoric
1 THATS JUST RHETORIC ..................................................................... 168
2 APPEALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
3 FALLACIES AND OTHER fallacies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
4 GETTING OUR DARNED ICE CREAM CONE ..................................... 177
5 REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
ETHOS PATHOS LOGOS
167
Chapter_08.indd 167 11/4/10 2:54 PM

1 thats just rhetoric
Nobody outside of a baby carriage or a judges chambers believes in an

unprejudiced point of view.
Lillian Hellman
W riting occurs in all sorts of places, for all sorts of reasons. The writing that
occurs in the academy is involved in the study of rhetoric. Rhetoric is a part of
the way in which Western discourse has gured out how to analyze and describe the
way in which people reason and communicate across all kinds of contexts, inside and
outside of the academy.
The word rhetoric has recently gotten a bad rap. It is often used to refer to empty
jargon, or double-talk. This is ironic, if only because, if one has a background in rhet-
oric, one is actively trained to recognize exactly when, and by what means, one is
being deceived through such things as language or images. It is those who are not
trained in rhetoric who usually end up being persuaded by the manipulation that can
occur within communication, because such people often simply dont recognize that
the manipulation is occurring.
To address this routine misuse of the term rhetoric, William Sare draws from The
Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and Cant for a word that distinguishes between rhetoric,
and the misuse of the word in popular discourse. He calls empty, evasive talk designed
to obscure meaning bloviation. He says: If [by rhetoric] you mean bloviating, get o
rhetorics back: we need rhetoric to do a job that no other word does well (3).
Rhetoric is both its own discipline, and also fundamentally interdisciplinary in nature.
As an analytical and practical tool, rhetoric is applicable to the hard and soft sciences,
and to the humanities. Yet it does not stop there. Rhetoric is just as at home in the
rhetoric of popular culture as it is in the rhetoric of business communication as it is
in the rhetoric of science.
Rhetoric and logic are both the basis of, and also open up new ways to understand,
information in all academic disciplines. At one time, the teaching of logic (now
reduced to the teaching of forms of mathematics), and the teaching of rhetoric (now
reduced to the teaching of debate, formulaic writing, and grammar) would have been
as fundamental to education as learning to read, as Michael Holzmann comments:
By good writing, then, we meantrhetoric. In antiquity, rhetoric was

education, the leading out of the child from the private world of the
168 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_08.indd 168 11/4/10 2:54 PM

familyto the social and political worlds. Learning to write wellwas
the necessary preparation for what was seen as the only truly human
existence: that of a participant in the social life of the community and
the political life of the state.
Because rhetoric is, in part, the study of logic expressed within language, which is
what we used to mean by argumentation, rhetoric is a part of the study of human
communication.
Communication occurs all of the time. Music can communicate emotion. Facial
expressions can communicate states of mind. Striking someone can communicate
anger. Speaking and writing can communicate ideas. In other words, writing is often
communication, but not all communication is written down. It helps to get a sense of
what qualies as communication.
Communication:
In rhetoric, communication is dened as an act that must involve a speaker, audience,

vehicle, message, and intention. If the communication is designed to persuade, it can
also involve what are called appeals.
speaker The source of the message, whether that source is immediately

present, or not. For example, the sender of an advertisement
could be a corporation.
audience The receiver of the message. For example, people in a car who
read a bumper sticker, or the reader of a book, or someone who
listens to a speech.
vehicle The means by which the message is transmitted. For example:
speech; writing; gesture; body language; singing; a visual image.
message The content of that which is relayed from speaker to audience.

For example: a child crying may contain a message of distress.
intention The purpose of the speaker in conveying a message. For

example, a person may sing a song of love-gone-wrong in the
shower, and other people might hear that performance, but
if the speaker does not intend to convey a message, it is not a
communicative act.
appeal The manner in which a speaker seeks to produce belief

or action in an audience through suasiondissuasion or
SECTION III CHAPTER 8 Communication and Rhetoric 169
Chapter_08.indd 169 11/4/10 2:54 PM

persuasion. Not all communication is persuasive in nature.
For example, communication may be intended to educate, to
entertain, or to comment.
Think about the last thing that you heard, or read, or viewed, that really blew you
away: a speech, a lecture, a reading, or even the lyrics to a song. Most of us have, at
one point or another in our lives, stumbled across language or images that have made
us stop in our tracks and really think.
EVER WONDERED? If the eect is profound, there is a kind of intimacy

that is generated between yourself and the mes-
The words aect and eect are
sage; you may feel as if it perfectly expresses an
often confused. Aect is the verb,
as in He aected her. Eect is the idea that you hold, or it moves you emotionally, or
noun, as in: The eect was that she it helps you to form your value system.
blushed.
One does not walk away from such an experience
with the feeling of having engaged in a remote
intellectual exercise. Rather, it aects you in other ways: it might rearm beliefs that
you already held, create a sense of belonging, or make you look at something in a
new light.
DEFINITION When that happens, its pleasurable. Good criti-

suasion: a communicative act cal writing is rhetorically eective. It makes you
intended to compel belief or think. Great critical prose can alter the world-
action in the audience, whether view of an audience that responds to it. That
persuasion or dissuasion is what rhetoric intends by its use of the term
suasion.
Rhetoric is, in part, the study of communication, and is especially adept at providing
tools for analysis of communication that is specically designed to compel another
person or persons to act or believe in a certain way. All communication is rhetori-
cal, and rhetoric is especially helpful for studying communication that attempts to
compel belief or action. In this way, writing is often rhetorical, but not all rhetoric is
written down.
The contexts in which persuasion or dissuasion occur are pretty broad. It doesnt just
cover a lawyer in a courtroom who is arguing a case to a jury in order to persuade that
jury to return a verdict of guilty, but also a child whining to a parent for an ice cream
cone in order to persuade the parent to purchase it for him or her.
170 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_08.indd 170 11/4/10 2:54 PM

It includes an essay that tries to persuade a reader that a given question has a given
answer, but it also includes a police ocer waving a driver around an accident in
order to dissuade the driver from blocking trac.
It includes a political speech designed to persuade people to vote for a certain candi-
date, but it also includes an advertisement in a popular magazine that is designed to
persuade people to buy a certain product.
It includes a scientic treatise published in a scientic journal that proposes
experimentation in stem cell research, and it also includes a conversation at a
dinner table between two friends about whether or not stem cell research is ethically
sound.
Strange as it may seem, you dont need language to have rhetoric. It is not that every
act of communication is persuasive, but rather that persuasive acts of communica-
tion can occur in a lot of dierent ways. One of the rst steps to understanding rheto-
ric is being able to identify which messages are designed to persuade, and which
serve another purpose. Lets take some examples:
Images
An image of a child on a fundraising pamphlet can be designed to

persuade people to donate money.
A painting of a landscape may not be designed to persuade, but

merely to give pleasure.
Gestures
A gesture that involves someone pointing to a door may be designed

to persuade a person to get out of the room.
A rude gesture on the freeway, to another driver, may not be designed
to persuade anyone, but merely to comment.
Road signs
A road sign can be designed to persuade drivers to obey a trac law,

such as stopping at a stop sign.
A sign on the road giving directions to a party may not be designed

to persuade, but merely to give information.
Chapter_08.indd 171 11/4/10 2:54 PM

Clothing
A man dressing in a suit to meet his future in-laws for the rst time
may be trying to persuade them that he will be a suitable spouse.
A person dresses in jeans to do housework may merely be practical.
2 appeals
W e rarely persuade someone just by telling them to do something. We have to

appeal to that person in some way. To take just a few examples, we may appeal
to a persons sense of loyalty, or we may threaten that person, or we may show the
rightness of our message to a person through sound reasoning. Some are fair, and
some are not.
There is nothing inherently wrong with appeals in and of themselves. There is noth-
ing wrong with attempting to persuade someone to act or believe a certain way. We
do it all the time. We reason with our parents or friends, present our political views
to our peers, dress to impress a potential love interest, talk about our professional
experience at job interviews, etc.
Nevertheless, the discipline of rhetoric is very clear about the dierence between
an ethical and sound use of persuasive appeal, even if it is particularly skillful, and
an unethical appeal that is designed to deceive another, or to hide our true inten-
tions. In other words, rhetoric studies strategies of persuasive trickery in order to
recognize when they are being used. In rhetoric, these are called fallacies: unethi-
cal ways of getting your way. Examples of fallacies would be to lie, to distract an
audience from the real issue, or simply to use outright force to compel action or
belief.
Rhetoric breaks down the ways we can persuade into three basic kinds of appeals:
an appeal to logic (logos), an appeal to emotion (pathos), or an appeal that attempts
to persuade an audience through the use of the speakers personal credibility
or authority (ethos). In most cases, all three appeals will be combined to create
172 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_08.indd 172 11/4/10 2:54 PM

persuasion; it is rare to see only one kind of appeal used in a single persuasive
message.
While logic may seem like it would be the strongest of the appeals, it is more eective
in certain contexts than in others. In advertising, for example, logos can be very dull.
Imagine an advertisement for a cell phone that simply listed, in a series of lines, the
uses for the device. In fact, advertising is best served by an ethos appeal, such as a
testimonial endorsement of the product by a famous gure. Secondary in ecacy in
advertising is a pathos appeal, which arouses desire for a product by evoking, or even
simply staging, a pleasurable or fearful emotional situation.
In academic writing, in contrast, the most eective appeal is logos, because the rhe-
torical situation involves an audience that tends to expect reasoning to be the primary
way in which persuasion will occur. However, ethos also comes into play, because
one must sound reasonable and because certain speakers will already have credibility
within their eld, in the form of previous publication, and their writing will tend to be
given more credence in the general readership on the basis of that authority. While
pathos is not absent within academic writing, any overt usage will tend to diminish
the ethos of the writer as an authority who can be trusted to be scrupulously objective.
Any appeal can be used in a way that is ethical, and any appeal can be used dishon-
estly, too. It depends on whether the intention is an honest eort to communicate, or
if the intention is to deceive or make ones point through unfair means.
One can twist logic to suit ones own ends, or make it appear as if something is sensi-
ble, when it is not. One can divert the attention of the audience from the true issue at
hand by creating an emotional response that is disconnected from the issue, or pres-
ents it in an unfair light that evokes strong emotion. One can use ones own power or
authority to force another to believe or act a certain way. Whether used ethically or
not, the three appeals are broken down in the following ways:
logos: Appeal to Logic
Logos produces suasion by appealing to the reasoning of a given mes-

sage. This is where logic comes into play when persuading another: If
one can show that ones reasoning is sound, others may agree with what
one has to say.
Chapter_08.indd 173 11/4/10 2:54 PM

For example, if a political candidate was delivering a speech while
running for public oce, he or she might oer a message that demon-
strates how, if he or she wins the election, he or she plans to reduce the
budget decit. He or she may persuade someone to vote for him or her,
based upon the soundness of his or her plan.
pathos: Appeal to Emotion
Pathos produces suasion by appealing to the audiences emotions.
For example, if a candidate was delivering a speech while running for

public oce, he or she might:
Speak passionately about the importance of civic duty.
Talk about overcoming personal adversity.
Bring a spouse/children onto the stage.
This appeal does not have to be unethical; it can be an expression of pro-

foundly honest emotional intent. When Martin Luther King Jr. opened
his famous speech with I have a dream he was not referring to a
sleep state. He used the lineand the repetition of that lineto evoke
emotion in his audience.
ethos: Appeal to Personal Credibility/Authority
While at rst glance one might think that ethos refers to appealing to the
audiences sense of ethics, it is not. Appealing to an audiences sense of eth-
ics is still an appeal to pathos. If a speaker were to evoke patriotism in order
to talk about enlistment in the armed forces, the speaker is attempting to
evoke a sense of duty in the audience, which is an emotional response.
Ethos appeals to the audience by establishing the credibility of the

speaker. If one can establish that one has authority to speak on a given
matter, one can persuade ones audience, in part, through that authority.
For example, if a candidate was delivering a speech while running for

public oce, he or she might talk about experiences in the Senate, or as
a policymaker, that make him or her especially qualied for public oce.
174 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_08.indd 174 11/4/10 2:54 PM

Ethoscredibility and authoritycan be drawn from a lot of sources:
Police ocers, judges, teachers, and priests draw their credibility
from institutional authority that is granted to them.
Someone who has had a particular experience may gain credibility
by virtue of that experience. For example, a person who has had a
broken leg may be perceived as more qualied to speak on the topic
of the pain of broken bones than someone who has not.
One may gain credibility with an audience if the audience is gradually
persuaded through ones communication that one as fair and reason-
able, and that one is taking all sides of an issue into account.
3 fallacies and other fallacies
The realms of advertising and of public relations, and the nowadays closely
related realm of politics, are replete with instances of bullshit so unmitigated
that they can serve among the most indisputable and classic paradigms
of theconcept. And in these realms there are exquisitely sophisticated
craftsmenwhowith the help of advanced and demanding techniques of
market research, of public opinion polling, of psychological testing, and so
forthdedicate themselves tirelessly to getting every word and image they
produce exactly right.
Harry G. Frankfurt
U nderstanding persuasionwhich is the function of an appeal within a

communicationdoes not just make people eective thinkers and writers. If
people are not taught about how persuasion functions within communication, and
how such persuasion can be used in ways that are both honest and dishonest, people
remain vulnerable to very powerful and carefully rendered appeals that ultimately
may not be in their best interest. Public education may have forgotten rhetoric, but
politicians and advertising representatives know it very well.
On the following page is a short list of common fallacies that one sees in usage all of
the time. Look them over; you should be able to think of a time when such a fallacy
was demonstrated for you.
Chapter_08.indd 175 11/4/10 2:54 PM

176 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_08.indd 176 11/4/10 2:54 PM

4 getting our darned ice cream cone
What if there were no hypothetical questions?

Anon
T o quickly learn about rhetorical appeals, lets take a very simple example: a child
wants a parent to buy an ice cream cone. The speaker (a child) may produce a
rather simple message (buy me ice cream) through a vehicle (verbalization) with
the intention (to persuade) of getting the audience (a parent) to buy the ice cream.
However, the appeals that the child uses may vary in complexity and strategy.
The child may appeal through logic (logos)
The child may appeal through emotion (pathos)
The child may appeal by invoking his or her authority (ethos).
The child may, in making his or her appeal, also employ an unfair persuasive tactic, or
fallacy. There are fallacies in each kind of appeal. For example, a fallacy that is used
while appealing through logos is called a logical fallacy.
Here are some examples of dierent appeals that the child might attempt. Each
example will demonstrate the child using a certain appeal. That appeal may be fair
and valid, or it may be unfair or invalid (a fallacy).
Before reading the answer, see if you can identify what appeal is being used, and
whether or not the appeal is a fallacy, drawing from the list on the previous page. If
you believe that the appeal is a fallacy (or fallacious), state which fallacy you believe
is being used.
Give me ice cream because I ate a healthy lunch

Appeal being used: Logos _____ Pathos _____ Ethos _____
Is this a fallacy? No _____ Yes _____
Fallacy ____________
ANSWER
In this case, the child is using an appeal to logic, or logos. There is no fallacy
involved.
Chapter_08.indd 177 11/4/10 2:54 PM

In a nutshell, the child is saying: I know that your reason for denying me the
ice cream is probably not based on the fact that you do not have the money,
or that you hate that particular ice cream vendor. Rather, I have inferred, from
past experience, that you might deny it to me because ice cream is not nutri-
tious, and you are concerned about my health. Yet, because I already con-
sumed a nutritious lunch, this dramatically weakens your reason for denying
me the ice cream cone, and strengthens my logic for receiving it. Not bad for
a kid, huh?
Give me ice cream, or Ill whine
Fallacy ____________
ANSWER
Sometimes a message is not outright stated. It is implied. If the question at
hand is the purchase of a motorcycle, and occurs between a parent and a child
of age to drive, and the parent says: I still pay your rent, Mister, the threat is
implied (If you buy a motorcycle, I will no longer support you), but still has
an eect.
Thus, in this example, the child may not directly say he or she is going to whine
until he or she gets the ice cream cone, but the parent gets it that this is the
situation at hand, and the child gets it that this is the appeal he or she is
oering.
In this case, the child is using pathos, and also employing what is called a
pathetic fallacy: an appeal that uses unfair means, through an appeal to emo-
tion, in order to compel action or belief.
In this case, the fallacy is called argumentum ad baculum. It translates, liter-
ally, into argument with a club. Its common name is: Appeal to Force.
While argumentum ad baculum is an appeal that can be used in dierent
ways by dierent people (Do you like your job?/Give me your wallet, or
Ill shoot you), its functions is to compel a person to action or belief through
direct threat (to withdraw livelihood, to harm the body, or, in the case of the
ice cream, a threat to parental sanity) instead of dealing with the issue on its
own merits.
178 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_08.indd 178 11/4/10 2:54 PM

Give me ice cream because it will make my time with you special
Fallacy ____________
ANSWER
In this case, the child is again using pathos: appeal to emotion. The child is
basically saying: I know that you value my feelings toward you, and I am oer-
ing a way for you to ensure that I will view you in a favorable light. Ill get the
ice cream, youll get to know that I like you for it, and that will make both of
us feel good.
Its tempting to think of this one as a fallacy, because the child is being so out-
right manipulative in making his or her aection dependent upon receiving ice
cream. However, this does not make this argument a fallacy. Poor persuasion
is not the same as deceptive persuasion. In addition, most of us expect chil-
dren to employ such obvious tactics, considering:
How little power a child has within this particular relationship
That the child is relatively new to the game of persuasion, and may not yet
recognize the transparency of the appeal to its audience.
In other words, if you think about it, such an appeal would be less likely to
work between adults.
Give me ice cream, because I always get ice cream when we come here.
Fallacy ____________
ANSWER:
In this case, the child is employing a logos argument, and using it in a way that
is also a fallacy.
This is a logical fallacy called Argumentum ad Antiquatem. Its common name

is Appeal to Tradition. Basically, this fallacy argues that because something
Chapter_08.indd 179 11/4/10 2:54 PM

has been so, in the past, it is true and valid, now. The child is saying: Whenever
we pass this ice cream stand, I should receive an ice cream cone, because this
has been the case, in the past.
Another example of the fallacy appeal to tradition would be one routinely used
in public discourse to argue against gay marriage. Thestatement that Marriage
is between a man and a woman says nothing except that this has been so.
If we were to go back to a time when women couldnt vote in the United States,
it would be similar to a person justifying refusal to allow women to vote based
on the statement: Voters are men. These are fallacies regardless of the topic
that is under debate: one is arguing that the way it has been is fair and true
for its own sake.
Give me ice cream because I want it.
Fallacy ____________
ANSWER:
This is an appeal to personal credibility, or ethos. It is not a fallacy. It is an

attempt to draw upon the personal authority of the speaker. Basically, the child
is saying: The fact that I want something, coupled with the fact that I per-
ceive myself to be basically the center of the known universe, should be reason
enough for you to give me ice cream.
In most cases, children quickly learn to avoid this particular appeal, because it
usually doesnt work very well. Children dont have much personal authority,
because children dont usually have that much power in the parent/child rela-
tionship. Its a lot dierent if a police ocer orders someone to step back
now thats an ethos appeal.
A typical conversation between a parent and a child, in the example used,

might involve an exchange based solely upon ethos, with no logos or pathos
being used on either side. Because ethos has to do with power, the conclusion
is rather predictable:
Child: Give me an ice cream.
Parent: No.
180 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_08.indd 180 11/4/10 2:54 PM

Child: I want it.
(Appeal to ethos: childs personal authority)
Parent: No.
Child: Why?
Parent: Because I said so.
(Appeal to ethos: parents personal authority).
In this conversation, the child attempts suasion by appealing to his or her personal
authority, and the parent counters with superior authority. In other words, the parent
quite simply pulls rankno other explanation required.
Depending on the parent, any of the appeals that a child may attempt may have vary-
ing degrees of success in persuading the parent to act (to buy the ice cream cone for
the child). In any case, it does demonstrate that humans start rhetoric early.
5 review
CHAPTER REVIEW
The information to take from this chapter is that the history and the meaning of the
term rhetoric are often misunderstood. Rhetoric is foundational to the development
of logic in Western discourse, in all areas of knowledge.
Rhetoric particularly concerns itself with communication, in whatever form that

communication is oered. It denes communication by a series of ve elements that
must be present in order for communication to occur: speaker, audience, vehicle,
message, and intention.
In its study of argumentation, rhetoric elucidates specic issues regarding the use
of communication and suasion, whether persuasion or dissuasion, partly through
an analysis of appeals. Appeals are broken down into three areas: an appeal to logic
(logos), an appeal to emotion (pathos), and an appeal to the authority or credibility
of the speaker (ethos). Rhetoric also identies areas of the misuse of any of these
appeals, either through error or deliberate deception on the part of the speaker. The
misuse of an appeal is called a fallacy.
Chapter_08.indd 181 11/4/10 2:54 PM

GRAMMAR REVIEW
The words aect and eect are often confused. Aect is the verb, as in He aected
her. Eect is the noun, as in: The eect was that she blushed.
VOCABULARY REVIEW
argumentation
In formal logic/rhetoric, the elucidation of the process whereby one draws
reasonable inferences from true premises, as in formal argumentation
appeals
In rhetoric, three basic ways in which a speaker may seek to produce belief or
action in an audience through suasion, including dissuasion or persuasion
audience
In rhetoric, the receiver of a message, one of ve elements necessary for
communication to occur
communication
In rhetoric, dened as an act that, to qualify as communication, must involve a
speaker, audience, vehicle, message, and intention. If the communication is designed
to persuade, it can also involve what are called appeals
ethos
In rhetoric, one of three types of appeals. In this case, the appeal to personal
credibility or authority of the speaker
fallacy
In rhetoric, the unsound or unethical use, either through error or deliberate
deception, of an appeal
intention
In rhetoric, the element of communication that indicates the purpose of the
speaker in conveying a message, one of ve elements necessary for communication
to occur
logos
In rhetoric, one of three types of appeals. In this case, the appeal to logic or sound
reasoning
182 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_08.indd 182 11/4/10 2:54 PM

message
In rhetoric, the element of communication that indicates the content that
is relayed from speaker to audience, and one of ve elements necessary for
communication to occur
pathos
In rhetoric, one of three types of appeals. In this case, the appeal to emotion
rhetoric
The study of logic and communication. From Aristotle, the study of such
communication especially in regard to awareness of the most eective means of
suasion in a given communication situation
speaker
In rhetoric, the element of communication that indicates the source of the
message, whether that source is immediately present, or not, and one of ve
elements necessary for communication to occur
suasion
The attempted result, in a communicative act, of compelling belief or action in an
audience, whether that result is one of persuasion or dissuasion
vehicle
In rhetoric, the element of communication that indicates the means by which
the message is transmitted, whether that means is writing, speech, visual imagery,
gesture, etc. and one of ve elements necessary for communication to occur
Chapter_08.indd 183 11/4/10 2:54 PM

Chapter_08.indd 184 11/4/10 2:54 PM
Chapter 9
Feedback and revision
1 EVERYONES A CRITIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
2 ON BEYOND SPELLCHECK: EDITING VS. REVISION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
3 MIRRORING DOCUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
4 THE SECRET OF THE HARD-COPY EDIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
5 REVISION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
STEP 7 SELFDIAGNOSTIC GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
185
Chapter_09.indd 185 11/4/10 4:33 PM

1 everyones a critic
T he more that one writes, the more that one comes to appreciate the feedback of
others. In fact, if one pursues advancement in academics, one gets to the point of
soliciting criticism, because unless one can put a piece of writing away for a year, and
then come back to it, there is no way to encounter ones own writing in a fresh way;
one is just too close to it.
This proximity to your own writing will cause all sorts of mischief. It will allow you
to ll in missing words that are not there, make leaps in logic that a typical reader
cannot follow, and otherwise read the writing that is in your head, instead of the writ-
ing on the page. You understand what you mean. Its very dicult to get past that, in
order to imagine what it would be like to be someone else trying to gure out what
you mean.
The role of feedback in a writing draft is supposed to be helpful. However, its useful-
ness is dependent upon the way in which the feedback is presented, and also a degree
of maturity on your part, in accepting and making use of that criticism. Criticism is
quite simply a bit of a blow, no matter how well-phrased. Its a lot easier to understand
why you bubbled in the wrong answer on a test. In writing feedback, things get a bit
more complicated.
Feedback for an essay draft comes in levels: word level (spelling, word-choice), sentence
level (syntax, grammar, word choice); organization level (the order of the presentation
of the ideas); formalist level (formatting); content level (your analysis and conclusions).
In a given course at university, one might just receive a grade, with no explanation. In a
writing course, one would hope you would receive a more detailed response.
There are several ways in which writing instructors tend to respond to drafts. These
include marginal comments, end-comments, rubrics, and 1:1 conferences. A rubric
is simply a sheet that lists common areas for improvements, and gives you an idea
which area you should work on for the nal draft. Skip over none of it; respond to
anything your instructor oersthey notice.
Instructors are, one assumes, invested in being helpful, but they are also justifying a
grade. The idea would be that if one addresses all of the comments, (and understands
them), the nal product would receive a higher grade. The purpose of a writing course
is to teach writing, and the nal product is the measure the learning that has occurred.
Remember that instructors must choose between the quality of the nal product, in
relationship to class standing, learning outcomes, and a students improvement, over
the course of the quarter, in determining that grade. In university courses, especially
186 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_09.indd 186 11/4/10 4:33 PM

if students are used to receiving high grades for their writing in high school, it can be
quite surprising (and a bit unsettling) to receive a lower grade for the same work, in
university. That is because one has moved to a new level of expectations.
There is no getting around the fact that instructors vary in those expectations. Almost
all instructors tend to agree upon the quality of a given piece of academic writing,
when they encounter it. This book aims toward identifying, and breaking down, for
students, the elements that tend to generate that consensus, based upon published
works. Yet just because instructors agree that a given published article displays a high
degree of writing competence, this does not guarantee that they agree as to how to
provide instruction in duplicating that quality. Its not particularly fair to have to shift
your style of writing, or the rules that you are given, from course to course, but that
is the reality of writing within the university.
As such, your job, as a student, is twofold: rst, your job is to learn. Take what you can
from instruction, and use your own judgment if it conicts with other instruction you
receive. It has to make sense to you. Your other job is to pay attention to the expec-
tations of the instructor you are currently working with, and to follow them, even if
you dont agree, or if it conicts with other writing instruction you have received. Nor
does it help to point out any discrepancy to your current instructor. Hopefully, you
will get an instructor who is willing to explain his or her reasoning to you. Its even
better if what she or he tells you actually makes sense.
Your best strategy for improving both your writing, and improving your grade, is to
go to the instructor (or whoever issues the grade) and ask her or him, directly, and as
politely as possible, what you can do to improve. Dont be confrontational or emo-
tional. Push, if you have to, to get specics. This is the job of an instructor; its the rea-
son oce hours exist. The best time to do this is after your instructor has reviewed a
sample of your writing, as in a draft. Most instructors will respond positively to this
question, and will do their utmost to clarify their expectations.
Most of all, dont take criticism personally, and remember that, no matter what you
have to do for a given course, this is your writing. It doesnt matter what you pro-
duce; it matters what you learn. If you encounter a course in which you dont feel
you are learning, do what you have to do to provide a product that fullls the criteria
laid down by the instructor, and move on. Following instruction that doesnt make
sense can only be for the purposes of receiving a desired grade; learning occurs when
understanding attends that instruction.
At the same time, remain open to dierent views, because sometimes an approach to
writing that you havent encountered before can actually make a lot of sense. At one
SECTION III CHAPTER 9 Feedback and Revision 187
Chapter_09.indd 187 11/4/10 4:33 PM

point or another, the whole business of academic writing should fall into place, and
at that point what you write is your own business.
To give an example of how writing instruction really works, the best single piece
of writing instruction that I ever received was from a teaching assistant. It was a
course in American Literature, and involved reading not only literary works from
that period, but also critical essays that responded to that literature.
In speaking to the teaching assistant in charge of grading, I learned something that

radically changed how I perceived the writing that I would perform for the rest of my
student career. In that conversation, after she conrmed that I had read the essays on
the readings, she simply said: Write like that.
Up to that point, it had never occurred to me that this was what was expected.
Sometimes things just click. This one went straight to what I had been struggling to
understand: the purpose of my writing eorts within the context of the university.
Over the years, as an instructor, I have witnessed many such pivotal moments, in
interacting with students. I have also known a few students who have walked away
from my oce with little more than a vague plan of how to approximate what I was
asking of them, in their writing. Because thinking and writing are so closely linked,
a students response to instruction is as individualized as an instructors approach to
teaching. The best thing to do is to try to nd a good t between your learning style
and an instructors teaching style.
2 on beyond spellcheck: editing vs. revision
E diting a document, which involves identifying errorschecking for spelling

mistakes, making sure formatting is correct, making sure words are not missing,
etc.is a students job, and should be completed within the draft stage, not in revision.
Instructors in university do not edit papers; they comment primarily on organi-

zation and content, for the purpose of global revision. In other words, nobody in
university expects you to revise your draft by correcting spelling errors; the paper
should not have been turned in this way, in the rst place. An instructor may indicate
editing problems in feedback, but a rewrite that involves merely editing your paper
will probably not result in a higher grade. The only thing it might do is to prevent a
failing grade.
188 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_09.indd 188 11/4/10 4:33 PM

Before you turn in a draft, run both spell-check and grammar-check. Dont rely on
themkeep a dictionary and college handbook at hand, and, if youre not sure about
something that has been agged, look it up. Software checks are useful tools, but they
are not foolproof. Never rely on a software program for formatting.
A rewrite is not about editing. Most of the time, its about a global revision, and often
an extension, of your original draft. A draft is not a nished product, and a nal paper
should be considerably dierent from what you originally submitted.
3 mirroring documents
In practical terms, there are two strategies that will help you to produce the most
eective rewrite for a given draft that you produce. The rst is what could be called
mirroring documents.
If you perform a revision within your original document, you will miss two things:
rst, you will lose the opportunity to encounter your writing fresh, because you will
be re-reading what you have already written. Second, you will lose the opportu-
nity for eloquence: the way in which a point you make not only makes sense, but it
particularly well-said.
Mirroring documents is a simple process. It involves calling up your original draft on

your desktop, and moving it over to one side, while leaving it open. Then, call up a
new blank document. Put them side-by-side. With your hard-copy feedback next to
you, your original open in a document, and your blank document pre-formatted, the
very best thing to do is to start from scratch. Anyone who has ever built a house will
tell you that it is easier to start fresh construction than engage in a remodel, where
you have to deal with existing material you are trying to replace, or change. For exam-
ple, global revision may require a completely new opening. Mirroring documents
allows you to construct that opening, while having your original readily available if
you would like to refer to it.
For parts of the original draft with which you are pleased, and that work, there is the
wonderful tool of cut and paste. This is especially helpful if you are moving around ele-
ments for a new organization, where elements that were once combined, butshould
not have been, can be selectively extracted to t a new organization. Remember that
input of new text creates the need for a new edit for small errors.
Chapter_09.indd 189 11/4/10 4:33 PM

4 the secret of the hard-copy edit
T his may seem like a simple strategy, but it is actually quite important. A student
once came to me because he was extremely frustrated with the grades he was
receiving for writing in his courses. He had just turned in a draft for my course, and
it was easy to understand why he was receiving these grades. It was not his ideas,
which were very sound, nor his ability to think critically. It was not the way in which
he organized his writing. It was, quite simply, that his paper was full of egregious
editing errors.
In going over his draft, together, I asked him to read three sentences aloud. By the sec-
ond sentence he expressed profound surprise: he had edited the paper. He had read
it over several times. How could he have missed a sentence like: It was for made the
purpose of in constructing identity? It was just so wrongwhy hadnt he caught it?
The answer is quite simple: he had edited the document onscreen. There is no answer,
of which I am aware, as to why editing this way doesnt work. Students who receive
the highest grades in writing courses always know this secret: no matter how many
times you have gone over a document, onscreen, it is always absolutely necessary to
perform a hard-copy edit.
That means printing the document, sitting down with a pen in hand, and reading
your prose o the page. If editing is an area in which you have had real diculty, in
the past, you can take it a step further: nd somewhere private, and read it aloud.
Mark places in your copy where you nd errors (and you will), and return to the
screen to make the changes. Then you can print out a nal copy. This particular stu-
dents nal essay was not only a ne critical essay, but was entirely free of editing
errors, and his grades improved in all of his courses.
5 revision
B esides responding to instructor comments, performing adequate editing, mirror-

ing documents, and doing a hard-copy edit, it can be helpful to review important
issues covered within this text in order to self-diagnose any areas where one could
improve, or to return to a given step and review it. On the following page, you will
nd a self-diagnostic. It is intended as a tool for self-evaluation, and not to force you
to give yourself some kind of grade. The self-diagnostic helps a student to recognize
that concentration on one or two areas, instead of writing, in general, can make a
substantial dierence in the quality of his or her writing.
190 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_09.indd 190 11/4/10 4:33 PM

STEP 7: SELFDIAGNOSTIC GUIDE
Need to Issue for

# Issue Very Good Improve Revision
Critical Question
Based on a Critical Question _____ _____ _____
Contextualization
Finds General/Specics of question _____ _____ _____
Denition
Denes terms _____ _____ _____
Analysis
Gathers details _____ _____ _____
Finds patterns _____ _____ _____
Draws conclusions _____ _____ _____
Organization
Strong organizational principle _____ _____ _____
Sources
Emphasis on primary sources _____ _____ _____
Secondary sources when needed _____ _____ _____
Tone
Tone works for publication _____ _____ _____
Objective/Reasonable/Fair _____ _____ _____
No emotional language _____ _____ _____
No value judgments _____ _____ _____
Complicates any binaries _____ _____ _____
Is not opinion-based _____ _____ _____
Deals with counterpoints _____ _____ _____
Language Usage
No Wine-Bottle Language _____ _____ _____
No Adjectives _____ _____ _____
No Generalizations _____ _____ _____
Structure
Title _____ _____ _____
Paragraphs _____ _____ _____
Mechanics
1. Formatting _____ _____ _____
Editing
1. Editing (General) _____ _____ _____
2. Specic Issue/s __________________ __________
__________________ __________
__________________ __________
Chapter_09.indd 191 11/4/10 4:33 PM

Chapter_09.indd 192 11/4/10 4:33 PM
Chapter 10
Joining the conversation
1 KINDS OF WRITING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
2 WRITING IN PROFESSIONAL CONTEXTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
3 CONFERENCE PRESENTATION/PUBLICATION FOR

UNDERGRADUATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
4 JOINING THE CONVERSATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
STEP 8 CONFERENCE/JOURNAL PUBLICATION GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Sample Undergraduate Conference CFP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Sample Undergraduate Journal CFP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
193
Chapter_10.indd 193 28/10/10 4:55 PM

1 kinds of writing
Writing is not a profession, occupation, or job; it is not a way of life.

It is a comprehensive response to life.
Gregory McDonald
P eople write in all sorts of dierent ways, for all sorts of dierent purposes. For
example, personal writing is quite simply writing that one does without the
intention of sharing it in a professional or academic or career-related context, because
that is not its purpose. Writing that would fall under this might include a personal
journal, a shopping list, a letter to a friend, etc. You get it.
Academic writing is merely one kind of writing. One of the things that distinguishes
academic writing is that it uses a style that tends to oer a question, and then to move
step by step, to a conclusion, through careful analysis and objective reasoning, in the
process leading the reader through that thought process in an organized manner.
As a specic kind of writing, the academic essay is not an editorial, a review, or an
autobiography. It is not a business proposal or a cover letter.
In contrast, non-academic writing serves a variety of purposes, in the world, but can
also be broken down into types and sub-types. A part of learning about academic
writing is the recognition of its unique quality, and it can help if one is able to dier-
entiate it from other kinds of writing that function in the world .
Professional Writing
Professional writing is writing performed by a person who will receive payment spe-
cically for the writing product that he or she produces. For example, editing is a type
of professional writing. Professional writing can also include, among others:
technical writing: Writing that serves the function of breaking down

a process, for a reader, for the practical purpose of having the reader
perform that same process. This is done with the understanding that
the result would, ideally, result in a duplication of that initial process.
Technical writing is published, for example, in manuals. Its purpose is
primarily to educate.
194 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_10.indd 194 28/10/10 4:55 PM

journalism: In the form of, for example, reporting, journalism is
composed of writing that organizes, and synthesizes, for the reader, in
a coherent and objective manner, the results of skilled research. This
research often includes both primary sources, which can include cur-
rent events, historical research, as well as investigation into secondary
sources. Ideally, such writing is free of interpretation on the part of the
writer, and concentrates only upon the reliable transmission of accurate
data concerning those events or issues.
Journalism has many subgenres that would challenge this denition: it

can also include opinion-based writing, in the form of the editorial. It
can include reviews, or interviews, or satire. Journalism is published
in magazines, newspapers, and non-academic journals. Its purpose is
primarily to educate or to entertain.
creative writing: The writing of ction or creative non-ction for the

purpose of publication in a variety of forms: magazines, anthologies,
books, etc. Its purpose is more than just to entertain, but is a part of the
verbal arts, which function outside of the range of utility.
2 writing in professional contexts
O f course, while professional writers are paid specically for their writing, there
are many professional contexts in which people engage in very specic kinds
of writing tasks. Writing in professional contexts is often specic to certain career
categories, whether in the public or private sector. There are many professions that
require a person to write. An entrepreneur may write a business plan; a consultant
may write a proposal; a teacher may write a lesson plan.
These context-specic kinds of writing can be important for people to master within
a given professional eld. Such writing is done under rules that often involve a
complex understanding of heavily coded conventions that have built up over time.
For example, we expect that a business letter will have a closing line (Sincerely;
Regards, etc.). We expect that a lawyer will state his or her case, in a written brief, in
language that follows a predictable formula, and that might be dicult to understand
unless one has been to law school.
SECTION III CHAPTER 10 Joining the Conversation 195
Chapter_10.indd 195 28/10/10 4:55 PM

3 conference presentation/publication for
undergraduates
S ometimes students who enter into university have the idea that writing will not
be required within their given eld. This is not the case. There is no discipline in
which writing does not occur, and copiously, within academics. There are publica-
tions in every eld. Students also often see the academic essay as a school-based
writing assignment, written to take entrance exams and to pass classes. Again, that is
not, actually, its purpose.
The academic essay is, in fact, writing in any of the disciplinesBiology, History,
Sociology, Anthropology, English, Chemistry, etc.that is written in order to be
presented to a review board for two potential purposes: for consideration for pre-
sentation at a conference, or for the purpose of consideration for publication in an
academic journal.
The university is really a self-renewing writing situation. People in universities teach,

do experiments, speak, and publish academic writing. Because undergraduates often
see their role within the academy as a classroom-learner, few take advantage of the
opportunities provided by participation in undergraduate conference presentation,
undergraduate research assistantship, and undergraduate publication. Beyond the
satisfaction that one can gain from such activities, they speak in a powerful way to
potential committees or interviewers if one wishes to continue on to graduate school,
or to put together a strong professional package for job application.
Academic Conferences for Undergraduates
Conferences are gatherings that are hosted by academic associations. They occur at
universities, at hotels, and at conference centers, all over the world. Scholars attend
these symposiums, or conferences, in order to learn what others present, and to get
the opportunity to present what they have learned. There are conferences that are
specically aimed at undergraduates, and there are conferences at which persons at
any level of scholarship can participate.
Usually, one must be a member of an association to attend, which usually involves

either simply ocially indicating willingness to join, as well as a desire to attend a
given conference, and sometimes involves a fee for both membership and registration
to a conference. Some associations are linked to academic journals, and some put out
newsletters that keep their members up-to-date on various goings-on pertaining to
the association.
196 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_10.indd 196 28/10/10 4:55 PM

These associations range widely: some are discipline-specic (e.g.: The Association
of Academic Psychiatrists), some are theme-specic (e.g.: The Association for Infor-
mal Logic and Critical Thinking), and some are area-specic (e.g.: The Mid-Western
College Art Association). Some are small. Some are very big. The Modern Language
Association (which is the association that puts out the MLA guidelines for format-
ting) hosts a conference, each year, attended by thousands of participants.
When a given association is planning to host a conference, it noties its members,

and it also sends out a general notication called a CFP: a Call For Papers. The call
goes out to anyone who would like to present, who fullls the qualications. Response
to this call may require an abstract, or a paper, depending on the specics of the call.
A review board then evaluates this material, and presenters are chosen based upon
that review.
Some associations will only accept submissions from specic presenters, but many
will consider a strong abstract from anyone currently engaged in academic inquiry,
and even those who are not. It is much easier to get accepted to an academic confer-
ence than to be accepted for academic publication. Presenting at a conference, or
even attending one, gives students exposure to a given eld, provides a chance to
make contacts, and is a signicant part of professional development reected on a
C.V. or rsum.
The Academic Journal
An academic journal is not a magazine. A legitimate academic journal publishes

articles that are:
Scholarly: The purpose of the articles contained within the journal is

to distribute knowledge, not to make money.
Peer-reviewed: Articles are reviewed and selected by experts within a eld,

depending on the nature of the journal
Specialized: Articles are usually written by people within a given eld,

for an audience of readers within that same eld.
When a journal is created, the editorial board gets together and makes a series of
decisions. They will decide whether the journal will be disciplinary or interdisci-
plinary, on what the journal is going to concentrate, and what its general philoso-
phy will be. Editorial boards get to decide which essays they publish, the journals
intended audience, the look of the journal, and how it is distributed. Once a journal
Chapter_10.indd 197 28/10/10 4:55 PM

is established, the editorial board will also put out a CFP. This invites those within
academics to submit abstracts, or essays, for consideration for publication in the
journal.
Some journals will publish essays from any source, as long as the essay meets their
standards. Others are very specic about whom they will publish. Some will only
publish articles or essays from established experts in a eld. Others specify works
from a specic university.
Here is an example of the description of an interdisciplinary journal from the edito-

rial board for NeoAmericanist. This journal routinely publishes work from profes-
sors, graduate students, and undergraduates:
NeoAmericanist is an inter-disciplinary online journal for the study of

America. We are focused on reaching out to universities and the gen-
eral public to create an e-journal that pushes the boundaries of scholar-
ship and theory, and blurs the lines between academic disciplines and
popular culture. NeoAmericanist is a journal available for anyone who
aspires to participate in the study of the United States of America.
Like most academic journals, this journal indicates the forum for the journal, its
focus, its intended readership, and the people from whom it will accept submissions
for potential publication.
There are literally hundreds of journals that publish work by undergraduates. There
are interdisciplinary undergraduate academic journals, and journals that special-
ize in publishing undergraduate research. There are also many journals that are
discipline-specic, including but not limited to:
Art Creative Writing Business
Communication Economics English
Cognitive Science Rhetoric History
Law Computer Science Psychology
International Aairs Medicine Political Science
Mathematics Physics Philosophy
Biology Engineering Anthropology
Neuroscience Chemistry Public Writing
Film Studies Linguistics Sociology
198 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_10.indd 198 28/10/10 4:55 PM

4 joining the conversation
I t is an excellent exercise to at least nd a conference or journal to which one could

contribute. Academic submission is always free. All one has to do is follow the
guidelines. At the worst, one could get rejectedbut the benets, should one get
accepted, far outweigh a bit of ego-deation, should one not be accepted.
Knowing how to respond to a CFP does not mean that one has to actually submit the
essaybut one should know how to go about doing so.
Chapter_10.indd 199 28/10/10 4:55 PM

STEP 8: CONFERENCE/JOURNAL PUBLICATION GUIDE
STEP 1
Open your web browser and type in undergraduate journal. Other key words could
include undergraduate conference or CFP undergraduates.
You will nd multiple websites, often themselves lists to other resource links.
Find a Conference or Journal to which you could legitimately submit your essay for
potential consideration.
Go to that website.
STEP 2
On that webpage, if you look around, there will be a link that says something to the
eect of Submission guidelines, or For Contributors.
Click on the link.
STEP 3
This link will take you to a set of guidelines for how to prepare your essay for consid-
eration for a conference presentation or journal publication.
Print out the submissions guidelines page
You dont have to submit your essaybut, at this point, you could.
200 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_10.indd 200 28/10/10 4:55 PM

SAMPLE UNDERGRADUATE CONFERENCE CFP
Conference for Undergraduate Research

inCommunication
Call for papers
We invite theoretical, critical and/or empirical papers on a broad range of communi-
cation topics for presentation in traditional panel format.
Undergraduate research projects suitable for poster session presentation in an inter-

esting, engaging visual format are also encouraged.
Papers must be authored by one or more undergraduate students attending one of the
participating institutions. Maximum length is 15 pages (not including references and
appendixes). Please submit your paper, using the citation method of the American
Psychological Association and following the directions laid out in the Paper Format
Guide, with 100-word abstract, electronically to rrpgsl@rit.edu for review.
Poster session presentations should represent research projects and results in an

interesting visual form. At least one author of the project must be present at the
poster session to discuss the poster with attendees. Please submit your proposal, of
no more than 500 words, electronically to pmsgsl@rit.edu.
Deadline for all submissions Monday, February 15. Acceptance is by e-mail.
Chapter_10.indd 201 28/10/10 4:55 PM

SAMPLE UNDERGRADUATE JOURNAL CFP
HISTORY MATTERS
AN UNDERGRADUATE JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH
Submissions Info
HISTORY MATTERS welcomes submissions from all undergraduates. Please follow

these guidelines when submitting papers:
The deadline for submissions is the last Friday of January.

Authors may submit papers via e-mail attachment, in Microsoft Word
formats, to histmatt@appstate.edu.
Please put your name, university, e-mail address, current mailing address,
and phone number on a cover page.
We are especially seeking papers that utilize primary sources.
We strongly prefer papers between 10 and 20 pages in length.
Please do not include your name in the header or footer.
Please use 1 margins.
The body text of all papers should be double-spaced, but footnotes should be
single-spaced.
All papers must include a bibliography of sources used.
We ask that you use footnotes and conform manuscripts to the Chicago
Manual of Style (latest edition), especially for footnote form.
Only one submission per student will be reviewed.
We do not accept papers already published or previously submitted to this

journal or other academic journals.
Revisions and additional research may be requested after editorial review, but a
request for revision does not guarantee publication.
202 REASON TO WRITE
Chapter_10.indd 202 28/10/10 4:55 PM

recommended readings
Roland Barthes: The World of Wrestling.
Mythologies. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1972. Print.
Jean Baudrillard: America. New York: Verso New Edition, 2010. Print.
Walter Benjamin: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction Illumi-
nations: Essays and Reections. New York: Schoken, 1969. Print.
John Berger: Hiroshima

A Sense of Sight. New York: Vintage. 1993. Print.
John Berger: Ways of Seeing

Ways of Seeing. New York: Penguin, 1990. Print.
Stephen Bernhardt: Seeing the Text

College Composition and Communication 37.1 (1996): 6678.
Print.
J. Anthony Blair: The Possibility and Actuality of Visual Arguments

Argumentation and Advocacy 33.1 (1996): 2339. Print.
Susan Bordo: Hunger as Ideology

Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body.
2nd Ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. Print.
Paul Cantor: The Simpsons: Atomistic Politics and the Nuclear Family
Political Theory 27.6 (1999): 734749. Print.
Carol Clover: Her Body, Himself

Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror
Film. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993. Print.
Annie Dillard: The Wreck of Time

For the Time Being. New York: Vintage, 2000. Print.
Lars Eigner: On Dumpster Diving

Travels with Lizbeth. New York: Ballentine Books, 1994. Print.
Ralph Ellison: An Extravagance of Laughter

Going to the Territory. New York: Vintage, 1999. Print.
203
Reco_Readings.indd 203 28/10/10 5:12 PM

Stanley Fish: How to Recognize a Poem When You See One
Is There a Text in This Class?: The Authority of Interpretive
Communities. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1982. Print.
Paulo Friere: The Banking Concept of Education

Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum, 2000 (1970).
Print.
Erich Fromm: Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem

On Disobedience and Other Essays. New York: Harper Perennial
Modern Classics, 2010. Print.
Cliord Geertz: Deep Play: Notes on a Balinese Cockght

The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1977.
Elliot Gorn: Professing History: Distinguishing Between Memory and the Past
The Chronicles of Higher Education 46.34 (2000): B4B5. Web.
14 Sept. 2004.
Susan Grith: Our Secret

A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War. New York: Anchor,
1993. Print.
Daniel Harris: Cuteness and Coolness

Cute, Quaint, Hungry, and Romantic: The Aesthetics of Consum-
erism. Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2001. Print.
Michael Holzmann: Rhetoric/Composition//Academic Institutions/Cultural Studies.

Enculturation 5.1 (2003): n. pag. Web. 23 Jan. 2010.
Rosina
Lippi-Greene: Teaching Children How to Discriminate: What We Learn from
the Big Bad Wolf. English with an Accent: Language, Ideology,
and Discrimination in the United States. 2nd Ed. New York:
Routledge, 2010.
Elizabeth Mangini: Real Lies, True Fakes, and Supermodels

Invisible Culture: An Electronic Journal for Visual Culture 7.1
(2006): 817. Web. 17 Mar. 2007.
The Hays Code: David P. Hayes, ed. The Motion Picture Code of 1930. n. pag.
2000 (1934). Web. 15 Oct. 2009.
204 REASON TO WRITE

Scott McCloud: The Vocabulary of Comics
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: Harper
Collins, 1994. Print.
Richard E. Miller
and
Kurt Spellmeyer: Preface
The New Humanities Reader. Boston: Houghton Miin Company,
2006. xvii. Print.
William Ian Miller: Thick, Greasy Life
The Anatomy of Disgust. Boston: Harvard University Press,
1998. Print.
George Orwell: Politics and the English Language

A Collection of Essays. New York: Mariner Books, 1970. Print.
Walker Percy: The Loss of the Creature

The Message in the Bottle New York: Macmillan, 2000. Print.
Christine Rosen: Cohen, Eric, ed. Our Cell Phones, Ourselves

The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology and Society 6 (2004):
n. pag. Web. 18 Nov. 2007.
Carl Sagan: Can We Know the Universe?: Reections on a Grain of Salt

Brocas Brain: Reections on the Romance of Science. New York:
Ballantine Publishing Group, 1979. Print.
Theodore Sizer: What High School Is

Horaces Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High
School. New York: Mariner Books, 2004. Print.
Mark Slouka: Dehumanized: When Math and Science Rule the School
Harpers Magazine. 319.1912: 3240. Article.
James P. Spradley/
Brenda Mann: The Cocktail Waitress: Womens Work in a Mans World.
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 2.10 (1976): 255256.
Article.
Brent Staples: Black Men and Public Space

Harpers Magazine. 273.1639 (1986): 1920. Article.
Recommended Readings 205

WORKS CITED
CHAPTER 1
Birkerts, Sven. The Owl Has Flown. Making Sense: Essays on Art, Science, and
Culture. 2nd ed. Ed. Bob Coleman. Kentucky: Wadsworth Publishing
Company, 2004. 7077. Print.
Charlip, Julie. A Real Class Act. Making Sense: Essays on Art, Science, and Culture.
2nd ed. Ed. Bob Coleman. Kentucky: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2004.
7994. Print.
Coleman, Bob, ed. Making Sense: Essays on Art, Science, and Culture. 2nd ed. Kentucky:
Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2004. Print.
Florida, Richard. The Transformation of Everday Life. Making Sense: Essays on

Art, Science, and Culture. 2nd ed. Ed. Bob Coleman. Kentucky: Wadsworth
Publishing Company, 2004. 195211. Print.
Rossenwasser, David and Jill Stephen. Writing Analytically. 5th Ed. Kentucky:
Wadsworth Publishing, 2009. Print.
CHAPTER 2
Guth, Hans P. Words and Ideas: A Handbook for College Writing. Kentucky:
Wadsworth Publishing, 1969. Print.
Miller, Richard E. and Kurt Spellmeyer. Preface. The New Humanities Reader.
Boston: Houghton Miin Company, 2006. xvii. Print.
Paul, Richard and Linda Elder. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts
and Tools. California: The Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2001. Print.
Sagan, Carl. Brocas Brain: Reections on the Romance of Science. New York: Ballantine
Publishing Group, 1979. Print.
CHAPTER 3
_____
CHAPTER 4
Carroll, Lewis. The Jabberwocky. Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found
There. Boston: Adamant Media Corporation, 2001 (1871): 2224. Print.
207
Works_Cited.indd 207 28/10/10 7:55 PM

Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. University of Minnesota Press,
2008. Print.
Goman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor, 1959.
Print.
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: Harper Collins,
1994. Print.
Orwell, George. A Collection of Essays. New York: Mariner Books, 1970. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Richard the III. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton
Miin, 1997. Print.
CHAPTER 5
Blair, J. Anthony. The Possibility and Actuality of Visual Arguments. Argumentation

and Advocacy 33.1 (1996): 2339. Print.
Derrida, Jacques. Given Time: Counterfeit Money. Trans. Peggy Kamuf. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1994. Print.
Twilight. Dir. Catherine Hardwicke. Perf. Kristin Stewart, Robert Pattison, and Taylor
Lautner. Summit Entertainment, LLC, 2008. Film.
CHAPTER 6
Cantor, Paul A. The Simpsons: Atomistic Politics and the Nuclear Family. Political
Theory 27.6 (1999): 734749. Print.
Clover, Carol. Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film.
New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993. Print.
Friere, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum, 2000 (1970). Print.
Gorn, Elliot J. Professing History: Distinguishing Between Memory and the Past.The
Chronicles of Higher Education 46.34 (2000): B4B5. Web. 14 September 2004.
Grin, Susan. A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War. New York: Anchor, 1993.
Print.
Martin, Emily. The Egg and the Sperm: How Science has Constructed a Romance
Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles. Signs 16.3 (1991): 485501. Print.
208 REASON TO WRITE

Sagan, Carl. Brocas Brain: Reections on the Romance of Science. New York: Ballantine
Publishing Group, 1979. Print.
Spradley, James P. and Brenda J. Mann. The Cocktail Waitress: Womens Work in a
Mans World. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 2.10 (1976): 255256.
Zimbardo, Phillip, C. Haney, W.C. Banks, and D. Jae. The Mind is a Formidable
Jailer: A Pirandellian Prison. New York Times Magazine [New York] 8 April
1973, sec. 6: 3845. Web. 23 July 2008.
CHAPTER 7
Clover, Carol. Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film.
New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993. Print.
Ohio Humanities Council. Ohio Humanities Council. Web. 12 April 2009.
CHAPTER 8
Barrere, Albert and Charles Godfrey Leland, eds. A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and
Cant v.2: L-Z. Montana: Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2010 (1890). Print.
Holzmann, Michael. Holzman, Michael. Rhetoric/Composition//Academic

Institutions/Cultural Studies. Enculturation 5.1 (2003): n. pag. Web. 23
Jan 2010.
Sare, William. Sares New Political Dictionary. New York: Random House, 1993. Print.
CHAPTER 9
_____
CHAPTER 10
Conference for Undergraduate Research in Communication. Conference for

Undergraduate Research in Communication. Department of Communica-
tion, R.I.T. 2010. Web. 23 April 2010.
NeoAmericanist: The Interdisciplinary Online Journal for the Study of America.

University of Western Ontario. 2010. Web. 23 April 2010.
Shea, Alison, ed. History Matters: An Undergraduate Journal of Historical Research.

Appalachian State University, 2010. Web. 23 April 2010.
Works Cited 209

REASON TO WRITE
This handbook is a practical guide designed to offer students the means to
GINA L. VALLIS
Critical thinking is a challenging term. Sometimes it is presented in
relationship to formal logic, which is too rigid to use as a strategy for writing
instruction. Sometimes critical thinking is made synonymous with analysis,
although they can be clearly differentiated as separate cognitive activities.
Sometimes critical thinking is reduced to writing prompts on selected readings,
or exemplar asides.
both stipulates a working definition for critical thinking, and, in doing so,
reorients the approach to academic writing as fundamentally inquiry-based.
REASON TO WRITE
Critical thinking provides specific strategies designed to help student writers
to work through the relationship between thinking and writing. When given the
opportunity to develop a line of inquiry based upon a question, students
acquire not only critical thinking skills, but also the means to be
self-corrective in their writing, and to transfer those skills into new contexts.
In three major sections, students are guided through steps that build upon
foundational critical thinking skills, and that reinforce academic writing as a
practice designed to answer a question, solve a problem, or resolve an issue.

theory, and teaches Writing at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
She writes and presents on topics concerning rhetoric, communication,
critical and literary theory, and film and visual studies. She is certified in
graphic design, has published poetry, and vendors an intervention program
for children with ASD, in relationship to which she contributed a chapter for a
book on autism intervention. She is currently completing a pending
publication of a collaborative web-text for the praxis category of Kairos, as
well as preparing a manuscript concerning writing about film, titled Screening
Arguments.
GINA L. VALLIS

Gina L. Vallis - Reason To Write. Applying Critical Thinking To Academic Writing (2011)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

Gina L. Vallis - Reason To Write. Applying Critical Thinking To Academic Writing (2011)

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Gina L. Vallis - Reason To Write. Applying Critical Thinking To Academic Writing (2011)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

REASON TO WRITE

This handbook is a practical guide designed to offer students the means to

Gina L. Vallis received her Ph.D. in Literature with an emphasis in critical

FM.indd i 11/4/10 4:43 PM

T his handbook is a practical guide designed to oer students the means to

Gina L. Vallis received her Ph.D. in Literature with an emphasis in critical

FM.indd iii 11/4/10 4:43 PM

Copyright 2010 by Kona Publishing and Media Group

FM.indd iv 11/4/10 4:43 PM

FM.indd v 11/4/10 4:43 PM

Sample Critical Questions 37

FM.indd vii 11/4/10 4:43 PM

4 saying what we mean-meaning what we say 59

Example Completed Ways to Dene Guide 82

Example Analysis Guide 119

viii REASON TO WRITE

FM.indd viii 11/4/10 4:43 PM

8 communication and rhetoric 167

9 feedback and revision 185

FM.indd ix 11/4/10 4:43 PM

10 joining the conversation 193

Sample Undergraduate Conference CFP 201

recommended Readings 203

WORKS CITED 207

FM.indd x 11/4/10 4:43 PM

FM.indd xi 11/4/10 4:43 PM

O ne of the challenges facing writing instructors is that while students will

How to use this text

Reason to Write is a practical guide, and is designed as a map to guide students

FM.indd xiii 11/4/10 4:43 PM

CRITICAL QUESTION, CONTEXT, DEFINITION

xiv REASON TO WRITE

FM.indd xiv 11/4/10 4:43 PM

ANALYSIS, ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE, ARRANGEMENT

FM.indd xv 11/4/10 4:43 PM

FINDING COMMON GROUND

xvi REASON TO WRITE

FM.indd xvi 11/4/10 4:43 PM

RHETORIC, REVISION, PUBLICATION

COMMUNICATION AND RHETORIC

FEEDBACK AND/OR REVISION

FM.indd xvii 11/4/10 4:43 PM

JOINING THE CONVERSATION

xviii REASON TO WRITE

FM.indd xviii 11/4/10 4:43 PM

Chapter_01.indd 1 10/28/10 5:04 PM

1 BLINKING CURSOR SYNDROME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3 THE CASE AGAINST THE FIVE-PARAGRAPH FORM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

4 PROCESS VS. PRODUCT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chapter_01.indd 3 10/28/10 5:04 PM

Writing is easy: all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper

Of course, many students have been taught to summarizeand therefore com-

EVER WONDERED? Yet our hypothetical writer may be a bit confused:

Chapter_01.indd 4 10/28/10 5:04 PM

Most people, when faced with a problem to be DEFINITION

2 questions and answers

How do I know what I think until I see what I say?