Empo Word A Student Centered Anthology and Handbook For College Wri Fae36f5dad

© 2018 Shane Abrams
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Published by Portland State University Library

Portland, OR 97207-1151
Cover art by Emmett Rose, Portland State University, 2017

Cover design by Shane Abrams
Acknowledgements
This project would not have been possible without the kind and generous support of
my communities.
I am very grateful to Alex Dannemiller for his contributions to the content of this book,
as well as his support as a peer reviewer. This book also integrates meaningful
contributions from Jarrod Dunham, Karolinn Fiscalleti, Paul Lask, and Brian Gazaille.
Further thanks to Jessica Lee and Brian Gazaille for serving as peer reviewers, and to
Bridget Carrick for copy editing.
I would also like to thank the former students whose work has inspired and will
sustain this book. While some have chosen to remain anonymous, the others are
cited in the table of contents and the endnotes of sections in which their work
appears. These students have not only shaped my pedagogy and worldview, but
have (and continue to) inspire the many students who have followed in their paths
and continue on to forge their own.
For their mentorship and inspiration, and especially those concepts that have
become so integral to my teaching that they are here in this book, I thank Daniel
Hershel, Michael Stuart, Susan Kirtley, Leni Zumas, Rachel Brett, Lily Harris, Leah
Arvanitis, Mark Davies, Jeffrey Pegram, and Christine Potter.
I would not have been able to create this text without institutional support from Karen
Bjork, Sharon Rivers, and Stephanie Doig of the Portland State University (PSU)
Library; Laura Wilson and Kale Brewer of PSU’s Office of Academic Innovation; Susan
Tardiff, Matt Swetnam, Brendan O’Guinn, and Chris Thomas of the PSU English
Department; Susan Kirtley and Hildy Miller, Directors of Rhetoric and Composition at
PSU; Paul Collins, PSU English Department Chair; and Lucas Bernhardt and Dan
DeWeese of the PSU Writing Center.
And, lastly, I would be remiss to forget Linnea Wilhjelm, who has not simply tolerated
my stress and whining throughout the duration of composing this text, but instead
met it with patience, love, and encouragement.
Table of Contents
How to Use This Book: Instructors i

How to Use This Book: Students x
General Introduction xvi
Part One: Description, Narration, and Reflection 1
Chapter One: Describing a Scene or Experience 4
Chapter Two: Telling a Story 32
Chapter Three: Reflecting on an Experience 63
Assignment: Descriptive Personal Narrative 83
Part Two: Text Wrestling 106
Chapter Four: Interpretation, Analysis, and Close Reading 109
Chapter Five: Summary and Reader-Response 127
Chapter Six: Analysis and Synthesis 146
Assignment: Text wrestling Analysis 178
Part Three: Research and Argumentation 199
Chapter Seven: Argumentation 201
Chapter Eight: Research Concepts 242
Chapter Nine: Interacting with Sources 271
Assignment: Persuasive Research Essay 357
Additional Readings 394
Appendices
A: Concepts and Strategies for Revision 444
B: Engaged Reading Strategies 459
C: Metacognition 467
Additional Recommended Resources 475
Glossary 477
Full Citations and Permissions 487
Table of Contents – Readings
Skills or Rhetorical
Chapter One
Modes Showcased
“Innocence Again”
by Chris Chan
The sea decides what it wants me to see: turtles popping out of the Description
seabed, manta rays gracefully floating alongside, being in the Imagery
21
middle of the eye of a barracuda hurricane, a coral shelf as big as a Reflection
car, a desert of bleached corals, the emptiness of the seabed with not Weave
a fish in sight, the memorials of death caused by the December 26
tsunami—a barren sea floor with not a soul or life in sight.
“Comatose Dreams”
by Kiley Yoakum
She opened her eyes and tried to find reality. She was being Description
tortured. Her feet were the size of pumpkins and her stomach was Figurative language
24
gutted all the way up her abdomen, her insides exposed for all to see. Defamiliarization
She was on display like an animal at the zoo. Tubes were coming out Imagery
of her in multiple directions and her throat felt as if it were coated in
chalk.
“The Devil in Green Canyon”

by Franklin
The thick under growth has dwindled to small rhododendron bushes
and clumps of bear grass. The frequently gusting wind has caused Description
the trunks of the trees to grow into twisted gnarled forms. It is almost Imagery
26
like some demon walked through the trail distorting everything as it Thick description
passed. Foxglove and other wild flowers find root holds in warm Narration
sunny spots along the trail. Breaks in the thick forest provide
snapshots of distant mountains: Mt. Hood is among the snowcapped
peaks that pepper the distant mountains.
Table of Contents – Readings (continued)
Chapter Two
Modes Showcased
“Under the Knife”
by Joey Butler Description
Figurative language
The doctors informed me beforehand of the potential complications Imagery
that could arise from surgery. Partial paralysis, infection, death,
Narration
these words echoed throughout the chasms of my mind. Anxiety 53
Narrative scope
overwhelmed me; I was a dying animal surrounded by ravenous
Narrative pacing
vultures, drool dripping awaiting their next meal. My palms were a
disgusting swamp of sweat that gripped hard onto the white sheets Reflection
that covered me. Wrap-up
“Breathing Easy”
by an anonymous student author Description
Thick description
Even though my parents had never been blatantly homophobic in
Narration
front of me, I grew up in a conservative religious community that
Dialogue 56
was fiercely cisheteronormative. My eighth-grade health teacher
kicked off our unit on sex education with a contemptuous, “We Reflection
aren’t going to bother learning about safe sex for homosexuals. Wrap-up
We’re only going to talk about normal relationships.” Diegetic gap
“Visions”
We decide to hold a pipe ceremony in order to establish Imagery
connectedness and unite with one heart and mind. To pray and get Narration
to know each other. We went down to the beach and lit a fire. It was Characterization 60
a clear, warm night. The stars were bright. The fire was crackling Narrative scope
and the shadows of the flames were bouncing of the clear night sky. I Narrative sequence
took my shoes off and felt the cool soft sand beneath my feet and Reflection
between my toes.
Chapter Three
“Slowing Down”
by Beth Harding Description
Narration
He could still drive—he just needed help starting the ignition. But
Tone
now, once we’d get to where we were going, I’d try not to walk too 71
Characterization
fast. It had begun to occur to me that maybe walking ahead of him
was kind of disrespectful or insensitive. In a way, I think that I just Reflection
didn’t want him to know that my legs worked better than his. Diegetic gap
Modes Showcased
“Untitled”
by Katherine Morris Description
I was the kid who was considered stupid: math, a foreign language Thick description
my tongue refused to speak. I was pulled up to the front of the Imagery
75
classroom by my teachers who thought struggling my way through Narration
word problems on the whiteboard would help me grasp the concepts, Reflection
but all I could ever do was stand there humiliated, red-faced with Wrap-up
clenched fists until I was walked through the equation, step by step.
“Parental Guidance”
by Derek Holt Description
Narration
One day my dad told us someone broke into our garage and stole all
Narrative scope
the gear. The window in the garage was broken except it appeared
Narrative sequence 79
to be broken from the inside. He didn’t file a police report. My
middle school surf club coach tried to get my surfboard from the Reflection
pawnshop but it was too expensive and the pawn shop owner Weave
wouldn’t give it back. I felt betrayed. Implied meaning
Culminating Assignments
“The Pot Calling the Kettle Black…”
Thick description
I had just stepped off a squealing MAX line onto a broken sidewalk Figurative language
slab, gnarled from tree roots, when I felt my phone buzz Narration
rhythmically. 88
Narrative scope
“I need you to come to the hospital. Mom had a little accident.” My Narrative sequence
dad’s voice was distant and cracking, like a wavering radio signal, Characterization
calling for help. Reflection
“All Quiet”
by Carlynn de Joya
As a seven-foot bleeding wood crucifix looked on, we sipped the Description
punch prepared by the sisters. Narration
Dialogue 92
“Hey Mr. Clark, what was the name of that cult leader in sixties?” I
Characterization
asked. Amber punched me. We all giggled.
Reflection
“You mean Jonestown?” He paused. His voice grew stern. “Now
ladies—behave.”
Modes Showcased
“Blood & Chocolate Milk” Description

by Maia Wiseman Thick description
Imagery
“It’s time for some more medicine, does your mouth hurt?” Figurative language
Narration
“A little bit,” I said as best as I could with numb lips. The words 98
Narrative scope
came out muffled and strange. Gauze thick with blood and saliva
Narrative sequence
was tucked over the wounds from the excavation. My mouth had
Characterization
become a foreign landscape with mountains of gauze and slippery
Reflection
rivers of blood. My tongue tried to ignore the upset.
Weave
Chapter Four
“Drag the River”

by Ryan Mills
Parked at milepost 6, the grease fire night — 123
pulled the river toward the delta.
The water ran low;
the trees performed their shakes.
“Richard Cory”
by Edwin Arlington Robinson
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king— — 124
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”

by John Donne
So let us melt, and make no noise, — 125
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
‘Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Modes Showcased
Annotation of “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”
by Shane Abrams Analysis
Close reading
Pattern, symbol,
reference
Engaged 125
Reading
Strategies
Annotation
“Close Reading Roundtable”

featuring Kamiko Jimenez, Annie Wold, Maximilian
West, and Christopher Gaylord Analysis
In the beginning, I really like how he listed Eric Garner, Renisha Interpretation 126
McBride. He kind of went through a timeline of injustices, and I Interpretive Position
really like how he left out the fluff. Getting to the facts and being
straight-up isn’t something we really do with younger folks.
Chapter Five
“Maggie as the Focal Point”
by Beth Kreinheder Interpretation
Not only do I agree with Benjamin’s stance on “Recitatif”, but I also Summary
disapprove of my own critical analysis of “Recitatif.” I made the Direct quote 136
same mistakes that other scholars have made regarding Morrison’s Summary
story; we focused on racial codes and the racial binary, while Response
completely missing the interstitial space which Maggie represents.
“Pronouns & Bathrooms”

by an anonymous student author
The trans community recommend that schools and administrators
Summary
acquire updated gender-inclusive documentation and update
Summary
documentation at the request of the student to avoid 138
Paraphrase
misrepresentation and mislabeling. When you use the student’s
preferred name and pronoun in and out of the classroom you are
Response
showing the student you sincerely care for their well-being and the
respect of their identity.
Modes Showcased
“Education Methods: Banking vs. Problem-Posing”
by an anonymous student author
Interpretation
Freire begins his argument by intervening into the conversation
Summary
regarding teaching methods and styles of education, specifically
Summary 140
responding in opposition to the banking education method, a method
Paraphrase
that “mirrors the oppressive society as a whole” (73). He describes the
banking method as a system of narration and depositing of Response
information into students like “containers” or “receptacles” (72).
“You Snooze, You Peruse”

by Kayti Bell
While some schools have implemented later start times, this article
argues for a more unique approach. Several high schools in Las
Summary
Cruces, New Mexico have installed sleeping pods for students to use 143
when needed. They “include a reclined chair with a domed sensory- Response
reduction bubble that closes around one’s head and torso” and
“feature a one-touch start button that activates a relaxing sequence
of music and soothing lights” (Conklin).
Chapter Six
“Songs” Interpretation
by an anonymous student author Analysis
Pattern
America sings a different tune. America is the land of opportunity. It
represents upward mobility and the ability to “make it or break it.” Synthesis
Thesis 165
But it seems there is a cost for all this material gain and all this
opportunity. There seems to be a lack of love and emotion, a lack of Evidence (Quote,
the ability to express pain and all other feelings, the type of emotion paraphrase,
summarize)
which is expressed in the songs of Mexico.
“Normal Person: An Analysis of the Standards of Interpretation

Normativity in ‘A Plague of Tics’” Analysis
by Ross Reaume and an anonymous student author Pattern
Lens
Sedaris’ father attempts to “cure [Sedaris] with a series of threats”
Synthesis 169
(366). In one scene, he even enacts violence upon David by slamming
Thesis
on the brakes of the car while David has his nose pressed against a
Evidence (Quote,
windshield. Sedaris reminds us that his behavior might have been
paraphrase,
unusual, but it wasn’t violent: “So what if I wanted to touch my nose
summarize)
to the windshield? Who was I hurting?” (366).
Modes Showcased
“Analyzing ’Richard Cory’” Interpretation

by Marina Analysis
The use of the first-person plural narration to describe Cory gives Pattern
the reader the impression that everyone in Cory’s presence longed to Synthesis
have the life that he did. Using “we,” the narrator speaks for many Thesis
175
people at once. From the end of the third stanza to the end of the Evidence (Quote,
poem, the writing turns from admirable description of Richard to a paraphrase,
noticeably more melancholy, dreary description of what those who summarize)
admired Richard had to do because they did not have all that
Richard did.
“To Suffer or Surrender? An Analysis of Dylan Thomas’s ‘Do
Not Go Gentle into That Good Night’”
by Mary Preble Interpretation
Analysis
Thomas presents yet another oxymoron by saying “Curse, bless, me
Pattern
now with your fierce tears” (Thomas 659). By referring to passionate
Synthesis
tears as a blessing and a curse, which insinuates that the speaker
Thesis 184
does not necessarily believe death itself is inherently wrong, but to
Evidence (Quote,
remain complicit in the face of death would be. These tears would be
paraphrase,
a curse because it is difficult to watch a loved one cry, but a blessing
summarize)
because the tears are a sign that the father is unwilling to surrender
to death. This line is especially significant as it distinguishes the
author’s beliefs about death versus dying, which are vastly different.
“Christ Like”
by an anonymous student author Interpretation
Analysis
After they sit and talk for a while, they have dinner. This dinner
Reference, symbol
resembles the last supper, especially when the narrator says, “We ate
like there was no tomorrow” (7). He also describes how Robert eats Synthesis
Thesis 188
and says “he’d tear of a hunk of buttered bread and eat that. He’d
follow this up with a big drink of milk” (7). Those aren’t the only Evidence (Quote,
things he ate, but the order in which he ate the bread and took a paraphrase,
drink is the same order as the sacrament, a ritual created at the last summarize)
supper.
Modes Showcased
“The Space Between the Racial Binary”

Interpretation
by Beth Kreinheder Interpretive position
Roberta’s hairstyles are stereotypes that conflict with one another; Analysis
one attributing to a black woman, the other to a white woman. The Pattern, reference
differences in hair texture, and style, are a result of phenotypes, not Lens
race. Phenotypes are observable traits that “result from interactions Synthesis 191
between your genes and the environment” (“What are Thesis
Phenotypes?”). There is not a specific gene in the human genome Evidence (Quote,
that can be used to determine a person’s race. Therefore, the racial paraphrase,
categories in society are not constructed on the genetic level, but the summarize)
social.
Chapter Seven
Argumentation
“Effective Therapy through Dance & Movement” Rhetorical appeals
by Samantha Lewis Rogerian argument
Interacting with
When dancing, whether it is improvised movement or learned
choreography, the body is in both physical and mental motion, as Sources
many parts of the brain are activated. The cerebrum is working in Thesis (Claim of 223
overdrive to allow the body to perform certain actions, while other evaluation)
areas of the brain like the cerebellum are trying to match your Evidence (Quote,
breathing and oxygen intake to your level of physical exertion. In paraphrase,
summarize)
addition, all parts of the limbic system are triggered.
Citation
Argumentation
“We Don’t Care About Child Slaves” Rhetorical appeals
by Jennifer Vo-Nguyen Aristotelian
argument
Aged 16 at the time, Hieu explained that a woman approached him
Interacting with
in his rural village in Dien Bien, the country’s poorest province, and
offered him vocational training in the city. He and 11 other children Sources 232
were then sent to the city and forced to make clothes for a garment Thesis (Claim of
factory in a cramped room for the next two years. “We started at phenomenon)
6AM and finished work at midnight,” he said. “If we made a Evidence (Quote,
mistake making the clothes they would beat us with a stick.” paraphrase,
summarize)
Citation
Modes Showcased
Argumentation
“Carnivore Consumption Killing Climate” Nay-sayer’s voice
by Tim Curtiss Call-to-action
Interacting with
Cutting meat out of your diet will improve your individual health,
but more importantly, it will improve the health of the earth. Some Sources
critics might argue that eating just one burger can’t raise the entire Thesis (Claim of 236
Earth’s temperature. The simple answer is, it doesn’t. However, phenomenon and
making the conscious decision to eat meat on a day to day basis adds policy)
up to a slew of health problems accompanied by a large personal Evidence (Quote,
carbon footprint. paraphrase,
summarize)
Citation
Chapter Eight
“School Vouchers: Bureaucratizing Inequality”
Research
by Shane Abrams
Concepts
Since Besty Devos’ nomination for U.S. Secretary of Education, the Inquiry-based
discussion surrounding school choice has gained significant research 254
momentum. Socioeconomic inequality in this country has produced Ongoing
great discrepancies in the quality of education that young people conversation
experience, and it is clear that something must be done. Proposal
“Pirates & Anarchy” Research

by Kathryn Morris Concepts
Political polarization continues to freeze up the government, Inquiry-based
research 265
rendering them ineffectual. Worse, elected officials appear more
concerned with ideology and campaign funding than the plight of Ongoing
the common man, leaving their own constituents’ needs abandoned. conversation
Proposal
“A Case of Hysterics” Research

by Hannah Zarnick Concepts
In modern medicine, however, the treatment and diagnosis of female Inquiry-based
research 267
medical issues continues to be vague and potentially harmful due to
lack of knowledge. Does the concept of female hysteria have Ongoing
continuity today? conversation
Proposal
Modes Showcased
“Wage Transparency and the Gender Divide”

by Benjamin Duncan
Research
Pay secrecy has long been the norm in most of Western society, but it Concepts
comes with an information imbalance during any salary Inquiry-based
negotiations. Lately, wage transparency has gained some legal research 269
foothold at the national level as a tool to combat gender wage Ongoing
disparity for equal work. Is pay transparency an effective tool to conversation
close the gender pay gap, or will it only succeed in making Proposal
colleagues uncomfortable?
Chapter Nine
“What Does It Mean to Be Educated?”

Research
by Celso Naranjo
Concepts
Petrosino, Anthony and Carolyn Turpin-Petrosino, and John Inquiry-based
Buehler. “‘Scared Straight’ and Other Juvenile Awareness research
Programs for Preventing Juvenile Delinquency.” The Annals Ongoing
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, conversation
vol. 589, 2003, pp. 41-62. JSTOR, Interacting with
http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/stable/3658560. Sources 314
Credibility
This article is a meta-analysis of Scared Straight and similar
Use-value
crime deterrence programs. These programs were very popular Annotated
when I was in high school and are still in use today. The bibliography
analysis shows that these programs actually increase the Citation
likelihood for crime, which is the opposite effect of the well- Summary
meaning people that implement such programs.
Modes Showcased
“Pirates & Anarchy”

by Kathryn Morris Research
Concepts
Otto, Lisa. “Benefits of Buccaneering: The Political Economy of
Inquiry-based
Maritime Piracy in Somalia and Kenya.” African Security
research
Review, vol. 20, no. 4, 2011, pp. 45-52. Taylor & Francis, doi:
Ongoing
10.1080/10246029.2011.630809.
conversation
The economy of piracy in Somalia is addressed in this article. Interacting with 318
From the economic vacuum of a failed state leaving citizens to Sources
turn to desperate measures, to the eventual organization of Credibility
piracy into burgeoning industry, perfect conditions existed for Use-value
the normalization of criminal acts. The article goes on to Annotated
elaborate on the costs to other industries in the region, to the bibliography
social structure of Somalia, and the cost in lives lost. Finally, Citation
the author makes suggestions for counter-piracy strategies. Summary
“A Case of Hysterics”
by Hannah Zarnick Research
Concepts
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” 1892.
Inquiry-based
Reprinted by U.S. National Library of Medicine, 7 June 2017,
research
www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/theliteratureofprescription/exhibit
Ongoing
ionAssets/digitalDocsLT_he. -Yellow-Wall-Paper.pdf.
conversation
The Yellow Wallpaper is an important narrative from the early Interacting with 324
1900s that illustrates the delusional medical procedures placed Sources
onto women. Gilman herself experienced what was called the Credibility
“rest cure,” which in essence confined women who were Use-value
diagnosed with Hysteria or nervous diseases in a room to do Annotated
nothing, limiting their “stressors.” They were forced to eat bibliography
copious amounts of food to gain weight, and they were allowed Citation
no company. Summary
Modes Showcased
Argumentation
“Planting the Seed: Norway’s Strong Investment in Parental
Rhetorical appeals
Leave” Call-to-action
by Christopher Gaylord Research
Children continue to reap the benefits of paid parental leave even Concepts
into their adult years. A team of researchers examined the long-term Inquiry-based
impacts of maternity leave in Norway since the country’s research
introduction of paid, job-protected leave time … [and] found that Interacting with 329
“reform had strong effects on children’s subsequent high school Sources
dropout rates and earnings at age 30, especially for those whose Thesis (Claim of
mothers had less than 10 years of education” (Carneiro). Thus, policy)
increased time at home with children—especially time during which Evidence (Quote,
mothers can relax without fear of sacrificing their income—can lead paraphrase,
to success in the child’s life. summarize)
Citation
Research
“Pirates & Anarchy: Social Banditry Toward a Moral Concepts
Economy” Inquiry-based
by Kathryn Morris research
Ongoing
When resources are unfairly distributed across society, citizens lose
conversation
faith in the system of government. They see it as their right to take
Interacting with 337
action outside the law because the government in charge of that law
has shirked their responsibilities to provide security and a moral Sources
economy (Ibid. 1388). When the scope of the world narrows to eating Thesis (Claim of
or starving, when there is no one coming to save the day, when there phenomenon)
is no other way out, when all that is left is survival, those are the Evidence (Quote,
moments that pirates are born. paraphrase,
summarize)
Citation
Modes Showcased
Research
Concepts
“The Hysterical Woman” Inquiry-based
research
by Hannah Zarnick
Ongoing
Aside from flaws in women’s reproductive health care, there is also a conversation
well-documented gap in the treatment of pain between men and Interacting with
women. Of the 25% of Americans suffering from chronic pain, Sources 348
women make up a disproportionate majority (Edwards). Not only Thesis (Claim of
are women more likely to suffer from chronic pain, but that pain is phenomenon and
more likely to be categorized as “emotional,” “psychogenic,” or “not policy)
real.” Evidence (Quote,
paraphrase,
summarize)
Citation
Argumentation
Call-to-action
Rhetorical appeals
“The Advertising Black Hole”
Research
by Jessica Beer
Concepts
While the amount of money that is spent on food advertising for Inquiry-based
children seems exorbitant to most, it is not necessarily the amount of research
money or the advertising in itself that is the problem for many Interacting with
Americans; instead, it is the type of food that is being promoted with
Sources 363
such a heavy hand. Soda, fruit snacks, donuts, cereal, granola bars,
Thesis (Claim of
Pop-Tarts, frozen meals, sugary yogurts, cookies, snack cakes, ice
phenomenon and
cream, and popsicles are some of the most branded items for children
policy)
at grocery stores. Most of the things listed are not adequate snacks or
Evidence (Quote,
meals, and yet it is proven that children want them the most due to
paraphrase,
their appealing containers. summarize)
Evidence (primary
sources)
Citation
Modes Showcased
Research
“A Changing Ball-Game” Concepts
Ongoing
by Josiah McCallister
conversation
A player’s brand is inextricably linked to their footwear nowadays, Interacting with
perhaps more than the teams they play for and their on-court Sources
prowess. DePaula points out that shoe deals are actually negotiated Thesis (Claim of
376
in much the same way that free agent contracts are hashed out. … phenomenon and
[During] the same offseason that LeBron signed a one-year contract evaluation)
with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he signed a lifetime deal with Nike Evidence (Quote,
worth more than half a billion (Strauss). paraphrase,
summarize)
Citation
Argumentation
Rogerian argument
Rhetorical appeals
“Vaccines: Controversies and Miracles” Research

by Ezra Coble Concepts
Ongoing
Getting vaccinated is not an absolute healing technique; rather, it is conversation
for reducing the chances one will get a disease. It is much like Interacting with 387
wearing pads while riding a bike: your chances of injury goes down,
Sources
but there is still a chance of getting hurt. As for vaccines, the chances
Thesis (Claim of
of getting the flu after being vaccinated is usually reduced by 40-60%
phenomenon and
(“Vaccine”).
policy)
Evidence (Quote,
paraphrase,
summarize)
Citation
Additional Readings
“LZ Gator, Vietnam, February 1994”
by Tim O’Brien Description
Imagery
With a little weed and a lot of beer, we would spend the days of
Thick description
stand-down in flat-out celebration, purely alive, taking pleasure in 394
our own biology, kidneys and livers and lungs and legs, all in their Reflection
proper alignments. We could breathe here. We could feel our fists Weave
uncurl, the pressures approaching normal. Implied meaning
Modes Showcased
“My Favorite Place”

by Cristian Lopez
I pay and take my receipt and make my way to the next counter. A
Description
smoky and rich, sweet-caramel breeze wafts up from the espresso
Imagery 395
machines, racing to my nose, almost strong enough to caffeinate me
Ethnography
instantly. I wait patiently for my coffee, zoning out to the sound of
milk being aeriated and the crushing sound of iced beverages being
blended.
“Running Down the Hill” Description

Imagery
by Robyn Vazquez
Narration
White ash started falling out of the sky like snowflakes, covering Tone 398
everything—covering cars, benches, tables. You’d touch it and have Narrative pacing
this weird film all over you. Reflection
Wrap-up
“21”
by Patrick Roche Description
Thick description
15. My mother cleans up his vomit in the middle of the night
Narration
And cooks breakfast in the morning like she hasn't lost her appetite. 398
Narrative sequence
15. I blame myself.
15. My brother blames everyone else. Reflection
15. My mother blames the dog. Implied meaning
“Story of an Hour”
by Kate Chopin
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees Narration
that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath Characterization
398
of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his Dialogue
wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing Narrative pacing
reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the
eaves.
Modes Showcased
Excerpt from My Bondage and My Freedom

by Frederick Douglass Narration
It is easy to see, that, in entering upon the duties of a slaveholder, Characterization
some little experience is needed. Nature has done almost nothing to Reflection
401
prepare men and women to be either slaves or slaveholders. Nothing Weave
but rigid training, long persisted in, can perfect the character of the Argumentation
one or the other. One cannot easily forget to love freedom; and it is Rhetorical appeals
as hard to cease to respect that natural love in our fellow creatures.
“Between the World and Me: An Important Book on Race

and Racism”
by David Saifer
Summary
This isn’t a sociological or political text. In the book Coates renders 405
Response
his confusion, his questions, his grief, his anger and his joys with
literary clarity, and with a depth that can’t be captured in a dry,
“objective” discussion of the issues.
“Untitled” (A text wrestling analysis of “Girl” by Jamaica

Interpretation
Kincaid)
Analysis
by Cassidy Richardson
Pattern
Kincaid made the choice to make her poem into one large paragraph Synthesis
and use semicolons to separate the mother’s advice and commands Thesis 406
(without ending the sentence) in order to convey that all of the items Evidence (Quote,
on the mother’s list are related in the sense that, when they are paraphrase,
applied together, the sum of these actions and behaviors equals what summarize)
societal and gender norms say it means to be a well-behaved woman.
Modes Showcased
“Untitled” (A text wrestling analysis of “The Ones Who Walk
Away from Omelas” by Ursula K Le Guin)
by Tim Curtiss Interpretation
Analysis
However, Le Guin’s society may more closely resemble our society
Pattern
than first thought. The child, found in the basement tool closet of one
Synthesis
of the town’s buildings, is described by the author as “feeble-
Thesis 409
minded” or “born defective” (Le Guin 5). It is kept there solely for the
Evidence (Quote,
sake of the town’s happiness, enabling citizens in the streets above to
paraphrase,
reap joy from the festival. This compares to today’s society in the
summarize)
sense that people rush through life paying no attention to the needy
or homeless, only seldom stealing a glance to reassure themselves
that they do indeed have it better.
“Moonlight (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”

by Calum Marsh Interpretation
Analysis
The first piece in the film, bubbling up nearly 10 minutes in, is
Pattern, symbol
“Little’s Theme”—a gentle, vaguely mournful minute of piano and
hushed violin that begins as young Chiron stares into his lap in the Synthesis
Thesis 413
booth of a fast-food restaurant, keeping every thought and feeling
submerged. When the piece returns in the second act—Chiron now Evidence (Quote,
several years older, looking no less deeply inhibited as he sits sullen paraphrase,
in his high-school classroom—the key is pitched way down, from D summarize)
major to B major.
“Inauthenticity, Inadequacy, and Transience: The Failure of Interpretation

Language in ‘Prufrock’” Analysis
by Shane Abrams Pattern, reference
Synthesis
Prufrock frames his failure to adopt an archetype using a strikingly
Thesis 413
dehumanizing synecdoche: “I should have been a pair of ragged
Evidence (Quote,
claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas” (73-74). Prufrock
paraphrase,
finds it more fitting that he be separated from the species than to
summarize)
continually find himself inadequate to the measure of social roles.
Modes Showcased
“Why Our Feminism Must Be Intersectional”

Argumentation
by Jarune Uwujaren and Jamie Utt Aristotelian
Using conservative estimates, between 25% and 50% of women argument
experience gender-based violence (sexual violence, intimate partner Call-to-action
violence, street harassment, or stalking) in their lifetime. Interacting with
But to cite that number without disaggregating the data hides the Sources 421
ways that multiple oppressions compound this violence. Thesis (Claim of
evaluation and
For instance, women (and men) of color are more likely to policy)
experience these forms of violence than White women or men and Evidence (Quote,
that wealth privilege can help to insulate some women from some paraphrase,
forms of violence. summarize)
Argumentation
Rogerian argument
“Economics and Obesity” Call-to-action
by Catherine Sterrett Research
Concepts
While food deserts do contribute to obesity, the main economic cause
Inquiry-based
is more likely the price of healthy, nutritious food. A healthy diet is
research
too expensive to be accessible to low-income people and families,
even if they do have access to a supermarket. Interacting with 429
Sources
Nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables, while healthy, are low in Thesis (Claim of
calories. Unhealthier foods have high amounts of calories for a much phenomenon and
lower cost, making them extremely appealing to families on a policy)
budget. Evidence (Quote,
paraphrase,
summarize)
Citation
Modes Showcased
“Student Veterans and Their Struggle with Higher
Education” Argumentation
by Bryant Calli Rhetorical appeals
It’s not that I’m not proud of it, or even that I am ashamed of Interacting with
anything I have done; it’s because I don’t want to feel any more Sources
singled out than I already do. I also find that people either have Thesis (Claim of 436
strong feelings against the military or simply have no understanding phenomenon)
of what myself or other veterans have gone through. I try to avoid Evidence (Quote,
hearing questions like, “Did you know anyone who died?” or, “Have paraphrase,
you killed anyone?” After spending years always surrounded by summarize)
military personnel and within a unique culture, it is very difficult to Citation
relate to and want to be around college students.
Research
Concepts
“Our Town” from This American Life Inquiry-based
research
by Ira Glass and Miki Meek
Ongoing
It was really striking talking to them—how the arrival of these conversation
Latino workers blew the minds of the local workers, turned their Multipartiality 440
world upside down. But the Mexican workers didn’t have any of Interacting with
that. They didn’t have a lot of emotions about their white coworkers, Sources
didn’t spend a lot of time thinking or worrying about them. Thesis (Claim of
phenomenon)
Evidence (primary
sources)
Research
Concepts
“The Unfinished Battle in the Capital of the Confederacy” Ongoing
from Code Switch conversation
hosted by Shereen Marisol Meraji and Gene Demby Interacting with

Sources
A few people have pointed out—notably, historian Kevin Cruz—the Thesis (Claim of 440
irony of the alt-right descending on Charlotesville, ostensibly to phenomenon and
defend the statue of Robert E. Lee, but creating this universe in policy)
which the statues are so radioactive that it almost sped up their being Evidence (Quote,
taken down in a lot of places. paraphrase,
summarize)
Evidence (primary
sources)
Modes Showcased
Research
Excerpt from Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in Concepts
America Inquiry-based
research
by Barbara Ehrenreich
Interacting with 440
Seems its marble walls have been “bleeding” onto the brass fixtures, Sources
and can I scrub the grouting extra hard? That’s not your marble Thesis (Claim of
bleeding, I want to tell her, it’s the worldwide working class. phenomenon)
Evidence (primary
sources)
Research
Gaycation Concepts
Inquiry-based
starring Ellen Page and Ian Daniel
research
Every day since the attack, vigils have been taking place all over Ongoing
441
Metro Orlando. Tonight we are standing with the community of conversation
Davenport, an Orlando suburb, as they mourn two of their young Interacting with
women. Sources
Evidence (primary
sources)
Research
Sweet Crude Concepts
Inquiry-based
directed by Sandy Cioffi
research
We don’t know what we are going to leave for our children, because Interacting with 441
the oil company wants to stay and operate. They don’t care about Sources
the human beings who are here; all they care about is the money they Thesis (Claim of
make. phenomenon)
Evidence (primary
sources)
Modes Showcased
Argumentation
Research
“Why Boston’s Hospitals Were Ready” Concepts
by Atul Gawande Inquiry-based
research
Talking to people about that day, I was struck by how ready and Interacting with
almost rehearsed they were for this event. A decade earlier, nothing
Sources
approaching their level of collaboration and efficiency would have 441
Thesis (Claim of
occurred. We have, as one colleague put it to me, replaced our pre-
phenomenon and
9/11 naïveté with post-9/11 sobriety. Where before we’d have been
policy)
struck dumb with shock about such events, now we are almost
Evidence (Quote,
calculating about them.
paraphrase,
summarize)
Evidence (primary
sources)
How to Use This Book — Instructors i
How to Use This Book – Instructors

First, I’d like to thank you for adopting this book (or at least considering it) for your
class. I know the nightmare that textbook adoption can be, and I hope this serves
your students’ needs as a primary textbook or a supplementary material.
This text was inspired by my first year as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Portland
State University. I walked into a classroom of first-year students, transfer students,
international students, and returning students, all of whom had shelled out $70 for
textbooks required by the department. As I planned each lesson, I had this figure in
my mind: sure, it wasn’t the most expensive part of college, but my students would
feel ripped off if I didn’t use the anthology and instructional handbook that they had
been required to purchase.
Both of those books fell quite short. As with any anthology, the selected texts were
great, but the scope left a lot to be desired. As with any textbook, the instruction was
solid but had different priorities than I had. Nevertheless, I still felt obliged to teach
them.
In contrast, this text is free. On the student side, this is great news, but it’s also great
for us as teachers. You can use this book in its entirety, or use none of it. You can pick
and choose model texts, or you can teach exclusively from one section. Because
there is no cost associated with this book, you should feel no obligation to use it in a
way that students “get their money’s worth.”
In addition to this advantage, this text afforded me a handful of other opportunities.

First, as a digital product, it increases accessibility for students with disabilities.
Additionally, because you can use it anywhere with an Internet connection, it is more
readily available to non-traditional or distance learning students. Next, because it is
zero-cost, it reduces the barrier to access for students entering college, especially
from low-income backgrounds.
These characteristics are representative of broader trends in Open Educational

Resources (OER), but I’d like to think that other things set this textbook apart:
predominantly, I envision this book as a space to advocate for a student-centered
writing pedagogy that at once embraces expressivist and social constructivist
paradigms of rhetoric. This isn’t the first time a book has pursued this goal, but I
How to Use This Book — Instructors ii
consider my approach a valuable contribution to buoying the perception of value in

student writing.
Student-Centered Writing and Learning

Communities
Before going any further, I want to acknowledge one major goal of this text: to
advocate for student-centered pedagogy that fosters learning communities. Most of
the texts that make this a reader-rhetoric are actual student work that I’ve
encountered over my career as a teacher. This is a deliberate choice which responds
to a problem that I have observed: the texts in anthologies are almost always and
almost exclusively by professional writers. While this sets, perhaps, a higher standard,
it also trains students to think that polished, publishable, and impactful writing is not
accessible to them—that it is a different echelon of creativity and mastery. It teaches
them that they should imitate the people who write well with the understanding that
their writing will never be quite as good.
By the same logic that representations of people of color, different genders, different
ability statuses, and so on are important to those who experience oppression,
representing student writing in this book allows students to envision themselves in
the role of author. This text showcases outstanding student work as evidence that
students are very capable of producing beautiful, moving, thorough, thoughtful, and
well-informed rhetoric.
To this end, I have edited student work as minimally as possible, foregoing stylistic
and some mechanical issues. The use of student writing, in addition to its primary
objective of representation, also relates to this book’s focus on writing as process, not
product. We’ll discuss this further in the General Introduction, but I want to give you
fair warning that the student essays included here would not meet some readers’
standards of “perfect.” They exemplify some strategies very well, but may fall short in
other domains. Therefore, it’s important to regularly remind students that no text is
perfect; no text is free of bias or ideology. The texts might spark discussions; they
might serve as exemplars for assignments; they could even serve as focus texts for
analysis. Regardless, though, I encourage you to read critically with your students,
unpacking not only the content but also the construction of the rhetoric itself.
How to Use This Book — Instructors iii
Professional authors and teachers know that a piece of writing is never actually
finished—that there are always ways to challenge, reimagine, or polish a text. I
encourage you to teach both professional and student model texts with this in mind:
ask your students, What does this author do well, and what could they do better? In
what ways are they fulfilling the imperatives of the rhetorical situation, and what advice
would you give them to improve? To support
this critical perspective, each text included in
the main sections of the book is followed by a Teacher Takeaways
“Teacher Takeaway”: ideas from college
Reactions from actual college
professors reacting to the work at hand. While
professors are included in
these takeaways are not comprehensive, they
boxes like these.
offer a starting point for you and your students
to interpret the strengths of a model text.
I see student-centered curriculum as necessarily invested in what I call learning

community. No matter how much support I provide for my students, their
opportunities for growth multiply exponentially with the support of their classmates
and college resources (like a Writing Center or research librarian).
I build a good deal of time into my classes for community-building for a handful of
reasons:
• Writing doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Almost all writing involves an exchange
between a writer and their audience. Even on the professional level, the best
writing is produced collaboratively, using feedback from a cohort of trusted peers.
However, many of our students have been trained to believe that their schoolwork
is their business and no one else’s—or, at best, that their sole audience is the red-
pen-toting teacher. Instead, this text emphasizes collaboration to model real-
world writing situations.
• Writing is hard. Writing is hard because learning is hard: growth only occurs
under challenging circumstances. Additionally, whether our students are writing a
personal narrative or a research essay, they are putting themselves in a position of
vulnerability. While the concept of an entirely “safe space” is largely a myth, it is
important that they feel supported by their classmates and their instructor to
ensure that this vulnerability is productive.
• Communities are, to some extent, horizontal. The vertical power dynamic that
plagues many college classrooms, where the all-knowing teacher deposits
knowledge into their ignorant students, must be dismantled for true learning to
take place. Students need to be able to claim the knowledge and skills they build
How to Use This Book — Instructors iv
in the classroom, and they can only do so if they feel they have a stake in the
mission and operation of the class.1
• Communities have shared goals and values, but also diversity within them.
Each member might have a different path to those goals, might have different
needs along the way, might have additional individual goals—but there’s value in
acknowledging the destinations we pursue together.
• Learning communities are not just communities of learners, but also
communities that learn. I’ve taught awesome classes, and I’ve taught classes that
I dreaded attending. But all of those classes have had one thing in common: they
were never exactly what I expected. It is crucial to acknowledge that no matter
how much planning we do, our communities will have unanticipated strengths,
needs, successes, and failures. Communities that learn adapt to their internal
idiosyncrasies in order to make shared goals more accessible to everyone.
Furthermore, the skills and concepts for building community that your students
learn with carry them forth to shape their future communities.
I will take a moment to clarify: the concept of the learning community is not simply a
classroom management technique or a pedagogical suggestion. Rather, I find the
learning experience inherent in building and sustaining a community to be
inextricable from learning about composition. Developing writers have more to offer
one another than any textbook could. Although this book seeks to provide pragmatic
and meaty instruction on writing skills, it is from this core assumption that I operate:
Writers write best among other writers. Learners learn best among other learners.
Rhetorical Situations
In this book, I also encourage a deep consideration of writing as a dynamic response
to a rhetorical situation. I think we can all acknowledge that different circumstances,
different audiences, different subjects require different kinds of writing. This
variability demands that we think more expansively and critically about genre,
language, style, and medium. It also requires us to acknowledge that there is no
monolithic, static, singular model of “good” writing, contrary to what some
traditionalists believe—and what many of our students have been trained to believe.
The realization that “good” writing cannot be essentialized is not groundbreaking in

the field of rhetoric: indeed, we have known for thousands of years that audience and
How to Use This Book — Instructors v
purpose should influence message and delivery. However, it often is groundbreaking

for students today who have learned from both hidden and explicit curricula that
certain dialects, styles, or perspectives are valued in academia.
Shifting the paradigm—from “How do I write right?” to “How do I respond to the

nuanced constraints of my rhetorical situation?”—requires a lot of unlearning. As your
students try to unpack more and more complex rhetorical situations, support them by
deliberately talking through the constituent elements of the rhetorical situation and
the preferred modes and languages utilized therein. The question I use to turn my
students focus to the rhetorical situation is, How will the subject, occasion, audience,
and purpose of this situation influence the way we write?
Why this focus? My emphasis on rhetorical situations is twofold:

• To sharpen and complicate students’ thinking. On a more abstract level, I
advocate for critical consumption and production of rhetoric as a fundamental
goal of composition instruction. If we, as educators, want to empower our
students as thinkers and agents within the world, we must equip them with the
habits to challenge the texts and ideas that surround them.
• To prepare students for future writing situations. On a more pragmatic
level, I don’t think it’s possible to teach students all of the ways they will need
to know how to write in their lives—especially not in a single college term.
Instead of teaching rules for writing (rules which will invariably change), I argue
for teaching questions about writing situations. Students will be better
prepared for future writing situations if they can analyze a rhetorical situation,
determine how that situation’s constraints will influence their writing, and
produce a text that is tailored to that situation.
Keep in mind that many of your students don’t think about (or have been taught to
actively not-think about) language as dynamic and adaptable, so you will need to
provide scaffolding that gradually initiates them into the interrogation of rhetorical
situation. Reflect on your own experiences writing: how did you learn to carefully
choose a vocabulary and perspective that engages your audience? When did you
realize that your purpose would determine your style, length, or content?
I also encourage you to gesture to the many forms that rhetoric takes. Although you
are likely using this book for a class with “Writing” in the title, another primary goal of
this book is to advocate for critical consumption and production of rhetoric in all its
forms. EmpoWord is centered on the nonfiction essay form (in order to satisfy the
typical academic requirements of foundational college courses), but very little of the
How to Use This Book — Instructors vi
writing, reading, speaking, and listening our students do is in traditional essay form.
You can contribute to their critical encounters with all kinds of media and rhetoric that
permeate their lives.
Assignments and Activities

Depending on your course schedule and your pedagogical priorities, the content of
this book may be too much to teach in one term. I imagined this book as my ideal
curriculum: if I could move at a breakneck pace, teach everything I wanted perfectly
and efficiently, and expect quick and painless work from all of my students, my course
would probably follow this text directly.
However, this has never been and will likely never be the case. Teaching is a game of
adaptation: we must be flexible, responding to our constraints and our students’
particular needs. To that end, I encourage you to pick and choose the units,
assignments, and activities that you find most valuable. I also encourage you to tailor
those units, assignments, and activities to your particular class by adding parameters,
providing supplementary materials, opening up discussions, and locating
assignments in the sociogeographical place in which you find your class.2 You can
also zoom in on certain chapters and create your own corresponding assignments,
curriculum, or activities: for instance, if you wanted students to write a purely
descriptive essay, rather than a descriptive personal narrative that includes reflection,
you could teach from the chapter on description, expand it using your own materials
and related resources, and modify the culminating assignment appropriately.
All that said, another major goal of this text is to provide support to developing
instructors. Especially if this is your first experience teaching, you are more than
welcome to use this text to structure and develop your syllabus, conduct activities,
and prepare assignments. Rely on this text as much as you find it useful.
One major insight I have gained from teaching this book in its pilot version is that
students learn more when I block out time to discuss the activities after they have
been completed. Each activity in this text is designed to help practice a discrete skill,
but developing writers don’t always make that connection right away: be sure to
allow for time to debrief to explore what the students can take away from each
assignment. Doing so will allow the students to translate skills more easily.
Furthermore, they will also reveal learning that you may not have anticipated,
providing for rich in-class discussion.
How to Use This Book — Instructors vii
Navigation
This textbook is organized according to the following general formula:

Section Topic
Section Introduction
Chapter on a Rhetorical Mode or Skill
Instruction
Activities
Model Student Work
Instruction
Activities
Model Student Work
Instruction
Activities
Model Student Work
Culminating Assignment
Rubric
Guidelines for Peer Workshop
Model Student Work
Under “Additional Readings,” you will find more sample work by both student and
professional authors. “Additional Recommend Resources” includes direction to some
of my favorite supplementary materials.
You can take a more specific look at either Table of Contents. (The second provides
detail on the readings included.)
Key words and concepts are formatted like this the first time they appear, and they
are defined briefly in the Glossary. Near the beginning of each chapter, you will find a
table of vocabulary, like the one to the
left, for terms used in that chapter.
You should feel free to bounce

around between Chapters and
Sections as you feel it is appropriate to
your course.
How to Use This Book — Instructors viii
Feedback
As with any piece of writing, I acknowledge that this textbook will never really be
“finished”: it could always be better. I wholeheartedly welcome your feedback—on
content, format, style, accessibility, or otherwise—as I continue ongoing revisions to
this text. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your criticism, positive or negative,
at [email protected].
Chapter Vocabulary
a network of learners and teachers, each equipped and

empowered to provide support through horizontal power
learning community relations. Values diversity insofar as it encourages growth and
perspective, but also inclusivity. Also, a community that learns by
adapting to its unique needs and advantages.
a specific category, subcategory, style, form, or medium (or
combination of the above) of rhetoric. A genre may have a
genre “generic imperative,” which is an expectation or set of
expectations an audience holds for a particular genre of rhetoric;
the foundational assumptions that particular genres carry.
the circumstances in which rhetoric is produced, understood
using the constituent elements of subject, occasion, audience,
and purpose. Each element of the rhetorical situation carries
rhetorical situation
assumptions and imperatives about the kind of rhetoric that will
be well received. Rhetorical situation will also influence mode
and medium.
1
This is, of course, a call out to Paulo Freire and the school of popular/critical
pedagogy and social justice education. While it’s beyond the scope of the book to
consider the intersection of critical pedagogy and writing pedagogy, the two are
inseparable for me.
2
Place-based education is the pedagogical manifestation of the mantra, “Think
Globally; Act Locally.” It informs what I consider to be the most relevant pedagogy
How to Use This Book — Instructors ix
and curriculum. It also draws from the important movements of decolonizing and
Indigenous pedagogies. As your students work through this text, try to find ways to
make it relevant to the local community: students can complete a micro-ethnography
in a place unique to your location; students could choose research topics that are
relevant to the local scene; students could analyze op-eds from the local newspaper.
To learn more, I encourage you to seek out texts by David Sobel, Vine Deloria, Daniel
Wildcat, Matthew Wildcat, and Steven Semken, among others.
How to Use This Book — Students x
How to Use This Book – Students

Welcome, students! Whether this textbook has been assigned for your class or you’ve
discovered this book on your own and are teaching yourself, I hope it is an accessible
and enjoyable resource to support your learning about writing, rhetoric, and the
world.
Although your instructor may provide more specific information on how they want
you to use this text, I will provide a bit of guidance to help you acclimate to it.
Student-Centered Writing and Learning

Communities
First and foremost, I want to acknowledge one major goal of this text: to center the
student learning experience among a community of learners. Most of the exemplar
texts included here are actual student work that I’ve encountered over my career as a
teacher. Almost always, the texts in anthologies are exclusively by professional
writers. While this sets a high standard, many of my students tend to think that
polished, publishable, and impactful writing is not theirs to create. Instead, this text
showcases outstanding student work as evidence that you, and other student authors
like you, are very capable of producing beautiful, moving, thorough, thoughtful, and
well-informed rhetoric.
Furthermore, the use of student writing relates to this book’s focus on writing as
process, not product. We’ll discuss this further in the General Introduction, but I want
to give you fair warning that the student essays included here would not meet some
readers’ standards of “perfect.” They exemplify some techniques very well, but may
fall short in other domains. These student authors, just like professional authors,
realize that a piece of writing is never actually finished; there are always ways to
challenge, reimagine, or polish a text. As you read model texts, whether they are
written by students or professional authors, you should ask yourself, What does this
author do well, and what could they do better? In what ways are they fulfilling the
imperatives of the rhetorical situation, and what advice would I give them to improve?
To support this critical perspective, each text included in the main sections of the
book is followed by a “Teacher Takeaway”: ideas from college professors reacting to
How to Use This Book — Students xi
the work at hand. While these takeaways are not

comprehensive, they offer a starting point for Teacher Takeaways
you to interpret the strengths of a model text.
Reactions from actual college
professors are included in
As I see it, the best educational experiences boxes like these.
happen in what I call learning community. No
matter how much support one teacher can
provide for their students, your opportunities for
growth multiply exponentially with the support of your classmates and college
resources (like a Writing Center or research librarian).
It’s important to consider your writing class as one very particular learning
community. Doing so acknowledges that:
• Writing doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Almost all writing involves an exchange
between a writer and a reader. Even on the professional level, the best writing
is produced collaboratively, using feedback from a cohort of trusted peers.
You may have been trained to believe that your schoolwork is your business
and no one else’s. This text emphasizes collaboration instead: we can be more
successful, confident writers with the support of the readers around us.
• Writing is hard. Learning, and especially learning to write, demands a certain
amount of vulnerability. By working from a place of shared vulnerability, you
will discover ways to ensure that vulnerability is productive and maintain a
certain degree of safety and support through a challenging process. My
students are often pleasantly surprised by how much more meaningful their
learning experience is when approached with an investment in shared
vulnerability.
• Communities are, to some extent, horizontal. The vertical power dynamic
that plagues many classrooms, where the all-knowing teacher deposits
knowledge into their ignorant students, must be dismantled for true learning
to take place. You need to be able to claim the knowledge and skills you build
in the classroom, and you can only do so if you feel you have a stake in the
mission of the class.
• Communities have shared goals and values, but also diversity within
them. Each member might have a different path to that goal, might have
different needs along the way, might have additional individual goals—but
there’s value in acknowledging the destinations we pursue together.
• Learning communities are not just communities of learners, but also
communities that learn. No matter your expectations for your writing course,
our communities will have unanticipated strengths, needs, successes, and
How to Use This Book — Students xii
failures. Communities that learn adapt to their unique makeup in order to

make shared goals more accessible to everyone.
Why does this matter to you? Because building and sustaining a learning community
is a valuable experience which will serve you as a writer, a student, and a citizen.
Furthermore, living writers have more to offer one another than any textbook could.
Writers write best among other writers. Learners learn best among other learners.
Although you will learn writing skills from this book, engaging in a learning
community will allow you test and sharpen those skills.
At the same time, your future writing situations, whatever they may be, will be among
complex discourse ecologies—specific groups of readers and writers with specific
tastes, interests, and expectations. In this way, working within a learning community
teach you to more actively evaluate your rhetorical situation.
In this book, you’ll notice a focus on rhetorical situations, which are explained more
thoroughly in the General Introduction. Put simply, the act of writing is a response to
a rhetorical situation, and no two situations are the same. Think about the differences
and similarities between the following kinds of writing:
• A letter to your grandmother about your first semester in college
• An editorial advocating for immigration reform
• An e-mail to a craigslist user about the futon you want to buy
• A flyer for a Super Smash Bros. tournament in the Student Union
Different circumstances, different audiences, and different subjects require different

kinds of writing. These differences ask writers to think critically about genre,
language, style, and medium. More importantly, it means that there is no one method
for creating “good” writing, no one-size-fits-all, step-by-step guide to success, despite
what some of your previous teachers may have claimed.
Because you and each member of your learning community has a vastly different
future ahead of you, it would be impossible to teach you all the ways you will need to
write throughout your lives—especially not in a single college term. Instead of learning
rules for writing (rules which will invariably change), it is more valuable to learn the
How to Use This Book — Students xiii
questions you should ask of your future writing situations and produce texts that are
tailored to those situations.
In this book, you will explore and work within three rhetorical situations. (The beauty
of the rhetorical situation, of course, is that no two writers using this book will have
the exact same constraints; nevertheless, you will share similar experiences.) Because
many college composition programs value the nonfiction essay form, this textbook
focuses on three different kinds of essays: a personal narrative, a textual analysis, and
a persuasive research essay. The goal of writing these essays, though, is not to
become a master of any of them. Instead, the goal is to practice interrogating the
rhetorical situations and tailoring your work to be more effective within them.
As you learn more about rhetorical situations, think about the many forms that
rhetoric takes. Although you are likely using this book for a class with “Writing” in the
title, another primary goal of this book is to encourage the critical consumption and
production of rhetoric in all its forms. Very little of the writing, reading, speaking, and
listening you do is in traditional essay form, so the learning experiences included in
this book and your class should be applied to the other sorts of reading, writing,
speaking, and listening you do throughout your life: how can you bring the same
thoughtfulness to a Facebook status, an online news article, a class syllabus, a
conversation in the dining hall, or a Socratic discussion in class?
Navigation
This textbook is organized according to the following general formula:
Section Topic
Section Introduction
Instruction
Activities
Model Student Work
Instruction
Activities
Model Student Work
How to Use This Book — Students xiv

Instruction
Activities
Model Student Work
Culminating Assignment
Rubric
Model Student Work
Under “Additional Readings,” you will find more sample work by both student and
professional authors.
You can take a more specific look at either Table of Contents. (The second provides
detail on the readings included.)
Key words and concepts are formatted like this the first time they appear, and they
are defined briefly in the Glossary. Near the beginning of each chapter, you will find a
table of vocabulary, like the one to the
left, for terms used in that chapter.
Feedback
As with any piece of writing, I acknowledge that this textbook will never really be
“finished”: it could always be better. You, as a student using this book, have a
meaningful perspective on it. I wholeheartedly welcome your feedback—on content,
format, style, accessibility, or otherwise—as I continue ongoing revisions to this text.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with your criticism, positive or negative, at
[email protected].
How to Use This Book — Students xv
Chapter Vocabulary

a specific category, subcategory, style, form, or medium (or
genre “generic imperative,” which is an expectation or set of
expectations an audience holds for a particular genre of rhetoric;
the foundational assumptions that particular genres carry.
and medium.
General Introduction xvi
General Introduction
In a 2012 article published by The Washington Post’s “Answer Sheet” section, curated
by Valerie Strauss, John G. Maguire decries the failure of college writing students and
their instructors. The article, “Why So Many College Students Are Lousy at Writing—
And How Mr. Miyagi Can Help,” explains that many students “enter college as lousy
writers—and … graduate without seeming to make much, if any, improvement.”1 The
problem? College writing classes don’t teach good writing. The article scorns those
writing courses which cover “rhetorical strategies, research, awareness of audience,
youth civic activism—everything except the production of clear sentences.”2
Maguire’s article advocates for a return to old-school instructional methods—

specifically, teaching style and mechanics so that college grads can produce clear,
readable sentences. Maguire concludes with a reference to a 1984 film, The Karate
Kid. (If you haven’t seen it, the film is an underdog story about an outcast teenager
learning martial arts from a caring but mysterious karate master, Mr. Miyagi.) Maguire
asserts, “I’m a teacher, and I know what Mr. Miyagi did — he tricked the kid into
learning. He got him to do important behaviors first, and didn’t reveal where they fit
into the overall skill until later.” He continues,
[Colleges] should offer new writing courses that assume students know
nothing about sentences and train new sentence behaviors from the
ground up. Be repetitive and tricky—fool the kids into doing the right
thing. Create muscle memory. Think “wax on, wax off.” The kid’s goal
was to win the karate contest. The student writer’s goal should be
mastery of the readable style.3
So, according to Maguire, more teachers should “trick” students into learning
grammar and style, only to reveal to the students at some faraway time that they knew
how to write all along.
In case you can’t already tell, I am very resistant to this article. I introduce it not
because I have an axe to grind, but rather because I find it demonstrates essential
misconceptions about writing that many people share. I have taken to teaching this
text on the first day of class to show my students what they’re up against: teachers,
readers, parents, The Washington Post reporters, and many, many others who
assume that (a) there is one “correct” kind of writing, and (b) today’s students have no
idea how to execute it.
General Introduction xvii
I refer to the perspective in the Strauss and Maguire text as the complaint tradition,4
and it’s probably something you’ve encountered plenty of times. With every
generation, some older folks can’t wrap their minds around how terrible the following
generation is. Those kids can’t write, they spend too much time on their phones, back
in my day we used to play outside and movies only cost a nickel. It’s easy to write
Maguire off right away here, but let’s unpack a couple of key quotes to better
understand what we’re working against.
“[Colleges] should offer new writing courses that assume students know
nothing about sentences and train new sentence behaviors from the ground up.
Be repetitive and tricky—fool the kids into doing the right thing.”5
Beyond the fact that such an assumption is simply rude, it also overlooks the fact that
students actually already know a lot about using rhetoric—they do so on a daily basis,
just not necessarily in the same register, style, or medium that Maguire wants.
Designing a course and basing a teaching style on the assumption that “students
know nothing” would be a toxic and oppressive practice. As a student, you have
dedicated yourself to learning, meaning you acknowledge that you don’t know
everything. But this is a far cry from “knowing nothing,” and what you do know is not
inherently less valuable than what Maguire knows.
Furthermore, I do not believe in “repetitive and tricky” teaching that pretends to know
what’s best for students. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Karate Kid, but teaching
grounded in deceit reinforces the toxic power dynamic mentioned above. It assumes
that teachers know best, and that their students deserve no power in their learning
environment. Teachers are not “better than” or “above” students: we have had certain
experiences that position us to offer help, but that doesn’t give us license to lie to
you.
Most importantly, though, I believe that pedagogy should aim to be transparent. In

order for you to claim the knowledge and skills you gain in a learning community, you
need to see how you’re building it, be invested in why you’re doing certain work, and
respond to feedback on your thinking and writing processes.
So Maguire and I have our differences on teaching philosophy; we disagree on the

nature of the teacher-student relationship. If it ended there, we might ‘agree to
disagree.’ But Maguire also drastically misunderstands the characteristics of good
writing.
General Introduction xviii
“The student writer’s goal should be mastery of the readable style.”6
Not unrelated to his beliefs on teaching and learning, Maguire’s belief in a monolithic
goal of “readable style” is loaded with problematic assumptions about
(a) what the student writer’s goals are, academically, personally, and
professionally,
(b) whether “mastery” is a reasonable goal for a foundational college course,
and
(c) what “readable” style is.
(a) Your learning community—you and the people around you—have drastically
different futures ahead of you, both in school and beyond. To assume that you all
want the same thing out of your writing class is myopic.
(b) You will learn plenty about writing in this book or in your class. But let’s be
realistic: even professional writers rarely consider themselves masters. Writing, like
any art or skill, requires ongoing, lifelong practice and refinement. You will not be a
master after 10, 14, or even 28 weeks—but you can always grow and improve.
(c) What counts as “clarity” or “quality writing” is never static: it Every text reflects
is always shifting as you enter new rhetorical situations. In
the characteristics
short, “good writing” depends on who’s reading, who’s
writing, why they’re writing, when and where they’re writing, and values of its
and what they’re writing about. “Good writing” means rhetorical
differently to different people in different places and different situation.
times.7
Throughout this text, you will be challenged to respond to different rhetorical

situations through the act of writing. In other words, you will try to learn more about
what “good writing” says and does in different contexts: What makes for a good
story? An insightful analysis? A convincing argument? Why does it matter that we
write where and when we do? What do different readers want out of a piece of
writing?
By exploring and writing within different situations, you will learn skills for specific
rhetorical modes, sharpen your critical literacy, and—most importantly—learn to adapt
General Introduction xix
to a variety of writing circumstances that you will encounter both in and out of school.
In other words, practice in different rhetorical situations will make you a more critical
consumer and producer of rhetoric.
But let’s back up a second. What’s rhetoric?
You may have heard of a rhetorical question before—a question that someone asks
you without expecting an answer. What’s the point of asking a question with no
answer? To somehow impact the person who hears it, maybe by making them think
about an issue in a different way.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, rhetoric is “The art of using language
effectively so as to persuade or influence others, esp. the exploitation of figures of
speech and other compositional techniques to this end.”8
Very generally speaking, rhetoric refers to a set of strategies that authors use to
connect to their readers. More often in this book, though, I use “rhetoric” to refer to
any text that tries to do something to a reader, viewer, or listener. Vague, I know, but
let’s consider some examples that require such a vague definition:
to convince a reader to
An essay on capital
form a particular
punishment
opinion on the issue.
What other
A T-shirt with a Boston purposes do
to rally team spirit. you think
Red Sox logo
each of these
tries texts might
A Levi’s advertisement to sell you Levi’s and to try to
in a magazine build a brand image. achieve?
to provide resources
A website for Portland
for students, faculty,
Community College
and staff.
General Introduction xx
to entertain, to tell a
An episode of The
story, or to make social
Simpsons
commentary.
The aforementioned tries to stimulate reflection.

rhetorical question
A speech to the U.N. to garner support and

on the Syrian Civil War humanitarian aid.
Each of these texts is rhetorical. Texts can be written or spoken; they can be images;
they can be video; they can be digital or printed; they can exist for only a moment or
for eons. What they try to accomplish can vary widely, from killing time to killing
people.
A pattern might be emerging to you: you are perpetually surrounded by rhetoric, but
you are not always aware of how it’s acting on you—no one can be. But by developing
your rhetorical awareness, you can perceive and interpret texts more diligently, in
turn developing skills to think more independently. For that reason, this book
encourages you to be both a critical consumer and also a critical producer of rhetoric,
specifically in the written form.
In this book, you will explore and work within three rhetorical situations. (The beauty
of the rhetorical situation, of course, is that no two writers using this book will have
the exact same constraints; nevertheless, you will share similar experiences.) Because
many college composition programs value the
nonfiction essay form, this textbook focuses on three
The goal of writing the
different kinds of essays: a personal narrative, a
essays in this text is to textual analysis, and a persuasive research essay. The
practice interrogating goal of writing these essays, though, is not to become
the rhetorical a master of any of them. Instead, the goal is to
situations and practice interrogating the rhetorical situations and
tailoring your work to tailoring your work to be more effective within them.
be more effective Because the writing you will do throughout your life
within them. will take drastically different forms, you should learn
to ask the right questions about the writing you need
General Introduction xxi
to do. Instead of learning rules for writing (rules which will invariably change), it is
more valuable to learn the questions you should ask of your future writing situations
and produce texts that are tailored to those situations. Whenever you create a new
piece of writing, you should ask, What will make my writing most effective based on
my rhetorical situation?
Every text comes into being within a specific rhetorical situation and reflects the
characteristics and values of that situation. Although there are many ways to break
down a rhetorical situation, I use the acronym SOAP for subject, occasion, audience,
and purpose.9 These are distinct elements, but they often overlap and inform one
another. Let’s take a closer look:
Occasion: Every piece of rhetoric is

located in time and space. The term
Subject: The subject, put simply, is what
occasion refers to the sociohistorical
you are writing about. It’s the topic, the
circumstances that prompt the
argument, the main concern of the
production of a piece of rhetoric. What
rhetoric you are producing or
is it that makes you write? How does
consuming.
your moment in culture, geography, and
Every text has at least one subject;
history influence your writing?
sometimes, a text will have both an implicit
Every text has an occasion; sometimes, that
and explicit subject.
occasion is clearly stated, and other times
we have to infer.
Audience: The target audience for a

piece of rhetoric is the person or group Purpose: As I mentioned above, every
of people for whom you’re writing. piece of rhetoric tries to accomplish
Although many people will encounter something. We can state this purpose
certain texts, every piece of rhetoric is using an infinitive verb phrase, like “to
designed with a certain audience in entertain,” “to persuade,” “to explain.”
mind.
Every text has at least one purpose;
Every text has at least one audience; sometimes that purpose is obvious, and
sometimes that audience is directly sometimes it is insidious.
addressed, and other times we have to infer.
General Introduction xxii
Identifying these elements is only step one. What matters more are the implications
that each of these elements carries. For each text you create, you should ask What is
my subject? What is my occasion? Who is my audience? What is my purpose? But you
should also ask How do each of those answers influence the way I will write?
For instance, the subject of the story of your weekend might change when you’re
telling your grandma instead of your friends. Your language will change as your
audience changes: if you’re writing a story about giraffes for a classroom of third
graders, you’d better use different word choice than if you’re writing a meta-analysis
of giraffe population metrics for the Executive Board of the Oregon Zoo.10 Similarly,
you can imagine that writing a blog about standardized testing would be different in
2003 from the same writing in 2017.
Throughout this book, I encourage you to think critically about these rhetorical
situations because there is no one version of “good writing.” There is only rhetoric
that is effective in its situation. Any such rhetoric is crafted through process.
Writing as Process
Good writing is a lot of different things, and those
“It is good to have things are largely dependent on rhetorical situation. But
an end to journey how exactly do we produce effective, situationally
appropriate writing with an always-moving target?
toward; but it is
the journey that The answer lies in the difference between writing as
matters, in the product and writing as process. The word “writing” itself
end.” can be both a noun and a verb: a piece of writing, or
the act of write-ing. Although your process will
- Ursula K. Le Guin11
eventually lead to a product, I emphasize awareness of
process to more deliberately think through the
techniques and ideas that you encounter leading up to that final product in that
specific situation.
Take a few minutes to think about your own writing process. From the moment a
writing project is assigned to the moment you turn the paper in and wash your hands
of it completely, what happens? What are the ingredients you’ve found necessary to a
successful recipe, so to speak?
General Introduction xxiii
Your answer might include the things you see on posters in high school English
classrooms—pre-write, research, draft, revise, etc. —but it also likely includes some
other factors—procrastination, dance breaks, coffee, existential dread, snacks, etc.
You should especially account for the things that make your process unique. One
great example is your environment: some writers prefer silence in the library; others
listen to music at their desk; still others like working in a coffee shop with
conversational hum in the background.
As you challenge yourself with new writing experiences, experiment with your
process. By this point in your academic career, you’ve probably already found
something that works pretty well for you, and you should give yourself credit for that.
But it doesn’t mean you can’t enhance your process. If you’re someone who usually
outlines before a draft, try a free-write or a mind-map—or just jumping right into the
draft. If you usually listen to music, try a different genre. If you usually fall prey to
procrastination, try to bust out an early draft, give yourself a day or two off, and then
come back to it.
For all the differences in individual processes, every effective writing process is
iterative: unlike the neat diagrams on posters in high school English classrooms,
writing requires you to circle back, repeat steps, bounce around in sequence. It
demands that you write, rewrite, rerewrite. It asks you to make revisions on every
scale of your drafts. Like building muscle, improving your writing (as product) and
your writing (as process) require repetition, dedication, and labor over time.
In summary, remember these three key ideas:

SOAP and the rhetorical situation.
Writing is never “good,” “bad,” “right,” or “wrong” in and of itself: it can only be
these things relative to the constraints of the rhetorical situation.
Process.
Writing is more than just putting words on the page. It begins with a careful
consideration of the rhetorical situation and proceeds through recursive idea
generation, drafting, and revision. Writing is never truly finished.
General Introduction xxiv
What to expect from the book.

EmpoWord will provide you the opportunity to experiment within different
rhetorical situations to help you practice for future rhetorical situations.
Alongside the work you do in class, the book will encourage you to work
through complex writing and thinking processes to create rhetorically effective
essays. These essays anticipate the kind of writing you will do both in school
and beyond because they will give you the chance to practice asking the right
questions of your rhetorical situation.
With these ideas in mind, I wish you Happy Writing!
Chapter Vocabulary
the intended consumers for a piece of rhetoric. Every text has at

audience least one audience; sometimes, that audience is directly
the recurring social phenomenon in which a generation
complaint tradition complains about the way things have changed since their earlier
years. Coined by Leonard Greenbaum.
literally, a repetition within a process. The writing process is
iterative iterative because it is non-linear and because an author often has
to repeat, revisit, or reapproach different steps along the way.
the channel, technology, or form through which rhetoric is
constructed and communicated. Different rhetorical situations
medium
value different media, and different media value different kinds
of rhetoric.
the style and techniques employed by of a piece of rhetoric to
achieve its purpose. Different rhetorical situations value different
mode
modes, and different modes value different kinds of rhetoric.
Compare to genre.
General Introduction xxv
the sociohistorical circumstances that prompt the production of

occasion a piece of rhetoric, determined by personal experiences, current
events, language, and culture. Every text has an occasion.
a complex and multifaceted sequence that results in a product.
process As applied in “writing process,” non-linear and iterative. Contrast
with product.
the end result of a creative process. Often shows little evidence
product
of the process that created it.
the intended result of a piece of rhetoric. Can be stated using an
infinitive verb phrase (“to entertain,” “to persuade,” “to explain”).
purpose
Every text has at least one purpose, sometimes declared
explicitly, and other times implied or hidden.
a combination of textual strategies designed to do something to
someone. In other words, ‘rhetoric’ refers to language, video,
rhetoric images, or other symbols (or some combination of these) that
informs, entertains, persuades, compels, or otherwise impacts an
audience.
and medium.
subject the topic, focus, argument, or idea explored in a text
any artifact through which a message is communicated. Can be
written or spoken; digital, printed, or undocumented; video,
text
image, or language. Every text is rhetorical in nature. See
rhetoric.
Front Matter Endnotes

1
Strauss.
Maguire, John G., with an introduction by Valerie Strauss. “Why So Many College
Students Are Lousy at Writing—and How Mr. Miyagi Can Help.” The Washington
Post, 27 April 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-
sheet/wp/2017/04/27/why-so-many-college-students-are-lousy-at-writing-and-
how-mr-miyagi-can-help/.
2
Maguire.
General Introduction xxvi
3
Ibid., emphasis added.
4
Greenbaum, Leonard. “The Tradition of Complaint.” College English, vol. 31, no. 2,
1969, pp. 174–187. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/374119.
5
Strauss and Maguire.
6
Ibid.
7
It’s worth noting that most singular definitions of “good writing” are deeply
entrenched in racist, sexist, and jingoist prejudice. This is not news to the National
Council of Teachers of English, who originally published “Students’ Right to Their
Own Language” in 1974, nor to Asao B. Inoue who recently published an outstanding
textbook on the matter. Maguire missed that memo, I suppose.
8
“Rhetoric.” Oxford English Dictionary, 2018,
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/165178?rskey=CYNdOm&result=1&isAdvanced=fal
se#eid.
9
Also worth consideration are mode and medium, which are often closely related to
SOAP, but not explored in-depth in this book. This acronym comes to me courtesy of
Daniel Hershel.
10
Granted, these examples are also in different rhetorical modes, but you get the
point.
11
Le Guin, 220.
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ace, 1987.
Section 1: Description, Narration, and Reflection 1
Part One
Description,
Narration,
and Reflection
Section Introduction:
Description, Narration, and
Reflection
Chapter Vocabulary
a rhetorical mode that emphasizes eye-catching, specific, and

description vivid portrayal of a subject. Often integrates imagery and thick
description to this end.
a rhetorical mode involving the construction and relation of
narration
stories. Typically integrates description as a technique.
a rhetorical gesture by which an author looks back, through the
diegetic gap, to demonstrate knowledge or understanding
reflection gained from the subject on which they are reflecting. May also
include consideration of the impact of that past subject on the
author’s future—“Looking back in order to look forward.”
and medium.
Storytelling is one of few rituals that permeates all cultures. Indeed, there’s nothing
quite as satisfying as a well-told story. But what exactly makes for a well-told story?
Of course, the answer to that question

depends on your rhetorical situation: your
audience, your sociohistorical position, and
your purpose will determine how you tell
your story. Perhaps your story is best told in
traditional writing; maybe it is a story best
told orally, among friends or family; it could
even be a story that uses images or technology. By creating your own story in this
unit, you will be negotiating a distinct rhetorical situation. As you learn techniques
and concepts for effective storytelling, so too will you practice asking the critical
questions of any rhetorical situation.
The following section explores three useful rhetorical tools—description, narration,

and reflection—that often contribute to effective storytelling. Each chapter will provide
techniques and activities to help you decide which stories you can tell and the ways in
which you can tell them. The assignment at the end of this section, a descriptive
personal narrative essay, encourages you to synthesize all three rhetorical tools to
share one of your stories in writing.
Chapter One
Describing a Scene or Experience
This morning, as I was brewing my coffee before rushing to work, I found myself
hurrying up the stairs back to the bedroom, a sense of urgency in my step. I opened
the door and froze—what was I doing? Did I need something from up here? I stood in
confusion, trying to retrace the mental processes that had led me here, but it was all
muddy.
It’s quite likely that you’ve experienced a similarly befuddling situation. This
phenomenon can loosely be referred to as automatization: because we are so
constantly surrounded by stimuli, our brains often go on autopilot. (We often miss
even the most explicit stimuli if we are distracted, as demonstrated by the Invisible
Gorilla study.)
Automatization is an incredibly useful skill—we don’t have the time or capacity to take
in everything at once, let alone think our own thoughts simultaneously—but it’s also
troublesome. In the same way that we might run through a morning ritual absent-
mindedly, like I did above, we have also been programmed to overlook tiny but
striking details: the slight gradation in color of cement on the bus stop curb; the hum
of the air conditioner or fluorescent lights; the weight and texture of a pen in the
crook of the hand. These details, though, make experiences, people, and places
unique. By focusing on the particular, we can interrupt automatization.1 We can
become radical noticers by practicing good description.
In a great variety of rhetorical situations, description is an essential rhetorical mode.

Our minds latch onto detail and specificity, so effective description can help us
experience a story, understand an analysis, and nuance a critical argument. Each of
these situations requires a different kind of description; this chapter focuses on the
vivid, image-driven descriptive language that you would use for storytelling.
Chapter Vocabulary
a writing technique by which an author tries to follow a rule or set

constraint-based
of rules in order to create more experimental or surprising
writing
content, popularized by the Oulipo school of writers.
a rhetorical mode that emphasizes eye-catching, specific, and
description vivid portrayal of a subject. Often integrates imagery and thick
description to this end.
a method of reading, writing, and thinking that emphasizes the
interruption of automatization. Established as “остранение”
defamiliarization
(“estrangement”) by Viktor Shklovsky, defamiliarization attempts
to turn the everyday into the strange, eye-catching, or dramatic.
a study of a particular culture, subculture, or group of people.
ethnography Uses thick description to explore a place and its associated
culture.
language which implies a meaning that is not to be taken
figurative language literally. Common examples include metaphor, simile,
personification, onomatopoeia, and hyperbole.
sensory language; literal or figurative language that appeals to
imagery an audience’s imagined sense of sight, sound, smell, touch, or
taste.
economical and deliberate language which attempts to capture
complex subjects (like cultures, people, or environments) in
thick description
written or spoken language. Coined by anthropologists Clifford
Geertz and Gilbert Ryle.
Techniques
Imagery and Experiential Language
Strong description helps a reader experience what you’ve experienced, whether it

was an event, an interaction, or simply a place. Even though you could never capture
it perfectly, you should try to approximate sensations, feelings, and details as closely
as you can. Your most vivid description will be that which gives your reader a way to
imagine being themselves as of your story.
Imagery is a device that you have likely encountered in your studies before: it refers
to language used to ‘paint a scene’ for the reader, directing their attention to striking
details. Here are a few examples:
Bamboo walls, dwarf banana trees, silk lanterns, and a hand-size jade Buddha
on a wooden table decorate the restaurant. For a moment, I imagined I was on
vacation. The bright orange lantern over my table was the blazing hot sun and
the cool air currents coming from the ceiling fan caused the leaves of the
banana trees to brush against one another in soothing crackling sounds.2
The sunny midday sky calls to us all like a guilty pleasure while the warning
winds of winter tug our scarves warmer around our necks; the City of Roses is
painted the color of red dusk, and the setting sun casts her longing rays over
the Eastern shoulders of Mt. Hood, drawing the curtains on another crimson-
grey day.3
Flipping the switch, the lights flicker—not menacingly, but rather in a homey,
imperfect manner. Hundreds of seats are sprawled out in front of a black, worn
down stage. Each seat has its own unique creak, creating a symphony of groans
whenever an audience takes their seats. The walls are adorned with a brown
mustard yellow, and the black paint on the stage is fading and chipped.4
You might notice, too, that the above examples appeal to many different senses.
Beyond just visual detail, good imagery can be considered sensory language: words
that help me see, but also words that help me taste, touch, smell, and hear the story.
Go back and identify a word, phrase, or sentence that suggests one of these non-
visual sensations; what about this line is so striking?
Imagery might also apply figurative language to describe more creatively. Devices
like metaphor, simile, and personification, or hyperbole can enhance description by
pushing beyond literal meanings.
Using imagery, you can better communicate specific sensations to put the reader in
your shoes. To the best of your ability, avoid
clichés (stock phrases that are easy to ignore)
and focus on the particular (what makes a place,
person, event, or object unique). To practice
creating imagery, try the Imagery Inventory
exercise and the Image Builder graphic
organizer in the Activities section of this chapter.
Thick Description
If you’re focusing on specific, detailed imagery and experiential language, you might
begin to feel wordy: simply piling up descriptive phrases and sentences isn’t always
the best option. Instead, your goal as a descriptive writer is to make the language
work hard. Thick description refers to economy of language in vivid description.
While good description has a variety of characteristics, one of its defining features is
that every word is on purpose, and this credo is exemplified by thick description.
Thick description as a concept finds its roots in anthropology, where ethnographers

seek to portray deeper context of a studied culture than simply surface appearance.5
In the world of writing, thick description means careful and detailed portrayal of
context, emotions, and actions. It relies on specificity to engage the reader. Consider
the difference between these two descriptions:
The market is busy. vs. Customers blur between stalls of bright

There is a lot of green bok choy, gnarled carrots, and fiery
different produce. It Thai peppers. Stopping only to inspect the
is colorful. occasional citrus, everyone is busy, focused,
industrious.
Notice that, even though the description on the right is longer, its major difference is
the specificity of its word choice. The author names particular produce, which brings
to mind a sharper image of the selection, and uses specific adjectives. Further,
though, the words themselves do heavy lifting—the nouns and verbs are descriptive
too! “Customers blur” both implies a Effective thick description is

market (where we would expect to find
“customers”) and also illustrates how
rarely written the first time
busy the market is (“blur” implies around¾it is re-written. As you
speed), rather than just naming it as revise, consider that every word
such.
should be on purpose.
Consider the following examples of thick description:
I had some strength left to wrench my shoulders and neck upward but the rest
of my body would not follow. My back was twisted like a contortionist’s.6
Shaking off the idiotic urge to knock, I turned the brass knob in my trembling
hands and heaved open the thick door. The hallway was so dark that I had to
squint while clumsily reaching out to feel my surroundings so I wouldn’t crash
into anything.7
Snow-covered mountains, enormous glaciers, frozen caves and massive caps of

ice clash with heat, smoke, lava and ash. Fields dense with lush greenery and
vibrant purple lupine plants butt up against black, barren lands scorched by
eruptions. The spectacular drama of cascading waterfalls, rolling hills, deep
canyons and towering jagged peaks competes with open expanses of flat,
desert-like terrain.8
Where do you see the student authors using deliberate, specific, and imagistic words
and phrases? Where do you see the language working hard?
Unanticipated and Eye-catching Language
In addition to our language being deliberate, we should also strive for language that
is unanticipated. You should control your language, but also allow for surprises—for
you and your reader! Doing so will help you maintain attention and interest from your
reader because your writing will be unique and eye-catching, but it also has benefits
for you: it will also make your writing experience more enjoyable and educational.
How can you be surprised by your own writing, though? If you’re the author, how
could you not know what you’re about to say? To that very valid question, I have two
responses:
1) On a conceptual level: Depending on your background, you may currently
consider drafting to be thinking-then-writing. Instead, you should try thinking-
through-writing: rather than two separate and sequential acts, embrace the
possibility that the act of writing can be a new way to process through ideas.
You must give yourself license to write before an idea is fully formed—but
remember, you will revise, so it’s okay to not be perfect. (I highly recommend
Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts.”)
2) On a technical level: Try out different activities—or even invent your own—that
challenge your instincts. Rules and games can help you push beyond your
auto-pilot descriptions to much more eye-catching language!
Constraint-based writing is one technique like this. It refers to a process which

requires you to deliberately work within a specific set of writing rules, and it can often
spark unexpected combinations of words and ideas. The most valuable benefit to
constraint-based writing, though, is that it gives you many options for your
descriptions: because first idea ≠ best idea, constraint-based writing can help you
push beyond instinctive descriptors.
When you spend more time thinking creatively, the ordinary can become
extraordinary. The act of writing invites discovery! When you challenge yourself to
see something in new ways, you actually see more of it. Try the Dwayne Johnson
activity to think more about surprising language.
Activities
Specificity Taxonomy
Good description lives and dies in particularities. It takes deliberate effort to refine
our general ideas and memories into more focused, specific language that the reader
can identify with.
A taxonomy is a system of classification that arranges a variety of items into an order

that makes sense to someone. You might remember from your biology class the
ranking taxonomy based on Carl Linnaeus’ classifications, pictured here.
To practice shifting from general to specific, fill in the blanks in the taxonomy9 below.
After you have filled in the blanks, use the bottom three rows to make your own. As
you work, notice how attention to detail, even on the scale of an individual word,
builds a more tangible image.
More General General Specific More Specific
(example): animal mammal dog Great Dane
organism conifer Douglas fir

1
airplane Boeing 757
Harry Potter and the

novel
Goblet of Fire
2
clothing blue jeans
medical respiratory
the common cold
3 condition infection
school college
artist pop singer

4
structure building The White House
Starbucks
coffee
5 coffee
scientist Sir Isaac Newton
Compare your answers with a classmate. What similarities do you share with other
students? What differences? Why do you think this is the case? How can you apply
this thinking to your own writing?
Micro-Ethnography
An ethnography is a form of writing that uses thick description to explore a place and
its associated culture. By attempting this method on a small scale, you can practice
specific, focused description.
Find a place in which you can observe the people and setting without actively
involving yourself. (Interesting spaces and cultures students have used before include
a poetry slam, a local bar, a dog park, and a nursing home.) You can choose a place
you’ve been before or a place you’ve never been: the point here is to look at a space
and a group of people more critically for the sake of detail, whether or not you
already know that context.
As an ethnographer, your goal is to take in details without influencing those details. In

order to stay focused, go to this place alone and refrain from using your phone or
doing anything besides note-taking. Keep your attention on the people and the
place.
• Spend a few minutes taking notes on your general impressions of the place at
this time.
Use imagery and thick description to describe the place itself.
What sorts of interactions do you observe? What sort of tone, affect, and
language is used?
How would you describe the overall atmosphere?
• Spend a few minutes “zooming in” to identify artifacts—specific physical objects
being used by the people you see.
Use imagery and thick description to describe the specific artifacts.
How do these parts contribute to/differentiate from/relate to the whole
of the scene?
After observing, write one to two paragraphs synthesizing your observations to

describe the space and culture. What do the details represent or reveal about the
place and people?
Imagery Inventory
Visit a location you visit often—your classroom, your favorite café, the commuter train,
etc. Isolate each of your senses and describe the sensations as thoroughly as
possible. Take detailed notes in the organizer below, or use a voice-recording app on
your phone to talk through each of your sensations.
Sense Sensation
Sight
Sound
Smell
Touch
Taste
Now, write a paragraph that synthesizes three or more of your sensory details. Which
details were easiest to identify? Which make for the most striking descriptive
language? Which will bring the most vivid sensations to your reader’s mind?
The Dwayne Johnson Activity
This exercise will encourage you to flex your

creative descriptor muscles by generating
unanticipated language.
Begin by finding a mundane object. (A plain,

unspectacular rock is my go-to choice.) Divide a
blank piece of paper into four quadrants. Set a
timer for two minutes; in this time, write as many describing words as possible in the
first quadrant. You may use a bulleted list. Full sentences are not required.
Now, cross out your first quadrant. In the second quadrant, take five minutes to write
as many new describing words as possible without repeating anything from your first
quadrant. If you’re struggling, try to use imagery and/or figurative language.
For the third quadrant, set the timer for two minutes. Write as many uses as possible
for your object.
Before starting the fourth quadrant, cross out the uses you came up with for the
previous step. Over the next five minutes, come up with as many new uses as you can.
After this generative process, identify your three favorite items from the sections you
didn’t cross out. Spend ten minutes writing in any genre or form you like—a story, a
poem, a song, a letter, anything—on any topic you like. Your writing doesn’t have to
be about the object you chose, but try to incorporate your chosen descriptors or uses
in some way.
Share your writing with a friend or peer, and debrief about the exercise. What
surprises did this process yield? What does it teach us about innovative language
use?10
1) Writing invites discovery: the more you look, the more you see.
2) Suspend judgment: first idea ≠ best idea.
3) Objects are not inherently boring: the ordinary can be dramatic
if described creatively.
Surprising Yourself: Constraint-Based Scene Description
This exercise11 asks you to write a scene, following specific instructions, about a place
of your choice. There is no such thing as a step-by-step guide to descriptive writing;
instead, the detailed instructions that follow are challenges that will force you to think
differently while you’re writing. The constraints of the directions may help you to
discover new aspects of this topic since you are following the sentence-level prompts
even as you develop your content.
Bring your place to mind. Focus on “seeing” or “feeling” your place.

For a title, choose an emotion or a color that represents this place to you.
For a first line starter, choose one of the following and complete the sentence:
You stand there… When I’m here, I know that…
Every time… I [see/smell/hear/feel/taste]…
We had been… I think sometimes…
After your first sentence, create your scene, writing the sentences according to
the following directions:
Sentence 2: Write a sentence with a color in it.
Sentence 3: Write a sentence with a part of the body in it.
Sentence 4: Write a sentence with a simile (a comparison using like or
as)
Sentence 5: Write a sentence of over twenty-five words.
Sentence 6: Write a sentence of under eight words.
Sentence 7: Write a sentence with a piece of clothing in it.
Sentence 8: Write a sentence with a wish in it.
Sentence 9: Write a sentence with an animal in it.
Sentence 10: Write a sentence in which three or more words alliterate;
that is, they begin with the same initial consonant: “She has
been left, lately, with less and less time to think….”
Sentence 11: Write a sentence with two commas.
Sentence 12: Write a sentence with a smell and a color in it.
Sentence 13: Write a sentence without using the letter “e.”
Sentence 14: Write a sentence with a simile.
Sentence 15: Write a sentence that could carry an exclamation point
(but don’t use the exclamation point).
Sentence 16: Write a sentence to end this portrait that uses the word or
words you chose for a title.
Read over your scene and mark words/phrases that surprised you, especially
those rich with possibilities (themes, ironies, etc.) that you could develop.
On the right side of the page, for each word/passage you marked, interpret
the symbols, name the themes that your description and detail suggest, note
any significant meaning you see in your description.
On a separate sheet of paper, rewrite the scene you have created as a more
thorough and cohesive piece in whatever genre you desire. You may add
sentences and transitional words/phrases to help the piece flow.
Image Builder
This exercise encourages you to experiment with thick description by focusing on

one element of your writing in expansive detail. Read the directions below, then use
the graphic organizer on the following two pages or write your responses as an
outline on a separate piece of paper.
Identify one image, object, action, or scene that you want to expand in your
story. Name this element in the big, yellow bubble.
Develop at least three describing words for your element, considering each
sense independently, as well as emotional associations. Focus on
particularities. (Adjectives will come most easily, but remember that you can
use any part of speech.)
Then, on the next page, create at least two descriptions using figurative
language (metaphor, simile, personification, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, etc.)
for your element, considering each sense independently, as well as emotional
associations. Focus on particularities.
Finally, reflect on the different ideas you came up with.
a. Which descriptions surprised you? Which descriptions are accurate but
unanticipated?
b. Where might you weave these descriptions in to your current project?
c. How will you balance description with other rhetorical modes, like
narration, argumentation, or analysis?
Repeat this exercise as desired or as instructed, choosing a different focus
element to begin with.
Choose your favorite descriptors and incorporate them into your writing.
If you’re struggling to get started, check out the example on the pages following the
blank organizer.
Model Texts by Student Authors
Innocence Again12
Imagine the sensation of the one split second that you are floating through the
air as you were thrown up in the air as a child, that feeling of freedom and carefree
spirit as happiness abounds. Looking at the world through innocent eyes, all thoughts
and feelings of amazement. Being free, happy, innocent, amazed, wowed. Imagine the
first time seeing the colors when your eyes and brain start to recognize them but never
being able to name the shade or hue. Looking at the sky as it changes from the
blackness with twinkling stars to the lightest shade of blue that is almost white, then
the deep red of the sunset and bright orange of the sun. All shades of the spectrum of
the rainbow, colors as beautiful as the mind can see or imagine.
I have always loved the sea since I was young; the smell of saltiness in the air
invigorates me and reminds me of the times spent with my family enjoying Sundays at
the beach. In Singapore, the sea was always murky and green but I continued to enjoy
all activities in it. When I went to Malaysia to work, I discovered that the sea was clear
and blue and without hesitation, I signed up for a basic diving course and I was
hooked. In my first year of diving, I explored all the dive destinations along the east
coast of Malaysia and also took an advanced diving course which allowed me to dive
up to a depth of thirty meters. Traveling to a dive site took no more than four hours by
car and weekends were spent just enjoying the sea again.
Gearing up is no fun. Depending on the temperature of the water, I might put
on a shortie, wetsuit or drysuit. Then on come the booties, fins and mask which can
be considered the easiest part unless the suit is tight—then it is a hop and pull
struggle, which reminds me of how life can be at times. Carrying the steel tank,
regulator, buoyancy control device (BCD) and weights is a torture. The heaviest
weights that I ever had to use were 110 pounds, equivalent to my body weight; but as I
jump in and start sinking into the sea, the contrast to weightlessness hits me. The
moment that I start floating in the water, a sense of immense freedom and joy
overtakes me.
Growing up, we have to learn the basics: time spent in classes to learn,
constantly practicing to improve our skills while safety is ingrained by our parents. In
dive classes, I was taught to never panic or do stupid stuff: the same with the lessons
that I have learned in life. Panic and over-inflated egos can lead to death, and I have
heard it happens all the time. I had the opportunity to go to Antarctica for a diving
expedition, but what led to me getting that slot was the death of a very experienced
diver who used a drysuit in a tropic climate against all advice. He just overheated and
died. Lessons learned in the sea can be very profound, but they contrast the life I live:
risk-taker versus risk-avoider. However, when I have perfected it and it is time to be
unleashed, it is time to enjoy. I jump in as I would jump into any opportunity, but this
time it is into the deep blue sea of wonders.
A sea of wonders waits to be explored. Every journey is different: it can be fast
or slow, like how life takes me. The sea decides how it wants to carry me; drifting fast
with the currents so that at times, I hang on to the reef and corals like my life depends
on it, even though I am taught never to touch anything underwater. The fear I feel
when I am speeding along with the current is that I will be swept away into the big
ocean, never to be found. Sometimes, I feel like I am not moving at all, kicking away
madly until I hyperventilate because the sea is against me with its strong current
holding me against my will.
The sea decides what it wants me to see: turtles popping out of the seabed,
manta rays gracefully floating alongside, being in the middle of the eye of a barracuda
hurricane, a coral shelf as big as a car, a desert of bleached corals, the emptiness of
the seabed with not a fish in sight, the memorials of death caused by the December 26
tsunami—a barren sea floor with not a soul or life in sight.
The sea decides what treasures I can discover: a black-tipped shark sleeping in
an underwater cavern, a pike hiding from predators in the reef, an octopus under a
dead tree trunk that escapes into my buddy’s BCD, colorful mandarin fish mating at
sunset, a deadly box jellyfish held in my gloved hands, pygmy seahorses in a fern—so
tiny that to discover them is a journey itself.
Looking back, diving has taught me more about life, the ups and downs, the
good and bad, and to accept and deal with life’s challenges. Everything I learn and
discover underwater applies to the many different aspects of my life. It has also taught
me that life is very short: I have to live in the moment or I will miss the opportunities
that come my way. I allow myself to forget all my sorrow, despair and disappointments
when I dive into the deep blue sea and savor the feelings of peacefulness and
calmness. There is nothing around me but fish and corals, big and small. Floating
along in silence with only the sound of my breath—inhale and exhale. An array of
colors explodes in front of my eyes, colors that I never imagine I will discover again,
an underwater rainbow as beautiful as the rainbow in the sky after a storm. As far as
my eyes can see, I look into the depth of the ocean with nothing to anchor me. The
deeper I get, the darker it turns. From the light blue sky to the deep navy blue, even
blackness into the void. As the horizon darkens, the feeding frenzy of the underwater
world starts and the watery landscape comes alive. Total darkness surrounds me but
the sounds that I can hear are the little clicks in addition to my breathing. My senses
overload as I cannot see what is around me, but the sea tells me it is alive and it
anchors me to the depth of my soul.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “The lover of nature is he whose inward
and outward senses are truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of
infancy even into the era of Teacher Takeaways

manhood… In the presence of “One of the more difficult aspects of writing
nature, a wild delight runs through a good descriptive essay is to use the
description to move beyond itself — to ‘think
the man in spite of real sorrows….” through writing.’ This author does it well.
The sea and diving have given me a Interspersed between the details of diving
are deliberate metaphors and analogies that
new outlook on life, a different enable the reader to gain access and derive
planet where I can float into and deeper meanings. While the essay could
benefit from a more structured system of
enjoy as an adult, a new, different organization and clearer unifying points, and
while the language is at times a bit
perspective on how it is to be that
sentimental, this piece is also a treasure trove
child again. Time and time again as of sensory imagery (notably colors) and
descriptive devices such as personification
I enter into the sea, I feel innocent
and recursion.”
all over again. – Professor Fiscaletti
Comatose Dreams13
Her vision was tunneled in on his face. His eyes were wet and his mouth was
open as if he was trying to catch his breath. He leaned in closer and wrapped his arms
around her face and spoke to her in reassuring whispers that reminded her of a time
long ago when he taught her to pray. As her vision widened the confusion increased.
She could not move. She opened her mouth to speak, but could not. She wanted to
sit up, but was restrained to the bed. She did not have the energy to sob, but she
could feel tears roll down her cheek and didn’t try to wipe them away. The anxiety
overtook her and she fell back into a deep sleep.
She opened her eyes and tried to find reality. She was being tortured. Her feet
were the size of pumpkins and her stomach was gutted all the way up her abdomen,
her insides exposed for all to see. She was on display like an animal at the zoo. Tubes
were coming out of her in multiple directions and her throat felt as if it were coated in
chalk. She was conscious, but still a prisoner. Then a nurse walked in, pulled on one
of her tubes, and sent her back into the abyss.
Eventually someone heard her speak, and with that she learned that if she
complained enough she would get an injection. It gave her a beautiful head rush that
temporarily dulled the pain. She adored it. She was no longer restrained to the bed,
but still unable to move or eat. She was fed like baby. Each time she woke she was
able to gather bits of information: she would not be going back to work, or school.
She began to heal. They removed a tube or two and she became more mobile.
She was always tethered to a machine, like a dog on a leash. The pain from the
surgeries still lingered and the giant opening in her stomach began to slowly close.
The couch was her safe haven.
She came closer to dying during recovery
than she had in the coma. The doctors made a
Teacher Takeaways
mistake. She began to sweat profusely and
“This imagery is body-centered
shiver all at the same time. She vomited every
and predominantly tactile —
twenty minutes like clockwork. It went on like though strange sights and
sounds are also present. The
that for days and she was ready to go. She
narrow focus of the description
wanted to slip back into her sleep. It was time to symbolically mirrors the
limitation of the comatose
wake up from this nightmare. She pulled her
subject, which enhances the
hair and scratched her wrists trying to draw reader’s experience. Simile
abounds, and in its oddities
blood, anything to shake herself awake. (feet like pumpkins, something
She sat on a beach remembering that like chalk in the throat), adds to
the eerie newness of each
nightmare. The sun beat down recharging a scene. While the paragraphs
battery within her that had been running on are a bit underdeveloped, and
one or two clichés in need of
empty for far too long. The waves washed up the removal, this little episode does
length of her body and she sank deeper into the an excellent job of conveying
the visceral strangeness one
warm sand. She lay on her back taking it all in. might imagine to be associated
Then laid her hand on top of her stomach, with a comatose state. It’s full of
surprise.”
unconsciously she ran her fingers along a deep – Professor Fiscaletti
scar.
The Devil in Green Canyon14

The sky was painted blue, with soft wisps of white clouds that decorated the
edges of the horizon like a wedding cake. To the West, a bright orb filled the world
with warm golden light which gives life to the gnarled mountain landscape. The light
casted contrasting shadows against the rolling foot hills of the Cascade Mountain
Range. A lone hawk circled above the narrow white water river that lay beneath the
steep mountain side. Through the hawk’s eyes the mountains look like small green
waves that flow down from a massive snow white point. Mt. Hood sits high above its
surrounding foot hills, like that special jewel that sits on a pedestal, above all the
others in a fancy jewelry store. The hawk soars into the Salmon River Valley, with
hope of capturing a tasty meal, an area also known as the Green Canyon.
For hundreds of years, the Salmon River has carved its home into the bedrock.
Filled from bank to bank with tumbled boulders, all strewn across the river bed, some
as big as a car. Crystal clear water cascades over and around the rocky course nature
has made with its unique rapids and eddies for the native salmon and trout to
navigate, flanked by thick old growth forest and the steep tree studded walls of the
canyon. Along the river lies a narrow two-lane road, where people are able to access
tall wonders of this wilderness. The road was paved for eight miles and the condition
was rough, with large potholes and sunken grades.
In my beat up old Corolla, I drove down windy roads of the Salmon River.
With the windows down and the stereo turned up, I watched trees that towered above
me pass behind my view. A thin ribbon of blue sky peeked through the towering
Douglas Fir and Sequoia trees. At a particular bend in the road, I drove past an
opening in the trees. Here the river and the road came around a sharp turn in the
canyon. A natural rock face, with a patch of gravel at its base, offered a place to park
and enjoy the river. The water was calm and shallow, like a sheet of glass. I could see
the rocky bottom all the way across the river, the rocks were round and smoothed by
the continuous flow of water. It was peaceful as gentle flow of water created this
tranquil symphony of rippling sounds.
As the road continued up the gentle slope guarded on the right by a thicket of
bushes and tall colorful wild flowers giving red, purple, and white accents against lush
green that dominated the landscape, followed by tall trees that quickly give way to a
rocky precipice to the left. A yellow diamond shaped sign, complete with rusty edges
and a few bullet holes indicated a one-lane bridge ahead. This was it! The beginning
of the real journey. I parked my dusty Corolla as the gravel crunched under the
balding tires, they skidded to a stop. As I turned the engine off, its irregular hum
sputtered into silence. I could smell that hot oil that leaked from somewhere
underneath the motor. I hopped out of the car and grabbed my large-framed backpack
which was filled with enough food and gear for a few nights, I locked the car and took
a short walk down the road. I arrived at the trail head, I was here to find peace,
inspiration and discover a new place to feel freedom.
Devil’s Peak. 16 miles. As the trail skirted its way along the cascading Salmon
River. The well-traveled dirt path was packed hard by constant foot traffic with roots
from the massive old fir trees, rocks and mud that frequently created tripping hazards
along the trail. Sword Fern, Salmon Berry and Oregon Grape are among the various
small plant growth that lined the trail. Under the shade of the thick canopy, the large
patches of shamrocks created an even covering over the rolling forest floor like the
icing on a cake. The small shamrock forests are broken by mountainous nursery logs
of old decaying trees. New life sprouts as these logs nature and host their kin.
Varieties of maple fight for space among the ever-growing conifers that dominate the
forest. Vine maple arches over the trail, bearded with hanging moss that forms natural
pergolas.
It is easy to see why it is named Green Canyon, as the color touches everything.
From the moss covering the floor, to the tops of the trees, many hues of green
continue to paint the forest. These many greens are broken by the brown pillar like
trunks of massive trees. Their rough bark provides a textural contrast to the soft leaves
and pine needles. Wild flowers grow between the sun breaks in the trees and provide
a rainbow of color. Near the few streams that form from artesian springs higher up,
vicious patches of devil’s glove, create a thorny wall that can tower above the trail.
Their green stalk bristling with inch long barbs and the large leaves some over a foot
long are covered with smaller needles.
I can hear the hum of bees in the distance collecting pollen from the assorted
wild flowers. Their buzz mixes in with the occasional horse fly that lumbers past. For
miles the trail, follows the river before it quickly ascends above the canyon. Winding
steeply away from the river, the sound of rushing water began to fade, giving way to
the serene and eerie quiet of the high mountains. Leaves and trees make a gentle
sound as the wind brushes past them, but are overpowered by the sound of my dusty
hiking boots slowly dragging me up this seemingly never-ending hill. I feel tired and
sweat is beading up on my brow, exhausted as I am, I feel happy and relieved. Its
moments like this that recharge the soul. I continue to climb, sweat and smile.
Undergrowth gives way to the harsh steep rock spires that crown the mountain
top like ancient vertebra. The forest opens up to a steep cliff with a clearing offering a
grand view. The spine of the mountain is visible, it hovers at 5000 feet above sea level
and climbs to a point close to 5200 feet. Trees fight for position on the steep hillside
as they flow down to the edge of the Salmon River. This a popular turn around point
for day hikes. Not for me; I am going for the top. The peak is my destination where I
will call home tonight. Devil’s Peak is a destination. Not just a great view point but it is
also home to a historic fire watchtower. Here visitors can explore the tower and even
stay the night.
From the gorge viewpoint the trail switchbacks up several miles through dense
high-altitude forests. Passing rocky ramparts and a few sheer cliff faces the path ends
at an old dirt road with mis from bygone trucks that leave faint traces of life. A hand
carved wooden sign, nailed to a tree at the continuation of the trail indicates another
2.6 miles to Devil’s Peak. The trail is narrow as it traces the spine of the mountain
before steeply carving around the peak. There are instances where the mountain
narrows to a few feet, with sheer drops on both sides, like traversing a catwalk. The
trees at this altitude are stunted compared to the giants that live below. Most trees
here are only a foot or two thick and a mere 50 feet in height. The thick under growth
has dwindled to small rhododendron bushes and clumps of bear grass. The frequently
gusting wind has caused the trunks of the trees to grow into twisted gnarled forms. It
is almost like some demon walked through the trail distorting everything as it passed.
Foxglove and other wild flowers find root holds in warm sunny spots along the trail.
Breaks in the thick forest provide snapshots of distant mountains: Mt. Hood is among
the snowcapped peaks that pepper the distant mountains.
With sweat on my brow, forming beads that drip down my face, I reached the
top. The trail came to a fork where another small sign indicates to go left. After a few
feet the forest shrinks away and opens to a rocky field with expansive views that
stretched for miles. There, standing its eternal watch, is the Devil’s Peak watch tower.
Its sun-bleached planks are a white contrast to the evergreen wall behind it. It was
built by hand decades ago before portable power tools by hardened forest rangers. It
has stood so long that the peak which once offered a 360-degree view now only has a
few openings left between the mature trees that surround the grove in which the old
devil stands, watching high above the green canyon. The lookout stands 30 feet in
height. Its old weathered moss-covered wood shingled roof is topped with a
weathered copper lightning rod. A staircase climbs steeply to the balcony that wraps
around the tower. Only two feet wide, the deck still offers an amazing view where the
forest allows. Mt. Hood stands proud to the North and the green mountains stretch
South to the edge of the horizon.
The builders made window covers to protect the glass during storms. Once
lined and supported with boards that have been notched to fit the railing, the tower is
open filling the interior with daylight. In all the cabin is only twelve feet by twelve
feet. The door has a tall window and three of the four walls have windows most of the
way to the ceiling. The furnishing is modest, with a bed that has several pieces of foam
and some sleeping bags to make mattress, it was complete with a pillow with no case.
A table covered with carvings and some useful information and rules for the tower
were taped to the surface. An old diary for the tower and a cup full of writing
instruments next to it for visitors to share their experience lay closed in the middle of
the table. In the South East corner, on a hearth made of old brick sat an old iron
wood stove. The door had an image of a mountain and trees molded into it. The top
was flat and had room to use for a cook top. Someone left a small pile of wood next
the stove. The paint on the inside was weathered and stripping. The floor boards
creaked with each step. Whenever the wind gusted the windows rattled. The air inside
the cabin was musty and dry. It smelled old. But the windows all pivot and open to
make the inside feel like its outside and as soon as the windows were opened the old
smell is replaced with the scent of fresh pine.
Surrounded by small patches of wild flowers and rocks, all ringed by a
maturing forest Devil’s Peak watchtower sits high above the Green Canyon. On a high
point near the tower where solid rock pierces the ground there is a small round
plaque cemented to the ancient basalt. It is a U.S. geological marker with the name of
the peak and its elevation stamped into the metal. Standing on the marker I can see
south through a large opening in the trees. Mountains like giant green walls fill the
view. For miles, rock and earth rise up forming mountains, supporting the exquisite
Teacher Takeaways
green forest.
“This author’s description is
The hawk circles, soaring high above the frequent and rich with detail; I
enchanting mountains. On a peak below, it sees especially like the thorough
inventory of wildlife throughout
prey skitter across a rock into a clump of juniper the essay, although it does get a
and swoops down for the hunt. There I stand on feel a bit burdensome at times. I
can clearly envision the setting,
the tower’s wooden balcony, watching the at times even hearing the
sunset. The blue horizon slowly turned pale sounds and feeling the textures
the author describes.
before glowing orange. Mt. Hood reflected the Depending on their goals in
changing colors, from orange to a light purple. revision, this author might make
some global adjustments to
Soon stars twinkled above and the mountain pacing (so the reader can move
faded to dark. The day is done. Here in this through a bit more quickly and
fluidly). At the very least, this
moment, I am. student should spend some time
polishing up mechanical errors. I
noticed two recurring issues: (1)
shifting verb tense [the author
writes in both present and past
tense, where it would be more
appropriate to stick with one or
the other]; and (2) sentence
fragments, run-ons, and comma
splices [all errors that occur
because a sentence combines
clauses ungrammatically].”
– Professor Wilhjelm
Chapter Two
Telling a Story
“We’re all stories, in the end.” – Steven Moffat, Doctor Who15
Whether or not you’ve seen a single episode of Doctor Who, you can appreciate this
quote. I love it for its ambiguities. 16 As I can tell, we can interpret it in at least four
ways:
All of us are stories, in the end.

Our stories are never just our own:
All we are is stories, in you share common stories with your
the end. parents, your friends, your teachers
Our identities, our and bosses, strangers on the street.
ambitions, our histories
are all a composite of
the many stories we tell
about ourselves. Each of us is a story, in the end.
Your entire life, while composed of
many interlocking stories, is one
story among many.
We are stories (in all of the above ways), but only at the end.
Our individual stories have no definite conclusion until we can no
longer tell them ourselves. What legacy will you leave? How can
you tell a piece of your story while it’s still up to you?
But perhaps that’s enough abstraction: narration is a rhetorical mode that you likely
engage on a daily basis, and one that has held significance in every culture in human
history. Even when we’re not deliberately telling stories, storytelling often underlies
our writing and thinking:
• Historians synthesize and interpret events of the past; a history book is one of
many narratives of our cultures and civilizations.
• Chemists analyze observable data to determine cause-and-effect behaviors of
natural and synthetic materials; a lab report is a sort of narrative about
elements (characters) and reactions (plot).
• Musical composers evoke the emotional experience of story through
instrumentation, motion, motifs,
resolutions, and so on; a song is
a narrative that may not even
need words.
What makes for an interesting, well-

told story in writing? In addition to
description, your deliberate choices in
narration can create impactful,
beautiful, and entertaining stories.
Chapter Vocabulary
the process by which an author builds characters; can be

characterization
accomplished directly or indirectly.
a communication between two or more people. Can include any
dialogue mode of communication, including speech, texting, e-mail,
Facebook post, body language, etc.
a character who noticeably changes within the scope of a
dynamic character narrative, typically as a result of the plot events and/or other
characters. Contrast with static character.
a character’s sudden realization of a personal or universal truth.
epiphany
See dynamic character.
a character who is minimally detailed, only briefly sketched or
flat character named. Generally less central to the events and relationships
portrayed in a narrative. Contrast with round character.
the emotional dimension which a reader experiences while

mood
encountering a text. Compare with tone.
a term describing a text that combines more than one media
multimedia / and/or more than one genre (e.g., an essay with embedded
multigenre images; a portfolio with essays, poetry, and comic strips; a
mixtape with song reviews).
a rhetorical mode involving the construction and relation of
narration
the speed with which a story progresses through plot events.
narrative pacing
Can be influenced by reflective and descriptive writing.
the boundaries of a narrative in time, space, perspective, and
narrative scope
focus.
narrative sequence the order of events included in a narrative.
plot the events included within the scope of a narrative.
the perspective from which a story is told, determining both
point-of-view grammar (pronouns) and perspective (speaker’s awareness of
events, thoughts, and circumstances).
a character who is thoroughly characterized and dimensional,
round character detailed with attentive description of their traits and behaviors.
Contrast with flat character.
a character who remains the same throughout the narrative.
static character
Contrast with dynamic character.
tone the emotional register of the text. Compare with mood.
Techniques
Plot Shapes and Form
Plot is one of the basic elements of every story: put simply, plot refers to the actual
events that take place within the bounds of your narrative. Using our rhetorical
situation vocabulary, we can identify “plot” as the primary subject of a descriptive
personal narrative. Three related elements to consider are scope, sequence, and
pacing.
Scope
The term scope refers to the boundaries of your plot. Where and when does it begin
and end? What is its focus? What background information and details does your story
require? I often think about narrative scope as the edges of a photograph: a photo,
whether of a vast landscape or a microscopic organism, has boundaries. Those
boundaries inform the viewer’s perception. In this example, the scope of the left
photo allows for a story about a neighborhood in San Francisco. In the middle, it is a
story about the fire escape, the clouds. On the right, the scope of the story directs our
attention to the birds. In this way, narrative scope impacts the content you include
and your reader’s perception of that content in context.
The way we determine scope varies based on rhetorical situation, but I can say
generally that many developing writers struggle with a scope that is too broad:
writers often find it challenging to zero in on the events that drive a story and prune
out extraneous information.
Consider, as an example, how you might respond if your friend asked what you did
last weekend. If you began with, “I woke up on Saturday morning, rolled over,
checked my phone, fell back asleep, woke up, pulled my feet out from under the
covers, put my feet on the floor, stood up, stretched…” then your friend might have
stopped listening by the time you get to the really good stuff. Your scope is too
broad, so you’re including details that distract or bore your reader. Instead of listing
every detail in order like this:
Story
Timeline
of events
… you should consider narrowing your scope, focusing instead on the important,
interesting, and unique plot points (events) like this:
Story
Timeline
of events
You might think of this as the difference between a series of snapshots and a roll of
film: instead of twenty-four frames per second video, your entire story might only be a
few photographs aligned together.
It may seem counterintuitive, but we can often say

more by digging deep into a few ideas or events,
instead of trying to relate every idea or event.
The most impactful stories are often those that represent something, so your scope
should focus on the details that fit into the bigger picture. To return to the previous
example, you could tell me more about your weekend by sharing a specific detail
than every detail. “Brushing my teeth Saturday morning, I didn’t realize that I would
probably have a scar from wrestling that bear on Sunday” reveals more than “I woke
up on Saturday morning, rolled over, checked my phone, fell back asleep, woke up,
pulled my feet out from under the covers, put my feet on the floor, stood up,
stretched….” Not only have you foregrounded the more interesting event, but you
have also foreshadowed that you had a harrowing, adventurous, and unexpected
weekend.
Sequence and Pacing

The sequence and pacing of your plot—the order of the events and the amount of
time you give to each event, respectively—will determine your reader’s experience.
There are an infinite number of ways you might structure your story, and the shape of
your story is worth deep consideration. Although the traditional forms for narrative
sequence are not your only options, let’s take a look at a few tried-and-true shapes
your plot might take.
You might recognize Freytag’s Pyramid17 from other classes you’ve taken:
B
D
A E
A. Exposition: Here, you’re setting the scene, introducing characters, and

preparing the reader for the journey.
B. Rising action: In this part, things start to happen. You (or your characters)
encounter conflict, set out on a journey, meet people, etc.
C. Climax: This is the peak of the action, the main showdown, the central event
toward which your story has been building.
D. Falling action: Now things start to wind down. You (or your characters) come
away from the climactic experience changed—at the very least, you are wiser
for having had that experience.
E. Resolution: Also known as dénouement, this is where all the loose ends get
tied up. The central conflict has been resolved, and everything is back to
normal, but perhaps a bit different.
This narrative shape is certainly a familiar one. Many films, TV shows, plays, novels,
and short stories follow this track. But it’s not without its flaws. You should discuss with
your classmates and instructors what shortcomings you see in this classic plot shape.
What assumptions does it rely on? How might it limit a storyteller? Sometimes, I tell
my students to “Start the story where the story starts”—often, steps A and B in the
diagram above just delay the most descriptive, active, or meaningful parts of the
story. If nothing else, we should note that it is not necessarily the best way to tell your
story, and definitely not the only way.
Another classic technique for narrative sequence is known as in medias res—literally,

“in the middle of things.” As you map out your plot in pre-writing or experiment with
during the drafting and revision process, you might find this technique a more active
and exciting way to begin a story.
In the earlier example, the plot is chronological, linear, and continuous: the story
would move smoothly from beginning to end with no interruptions. In medias res
instead suggests that you start your story with action rather than exposition, focusing
on an exciting, imagistic, or important scene. Then, you can circle back to an earlier
part of the story to fill in the blanks for your reader. Using the previously discussed
plot shape, you might visualize it like this:
Begin
here!
Then
circle
back
or...
Begin
here! C
B B
D
A E
You can experiment with your sequence in a variety of other

How will your ways, which might include also making changes to your
scope: instead of a continuous story, you might have a
choices of
series of fragments with specific scope (like photographs
narrative scope, instead of video), as is exemplified by “The Pot Calling the
sequence, and Kettle Black….” Instead of chronological order, you might
pacing impact bounce around in time or space, like in “Parental
Guidance,” or in reverse, like “21.” Some of my favorite
your reader’s
narratives reject traditional narrative sequence.
experience?
I include pacing with sequence because a change to one
often influences the other. Put simply, pacing refers to the
speed and fluidity with which a reader moves through your story. You can play with
pacing by moving more quickly through events, or even by experimenting with
sentence and paragraph length. Consider how the “flow” of the following examples
differs:
The train screeched Lost in my thoughts, I shuddered as the

to a halt. A flock of train ground to a full stop in the middle of
pigeons took flight an intersection. I was surprised, jarred by
as the conductor the unannounced and abrupt jerking of the
announced, “We’ll car. I sought clues for our stop outside the
be stuck here for a window. All I saw were pigeons as startled
few minutes.” and clueless as I.
I recommend the student essay “Under the Knife,” which does excellent work with
pacing, in addition to making a strong creative choice with narrative scope.
Point-of-View
The position from which your story is told will

help shape your reader’s experience, the
language your narrator and characters use,
and even the plot itself. You might recognize
this from Dear White People Volume 1 or
Arrested Development Season 4, both Netflix
TV series. Typically, each episode in these
seasons explores similar plot events, but from
a different character’s perspective. Because of their unique vantage points, characters

can tell different stories about the same realities.
This is, of course, true for our lives more generally. In addition to our differences in
knowledge and experiences, we also interpret and understand events differently. In
our writing, narrative position is informed by point-of-view and the emotional
valences I refer to here as tone and mood.
point-of-view (POV): the perspective from which a story is told.

• This is a grammatical phenomenon—i.e., it decides pronoun use—but, more
importantly, it impacts tone, mood, scope, voice, and plot.18
Although point-of-view will influence tone and mood, we can also consider what
feelings we want to convey and inspire independently as part of our narrative
position.
tone: the emotional register of the story’s language.

• What emotional state does the narrator of the story (not the author, but the
speaker) seem to be in? What emotions are you trying to imbue in your
writing?
mood: the emotional register a reader experiences.19
• What emotions do you want your reader to experience? Are they the same
feelings you experienced at the time?
A Non-Comprehensive Breakdown of POV

Examples:
Can include internal
Narrator uses 1st I tripped on the last
monologue (motives,
person stair, preoccupied
thoughts, feelings) of the
1st person pronouns
narrator. Limited certainty of
by what my sister
(I/me/mine or had said, and felt
motives, thoughts, or
us/we/ours) my stomach drop.
feelings of other characters.
Your breath
Speaks to the reader, as if
catches as you feel
Narrator uses the reader is the
the phantom step.
2nd person protagonist OR uses
2nd person pronouns apostrophe to speak to an
O, staircase, how
(you/you/your) absent or unidentified
you keep me
person
awake at night.
Narrator uses 3rd Sometimes called “close” He was visibly

person third person. Observes and frustrated by his
3rd person pronouns narrates but sticks near one sister’s
limited (he/him/his, or two characters, in nonchalance and
she/her/hers, contrast with 3rd person wasn’t watching his
they/they/theirs) omniscient. step.
Narrator uses 3rd Observes and narrates from
Beneath the
person an all-knowing perspective.
surface, his sister
3rd person pronouns Can include internal
felt regretful. Why
omniscient (he/him/his, monologue (motives,
did I tell him that?
she/her/hers, thoughts, feelings) of all
she wondered.
they/they/theirs) characters.
But now, a
Narrator uses Approximates the thousand
stream-of- inconsistent digressive, wandering, and empty⎯where?⎯and
consciousness pronouns, or no ungrammatical thought she, with head
pronouns at all processes of the narrator. shake, will be
fine⎯AHH!
Typically, you will tell your story from the first-person point-of-view, but personal
narratives can also be told from a different perspective; I recommend “Comatose
Dreams” to illustrate this at work. As you’re developing and revising your writing, try
to inhabit different authorial positions: What would change if you used the third
person POV instead of first person? What different meanings would your reader find
if you told this story with a different tone—bitter instead of nostalgic, proud rather than
embarrassed, sarcastic rather than genuine?
Furthermore, there are many rhetorical situations that call for different POVs. (For
instance, you may have noticed that this book uses the second-person very
frequently.) So, as you evaluate which POV will be most effective for your current
rhetorical situation, bear in mind that the same choice might inform your future
writing.
Building Characters
Whether your story is fiction or nonfiction, you should spend some time thinking
about characterization: the development of characters through actions, descriptions,
and dialogue. Your audience will be more engaged with and sympathetic toward
your narrative if they can vividly imagine the characters as real people.
Like description, characterization relies on specificity. Consider the following contrast

in character descriptions:
My mom is great. She is an In addition to some of my father’s idiosyncrasies,

average-sized brunette with however, he is also one of the most kind-hearted and
brown eyes. She is very loving loving people in my life. One of his signature actions
and supportive, and I know I is the ‘cry-smile,’ in which he simultaneously cries and
can rely on her. She taught me smiles any time he experiences a strong positive
everything I know. emotion (which is almost daily).20
How does the “cry-smile” detail enhance the characterization of the speaker’s parent?
To break it down to process, characterization can be accomplished in two ways:

a) Directly, through specific description of the character—What kind of clothes do
they wear? What do they look, smell, sound like?—or,
b) Indirectly, through the behaviors, speech, and thoughts of the character—
What kind of language, dialect, or register do they use? What is the tone,
inflection, and timbre of their voice? How does their manner of speaking reflect
their attitude toward the listener? How do their actions reflect their traits?
What’s on their mind that they won’t share with the world?
Thinking through these questions will help you get a better understanding of each
character (often including yourself!). You do not need to include all the details, but
they should inform your description, dialogue, and narration.
are very detailed,

Your most important characters should be round:
Round requiring attentive
the added detail will help your reader better
characters… description of their
visualize, understand, and care about them.
traits and behaviors.
are minimally Less important characters should take up less space

Flat
detailed, only briefly and will therefore have less detailed
characters…
sketched or named. characterization.
Even though all of us are always changing, some

remain the same people will behave and appear the same
Static
throughout the throughout the course of your story. Static
characters…
narrative. characters can serve as a reference point for
dynamic characters to show the latter’s growth.
Most likely, you will be a dynamic character in your

noticeably change personal narrative because such stories are
Dynamic within the narrative, centered around an impactful experience,
characters… typically as a result of relationship, or place. Dynamic characters learn and
the events. grow over time, either gradually or with an
epiphany.
Dialogue21
dialogue: communication between two or more

characters.
Think of the different conversations you’ve had

today, with family, friends, or even classmates.
Within each of those conversations, there were
likely preestablished relationships that
determined how you talked to each other: each is
its own rhetorical situation. A dialogue with your friends, for example, may be far
different from one with your family. These relationships can influence tone of voice,
word choice (such as using slang, jargon, or lingo), what details we share, and even
what language we speak.
As we’ve seen above, good dialogue often demonstrates the traits of a character or
the relationship of characters. From reading or listening to how people talk to one
another, we often infer the relationships they have. We can tell if they’re having an
argument or conflict, if one is experiencing some internal conflict or trauma, if they’re
friendly acquaintances or cold strangers, even how their emotional or professional
attributes align or create opposition.
Often, dialogue does more than just one thing, which makes it a challenging tool to
master. When dialogue isn’t doing more than one thing, it can feel flat or
expositional, like a bad movie or TV show where everyone is saying their feelings or
explaining what just happened. For example, there is a difference between “No
thanks, I’m not hungry” and “I’ve told you, I’m not hungry.” The latter shows
frustration, and hints at a previous conversation. Exposition can have a place in
dialogue, but we should use it deliberately, with an awareness of how natural or
unnatural it may sound. We should be aware how dialogue impacts the pacing of the
narrative. Dialogue can be musical and create tempo, with either quick back and
forth, or long drawn out pauses between two characters. Rhythm of a dialogue can
also tell us about the characters’ relationship and emotions.
We can put some of these thoughts to the test using the exercises in the Activities
section of this chapter to practice writing dialogue.
Choosing a Medium
Narration, as you already know, can occur in a variety of media: TV shows, music,
drama, and even Snapchat Stories practice narration in different ways. Your instructor
may ask you to write a traditional personal narrative (using only prose), but if you are
given the opportunity, you might also consider what other media or genres might
inform your narration. Some awesome narratives use a multimedia or multigenre
approach, synthesizing multiple different forms, like audio and video, or nonfiction,
poetry, and photography.
In addition to the limitations and opportunities presented by your rhetorical situation,

choosing a medium also depends on the opportunities and limitations of different
forms. To determine which tool or tools you want to use for your story, you should
consider which medium (or combination of media) will help you best accomplish your
purpose. Here’s a non-comprehensive list of storytelling tools you might incorporate
in place of or in addition to traditional prose:
• Images • Illustrations
• Poetry • Comics, manga, or other
• Video graphic storytelling
• Audio recording • Journal entries or series of
• “Found” texts (fragments of letters
other authors’ works • Plays, screenplays, or other
reframed to tell a different works of drama
story) • Blogs and social media postings
Although each of these media is a vehicle for delivering information, it is important to

acknowledge that each different medium will have a different impact on the
audience; in other words, the medium can change the message itself.
There are a number of digital tools available that you might consider for your
storytelling medium, as well.22
Video: Storytelling with Robyn Vazquez23

Activities
Idea Generation: What Stories Can I Tell?
You may already have an idea of an important experience in your life about which you
could tell a story. Although this might be a significant experience, it is most definitely
not the only one worth telling. (Remember: first idea ≠ best idea.)
Just as with description, good narration isn’t about shocking content but rather about
effective and innovative writing. In order to broaden your options before you begin
developing your story, complete the organizer on the following pages.
Then, choose three of the list items from this page that you think are especially
unique or have had a serious impact on your life experience. On a separate sheet of
paper, free-write about each of your three list items for no less than five minutes per
item.
List five places that are

List ten people who have influenced your life in some way
significant to you (real,
(positive or negative, acquainted or not, real or fictional)
fictional, or imaginary)
List three obstacles you’ve

List ten ways that you identify yourself (roles, adjectives, or
overcome to be where you
names)
are today
List three difficult moments – tough decisions, traumatic or challenging experiences, or

troubling circumstances
Idea Generation: Mapping an Autobiography
This exercise will help you develop a variety of options for your story, considered
especially in the context of your entire life trajectory.
First, brainstorm at least ten moments or experiences that you consider influential—
moments that in some way impacted your identity, your friendships, your worldview—
for the better or for the worse. Record them in the table below.
Then, rate those experiences on a degree of “awesomeness,” “pleasurability,” or

something else along those lines, on a scale of 0 – 10, with 10 being the hands down
best moment of your life and 0 being the worst.
Next, plot those events on the graph paper on the back of this page. Each point is an
event; the x-axis is your age, and the y-axis is the factor of positivity. Connect the
points with a line.
Finally, circle three of the events/experiences on your graph. On a clean sheet of

paper, free-write about each of those three for at least four minutes.24
Your Awesomeness
Event, moment, or experience
age Factor (0-10)
Experimenting with Voice and Dialogue25
Complete the following three exercises to think through the language your characters
use and the relationships they demonstrate through dialogue. If you’ve started your
assignment, you can use these exercises to generate content.
The Secret
Choose any two professions for two imaginary characters.
Give the two characters a secret that they share with one another. As you
might imagine, neither of them would reveal that secret aloud, but they
might discuss it. (To really challenge yourself, you might also come up with
a reason that their secret must be a secret: Is it socially unacceptable to talk
about? Are they liable to get in trouble if people find out? Will they ruin a
surprise?)
Write an exchange between those characters about the secret using only
their words (i.e., no “he said” or “she said,” but rather only the language
they use). Allow the secret to be revealed to the reader in how the
characters speak, what they say, and how they say it. Pay attention to the
subtext of what’s being said and how it’s being said. How would these
characters discuss their secret without revealing it to eavesdroppers?
(Consider Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” as a model.)
Draw a line beneath your dialogue. Now, imagine that only one of the
characters has a secret. Write a new dialogue in which one character is
trying to keep that secret from the other. Again, consider how the speakers
are communicating: what language do they use? What sort of tone? What
does that reveal about their relationship?
The Overheard
Go to a public space and eavesdrop on a conversation. (Try not to be too
creepy—be considerate and respectful of the people.) You don’t need to take
avid notes, but observe natural inflections, pauses, and gestures. What do
these characteristics imply about the relationship between the speakers?
Jot down a fragment of striking, interesting, or weird dialogue.
Now, use that fragment of dialogue to imagine a digital exchange: consider
that fragment as a Facebook status, a text message, or a tweet. Then, write at
least ten comments or replies to that fragment.
Reflect on the imaginary digital conversation you just created. What led you to
make the choices you made? How does digital dialogue differ from real-life
dialogue?
Beyond Words
As you may have noticed in the previous exercises, dialogue is about more than just
what the words say: our verbal communication is supplemented by inflection, tone,
body language, and pace, among other things. With a partner, exchange the
following lines. Without changing the words, try to change the meaning using your
tone, inflection, body language, etc.
A B
“I don’t want to talk about it.” “Leave me alone.”
“Can we talk about it?” “What do you want from me?”
“I want it.” “You can’t have it.”
“Have you seen her today?” “Why?”
After each round, debrief with your partner; jot down a few notes together to
describe how your variations changed the meaning of each word. Then, consider
how you might capture and relay these different deliveries using written language—
what some writers call “dialogue tags.” Dialogue tags try to reproduce the nuance of
our spoken and unspoken languages (e.g., “he muttered,” “she shouted in
frustration,” “they insinuated, crossing their arms”).
Using Images to Tell a Story
Even though this textbook focuses on writing as a means to tell stories, you can also
construct thoughtful and unique narratives using solely images, or using images to
supplement your writing. A single photograph can tell a story, but a series will create
a more cohesive narrative. To experiment with this medium, try the following activity.
Using your cell phone or a digital camera, take at least one photograph (of
yourself, events, and/or your surroundings) each hour for one day.
Compile the photos and arrange them in chronological order. Choose any five
photos that tell a story about part or all of your day.
o How did you determine which photos to remove? What does this
suggest about your narrative scope?
o Where might you want to add photos or text? Why?
To consider models of this kind of narrative, check out Al Jazeera’s “In Pictures”
series. In 2014, a friend of mine recorded a one-second video every day for a year,
creating a similar kind of narrative—you can check it out here.
Under the Knife26

The white fluorescent lights mirrored off the waxed and buffed vinyl flooring.
Doctors and nurses beelined through small congregations of others conversing.
Clocks were posted at every corner of every wall and the sum of the quiet ticking grew
to an audible drone. From the vinyl floors to the desks where decade old Dell
computers sat, a sickly gray sucked all the life from the room. The only source of color
was the rainbow circle crocheted blanket that came customary for minors about to
undergo surgery. It was supposed to be a token of warmth and happiness, a blanket
you could find life in; however, all I found in the blanket was an unwanted pity.
Three months ago doctors diagnosed me with severe scoliosis. They told me I
would need to pursue orthopedic surgery to realign my spine. For years I endured
through back pain and discomfort, never attributing it to the disease. In part, I felt as
if it was my fault, that me letting the symptoms go unattended for so long led it to
become so extreme. Those months between the diagnosis and the surgery felt like
mere seconds. Every day I would recite to myself that everything would be okay and
that I had nothing to worry about. However, then minutes away from sedation, I felt
like this bed I was in—only three feet off the ground—would put me six feet under.
The doctors informed me beforehand of the potential complications that could
arise from surgery. Partial paralysis, infection, death, these words echoed throughout
the chasms of my mind. Anxiety overwhelmed me; I was a dying animal surrounded
by ravenous vultures, drool dripping awaiting their next meal. My palms were a
disgusting swamp of sweat that gripped hard onto the white sheets that covered me. A
feeling of numbness lurked into my extremities and slowly infected its way throughout
my body.
The vinyl mattress cover I was on felt like a porcelain toilet seat during a cold
winter morning. It did not help my discomfort that I had nothing on but a sea blue
gown that covered only the front and ankle high socks that seemed like bathroom
scrubbers. A heart rate monitor clamp was tightly affixed onto my index finger that
had already lost circulation minutes ago. The monitor was the snitch giving away my
growing anxiety; my heart rate began to increase as I awaited surgery. Attached to the
bed frame was a remote that could adjust almost every aspect of the bed. I kept the
bed at an almost right angle: I wanted to be aware of my surroundings.
My orthopediatrician and surgeon, Dr. Halsey, paced in from the hallway and
gave away a forced smile to ease me into comfort. The doctor shot out his hand and I
hesitantly stuck out mine for the handshake. I’ve always hated handshakes; my hands
are incredibly sweaty and I did not want to disgust him with my soggy tofu hands. He
asked me how my day was so far, and I responded with a concise “Alright.” Truth was,
my day so far was pretty lackluster and tiring. I had woken up before the birds had
even begun to chirp, I ate nothing for breakfast, and I was terrified out of my mind.
This Orthopedic Surgeon, this man, this human, was fully in charge of the surgery.
Dr. Halsey and other surgeons deal with one of the most delicate and fragile things in
the world—people’s lives. The amount of pressure and nerves he must face on an
everyday basis is incredible. His calm and reserved nature made me believe that he
was confident in himself, and that put me more at ease.
An overweight nurse wheeled in an IV with a bag of solution hooked to the
side. “Which arm do you prefer for your IV?” she inquired.
Needles used to terrify me. They were tiny bullets that pierced through your
skin like mosquitos looking for dinner, but by now I had grown accustomed to them.
Like getting stung by a bee for the first time, my first time getting blood taken was a
grueling adventure. “Left, I guess,” I let out with a long anxiety-filled sigh.
The rubber band was thick and dark blue, the same color as the latex gloves she
wore. I could feel my arm pulse in excitement as they tightly wrapped the rubber band
right above my elbow.
“Oh, wow! Look at that vein pop right out!” The nurse exclaimed as she
inspected the bulging vein.
I tried to distract myself from the nurse so I wouldn’t hesitate as the IV was
going in. I stared intently at the speckled ceiling tiles. They were the same ones used
in schools. As my eyes began to relax, the dots on the ceiling started to transform into
different shapes and animals. There was a squirrel, a seal, and a do—I felt pain shock
through my body as the IV needle had infiltrated into my arm.
Dr. Halsey had one arm planted to the bottom end of the bed frame and the
other holding the clipboard that was attached to the frame. “We’re going to pump two
solutions through you. The first will be the saline, and the second will be the sedation
and anesthesia.” The nurse leaned over and punched in buttons connected to the IV.
After a loud beep, I felt a cooling sensation run down my arm. I felt like a criminal,
prosecuted for murder, and now was one chemical away from finishing the cocktail
execution. My eyes darted across the room; I was searching for hope I could cling to.
My mother was sitting on a chair on the other side of the room, eyes slowly and
silently sweating. She clutched my father’s giant calloused hands as he browsed the
internet on his phone. While I would say that I am more similar to my mother than
my father, I think we both dealt with our anxiety in similar ways. Just like my father, I
too needed a visual distraction to avoid my anxiety. “I love you,” my mother called out.
All I did was a slight nod in affirmation. I was too fully engulfed by my own
thoughts to even try and let out a single syllable. What is my purpose in life? Have I
been successful in making others proud? Questions like these crept up in my mind
like an unwanted visitor.
“Here comes the next solution,” Dr. Halsey announced while pointing his pen
at the IV bags. “10…,” he began his countdown.
I needed answers to the questions that had invaded my mind. So far in life, I
haven’t done anything praiseworthy or even noteworthy. I am the bottom of the
barrel, a dime a dozen, someone who will probably never influence the future to
come. However, in those final seconds, I realized
that I did not really care. Teacher Takeaways
“I like how the scope of the
“7...,” Dr. Halsey continued the
narrative is specifically limited
countdown. to the hours leading up to the
surgery. That shifts the focus on
I’ve enjoyed my life. I’ve had my fun and
the author’s anticipation and
shared many experiences with my closest anxiety, rather than the surgery
itself. This essay also
friends. If I’m not remembered in a few years
successfully employs slow,
after I die, then so be it. I’m proud of my small deliberate pacing in each
section, reflecting that sense of
accomplishments so far.
anticipation and anxiety.
“4…” However, at some points this
slow pacing results in minute
Although I am not the most decorated of
descriptions of details that don’t
students, I can say that at least I tried my clearly advance the narrative,
making the essay feel bloated at
hardest. All that really mattered was that I was
times and diminishing the
happy. I had hit tranquility; my mind had halted. effectiveness of those sections
where the pacing is more
I was out even before Dr. Halsey finished the appropriate.”
countdown. I was at ease. – Professor Dunham
Breathing Easy27
Most people’s midlife crises happen when they’re well into adulthood; mine
happened when I was twelve. For most of my childhood and into my early teen years,
I was actively involved in community theater. In the fall of 2010, I was in the throes of
puberty as well as in the middle of rehearsals for a production of Pinocchio, in which I
played the glamorous and highly coveted role of an unnamed puppet. On this
particular day, however, I was not onstage rehearsing with all the other unnamed
puppets as I should’ve been; instead, I was locked backstage in a single-stall

bathroom, dressed in my harlequin costume and crying my eyes out on the freezing
tile floor, the gaudy red and black makeup dripping down my face until I looked like
the villain from a low-budget horror movie.
The timing of this breakdown was not ideal. I don’t remember exactly what
happened in the middle of rehearsal that triggered this moment of hysteria, but I
know it had been building for a long time, and for whatever reason, that was the day
the dam finally broke. At the time, I had pinpointed the start of my crisis to a moment
several months earlier when I started questioning my sexuality. Looking back now,
though, I can see that this aspect of my identity had been there since childhood, when
as a seven-year-old I couldn’t decide if I would rather marry Aladdin or Princess
Jasmine.
Up until the age of 16, I lived in Amarillo, Texas, a flat, brown city in the middle
of a huge red state. Even though my parents had never been blatantly homophobic in
front of me, I grew up in a conservative religious community that was fiercely
cisheteronormative. My eighth-grade health teacher kicked off our unit on sex
education with a contemptuous, “We aren’t going to bother learning about safe sex for
homosexuals. We’re only going to talk about normal relationships.” Another time,
when I told a friend about a secret I had (unrelated to my sexuality), she responded
with, “That’s not too bad. At least you’re not gay,” her lips curling in disdain as if
simply saying the sinful word aloud left a bad taste in her mouth.
I laid in a crumpled mess on that bathroom floor, crying until my head
throbbed and the linoleum beneath me became slick with tears and dollar-store face
paint. By the time my crying slowed and I finally pulled myself up off the floor, my
entire body felt weighed down by the secret I now knew I had to keep, and despite
being a perfectionist at heart, I couldn’t find it within myself to care that I’d missed
almost all of rehearsal. I looked at my tear-streaked face in the mirror, makeup
smeared all over my burning cheeks, and silently admitted to myself what I had
subconsciously known for a long time: that I wasn’t straight, even though I didn’t
know exactly what I was yet. At the time, even thinking the words “I might be gay” to
myself felt like a death sentence. I promised myself then and there that I would never
tell anyone; that seemed to be the only option.
For several years, I managed to keep my promise to myself. Whereas before I
had spent almost all of my free time with my friends, after my episode in the
bathroom, I became isolated, making up excuses anytime a friend invited me out for
fear of accidentally getting too comfortable and letting my secret slip. I spent most of
middle school and the beginning of high school so far back in the closet I could barely
breathe or see any light. I felt like the puppet I’d played in that production of
Pinocchio—tied down by fear and shame, controlled by other people and their
expectations of me rather than having the ability to be honest about who I was.
Just as I ended up breaking down in that theater bathroom stall when I was
twelve, though, I eventually broke down again. My freshman year of high school was
one of the worst years of my life. Struggling with mental illness and missing large
portions of school as I went in and out of psychiatric hospitals was hard enough, but
on top of all of that, I was also lying about a core part of my identity to everyone I
knew. After a particularly rough night, I sat down and wrote a letter to my parents
explaining that I was pansexual (or attracted to all genders and gender identities). “I’ve
tried to stop being this way, but I can’t,” I wrote, my normally-neat handwriting
reduced to a shaky chicken scratch as I struggled to control the trembling of my
hands. “I hope you still love me.” With my heart pounding violently in my chest, I
signed the letter and left it in the kitchen for them to find before locking myself in my
room and pretending to go to sleep so I wouldn’t have to deal with their initial
response.
By some amazing twist of fate, my parents did not have the horrible reaction I’d
been dreading for the past two years. They knocked on my door a few minutes after
I’d left the letter for them, and when I nervously let them in, they hugged me and told
me that they loved me no matter what; my dad even said, “Kid, you couldn’t have
picked a better family to be gay in.” For the first time in years, I felt like I could
breathe again. My fear of rejection was still there—after all, I still had to come out to
most of my friends and extended family—but it seemed so much more manageable
knowing I had my parents on my side.
It took me several years to fully come out and get to a point where I felt
comfortable in my own identity. A lot of people, even those who had known and loved
me since I was a baby, told me that they couldn’t be friends with me or my family
anymore because of my “sinful lifestyle.” As painful as it was each time I was shunned
by someone I thought was my friend, I eventually gained enough confidence in myself
and my identity to stop caring as much when people tried to tear me down for
something I know is outside of my control.
Teacher Takeaways Now, as a fully out-of-the-closet queer person, I
“This essay begins in compelling
still face discrimination from certain people in
fashion, in a dramatic, vividly
descriptive scene that proves my life and from society as a whole. However,
central to the narrative. The use of
I’ve learned that it’s a lot easier to deal with
dialogue is also strong here,
especially in the letter the narrator judgement from external forces when you
writes to their parents and the
surround yourself with people who love and
father’s response to that letter.
The author also experiments with support you, and most importantly, when you
narrative sequence. It’s a good
have love for yourself, which I’m glad to say I
move, but it does introduce some
chronological confusion, making now do. Even though it was terrifying at first,
it difficult to place events on a
I’m glad I broke the promise I made to myself
timeline in relation to one
another. This is a challenge with in that backstage bathroom, because no matter
non-traditional narrative
what struggles I might face, at least I know I’m
sequencing, but it can be
resolved with strategic editing.” able to be open about who I am.
– Professor Dunham
Visions28
Before I got sober I never paid attention to my dreams. I don’t even remember
if I had dreams. In the end I was spiritually broken, hopeless, scared and desperate.
My life was dedicated to blotting out my miserable existence using copious amounts of
booze and drugs. The substances stopped working. Every night was intoxicated tear
soaked erratic fits of despair until I passed out. Only to wake up the next morning and
begin the vicious cycle all over. Bending and writhing my way out of a five year heroin
and alcohol addiction was just as scary. I was in jail. I had no idea how to live. I had
no purpose in life. Then the dreams came back. Some of them were terrifying. Some
dreams had inspiration. There is one dream I will never forget.
I am standing in a room full of people. They are all sitting looking up at me. I am
holding a hand drum. My hands are shaking and I am extremely nervous. An old woman
enters the room and walks up to me. The old woman is about half my height. She is barefoot
and wearing a long green wool dress. She is holding a walking stick and is draped in animal
furs. She has long flowing hair that falls over the animal furs. The old woman looks at all the
people in the room. Then she looks at me and says, “It’s okay, they are waiting, sing.” My
heart is racing. I strike the hand drum with all my courage. I feel the heartbeat of the drum.
It’s my heartbeat. I begin to sing, honoring the four directions. After each verse I pause and
the old woman pushes me forward “It’s okay,” she says, “Sing.” I am singing louder now. The
third verse is powerful. I am striking the drum with all my strength. Many people singing with
me. My spirit is strong. During the fourth verse sparks are flying from the contact between the
beater stick and my drum. I am striking the drum with all our strength. We are all singing
together. The room is shaking with spirit. The old woman looks over at me and smiles.
I woke up. My heart was racing. I took a deep breath of recirculated air. I could
taste the institution. I looked over and saw my cellmate sleeping. I remembered where
I was. I knew what I had to do. I had to get sober and stay sober. I had to find my
spirit. I had to sing.
At six months of sobriety I was out in the real world. I was living on the Oregon
Coast and I was attending local AA meetings. I was still lost but had the dream about
singing with the drum in the back of my mind. One day an oldtimer walked into the
meeting and sat down. He introduced himself, “My name is Gary, and I am an
alcoholic from Colorado.” We all respond, “Welcome Gary.” Gary intrigued me. He
was wearing old jeans, a sweatshirt and a faded old native pride hat with an eagle
feather embroider on the front. Beneath the hat he wore round eyeglasses which sat
on top of his large nose, below his nose was a bushy mustache. He resembled an
Indian version of Groucho Marx. Something felt familiar about his spirit. After the
meeting Gary walked up and introduced himself to me. I invited him to our native
recovery circle we have on Wednesday nights.
Gary came to our circle that Wednesday. We made plans to hang out after the
meeting. Gary is Oglala Lakota. He is a pipe carrier for the people. We decide to hold
a pipe ceremony in order to establish connectedness and unite with one heart and
mind. To pray and get to know each other. We went down to the beach and lit a fire.
It was a clear, warm night. The stars were bright. The fire was crackling and the
shadows of the flames were bouncing of the clear night sky. I took my shoes off and
felt the cool soft sand beneath my feet and between my toes. The ocean was rumbling
in the distance. Gary started digging around in his bag. The firelight bounced off his
glasses giving a twinkle in his eye as he gave me a little smile. He pulled out a hand
drum. My heart stopped. He began to sing a song. I knew that song. He was honoring
the four directions. My eyes began to water and a wave of emotion flooded over me. I
looked up to the stars with gratitude. I asked Gary if he would teach me and he
shrugged.
I began to hang around Gary a lot. I would just listen. He let me practice with
his drum. He would talk and I would listen. Sometimes he would sing and I would
sing along. We continued to go to our native recovery circle. It was growing in
attendance. Gary would open the meeting by honoring the four directions with the
song and we would smudge down. I would listen and sometimes sing along.
I had a year of sobriety when I got my first drum making supplies. I called Gary
and he came over to help me make it. Gary showed me how to prep the hide. How to
stretch the hide over the wooden hoop and how to lace it up in the back. I began to
find purpose in the simple act of learning how to create stuff. I brought my drum to
our native recovery circle. Around forty people attend our circle now. Many of them
young and new still struggling with addiction. We lit the sage to open the meeting.
The smoke began to rise into the sky. I inhaled the smoky scent deep and could feel
the serenity and cleansing property of the sage medicine. I looked around at all the
people. They were all looking at me and waiting. Then I looked at Gary. Gary smiled
and said, “It’s okay, they are all waiting, sing.”
We now have another recovery circle here in Portland on Friday nights. Gary is
gone. He had to move to Nashville, Tennessee. Many people come to our circle to find
healing from drug and alcohol abuse. We light the sage and smudge down while I
honor the four directions with the same song. I carry many of the traditional prayer
songs today. Most of them given to me by Gary.
At one meeting a young man struggling with alcoholism approaches me and tells me he
needs to sing and wants to learn the songs. The next week we open the meeting and light the
sage. The young man is standing next to me holding his own drum. His own heartbeat. He
looks at all the people. They are all looking at him. He looks at me. I smile and say, “It’s okay,
they are waiting, sing.”
Teacher Takeaways
“I love this essay. It’s clear that the student is personally invested in the subject matter—that they’ve
chosen something that is important to their identity and worldview—and they use repetition to highlight
the experience of learning and growing. If this author planned to revise further, I would encourage them
to experiment with sentence structure: the author uses what we call ‘simple sentences’ predominantly,
which leads to a rhythmic but sometimes monotonous cadence. For instance, instead of ‘Gary is gone. He
had to move to Nashville, Tennessee,’ the student could try ‘Because he had to move to Nashville,
Tennessee, Gary is gone now.’ (Neither sentence is inherently better, but variety in sentence structure
keeps the reader more engaged.)”
– Professor Dawson
Chapter Three
Reflecting on an Experience
One of my greatest pleasures as a writing instructor is learning about my students’ life
journeys through their storytelling. Because it is impossible for us to truly know
anything beyond our own lived experience,29 sharing our stories is the most powerful
form of teaching. It allows us a chance to learn about others’ lives and worldviews.
Often, our rhetorical purpose in storytelling is to entertain. Storytelling is a way to

pass time, to make connections, and to share experiences. Just as often, though,
stories are didactic: one of the rhetorical purposes (either overtly or covertly) is to
teach. Since human learning often relies on experience, and relating an experience
constitutes storytelling, narrative can be an indirect teaching opportunity. Articulating
lessons drawn from an experience, though, requires reflection.
Reflection is a way that writers

look back
in order to
look forward.
Reflection is a rhetorical gesture that helps you and your audience construct meaning
from the story you’ve told. It demonstrates why your story matters, to you and to the
audience more generally: how did the experience change you? What did it teach
you? What relevance does it hold for your audience? Writers often consider reflection
as a means of “looking back in order to look forward.” This means that storytelling is
not just a mode of preservation, nostalgia, or regret, but instead a mechanism for
learning about ourselves and the world.
Chapter Vocabulary
a rhetorical gesture by which an author looks back, through the

diegetic gap, to demonstrate knowledge or understanding
reflection gained from the subject on which they are reflecting. May also
include consideration of the impact of that past subject on the
author’s future—“Looking back in order to look forward.”
from “diegesis,” the temporal distance between a first-person
narrator narrating and the same person acting in the plot events.
diegetic gap
I.e., the space between author-as-author and author-as-
character.
Techniques
“Looking back in order to look forward,”30 or
“I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger”31
As you draft your narrative, keep in mind that your story or stories should allow you to
draw some insight that has helped you or may help your reader in some way:
reflection can help you relate a lesson, explore an important part of your identity, or
process through a complicated set of memories. Your writing should equip both you
and your audience with a perspective or knowledge that challenges, nuances, or
shapes the way you and they interact with the world. This reflection need not be
momentous or dramatic, but will deepen the impression of your narrative.
Reflection relies on what I call the diegetic gap. Diegesis is a term from the field of
narratology referring to narration—the story as it is portrayed. In turn, this gap
identifies that time has passed between the plot events and your act of writing.
Simply put, the diegetic gap is the distance between you-the-author and you-the-
character:
Diegetic
You You
(beginning (end
Gap
You
of story) of story)
(now)
Timeline Story
of events
Because we are constantly becoming ourselves, shaped by our relationships and

experiences, “you” are a different person at all three points. By looking back at your
story, you can cultivate meaning in ways you could not during the events or
immediately following them. Distance from an event changes the way we see
previous events: time to process, combined with new experiences and knowledge,
encourages us to interpret the past differently.
As you’ll see in the upcoming activities , looking back through this gap is a gesture
akin to the phrase “When I look back now, I realize that…”32
Wrap-up vs. Weave
Students often have a hard time integrating reflective writing throughout their
narratives. In some cases, it is effective to use reflection to “wrap up” the story; it
might not make sense to talk about a lesson learned before the story has played out.
However, you should try to avoid the “tacked on” paragraph at the end of your story:
if your reflective writing takes over at the end of the story, it should still feel like a part
of the narrative rather than an afterthought. In other words, you should only reserve
your reflective writing for the last paragraph or two if the story has naturally and
fluidly brought us across the diegetic gap to present day.
Instead of a wrap-up, though, I often challenge my students to weave their reflection

in with the story itself. You can see this at work in “Slowing Down” and “Parental
Guidance” in some places. However, to see woven reflection applied even more
deliberately, take a look at the model text “Blood &
Chocolate Milk.” This author explicitly weaves narration
and reflection; while your weave doesn’t need to be You may notice that
this obvious, consider how the author’s choices in this your choices in
essay enhance both the narrative and your narration, including
understanding of their family dynamic. point-of-view, tense,
and scope, will
Spelling it Out vs. Implying Meaning influence you’re the
way you develop
Finally, you should be deliberate about how overt you reflective writing.
should make your reflection. If you are trying to connect
with your reader, sharing your story so they might
better know you, the world you live in, or even themselves, you need to walk the fine
line between subtlety and over-explanation. You need to be clear enough that your
reader can generalize and relate. Consider the essay “Comatose Dreams” in the
previous section: it does exceptional work with implication, but some readers have
trouble knowing what they should take away from the story to apply to their own
lives.
It is also possible, though, to be too explicit. Take, for example, Charles Perrault’s
1697 publication of a classic folk story, “Little Red Riding Hood.”33 As with many fairy
tales, this story is overtly didactic, stating the following moral after Little Red Riding
Hood’s demise:
Moral: Children, especially attractive, well bred young ladies, should never talk
to strangers, for if they should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf. I
say “wolf,” but there are various kinds of wolves. There are also those who are
charming, quiet, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young
women at home and in the streets. And unfortunately, it is these gentle wolves
who are the most dangerous ones of all.34
I encourage you to discuss the misogynist leanings of this moral with your class. For
our purposes here, though, let’s consider what Perrault’s “wrap-up” does, rhetorically.
With a target audience of, presumably, children, Perrault assumes that the moral
needs to be spelled out. This paragraph does the “heavy lifting” of interpreting the
story as an allegory; it explains what the reader is supposed to take away from the
fairy tale so they don’t have to figure it out on their own. On the other side of that
coin, though, it limits interpretive possibilities. Perrault makes the intent of the story
unambiguous, making it less likely that readers can synthesize their own meaning.
Activities
What My Childhood Tastes Like35
To practice reflection, try this activity writing about something very important—food.
First, spend five minutes making a list of every food or drink you remember from
childhood. Mine looks like this:
- Plain cheese quesadillas, made by my mom in the miniscule kitchenette of our

one-bedroom apartment
- “Chicken”-flavored ramen noodles, at home alone after school
- Cayenne pepper cherry Jell-O at my grandparents’ house
- Wheat toast slathered in peanut butter before school
- Lime and orange freezy-pops
- My stepdad’s meatloaf—ironically, the only meatloaf I’ve ever liked
- Cookie Crisp cereal (“It’s cookies—for breakfast!”)
- Macintosh apples and creamy Skippy peanut butter
- Tostitos Hint of Lime chips and salsa
- Love Apple Stew that only my grandma can make right
- Caramel brownies, by my grandma who can’t bake anymore
Then, identify one of those foods that holds a special place in your memory. Spend
another five minutes free-writing about the memories you have surrounding that
food. What makes it so special? What relationships are represented by that food?
What life circumstances? What does it represent about you? Here’s my model; I
started out with my first list item, but then digressed—you too should feel free to let
your reflective writing guide you.
My mom became a gourmet with only the most basic ingredients. We lived
bare bones in a one-bedroom apartment in the outskirts of Denver; for
whatever selfless reason, she gave four-year-old the bedroom and she took a
futon in the living room. She would cook for me after caring for other mothers’
four-year-olds all day long: usually plain cheese quesadillas (never any sort of
add-ons, meats, or veggies—besides my abundant use of store-brand ketchup)
or scrambled eggs (again, with puddles of ketchup).
When I was 6, my dad eventually used ketchup as a rationale for my second
stepmom: “Shane, look! Judy likes ketchup on her eggs too!” But it was my
mom I remembered cooking for me every night—not Judy, and certainly not
my father.
“I don’t like that anymore. I like barbecue sauce on my eggs.”
Reflection as a Rhetorical Gesture
Although reflection isn’t necessarily its own rhetorical mode, it certainly is a posture
that you can apply to any mode of writing. I picture it as a pivot, perhaps off to the left
somewhere, that opens up the diegetic gap and allows me to think through the
impact of an experience. As mentioned earlier, this gesture can be represented by
the phrase “When I look back now, I realize that…” To practice this pivot, try this
exercise.
Over five minutes, write a description of the person who taught you to tie your
shoes, ride a bike, or some other life skill. You may tell the story of learning this
skill if you want, but it is not necessary. (See characterization for more on
describing people.)
Write the phrase “When I look back now, I realize that.”
Complete the sentence and proceed with reflective writing for another five
minutes. What does your reflection reveal about that person that the narrative
doesn’t showcase? Why? How might you integrate this “wrap-up” into a
“weave”?
End-of-Episode Voice-Overs: Reflection in Television Shows
In addition to written rhetoric, reflection is also a tool used to provide closure in many
television shows: writers use voiceovers in these shows in an attempt to neatly tie up
separate narrative threads for the audience, or to provide reflective insight on what
the audience just watched for added gravity or relevance for their lives. Often a show
will use a voiceover toward the end of the episode to provide (or try to provide) a
satisfying dénouement.
To unpack this trope, watch an episode of one of the following TV shows (available on
Netflix or Hulu at the time of this writing) and write a paragraph in response to the
questions below:
o Scrubs36
o Ally McBeal
o Grey’s Anatomy
o Jane the Virgin
o The Wonder Years
o Sex and the City
o How I Met Your Mother
• What individual stories were told in the episode? How was each story related
to the others?
• Is there a common lesson at all the characters learned?
• At what point(s) does the voiceover use the gesture of reflection? Does it seem
genuine? Forced? Satisfying? Frustrating?
Dr. Cox: “Grey's Anatomy always wraps up every episode with

some cheesy voice-over that ties together all of the storylines,
which, incidentally, is my least favorite device on television.” …
Elliot: “I happen to like the voice-overs on Grey’s Anatomy, except
for when they’re really vague and generic.”
Voice-over (J.D.): And so, in the end, I knew what Elliot said about
the way things were has forever changed the way we all thought
about them. – Scrubs
Slowing Down37
I remember a time when I was still oblivious to it. My brother, sister, and I
would pile out of the car and race through the parking lot to the store, or up the
driveway to the house, never so much as a glance backward. I’m not sure exactly when
it happened, but at some point I started to take notice, fall back, slow my pace, wait
for him.
My dad wasn’t always that slow. He didn’t always have to concentrate so hard to
just put one foot in front of the other. Memory has a way of playing tricks on you, but
I swear that I can remember him being tall, capable, and strong once. When I was real
little he could put me on his shoulders and march me around: I have pictures to prove
it. I also have fuzzy memories of family camping trips—him taking us to places like
Yosemite, Death Valley, and the California coast. What I remember clearly, though,
was him driving to and from work every day in that old flatbed truck with the arc
welder strapped to the back, going to fix boilers, whatever those were.
My dad owned his own business; I was always proud of that. I’d tell my friends
that he was the boss. Of course, he was the sole employee, aside from my mom who
did the books. I didn’t tell them that part. But he did eventually hire a guy named
David. My mom said it was to “be his hands.” At the time I wasn’t sure what that
meant but I knew that his hands certainly looked different than other people’s, all
knotty. And he’d started to use that foam thing that he’d slip over his fork or
toothbrush so he could grip it better. I supposed that maybe a new set of hands wasn’t
a bad idea.
When I was about 8, he and my mom made a couple of trips to San Francisco
to see a special doctor. They said that he’d need several surgeries before they were
through, but that they’d start on his knees. I pictured my dad as a robot, all of his
joints fused together with nuts and bolts. I wondered if I’d have to oil him, like the tin
man. It made me laugh to think about it: bionic dad. That wouldn’t be so bad; maybe I
could take him to show and tell. To be honest, I was sometimes a little embarrassed by
the way he looked when he came to pick me up at school or my friend’s house. He
wore braces in his boots to help him walk, he always moved so slow, and his hands
had all those knots that made them curl up like old grapevines. And then there was
that dirty old fanny pack he always carried with him because he couldn’t reach his
wallet if it was in his pocket. Yeah, bionic dad would be an improvement.
It was around this time that my parents decided to give up the business. That
was fine with me; it meant he’d be home all day. Also, his flatbed work truck quickly
became our new jungle gym and the stage for many new imaginary games. Maybe it
was him not being able to work anymore that finally made it click for me, but I think it
was around this time that I started to slow down a bit, wait for him.
He could still drive—he just needed help starting the ignition. But now, once
we’d get to where we were going, I’d try not to walk too fast. It had begun to occur to
me that maybe walking ahead of him was kind of disrespectful or insensitive. In a way,
I think that I just didn’t want him to know that my legs worked better than his. So, I’d
help him out of the car, offer to carry his fanny pack, and try to walk casually next to
him, as if I’d always kept that pace.
I got pretty good at doing other stuff for him, too; we all did. He couldn’t really
reach above shoulder height anymore, so aside from just procuring cereal boxes from
high shelves we’d take turns combing his hair, helping him shave, or changing his
shirt. I never minded helping out. I had spent so many years being my dad’s shadow
and copying him in every aspect that I possibly could; helping him out like this just
made me feel useful, like I was finally a worthy sidekick. I pictured Robin combing
Batman’s hair. That probably happened from time to time, right?
Once I got to high school, our relationship began to change a bit. I still helped
him out, but we had started to grow apart. I now held my own opinions about things,
and like most kids in the throes of rebellion, I felt the need to make this known at
every chance I got. I rejected his music, politics, TV shows, sports, you name it.
Instead of being his shadow we became more like reflections in a mirror; we looked
the same, but everything was opposite, and I wasted no opportunity to demonstrate
this.
We argued constantly. Once in particular, while fighting about something to do
with me not respecting his authority, he came at me with his arms crossed in front of
him and shoved me. I was taller than him by this point, and his push felt akin to
someone not paying attention and accidentally bumping into me while wandering the
aisles at the supermarket. It was nothing. But it was also the first time he’d ever done
anything like that, and I was incredulous—eager, even—at the invitation to assert
myself physically. I shoved him back. He lost his footing and flailed backwards. If the
refrigerator hadn’t been there to catch him he would have fallen. I still remember the
wild look in his eyes as he stared at me in disbelief. I felt ashamed of myself, truly
ashamed, maybe for the first time ever. I offered no apology, though, just retreated to
my room.
In those years, with all the arguing, I just thought of my dad as having an angry
heart. It seemed that he wasn’t just mad at me: he was mad at the world. But to his
credit, as he continued to shrink, as his joints became more fused and his extremities
more gnarled, he never complained, and never stopped trying to contribute. And no
matter how much of an entitled teenaged brat I was, he never stopped being there
when I needed him, so I tried my best to return the favor.
It wasn’t until I moved out of my parents’ house that I was able to really reflect
on my dad’s lot in life. His body had started to betray him in his mid-20s and
continued to work against him for the rest of his life. He was diagnosed with
rheumatoid arthritis, the worst case that his specialists had seen, and eventually had
surgery on both knees, ankles, wrists, elbows, and shoulders. Not that they helped
much. He had an Easter-sized basket full of pills he had to take every day. When I was
younger I had naively thought that those pills were supposed to help him get better.
But now that I was older I finally realized that their only purpose was to mitigate pain.
I decided that if I were him, I’d be pretty pissed off too.
I was 24 and living in Portland the morning that I got the call. I was wrong
about his heart being angry. Turned out it was just weak. With all of those pills he
took, I should have known that it was only a matter of time before it would give out;
I’m pretty sure he did.
When I think back on it, my dad had a lot of reasons to be angry. Aside from he
himself being shortchanged, he had us to consider. I know it weighed on him that he
couldn’t do normal “dad” stuff with us. And then there was my mom. Their story had
started out so wild and perfect, a couple of beautiful longhaired kids that met and fell
in love while hitchhiking in Canada. She had moved across the country to marry him.
The unfairness that life didn’t go as they’d planned, that she’d be a young widow—
these are things I know he thought about. But he never mentioned them. He never
complained. He never talked about the pain he was in, even though I know now it was
constant. I guess at some point he became like the fish that doesn’t know it’s in water.
That, or he just made his peace with it somehow.
It took me a long time to find my own peace in his situation. Our situation. I
was angry for myself and my family, but mostly I was angry for him. I was pissed that
he had to spend the last twenty something years of his life in that prison he called a
body. Eventually though, that anger gave way to other feelings. Gratitude, mostly. I
don’t think that my dad could have lived a hundred healthy years and taught me the
same lessons that I learned from watching him suffer. He taught me about personal
sacrifice, the brevity of life, how it can be both a blessing and a curse. All kids are
egocentric (I know I definitely was), but he was the first one to make me think outside
of myself, without having to ask me to do it. He taught me what compassion and

patience looked like. He taught me to slow down.
Teacher Takeaways
“This essay is commendable for its deft narration — replete with a balanced use of specific descriptions
and general exposition. However, the mixture of simple past tense with simple future tense (used here to
indicate the future in the past) situates both the reader and the narrator primarily in the past. This means
that we really don't get to the simple present tense (i.e. across the diegetic gap) until the final two
paragraphs of the essay. That said, the narrator’s past reflections are integrated often throughout the
essay, making it more an example of ‘weaving’ than of ‘wrap-up.’”
– Professor Fiscaletti
Untitled38
The sky was white, a blank canvas, when I became the middle school’s biggest
and most feared bully. The sky was white and my hands were stained red with blood—
specifically a boy named Garrett’s blood. I was 12 years old, smaller than average with
clothes-hanger collar bones but on that day I was the heavyweight champion. It wasn’t
as if I’d just snapped out of the blue; it wasn’t as if he were innocent. He had just
been the only one within arms-length at the time when my heart beat so loudly in my
ears, a rhythm I matched with my fists. I was dragged off of him minutes later by
stunned teachers (who had never seen me out of line before) and escorted to the
Principal’s Office. They murmured over my head as if I couldn’t hear them. “What do
you think that was about?” “Who started it?” I was tightlipped and frightened, shaking
and wringing my hands, rusting with someone else’s blood on them. Who started it?
That particular brawl could have arguably been started by me: I jumped at him, I
threw the only punches. But words are what started the fight. Words were at the root
of my anger.
I was the kid who was considered stupid: math, a foreign language my tongue
refused to speak. I was pulled up to the front of the classroom by my teachers who
thought struggling my way through word problems on the whiteboard would help me
grasp the concepts, but all I could ever do was stand there humiliated, red-faced with
clenched fists until I was walked through the equation, step by step. I was the one
who tripped over my words when I had to read aloud in English, the sentences
rearranging themselves on the page until tears blurred my vision. I never spoke in
class because I was nervous—“socially anxious” is what the doctors called it. Severe
social anxiety with panic disorder. I sat in the back and read. I sat at lunch and read
because books were easier to talk to than people my own age. Kids tease; it’s a fact of
life. But sometimes kids are downright cruel. They are relentless. When they find an
insecurity, they will poke and prod it, an emotional bruise. A scar on my heart. Names
like “idiot” and “loser” and “moron” are phrases chanted like a prayer at me in the
halls, on the field, in the lunchroom. They are casual bombs tossed at me on the bus
and they detonate around my feet, kicking up gravel and stinging my eyes. What is the
saying? Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me? Whoever
came up with that has quite obviously never been a 12-year-old girl.
The principal stared at me as I walked in, his eyes as still as water. He told me
my parents had to be called, I had to be suspended the rest of the week, this is a no-
tolerance school. Many facts were rattled off. I began to do what I do best—tune him
out—when he said something that glowed. It caught my attention, held my focus.
“Would you like to tell me your side of the story?” I must have looked shocked
because he half-smiled when he said, “I know there are always two sides. I know you
wouldn’t just start a fist fight out of nowhere. Did he do something to you?” An
avalanche in my throat, the words came crashing out. I explained the bullying, how
torturous it was for me to wake up every morning and know I would have to face the
jeers and mean comments all day. I told him about how when I put on my uniform
every morning, it felt like I was gearing up for a battle I didn’t sign up for and knew I
wouldn’t win. The shame and embarrassment I wore around me like a shawl slipped
off. He listened thoughtfully, occasionally pressing his fingers together and bringing
them to his pursed lips, his still eyes beginning to ripple, a silent storm. When I was
done he apologized. How strange and satisfying to be apologized to by a grown-up. I
was validated with that simple “I’m sorry.” I almost collapsed on the floor in gratitude.
My parents entered the room, worry and anger etched on their faces, folded up in the
wrinkles that were just then starting to line their skin. My parents listened as I retold
my story, admitted what I had been bottling up for months. I was relieved, I felt the
cliché weight lifted off of my too-narrow shoulders. My principal assured my parents
that this was also a no-tolerance stance on bullying and he was gravely sorry the staff
hadn’t known about the abuse earlier. I was still suspended for three days, but he said
to make sure I didn’t miss Monday’s assembly. He thought it would be important for
me.
The Monday I returned, there was an assembly all day. I didn’t know what it
was for, but I knew everyone had to be there on time so I hurried to find a seat.
People avoided eye-contact with me. As I pushed past them, I could feel the whispers
like taps on my shoulder. I sat down and the assembly began. It was a teenage girl and
she was talking about differences, about how bullying can affect people more than you
could ever know. I was leaning forward in my seat trying to hang onto every word
because she was describing how I had felt every day for months. She spoke about how
her own anxiety and learning disability isolated her. She was made fun of and bullied
and she became depressed. It was important to her for us to hear her story because
she wanted people like her, like me, to know they weren’t alone and that words can do
the most damage of all. R.A.D. Respect all differences, a movement that was being
implemented in the school to accept and celebrate everybody. At the end of her
speech, she asked everyone who had ever felt bullied or mistreated by their peers to
stand up. Almost half of the school stood, and I felt like a part of my school for the
first time. She then invited anyone who wanted to speak to come up and take the mic.
To my surprise, there were multiple volunteers. A line formed and I found myself in
it.
I heard kids I’d never talked to before speak about their ADHD, their dyslexia,
how racist comments can hurt. I had no idea so many of my classmates had been
verbal punching bags; I had felt utterly alone. When it was my turn I explained what it
means to be socially anxious. How in classrooms and crowds in general I felt like I was
being suffocated: it was hard to focus because I often forgot to breathe. How every
sentence I ever spoke was rehearsed at least 15 times before I said it aloud: it was
exhausting. I was physically and emotionally drained after interactions, like I had run
a marathon. I didn’t like people to stare at me because I assumed everyone disliked
me, and the bullying just solidified that feeling of worthlessness. It was exhilarating
and terrifying to have everyone’s eyes on me, everyone listening to what it was like to
be inside my head. I stepped back from the microphone and expected boos, or maybe
silence. But instead everyone clapped, a couple teachers even stood up. I was shocked
but elated. Finally I was able to express what I went through on a day-to-day basis.
The girl who spoke came up to me after and thanked me for being brave. I had
never felt brave in my life until that moment. And yes, there was the honeymoon
period. Everyone in the school was nice to each other for about two weeks before
everything returned to normal. But for me it was a new normal: no one threw things at
me in the halls, no one called me names, my teachers were respectful of my anxiety by
not singling me out in class. School should be a sanctuary, a safe space where
students feel free to be exactly who they are, free of ridicule or judgment. School had
never been that for me, school had been a warzone littered with minefields. I dreaded
facing my school days, but then I began to look forward to them. I didn’t have to
worry about being made fun of anymore. From that moment on, it was just school.
Not a place to be feared, but a place to learn.
Teacher Takeaways
“This author obviously has a knack for descriptive metaphor and simile, and for the sonic drive of
repetition, all of which contribute to the emotional appeal of the narrative. The more vivid the imagery,
the more accessible the event. However, the detailed narrative is only briefly interrupted by the author’s
current ideas or interpretations; she might consider changing the structure of the essay from linear
recollection to a mix of narrative and commentary from herself, in the present. Still, the essay does serve
as an example of implicit reflection; the author doesn’t do much of the ‘heavy lifting’ for us.”
Parental Guidance39
“Derek, it’s Dad!” I already knew who it was because the call was made collect
from the county jail. His voice sounded clean: he didn’t sound like he was fucked up.
I heard from his ex-girlfriend about a year earlier that he was going to jail for breaking
into her apartment and hiding under her bed with a knife then popping out and
threatening her life; probably other stuff too. I wasn’t all that surprised to hear from
him. I was expecting a call eventually. I was happy to hear from him. I missed him. He
needed a place to stay for a couple weeks. I wanted to be a good son. I wanted him to
be proud of me. My room-mates said it was alright. I gave him the address to our
apartment and told him to come over. I was 19.
I am told when I was a toddler I wouldn’t let my dad take the garbage outside
without me hitching a ride on his boot. I would straddle his foot like a horse and hang
onto his leg; even in the pouring rain. He was strong, funny and a good surfer. One
time at the skatepark when I was 6 or 7 he made these guys leave for smoking pot in
front of me and my little sister. He told them to get that shit out of here and they
listened. He was protecting us. I wanted to be just like him.
When my dad got to the apartment he was still wearing his yellow jail slippers.
They were rubber with a single strap. No socks, a t-shirt and jeans was all he had on.
It was January: cold and rainy. He was clean and sober from what I could tell by his
voice and eyes. He was there. I hugged him. I was hopeful that maybe he was back for
good. I found my dad a pair of warm socks and a hoodie. We were drinking beer and
one of my friends offered him one. He must have wanted one but he knows where
that leads and he said no thanks. We all got stoned instead.
One time when I was in 7th grade my dad was driving me and my siblings home
from school. He saw someone walking down the street wearing a nice snowboarding
jacket. It looked just like my dad’s snowboarding jacket which he claimed was stolen
from the van while he was at work. He pulled the van over next to this guy and got
out. He began threatening him. He was cursing and yelling and throwing his hands up
and around. I was scared.
He said he only needed a couple weeks to get back on his feet. I was happy to
have him there. As long as he wasn’t drinking or using drugs he had a chance. He said
he was done with all that other shit. He just needs to smoke some pot to relax at night
and he will be fine. Sounded reasonable to me. It had been about a year since I
dropped out of high school and moved out of my mom’s. I worked full time making
pizza and smoked pot and drank beer with my friends and roommates. Occasionally
there was some coke or ecstasy around but mostly just beer, pot and video games.
One day in 4th grade when we were living in Coos Bay the whole family went to
the beach to surf and hang out. My mom and dad were together and it seemed like
they loved each other. My littlest sister was a toddler and ran around on the beach in
the sun with my mom and our Rottweiler Lani. My older brother and other sister were
in the ocean with me and my dad. We all took turns being pushed into waves on our
surfboards by dad. We all caught waves and had a great day. My mom cheered us on
from the shore. He was a good dad.
Two weeks passed quickly and my dad was still staying at our apartment. One
day while I was at work my dad blew some coke with my roommate. I could tell
something was off when I got home. I was worried. He said he was leaving for a
couple days to go stay with his friend who is a pastor. He needed some spiritual
guidance or something like that. He sounded fucked up.
Growing up we did a lot of board sports. My dad owned a surf shop in Lincoln
City for a while and worked as a sales representative for various gear companies. We
had surfboards, snowboards, windsurfers, sails, wakeboards, wetsuits: several
thousand dollars’ worth of gear. One day my dad told us someone broke into our
garage and stole all the gear. The window in the garage was broken except it appeared
to be broken from the inside. He didn’t file a police report. My middle school surf
club coach tried to get my surfboard from the pawnshop but it was too expensive and
the pawn shop owner wouldn’t give it back. I felt betrayed.
I came home from work and found my dad in my room passed out. I stumbled
over an empty beer can on the way in and there were cheap whiskey bottles scattered
about. It smelled horrible. He woke up and was ashamed. He looked up at me from
my bed with a thousand pounds pulling down on his puffy eyelids and asked me for a
cigarette. He was strung out. Half of our spoons went missing. It smelled like booze,
heroin and filth. I was ashamed.
One day in 9th grade I came home from school to find my brother lifting blood
stains out of the carpet with hydrogen peroxide. He said some guys came over and
beat dad up. He owed them money or stole from them or something. I wanted to call
my mom. I was scared.
I told my dad he had to leave. He pleaded to stay for another thirty minutes. I
would be at work by then. While I was at work my friends escorted him out. He said
he was going to his friend the pastor’s house. I didn’t hear from him for a couple years
after that.
We learn a lot from our parents. Teacher Takeaways

Sometimes the best lessons are those on what “One of the most notable
features of this essay is the
not to do. timeline: by jumping back and
My two-year-old daughter calls me Papa, forth in chronology between
parallel but distinct
Daddy, Dad or Derek. Whatever she calls me it experiences, the author opens
has a positive meaning. When we are driving she up the diegetic gap and
demonstrates a profound
says from her car-seat, “Daddy’s hand”, “I want impact through simple
daddy’s hand please” and I reach back and put it narration. I also like this author’s
use of repetition and parallel
on her lap. structure. However, the author’s
One day my daughter woke me up and description could take a cue
from ‘Comatose Dreams’ to
said, “Oh hi Daddy! I wanna go forest. I wanna develop more complex,
go hike!” She was smiling. We practiced the surprising descriptors. While
the essay makes use of sensory
alphabet before breakfast then went for a walk in language, I want more dramatic
the woods: mama, papa and baby. I’m a good or unanticipated imagery.”
dad.
Assignment:
Descriptive Personal Narrative
To synthesize what you’ve learned about description, narration, and reflection, you
will write a personal narrative. This is generally a nonfiction, prose essay (similar to a
memoir), but your instructor might provide additional guidelines in regard to genre,
media, approach, or assessment standards.
Assignment
Your task is to identify an influential place, event, or person from your life experience
about which you can tell a story. Then, you will write a narrative essay that relates that
story and considers the impact it had on you, your worldview, and/or your life path.
Using model texts in this book as exemplars, you will tell a story (narrate) using vivid
description and draw out meaning and insight using reflection.
As you’ll evaluate below, descriptive personal narratives have a variety of purposes.

One important one is to share a story that stands in for a bigger idea. Do not be
worried if you don’t know the “bigger idea” yet, but be advised that your final draft
will narrate a focused, specific moment that represents something about who you are,
how you got here, what you believe, or what you strive to be.
Be sure to apply the concepts you learn in class to your writing.

Before you begin, consider your rhetorical situation:

Subject: Occasion:
How will this influence the way you write? How will this influence the way you write?
Audience: Purpose:
Before beginning the Peer Workshop and

revision process, I recommend consulting the
Revision Concepts and Strategies Appendix. In
your Peer Workshop group (or based on your
teacher’s directions), establish a process for
workshopping that will work for you. You may
find the flowchart titled “Establishing Your Peer
Workshop” useful.
Establishing Peer Workshop Process:

Do you prefer written notes, or open discussion? Would you like to read all
the drafts first, then discuss, or go one at a time? Should the author respond
to feedback or just listen? What anxieties do you each have about sharing
your writing? How will you provide feedback that is both critical and kind?
How will you demonstrate respect for your peers?
One Example of a Peer Workshop Process

Before the workshop, each author should spend several minutes generating requests
for support (#1 below). Identify specific elements you need help on. Here are a few
examples:
I need suggestions for new imagery.
Do you think my reflective writing seems too “tacked on.”
Do you have any ideas for a title?
I need help proofreading and polishing.
During the workshop, follow this sequence:

Student A introduces their draft, distributes copies, and makes requests for
feedback.
What do you want help with, specifically?
Student A reads their draft aloud while students B and C annotate/take notes.
What do you notice as the draft is read aloud?
Whole group discusses the draft; student A takes notes. Use these prompts as
a reference to generate and frame your feedback. Try to identify specific
places in your classmates’ essays where the writer is successful and where the
writer needs support. Consider constructive, specific, and actionable feedback.
What is the author doing well? What could they do better?
o What requests does the author have for support? What feedback do you
have on this issue, specifically?
o Identify one “golden line” from the essay under consideration—a phrase,
sentence, or paragraph that resonates with you. What about this line is
so striking?
o Consult either the rubric included above or an alternate rubric, if your
instructor has provided one. Is the author on track to meet the
expectations of the assignment? What does the author do well in each
of the categories? What could they do better?
§ Ideas, Content, and Focus
§ Structure
§ Style and Language
§ Depth, Support, and Reflection
§ Mechanics
o What resonances do you see between this draft and others from your
group? Between this draft and the exemplars you’ve read?
Repeat with students B and C.
After the workshop, try implementing some of the feedback your group provided
while they’re still nearby! For example, if Student B said your introduction needed
more imagery, draft some new language and see if Student B likes the direction
you’re moving in. As you are comfortable, exchange contact information with your
group so you can to continue the discussion outside of class.
The Pot Calling the Kettle Black…40

“You aren’t acting normal,” my dad said with a dopy, concerned look on his
face. He was a hard-working, soft and loving man. He was smaller than my mother,
physically and figuratively. She sat beside him. She had a towering stature, with
strong, swimmers’ shoulders, but she was hunched often. She didn’t really have
eyebrows, but she didn’t need them. She had no problem conveying emotion on her
face, especially negative ones.
“What’s wrong?” my mother asked. She took my hand frantically. Not the way
one might take someone’s hand to connect with or comfort them. She needed
reassurance more than I did.
My parents were sitting across from me on cushioned, bland-colored chairs in
my dad’s office, while I sat on a rickety, torturous wooden chair. My dad’s office
generally utilized natural light due to the expansive glass windows that allowed the
light to drown the room, enclosing us in the chamber. I felt like an inmate being
prepped for lethal injection. The weather was particularly gray and dismal. Perhaps it
was the ambiguous, gray, confusing feelings I was breathing through. My parents had
somewhat regular “interventions” to address my somewhat regular (sometimes public)
emotional breakdowns, my self-medicating habits, and my general shitty attitude.
This week in particular, I had purposely destroyed two of my mother’s
collectible horses. She had a maniacal obsession for them. She also maniacally
collected sunflower artwork, which was the one obsession, of many, I found
endearing. My old babysitter noted at one point there were 74 collectible horses in the
house. After my outburst, there were 72.
I could see behind my parents, through the glass-paned door, my two younger
sisters were secretly observing the altercation from the dining room, hiding under the
table. They were illuminated by the ominous weather, which was also watching in on
the dismal conversation through the windows. I was envious, jealous even, of my
spectating sisters. My sisters didn’t have overflowing, excessive emotions. They didn’t
have emotions that were considered “excessive.” I felt like an offender being put at the
stocks: my parents were the executioners, and my sisters were the jesters.
“I’m angry.”
“What about?” my dad asked, puzzled. “Did someone do something to you?”
“Honey, were you—” my mother looked to my dad, then concealed her mouth
slightly with the other hand, “raped?”
I couldn’t help but raise my voice. “No, Mom, I wasn’t raped, Jesus.” I took a
moment to grind on my teeth and imagine the bit I was chomping at. Calm, careful,
composed, I responded. “I’m just angry. I don’t feel—”
“What don’t you feel?” She practically jumped on me, while yanking my
imprisoned hand toward her. She yanked at my reins.
“I don’t feel understood!” My mind was bucking. I didn’t know why I needed to
react by raising my voice. It felt instinctive, defensive. Shouting forcefully, I jerked my
hand away from her, but it remained in her clutches. I didn’t feel satisfied saying it,
though what I said was the truth.
“What are you talking about?” my dad asked mournfully. I knew he felt
betrayed. But he didn’t understand. He didn’t know what it’s like for things to be too
much. Or to be too much. My dad looked at me longingly, hoping I would correct
what I had said. He looked lost, incapable of understanding why I was doing what I
was doing. My mother interjected, cutting off my dad’s hypnotic, silent cry for
connection.
“You’re crazy!” she said, maintaining eye contact. My mother then let go of my
hand, flipped it back to me. She reclined in her chair, retracting from me and the
discussion entirely. She crossed her legs, then her arms. She turned her head away,
toward the glass windows, and (mentally) left.
***
I was and am not “too much.”
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 18 years old.
***
I had just stepped off a squealing MAX line onto a broken sidewalk slab,
gnarled from tree roots, when I felt my phone buzz rhythmically.
“I need you to come to the hospital. Mom had a little accident.” My dad’s voice
was distant and cracking, like a wavering radio signal, calling for help.
“What’s going on? Is she okay?” I asked while making my way to campus.
“Where are you?” He wasn’t going to tell me anything over the phone.
Adrenaline set in. I let him know I was downtown and headed to campus, but that I
would catch a Lyft to wherever they were. “We’re at Milwaukie Providence. How soon
can you get here?
“I’ll let you know soon.” My assumption was that my parents had been in an
argument, my mother left the house in a rage, and crashed her car. She’d been an
erratic driver for as long as I could remember, and my parents had been arguing more
than usual recently, as many new “empty-nesters” do. The lack of information
provided by my dad, however, was unsettling. I don’t really recall the ride to the
hospital. I do remember looking over the river while riding from the west to east side
of town. I remember the menacing, dark clouds rolling in faster than the driver could
transport me. I remember it was quick, but it was too much time spent without
answers.
When I arrived at Providence, I jumped out of the sedan and galloped into the
lobby of the emergency room like a race horse on its final lap. My younger sister and
Dad were seated on cushioned, bland-colored chairs in the waiting room. There were
expansive glass windows that allowed the light to drown the room. The weather was
particularly gray and dismal. Perhaps it was the ambiguous, gray, confusing feelings I
was breathing through. I sat down beside my dad, in a firmer-than-anticipated waiting
room chair beside him. He took my hand frantically. He took it in the way one might
take someone’s hand to connect with or comfort them. He needed reassurance more
than I did.
“Where did she get in the accident?” I asked.
My sister, sitting across from me with her head in her knees, looked up at me
with aquamarine, tear-filled eyes. She was staring through me, an unclouded window.
“Mom tried to kill herself.”
“What?” My voice crescendoed from a normal volume to a shriek in the span of
a single word. My mind felt like it was bucking. I grabbed at my hair, pulling it back
tight with my spare hand. The tears and cries reared, no matter how hard I yanked my
mane.
“We got in another argument this morning, and she sent me a message saying
she didn’t want to be in pain anymore. She told me to tell you girls she’s sorry. I’m so
sorry.” I’d never seen my dad cry before; I didn’t know he could. I didn’t know his
tears would stream like gushing water from a broken dam. He looked lost, incapable
of understanding why she was doing what she was doing. I looked from my dad to my
sister to my hands. One hand remained enveloped by my dad’s gentle palm. At this
point in life, I had not yet learned to be gentle with myself, or others. I cut off my
dad’s hypnotic, silent cry for connection.

“She’s crazy!” I let go of my dad’s hand, flipped it back to him. I reclined in the
chair, retracting from the situation entirely. I crossed my legs, then my arms. I turned
my head away, toward the glass windows, and (mentally) left.
***
“Crazy” is a term devised to dismiss people.
My mother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 50 years old.
Teacher Takeaways
“This essay makes excellent use of repetition as a narrative strategy. Throughout the essay, terms and
phrases are repeated, generally with slight alterations, drawing the reader’s attention to the moment in
question and recontextualizing the information being conveyed. This strategy is especially powerful when
used to disclose the separate diagnoses of bipolar disorder, which is central to the narrative. I also
appreciate the use of dialogue, though it mostly serves an expository function here. In itself that’s
effective, but this narrative would be strengthened if that dialogue could serve to make some of the
characters, especially the mother, more rounded.”
All Quiet41
“We can have you kicked out, you know.” Miss Nick (as everyone addressed her)
began digging her fists into her hips. She towered over me at six-foot-something,
gravity pulling her wire-framed glasses to the end of her nose.
I recounted the empty threats my mom would make.
“Ay nako nanlan! Putang ina! I’ll pull you out of that school! You want to go to
Taft? Reseda?” Local public schools.
“Do it, you’ll save a ton of money,” I’d say.
“The only thing Catholic school is good for is producing my favorite unstable
artists and writers,” I’d joke with my friends. They had been in the Catholic school
system far longer than I had—fourteen years. I was jaded, though it was only my
fourth year.
All-girls’ school was supposed to turn me around. But did my mother really
expect the Northeastern elitism she hammered into me to fare well in Los Angeles?
Especially surrounded by the daughters of television, radio and film legacies who lived
in their hilly pseudo-ranches populated with their troupes of horses dancing around
in golden Agouran fields? Homogenized whole milk.
Lodged right against the Santa Monica mountains was Louisville High School.
The school was founded by the French sisters of Saint Louis, a French order founded
by Abbé Louis Eugene Marie Bautain—whoever the hell that was. At the top of the
rolling hills that were about as blonde as those who lived in them, was a small room
that erupted with incense and the chatter of young women. These quarters belonged
to this supposed gentle giant who chanted Mary Oliver poems ad nauseam. By her side
was a new hire: an aspiring Christian songstress, also the daughter of an actor who
had been typecast as a hundred high school bullies in the eighties. They, collectively,
made up the “campus ministry.”
“Why didn’t you come to us first?” Miss Nick continued. “Why did you have to
go straight online?” She had me there. I suppose it just ate at me. Maybe some sense
of urgency. Maybe I was just playing their own game.
“Are you gonna cry?” The songstress almost demanded it. Her piercing blue
gaze could only be summed up with lunacy. This was the first time I’d actually had
any conversation with the religion department outside of class.
“No.”
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles demands Catholic schools regularly hold these
retreats in some picturesque Californian mountain range or seaside. A select number
of student lectors were elected to tell their stories drawn from their own struggles. It
was supposed to be a time of reflection about your faith or something, but it never felt
wholly about that. It was a period where you got to know your teachers and your
peers, and empathize with each other. For a lot of the closeted non-religious and
agnostics, this was the only time they could identify with their school and community.
Once, during lunch at a retreat, I hailed down one of the most respected
instructors of our school. As a seven-foot bleeding wood crucifix looked on, we sipped
the punch prepared by the sisters.
“Hey Mr. Clark, what was the name of that cult leader in sixties?” I asked.
Amber punched me. We all giggled.
“You mean Jonestown?” He paused. His voice grew stern. “Now ladies—
behave.”
Mr. Clark taught history and social sciences. He was the oldest member of the
faculty and the most outspoken atheist of all. I’d spend hours in his room for
detention, and we would have elusive conversations about Freud, Hunter S.
Thompson, and his time in Boulder. The only way to enter campus ministry was
through Mr. Clark’s room.
A week prior Olivia had applied to be a student leader for a retreat. Olivia kept
to herself for the most part, and though we differed a lot, I always found something to
discuss with her. Her last name came right before mine, so we often worked together
on a number of assignments and projects. Mostly, we’d just critique our religion
classes which emphasized chastity and accused select girls of being hussies. Olivia was
a model student with perfect attendance. She was an artist, a writer, and more
importantly, my friend.
Olivia’s application was readily denied in favor for the wealthy Catholic
sweethearts and a select few who never disclosed certain information.
“I’d put on there that I was an atheist,” she shrugged. I knew for a fact the
retreat leadership was ridden with heathens. There, on the sunny knoll, I flipped
through the handbook and showed her a clause that prohibited the act of denying
anyone for their race, religion or creed. And I knew save for everything, Olivia was
overwhelmingly more qualified than anyone to lead a retreat. She was articulate, an
active contributor to all things art and writing, and had come from years of struggle.
She’d been living with Type I Diabetes her entire life, and her parents had just
divorced. Her brother frequently got in trouble with the law, and she had managed to
maintain perfect grades and demeanor for the past year. She actively contributed her
art and writing in various forms, and was loved and championed by many teachers. If
there’s anyone who deserves this position, it’s her, I thought.
I went home late after serving another detention. I opened my computer, lazed
around, wondered for a moment. It’s our last year of high school. Fuck it.
I typed in the search bar, “Petitions.”
I spent a couple hours, which could have easily been spent completing all my
assignments, formatting and outlining my 95 theses. I typed and typed with the fury
and angst that coincided with the suffix of my age. I clicked submit and shared the
URL for my peers to see—namely, my closest friend at the school, Amber, another
artist who had recently painted a depiction of a dark-skinned Jesus. Amber naturally
became fired up.
The next day, parades of teachers, parents, and students voiced their opinion to
me.
“What you’re doing is wonderful,” uttered my art teacher. “I hope she gets the
position.” So far, the whole idea was met with so much positivity. Olivia would get her
voice.
“Can I speak to you for a moment?” The math and earth science teacher
stopped me in my tracks between classes. She, an advocate for the environment and
reason, would surely shower the petition with nothing but affirmations.
“I’d put an end to this before it escalates. This is a Catholic school. This is a
private school.” I was blindsided. It was not until then I realized what I was doing
could be considered wrong.
Endlessly, I cited the handbook. It was their constitution—their code of
conduct. Often, I just nodded in confusion. I did not know what to reply. More and
more teachers looked at me with disdain and discouraged me from continuing forth.
No one would listen to the citation. Why couldn’t anyone just admit that this clause
was being broken? Opponents would only say that the campus ministry could conduct
business as they wanted. It was their school.
Amber, vehement and by my side, became my spokesperson. She was the
recipient of the arts scholarship. That, coupled with the death of her father years ago,
granted her the honor of being selected as a senior lector. Students could not apply
for this position—rather, they had to be nominated by a member of faculty. The thing
was, Amber was a fervent atheist—more so than Olivia.
“She’s a cunt,” Amber protested, “she’s a fucking cunt.” I envied her
absoluteness. It came so naturally to her. But I couldn’t say the same.
From across the knolly pasture I saw my religion teacher, someone I found
solace in. He had gone through seminary. He lapsed, and married a former student of
our school. He found himself in some sweat lodge deep in New Mexico, where his
Catholic faith had been lingering all along. Here, an adult teacher, admitted his
agnosticism and his doubt. I admired it so. He had a liberal nature similar to my own:
he talked of rogue Catholic sisters who were pro-choice and advocated for birth
control.
“I understand your intention,” he told me, “but I don’t think you’re seeing it in
the right light. It’s a perceived injustice. I’m not sure it really is one.” My heart
dropped.
I finally piped up after an hour-and-a-half into the harangue.

“So, you would have let her speak if she lied about her beliefs? That’s all she
had to do?” I could feel my voice rupturing.
“Yes.” Miss Nick replied. I silently stood up.
“Thank you.” I left.
I took down the petition at the instruction of the principal.
“It was very brave what you did,” she smirked, “but we can’t have that on our
record, you know how it is.” She gave me a wink. I did not know what to make of that.
Amber was also subject to their lectures. She was told she had to forfeit her
position as a student leader for being a “convicted atheist”—more specifically, that she
had no business leading because of her system of beliefs. She argued that she was
nominated by faculty, and that Mr. Clark was also an atheist embraced by the staff. To
no avail.
Olivia thanked me. She said it was the best thing anyone had ever done for her.
As an act of compromise, the campus ministry let her say a prayer over the intercom
system. People were moved. Silence reigned. Our art teacher, Mrs. Dupuy, cried.
In a city of millions and a country of hundreds of millions, one girl in a small
Catholic high school was viewed as threatening to the point of disrupting the entire
framework. How could something so miniscule pose such a threat to our adult
overseers? I never attacked their religion, but they were so adamant in attacking
anyone’s lack thereof. They preach “universality,” but where? They lost all credibility
with me.
After that, I became passive, stopped participating, and kept to myself. I often
found myself cheek first against my desk in religion classes while Miss Nick ignited a
pro-life/pro-choice debate that swept across the room. The songstress rallied for nigh
fundamentalist practices that I’d never seen within a Catholic church. In the
yearbook’s senior superlatives, there’s a picture of me under “Class Rebel,” but it
didn’t mean anything. An embarrassment. No one seemed sincere after that. Self-
interest ruled everyone around me: the lenses I had on determined that everyone was
doing and saying anything to further their personal convictions, regardless of how
uninformed they were, or anyone who defied them.
Including myself. Especially myself. Teacher Takeaways

So, I shut up. Everyone is self-serving, I’d “This author’s use of dialogue is
especially striking to me.
remind myself. I became cynical of everyone’s
Because the individual
intentions. I longed for authentic empathy. No, characters (and the way they
speak) are each so vivid, I am
unachievable. I muted myself behind layers upon
more invested in the way the
layers of verbal irony. No one could attack me if narrative plays out. I also
appreciate this author’s
I followed my lines with nervous laugh, and I
reflection; it’s a good reminder
don’t know! Just kidding! I prescribed myself that reflective writing doesn’t
haven’t to sound like a self-help
large doses of Charlie Kaufman films, acid, and
book or motivational speaker.
absurdist texts. At least Beckett and Camus see On a global level, I would love to
see this author apply their skill
the gray.
with dialogue to tell this story
“Now ladies,” Mr. Clark said. “I know you from multiple perspectives. What
if Olivia was a first-person
don’t agree with her, but she’s had a rough life. narrator in one section? What if
Please try to understand where she came from.” we saw Miss Nick in her office
alone after the confrontation?”
I don’t think anyone there would have – Professor Dawson
done the same.
Blood & Chocolate Milk42

The stick of gauze, the tinny primal taste of blood and the sweet creaminess of
chocolate milk is what I remember. It was a spring day of my junior year in high
school. It was the day I lost my wisdom teeth.
The night before my surgery Dad showed up and cooked us dinner. He made
spaghetti, those meatballs he makes with the drop of plum sauce on the top, and a
salad of spring greens topped with bright balsamic dressing and twirls of carrot. Then
Mom, Dad and I watched a movie and Dad tucked me in for the first time in a long
time. He slept on the couch.
***
It was strange that we were all together. My parents divorced before I could
talk. I don’t think about them as a pair. Other than birthdays and drop-offs they were
never in the same place. They were always separate entities that I saw half a week at a
time.
***
The next morning we woke bright and early. The dental assistant had told me
to wear something comfortable but my cashmere cardigan and slippers did little to
calm my nerves.
In the car on the way to the dental surgeon’s office we made groggy early-
morning small talk. Mom was at the helm of our beat-up, dark blue minivan, La
Fiesta. Dad sat in the passenger seat and I was behind them on the first bench seat
wringing my hands.
The waiting room was sterile and white, it smelled of disinfectant and mint.
Copies of various parenting magazines, Life and People scattered the low generic
coffee table. More catching up. We asked dad how things were going with his new
girlfriend, he was happy and we were happy for him. I fidgeted in the uncomfortable
pastel green chair.
In the surgical consult they had said that the roots of my wisdom teeth were too
close to the nerves in my lower jaw, it was possible that I could lose feeling in my
lower lip. I was terrified of that possibility. I watched the hands on the clock tick away.
I wanted to get it over with already.
A serious woman in scrubs finally appeared to lead me to the surgical room. I
hugged dad and he stayed behind in the waiting room, Mom came with me. There
were machines beeping and blinking. I handed Mom my sweater and shoes and she
gave me a tight squeeze.

***
Mom and I are a good team. It’s always been us against the world. Dad has
moved away twice but Mom has always been right here.
My parents were young hippies when I was born. They didn’t have life figured
out yet and their relationship disintegrated but their love for me never faded. Mom
always says “You were a surprise but never a mistake. If I could go back in time I
wouldn’t change a thing because I got you and you just kind of came along for the
ride. Whatever I did, you did too.”
***
As I laid down on the grey vinyl chair, the stale frigid air and my racing heart
prompted tiny goose bumps to appear on my arms. Everything in that room was a dull
pastel color or unnatural white. The pastels were unsettling — not the kind that
reminded you of a sweet Easter morning but the kind that brought to mind dreary
hospitals and desolate nursing homes. Mom held my hand, the tiny IV needle pricked
into my vein and I was gone.
Hours later I was semiconscious with a mouth full of cotton and four less teeth.
My parents got me to the car and dad sat in the back with me, letting my limp
medicated body lean on his. Blood and drool seeped out of my numb lips and onto his
ratty Patagonia jacket. He held me the whole way home.
***
Mom is my rock but I know she was glad to have a partner that day. She
couldn’t have carried me the way Dad did and she couldn’t have seen me so broken
without someone to assure her that I was going to be fine. Dad isn’t always around but
when he is, he gives all he can.

***
Mom and dad helped me wobble into bed and I floated away, my body heavy
with anesthesia and Vicodin. I drifted in and out. The light came in my window, soft
and pink like the creamy walls of my room.
My eyes opened slightly as I sensed movement in the room. “Hey Mai, how are
you feeling?” Mom said, concern and sweetness heavy in her high voice. “It’s time for
some more medicine, does your mouth hurt?”
“A little bit,” I said as best as I could with numb lips. The words came out
muffled and strange. Gauze thick with blood and saliva was tucked over the wounds
from the excavation. My mouth had become a foreign landscape with mountains of
gauze and slippery rivers of blood. My tongue tried to ignore the upset. The blood was
unnerving.
Dad reached into my mouth to deftly extract the blood soaked wads of gauze.
Mom handed me the pills and dad held the bottle of chocolate milk, letting me sip it
bit by bit to get the pills down. The milk was cool. Thick. Chalky. Chocolaty. A lazy
breeze drifted in and Dad tucked fresh gauze over the wounds at the back of my
mouth. They let me succumb to sleep again.
Hours or minutes later, Dad came into my room holding the Seattle Times. “Hey
Sweetie, how are you feeling? I have some good articles to read to you,” Dad said
softly. He was wearing his jeans that didn’t fit quite right and a ratty flannel. He sat
down on the edge of my full-sized cloud, his back against the window sill, his legs
outstretched horizontally and crossed at the ankle. His tall lanky body looked so out of
place in my room but I was grateful to have him there.
***
He didn’t have to come. Maybe it was the medical nature of the event that made
that more important in his mind than the school events or performances he’d missed.
He could justify the trip and missing a night of work—to himself and his boss—
because it was my body that needed hire, not my heart.
***
I sat up a little bit. I was still groggy but aware. He read me an article about an
ignorant hick couple that had gotten lost in the woods but survived to hilariously tell
their lucky story. His performance was complete with different voices for each person.
The ridiculous accents made me laugh. He read me a few more articles. I savored his
performance. He was going back to his city the
next day and I was going to miss him. Teacher Takeaways
Mom came in to check on me. She sat “This essay caught my attention
for a number of reasons.
down next to dad on the edge of my bed. She Primarily, I appreciate the
touched my forehead, her hand was cool and content—this essay is about
wisdom tooth surgery, but not
steady. They looked at me with so much love, the really. The surgery is a way for
pain was there but they lessened it. We were all the author to explore their
family dynamic. Next, the
under the same roof and on the same page, they imagery in this essay is vivid and
appeals to a variety of senses.
were a team taking care of me, Mom handled the
Finally, I really enjoy the
important things and dad handled the laughs. structural choice this author has
made: in order to weave
Our journey has been hard but I know that
reflection in with narration, they
they were always doing their best. They are both alternate each mode, indicating
the shift with asterisks (***). This
here for me in their own way. I grinned as much
choice, I feel, is very effective.
as I could; my puffy cheeks aching and straining However, it also runs the risk of
choppiness, as the abrupt
against the gauze. My mouth felt broken but I felt
changes might interrupt the
whole. All I need is them, soft light, a warm ‘flow’ for some readers.”
breeze and chocolate milk.
Section One Endnotes

Attributions for images used in this section are located in the Alt Text for each image.
Complete citations are included at the end of the book.
1
There is a school of writing based on this practice, termed остранение by Viktor
Shklovsky, commonly translated into English as defamiliarization.
Shklovsky, Viktor. “Art as Technique.” 1925. Literary Theory: An Anthology, 2nd
edition, edited by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, Blackwell, 2004, pp. 12-15.
2
Excerpt by an anonymous student author, 2017. Reproduced with permission from
the student author.
3
the student author.
4
Excerpt by Ross Reaume, Portland State University, 2014. Reproduced with
permission from the student author.
5
The term “thick description” was coined by Gilbert Ryle and adopted into the field of
anthropology by Clifford Geertz.
Ryle, Gilbert. Collected Essays (1929-1968), vol. 2, Routledge, 2009, 479+.
Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures, Basic Books, 1973.
6
the student author.
7
Excerpt by Noel Taylor, Portland State University, 2014. Reproduced with
8
Excerpt by Chris Gaylord, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
9
This activity is courtesy of Mackenzie Myers.
10
This activity was inspired by Susan Kirtley, William Thomas Van Camp, and Bruce
Ballenger.
11
This activity is a modified version of one by Daniel Hershel.
12
Essay by Chris Chan, Portland State University, 2014. Reproduced with permission
from the student author.
13
Essay by Kiley Yoakum, Portland Community College, 2016. Reproduced with
14
Essay by Franklin, who has requested his last name not be included. Portland
Community College, 2017. Reproduced with permission from the student author.
15
“The Big Bang.” Doctor Who, written by Steven Moffat, BBC, 2010.
16
Of interest on this topic is the word sonder, defined at The Dictionary of Obscure
Sorrows:
(n.) the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and
complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends,
routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues

invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with
elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never
know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping
coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as
a lighted window at dusk.
Koening, John. “Sonder.” The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, 22 July 2012,
http://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/post/23536922667/sonder.
17
Gustav Freytag is credited with this particular model, often referred to as “Freytag’s
pyramid.” Freytag studied the works of Shakespeare and a collection of Greek tragic
plays to develop this model in Die Technik des Dramas (1863).
18
For the sake of brevity, I have not included here a discussion of focalization, an
important phenomenon to consider when studying point-of-view more in-depth.
19
Sometimes tone and mood align, and you might describe them using similar
adjectives—a joyous tone might create joy for the reader. However, they sometimes
don’t align, depending largely on the rhetorical situation and the author’s approach
to that situation. For instance, a story’s tone might be bitter, but the reader might find
the narrator’s bitterness funny, off-putting, or irritating. Often, tone and mood are in
opposition to create irony: Jonathan Swift’s matter-of-fact tone in “A Modest
Proposal” is satirical, producing a range of emotions for the audience, from revulsion
to hilarity.
20
the student author.
21
Thanks to Alex Dannemiller for his contributions to this subsection.
22
Tips on podcasting and audio engineering: http://transom.org/
Interactive web platform hosting: https://h5p.org/
Audio editing and engineering: http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html
Whiteboard video creation (paid, free trial): http://www.videoscribe.co/
Infographic maker: https://piktochart.com/
Comic and graphic narrative software (free, paid upgrades): https://www.pixton.com/
23
Vazquez, Robyn. Interview with Shane Abrams. 2 July 2017, Deep End Theater,
Portland, OR.
24
This activity is a modified version of one by Lily Harris.
25
Thanks to Alex Dannemiller for his contributions to this subsection.
26
Essay by Joey Butler, Portland Community College, 2016. Reproduced with
27
Essay by an anonymous student author, 2016. Reproduced with permission from
the student author.
28
the student author.
29
To consider this phenomenon further, check out this video — “The Importance of
Empathy.”
30
This is a phrase I picked up from Kelly Gallagher.
Gallagher, Kelly. Write Like This, Stenhouse, 2011.
31
Faces. “Ooh La La.” Ooh La La, 1973.
32
This activity is a modified version of one by Susan Kirtley.
33
Admittedly, this story is a not the kind of narrative you will write if your teacher has
assigned a descriptive personal narrative: it is fictional and in third person. For the
purposes of studying reflection as a rhetorical gesture, though, “Little Red Riding
Hood” does some of the same things that a personal narrative would: it uses a story
to deliver a didactic message based on learning from experience.
34
Perrault, Charles. “Little Red Riding Hood.” 1697. Making Literature Matter, 4th
edition, edited by John Schlib and John Clifford, Bedford, 2009, pp. 1573-
1576.
35
This exercise is loosely based on Gallagher, pp. 44-45.
36
The quote reproduced below is from “My Scrubs.” Scrubs, NBC Universal, 2007.
37
Essay by Beth Harding, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
38
Essay by Katherine Morris, Portland State University, 2016. Reproduced with
39
Essay by Derek Holt, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with permission
40
the student author.
41
Essay by Carlynn de Joya, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
42
Essay by Maia Wiseman, Portland State University, 2014. Reproduced with
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Section 2: Text Wrestling
Part Two
Text
Wrestling
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Text Wrestling Analysis
Chapter Vocabulary
also referred to in this text as “engaged reading,” a set of

critical/active
strategies and concepts to interrupt projection and focus on a
reading
text. See Appendix B: Engaged Reading Strategies.
the process of consuming rhetoric to create meaning. “An
interpretation” refers to a specific meaning we build as we
interpretation
encounter a text, focusing on certain ideas, language, or
patterns.
any artifact through which a message is communicated. Can be
written or spoken; digital, printed, or undocumented; video,
text
image, or language. Every text is rhetorical in nature. See
rhetoric.
a rhetorical mode in which an author analyzes a text using close
text wrestling reading, then presents an interpretation supported by evidence
from the text.
Along the way to this point of your educational career, you’ve probably encountered
the term critical reading or active reading more than a few times. Teachers tell
students of all ages that using active reading
skills is important for reading
comprehension, critical thinking, and even
effective writing. But what exactly does it
mean to read critically or actively?
Perhaps it would serve us to step back and

first consider what is being read. Most often,
we think of a text as a written piece—an essay,
a poem, a newspaper article, a novel. While
this is often the case, a text can be anything:
it is an articulation of rhetoric, bearing in
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mind that we are constantly surrounded by rhetoric. An advertisement is a text; a

series of tweets is a text; a TV show is a text; an improvised dance number is a text.
Every text, in turn, is subject to interpretation. Interpretation refers to the process of

consuming rhetoric to create meaning. A text by itself does not actually mean
anything; rather, we build meaning as we engage with a text. This is an important
distinction to make because
• As a reader, your interpretation is unique, informed by your lived experiences,
your education, your mood(s), your purpose, and your posture. To an extent,
no two readers will interpret a text exactly the same way.
• As an author, you must be cognizant that your writing only impacts your
audience when they encounter it from their unique interpretive position. You
may carefully construct a piece of writing to capture meaning, but that
meaning only exists when a reader engages with what you’ve written.
Because texts can come in such diverse and complex forms, the strategies entailed in
“critical” and “active reading” are only the first step: they are tools in our toolkits that
lay the groundwork for interpretation. In other words, engaged reading strategies
(like those in the so-titled Appendix A) prepare us for text wrestling.
Text wrestling refers to an analytical encounter with a text during which you, the
reader, make observations and informed arguments about the text as a method of
creating meaning and cultivating unique insight. Most often, this encounter will
eventually lead to an essay that shares your analysis with your classmates, your
teacher, or a broader audience.
The following section explores the cognitive and rhetorical techniques that support
text wrestling. While your teacher may ask you to focus on a particular medium or
genre of text for a text wrestling essay, this section will explore analytical processes
that can be applied to many different kinds of texts. First, in Chapter Four, we will
review the ideas and skills for thinking analytically. After that, we will turn to ideas and
skills for writing about that analytical thinking, including summary, note-taking, and
synthesis.
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Chapter Four
Interpretation, Analysis, and Close
Reading
Interpretation
When Mad Max: Fury Road came out in 2015, it was lauded as a powerful feminist
film. No longer was this franchise about men enacting post-apocalyptic violence;
now, there was an important place in that universe for women. A similar phenomenon
surrounded Wonder Woman in 2017: after dozens of male-fronted superhero movies,
one would finally focus on a female hero exclusively.
Some people, though, were resistant to this reading of feminism in film. I found
myself in regular debates after each of these releases about what it meant to promote
gender equality in film: does substituting a violent woman for a violent man constitute
feminism? Is the leading woman in a film a feminist just by virtue of being in a female-
fronted film? Or do her political beliefs take priority?1 Does the presence of women
on the screen preclude the fact that those women are still highly sexualized?
These questions, debates, and discussions gesture toward the interpretive process.
Indeed, most arguments (verbal or written) rely on the fact that we each process texts
and information from different positions with different purposes, lenses, and
preoccupations. Why is it that some people leave the theater after Mad Max or
Wonder Woman feeling empowered, and others leave deeply troubled?
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Interpretation is a complex process that is unique to every reader. It is a process of

meaning-making that relies on your particular position as a reader. Your interpretive
position is informed by several factors.
• Your purpose – In the same • Your posture – The stance

way you have a rhetorical you assume relative to a text will
purpose in writing, you often contribute to what meaning you
have a purpose in reading, make as you read, think about,
either consciously or and write about that text. This
subconsciously. What are you relative position might be
trying to accomplish in this emotional (what mood you’re in
encounter with a text? while reading) or contextual
• Your background – Your (what situation you’re reading in),
•
lived experiences have trained and may also be impacted by
you to perceive texts with your background and purpose.
certain assumptions. This • Your lens – Related to your
background is a blend of purpose, lens refers to the way
cultural, educational, you focus your attention on
geographical, familial, particular ideas, images, and
ideological, and personal language to construct meaning.
influences, among many Toward what elements are you
others. directing your attention?
It would be simpler, perhaps, to acknowledge that we will never all agree on an

interpretation of a text because of these differences. But the stakes are higher here
than simply, “Is Mad Max feminist?” Interpretation gets down to the very way we
encounter the world; it is about all our biases and flaws; it is about truth; it is about
building new knowledges and dismantling institutional oppression. In other words,
analytical interpretation is not so esoteric as slotting texts into labels like “feminist” or
“not feminist.” It is a practice of thinking critically, examining our sense of community
and communication, and pursuing social justice.
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Analysis
On a basic level, analysis refers to the conceptual strategy of “part-to-whole.” Because

I grew up playing with LEGOs® (or, more often, the cheap knock-offs), I like to use this
analogy: Imagine a castle built of 1000 LEGO bricks. I can look at the entire structure
and say, “Oh, that’s a castle”—this is a reasonable interpretation. But to understand
how that castle has actually come together, I pull a few of the LEGO bricks from
various parts of the structure. I look at those bricks individually, closely examining
each side (even the sides that I couldn’t see when they were part of the castle).
When I say, “This is a castle,” I am not analyzing. But next, perhaps I ask myself, “What
is each of these blocks doing to create what I can clearly interpret as a castle?” This is
the process of analysis.
Which bricks to choose, though? As we discussed in Chapter One, attention is always

selective: we automate most of our daily experience for the sake of efficiency and
survival, so we often overlook the trees when we see the forest—or each LEGO brick
when we see the castle.
Analysis, then, is a practice of radical noticing (like description): it invites you to

attend to the details that add up to a complex reality. But analysis also involves
conscientious focus of your attention, or a lens. Just like reading glasses can bring
these words into focus, an analytical lens brings specific ideas, words, or patterns into
sharper focus, making them easier to process and interpret.
Sometimes, especially in English classrooms, analysis of a text is referred to as close

reading.2 Importantly, close reading as a technique is not a magical key to meaning,
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not a super-secret decoder ring for a deeply encrypted code. Rather, it is a means to
unpack a text and construct a unique, focused interpretation. Close reading is an
iterative process: by repeatedly encountering, unpacking, and discussing a text, you
can develop an analytical insight through guided and focused interpretation of its
meaning.
In an analytical situation, your readerly purpose might determine your focus: for
example, if you’re trying to convince a friend that Wonder Woman is a feminist film,
you would keep your eyes peeled for images, words, and other markers that align
with such an interpretation, like situations featuring independent powerful women or
an equitable ratio of dialogue spoken by female characters vs. male characters. It is
important to note, though, that good analysis embraces curiosity and allows you to
notice elements that might contradict, complicate, or nuance your original purpose:
in addition to finding evidence in support of your interpretation, you should also be
aware of characteristics that push back against your expectations.
Chapter Vocabulary
the inferred or speculated intention of a writer. Must be

authorial intent
overlooked in the process of text wrestling analysis.
the cognitive process and/or rhetorical mode of studying
analysis constituent parts to demonstrate an interpretation of a larger
whole.
the associated meanings of a word, phrase, or idea beyond its
‘dictionary’ definition; the complex, subjective, and dynamic
connotation
meanings of a word, phrase, or idea the shift based on
interpretive position. Contrast with denotation.
a technique of reading that focuses attention on features of the
text to construct an interpretation. (This is in contrast to
close reading
interpretive methods that rely on research, historical context,
biography, or speculation.)
the dictionary definition of a word, phrase, or idea; the standard
and objective meaning of a word, phrase, or idea which,
denotation
theoretically, does not vary based on interpretive position.
Contrast with connotation.
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the process of consuming rhetoric to create meaning. “An

interpretation
patterns.
the unique position from which each of us interprets a text—
interpretive position necessarily different for all people at any given time, and often
different for the same person at different times in their life.
literally, a repetition within a process. Analysis is iterative
iterative
because it requires repeated critical encounters with a text.
a metaphor for the conceptual framework a reader applies to an
analysis. A “lens” brings certain elements into focus, allowing the
lens
reader to attend to specific parts of a text to develop an
interpretation.
a recurring image or phrase that helps convey a theme. Similar
motif to a symbol, but the relationship between symbol and
symbolized is more one-to-one than between motif and theme.
a notable sequence; structure or shape; recurring image, word,
pattern
or phrase found in a piece of rhetoric.
a connection a text makes to another text. Can be explicit or
implicit; might include allusion, allegory, quotation, or parody.
reference
Referencing text adopts some characteristics of the referenced
text.
an artifact (usually something concrete) that stands in for
symbol
(represents) something else (often something abstract).
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Techniques
Authorial Intent
In a groundbreaking 1967 essay, Roland Barthes declared that “the birth of the
reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author.”3 In the fifty years since its
publication, “The Death of the Author” has greatly influenced the way students,
teachers, and academics conduct analysis. Most critics have come to acknowledge
that the personal and historical context of the author is not entirely irrelevant, as
Barthes might seem to suggest; rather, most people value Barthes’ notion that we
must free ourselves from the trap of authorial intent. This is to say, what we have to
work with is the text itself, so it doesn’t matter what the author wanted to say, but
instead what they did say. Therefore, we should work from the assumption that every
choice the author made was deliberate.
This choice to avoid speculation about the author’s intent or personality is consistent
with the theories of text wrestling analysis explored in this chapter’s introduction.
Because meaning is always and only constructed through interpretation, we should
let go of the idea that the author (or the “secret meanings” the author wrote into a
text) is hidden somewhere beneath the surface. There
is nothing “hidden” behind the text or in between the
“Once the Author is
lines: there is only the text and those who interpret it.
gone, the claim to
This idea might seem to contradict one of the central ‘decipher’ a text
frameworks of this textbook: that unpacking the becomes quite
rhetorical situation is crucial to critically consuming
useless.”
and producing rhetoric. Overlooking authorial intent
does not mean that the author’s rhetorical situation is - Roland Barthes,
no longer important. Instead, we should simply avoid “The Death of the
unproductive speculation: we can consider the Author”
author’s occasion, but we shouldn’t try to guess about
their motives. For instance, we can say that Malcolm
X’s writing was influenced by racial oppression in the 1950s and 1960s in the U.S., but
not by his preference for peas over carrots. It’s a fine line, but an important one.
Moreover, the choice to focus on what the author actually wrote, assuming that each
word is on purpose, is part of the rhetorical situation of analysis. Your audience might
also be curious about the author’s intent, but your rhetorical purpose in this situation
is to demonstrate an interpretation of the text—not the author.
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Radical Noticing: Seeing What’s On the Page
When we were early readers, we were trained to encounter texts in a specific way:
find the main idea, focus on large-scale comprehension, and ignore errors,
digressions, or irrelevant information. As Jane Gallop discusses in her essay, “The
Ethics of Reading: Close Encounters,” this is a useful skill but a problematic one.
Because we engage a text from a specific interpretive position (and because we’re
not always aware of that position), we often project what we anticipate rather than
actually reading. Instead of reading what is on the page, we read what we think
should be.
Projection is efficient—one e-mail from Mom is probably like all the others, and one
episode of The Simpsons will probably follow the same trajectory as every episode
from the last twenty-odd years. But projection is also problematic and inhibits
analysis. As Gallop puts it,
When the reader concentrates on the familiar, she is reassured that what
she already knows is sufficient in relation to this new book. Focusing on the
surprising, on the other hand, would mean giving up the comfort of the
familiar, of the already known for the sake of learning, of encountering
something new, something she didn’t already know.
In fact, this all has to do with learning. Learning is very difficult; it takes a
lot of effort. It is of course much easier if once we learn something we can
apply what we have learned again and again. It is much more difficult if every
time we confront something new, we have to learn something new.
Reading what one expects to find means finding what one already knows.
Learning, on the other hand, means coming to know something one did not
know before. Projecting is the opposite of learning. As long as we project onto
a text, we cannot learn from it, we can only find what we already know. Close
reading is thus a technique to make us learn, to make us see what we don’t
already know, rather than transforming the new into the old.4
Analysis as “learning,” as Gallop explains, is a tool to help interrupt projection: by

focusing on and trying to understand parts, we can redirect our attention to what the
author is saying rather than what we think they should have said. In turn, we can
develop a more complex, ethical, and informed understanding of a whole.
Perhaps the most important part of analysis is this attention to detail. If we assume
that every word the author published is intentional (in order to avoid speculation
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about authorial intent), then we can question the meaning and impact of each word,
each combination of words, each formal feature of the text. In turn, you should pay
special attention to words or forms that surprise you or confuse you: the eye-catching
and the ambiguous.
Symbols, Patterns, and References5
There is no definitive “how-to” guide on text wrestling, but I often ask my students to
direct their attention to three particular elements of a text during their interpretive
processes. When you draw connections through the following categories, you are
actively building meaning from the words on the page.
Symbol: A symbol, as you may already know, is an artifact (usually something

concrete) that stands in for (represents) something else (often something
abstract). Here are a few examples in different media:
o Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign logo: the O, of
course, stands in for the candidate’s last name; the red
lines seem to suggest a road (implying progress), or
maybe waving American flag; the blue curve
represents a clear, blue sky (implying safety or
wellbeing); the colors themselves are perhaps
symbolic of bipartisan cooperation, or at the very least,
the American color palette of red, white, and blue.
o In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat,” the titular black cat symbolizes the
narrator’s descent into madness, alcoholism, and violence, and later his
guilt for that descent.
o The teaspoon used to hypnotize people in the film Get Out (2017)
symbolizes wealth, power, and privilege (a “silver spoon”), suggesting
that those structures are tools for control and domination.
o In Beowulf, the Old English epic poem, the monster Grendel symbolizes
a fear of the unknown and the intractability of nature.
o In The Great Gatsby, the green light at the end of the Buchanans’ dock
symbolizes nostalgia and hope.
* A motif is closely related to a symbol, but it is different. A motif is a recurring
image, word, or phrase that helps to carry a theme or other abstract idea. For
example, William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” includes frequent
use of the word “dust.” While the dust is not directly symbolic of anything, it
certainly brings to mind a variety of connotations: reading “dust” makes you
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think of time passing, stagnancy, decay, and so on. Therefore, the motif of
“dust” helps contribute to bigger characteristics, like tone and themes.
Pattern: Patterns are created

by a number of rhetorical
moves, often in form.
Repetition of phrases or
images, the visual appearance
of text on a page, and
character archetypes might
contribute to patterns. While
patterns themselves are
interesting and important, you
might also notice that
breaking a pattern is a
significant and deliberate
move.
o The episode of the TV series Master of None titled “Parents” (Season 1,
Episode 2) tells the respective stories of two immigrant families. By
tracing the previous generation of each immigrant families through a
series of flashbacks, the episode establishes a pattern in chronology:
although the families have unique stories, the pattern highlights the
similarities of these two families’ experiences. In turn, this pattern
demonstrates the parallel but distinct challenges and opportunities
faced by the immigrants and first-generation American citizens the
episode profiles.
o In Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est,” each line of the first
stanza contains ten syllables. However, the following stanzas contain
occasional deviations—more or fewer syllables—creating a sense of
disorder and also drawing emphasis to the pattern-breaking lines.
o Tyehimba Jess, author of Olio and Leadbelly, painstakingly crafts
patterns in his poetry. For instance, his series of sonnets on Millie and
Christine McKoy follows not only the conventions of traditional sonnets,
but are also interlocking, exemplifying the distinct but overlapping
voices of conjoined twins.
Reference: A reference is a connection a text makes to another text. By

making a reference (whether obvious or hidden), the referencing text adopts
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some characteristics of the referenced text. References might include allusion,

allegory, quotation, or parody.
o C.S. Lewis’ classic young adult series, The Chronicles of Narnia, is a
Christian allegory. The imagery used to describe the main hero, Aslan
the lion, as well as a number of the other stories and details, parallel the
New Testament. In turn, Aslan is imbued with the savior connotation of
Jesus Christ.
o The TV show Bob’s Burgers makes frequent references to pop culture.
For instance, the fictional boy band featured in the show, Boyz 4 Now,
closely resembles One Direction, *NSYNC, and Backstreet Boys—and
their name is clearly a reference to Boyz II Men.
o “Woman Hollering Creek,” a short story by Sandra Cisneros, deals with
the dangers of interpersonal violence. The protagonist refers frequently
to telenovelas, soap operas that set unrealistic and problematic
assumptions for healthy relationships. These references suggest to us
that interpersonal violence is pervasive in media and social norms.
Sociocultural Lenses6
In addition to looking for symbols, patterns, and references, you might also focus
your analytical reading by using a sociocultural critical lens. Because your attention is
necessarily selective, a limited resource, these lenses give you a suggestion for where
you might direct that attention. While it is beyond the scope of this book to give in-
depth history and reading practices for different schools of literary criticism or cultural
studies, the following are common lenses applied during textual analysis. (The
Purdue OWL provides some free resources here to introduce students to some of
these schools of criticism.)
As you engage with a text, you should look for touchstones, tropes, or symbols that
relate to one or more of the following critical perspectives.
o Gender and sexuality

How does the text portray the creation and performance of gender? How many
people of different genders are included in the story? Do the characters in the
text express gender according to traditional standards? How do characters
resist the confines of gender? How much attention, agency, and voice are
allowed to women, men, and non-binary or genderqueer characters?
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What sorts of relationships—familial, friendly, romantic, sexual, etc.—are portrayed in

the text? How do these relationships compare to the relationships of the
dominant culture? How much attention, agency, and voice are allowed to
LGBTQIA2S+ people?
o Disability
How does the text represent people with disabilities? Does the text reveal
damaging stereotypes or misconceptions about people with disabilities or their
life experiences? Does the text illuminate the social/environmental construction
of disabilities? How does the text construct or assume the normative body?
o Race, ethnicity, and nationality

How does the text represent people of color, of minority status, and/or of different
nationalities? What does it suggest about institutionalized racism and
discrimination? How does the text examine or portray cultural and individual
identities? How do the characters resist racism, xenophobia, and oppression?
How do they reproduce, practice, or contribute to racism, xenophobia, or
oppression?
o Social class and economy

How does the text represent differences in wealth, access, and resources? Do
people cross the divisions between socioeconomic statuses? Are characters of
greater status afforded more power, agency, or freedom—in the plot events or
in the text more generally? How do exploited people resist or reproduce
exploitation?
o Ecologies and the environment

Does the setting of the text represent a ‘natural’ world? How does the text
represent nature, ecosystems, non-human animals and other living organisms?
Does the text, its narrative, or its characters advocate for environmental
protection? Does the text speak to the human impact on global ecological
health?
o (Post)colonialism
What is the relationship of the characters and the setting, historically and culturally?
Does the text take place in a currently or formerly colonized nation? Which of
the characters are from that place? How have the effects of colonialism and
imperialism influenced the place and its indigenous people? How have
subjected, enslaved, or exploited people preserved culture or resisted
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colonialism? How does the text represent patterns of migration—forced or

voluntary?
Some texts will lend themselves to a certain lens (or combination of lenses) based on
content or the rhetorical situation of the author or reader. Bring to mind a recent
movie you watched, book you read, or other text you’ve encountered; by asking the
italicized questions above, determine whether that text seems to be asking for a
certain sociocultural perspective.
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Activities
Personal Photo Analysis
For this activity, find a photograph (digital or printed) that has some sort of emotional
gravity for you: it could be a picture of a loved one, a treasured memory, a favorite
place, anything that makes you feel something.
On a clean sheet of paper, free-write about the photo in response to the following
prompts for three minutes each:
Describe the photograph as a whole. What’s happening? Who is in it? Use vivid
description to capture the photo in writing as best you can.
Zoom in on one element of the photo—one color, shape, object, person, etc.
How does this part relate to the greater whole?
Zoom out and describe what’s not shown in the photo. What’s happening just
out of frame? What’s happening just before, just after? What are the emotions
you associate with this moment?
Now, trade photos with a friend or classmate who’s also working on this activity.
Repeat the same free-write prompts and compare your responses. What do the
differences indicate about the interpretive process? About context? About the
position of the reader and the limitations on the author (photographer)?
Unpacking Advertisements: Analyzing Visual Rhetoric
One of the most common forms of visual rhetoric we encounter on a daily basis are
advertisements; indeed, advertisements are more and more prominent with the
growth of technology, and increasingly tailored to the target audience. The ads we
encounter often blend language, images, sound, and video to achieved their
intended purpose—to convince you to buy something.
To practice analysis, you can close read an advertisement or advertising campaign.

Choose a brand, product, or corporation that you find interesting. One that I’ve
found especially engaging is Levi’s 2009 “Go Forth” advertising campaign.7
Try to identify the subject, occasion, audience, and purpose of the
advertisement. Often, there is an obvious or declared answer for each of these
(the subject of the Levi’s campaign is “Levi’s jeans” and the purpose is “to make
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you buy Levi’s jeans”), but there are also more subtle answers (the subject is
also “American millennial empowerment” and the purpose is also “create a
youthful, labor-oriented brand”).
Identify what parts of the advertisement contribute to the whole: what colors,
shapes, words, images, associations, etc., does the ad play on in order to
achieve its purpose? Do you notice symbols, patterns, or references?
Interpret the observations you collected in number three. How do the parts
contribute to the whole? What might you overlook if you weren’t paying close
enough attention?
Radical Noticing Promenade
This exercise encourages you to focus on details, rather than the big picture, as a way
to better understand the big picture. You will need a notebook and a camera. (If you
have a cell phone with a camera, it will do the trick.)
Take about twenty minutes to wander around an area that you often spend time in:
your house, your neighborhood, the halls of your school, etc. Walk slowly and
aimlessly; this exercise works best when you don’t have a destination in mind.
As you wander, look around you and focus on small details—a piece of garbage on
the sidewalk, the color of that guy’s shoes, the sound of a leaf blower in the distance.
Record (using your camera, notebook, or both) these small details. When you return
to your desk, choose three of these details to meditate on. Using descriptive writing
(see Chapter One), spend a few minutes exploring these details in writing. Then,
consider what they might reflect about the place where you promenaded—the piece
of garbage might indicate that neighborhood is well-maintained but not pristine; the
leaf blower might reflect a suburban American commitment to both manicured lawns
and convenience.
Poem Explication8
Practice analyzing a text using your choice of one of the following poems. First, read a
poem through once silently and once aloud. Then read the poem again, this time
annotating words and phrases that strike you. Look for patterns (and breaks in
patterns) in language, rhyme, meter, and form. Look for potential symbolism,
concrete objects that seem to suggest something more abstract. Look for references,
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connections to other texts you know. You can also consider whether the poem speaks
to any analytical lenses and how it compares to your experiences.
Next, develop several questions that the poem raises. What is ambiguous about the
content or language? What might it suggest about our lives, our society?
Finally, synthesize your observations and questions into a brief essay driven by a
thesis statement. Use specific parts of the text to support your insight.
Drag the River9

On our way to the river
the gist of American storytelling
dragged along like a dog
leashed to the back of the car.
I had to pull over.

You said, “I hope
We switched seats.
Parked at milepost 6, the grease fire night

pulled the river toward the delta.
The water ran low;
the trees performed their shakes.
We removed our hats then went down to the banks.

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Richard Cory10
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
“Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—

And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
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Annotation: “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”11

Original text: (Click on image to see annotated text)
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
The breath goes now, and some say, No:
So let us melt, and make no noise,

No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
‘Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Moving of th’ earth brings harms and fears,

Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.
Dull sublunary lovers’ love

(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.
But we by a love so much refined,

That our selves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.
Our two souls therefore, which are one,

Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the other do.
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And though it in the center sit,

Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,

Like th’ other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.
Video: Text Wrestling/Close Reading Roundtable12

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Chapter Five
Summary and Response
As you sharpen your analytical skills, you might realize that you should use evidence
from the text to back up the points you make. You might use direct quotes as
support, but you can also consider using summary.
A summary is a condensed version of a text, put into your own words. Summarizing is
a useful part of the analytical process because it requires you to read the text,
interpret and process it, and reproduce the important points using your own
language. By doing so, you are (consciously or unconsciously) making choices about
what matters, what words and phrases mean, and how to articulate their meaning.
Often (but not always), response refers to a description of a reader’s experience and
reactions as they encounter a text. Response papers track how you feel and what you
think as you move through a text. More importantly, responses also challenge you to
evaluate exactly how a text acts upon you—to make you feel or think a certain way—
using language or images. While a response is not an analysis, it will help you
generate ideas for the analytical process.
Chapter Vocabulary
the verbatim use of another author’s words. Can be used as

direct quote evidence to support your claim, or as language to analyze/close-
read to demonstrate an interpretation or insight.
author reiterates a main idea, argument, or detail of a text in
paraphrase their own words without drastically altering the length of the
passage(s) they paraphrase. Contrast with summary.
a mode of writing that values the reader’s experience of and
response
reactions to a text.
a rhetorical mode in which an author reiterates the main ideas,
summary arguments, and details of a text in their own words, condensing a
longer text into a smaller version. Contrast with paraphrase.
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Techniques
Identifying Main Points, Concerns, and Images
If you ever watch TV shows with a serial plot, you might be familiar with the phrase
“Previously, on _________.” The snippets at the beginning of an episode are designed
to remind the viewer of the important parts of previous episodes—but how do makers
of the show determine what a viewer needs to be refreshed on? And why am I
watching full episodes if they’ll just tell me what I need to know in the first minute of
the next episode?
Typically, the makers of the show choose short, punchy bits that will be relevant in the
new episode’s narrative arc. For instance, a “Previously, on The Walking Dead” might
have a clip from ten episodes ago showing zombies invading Hershel’s farm if the
new episode focuses on Hershel and his family. Therefore, these “previously ons”
hook the viewer by showcasing only exciting parts and prime the viewer for a new
story by planting specific details in their mind. Summaries like this are driven by
purpose, and consequently have a specific job to do in choosing main points.
You, too, should consider your rhetorical purpose when you begin writing summary.
Whether you are writing a summary essay or using summary as a tool for analysis,
your choices about what to summarize and how to summarize it should be
determined by what you’re trying to accomplish with your writing.
As you engage with a text you plan to summarize, you should begin by identifying
main points, recurring images, or concerns and preoccupations of the text. (You may
find the Engaged Reading Strategies appendix of this book useful.) After reading and
rereading, what ideas stick with you? What does the author seem distracted by? What
keeps cropping up?
Tracking Your Reactions
As you read and reread a text, you should take regular breaks to check in with
yourself to track your reactions. Are you feeling sympathetic toward the speaker,
narrator, or author? To the other characters? What other events, ideas, or contexts are
you reminded of as you read? Do you understand and agree with the speaker,
narrator, or author? What is your emotional state? At what points do you feel
confused or uncertain, and why?
129
Try out the double-column note-taking method. As illustrated below, divide a piece
of paper into two columns; on the left, make a heading for “Notes and Quotes,” and
on the right, “Questions and Reactions.” As you move through a text, jot down
important ideas and words from the text on the left, and record your intellectual and
emotional reactions on the right. Be sure to ask prodding questions of the text along
the way, too.
Notes and Quotes Questions and

Reactions
Writing Your Summary

Once you have read and re-read your text at least Summarizing requires
once, taking notes and reflecting along the way, you
you to make choices
are ready to start writing a summary. Before starting,
consider your rhetorical situation: What are you trying about what matters,
to accomplish (purpose) with your summary? What what words and
details and ideas (subject) are important for your
phrases mean, and
reader (audience) to know? Should you assume that
they have also read the text you’re summarizing? I’m how to articulate their
thinking back here to the “Previously on…” idea: TV meaning.
130
series don’t include everything from a prior episode; they focus instead on moments
that set up the events of their next episode. You too should choose your content in
accordance with your rhetorical situation.
I encourage you to start off by articulating the “key” idea or ideas from the text in one
or two sentences. Focus on clarity of language: start with simple word choice, a single
idea, and a straightforward perspective so that you establish a solid foundation.
The authors support feminist theories and practices that are critical of racism
and other oppressions.
Then, before that sentence, write one or two more sentences that introduce the title
of the text, its authors, and its main concerns or interventions. Revise your key idea
sentence as necessary.
In “Why Our Feminism Must Be Intersectional (And 3 Ways to Practice It),”
Jarune Uwuajaren and Jamie Utt critique what is known as ‘white feminism.’
They explain that sexism is wrapped up in racism, Islamophobia, heterosexism,
transphobia, and other systems of oppression. The authors support feminist
theories and practices that recognize intersectionality.
Your next steps will depend largely on the reasons you are summarizing. Has your
teacher asked you to summarize objectively, reproducing the ideas of the text without
adding your own ideas or reactions? Have they asked you to critique the article, by
both showing understanding and then pushing back against the text? Follow the
parameters of your assignment; they are an important element of your rhetorical
situation.
In most summary assignments, though, you will be expected to draw directly from the
article itself by using direct quotes or paraphrases in addition to your own summary.
Paraphrase, Summary, and Direct Quotes
Whether you’re writing a summary or broaching your analysis, using support from the
text will help you clarify ideas, demonstrate your understanding, or further your
argument, among other things. Three distinct methods, which Bruce Ballenger refers
to as “The Notetaker’s Triad,” will allow you to process and reuse information from
your focus text.13
A direct quote might be most familiar to you: using quotation marks (“ ”) to indicate
the moments that you’re borrowing, you reproduce an author’s words verbatim in
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your own writing. Use a direct quote if someone else wrote or said something in a
distinctive or particular way and you want to capture their words exactly.
Direct quotes are good for establishing ethos and providing evidence. In a text
wrestling essay, you will be expected to use multiple direct quotes: in order to attend
to specific language, you will need to reproduce segments of that language in your
analysis.
Paraphrasing is similar to the process of summary. When we paraphrase, we process

information or ideas from another person’s text and put it in our own words. The main
difference between paraphrase and summary is scope: if summarizing means
rewording and condensing, then paraphrasing means rewording without drastically
altering length. However, paraphrasing is
also generally more faithful to the spirit of
the original; whereas a summary requires
Whether you are quoting,
you to process and invites your own
perspective, a paraphrase ought to mirror paraphrasing, or
back the original idea using your own summarizing, you must always
language.
include an appropriate
Paraphrasing is helpful for establishing citation.
background knowledge or general For support on citations, visit
consensus, simplifying a complicated idea, your Writing Center, access the
or reminding your reader of a certain part
Purdue OWL, or ask your
of another text. It is also valuable when
relaying statistics or historical information, teacher and classmates for
both of which are usually more fluidly support.
woven into your writing when spoken with
your own voice.
Summary, as discussed earlier in this chapter, is useful for “broadstrokes” or quick

overviews, brief references, and providing plot or character background. When you
summarize, you reword and condense another author’s writing. Be aware, though,
that summary also requires individual thought: when you reword, it should be a result
of you processing the idea yourself, and when you condense, you must think critically
about which parts of the text are most important. As you can see in the example
below, one summary shows understanding and puts the original into the author’s
own words; the other summary is a result of a passive rewording, where the author
only substituted synonyms for the original.
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“On Facebook, what you click on, what you share with your ‘friends’ shapes
your profile, preferences, affinities, political opinions and your vision of the Original
world. The last thing Facebook wants is to contradict you in any way” Quote
(Filloux).14
û
On Facebook, the things you click on and share forms your profile, likings,
sympathies, governmental ideas and your image of society. Facebook doesn’t
want to contradict you at all (Filloux).
ü
When you interact with Facebook, you teach the algorithms about yourself.
Those algorithms want to mirror back your beliefs (Filloux).
Each of these three tactics should support your summary or analysis: you should
integrate quotes, paraphrases, and summary with your own writing. Below, you can
see three examples of these tools. Consider how the direct quote, the paraphrase,
and the summary each could be used to achieve different purposes.
Original Passage
It has been suggested (again rather anecdotally) that giraffes do communicate using
infrasonic vocalizations (the signals are verbally described to be similar—in structure
and function—to the low-frequency, infrasonic “rumbles” of elephants). It was further
speculated that the extensive frontal sinus of giraffes acts as a resonance chamber for
infrasound production. Moreover, particular neck movements (e.g. the neck stretch)
are suggested to be associated with the production of infrasonic vocalizations.15
Quote Paraphrase Summary

Some zoological experts have Giraffes emit a low-pitch noise; Baotic et al.
pointed out that the evidence some scientists believe that this conducted a
for giraffe hums has been hum can be used for study on giraffe
“rather anecdotally” reported communication with other hums in
(Baotic et al. 3). However, members of the social group, but response to
some scientists have others are skeptical because of the speculation that
“speculated that the dearth of research on giraffe these noises are
extensive frontal sinus of noises. According to Baotic et al., used
giraffes acts as a resonance the anatomy of the animal deliberately for
chamber for infrasound suggests that they may be making communication.
production” (Ibid. 3). deliberate and specific noises (3).
133
The examples above also demonstrate additional citation conventions worth noting:
• A parenthetical in-text citation is used for all three forms. (In MLA format, this
citation includes the author’s last name and page number.) The purpose of an
in-text citation is to identify key information that guides your reader to your
Works Cited page (or Bibliography or References, depending on your format).
• If you use the author’s name in the sentence, you do not need to include their
name in the parenthetical citation.
• If your material doesn’t come from a specific page or page range, but rather
from the entire text, you do not need to include a page number in the
parenthetical citation.
• If there are many authors (generally more than three), you can use “et al.” to
mean “and others.”
• If you cite the same source consecutively in the same paragraph (without citing
any other sources in between), you can use “Ibid.” to mean “same as the last
one.”
In Chapter Six, we will discuss integrating quotes, summaries, and paraphrases into
your text wrestling analysis. Especially if you are writing a summary that requires you
to use direct quotes, I encourage you to jump ahead to “Synthesis: Using Evidence to
Explore Your Thesis” in that chapter.
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Activities
Summary and Response: TV Show or Movie
Practice summary and response using a movie or an episode of a television show.

(Although it can be more difficult with a show or movie you already know and like,
you can apply these skills to both familiar and unfamiliar texts.)
Watch it once all the way through, taking notes using the double-column
structure above.
Watch it once more, pausing and rewinding as necessary, adding additional
notes.
Write one or two paragraphs summarizing the episode or movie as objectively
as possible. Try to include the major plot points, characters, and conflicts.
Write a paragraph that transitions from summary to response: what were your
reactions to the episode or movie? What do you think produced those
reactions? What seems troubling or problematic? What elements of form and
language were striking? How does the episode or movie relate to your lived
experiences?
Everyone’s a Critic: Food Review
Food critics often employ summary and response with the purpose of reviewing
restaurants for potential customers. You can give it a shot by visiting a restaurant,
your dining hall, a fast-food joint, or a food cart. Before you get started, consider
reading some food and restaurant reviews from your local newspaper. (Yelp often
isn’t quite thorough enough.)
Bring a notepad to your chosen location and take detailed notes on your experience
as a patron. Use descriptive writing techniques (see Chapter One), to try to capture
the experience.
• What happens as you walk in? Are you greeted? What does it smell like? What
are your immediate reactions?
• Describe the atmosphere. Is there music? What’s the lighting like? Is it slow, or
busy?
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• Track the service. How long before you receive the attention you need? Is that
attention appropriate to the kind of food-service place you’re in?
• Record as many details about the food you order as possible.
After your dining experience, write a brief review of the restaurant, dining hall, fast-
food restaurant, or food cart. What was it like, specifically? Did it meet your
expectations? Why or why not? What would you suggest for improvement? Would
you recommend it to other diners like you?
Digital Media Summary and Mini-Analysis
For this exercise, you will study a

social media feed of your choice.
You can use your own or someone
else’s Facebook feed, Twitter feed,
or Instagram feed. Because these
feeds are tailored to their
respective user’s interests, they are
all unique and represent
something about the user.
After closely reviewing at least ten

posts, respond to the following
questions in a brief essay:
• What is the primary medium used on this platform (e.g, images, text, video,
etc.)?
• What recurring ideas, themes, topics, or preoccupations do you see in this
collection? Provide examples.
• Do you see posts that deviate from these common themes?
• What do the recurring topics in the feed indicate about its user? Why?
• Bonus: What ads do you see popping up? How do you think these have been
geared toward the user?
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Maggie as the Focal Point16
Shanna Greene Benjamin attempts to resolve Toni Morrison’s emphasis on
Maggie in her short story “Recitatif”. While many previous scholars focus on racial
codes, and “the black-and-white” story that establishes the racial binary, Benjamin
goes ten steps further to show “the brilliance of Morrison’s experiment” (Benjamin
90). Benjamin argues that Maggie’s story which is described through Twyla’s and
Roberta’s memories is the focal point of “Recitatif” where the two protagonists have a
chance to rewrite “their conflicting versions of history” (Benjamin 91). More so, Maggie
is the interstitial space where blacks and whites can engage, confront America’s
racialized past, rewrite history, and move forward.
Benjamin highlights that Maggie’s story is first introduced by Twyla, labeling
her recollections as the “master narrative” (Benjamin 94). Although Maggie’s story is
rebutted with Roberta’s memories, Twyla’s version “represent[s] the residual,
racialized perspectives” stemming from America’s past (Benjamin 89). Since Maggie is
a person with a disability her story inevitably becomes marginalized, and utilized by
both Twyla and Roberta for their own self-fulfilling needs, “instead of mining a path
toward the truth” (Benjamin 97). Maggie is the interstitial narrative, which Benjamin
describes as a space where Twyla and Roberta, “who represent opposite ends of a
racial binary”, can come together to heal (Benjamin 101). Benjamin also points out how
Twyla remembers Maggie’s legs looking “like parentheses” and relates the shape of
parentheses, ( ), to self-reflection (Morrison 141). Parentheses represent that inward
gaze into oneself, and a space that needs to be filled with self-reflection in order for
one to heal and grow. Twyla and Roberta create new narratives of Maggie throughout
the story in order to make themselves feel better about their troubled past. According
to Benjamin, Maggie’s “parenthetical body” is symbolically the interstitial space that
“prompts self-reflection required to ignite healing” (Benjamin 102). Benjamin
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concludes that Morrison tries to get the readers to engage in America’s past by
eliminating and taking up the space between the racial binary that Maggie represents.
Not only do I agree with Benjamin’s stance on “Recitatif”, but I also disapprove
of my own critical analysis of “Recitatif.” I made the same mistakes that other scholars
have made regarding Morrison’s story; we focused on racial codes and the racial
binary, while completely missing the interstitial space which Maggie represents.
Although I did realize Maggie was of some importance, I was unsure why so I decided
to not focus on Maggie at all. Therefore, I missed the most crucial message from
“Recitatif” that Benjamin hones in on.
Maggie is brought up in every encounter between Twyla and Roberta, so of
course it makes sense that Maggie is the focal point in “Recitatif”. Twyla and Roberta
project themselves onto Maggie, which is why the two women have a hard time
figuring out “‘What the hell happened to Maggie’” (Morrison 155). Maggie also has the
effect of bringing the two women closer together, yet at times causing them to be
become more distant. For example, when Twyla and Roberta encounter one another
at the grocery store, Twyla brings up the time Maggie fell and the “gar girls laughed at
her”, while Roberta reminds her that Maggie was in fact pushed down (Morrison 148).
Twyla has created a new, “self-serving narrative[ ]” as to what happened to Maggie
instead of accepting what has actually happened, which impedes Twyla’s ability to
self-reflect and heal (Benjamin 102). If the two women would have taken up the space
between them to confront the truths of their past, Twyla and Roberta could have
created a “cooperative narrative” in order to mend.
Maggie represents the interstitial space that lies between white and black
Americans. I believe this is an ideal space where the two races can come together to
discuss America’s racialized past, learn from one another, and in turn, understand
why America is divided as such. If white and black America jumped into the space
that Maggie defines, maybe we could move forward as a country and help one another
succeed. When I say “succeed”, I am not referring to the “American dream” because
138
that is a false dream created by white America. “Recitatif” is not merely what
characteristics define which race, it is much more than. Plus, who cares about race! I
want America to be able to benefit and give
comfort to every citizen whatever their “race” Teacher Takeaways
may be. This is time where we need black and “This student’s summary of
Benjamin’s article is engaging
white America to come together and fight the and incisive. Although the text
greater evil, which is the corruption within being summarized seems very
complex, the student clearly
America’s government. articulates the author’s primary
claims, which are a portrayed as
an intervention in a
Works Cited conversation (i.e., a claim that
challenges what people might
Benjamin, Shanna Greene. “The Space That
think beforehand). The author is
Race Creates: An Interstitial Analysis of also honest about their
reactions to the text, which I
Toni Morrison’s ‘Recitatif.’” Studies in
enjoy, but they seem to lose
American Fiction, vol. 40, no. 1, 2013, pp. direction a bit toward the end of
the paper. Also, given a chance
87–106. Project Muse,
to revise again, this student
doi:10.1353/saf.2013.0004. should adjust the balance of
quotes and paraphrases/
Morrison, Toni. “Recitatif.” The Norton
summaries: they use direct
Introduction to Literature, Portable 12th quotes effectively, but too
frequently.”
edition, edited by Kelly J. Mays, W.W.
Norton & Company, 2017, pp. 138-155.
Pronouns & Bathrooms17

The article “Pronouns and Bathrooms: Supporting Transgender Students,”
featured on Edutopia, was written to give educators a few key points when enacting
the role of a truly (gender) inclusive educator. It is written specifically to high-school
level educators, but I feel that almost all of the rules that should apply to a person who
is transgender or gender-expansive at any age or grade level. The information is
139
compiled by several interviews done with past and present high school students who
identify with a trans-identity. The key points of advice stated are supported by
personal statements made by past or present students that identify with a trans-
identity.
The first point of advice is to use the student’s preferred name and/or pronoun.
These are fundamental to the formation of identity and demand respect. The personal
interview used in correlation with the advice details how the person ended up
dropping out of high school after transferring twice due to teachers refusing to use
their preferred name and pronoun. This is an all-too-common occurrence. The trans
community recommend that schools and administrators acquire updated gender-
inclusive documentation and update documentation at the request of the student to
avoid misrepresentation and mislabeling. When you use the student’s preferred name
and pronoun in and out of the classroom you are showing the student you sincerely
care for their well-being and the respect of their identity.
The second and other most common recommendation is to make “trans-safe”
(single-use, unisex or trans-inclusive) bathrooms widely available to students. Often
these facilities either do not exist at all or are few-and-far-between, usually
inconveniently located, and may not even meet ADA standards. This is crucial to
insuring safety for trans-identified students.
Other recommendations are that schools engage in continual professional
development training to insure that teachers are the best advocates for their students.
Defend and protect students from physical and verbal abuse. Create a visibly
welcoming and supportive environment for trans-identified students by creating
support groups, curriculum and being vocal about your ally status.
The last piece of the article tells us a person who is trans simply wants to be
viewed as human—a fully actualized human. I agree whole-heartedly. I believe that
140
everyone has this desire. I agree with the
Teacher Takeaways
recommendations of the participants that these
“The author maintains focus on
key arguments and their own exhibitions of advocacy are indeed intrinsic to the
understanding of the text’s role of gender-expansive ally-ship.
claims. By the end of the
summary, I have a clear sense of While they may not be the most salient of
the recommendations the actions of advocacy, they are the most
authors make for supporting
transgender students. However, foundational parts. These actions are the tip of
this piece could use more the iceberg, but they must be respected. Being a
context at the beginning of
each paragraph: the student true ally to the gender-expansive and transgender
could clarify the logical communities means continually expanding your
progression that builds from
one paragraph to the next. (The awareness of trans issues. I am thankful these
current structure reads more
conversations are being had and am excited for
like a list.) Similarly, context is
missing in the form of citations, the future of humanity.
and no author is ever
mentioned. Overall this author
relies a bit too much on Works Cited
summary and would benefit
Wiggs, Blake. “Pronouns and Bathrooms:
from using a couple direct
quotations to give the reader a Supporting Transgender Students.”
sense of the author’s language
Edutopia, 28 September 2015,
and key ideas. In revision, this
author should blend summaries, https://www.edutopia.org/blog/pronouns-
paraphrases, and quotes to
bathrooms-supporting-transgender-
develop this missing context.”
– Professor Dannemiller students-blake-wiggs.
Education Methods: Banking vs. Problem-Posing18

Almost every student has had an unpleasant experience with an educator. Many
times this happens due to the irrelevant problems posed by educators and arbitrary
assignments required of the student. In his chapter from Pedagogy of the Oppressed,
Paulo Freire centers his argument on the oppressive and unsuccessful banking
141
education method in order to show the necessity of a problem-posing method of

education.
Freire begins his argument by intervening into the conversation regarding
teaching methods and styles of education, specifically responding in opposition to the
banking education method, a method that “mirrors the oppressive society as a whole”
(73). He describes the banking method as a system of narration and depositing of
information into students like “containers” or “receptacles” (72). He constructs his
argument by citing examples of domination and mechanical instruction as aspects that
create an assumption of dichotomy, stating that “a person is merely in the world, not
with the world or with others” (75). Freire draws on the reader’s experiences with this
method by providing a list of banking attitudes and practices including “the teacher
chooses and enforces his choices, and the students comply” (73), thus allowing the
reader to connect the subject with their lived experiences.
In response to the banking method, Freire then advocates for a problem-posing
method of education comprised of an educator constantly reforming her reflections in
the reflection of the students. He theorizes that education involves a constant
unveiling of reality, noting that “they come to see the world not as a static reality but
as a reality in process, in transformation” (83). Thus, the problem-posing method
draws on discussion and collaborative communication between students and educator.
As they work together, they are able to learn from one another and impact the world
by looking at applicable problems and assignments, which is in direct opposition of
the banking method.
While it appears that Freire’s problem-posing method is more beneficial to
both the student and educator, he fails to take into account the varying learning styles
of the students, as well as the teaching abilities of the educators. He states that
142
through the banking method, “the student records, memorizes, and repeats these
phrases without perceiving what four times four really means, or realizing the true
significance” (71). While this may be true for many students, some have an easier time
absorbing information when it is given to them in a more mechanical fashion. The
same theory applies to educators as well. Some educators may have a more difficult
time communicating through the problem-posing method. Other educators may not
be as willing to be a part of a more collaborative education method.
I find it difficult to agree with a universal method of education, due to the fact
that a broad method doesn’t take into consideration the varying learning and
communication styles of both educator and student. However, I do agree with Freire
on the basis that learning and education should be a continuous process that involves
the dedication of both student and educator. Students are their own champions and it
takes a real effort to be an active participant in one’s own life and education. It’s too
easy to sit back and do the bare minimum, or be an “automaton” (74). To constantly be
open to learning and new ideas, to be a part of your own education, is harder, but
extremely valuable.
As a student pursuing higher education, I find this text extremely reassuring.
The current state of the world and education can seem grim at times, but after reading
this I feel more confident that there are still people who feel that the current systems
set in place are not creating students who can critically think and contribute to the
world. Despite being written forty years ago, Freire’s radical approach to education
seems to be a more humanistic style, one where students are thinking authentically,
for “authentic thinking is concerned with reality” (77). Problem-posing education is
one that is concerned with liberation, opposed to oppression. The banking method
doesn’t allow for liberation, for “liberation is a praxis: the action and reflection of men
143
and women upon their world in order to transform it” (79). Educational methods
should prepare students to be liberators and transformers of the world, not containers
to receive and store information.
Works Cited
Freire, Paulo. “Chapter 2.” Pedagogy of the Oppressed, translated by Myra Bergman
Ramos, 30th Anniversary Edition, Continuum, 2009, pp. 71-86.
Teacher Takeaways
“I love that this student combines multiple forms of information (paraphrases, quotes, and summaries)
with their own reactions to the text. By using a combined form of summary, paraphrase, and quote, the
student weaves ideas from the text together to give the reader a larger sense of the author’s ideas and
claims. The student uses citations and signal phrases to remind us of the source. The student also does a
good job of keeping paragraphs focused, setting up topic sentences and transitions, and introducing
ideas that become important parts of their thesis. On the other hand, the reader could benefit from more
explanation of some complex concepts from the text being analyzed, especially if the author assumes
that the reader isn’t familiar with Freire. For example, the banking method of education is never quite
clearly explained and the reader is left to derive its meaning from the context clues the student provides.
A brief summary or paraphrase of this concept towards the beginning of the essay would give us a better
understanding of the contexts the student is working in.”
– Professor Dannemiller
You Snooze, You Peruse19

This article was an interesting read about finding a solution to the problem that
62% of high school students are facing — chronic sleep deprivation (less than 8 hours
on school nights). While some schools have implemented later start times, this article
argues for a more unique approach. Several high schools in Las Cruces, New Mexico
have installed sleeping pods for students to use when needed. They “include a
reclined chair with a domed sensory-reduction bubble that closes around one’s head
144
and torso” and “feature a one-touch start button that activates a relaxing sequence of
music and soothing lights” (Conklin). Students rest for 20 minutes and then go back
to class. Some of the teachers were concerned about the amount of valuable class time
students would miss while napping, while other teachers argued that if the students
are that tired, they won’t be able to focus in class anyway. Students who used the
napping pods reported they were effective in restoring energy levels and reducing
stress. While that is great, there was concern from Melissa Moore, a pediatric sleep
specialist, that napping during the day would cause students to sleep less during that
“all-important nighttime sleep.”
Sleep deprivation is a serious issue in high school students. I know there are a
lot of high school students that are very involved in extra-curricular activities like I
was. I was on student council and played sports year-round, which meant most nights
I got home late, had hours of homework, and almost never got enough sleep. I was
exhausted all the time, especially during junior and senior year. I definitely agree that
there is no point in students sitting in class if they’re so tired they can barely stay
awake. However, I don’t know if sleeping pods are the best solution. Sure, after a 20-
minute nap students feel a little more energetic, but I don’t think this is solving the
chronic issue of sleep deprivation. A 20-minute nap isn’t solving the problem that
most students aren’t getting 8 hours of sleep, which means they aren’t getting enough
deep sleep (which usually occurs between hours 6-8). Everyone needs these critical
hours of sleep, especially those that are still growing and whose brains are still
developing. I think it would be much more effective to implement later start times.
High school students aren’t going to go to bed earlier, that’s just the way it is. But
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having later start times
Teacher Takeaways
gives them the “I appreciate that this author has a clear understanding
opportunity to get up to of the article which they summarize, and in turn are able
to take a clear stance of qualification (‘Yes, but…’).
an extra hour of sleep, However, I would encourage this student to revisit the
which can make a huge structure of their summary. They’ve applied a form that
many students fall back on instinctively: the first half is
difference in the overall ‘What They Say’ and the second half is ‘What I Say.’
well-being of students, Although this can be effective, I would rather that the
student make this move on the sentence level so that
as well as their level of paragraphs are organized around ideas, not the sources
concentration and focus of those ideas.”
in the classroom.
Works Cited
Conklin, Richard. “You Snooze, You Peruse: Some Schools Turn to Nap Time to
Recharge Students.” Education World, 2017, http://www.
educationworld.com/a_news/you-snooze-you-peruse-some-schools-turn-nap-
time-recharge-students-33819787.
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Chapter Six
Analysis and Synthesis
What does it mean to know something? How would you explain the process of
thinking? In the 1950s, educational theorist Benjamin Bloom proposed that human
cognition, thinking and knowing, could be classified by six categories.20 Hierarchically
arranged in order of complexity, these steps were:
judgment most complex

synthesis
analysis
application
comprehension
knowledge least complex
Since his original model, the taxonomy has been revised, as illustrated in the diagram
below:
Bloom’s Original Design One Revised Version

judgment most complex creating
synthesis evaluating
analysis analyzing
application applying
comprehension understanding
knowledge least complex remembering
Another Revised Version
(click to enlarge)
(click to enlarge)
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• Each word is an action verb instead of a noun (e.g., “applying” instead of

“application”);
• Some words have been changed for different synonyms;
• One version holds “creating” above “evaluating”;
• And, most importantly, other versions are reshaped into a circle, as pictured
above.21
What do you think the significance of these changes is?
I introduce this model of cognition to contextualize analysis as a cognitive tool which

can work in tandem with other cognitive tasks and behaviors. Analysis is most
commonly used alongside synthesis. To proceed with the LEGO® example from
Chapter 4, consider my taking apart the castle as an act of analysis. I study each face
of each block intently, even those parts that I can’t see when the castle is fully
constructed. In the process of synthesis, I bring together certain blocks from the
castle to instead build something else—let’s say, a racecar. By unpacking and
interpreting each part, I’m able to build a new whole.22
In a text wrestling essay, you’re engaging in a process very similar to my castle-to-

racecar adventure. You’ll encounter a text and unpack it attentively, looking closely at
each piece of language, its arrangement, its signification, and then use it to build an
insightful, critical insight about the original text. I might not use every original block,
but by exploring the relationship of part-to-whole, I better understand how the castle
is a castle. In turn, I am better positioned to act as a sort of tour guide for the castle or
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a mechanic for the racecar, able to show my readers what about the castle or racecar
is important and to explain how it works.
In this chapter, you’ll learn about crafting a thesis for a text wrestling essay and using
evidence to support that thesis. As you will discover, an analytical essay involves
every tier of Bloom’s Taxonomy, arguably even including “judgement” because your
thesis will present an interpretation that is evidence-based and arguable.
Chapter Vocabulary
the cognitive process and/or rhetorical mode of studying

analysis constituent parts to demonstrate an interpretation of a larger
whole.
a part or combination of parts that lends support or proof to an
evidence
arguable topic, idea, or interpretation.
a cognitive and rhetorical process by which an author brings
together parts of a larger whole to create a unique new product.
synthesis
Examples of synthesis might include an analytical essay, found
poetry, or a mashup/remix.
a 1-3 sentence statement outlining the main insight(s),
argument(s), or concern(s) of an essay; not necessary in every
thesis (statement) rhetorical situation; typically found at the beginning of an essay,
though sometimes embedded later in the paper. Also referred
to as a "So what?" statement.
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Techniques
So What? Turning Observations into a Thesis
It’s likely that you’ve heard the term “thesis statement” multiple times in your writing
career. Even though you may have some idea what a thesis entails already, it is worth
reviewing and unpacking the expectations surrounding a thesis, specifically in a text
wrestling essay.
A thesis statement is a central, unifying insight that drives your analysis or argument.
In a typical college essay, this insight should be articulated in one to three sentences,
placed within the introductory paragraph or section. As we’ll see below, this is not
always the case, but it is what many of your audiences will expect. To put it simply, a
thesis is the “So what?” of an analytical or persuasive essay. It answers your audience
when they ask, Why does your writing matter? What bigger insights does it yield
about the subject of analysis? About our world?
Thesis statements in most rhetorical situations advocate for a certain vision of a text,
phenomenon, reality, or policy. Good thesis statements support such a vision using
evidence and thinking that confirms, clarifies, demonstrates, nuances, or otherwise
relates to that vision. In other words, a thesis is “a proposition that you can prove with
evidence…, yet it’s one you have to prove, that isn’t obviously true or merely
factual.”23
In a text wrestling analysis, a thesis pushes beyond basic summary and observation. In
other words, it’s the difference between:
Observation Thesis
What do I have to say about the text?
What does the text say?
I noticed ______ and it means ______
I noticed ______
I noticed ______ and it matters because ______.
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If you think of your essay as the human

body, the thesis is the spine. Yes, the
body can still exist without a spine, but its
functionings will be severely limited.
Furthermore, everything comes back to
and radiates out from the spine: trace
back from your fingertips to your
backbone and consider how they relate.
In turn, each paragraph should tie back
to your thesis, offering support and clear
connections so your reader can see the
entire “body” of your essay. In this way, a
thesis statement serves two purposes: it
is not only about the ideas of your paper, but also the structure.
In addition to capturing the central, unifying insight of

your essay, your thesis also acts as a “road map.” It
anticipates both content and structure.
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)24 suggests this specific process for developing
your thesis statement:
Once you’ve read the story or novel closely, look back over your notes for
patterns of questions or ideas that interest you. Have most of your questions
been about the characters, how they develop or change?
For example:
If you are reading Conrad’s The Secret Agent, do you seem to be most
interested in what the author has to say about society? Choose a pattern
of ideas and express it in the form of a question and an answer such as
the following:
Question: What does Conrad seem to be suggesting about early
twentieth-century London society in his novel The Secret Agent?
Answer: Conrad suggests that all classes of society are corrupt.
Pitfalls:
Choosing too many ideas.
Choosing an idea without any support.
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Once you have some general points to focus on, write your possible ideas and
answer the questions that they suggest.
For example:
Question: How does Conrad develop the idea that all classes of society
are corrupt?
Answer: He uses images of beasts and cannibalism whether he’s
describing socialites, policemen or secret agents.
To write your thesis statement, all you have to do is turn the question and
answer around. You’ve already given the answer, now just put it in a sentence
(or a couple of sentences) so that the thesis of your paper is clear.
For example:
In his novel, The Secret Agent, Conrad uses beast and cannibal imagery
to describe the characters and their relationships to each other. This
pattern of images suggests that Conrad saw corruption in every level of
early twentieth-century London society.
Now that you’re familiar with the story or novel and have developed a thesis
statement, you’re ready to choose the evidence you’ll use to support your
thesis. There are a lot of good ways to do this, but all of them depend on a
strong thesis for their direction.
For example:
Here’s a student’s thesis about Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent.
In his novel, The Secret Agent, Conrad uses beast and cannibal
imagery to describe the characters and their relationships to each
other. This pattern of images suggests that Conrad saw corruption
in every level of early twentieth-century London society.
This thesis focuses on the idea of social corruption and the device of
imagery. To support this thesis, you would need to find images of beasts
and cannibalism within the text.
There are many ways to write a thesis, and your construction of a thesis statement will
become more intuitive and nuanced as you become a more confident and
competent writer. However, there are a few tried-and-true strategies that I’ll share
with you over the next few pages.
Your thesis statement can and should evolve as you

continue writing your paper.
Often, I prefer to think of a thesis instead as a
(hypo)thesis—an informed estimation of how you think
your analysis will come together.
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The T3 Strategy
T3 is a formula to create a thesis statement. The T (for Thesis) should be the point
you’re trying to make—the “So what?” In a text wrestling analysis, you are expected to
advocate for a certain interpretation of a text: this is your “So what?” Examples might
include:
In “A Wind from the North,” Bill Capossere conveys the loneliness of isolated
life
or
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” suggests that marriage can be oppressive
to women
But wait—there’s more! In a text wrestling analysis, your interpretation must be based
on evidence from that text. Therefore, your thesis should identify both a focused
statement of the interpretation (the whole) and also the particular subjects of your
observation (the parts of the text you will focus on support that interpretation). A
complete T3 thesis statement for a text wrestling analysis might look more like this:
In “A Wind from the North,” Bill Capossere conveys the loneliness of an

isolated lifestyle using the motif of snow, the repeated phrase “five or six days”
(104), and the symbol of his uncle’s car.
or
“The Story of an Hour” suggests that marriage can be oppressive to women. To
demonstrate this theme, Kate Chopin integrates irony, foreshadowing, and
symbols of freedom in the story.
Notice the way the T3 allows for the part-to-whole thinking that underlies analysis:
Whole (T) Parts (3)
the motif of snow

Bill Capossere conveys the loneliness
the repeated phrase “five or six days” (104)
of an isolated lifestyle
the symbol of his uncle’s car.
irony
“The Story of an Hour” suggests that
foreshadowing
marriage can be oppressive to women
symbols of freedom
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This is also a useful strategy because it can provide structure for your paper: each
justifying support for your thesis should be one section of your paper.
I. Introduction
a. Thesis: In “A Wind from the North,” Bill Capossere conveys the
loneliness of an isolated lifestyle using the motif of snow, the
repeated phrase “five or six days” (104), and the symbol of his uncle’s
car.
II. Section on ‘the motif of snow.’
Topic sentence: The recurring imagery of snow creates a tone of
frostiness and demonstrates the passage of time.
III. Section on ‘the repeated phrase “five or six days” (104).’
Topic sentence: When Capossere repeats “five or six days” (104), he
reveals the ambiguity of death in a life not lived.
IV. Section on ‘the symbol of his uncle’s car.’
Topic sentence: Finally, Capossere’s uncle’s car is symbolic of his
lifestyle.
V. Conclusion
Once you’ve developed a T3 statement, you can revise it to make it feel less
formulaic. For example:
In “A Wind from the North,” Bill Capossere conveys the loneliness of an
isolated lifestyle by symbolizing his uncle with a “untouchable” car.
Additionally, he repeats images and phrases in the essay to reinforce his uncle’s
isolation.
or
“The Story of an Hour,” a short story by Kate Chopin, uses a plot twist to
imply that marriage can be oppressive to women. The symbols of freedom in
the story create a feeling of joy, but the attentive reader will recognize the
imminent irony.
The O/P Strategy

An occasion/position thesis statement is rhetorically convincing because it explains
the relevance of your argument and concisely articulates that argument. Although
you should already have your position in mind, your rhetorical occasion will lead this
statement off: what sociohistorical conditions make your writing timely, relevant,
applicable? Continuing with the previous examples:
As our society moves from individualism to isolationism, Bill Capossere’s “A
Wind from the North” is a salient example of a life lived alone.
or
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Although Chopin’s story was written over 100 years ago, it still provides insight
to gender dynamics in American marriages.
Following your occasion, state your position—again, this is your “So What?” It is wise
to include at least some preview of the parts you will be examining.
As our society moves from individualism to isolationism, Bill Capossere’s “A
Wind from the North” is a salient example of a life lived alone. Using recurring
images and phrases, Capossere conveys the loneliness of his uncle leading up
to his death.
or
Although Chopin’s story was written over 100 years ago, it still provides insight
to gender dynamics in American marriages. “The Story of an Hour” reminds us
that marriage has historically meant a surrender of freedom for women.
Research Question and Embedded Thesis

There’s one more common style of thesis construction that’s worth noting, and that’s
the inquiry-based thesis. (Read more about inquiry-based research writing in Chapter
Eight). For this thesis, you’ll develop an incisive and focused question which you’ll
explore throughout the course of the essay. By the end of the essay, you will be able
to offer an answer (perhaps a complicated or incomplete answer, but still some kind
of answer) to the question. This form is also referred to as the “embedded thesis” or
“delayed thesis” organization.
Although this model of thesis can be effectively applied in a text wrestling essay, it is
often more effective when combined with one of the other methods above.
Consider the following examples:

Bill Capossere’s essay “A Wind from the North” suggests that isolation results
in sorrow and loneliness; is this always the case? How does Capossere create
such a vision of his uncle’s life?
or
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Many people would believe that Kate Chopin’s story reflects an outdated
perception of marriage—but can “The Story of an Hour” reveal power
imbalances in modern relationships, too?
You may note that these three thesis strategies can be

combined to create nuanced and attention-grabbing
thesis statements.
Synthesis: Using Evidence to Explore Your Thesis
Now that you’ve considered what your analytical insight might be (articulated in the
form of a thesis), it’s time to bring evidence in to support your analysis—this is the
synthesis part of Bloom’s Taxonomy earlier in this chapter. Synthesis refers to the
creation of a new whole (an interpretation) using smaller parts (evidence from the text
you’ve analyzed).
There are essentially two ways to go about collecting and culling relevant support
from the text with which you’re wrestling. In my experience, students are split about
evenly on which option is better for them:
Option #1: Before writing your thesis, while you’re reading and rereading
your text, annotate the page and take notes. Copy down quotes, images,
formal features, and themes that are striking, exciting, or relatable. Then, try to
group your collection of evidence according to common traits. Once you’ve
done so, choose one or two groups on which to base your thesis.
or
Option #2: After writing your thesis, revisit the text looking for quotes,
images, and themes that support, elaborate, or explain your interpretation.
Record these quotes, and then return to the drafting process.
Once you’ve gathered evidence from your focus text, you should weave quotes,
paraphrases, and summaries into your own writing. A common misconception is that
you should write “around” your evidence, i.e. choosing the direct quote you want to
use and building a paragraph around it. Instead, you should foreground your
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interpretation and analysis, using evidence in the background to explore and support
that interpretation. Lead with your idea, then demonstrate it with evidence; then,
explain how your evidence demonstrates your idea.
The appropriate ratio of evidence (their writing) to exposition (your writing) will vary
depending on your rhetorical situation, but I advise my students to spend at least as
many words unpacking a quote as that quote contains. (I’m referring here to Step #4
in the table below.) For example, if you use a direct quote of 25 words, you ought to
spend at least 25 words explaining how that quote supports or nuances your
interpretation.
There are infinite ways to bring evidence into your discussion,25 but for now, let’s take
a look at a formula that many students find productive as they find their footing in
analytical writing.
1. 2. 3. 4.
front-load quote, (cite) explain,
+ paraphrase, or + + elaborate,
summarize analyze
(1-2 sentences) (2-3 sentences)
Set your reader up
for the quote using Use an in-text
Perhaps most
a signpost (also citation
importantly, you
known as a signal appropriate to
Use whichever need to make the
phrase; see your discipline. It
technique is value of this
Chapter Nine). doesn’t matter if
relevant to your evidence clear to
Don’t drop quotes you quote,
rhetorical purpose the reader. What
in abruptly: by paraphrase, or
at that exact point. does it mean? How
front-loading, you summarize—all
does it further your
can guide your three require a
thesis?
reader’s citation.
interpretation.
What might this look like in practice?
The recurring imagery of snow creates a tone of frostiness and demonstrates the
passage of time. Snow brings to mind connotations of wintery cold, quiet, and death
as a “sky of utter clarity and simplicity” lingers over his uncle’s home and “it [begins]
once more to snow” (Capossere 104). Throughout his essay, Capossere returns
frequently to weather imagery, but snow especially, to play on associations the reader
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has. In this line, snow sets the tone by wrapping itself in with “clarity,” a state of
mind. Even though the narrator still seems ambivalent about his uncle, this clarity
suggests that he is reflecting with a new and somber understanding.
1. Front-load
Snow brings to mind connotations of wintery cold, quiet, and death
2. Quote
as a “sky of utter clarity and simplicity” lingers over his uncle’s home and “it
[begins] once more to snow”
3. Cite
(Capossere 104).
4. Explain/elaborate/analyze
Throughout his essay, Capossere returns frequently to weather imagery, but
snow especially, to play on associations the reader has. In this line, snow sets
the tone by wrapping itself in with “clarity,” a state of mind. Even though the
narrator still seems ambivalent about his uncle, this clarity suggests that he is
reflecting with a new and somber understanding.
This might feel formulaic and forced at first, but following these steps will ensure that
you give each piece of evidence thorough attention. Some teachers call this method
a “quote sandwich” because you put your evidence between two slices of your own
language and interpretation.
For more on front-loading (readerly signposts or signal phrases), see the subsection
titled “Readerly Signposts” in Chapter Nine.
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Activities
Idea Generation: Close Reading Graphic Organizer
The first time you read a text, you most likely will not magically stumble upon a
unique, inspiring insight to pursue as a thesis. As discussed earlier in this section,
close reading is an iterative process, which means that you must repeatedly
encounter a text (reread, re-watch, re-listen, etc.) trying to challenge it, interrogate it,
and gradually develop a working thesis.
Very often, the best way to practice analysis is collaboratively, through discussion.
Because other people will necessarily provide different perspectives through their
unique interpretive positions, reading groups can help you grow your analysis. By
discussing a text, you open yourself up to more nuanced and unanticipated
interpretations influenced by your peers. Your teacher might ask you to work in small
groups to complete the following graphic organizer in response to a certain text. (You
can also complete this exercise independently, but it might not yield the same
results.)
Title and Author of Text: Group Members’ Names:
Start by “wading” back through the text. Remind yourself of the general idea and
annotate important words, phrases, and passages.
As a group, discuss and explain: What could the meaning or message of this text
be? What ideas does the text communicate? (Keep in mind, there are an infinite
number of “right” answers here.)
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What patterns do you see in the text (e.g., repetition of words, phrases, sentences,
or images; ways that the text is structured)? What breaks in the patterns do you see?
What is the effect of these patterns and breaks of pattern?
What symbols and motifs do you see in the text? What might they represent? What
is the effect of these symbols? What themes do they cultivate or gesture to?
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What references do you see in the text? Does the author allude to, quote, imitate,
or parody another text, film, song, etc.? Does the author play on connotations?
What is the effect of these references?
What about this text surprises you? What do you get hung up on? Consider Jane
Gallop’s brief list from “The Ethics of Reading: Close Encounters” –
(1) unusual vocabulary, words that surprise either because they are
unfamiliar or because they seem to belong to a different context; (2)
words that seem unnecessarily repeated, as if the word keeps
insisting on being written; (3) images or metaphors, especially ones
that are used repeatedly and are somewhat surprising given the
context; (4) what is in italics or parentheses; and (5) footnotes that
seem too long26
– but also anything else that strikes you as a reader.
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Analytical lenses: Do you see any of the following threads represented in the work?
What evidence of these ideas do you see? How do these parts contribute to a
whole?
Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality Gender and Sexuality
Disability Social Class and Economy
Ecologies and the Environment (Post)colonialism

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Thesis Builder
Your thesis statement can and should evolve as you continue writing your paper:
teachers will often refer to a thesis as a “working thesis” because the revision process
should include tweaking, pivoting, focusing, expanding, and/or rewording your
thesis. The exercise on the next two pages, though, should help you develop a
working thesis to begin your project. Following the examples, identify the
components of your analysis that might contribute to a thesis statement.
Your approach to building a thesis will depend on your

rhetorical mode; for instance, an analytical thesis (like this
one), might not be most appropriate for a persuasive,
expository, or research essay.
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Ex.: “A Wind from the North” by Bill

Capossere
Topic
(Name your focus text and its author)
Ex.: Repeated phrase “five or six days” (104)

Symbol – uncle’s car
Motif – snow
Analytical focus
(Identify at least one part of the whole
you’re studying)
Ex.: They imply that living in isolation

makes you lonely
Analytical insight
(Explain the function of that part in
relationship to the whole)
(continued on next page)

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Ex.: Sheds light on the fragility of life and

the relationships we build throughout it.
Stakes
(So what? Why does it matter?)
Consider adding…
• A concession statement (“Although,” “even though,” etc.)
Ex.: Although there’s nothing wrong with preferring time alone, …
• A question that you might pursue
Ex.: Can Capossere’s uncle represent other isolated people?
THESIS:
Ex.: Although there’s nothing wrong with preferring time alone, “A Wind from the North”
by Bill Capossere sheds light on the fragility of life and the relationships we build
throughout it. The text conveys the loneliness of an isolated lifestyle by symbolizing
Capossere’s uncle with a “untouchable” car. Additionally, the narrator repeats images and
phrases in the essay to reinforce his uncle’s isolation.
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Songs27
(A text wrestling analysis of “Proofs” by Richard Rodriguez)
Songs are culturally important. In the short story “Proofs” by Richard
Rodriguez, a young Mexican American man comes to terms with his bi-cultural life.
This young man’s father came to America from a small and poverty-stricken Mexican
village. The young man flashes from his story to his father’s story in order to explore
his Mexican heritage and American life. Midway through the story Richard Rodriguez
utilizes the analogies of songs to represent the cultures and how they differ.
Throughout the story there is a clash of cultures. Because culture can be experienced
through the arts and teachings of a community, Rodriguez uses the songs of the two
cultures to represent the protagonist’s bi-cultural experience.
According to Rodriguez, the songs that come from Mexico express an emotional
and loving culture and community: “But my mama says there are no songs like the
love songs of Mexico” (50). The songs from that culture can be beautiful. It is amazing
the love and beauty that come from social capital and community involvement. The
language Richard Rodriguez uses to explain these songs is beautiful as well. “—it is
the raw edge of sentiment” (51). The author explains how it is the men who keep the
songs. No matter how stoic the men are, they have an outlet to express their love and
pain as well as every emotion in between. “The cry of a Jackal under the moon, the
whistle of a phallus, the maniacal song of the skull” (51). This is an outlet for men to
express themselves that is not prevalent in American culture. It expresses a level of
love and intimacy between people that is not a part of American culture. The songs
from the American culture are different. In America the songs get lost. There is
assimilation of cultures. The songs of Mexico are important to the protagonist of the
story. There is a clash between the old culture in Mexico and the subject’s new
American life represented in these songs.
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A few paragraphs later in the story, on page 52, the author tells us the
difference in the American song. America sings a different tune. America is the land
of opportunity. It represents upward mobility and the ability to “make it or break it.”
But it seems there is a cost for all this material gain and all this opportunity. There
seems to be a lack of love and emotion, a lack of the ability to express pain and all
other feelings, the type of emotion which is expressed in the songs of Mexico. The
song of America says, “You can be anything you want to be” (52). The song represents
the American Dream. The cost seems to be the loss of compassion, love and emotion
that is expressed through the songs of Mexico. There is no outlet quite the same for
the stoic men of America. Rodriguez explains how the Mexican migrant workers have
all that pain and desire, all that emotion penned up inside until it explodes in violent
outbursts. “Or they would come into town on Monday nights for the wrestling
matches or on Tuesdays for boxing. They worked over in Yolo County. They were
men without women. They were Mexicans without Mexico” (49).
Rodriguez uses the language in the story almost like a song in order to portray
the culture of the American dream. The phrase “I will send for you or I will come
home rich,” is repeated twice throughout the story. The gain for all this loss of love
and compassion is the dream of financial gain. “You have come into the country on
your knees with your head down. You are a man” (48). That is the allure of the
American Dream.
The protagonist of the story was born in America. Throughout the story he is
looking at this illusion of the American Dream through a different frame. He is also
trying to come to terms with his own manhood in relation to his American life and
Mexican heritage. The subject has the ability to see the two songs in a different light.
“The city will win. The city will give the children all the village could not-VCR’s,
hairstyles, drumbeat. The city sings mean songs, dirty songs” (52). Part of the subject’s
reconciliation process with himself is seeing that all the material stuff that is dangled
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as part of the American Dream is not worth the love and emotion that is held in the
old Mexican villages and expressed in their songs.
Rodriguez represents this conflict of culture on page 53. The protagonist of the
story is taking pictures during the arrest of illegal border-crossers. “I stare at the faces.
They stare at me. To them I am not bearing witness; I am part of the process of being
arrested”(53). The subject is torn between the two cultures in a hazy middle ground.
He is not one of the migrants and he is not one of the police. He is there taking
pictures of the incident with a connection to both of the groups and both of the
groups see him connected with the other.
The old Mexican villages are characterized by a lack of: “Mexico is poor” (50).
However, this is not the reason for the love and emotion that is held. The thought that
people have more love and emotion because they are poor is a misconception. There
are both rich people and poor people who have multitudes of love and compassion.
The defining elements in creating love and emotion for each other comes from the
level of community interaction and trust—the ability to sing these love songs and
express emotion towards one another. People who become caught up in the American
Dream tend to be obsessed with their own personal gain. This diminishes the social
interaction and trust between fellow humans. There is no outlet in the culture of
America quite the same as singing love songs towards each other. It does not matter if
they are rich or poor, lack of community, trust, and social interaction; lack of songs
can lead to lack of love and emotion that is seen in the old songs of Mexico.
The image of the American Dream is bright and shiny. To a young boy in a
poor village the thought of power and wealth can dominate over a life of poverty with
love and emotion. However, there is poverty in America today as well as in Mexico.
The poverty here looks a little different but many migrants and young men find the
American Dream to be an illusion. “Most immigrants to America came from villages.
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The America that Mexicans find today, at the decline of the century, is a closed-circuit
city of ramps and dark towers, a city without God. The city is evil. Turn. Turn” (50).
The song of America sings an inviting tune for young men from poor villages. When
they arrive though it is not what they dreamed about. The subject of the story can see
this. He is trying to come of age in his own way, acknowledging America and the
Mexico of old. He is able to look back
and forth in relation to the America Teacher Takeaways
his father came to for power and “The student clearly states their thesis in
the beginning, threading it through the
wealth and the America that he grew essay, and further developing it through a
up in. All the while, he watches this synthesized conclusion. The student’s ideas
build logically through the essay via
migration of poor villages, filled with effective quote integration: the student sets
love and emotion, to a big heartless up the quote, presents it clearly, and then
responds to the quote with thorough
city, while referring back to his analysis that links it back to their primary
father’s memory of why he came to claims. At times this thread is a bit difficult
to follow; as one example, when the
America and his own memories of student talks about the text’s American
growing up in America. “Like songs, it’s not clear how Rodriguez’s text
illuminates the student’s thesis. Nor is it
wandering Jews. They carried their clear why the student believes Rodriguez is
home with them, back and forth: they saying the “American Dream is not worth
the love and emotion.” Without this
had no true home but the tabernacle clarification, it’s difficult to follow some of
of memory” (51). The subject of the the connections the student relies on for
their thesis, so at times it seems like they
story is experiencing all of this may be stretching their interpretation
beyond what the text supplies.”
conflict of culture and trying to
compose his own song.
Works Cited
Rodriguez, Richard. “Proofs.” In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction, edited
by Judith Kitchen and Mary Paumier Jones, Norton, 1996, pp. 48-54.
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Normal Person: An Analysis of the Standards of Normativity in “A Plague of Tics”28

David Sedaris’ essay “A Plague of Tics” describes Sedaris’ psychological
struggles he encountered in his youth, expressed through obsessive-compulsive tics.
These abnormal behaviors heavily inhibited his functionings, but more importantly,
isolated and embarrassed him during his childhood, adolescence, and young adult
years. Authority figures in his life would mock him openly, and he constantly
struggled to perform routine simple tasks in a timely manner, solely due to the
amount of time that needed to be set aside for carrying out these compulsive tics. He
lacked the necessary social support an adolescent requires because of his apparent
abnormality. But when we look at the behaviors of his parents, as well as the socially
acceptable tics of our society more generally, we see how Sedaris’ tics are in fact not
too different, if not less harmful than those of the society around him. By exploring
Sedaris’ isolation, we can discover that socially constructed standards of normativity
are at best arbitrary, and at worst violent.
As a young boy, Sedaris is initially completely unaware that his tics are not
socially acceptable in the outside world. He is puzzled when his teacher, Miss
Chestnut, correctly guesses that he is “going to hit [himself] over the head with [his]
shoe” (361), despite the obvious removal of his shoe during their private meeting. Miss
Chestnut continues by embarrassingly making fun out of the fact that Sedaris’ cannot
help but “bathe her light switch with [his] germ-ridden tongue” (361) repeatedly
throughout the school day. She targets Sedaris with mocking questions, putting him
on the spot in front of his class; this behavior is not ethical due to Sedaris’ age. It
violates the trust that students should have in their teachers and other caregivers. Miss
Chestnut criticizes him excessively for his ambiguous, child-like answers. For
example, she drills him on whether it is “healthy to hit ourselves over the head with
our shoes” (361) and he “guess[es] that it was not,” (361) as a child might phrase it. She
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ridicules his use of the term “guess,” using obvious examples of instances when
guessing would not be appropriate, such as “[running] into traffic with a paper sack
over [her] head” (361). Her mockery is not only rude, but ableist and unethical. Any
teacher—at least nowadays—should recognize that Sedaris needs compassion and
support, not emotional abuse.
These kinds of negative responses to Sedaris’ behavior continue upon his
return home, in which the role of the insensitive authority figure is taken on by his
mother. In a time when maternal support is crucial for a secure and confident
upbringing, Sedaris’ mother was never understanding of his behavior, and left little
room for open, honest discussion regarding ways to cope with his compulsiveness.
She reacted harshly to the letter sent home by Miss Chestnut, nailing Sedaris,
exclaiming that his “goddamned math teacher” (363) noticed his strange behaviors, as
if it should have been obvious to young, egocentric Sedaris. When teachers like Miss
Chestnut meet with her to discuss young David’s problems, she makes fun of him,
imitating his compulsions; Sedaris is struck by “a sharp, stinging sense of recognition”
upon viewing this mockery (365). Sedaris’ mother, too, is an authority figure who
maintains ableist standards of normativity by taunting her own son. Meeting with
teachers should be an opportunity to truly help David, not tease him.
On the day that Miss Chestnut makes her appearance in the Sedaris household
to discuss his behaviors with his mother, Sedaris watches them from the staircase,
helplessly embarrassed. We can infer from this scene that Sedaris has actually become
aware of that fact that his tics are not considered to be socially acceptable, and that he
must be “the weird kid” among his peers—and even to his parents and teachers. His
mother’s cavalier derision demonstrates her apparent disinterest in the well-being of
he son, as she blatantly brushes off his strange behaviors except in the instance during
171
which she can put them on display for the purpose of entertaining a crowd. What all
of these pieces of his mother’s flawed personality show us is that she has issues too—
drinking and smoking, in addition to her poor mothering—but yet Sedaris is the one
being chastised while she lives a normal life. Later in the essay, Sedaris describes how
“a blow to the nose can be positively narcotic” (366), drawing a parallel to his mother’s
drinking and smoking. From this comparison, we can begin to see flawed standards of
“normal behavior”: although many people drink and smoke (especially at the time the
story takes place), these habits are much more harmful than what Sedaris does in
private.
Sedaris’ father has an equally harmful personality, but it manifests differently.
Sedaris describes him as a hoarder, one who has, “saved it all: every last Green Stamp
and coupon, every outgrown bathing suit and scrap of linoleum” (365). Sedaris’ father
attempts to “cure [Sedaris] with a series of threats” (366). In one scene, he even enacts
violence upon David by slamming on the brakes of the car while David has his nose
pressed against a windshield. Sedaris reminds us that his behavior might have been
unusual, but it wasn’t violent: “So what if I wanted to touch my nose to the
windshield? Who was I hurting?” (366). In fact, it is in that very scene that Sedaris
draws the aforementioned parallel to his mother’s drinking: when Sedaris discovers
that “a blow to the nose can be positively narcotic,” it is while his father is driving
around “with a lapful of rejected, out-of-state coupons” (366). Not only is Sedaris’
father violating the trust David places in him as a caregiver; his hoarding is an
arguably unhealthy habit that simply happens to be more socially acceptable than
licking a concrete toadstool. Comparing Sedaris’s tics to his father’s issues, it is
apparent that his father’s are much more harmful than his own. None of the adults in
Sedaris’ life are innocent—“mother smokes and Miss Chestnut massaged her waist
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twenty, thirty times a day—and here I couldn't press my nose against the windshield
of a car” (366)—but nevertheless, Sedaris’s problems are ridiculed or ignored by the
‘normal’ people in his life, again bringing into question what it means to be a normal
person.
In high school, Sedaris’ begins to take certain measures to actively control and
hide his socially unacceptable behaviors. “For a time,” he says, “I thought that if I
accompanied my habits with an outlandish wardrobe, I might be viewed as eccentric
rather than just plain retarded” (369). Upon this notion, Sedaris starts to hang
numerous medallions around his neck, reflecting that he “might as well have worn a
cowbell” (369) due to the obvious noises they made when he would jerk his head
violently, drawing more attention to his behaviors (the opposite of the desired effect).
He also wore large glasses, which he now realizes made it easier to observe his habit of
rolling his eyes into his head, and “clunky platform shoes [that] left lumps when used
to discreetly tap [his] forehead” (369). Clearly Sedaris was trying to appear more
normal, in a sense, but was failing terribly. After high school, Sedaris faces the new
wrinkle of sharing a college dorm room. He conjures up elaborate excuses to hide
specific tics, ensuring his roommate that “there’s a good chance the brain tumor will
shrink” (369) if he shakes his head around hard enough and that specialists have
ordered him to perform “eye exercises to strengthen what they call he ‘corneal fibers’”
(369). He eventually comes to a point of such paranoid hypervigilance that he
memorizes his roommate’s class schedule to find moments to carry out his tics in
privacy. Sedaris worries himself sick attempting to approximate ‘normal’: “I got
exactly fourteen minutes of sleep during my entire first year of college” (369). When
people are pressured to perform an identity inconsistent with their own—pressured
173
by socially constructed standards of normativity—they harm themselves in the

process. Furthermore, even though the responsibility does not necessarily fall on
Sedaris’ peers to offer support, we can assume that their condemnation of his
behavior reinforces the standards that oppress him.
Sedaris’ compulsive habits peak and begin their slow decline when he picks up
the new habit of smoking cigarettes, which is of course much more socially acceptable
while just as compulsive in nature once addiction has the chance to take over. He
reflects, from the standpoint of an adult, on the reason for the acquired habit,
speculating that “maybe it was coincidental, or perhaps ... much more socially
acceptable than crying out in tiny voices” (371). He is calmed by smoking, saying that
“everything’s fine as long I know there’s a cigarette in my immediate future” (372).
(Remarkably, he also reveals that he has not truly been cured, as he revisits his former
tics and will “dare to press [his] nose against the doorknob or roll his eyes to achieve
that once-satisfying ache” [372.]) Sedaris has officially achieved the tiresome goal of
appearing ‘normal’, as his compulsive tics seemed to “[fade] out by the time [he] took
up with cigarettes” (371). It is important to realize, however, that Sedaris might have
found a socially acceptable way to mask his tics, but not a healthy one. The fact that
the only activity that could take place of his compulsive tendencies was the dangerous
use of a highly addictive substance, one that has proven to be dangerously harmful
with frequent and prolonged use, shows that he is conforming to the standards of
society which do not correspond with healthy behaviors.
In a society full of dangerous, inconvenient, or downright strange habits that
are nevertheless considered socially acceptable, David Sedaris suffered through the
psychic and physical violence and negligence of those who should have cared for him.
With what we can clearly recognize as a socially constructed disability, Sedaris
174
was continually denied support and Teacher Takeaways
mocked by authority figures. He struggled “I like how this student follows their
thesis through the text, highlighting
to socialize and perform academically specific instances from Sedaris’s essay
that support their analysis. Each
while still carrying out each task he was
instance of this evidence is
innately compelled to do, and faced synthesized with the student’s
observations and connected back to
consistent social hardship because of his
their thesis statement, allowing for the
outlandish appearance and behaviors that essay to capitalize on the case being
built in their conclusion. At the ends of
are viewed in our society as “weird.”
some earlier paragraphs, some of this
Because of ableist, socially constructed ‘spine-building’ is interrupted with
suggestions of how characters in the
standards of normativity, Sedaris had to
essay should behave, which doesn’t
face a long string of turmoil and worry that always clearly link to the thesis’s goals.
Similarly, some information isn’t given
most of society may never come to
a context to help us understand its
completely understand. We can only hope relevance, such as what violating the
student-teacher trust has to do with
that as a greater society, we continue
normativity being a social construct, or
sharing and studying stories like Sedaris’ how Sedaris’s description of ‘a blow to
the nose’ being a narcotic creates a
so that we critique the flawed guidelines
parallel to his mother’s drinking and
we force upon different bodies and minds, smoking. Without further analysis and
synthesis of this information the reader
and attempt to be more accepting and
is left to guess how these ideas
welcoming of the idiosyncrasies we might connect.”
deem to be unfavorable.
Works Cited
Sedaris, David. “A Plague of Tics.” 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology, 4th edition, edited
by Samuel Cohen, Bedford, 2013, pp. 359-372.
175
Analyzing “Richard Cory”29
In the poem “Richard Cory” by Edward Arlington Robinson, a narrative is told
about the character Richard Cory by those who admired him. In the last stanza, the
narrator, who uses the pronoun “we,” tells us that Richard Cory commits suicide.
Throughout most of the poem, though, Cory had been described as a wealthy
gentleman. The “people on the pavement” (2), the speakers of the poem, admired him
because he presented himself well, was educated, and was wealthy. The poem
presents the idea that, even though Cory seemed to have everything going for him,
being wealthy does not guarantee happiness or health.
Throughout the first three stanzas Cory is described in a positive light, which
makes it seem like he has everything that he could ever need. Specifically, the speaker
compares Cory directly and indirectly to royalty because of his wealth and his physical
appearance: “He was a gentleman from sole to crown, / Clean favored and imperially
slim” (Robinson 3-4). In line 3, the speaker is punning on “soul” and “crown.” At the
same time, Cory is both a gentleman from foot (sole) to head (crown) and also soul to
crown. The use of the word “crown” instead of head is a clever way to show that
Richard was thought of as a king to the community. The phrase “imperially slim” can
also be associated with royalty because imperial comes from “empire.” The
descriptions used gave clear insight that he was admired for his appearance and
manners, like a king or emperor.
In other parts of the poem, we see that Cory is ‘above’ the speakers. The first
lines, “When Richard Cory went down town, / We people on the pavement looked at
him” (1-2), show that Cory is not from the same place as the speakers. The words
“down” and “pavement” also suggest a difference in status between Cory and the
people. The phrase “We people on the pavement” used in the first stanza (Robinson
2), tells us that the narrator and those that they are including in their “we” may be
homeless and sleeping on the pavement; at the least, this phrase shows that “we” are
below Cory.
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In addition to being ‘above,’ Cory is also isolated from the speakers. In the
second stanza, we can see that there was little interaction between Cory and the
people on the pavement: “And he was always human when he talked; / But still
fluttered pulses when he said, / ‘Good- morning’” (Robinson 6-8). Because people are
“still fluttered” by so little, we can speculate that it was special for them to talk to
Cory. But these interactions gave those on the pavement no insight into Richard’s real
feelings or personality. Directly after the descriptions of the impersonal interactions,
the narrator mentions that “he was rich—yes, richer than a king” (Robinson 9). At the
same time that Cory is again compared to royalty, this line reveals that people were
focused on his wealth and outward appearance, not his personal life or wellbeing.
The use of the first-person plural narration to describe Cory gives the reader
the impression that everyone in Cory’s presence longed to have the life that he did.
Using “we,” the narrator speaks for many people at once. From the end of the third
stanza to the end of the poem, the writing turns from admirable description of
Richard to a noticeably more melancholy, dreary description of what those who
admired Richard had to do because they did not have all that Richard did. These
people had nothing, but they
thought that he was everything
So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread…. (Robinson 9-12)
They sacrificed their personal lives and food to try to rise up to Cory’s level. They
longed to not be required to struggle. A heavy focus on money and materialistic things
blocked their ability to see what Richard Cory was actually feeling or going through. I
suggest that “we” also includes the reader of the poem. If we read the poem this way,
“Richard Cory” critiques the way we glorify wealthy people’s lives to the point that we
hurt ourselves. Our society values financial success over mental health and believes in
a false narrative about social mobility.
177
Though the piece was written more than a
Teacher Takeaways
century ago, the perceived message has not been lost. “I enjoy how this author
Money and materialistic things do not create uses evidence: they use a
signal phrase (front-load)
happiness, only admiration and alienation from those before each direct quote
around you. Therefore, we should not sacrifice our and take plenty of time to
unpack the quote
own happiness and leisure for a lifestyle that might afterward. This author also
not make us happy. The poem’s message speaks to our has a clear and direct
thesis statement which
modern society, too, because it shows a stigma anticipates the content of
surrounding mental health: if people have “everything their analysis. I would
advise them, though, to
/ To make us wish that we were in [their] place” (11-12), revise that thesis by
we often assume that they don’t deal with the same ‘previewing’ the elements
of the text they plan to
mental health struggles as everyone. “Richard Cory” analyze. This could help
reminds us that we should take care of each other, not them clarify their
organization, since a
assume that people are okay because they put up a thesis should be a road-
map.”
good front.
Works Cited
Robinson, Edward Arlington. “Richard Cory.” The Norton Introduction to Literature,
Shorter 12th edition, edited by Kelly J. Mays, Norton, 2017, p. 482.
178
Assignment:
Text wrestling Analysis
To practice critical, analytical thinking through the medium of writing, you will
perform a text wrestling analysis and synthesize your findings in an essay driven by a
central, unifying insight presented as a thesis and supported by evidence.
Assignment
First, you will determine which text it is that you’d like to analyze. Your teacher might
provide a specific text or set of texts to choose from, or they may allow you to choose
your own.
1) If your teacher assigns a specific text, follow the steps in the next section.
2) If your teacher assigns a set of texts to choose from, read each of them
once. Then, narrow it down by asking yourself,
a. Which texts were most striking or curious? Which raised the most
questions for you as a reader?
b. How do the texts differ from one another in content, form, voice, and
genre?
c. Which seem like the “best written”? Why?
d. Which can you relate to personally?
Try to narrow down to two or three texts that you particularly appreciate. Then
try to determine which of these will help you write the best close reading essay
possible. Follow the steps from #1 once you’ve determined your focus text.
3) If your teacher allows you to choose any text you want, they probably did
so because they want you to choose a text that means a lot to you personally.
a. Consider first what medium (e.g., prose, film, music, etc.) or genre (e.g.,
essay, documentary, Screamo) would be most appropriate and exciting,
keeping in mind any restrictions your teacher might have set.
b. Then, brainstorm what topics seem relevant and interesting to you.
c. Finally, try to encounter at least three or four different texts so you can
test the waters.
Now that you’ve chosen a focus text, you should read it several times using the active
reading strategies contained in this section and the appendix. Consider what parts
are contributing to the whole text, and develop an analytical perspective about that
179
relationship. Try to articulate this analytical perspective as a working thesis—a

statement of your interpretation which you will likely revise in some way or another.
(You might also consider whether a specific critical lens seems relevant or interesting
to your analysis.)
Next, you will write a 250-word proposal indicating which text you’ve chosen, what
your working thesis is, and why you chose that text and analytical perspective. (This
will help keep your teacher in the loop on your process and encourage you to think
through your approach before writing.)
Finally, draft a text wrestling essay that analytically explores some part of your text
using the strategies detailed in this section. Your essay will advance an interpretation
that will
a) help your audience understand the text differently (beyond basic
plot/comprehension); and/or
b) help your audience understand our world differently, using the text as a tool to
illuminate the human experience.
Keep in mind, you will have to re-read your text several times to analyze it well
and compile evidence. Consider forming a close reading discussion group to
unpack your text collaboratively before you begin writing independently.
Your essay should be thesis-driven and will include quotes, paraphrases, and
summary from the original text as evidence to support your points. Be sure to revise
at least once before submitting your final draft.
Although you may realize as you evaluate your rhetorical situation, this kind of essay
often values Standardized Edited American English, a dialect of the English language.
Among other things, this entails a polished, “academic” tone. Although you need not
use a thesaurus to find all the fanciest words, your voice should be less colloquial
than in a descriptive personal narrative.
180

Subject: Occasion:
Audience: Purpose:
181
182

Workshop” useful.


examples:
I need help honing my thesis statement.
Do you think my analysis flows logically?
I’m not very experienced with in-text citations; can you make sure they’re
accurate?
Do you think my evidence is convincing enough?
183

feedback.
so striking?
§ Structure
§ Mechanics
184
Model Text by Student Authors
To Suffer or Surrender? An Analysis of Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle into That
Good Night”30
Death is a part of life that everyone must face at one point or another. The
poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” depicts the grief and panic one feels
when a loved is approaching the end of their life, while presenting a question; is it
right to surrender to death, or should it be resisted? In this poem Dylan Thomas
opposes the idea of a peaceful passing, and uses various literary devices such as
repetition, metaphor, and imagery to argue that death should be resisted at all costs.
The first thing that one may notice while reading Thomas’s piece is that there
are key phrases repeated throughout the poem. As a result of the poem’s villanelle
structure, both lines “Do not go gentle into that good night” and “Rage, rage against
the dying of the light” (Thomas) are repeated often. This repetition gives the reader a
sense of panic and desperation as the speaker pleads with their father to stay. The first
line showcases a bit of alliteration of n sounds at the beginning of “not” and “night,”
as well as alliteration of hard g sounds in the words “go” and “good.” These lines are
vital to the poem as they reiterate its central meaning, making it far from subtle and
extremely hard to miss. These lines add even more significance due to their placement
in the poem. “Dying of the light” and “good night” are direct metaphors for death,
and with the exception of the first line of the poem, they only appear at the end of a
stanza. This structural choice is a result of the villanelle form, but we can interpret it
to highlight the predictability of life itself, and signifies the undeniable and
unavoidable fact that everyone must face death at the end of one’s life. The line “my
father, there on the sad height” (Thomas 16) confirms that this poem is directed to the
speaker’s father, the idea presented in these lines is what Thomas wants his father to
recognize above all else.
185
This poem also has many contradictions. In the fifth stanza, Thomas describes
men near death “who see with blinding sight” (Thomas 13). “Blinding sight” is an
oxymoron, which implies that although with age most men lose their sight, they are
wiser and enlightened, and have a greater understanding of the world. In this poem
“night” is synonymous with “death”; thus, the phrase “good night” can also be
considered an oxymoron if one does not consider death good. Presumably the speaker
does not, given their desperation for their father to avoid it. The use of the word
“good” initially seems odd, however, although it may seem like the speaker rejects the
idea of death itself, this is not entirely the case. Thomas presents yet another
oxymoron by saying “Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears” (Thomas 17). By
referring to passionate tears as a blessing and a curse, which insinuates that the
speaker does not necessarily believe death itself is inherently wrong, but to remain
complicit in the face of death would be. These tears would be a curse because it is
difficult to watch a loved one cry, but a blessing because the tears are a sign that the
father is unwilling to surrender to death. This line is especially significant as it
distinguishes the author’s beliefs about death versus dying, which are vastly different.
“Good night” is an acknowledgement of the bittersweet relief of the struggles and
hardships of life that come with death, while “fierce tears” and the repeated line
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light” show that the speaker sees the act of dying
as a much more passionate, sad, and angering experience. The presence of these
oxymorons creates a sense of conflict in the reader, a feeling that is often felt by those
who are struggling to say goodbye to a loved one.
At the beginning of the middle four stanzas they each begin with a description
of a man, “Wise men… Good men…Wild men… Grave men…” (Thomas 4; 7; 10; 13).
Each of these men have one characteristic that is shared, which is that they all fought
against death for as long as they could. These examples are perhaps used in an
attempt to inspire the father. Although the speaker begs their father to “rage” against
death, this is not to say that they believe death is avoidable. Thomas reveals this in the
186
2nd stanza that “wise men at their end know dark is right” (Thomas 4), meaning that
wise men know that death is inevitable, which in return means that the speaker is
conscious of this fact as well. It also refers to the dark as “right”, which may seem
contradicting to the notion presented that death should not be surrendered to;
however, this is yet another example of the contrast between the author’s beliefs about
death itself, and the act of dying. The last perspective that Thomas shows is “Grave
men”. Of course, the wordplay of “grave” alludes to death. Moreover, similarly to the
second stanza that referred to “wise men”, this characterization of “grave men” alludes
to the speaker’s knowledge of impending doom, despite the constant pleads for their
father to resist it.
Another common theme that occurs in the stanzas about these men is regret. A
large reason the speaker is so insistent that his father does not surrender to the “dying
of the light” is because the speaker does not want their father to die with regrets, and
believes that any honorable man should do everything they can in their power to make
a positive impact in the world. Thomas makes it clear that it is cowardly to surrender
when one can still do good, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.
All of these examples of men are positively associated with the “rage” that
Thomas so often refers to, further supporting the idea that rage, passion, and madness
are qualities of honorable men. Throughout stanza 2, 3, 4 and 5, the author paints
pictures of these men dancing, singing in the sun, and blazing like meteors. Despite
the dark and dismal tone of the piece, the imagery used depicts life as joyous and
lively. However, a juxtaposition still exists between men who are truly living, and men
who are simply avoiding death. Words like burn, rave, sad, and rage are used when
referencing those who are facing death, while words such as blaze, gay, bright, and
night are used when referencing the prime of one’s life. None of these words are give
187
the feeling of peace; however those alluding to life are far more cheerful. Although the
author rarely uses the words “life” and “death”, the text symbolizes them through light
and night. The contrast between the authors interpretation of life versus death is
drastically different. Thomas wants the reader to
see that no matter how old they become, there is Teacher Takeaways
always something to strive for and fight for, and “One of my favorite things
about this essay is that the
to accept death would be to deprive the world of student doesn’t only consider
what you have to offer. what the poem means, but how
it means: they explore the way
In this poem Dylan Thomas juggles the that the language both carries
complicated concept of mortality. Thomas and creates the message. I
notice this especially when the
perfectly portrays the fight against time as we student is talking about the
villanelle form, alliteration, and
age, as well as the fear and desperation that
oxymorons. That said, I think
many often feel when facing the loss of a loved that the student’s analysis
would be more coherent if they
one. Although the fight against death cannot be
foregrounded the main
won, in “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good insight—that death and dying
are different—in their thesis,
Night” Dylan Thomas emphasizes how despite
then tracked that insight
this indisputable fact, one should still fight throughout the analysis. In
other words, the essay has
against death with all their might. Through the
chosen evidence (parts) well
use of literary devices such as oxymorons and but does not synthesize that
evidence into a clear
repetition, Thomas inspires readers to persevere,
interpretation (whole).”
even in the most dire circumstances. – Professor Dawson
Works Cited
Thomas, Dylan. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.” The Norton Introduction to
Literature, edited by Kelly J. Mays, portable 12th ed., W. W. Norton &
Company, 2015, pp. 659.
188
Christ Like31
In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”, the character Robert plays a Christ-like role.
To mirror that, the narrator plays the role of Saul, a man who despised and attacked
Christ and his followers until he became converted. Throughout the story there are
multiple instances where Robert does things similar to miracles performed in biblical
stories, and the narrator continues to doubt and judge him. Despite Robert making
efforts to converse with the narrator, he refuses to look past the oddity of his
blindness. The author also pays close attention to eyes and blindness. To quote the
Bible, “Having eyes, see ye not?” (King James Bible, Mark, 8.18). The characters who
have sight don’t see as much as Robert, and he is able to open their eyes and hearts.
When Robert is first brought up, it is as a story. The narrator has heard of him
and how wonderful he is, but has strong doubts about the legitimacy of it all. He
shares a specific instance in which Robert asked to touch his wife’s face. He says,
“She told me he touched his fingers to every part of her face, her nose—even her
neck!”, and goes on to talk about how she tried to write a poem about it (Carver 34).
The experience mentioned resembled the story of Jesus healing a blind man by
putting his hands on his eyes and how, afterward, the man was restored (Mark 8.21-
26). While sharing the story, however, the only thing the narrator cares about is that
the blind man touched his wife’s neck. At this point in the story the narrator still only
cares about what’s right in front of him, so hearing retellings means nothing to him.
When Saul is introduced in the Bible, it is as a man who spent his time
persecuting the followers of Christ and “made havoc of the church” (Acts 8.3-5). From
the very beginning of the story, the narrator makes it known that, “A blind man in my
house was not something that I looked forward to” (Carver 34). He can’t stand the idea
of something he’d only seen in movies and heard tell of becoming something real.
Even when talking about his own wife, he disregards the poem she wrote for him.
When he hears the name of Robert’s deceased wife, his first response is to point out
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how strange it sounds (Carver 36). He despises Robert, so he takes out his aggression
on the people who don’t, and drives them away.
The narrator’s wife drives to the train station to pick up Robert while he stays
home and waits, blaming Robert for his boredom. When they finally do arrive, the
first thing he notices about Robert is his beard. It might be a stretch to call this a
biblical parallel since a lot of people have beards, but Carver makes a big deal out of
this detail. The next thing the narrator points out, though, is that his wife “had this
blind man by his coat sleeve” (Carver 37). This draws the parallel to another biblical
story. In this story a woman who has been suffering from a disease sees Jesus and says
to herself, “If I may but touch his garment I shall be whole” (Matt. 9.21). Before they
had gotten in the house the narrator’s wife had Robert by the arm, but even after they
were at the front porch, she still wanted to hold onto his sleeve.
The narrator continues to make observations about Robert when he first sees
him. One that stood out was when he was talking more about Robert’s physicality,
saying he had “stooped shoulders, as if he carried a great weight there” (Carver 38).
There are many instances in the Bible where Jesus is depicted carrying some type of
heavy burden, like a lost sheep, the sins of the world, and even his own cross. He also
points out on multiple occasions that Robert has a big and booming voice, which
resembles a lot of depictions of a voice “from on high.”
After they sit and talk for a while, they have dinner. This dinner resembles the
last supper, especially when the narrator says, “We ate like there was no tomorrow”
(Carver 39). He also describes how Robert eats and says “he’d tear of a hunk of
buttered bread and eat that. He’d follow this up with a big drink of milk” (Carver 39).
Those aren’t the only things he ate, but the order in which he ate the bread and took a
drink is the same order as the sacrament, a ritual created at the last supper. The
author writing it in that order, despite it being irrelevant to the story, is another
parallel that seems oddly specific in an otherwise normal sequence of events. What
happens after the dinner follows the progression of the Bible as well.
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After they’ve eaten a meal like it was their last the narrator’s wife falls asleep
like Jesus’ apostles outside the garden of Gethsemane. In the Bible, the garden of
Gethsemane is where Jesus goes after creating the sacrament and takes on the sins of
all the world. He tells his apostles to keep watch outside the garden, but they fall
asleep and leave him to be captured by the non-believers (Matt. 26.36-40). In
“Cathedral,” Robert is left high and alone with the narrator when the woman who
holds him in such high regard falls asleep. Instead of being taken prisoner, however,
Robert turns the tables and puts all focus on the narrator. His talking to the narrator
is like a metaphorical taking on of his sins. On page 46 the narrator tries to explain to
him what a cathedral looks like. It turns out to be of no use, since the narrator has
never talked to a blind person before, much like a person trying to pray who never has
before. Robert decides he needs to place his hands on the narrator like he did to his
wife on the first page.
When Saul becomes converted, it is when Jesus speaks to him as a voice “from
on high.” As soon as the narrator begins drawing with Robert (a man who is high), his
eyes open up. When Jesus speaks to Saul, he can no longer see. During the drawing
of the cathedral, Robert asks the narrator to close his eyes. Even when Robert tells
him he can open his eyes, the narrator decides to keep them closed. He went from
thinking Robert coming over was a stupid idea to being a full believer in him. He says,
“I put in windows with arches. I drew flying buttresses. I hung great doors. I couldn’t
stop” (Carver 45). Even with all the harsh things the narrator said about Robert, being
touched by him made his heart open up. Carver ends the story after the cathedral has
been drawn and has the narrator say, “It’s really something” (Carver 46).
Robert acts as a miracle worker, not only to the narrator’s wife, but to him as
well. Despite the difficult personality, the narrator can’t help but be converted. He
says how resistant he is to have him over, and tries to avoid any conversation with
him. He pokes fun at little details about him, disregards peoples’ love for him, but still
191
can’t help being converted by him. Robert’s booming voice carries power over the
narrator, but his soft touch is what finally makes him see.
Teacher Takeaways
“This author has put together a convincing and well-informed essay; a reader who lacks the same
religious knowledge (like me) would enjoy this essay because it illuminates something they didn’t already
realize about ‘Cathedral.’ The author has selected strong evidence from both the short story and the
Bible. I would advise the student to work on structure, perhaps starting off by drafting topic-transition
sentences for the beginning of each paragraph. I would also encourage them to work on sentence-level
fluff. For example, ‘Throughout the story there are multiple instances where Robert does things similar to
miracles performed in biblical stories’ could easily be reduced to ‘Robert’s actions in the story are
reminiscent of Biblical miracles.’ It’s easiest to catch this kind of fluff when you read your draft out loud.”
Works Cited
Carver, Raymond. “Cathedral.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, Portable 12th
edition, edited by Kelly J. Mays, Norton, 2017, pp. 33-46.
The Bible. Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1978.
The Space Between the Racial Binary32

Toni Morrison in “Recitatif” confronts race as a social construction, where race
is not biological but created from human interactions. Morrison does not disclose the
race of the two main characters, Twyla and Roberta, although she does provide that
one character is black and the other character is white. Morrison emphasizes
intersectionality by confounding stereotypes about race through narration, setting,
and allusion. We have been trained to ‘read’ race through a variety of signifers, but
“Recitatif” puts those signifers at odds.
Twyla is the narrator throughout “Recitatif” where she describes the events
from her own point of view. Since the story is from Twyla’s perspective, it allows the
readers to characterize her and Roberta solely based on what she mentions. At the
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beginning of the story Twyla states that “[her] mother danced all night”, which is the
main reason why Twyla is “taken to St. Bonny’s” (Morrison 139). Twyla soon finds that
she will be “stuck… with a girl from a whole other race” who “never washed [her] hair
and [she] smelled funny” (Morrison 139). From Twyla’s description of Roberta’s hair
and scent, one could assume that Roberta is black due to the stereotype that revolves
around a black individual’s hair. Later on in the story Twyla runs into Roberta at her
work and describes Roberta’s hair as “so big and wild” that “[she] could hardly see her
face”, which is another indicator that Roberta has Afro-textured hair (Morrison 144).
Yet, when Twyla encounters Roberta at a grocery store “her huge hair was sleek” and
“smooth” resembling a white woman’s hair style (Morrison 146). Roberta’s hairstyles
are stereotypes that conflict with one another; one attributing to a black woman, the
other to a white woman. The differences in hair texture, and style, are a result of
phenotypes, not race. Phenotypes are observable traits that “result from interactions
between your genes and the environment” (“What are Phenotypes?”). There is not a
specific gene in the human genome that can be used to determine a person’s race.
Therefore, the racial categories in society are not constructed on the genetic level, but
the social. Dr. J Craig Venter states, “We all evolved in the last 100,000 years from the
same small number of tribes that migrated out of Africa and colonized the world”, so
it does not make sense to claim that race has evolved a specific gene and certain
people inherit those specific genes (Angier). From Twyla’s narration of Roberta,
Roberta can be classified into one of two racial groups based on the stereotypes
ascribed to her.
Intersectionality states that people are at a disadvantage by multiple sources of
oppressions, such their race and class. “Recitatif” seems to be written during the Civil
Rights Era where protests against racial integration took place. This is made evident
when Twyla says, “strife came to us that fall...Strife. Racial strife” (Morrison 150).
According to NPR, the Supreme Court ordered school busing in 1969 and went into
effect in 1973 to allow for desegregation (“Legacy”). Twyla “thought it was a good thing
193
until she heard it was a bad thing”, while Roberta picketed outside “the school they
were trying to integrate” (Morrison 150). Twyla and Roberta both become irritated
with one another’s reaction to the school busing order, but what woman is on which
side? Roberta seems to be a white woman against integrating black students into her
children’s school, and Twyla suggests that she is a black mother who simply wants
best for her son Joseph even if that does mean going to a school that is “far-out-of-
the-way” (Morrison 150). At this point in the story Roberta lives in “Annandale” which
is “a neighborhood full of doctors and IBM executives” (Morrison 147), and at the same
time, Twyla is “Mrs. Benson” living in “Newburgh” where “ half the population… is on
welfare…” (Morrison 145). Twyla implies that Newburgh is being gentrified by these
“smart IBM people”, which inevitably results in an increase in rent and property
values, as well as changes the area’s culture. In America, minorities are usually the
individuals who are displaced and taken over by wealthier, middle-class white
individuals. From Twyla’s tone, and the setting, it seems that Twyla is a black
individual that is angry towards “the rich IBM crowd” (Morrison 146). When Twyla and
Roberta are bickering over school busing, Roberta claims that America “is a free
country” and she is not “doing anything” to Twyla (Morrison 150). From Roberta’s
statements, it suggests that she is a affluent, and ignorant white person that is
oblivious to the hardships that African Americans had to overcome, and still face
today. Rhonda Soto contends that “Discussing race without including class analysis is
like watching a bird fly without looking at the sky…”. It is ingrained in America as the
normative that whites are mostly part of the middle-class and upper-class, while
blacks are part of the working-class. Black individuals are being classified as low-
income based entirely on their skin color. It is pronounced that Twyla is being
discriminated against because she is a black woman, living in a low-income
194
neighborhood where she lacks basic resources. For example, when Twyla and Roberta
become hostile with one another over school busing, the supposedly white mothers
start moving towards Twyla’s car to harass her. She points out that “[my] face[ ] looked
mean to them” and that these mothers “could not wait to throw themselves in front of
a police car” (Morrison 151). Twyla is indicating that these mothers are privileged based
on their skin color, while she had to wait until her car started to rock back and forth
to a point where “the four policeman who had been drinking Tab in their car finally
got the message and [then] strolled over” (Morrison 151). This shows that Roberta and
the mothers protesting are white, while Twyla is a black woman fighting for her
resources. Not only is Twyla being targeted due to her race, but as well her class by
protesting mothers who have classified her based on intersectionality.
Intersectionality is also alluded in “Recitatif” based on Roberta’s interests.
Twyla confronts Roberta at the “Howard Johnson’s” while working as a waitress with
her “blue and white triangle on [her] head” and “[her] hair shapeless in a net”
(Morrison 145). Roberta boasts that her friend has “an appointment with Hendrix” and
shames Twyla for not knowing Jimi Hendrix (Morrison 145). Roberta begins to explain
that “he’s only the biggest” rockstar, guitarist, or whatever Roberta was going to say. It
is clear that Roberta is infatuated with Jimi Hendrix, who was an African American
rock guitarist. Because Jimi Hendrix is a black musician, the reader could assume that
Roberta is also black. At the same time, Roberta may be white since Jimi Hendrix
appealed to a plethora of people. In addition, Twyla illustrates when she saw Roberta
“sitting in [the] booth” she was “with two guys smothered in head and facial”
(Morrison 144). These men may be two white counter culturists, and possible
polygamists, in a relationship with Roberta who is also a white. From Roberta’s
195
enthusiasm in Jimi Hendrix it alludes that she may be black or white, and categorized
from this interest.
Intersectionality states that people are Teacher Takeaways
prone to “predict an individual’s identity, “This essay is a good companion to

the same author’s summary essay,
beliefs, or values based on categories like ‘Maggie as the Focal Point.’ It has a
race” (Williams). Morrison chose not to detailed thesis (the last two
sentences of the first paragraph)
disclose the race of Twyla and Roberta to that give me an idea of the author’s
allow the reader to make conclusions about argument and the structure they
plan to follow in the essay. This is a
the two women based on the vague good example of the T3 strategy
and consequent organization. That
stereotypes Morrison presented throughout
said, because this student used the
“Recitatif”. Narration, setting, and allusion three-part thesis and five-
paragraph essay that it encourages,
helped make intersectionality apparent,
each paragraph is long and dense. I
which in turn allowed the readers would encourage this student to
break up those units into smaller,
understand, or see, that race is in fact a social
more digestable pieces, perhaps
construction. “Recitatif” forces the readers to trying to divide the vague topics
(‘narration, setting, and allusion’)
come to terms with their own racial
into more specific subtopics.”
prejudices. – Professor Wilhjelm
Works Cited
Angier, Natalie. “Do Races Differ? Not Really, DNA Shows.” The New York Times, 22
Aug. 2000,
archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/082200sci-
genetics-race.html.
Morrison, Toni. “Recitatif.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Portable 12th edition,
edited by Kelly J. Mays, W.W. Norton & Company, 2017, pp. 483+.
“The Legacy of School Busing.” NPR, 30 Apr. 2004,
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1853532.
196
Soto, Rhonda. “Race and Class: Taking Action at the Intersections.” Association of
American Colleges & Universities, 1 June 2015,
www.aacu.org/diversitydemocracy/2008/fall/soto.
Williams, Steve. “What Is Intersectionality, and Why Is It Important?” Care2,
www.care2.com/causes/what-is-intersectionality.html.
“What Are Phenotypes?” 23andMe, www.23andme.com/gen101/phenotype/.
Section Two Endnotes

1
Of particular note are claims that Gal Gadot of Wonder Woman has supported
Israeli imperialism, and therefore her claims to feminism are contradicted by different
social justice imperatives:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/06/imperial-feminism-woman-
170613101125222.html
2
Although this term originated in the New Critical literary movement, it has
permeated most other schools of critical theory and cultural studies. In most settings,
it is generalized to refer to the attentive reading practices and philosophies discussed
in this chapter; however, it does have additional connotations in New Criticism.
3
Barthes 148; 147.
Barthes, Roland. Image, Music, Text, translated by Stephen Heath, Hill and Wang,
1977.
4
Gallop 11.
Gallop, Jane. “The Ethics of Reading: Close Encounters.” Journal of Curriculum and
Theorizing, Vol. 16., No. 3, 2000, pp. 7-17.
5
This framework was inspired by Thomas C. Foster’s in How to Read Literature Like a
Professor, Harper, 2003.
6
Keep in mind that each of these critical lenses has a broad school of theory behind
it. Your teacher might encourage you to do a bit of background research on a certain
perspective before applying it.
7
Read more about this campaign and its rhetorical strategies via the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/business/media/30adco.html
197
8
For more on poetry explication, consult the UNC Writing Center’s web page at
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/poetry-explications/
9
Ryan Mills, orig. published in 1001, issue 2, by IPRC. Reproduced with permission
from the author.
10
Edwin Arlington Robinson. “Richard Cory.” 1897. Reproduced through the Public
domain.
11
Donne, John. “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning.” 1633. Reproduced through
the Public domain.
12
This video features Kamiko Jiminez, Annie Wold, Maximilian West, and Christopher
Gaylord. It was produced and is included here with their consent. Special thanks to
Laura Wilson and Kale Brewer for their support in producing this video.
13
Ballenger, Bruce. The Curious Researcher, 9th edition, Pearson, 2018, pp. 88-91.
14
Filloux, Frederic. “Facebook’s Walled Wonderland Is Inherently Incompatible with
News.” Monday Note, Medium, 4 December 2016,
https://mondaynote.com/facebooks-walled-wonderland-is-inherently-
incompatible-with-news-media-b145e2d0078c.
15
Baotic, Anton, Florian Sicks and Angela S. Stoeger. “Nocturnal ‘Humming’
Vocalizations: Adding a Piece of the Puzzle of Giraffe Vocal Communication.”
BioMed Central Research Notes vol. 8, no. 425, 2015. US National Library of
Medicine, doi 10.1186/s13104-015-1394-3.
16
Essay by Beth Kreinheder, Portland State University, 2018. Reproduced with
17
the student author.
18
the student author.
19
Essay by Kayti Bell, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with permission
20
Bloom, Benjamin S., et al. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of
Educational Goals. D. McKay Co., 1969.
21
Also of note are recent emphases to use Bloom’s work as a conceptual model, not
a hard-and-fast, infallible rule for cognition. Importantly, we rarely engage only one
kind of thinking, and models like this should not be used to make momentous
decisions; rather, they should contribute to a broader, nuanced understanding of
human cognition and development.
22
In consideration of revised versions Bloom’s Taxonomy and the previous note, it
can be mentioned that this process necessarily involves judgment/evaluation; using
the process of interpretation, my analysis and synthesis require my intellectual
discretion.
198
23
Mays 1258.
Mays, Kelly J. “The Literature Essay.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, Portable
12th edition, Norton, 2017, pp. 1255-1278.
24
“Developing a Thesis.” Purdue OWL, Purdue University, 2014,
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/616/02/. Reproduced in
accordance with Purdue OWL policy and Creative Commons licensure.
Read more advice from the Purdue OWL relevant to close reading at
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/4/17/ .
25
One particularly useful additional resource is the text “Annoying Ways People Use
Sources,” externally linked in the Additional Recommended Resources appendix of
this book.
26
Gallop 7.
27
the student author.
28
This essay is a synthesis of two students’ work. One of those students is Ross
Reaume, Portland State University, 2014, and the other student wishes to remain
anonymous. Reproduced with permission from the student authors.
29
Essay by Marina, who has requested her last name not be included. Portland
Community College, 2018. Reproduced with permission from the student author.
30
Essay by Mary Preble, Portland State University, 2018. Reproduced with permission
31
the student author.
32
Essay by Beth Kreinheder, Portland State University, 2018. Reproduced with
199
Section 3: Research and Argumentation
Part Three:
Research and
Argumentation
200
Research and Argumentation
“Fake news”1 is a phrase you’ve probably encountered way more than you would
have liked since the 2016 U.S. presidential election. While this phrase has gained
more and more momentum and traction, it holds different purposes and meanings in
different contexts. Across all these different rhetorical situations, though, we can
agree that the popularization of the phrase speaks to an increased skepticism toward
the bodies of knowledge that surround us.
For me, such distrust points to the oversimplified dichotomy of fact vs. opinion. The
gray area between fact and opinion is much broader than we like to believe, and
often we present deeply entrenched opinions as if they were facts. (Whether or not it
is intentional, this phenomenon has serious consequences.) As Michael Kinsley points
out in his 1995 essay, American individualist ideology dictates that citizens be “omni-
opinionated”—at the expense of having many poorly informed opinions.2 It is crucial,
Kinsley says, that we take two steps to confront the “intellectual free lunch”: 3
a) Develop increased humility about what we can and do know to be true; and
b) Increase the intensity and frequency of our critical interrogation of truth (or
what seems to be true).
Because yes, there is a lot of fake news out there. And there’s a lot of real news that
certain people insist is fake. How do we mobilize skepticism to produce a more
ethical world, rather than letting it undermine the pursuit of truth?
In Section 1 of this text, you explored your own truth through personal narrative; in
Section 2, you interrogated the truths embedded in a certain text. Here, in Section 3,
you will learn how to encounter a body of texts, then develop an argument that
synthesizes diverse truths. Writing in a research-based context means exploring and
interrogating the broad, complex networks of rhetoric and knowledges that you have
always been a part of. It means situating yourself in an interconnected world of
discourse, and carefully bringing your own voice into that world.
To induct you into this mode of rhetoric production, this section focuses on research
concepts and techniques, as well as traditional methods of argumentation. Section 3
concludes with a persuasive research essay assignment in which you will synthesize
your ability to research, interpret, and argue in a formal writing situation.
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Chapter Seven
Argumentation
To a nonconfrontational person (like me), argument is a dirty word. It surfaces
connotations of raised voices, slammed doors, and dominance; it arouses feelings of
anxiety and frustration.
But argument is not inherently bad. In fact, as a number of great thinkers have
described, conflict is necessary for growth, progress, and community cohesion.
Through disagreement, we challenge our commonsense assumptions and seek
compromise. The negative connotations surrounding ‘argument’ actually point to a
failure in the way that we argue.
Check out this video on empathy: it provides some useful insight to the sort of
listening, thinking, and discussion required for productive arguments.
Now, spend a few minutes reflecting on the last time you had an argument with a
loved one. What was it about? What was it really about? What made it difficult? What
made it easy?
Often, arguments hinge on the relationship between the arguers: whether written or
verbal, that argument will rely on the specific language, approach, and evidence that
each party deems valid. For that reason, the most important element of the rhetorical
situation is audience. Making an honest, impactful, and reasonable connection with
that audience is the first step to arguing better.
202
Unlike the argument with your loved one, it is likely that your essay will be
establishing a brand-new relationship with your reader, one which is untouched by
your personal history, unspoken bonds, or other assumptions about your intent. This
clean slate is a double-edged sword: although you’ll have a fresh start, you must
more deliberately anticipate and navigate your assumptions about the audience.
What can you assume your reader already knows and believes? What kind of ideas
will they be most swayed by? What life experiences have they had that inform their
worldview?
This chapter will focus on how the answers to these questions can be harnessed for
productive, civil, and effective arguing. Although a descriptive personal narrative
(Section 1) and a text wrestling analysis (Section 2) require attention to your subject,
occasion, audience, and purpose, an argumentative essay is the most sensitive to
rhetorical situation of the genres covered in this book. As you complete this unit,
remember that you are practicing the skills necessary to navigating a variety of
rhetorical situations: thinking about effective argument will help you think about
other kinds of effective communication.
203
Chapter Vocabulary
a rhetorical mode in which different perspectives on a common

argument
issue are negotiated. See Aristotelian and Rogerian arguments.
Aristotelian a mode of argument by which a writer attempts to convince their
argument audience that one perspective is accurate.
the intended consumers for a piece of rhetoric. Every text has at
audience least one audience; sometimes, that audience is directly
a persuasive writer’s directive to their audience; usually located
call-to-action
toward the end of a text. Compare with purpose.
ethos a rhetorical appeal based on authority, credibility, or expertise.
the setting (time and place) or atmosphere in which an argument
kairos
is actionable or ideal. Consider alongside “occasion.”
a line of logical reasoning which follows a pattern of that makes
an error in its basic structure. For example, Kanye West is on TV;
logical fallacy
Animal Planet is on TV. Therefore, Kanye West is on Animal
Planet.
logos a rhetorical appeal to logical reasoning.
a neologism from ‘impartial,’ refers to occupying and
appreciating a variety of perspectives rather than pretending to
multipartial have no perspective. Rather than unbiased or neutral,
multipartial writers are balanced, acknowledging and respecting
many different ideas.
pathos a rhetorical appeal to emotion.
a means by which a writer or speaker connects with their
rhetorical appeal audience to achieve their purpose. Most commonly refers to
logos, pathos, and ethos.
a mode of argument by which an author seeks compromise by
bringing different perspectives on an issue into conversation.
Rogerian argument Acknowledges that no one perspective is absolutely and
exclusively ‘right’; values disagreement in order to make moral,
political, and practical decisions.
a line of logical reasoning similar to the transitive property (If
syllogism a=b and b=c, then a=c). For example, All humans need oxygen;
Kanye West is a human. Therefore, Kanye West needs oxygen.
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Techniques
“But I Just Want to Write an Unbiased Essay”
Let’s begin by addressing a common concern my students raise when writing about
controversial issues: neutrality. It’s quite likely that you’ve been trained, at some point
in your writing career, to avoid bias, to be objective, to be impartial. However, this is a
habit you need to unlearn, because every text is biased by virtue of being rhetorical.
All rhetoric has a purpose, whether declared or secret, and therefore is partial.
Instead of being impartial, I encourage you to be multipartial. In other words, you

should aim to inhabit many different positions in your argument—not zero, not one,
but many. This is an important distinction: no longer is your goal to be unbiased;
rather, it is to be balanced. You will not provide your
audience a neutral perspective, but rather a perspective
“Honest
conscientious of the many other perspectives out there.
disagreement is
Common Forms of Argumentation often a good sign
of progress.”
In the study of argumentation, scholars and authors have - Mahatma Gandhi
developed a great variety of approaches: when it comes to
convincing, there are many different paths that lead to our
destination. For the sake of succinctness, we will focus on two: the Aristotelian
argument and the Rogerian Argument.4 While these two are not opposites, they are
built on different values. Each will employ rhetorical appeals like those discussed
later, but their purposes and guiding beliefs are different.
Aristotelian Argument
In Ancient Greece, debate was a cornerstone of social life. Intellectuals and
philosophers devoted hours upon hours of each day to honing their argumentative
skills. For one group of thinkers, the Sophists, the focus of argumentation was to find
a distinctly “right” or “wrong” position. The more convincing argument was the right
one: the content mattered less than the technique by which it was delivered.
In turn, the purpose of an Aristotelian argument is to persuade someone (the other

debater and/or the audience) that the speaker was correct. Aristotelian arguments
are designed to bring the audience from one point of view to the other.
205
In this diagram, you can observe the

tension between a point and
counterpoint (or, to borrow a term from
German philosopher Johann Gottlieb
Fichte, “thesis” and “antithesis.”) These
two viewpoints move in two opposite
directions, almost like a tug-of-war.
Therefore, an Aristotelian arguer tries to

demonstrate the validity of their direction while addressing counterarguments:
“Here’s what I believe and why I’m right; here’s what you believe and why it’s wrong.”
The author seeks to persuade their audience through the sheer virtue of their truth.
You can see Aristotelian argumentation applied in “We Don’t Care about Child
Slaves.”
Rogerian Argument
In contrast, Rogerian arguments are more invested in compromise. Based on the
work of psychologist Carl Rogers, Rogerian arguments are designed to enhance the
connection between both sides of an issue. This kind of argument acknowledges the
value of disagreement in material communities to make moral, political, and practical
decisions.
Often, a Rogerian argument will begin with a fair statement of someone else’s
position and consideration of how that could be true. In other words, a Rogerian
arguer addresses their ‘opponent’ more like a teammate: “What you think is not
unreasonable; I disagree, but I can see how you’re thinking, and I appreciate it.”
Notice that by taking the other ideas on their own terms, you demonstrate respect
and cultivate trust and listening.
The rhetorical purpose of a Rogerian argument, then, is to come to a conclusion by

negotiating common ground between moral-intellectual differences. Instead of
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debunking an opponent’s
counterargument entirely, a
Rogerian arguer would say, “Here’s
what each of us thinks, and here’s
what we have in common. How can
we proceed forward to honor our
shared beliefs but find a new,
informed position?” In Fichte’s
model of thesis-antithesis-synthesis,5
both debaters would pursue
synthesis. The author seeks to
persuade their audience by showing
them respect, demonstrating a
willingness to compromise, and
championing the validity of their
truth as one among other valid truths.
The thesis is an intellectual
proposition.
You can see Rogerian argumentation The antithesis is a critical
applied in “Vaccines: Controversies perspective on the thesis.
and Miracles.”
The synthesis solves the conflict
between the thesis and antithesis by
reconciling their common truths
and forming a new proposition.
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Position Aristotelian Rogerian
Wool sweaters are the best Some people might think that wool
Wool clothing for cold weather sweaters are itchy, which can certainly be
sweaters because they are fashionable the case. I’ve worn plenty of itchy wool
and comfortable. Some people sweaters. But wool sweaters can be silky
are the best
might think that wool sweaters smooth if properly handled in the
clothing for are itchy, but those claims are laundry; therefore, they are the best
cold ill-informed. Wool sweaters can clothing for cold weather. If you want to
weather. be silky smooth if properly be cozy and in-style, consider my laundry
handled in the laundry. techniques and a fuzzy wool sweater.
Before moving on, try to identify one rhetorical situation in which Aristotelian
argumentation would be most effective, and one in which Rogerian argumentation
would be preferable. Neither form is necessarily better, but rather both are useful in
specific contexts. In what situations might you favor one approach over another?
Rhetorical Appeals
Regardless of the style of argument you use, you will

need to consider the ways you engage your
audience. Aristotle identified three kinds of
rhetorical appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. Some
instructors refer to this trio as the “rhetorical
triangle,” though I prefer to think of them as a three-
part Venn diagram.6 The best argumentation
engages all three of these appeals, falling in the
center where all three overlap. Unbalanced
application of rhetorical appeals is likely to leave
your audience suspicious, doubtful, or even bored.
Logos
You may have inferred already, but logos refers to an appeal to an audience’s logical
reasoning. Logos will often employ statistics, data, or other quantitative facts to
demonstrate the validity of an argument. For example, an argument about the wage
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gap might indicate that women, on average, earn only 80 percent of the salary that
men in comparable positions earn; this would imply a logical conclusion that our
economy favors men.
However, stating a fact or statistic does not alone constitute logos. For instance, when
I show you this graph7, I am not yet making a logical appeal:
Yes, the graph is “fact-based,” drawing on data to illustrate a phenomenon. That

characteristic alone, though, doesn’t make a logical appeal. For my appeal to be
logical, I also need to interpret the graph:
As is illustrated here, there is a direct positive correlation between ice cream
consumption and deaths by drowning: when people eat more ice cream, more
people drown. Therefore, we need to be more careful about waiting 30 minutes
after we eat ice cream.
Of course, this conclusion is inaccurate; it is a logical fallacy described in the table

below called “post hoc, ergo propter hoc.” However, the example illustrates that your
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logic is only complete when you’ve drawn a logical conclusion from your facts,
statistics, or other information.
There are many other ways we draw logical conclusions. There are entire branches of
academia dedicated to understanding the many kinds of logical reasoning, but we
might get a better idea by looking at a specific kind of logic. Let’s take for example
the logical syllogism, which might look something like this:
All humans require Kanye West is a Therefore, Kanye West

oxygen. human. requires oxygen.
Pretty straightforward, right? We can see how a general rule (major premise) is
applied to a specific situation (minor premise) to develop a logical conclusion. I like
to introduce this kind of logic because students sometimes jump straight from the
major premise to the conclusion; if you skip the middle step, your logic will be less
convincing.
It does get a little more complex. Consider this false syllogism: it follows the same
structure (general rule + specific situation), but it reaches an unlikely conclusion.
All penguins are black My television is black Therefore, my

and white. and white. television is a penguin.
This is called a logical fallacy. Logical fallacies are part of our daily lives. Stereotypes,
generalizations, and misguided assumptions are fallacies you’ve likely encountered.
You may have heard some terms about fallacies already: red herring, slippery slope,
non sequitur. Fallacies follow patterns of reasoning that would otherwise be perfectly
acceptable to us, but within their basic structure, they make a mistake. Aristotle
identified that fallacies happen on the “material” level (the content is fallacious—
something about the ideas or premises is flawed) and the “verbal” level (the writing or
speech is fallacious—something about the delivery or medium is flawed).
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It’s important to be able to recognize these so that you can critically interrogate
others’ arguments and improve your own. Here are some of the most common logical
fallacies:
Fallacy Description Example
“After this, therefore because of

this” – a confusion of cause-and-
Statistics show that rates of ice
effect with coincidence,
Post hoc, cream consumption and deaths
attributing a consequence to an
ergo propter by drowning both increased in
unrelated event. This error
hoc June. This must mean that ice
assumes that correlation equals
cream causes drowning.
causation, which is sometimes
not the case.
“Does not follow” – a random
Sherlock is great at solving
digression that distracts from the
crimes; therefore, he’ll also make
train of logic (like a “red
a great father.
herring”), or draws an unrelated
logical conclusion. John Oliver
Non sequitur Sherlock Holmes smokes a pipe,
calls one manifestation of this
which is unhealthy. But what
fallacy “whataboutism,” which he
about Bill Clinton? He eats
describes as a way to deflect
McDonald’s every day, which is
attention from the subject at
also unhealthy.
hand.
An oversimplification or cherry- People who oppose the

picking of the opposition’s destruction of Confederate
Straw Man
argument to make them easier to monuments are all white
attack. supremacists.
“To the person” – a personal I don’t trust Moriarty’s opinion on

Ad hominem attack on the arguer, rather than urban planning because he
a critique of their ideas. wears bowties.
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An unreasonable prediction that

If we let people of the same sex
Slippery one event will lead to a related
get married, then people will
Slope but unlikely series of events that
start marrying their dogs too!
follows.
Given the choice between pizza

False A simplification of a complex
and Chinese food for dinner, we
Dichotomy issue into only two sides.
simply must choose Chinese.
Learn about other logical fallacies in the Additional Recommended Resources

appendix.
Pathos
The second rhetorical appeal we’ll consider here is perhaps the most common:
pathos refers to the process of engaging the reader’s emotions. (You might recognize
the Greek root pathos in “sympathy,” “empathy,” and “pathetic.”) A writer can evoke a
great variety of emotions to support their argument, from fear, passion, and joy to
pity, kinship, and rage. By playing on the audience’s feelings, writers can increase the
impact of their arguments.
There are two especially effective techniques for cultivating pathos that I share with
my students:
• Make the audience aware of the issue’s relevance to them specifically—“How
would you feel if this happened to you? What are we to do about this issue?”
• Tell stories. A story about one person or one community can have a deeper
impact than broad, impersonal data or abstract, hypothetical statements.
Consider the difference between
About 1.5 million pets are euthanized each year
and
Scooter, an energetic and loving former service dog with curly brown
hair like a Brillo pad, was put down yesterday.
Both are impactful, but the latter is more memorable and more specific.
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Pathos is ubiquitous in our current journalistic practices because people are more
likely to act (or, at least, consume media) when they feel emotionally moved.8
Consider, as an example, the outpouring of support for detained immigrants in June
2018, reacting to the Trump administration’s controversial family separation policy.
As stories and images like this one surfaced, millions of dollars were raised in a matter
of days on the premise of pathos, and resulted in the temporary suspension of that
policy.
Ethos
Your argument wouldn’t be complete without an appeal to
ethos. Cultivating ethos refers to the means by which you
demonstrate your authority or expertise on a topic. You’ll
have to show your audience that you’re trustworthy if they
are going to buy your argument.
There are a handful of ways to demonstrate ethos:

• By personal experience: Although your lived experience might not set hard-
and-fast rules about the world, it is worth noting that you may be an expert on
certain facets of your life. For instance, a student who has played rugby for
fifteen years of their life is in many ways an authority on the sport.
• By education or other certifications: Professional achievements demonstrate
ethos by revealing status in a certain field or discipline.
• By citing other experts: The common expression is “Stand on the shoulders of
giants.” You can develop ethos by pointing to other people with authority and
saying, “Look, this smart/experienced/qualified/important person agrees with
me.”
A common misconception is that ethos

corresponds with “ethics.” However, you
can remember that ethos is about
credibility because it shares a root with
“authority.”
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Sociohistorical Context of Argumentation
This textbook has emphasized consideration of your rhetorical occasion, but it bears
repeating here that “good” argumentation depends largely on your place in time,
space, and culture. Different cultures throughout the world value the elements of
argumentation differently, and argument has different purposes in different contexts.
The content of your argument and your strategies for delivering it will change in every
unique rhetorical situation.
Continuing from logos, pathos, and ethos, the notion of kairos speaks to this concern.
To put it in plain language, kairos is the force that determines what will be the best
argumentative approach in the moment in which you’re arguing; it is closely aligned
with rhetorical occasion. According to rhetoricians, the characteristics of the kairos
determine the balance and application of logos, pathos, and ethos.
Moreover, your sociohistorical context will bear on what you can assume of your
audience. What can you take for granted that your audience knows and believes? The
“common sense” that your audience relies on is always changing: common sense in
the U.S. in 1950 was much different from common sense in the U.S. in 1920 or
common sense in the U.S. in 2018. You can make assumptions about your audience’s
interests, values, and background knowledge, but only with careful consideration of
the time and place in which you are arguing.
As an example, let’s consider the principle of logical noncontradiction. Put simply,

this means that for an argument to be valid, its logical premises must not contradict
one another: if A = B, then B = A. If I said that a dog is a mammal and a mammal is an
animal, but a dog is not an animal, I would be contradicting myself. Or, “No one
drives on I-84; there’s too much traffic.” This statement contradicts itself, which makes
it humorous to us.
However, this principle of non-contradiction is not universal. Our understanding of

cause and effect and logical consistency is defined by the millennia of knowledge
that has been produced before us, and some cultures value the contradiction rather
than perceive it as invalid.9 This is not to say that either way of seeing the world is
more or less accurate, but rather to emphasize that your methods of argumentation
depend tremendously on sociohistorical context.
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Activities
Op-Ed Rhetorical Analysis
One form of direct argumentation that is readily available is the opinion editorial, or
op-ed. Most news sources, from local to international, include an opinion section.
Sometimes, these pieces are written by members of the news staff; sometimes,
they’re by contributors or community members. Op-eds can be long (e.g.,
comprehensive journalistic articles, like Ta-Nehisi Coates’ landmark “The Case for
Reparations”) or they could be brief (e.g., a brief statement of one’s viewpoint, like in
your local newspaper’s Letter to the Editor section).
To get a better idea of how authors incorporate rhetorical appeals, complete the
following rhetorical analysis exercise on an op-ed of your choosing.
Find an op-ed (opinion piece, editorial, or letter to the editor) from either a
local newspaper, a national news source, or an international news corporation.
Choose something that interests you, since you’ll have to read it a few times
over.
Read the op-ed through once, annotating parts that are particularly
convincing, points that seem unsubstantiated, or other eye-catching details.
Briefly (in one to two sentences) identify the rhetorical situation (SOAP) of the
op-ed.
Write a citation for the op-ed in an appropriate format.
Analyze the application of rhetoric.
a. Summarize the issue at stake and the author’s position.
b. Find a quote that represents an instance of logos.
c. Find a quote that represents an instance of pathos.
d. Find a quote that represents an instance of ethos.
e. Paraphrase the author’s call-to-action (the action or actions the author
wants the audience to take). A call-to-action will often be related to an
author’s rhetorical purpose.
In a one-paragraph response, consider: Is this rhetoric effective? Does it fulfill
its purpose? Why or why not?
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VICE News Rhetorical Appeal Analysis
VICE News, an alternative investigatory news outlet, has recently gained acclaim for
its inquiry-driven reporting on current issues and popular appeal, much of which is
derived from effective application of rhetorical appeals.
You can complete the following activity using any of their texts, but I recommend
“State of Surveillance” from June 8, 2016. Take notes while you watch and complete
the organizer on the following pages after you finish.
What is the title and publication date of the text?
Briefly summarize the subject of this text.
How would you describe the purpose of this text?

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Provide at least 3 examples of How would you describe the overall tone of
pathos that you observed in the the piece? What mood does it evoke for the
text: viewer/reader?
Pathos
Provide at least 3 examples of In addition to presenting data and statistics,

logos that you observed in the how does the text logically interpret evidence?
text:
Logos
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Provide at least 3 examples of How might one person, idea, or source both
ethos that you observed in the enhance and detract from the cultivation of
text: ethos? (Consider Edward Snowden in “State of
Surveillance,” for instance.)
Ethos
Audience Analysis: Tailoring Your Appeals
Now that you’ve observed the end result of rhetorical appeals, let’s consider how you
might tailor your own rhetorical appeals based on your audience.
First, come up with a claim that you might try to persuade an audience to believe.
Then, consider how you might develop this claim based on the potential audiences
listed in the organizer on the following pages. An example is provided after the
empty organizer if you get stuck.
Claim:
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What assumptions might you make about this

Audience #1: Business
audience? What do you think they currently know
owners
and believe?
Logos
Pathos
Ethos

Audience #2: Local
political officials
and believe?
Logos
Pathos
Ethos
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Audience #3: One of your
family members
and believe?
Logos
Pathos
Ethos
Audience #4: Invent your What assumptions might you make about this
own audience? What do you think they currently know
and believe?
Logos
Pathos
Ethos
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Model:
Employers should offer employees discounted or free public

Claim:
transit passes.

Audience #1: Business
owners
and believe?
They are concerned with profit margins – I need

to show that this will benefit them financially: “If
Logos employees are able to access transportation more
reliably, then they are more likely to arrive on
time, which increases efficiency.”
They are concerned with employee morale – I

need to show that access will improve employee
Pathos satisfaction: “Every employer wants their
employees to feel welcome at the office. Does
your work family dread the start of the day?”
They are more likely to believe my claim if other

business owners, the chamber of commerce, etc.,
Ethos back it up: “In 2010, Portland employer X started
providing free bus passes, and their employee
retention rate has increased 30%.”

Audience #2: Local
political officials
and believe?
They are held up by political bureaucracy – I

need to show a clear, direct path to executing my
Logos claim: “The implementation of such a program
could be modeled after an existing system, like
EBT cards.”
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They are concerned with reelection – I need to

show that this will build an enthusiastic voter
Pathos base: “When politicians show concern for
workers, their approval rates increase. If the
voters are happy, you’ll be happy!”
They are more likely to believe my claim if I show

other cities and their political officials executing a
similar plan – I could also draw on my own
experiences because I am a member of the
Ethos
community they represent: “As an employee who
uses public transit (and an enthusiastic voter), I
can say that I would make good use of this
benefit.”
Audience #3: One of your
family members
and believe?
My mom has to drive all over the state for her job
– I could explain how this will benefit her: “If you
Logos had a free or discounted pass, you could drive
less. Less time behind the wheel means a
reduction of risk!”
My mom has to drive all over the state for her job
– I could tap into her frustration: “Aren’t you sick
Pathos of a long commute bookending each day of work?
The burning red glow of brakelights and the
screech of tires—it doesn’t have to be this way.”
My mom might take my word for it since she

trusts me already: “Would I mislead you? I hate
Ethos
to say I told you so, but I was totally right about
the wool sweater thing.”
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Audience #4: Invent your What assumptions might you make about this
own audience? What do you think they currently know
Car drivers and believe?
They are concerned with car-related expenses – I

need to lay out evidence of savings from public
Logos transit: “Have you realized that taking the bus two
days a week could save you $120 in gas per
month?”
They are frustrated by traffic, parking, etc. – I

could play to that emotion: “Is that a spot? No. Is
Pathos that a spot? No. Oh, but th—No. Sound familiar?
You wouldn’t have to hear this if there were an
alternative.
Maybe testimonies from former drivers who use
public transit more often would be convincing:
“In a survey of PSU students who switched from
Ethos
driving to public transit, 65% said they were not
only confident in their choice, but that they were
much happier as a result!”
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Effective Therapy Through Dance and Movement10

Two chairs, angled slightly away from one another, a small coffee table
positioned between them, and an ominous bookshelf behind them, stocked with thick
textbooks about psychodynamic theory, Sigmund Freud, and of course, the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This is a psychoanalytic
psychotherapist’s typical clinical set-up. Walking into the room, your entire body feels
tense—rigid with stress as you enter the therapist’s office only to find the
aforementioned sight. Your heartbeat reverberates throughout your body, your throat
tightens ever-so-slightly, and your mouth goes dry as an overwhelming sense of
nervousness sets in.
Now, imagine instead walking into a beautiful studio, wearing your most
comfortable clothing. You take off your shoes, and put your hands in the pockets of
your sweatpants as you begin to slip and slide around the sprung hardwood floor
whilst a childish smile creeps across your face. Your therapist is not there necessarily
to dissect your personality or interpret your behavior, but instead to encourage your
mental and physical exploration, leading you on a journey of self-discovery. This is the
warm and encouraging environment that dance/movement therapy (DMT) may take
place in.
In its essence, DMT is the therapeutic use of physical movement—specifically
dance in this context—to encourage and support emotional, intellectual, and motor
functions of the mind and body. The focus of the therapy lies within the connection
and correlation between movement and emotion (“About”). Unlike so-called “normal”
therapies, which are set in a clinical environment, and are conducted by somebody
with an extensive background in psychology, DMT is generally practiced by
individuals whose background is primarily in dance and the performing arts, with
psychology or psychotherapy education falling second. Although some may argue
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otherwise, I believe that DMT is a viable form of therapy, and that dance and
movement can act as the catalyst for profound mental transformation; therefore, when
dance and therapy are combined, they create a powerful platform for introspection
along with interpersonal discovery, and mental/behavioral change.
Life begins with movement and breathing; they precede all thought and
language. Following movement and breath, gesture falls next in the development of
personal communication and understanding (Chaiklin 3). Infants and toddlers learn to
convey their wants and needs via pointing, yelling, crying, clapping. As adults, we
don’t always understand what it is they’re trying to tell us; however, we know that
their body language is intended to communicate something important. As a child
grows older, a greater emphasis is placed on verbally communicating their wants and
needs, and letting go of the physical expression. Furthermore, the childish means of
demonstrating wants and needs become socially inappropriate as one matures.
Perhaps we should not ignore the impulses to cry, to yell, or to throw a tantrum on
the floor, but instead encourage a channeled physical release of pent-up energy.
I personally, would encourage what some would consider as emotional
breakdowns within a therapeutic setting. For example, screaming, sobbing, pounding
one’s fists against the floor, or kicking a wall all seem taboo in our society, especially
when somebody is above the age of three. There is potential for said expressions to
become violent and do more harm than good for a client. Therefore, I propose using
dance and movement as a method of expressing the same intense emotions.
As a dancer myself, I can personally attest to the benefits of emotional release
through movement. I am able to do my best thinking when I am dancing, and
immediately after I stop. When dancing, whether it is improvised movement or
learned choreography, the body is in both physical and mental motion, as many parts
of the brain are activated. The cerebrum is working in overdrive to allow the body to
perform certain actions, while other areas of the brain like the cerebellum are trying
to match your breathing and oxygen intake to your level of physical exertion. In
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addition, all parts of the limbic system are triggered. The limbic system is comprised
of multiple parts of the brain including the amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, and
hypothalamus. These different areas of the brain are responsible for emotional
arousal, certain aspects of memory, and the willingness to be affected by external
stimuli. So, when they are activated with movement, they encourage the endocrine
system—specifically the pituitary gland—to release hormones that make you feel good
about yourself, how you are moving, and allow you to understand what emotions
you’re feeling and experiencing (Kinser).
As a form of exercise as well, dancing releases endorphins—proteins that are
synthesized by the pituitary gland in response to physiologic stressors. This feeling is
so desirable that opioid medications were created with the intent of mimicking the
sensation that accompanies an endorphin rush (Sprouse-Blum 70). Along with the
beta-proteins comes a level of mental clarity, and a sense of calm. Dance movement
therapists should utilize this feeling within therapy, allowing participants to make
sense of crises in their life as they exist in this heightened state.
Similar to the potential energy that is explored in physics, when set to music,
physical movement manifests a mental state that allows for extensive exploration and
introspective discovery. DMT is effective as a therapy in that it allows clients to
manifest and confront deep psychological issues while existing in a state of nirvana—
the result of dance. Essentially, DMT allows the participant to feel good about him or
herself during the sessions, and be open and receptive to learning about their patterns
of thought, and any maladaptive behavior (“About”).
Playing specifically to this idea of finding comfort through one’s own body, a
case study was done involving an adolescent girl (referred to as “Alex”) who struggled
with acute body dysmorphic disorder—a mental illness whose victims are subject to
obsession with perceived flaws in their appearance. The aim of the study was to
examine “the relationship between an adolescent female’s overall wellness, defined by
quality of life, and her participation in a dance/movement therapy [DMT]-based
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holistic wellness curriculum” (Hagensen 150). During the six-week-long data-collection
and observation period, Alex’s sessions took place in a private psychotherapy office
and included normal dance and movement based therapy, along with a learning
curriculum that focused on mindfulness, body image, movement, friendships, and
nutrition. Her therapist wanted not only to ensure that Alex receive the necessary
DMT to overcome her body dysmorphic disorder, but also to equip her with the tools
to better combat it in the future, should it resurface.
In total, the case study lasted four months, and included nine individual
therapy sessions, and a handful of parental check-in meetings (to get their input on
her progress). Using the Youth Quality of Life-Research Version (YQOL-R) and
parent surveys, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected that revealed that
Alex did indeed learn more about herself, and how her body and mind function
together. The psychologists involved concluded that the use of DMT was appropriate
for Alex’s case, and it proved to be effective in transforming her distorted image of
herself (Hagensen 168).
Some may dispute this evidence by saying that the case of a single adolescent
girl is not sufficient to deem DMT effective; however, it is extremely difficult to limit
confounding variables in large-scale therapeutic experiments. In the realm of
psychology, individual studies provide data that is just as important as that of bigger
experiments. To further demonstrate DMT’s effectiveness on a larger scale though, I
turn to a study that was conducted in Germany in 2012 for evidence.
After recruiting 17 dance therapists and randomly selecting 162 participants, a
study was conducted to test the efficacy of a 10-week long DMT group and whether or
not the quality of life (QOL) of the participants improved. Ninety-seven of the
participants were randomly assigned to the therapy group (the experimental group),
whilst the remaining 65 were placed on a waitlist, meaning that they did not receive
any treatment (the control group) (Bräuninger 296). All of the participants suffered
from stress, and felt that they needed professional help dealing with it. The study
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utilized a subject-design, and included a pre-test, post-test, and six-month follow-up
test. As hypothesized, the results demonstrated that participants in the experimental
DMT group significantly improved the QOL, both in the short term (right after the
sessions terminated) and in the long term (at the six-month follow-up). The greatest
QOL improvements were in the areas of psychological well-being and general life in
both the short- and long-term. At the end of the study, it was concluded that, “Dance
movement therapy significantly improves QOL in the short and long term”
(Bräuninger 301).
DMT does prove to be an effective means of therapy in the cases of body
dysmorphic disorder and stress; however, when it comes to using DMT in the
treatment of schizophrenia, it seems to fall short. In an attempt to speak to the
effectiveness of dance therapy in the context of severe mental illnesses and disorders,
a group of psychologists conducted a study to “evaluate the effects of dance therapy
for people with schizophrenia or schizophrenia-like illnesses compared with standard
care and other interventions” (Xia 675). Although DMT did not do any harm, there
was no identifiable reduction in the participant’s symptoms, nor was there an overall
improvement in mental cognition. It was concluded that the results of the study did
not affirm nor deny the use of dance/movement therapy amongst the group of
schizophrenic participants (Xia 676).
I believe that the aforementioned case study brings to light something key
about DMT: the kinds of people and mental illnesses that it can be successful for. As
demonstrated by the study conducted on schizophrenic patients, DMT isn’t
necessarily effective for the entire spectrum of mental illness. DMT has been shown to
be more effective for those dealing with less serious mental illnesses, or are simply
struggling to cope with passing crises in their life. For example, problems with stress,
self-image, family, time management, and relationships are ideal issues to deal with in
a DMT setting (Payne 14). Studies have shown that these are the most successfully
resolved personal conflicts in this therapy.
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Although DMT may not be an effective treatment for certain people or
problems, it is unlikely that it will cause detriment to patients, unlike other therapies.
For example, it is very common for patients in traditional verbal therapy to feel
intense and strong emotions that they were not prepared to encounter, and therefore,
not equipped to handle. They can have an increased anxiety and anxiousness as a
result of verbal therapy, and even potentially manifest and endure false memories
(Linden 308). When a client is difficult to get talking, therapists will inquire for
information and ask thought-provoking questions to initiate conversation or better
develop their understanding of a patient’s situation. In some cases, this has been
shown to encourage the development of false memories because the therapist is
overbearing and trying too hard to evoke reactions from their reluctant clients. These
negative side effects of therapy may also manifest themselves in DMT; however, this is
very unlikely given the holistic nature of the therapy, and the compassionate role of
the therapist.
Along with its positive effects on participants, another attribute to the
utilization of DMT is that a holistic curriculum may be easily interwoven and
incorporated alongside the standard therapy. Instead of participation only in standard
therapy sessions, a therapist can also act as a teacher. By helping participants learn
about mindfulness and introspection techniques, along with equipping them with
coping skills, the therapist/teacher is able to help their clients learn how to combat
problems they may face in the future, after therapy has ended. Like in the case of
Alex, it is helpful to learn not just about thinking and behavioral patterns, but what
they mean, and techniques to keep them in check.
A holistic curriculum is based on “the premise that each person finds identity,
meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural
world, and to spiritual values such as compassion and peace” (Miller). In other words,
when instilled in the context of DMT, participants learn not only about themselves,
but also about their interactions with others and the natural world. Although some
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find such a premise to be too free-spirited for them, the previously mentioned
connections are arguably some of the most important one’s in an individual’s life.
Many people place too great of an emphasis on being happy, and finding happiness,
but choose to ignore the introspective process of examining their relationships. By
combining DMT and a holistic curriculum, one can truly begin to understand how
they function cognitively, what effect that has on their personal relationships, and
what their personal role is in a society and in the world.
Finally, DMT is simply more practical and fun than other, more conventional
forms of therapy. It is in essence the vitamin C you would take to not just help you get
over a cold, but that you would take to help prevent a cold. In contrast, other therapy
styles act as the antibiotics you would take once an infection has set in—there are no
preventative measures. When most people make the decision to attend therapy, it is
because all else has failed and speaking with a therapist is their last resort. Since DMT
is a much more relaxed and natural style of therapy, learned exercise and techniques
can easily be incorporated into daily life. While most people won’t keep a journal of
their dreams, or record every instance in the day they’ve felt anxious (as many clinical
therapists would advise), it would be practical to attend a dance class once a week or
so. Just by being in class, learning choreography and allowing the body to move, one
can lose and discover themself all at the same time. DMT can be as simple as just
improvising movement to a song and allowing the mind to be free for a fleeting
moment (Eddy 6). And although short, it can still provide enough time to calm the
psyche and encourage distinct moments of introspection.
DMT is an extremely underrated area of psychology. With that being said, I
also believe it can be a powerful form of therapy and it has been shown to greatly
improve participants’ quality of life and their outlook on it. As demonstrated by the
previous case studies and experiments, DMT allows clients to think critically about
their own issues and maladaptive behaviors, and become capable of introspection.
Although DMT may not be effective for all mental illnesses, it is still nonetheless a
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powerful tool for significant psychological change, and should be used far more often
as a form of treatment. Instead of instantly jumping to the conclusion that traditional
psychotherapy is the best option for all clients, patients and therapists alike should
perhaps recognize that the most natural thing to our body—movement—could act as
the basis for interpersonal discovery and provide impressive levels of mental clarity.
Teacher Takeaways
“This is a good example of Rogerian argument. Rather than taking a confrontational position that might
alienate those who disagree, the author acknowledges the grounds for disagreement while explaining
why opponents’ concerns may be misplaced. Logos and ethos are both successfully employed in that
process. However, the use of pathos is largely limited to the first two paragraphs, where the reader is
invited to imagine two radically different therapy scenarios. That works well, but using pathos more
broadly might vary the tone of the essay and engage the reader more directly in the argument.”
Works Cited
“About Dance/Movement Therapy.” ADTA, American Dance Therapy Association,
2016, https://adta.org/.
Bräuninger, Iris. “The Efficacy of Dance Movement Therapy Group on Improvement
of Quality of Life: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” The Arts in Psychotherapy,
vol. 39, no. 4, 2012, pp. 296-303. Elsevier ScienceDirect, doi:
10.1016/j.aip.2012.03.008.
Chaiklin, Sharon, and Hilda Wengrower. Art and Science of Dance/Movement Therapy:
Life Is Dance, Routledge, 2009. ProQuest eBook Library,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/lib/psu/detail.action?docID
=668472.
Eddy, Martha. “A Brief History of Somatic Practices and Dance: Historical
Development of the Field of Somatic Education and Its Relationship to
Dance.” Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, vol. 1, no. 1, 2009, pp. 5-27.
IngentaConnect, doi: 10.1386/jdsp.1.1.5/1.
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Hagensen, Kendall. “Using a Dance/Movement Therapy-Based Wellness Curriculum:
An Adolescent Case Study.” American Journal of Dance Therapy, vol. 37, no. 2,
2015, pp. 150-175. SpringerLink, doi: 10.1007/s10465-015-9199-4.
Kinser, Patricia Anne. “Brain Structures and Their Functions.” Serendip Studio, Bryn
Mawr, 5 Sept 2012, http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/kinser/Structure1.html.
Linden, Michael, and Marie-Luise Schermuly-Haupt. “Definition, Assessment and
Rate of Psychotherapy Side Effects.” World Psychiatry, vol. 13, no. 3, 2014, pp.
306-309. US National Library of Medicine, doi: 10.1002/wps.20153.
Meekums, Bonnie. Dance Movement Therapy: A Creative Psychotherapeutic Approach,
SAGE, 2002. ProQuest eBook Library,
=668472.
Miller, Ron. “A Brief Introduction to Holistic Education.” infed, YMCA George
Williams College, March 2000, http://infed.org/mobi/a-brief-introduction-to-
holistic-education/.
Payne, Helen. Dance Movement Therapy: Theory and Practice, Tavistock/Routledge,
1992. ProQuest eBook Library,
=668472.
Sprouse-Blum, Adam, Greg Smith, Daniel Sugai, and Don Parsa. “Understanding
Endorphins and Their Importance in Pain Management.” Hawaii Medical
Journal, vol. 69, no. 3, 2010, pp. 70-71. US National Library of Medicine,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3104618/.
Xia, Jun, and Tessa Jan Grant. “Dance Therapy for People With Schizophrenia.”
Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol. 35, no. 4, 2009, pp. 675-76. Oxford Journals. doi:
10.1093/schbul/sbp042.
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We Don’t Care About Child Slaves11

When you walk into the mall or any department store, your main goal is to
snatch a deal, right? You scout for the prettiest dress with the lowest price or the best
fitting jeans with the biggest discount. And once you find it, you go to the checkout
and purchase it right away. Congratulations—now it’s all yours! But here’s the thing:
the item that you just purchased could have possibly been made from the sweat,
blood, and tears of a six-year-old child in Vietnam. According to the International
Labour Organization (ILO), one in ten Vietnamese children aged 5 to 17 are slave
workers, and Vietnam is the second biggest source of imported goods to the US. This
means that a lot of the things we get from Target, Walmart, and countless other stores
are made by child slaves. The problem is that the bargain on that cute shirt we just got
was too good for us to think twice—about where it came from, how it was made. As a
society, we need to take action against child labor by being conscious of where we buy
our goods so we don’t feed the system that exploits children.
When we think of child slavery, we are horrified by it. How can someone treat
children in such a way? It’s horrific, it’s terrible, and it’s a serious crime! But then
again, those shoes you saw in the store are so cute and are at such a cheap price, you
must buy them! Even if they were made by child slaves, you can’t do anything about
that situation and purchasing them won’t do any harm at all, right? The unfortunate
reality is that we are all hypocritical when it comes to this issue. I’m pretty sure that all
of us have some sort of knowledge of child slave workers in third-world countries, but
how come we never take it into consideration when we buy stuff? Maybe it’s because
you believe your actions as one person are too little to affect anything, or you just
can’t pass up that deal. Either way, we need to all start doing research about where we
are sending our money.
As of 2014, 1.75 million Vietnamese children are working in conditions that are
classified as child labor according to the ILO (Rau). Most of these children work in
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crowded factories and work more than 42 hours a week. These children are the ones
who make your clothes, toys, and other knick-knacks that you get from Target,
Walmart, etc. If not that, they’re the ones who make the zippers on your coats and
buttons on your sweater in a horrifying, physically unstable work environment.
How exactly do these children end up in this situation? According to a BBC
report, labor traffickers specifically target children in remote and poor villages,
offering to take them to the city to teach them vocational training or technical skills.
Their parents usually agree because they are not aware of the concept of human
trafficking since they live in an isolated area. Also, it gives the family an extra source
of income. The children are then sent to other places and are forced to work in mostly
farms or factories. These children receive little to no pay and most of the time get
beaten if they made a mistake while working. They are also subject to mental abuse
and at the worst, physically tortured by their boss. Another reason why children end
up in the labor force is because they must provide for their family; their parents are
unable to do so for whatever reason (Brown).
In 2013, BBC uncovered the story of a Vietnamese child labor victim identified
as “Hieu.” Hieu was a slave worker in Ho Chi Minh city who jumped out of the third
floor window of a factory with two other boys to escape his “workplace.” Aged 16 at
the time, Hieu explained that a woman approached him in his rural village in Dien
Bien, the country’s poorest province, and offered him vocational training in the city.
He and 11 other children were then sent to the city and forced to make clothes for a
garment factory in a cramped room for the next two years. “We started at 6AM and
finished work at midnight,” he said. “If we made a mistake making the clothes they
would beat us with a stick.” Fortunately for Hieu, he managed to escape and is one of
the 230 children saved by The Blue Dragon Foundation, a charity that helps fight
against child labor (Brown).
For the rest of the victims, however, hope is yet to be found. According to the
US Department of Commerce, most of the apparel that is sold in the US is made
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overseas, and Vietnam is the second biggest source for imported goods right behind
China. Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka are also on the list of the top sources of
US apparel imports. This means that the demand for goods from these countries is
high; therefore, the need for child slave workers is increasing.
One of the biggest corporations in the world that has an ongoing history of the
use of child slaves is Nike. According to IHSCS News, workers at Vietnam shoe
manufacturing plants make 20 cents an hour, are beaten by supervisors, and are not
allowed to leave their work posts. Vietnam isn’t the only place that has factories with
dangerous working conditions owned by the athletic-wear giant (Wilsey). Nike also has
sweatshops in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, and China, just to name a few, that
have all been investigated by officials due to inhumane working conditions.
Everything from clothing and shoes, to soccer balls are potentially made by child
slaves in these countries (Greenhouse). Please keep this in mind the next time you
visit your local Nike store.
Vietnam has actually been praised for its efforts in combating child slave issues.
According to The Borgen Project, Vietnam has increased the number of prosecutions
it holds to help end overseas gang activity (Rau). However, the country lacks internal
control in child trafficking, and traffickers who are caught receive light punishments.
The person who trafficked Hieu and the 11 other children only faced a fine of $500
and his factory was closed down, but he did not go to court (Brown).
Let’s be real: doing our part to fight against child labor as members of a
capitalistic society is not the easiest thing to do. We are all humans who have needs
and our constant demand to buy is hard to resist, especially when our society is fueled
by consumerism. However, big changes takes little steps. We can start to combat this
issue by doing research on where we spend our money and try to not support
corporations and companies that will enable the child labor system. We can also
donate to charities, such as The Blue Dragon Foundation, to further help the cause.
Yes, it is hard to not shop at your favorite stores and I can’t stop you from doing so.
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But all I ask is that you educate
Teacher Takeaways
yourself on where you are spending “This essay provides compelling information
your money, and hopefully your from credible sources and offers a mix of
strategies, including anecdotal examples and
moral compass will guide you onto more objective statistical information. These
the right path. If you are horrified approaches complement each other by
putting a human face to the problem while
by the thought of a 5-year-old child also demonstrating its extent and severity. I’d
being beaten and working 24 hours like to see better engagement with the
opposing positions, though. It seems likely
a day, do not be a part of the that many people are not aware of this issue,
problem. Keep Hieu—and the other or are not aware of resources that would help
them become more ethical consumers. By
1.75 million children who are failing to anticipate the needs of the
currently suffering in Vietnam—in audience, the author risks frustrating or
alienating readers rather than persuading
mind the next time you buy them.”
something. – Professor Dunham
Works Cited
Brown, Marianne. “Vietnam’s Lost Children in Labyrinth of Slave Labour.” BBC
News, 27 Aug 2013, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23631923.
Greenhouse, Steven. “Nike Shoe Plant in Vietnam Is Called Unsafe for Workers.” The
New York Times, 7 Nov 1997, http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/08/business/nike-
shoe-plant-in-vietnam-is-called-unsafe-for-workers.html.
Nguyen Thị Lan Huong, et al. Viet Nam National Child Labour Survey 2012.
International Labour Organization, 14 Mar 2014,
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-
hanoi/documents/publication/wcms_237833.pdf.
“One in Ten Vietnamese Youngsters Aged 5-17 in Child Labour.” International Labour
Organization, 14 Mar 2014,
http://www.ilo.org/hanoi/Informationresources/Publicinformation/newsitems/W
CMS_237788/lang--en/index.htm.
236
Rau, Ashrita. “Child Labor in Vietnam.” The Borgen Project, 20 Mar 2017,
https://borgenproject.org/child-labor-vietnam/.
Wilsey, Matt, and Scott Lichtig. “The Nike Controversy.” EDGE Course Seminar
Website, Stanford University, 27 July 1999,
https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/trade_environment/wheeling/hnike.html.
Carnivore Consumption Killing Climate12

The year of 1955 was the year of many revolutionary names: you might
remember the rise of Elvis or the valor of Rosa Parks that year. Some might recognize
it as the birth year of two of the 20th centuries best and brightest: Mr. Jobs, and Mr.
Gates. However, I recognize it as the birth year of a pair even brighter than that of
Steve and Bill. A pair of golden arches that is: McDonald’s was founded April 15, 1955,
and ever since then, the market for fast, greasy, and cheap food has been a staple in
many countries around the world. Which has led to a steady rise in the consumption
of meat and other animal products. This spells out disaster for not only personal
health but the health of the environment. The direct link between the consumption of
animal products and global warming is negatively effecting the health of this
generation. If action isn’t taken by each of us, global warming will be hazardous for
future generations who will be left with the burden of reversing the wastefulness of
their greedy ancestors.
While there are many industries that contribute to global warming, the food
and farming industry has one of the largest impacts on the environment. For starters,
every step of the process, from the birth of the calf to the burger patty sizzling on the
grill, produces near irreversible damage to the environment. All livestock, not only
cows, passively contribute to global warming. “Livestock, especially cattle,
produce methane (CH4) as part of their digestion. This process is called enteric
fermentation, and it represents almost one third of the emissions from the Agriculture
237
sector” (“Greenhouse”). While this may seem insignificant to nice small farms with
only a few cows, large corporations own thousands of cattle, all of which add up to
significant amount of enteric fermentation. Not to mention, the thousands of gallons
of gas that goes into transporting the cows and there are tons of coal or fossil fuels
being burned to power big warehouses where cows and other various meat-producing
animals are crammed into undersized cages, where they are modified and bred for
slaughter.
Moreover, the driving of semis release carbon dioxide into the air. These trucks
are used to haul the animals, their feed, and the final product, your food. The final
number of trips, when all said and done, adds up to an enormous amount of gas being
burned. “When we burn fossil fuels, such as coal and gas, we release carbon dioxide
(CO2). CO2 builds up in the atmosphere and causes Earth’s temperature to rise”
(“Climate”). In summary, the burning of gas and other fossil fuels in one major way
the meat, and the entire food industry contributes to global warming. The rising of the
earth’s temperature is like the flick of the first domino in the line. Heating of the
Earth being the first domino leading to melting the ice caps and so on. Everyone has
heard the spiel of melting ice caps and “saving the polar bears!”; however, there are
many serious and harmful effects of such CO2 emissions. Some may rebuttal that
“global warming doesn’t have any effect on me”, but there is a list of health problems
caused by global warming that do negatively impact humans.
Unless people can come together and reduce, not just their CO2 footprint, but
all greenhouse gas emissions there will continue to be an increase medical problems
globally. The rising temperatures is causing longer allergy seasons and an increase in
allergens or dust, pollen and other particles in the air. “Research studies associate fine
particles [allergens] with negative cardiovascular outcomes such as heart attacks,
formation of deep vein blood clots, and increased mortality from several other causes.
These adverse health impacts intensify as temperatures rise” (Portier 14). For further
explanation, polluting the atmosphere by burning gas and raising mass numbers of
238
livestock is causing the global temperature to rise. These negative health issues are
only the outcome of global warming. I have purposely omitted the health problems,
though many, of eating red meat. Cutting meat out of your diet will improve your
individual health, but more importantly, it will improve the health of the earth. Some
critics might argue that eating just one burger can’t raise the entire Earth’s
temperature. The simple answer is, it doesn’t. However, making the conscious
decision to eat meat on a day to day basis adds up to a slew of health problems
accompanied by a large personal carbon footprint.
Acidification of the oceans is one of the harmful effects on the environment
caused by an inflated carbon footprint. This happens when the CO2 that is released
into the atmosphere, absorbs into the ocean, thus leading to a change in the pH level
of the ocean. “High concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increase the
amount that is dissolved into the ocean, leading to acidification… many [people on
coastal regions] depend on marine protein for daily subsistence, the consequences of
perturbing delicate ocean and coastal systems will be far-reaching” (Portier 6). This is
problematic for any who live on coastal regions and may rely heavily on seafood in
their diet but is also a problem for the fish as well. Disrupting an entire food chain
could have many unforeseen consequences.
Meat lovers will interject: “well food other than meat is produced in factories,
don’t those contribute to global warming too?” These arguments are not invalid; while
the meat industry may cause much of the food and agriculture’s emissions, other
methods of food production are outdated and harmful as well. The problem of global
warming, is not solely the fault of the meat industry, the blame should be put onto
anyone who produces more than their fair share of greenhouse gases. For example,
the way rice is cultivated could very well be a place CO2 emissions could be cut. “A
change in rice processing and consumption patterns could reduce CO2 emission by 2-
16%” (Norton 42). The implementation made to reduce the footprint of rice cultivation,
239
could then be remodeled to be effectively used to reduce the pollution of the food and
agriculture sector as a whole.
However, more simple things than changing the way food is produced can help
save the environment. It can be as simple as picking up a piece of litter off the ground
to deciding to recycle all your bottles and cans. But for those looking to make a greater
contribution to saving the world, stop eating meat. Or, if that is too difficult, reduce
the amount of meat you eat. A paper published by the World Resources Institute
“showed that reducing heavy red meat consumption, would lead to a per capita food
and land use-related greenhouse gas emissions reduction of between 15 and 35
percent by 2050. Going vegetarian could reduce those per capita emissions by half”
(Magill). As a vegetarian I gave up eating meat mainly for this reason. But not only can
you save the environment by giving up meat, by doing so you can save more than just
your life, but millions of lives; “switching to vegetarianism could help prevent nearly
7m premature deaths and help reduce health care costs by $1b” (Harvey). As
mentioned, there are multiple positive impacts of eliminating meat from your diet,
and it is the best way to reduce your carbon footprint. In tandem, being aware of your
carbon footprint is very important, because not monitoring individual emissions is
causing greenhouse gases to reach dangerous levels. Which is beginning to cause a
variety of health problems for many people which will only intensify if nothing is done
on a personal and global level.
Not only do we have to worry about the changes to ocean and costal life, but life
everywhere will get far worse if nothing is done to stop the warming of our planet. A
world dominated by scientifically advanced greedy carnivores is not a world worth
saving. The earth is on a slippery slope that is leading to extinction. The way we
consume animal products is irresponsible because it poses a major threat to the
environment and endangers humans. To respond to this, we need to develop new
ways to combat ecological problems and change wasteful consumption habits. If we
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cannot stop our polluting and wasteful ways, we are destined to lose the planet that
harbors everything we know.
To change the eating habits of an entire nation might be a feat all its own;
changing the eating habits of an entire world seems impossible. I am confident that it
all starts with one person making the right choice. I urge you to follow not only in my
footsteps, but join the millions of others who are putting down their steak knives to
fight climate change. I find it horrifying that some people would rather destroy their
own race than change what goes on their plate. There is overwhelming evidence that
illuminates the fiery connection between global warming and serious health problems.
Now this generation and future generations will need to create regulations and invent
new solutions to enjoy the same planet we have all called home.
Teacher Takeaways
“This essay is a good example of an Aristotelian argument; the author clearly presents their stance and
their desired purpose, supporting both with a blend of logos, pathos, and ethos. It’s clear that the author
is passionate and knowledgeable. I would say as a meat-eater, though, that many readers would feel
attacked by some of the rhetorical figures included here: no one wants to be part of the group of
‘scientifically advanced greedy carnivores’ that will make our world uninhabitable, regardless of the truth
of that statement. Additionally, the author seems to lose track of their thesis throughout paragraphs four
and five. I would encourage them to make sure every paragraph begins and ends with a connection to
the thesis statement.”
Works Cited
Adams, Jill. “Can U.S., Nations Meet Emission Goals?” CQ Researcher, 15 June 2016,
http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqr_ht_climate_chan
ge_2016.
“Climate Change Decreases the Quality of Air We Breathe.” Center of Disease Control
and American Public Health Association, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, 18 April 2016, https://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/pubs/air-quality-
final_508.pdf.
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“Climate Change: How Do We Know?” National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
Earth Science Communications Team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
California Institute of Technology, 18 June 2018,
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/.
Doyle, Julie, Michael Redclift, and Graham Woodgate. Meditating Climate Change,
Routledge, August 2011.
“Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 11 April 2018.
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-
emissions#transportation.
Harvey, Fiona. “Eat Less Meat to Avoid Global Warming Scientists Say.” The
Guardian, 21 March, 2016,
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/21/eat-less-meat-
vegetarianism-dangerous-global-warming
“Human Induced Climate Change Requires Immediate Action.” American Geophysical
Union, August 2013, http://sciencepolicy.agu.org/files/2013/07/AGU-Climate-
Change-Position-Statement_August-2013.pdf.
Magill, Bobby. “Studies Show Link Between Red-Meat and Climate Change.” Climate
Central, 20 April 2016. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/studies-link-red-
meat-and-climate-change-20264
Norton, Tomas, Brijesh K. Tiwari, and Nicholas M. Holden. Sustainable Food
Processing, Wiley-Blackwell, 2014. Wiley Online Library, doi:
10.1002/9781118634301.
Portier, Christopher J., et al. A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change. National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health and
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 22 April 2010,
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/materials/a_human_health_perspective_on_cli
mate_change_full_report_508.pdf.
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Chapter Eight
Research Concepts
We live in an age of immediate answers. Although we have not achieved parity in
access to technology worldwide, information has never been easier to uncover. This
is, of course, a double-edged sword: the proliferation of ideas due to the
technological revolution enables new kinds of learning, but also has fundamentally
changed the way we think and interact.
One of my friends refers to his iPhone as “The Wonder Killer”: because he has such
quick access to answers through the miniature computer he carries everywhere, the
experience of sustained curiosity is now very rare in his life. All kinds of questions are
easily answered by googling—“Who was that guy in Back to the Future Part II?” “Do
spiders hibernate?”—or a brief crawl through Wikipedia—“How has globalization
impacted Bhutan’s economy?” “What life experiences influenced Frida Kahlo’s
painting?” But the answers to these questions, though easily discovered, paint a very
one-dimensional portrait of human knowledge.
Take a look at this brief TED video from

Adam Savage of MythBusters. For
scientists and writers alike, the spirit of
curiosity at once motivates individual
learning and also the growth and
progress of our collective knowledge.
Your innate ability to be curious puts
you in the league of the most brilliant
and prolific scholars—people who were
driven by questions, seeking to
interrogate the world around them.
In this section, I add my voice to the chorus of writing teachers whose rallying cry is a
renewed investment in curiosity.13 Hopefully, you too will embrace inquisitive
fascination by rejecting easy answers and using writing as a means of discovery.
243
Chapter Vocabulary
a cognitive bias by which a person seeks only ideas which

confirmation bias confirm their existing worldview, thus convincing themselves that
that worldview is universal and/or truthful.
inquiry-based research and research writing that is motivated by questions, not
research by answers.
ongoing an analogy for the network of discourse surrounding a topic,
conversation issue, or idea. Adopted from Kenneth Burke.
research a question, series of questions, or inquisitive topic that guides an
question/path of inquiry-based research project.
inquiry
the potential value or consequence of an exploration or
argument; what stands to be gained from investigation of a
stakes subject or advocacy for a position. Consider also “stakeholders,”
the people or institutions that stand to gain from the outcome of
an investigation or argument.
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Techniques
Inquiry-Based Research
It’s possible that you’ve already written research papers by this point in your
academic career. If your experience has been like mine was, writing these papers
went one of two ways:
a) The teacher assigns a specific topic for you to research, and sometimes even a
specific thesis for you to prove.
b) The teacher provides more freedom, allowing students to choose a topic at
their own discretion or from a set of options.
In both situations, my teacher expected me to figure out what I wanted to argue, then
find research to back me up. I was expected to have a fully formed stance on an issue,
then use my sources to explain and support that stance. Not until graduate school did
I encounter inquiry-based research, which inverts this sequence.
Put simply, inquiry-based research refers to research and research writing that is
motivated by questions, not by answers.
Non-Inquiry-Based Research Inquiry-Based Research

Your research begins with an answer Your research begins with a question,
and seeks out evidence that confirms reviews all the evidence available, and
that answer. then develops that answer.
For example, a murder occurs and I get

For example, a murder occurs. I look for
a bad vibe from the butler. I look for all
as many clues that I can, then
the clues that confirm that the butler
determine the most likely culprit based
did it; assuming I find what I need, I can
on that evidence.
declare that the butler did it.
It’s quite possible that the butler did do it, and both logical processes might lead
me to the same conclusion. However, an inquiry-based investigation allows more
consideration for the possibility that the butler is innocent.
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Consider the difference this can make: if research is about learning, then an inquiry-
based perspective is essential. If you only seek out the ideas that agree with you, you
will never learn.
Even in the event that the investigation yields the same answers, their differences are
crucial. The example in the table above demonstrates confirmation bias, or as we
called it in Chapter Four, “projection.” (You might be familiar with this phenomenon
from politicized social media spheres which tailor content to the user;14 you may have
also identified it as the force behind
many axes of prejudice, racialized
police violence, and discrimination.)
When we only look for answers that
agree with our preexisting ideas, we
are more likely to ignore other
important ideas, voices, and
possibilities. Most importantly,
confirmation bias inhibits genuine
learning, which relies on challenging,
expanding, and complicating our
current knowledge and worldviews.
Consequently, inquiry-based research is time-consuming and intensive: instead of

only dealing with evidence that supports a certain answer or perspective, it requires
the reasoner to encounter a great diversity of evidence and answers, which can be
difficult to sift through.
This distinction has important implications for the kind

of research and research writing for which this book
advocates. “The art and
a) You don’t have to—shouldn’t, in fact—have a science of asking
thesis set in stone before startingresearch. In lieu questions is the
of a thesis guiding your process, a research
source of all
question or path of inquiry will motivate your
research and writing. You might have a
knowledge.”
hypothesis or a working thesis, but you must be – Thomas Berger
tremendously flexible: be prepared to pivot,
qualify, nuance, or entirely change your answer as you proceed.
b) In order to pursue your research question, you will need to encounter a lot of
sources. Not all of the sources you encounter will make it into your paper,
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which is a new practice for some students. (When I engage in inquiry-based

research, I would approximate that one in every twelve sources I encounter
makes an appearance in my final draft. The other eleven may be interesting or
educational, but might not have a place in my discussion.) This is a time-
consuming process, but it leads to more significant learning, more complex
thinking, and more interesting and effective rhetoric.
Ongoing Conversation15
Imagine yourself arriving at a party or

some other social gathering. You walk up
to a circle of people chatting casually
about Star Wars. It’s clear they have been
on about it for a while. Some of them you
know, some of them you’ve heard of but
never met, and some of them are total
strangers—but they all seem to have very
strong opinions about the film franchise.
You want to jump into the conversation,
so when someone posits, “Jar Jar Binks was the worst character of the prequels, and
maybe even the whole canon,” you blurt out, “Yeah, Jar Jar was not good. He was
bad. He was the worst character of the prequels. He might even be the worst of the
whole canon.” The circle of people turn to stare at you, confused why you just
parroted back what the last person said; all of you feel awkward that you derailed the
discussion.
Even writing that example makes me socially anxious. Let’s try option B instead: as
you arrive to the group, you listen attentively. You gradually catch the flow and
rhythm of the conversation, noticing its unique focus and language. After hearing a
number of people speak regarding Jar Jar, you bring together their ideas along with
your ideas and experiences. You ease yourself in to the conversation by saying, “I
agree with Stan: Jar Jar is a poorly written character. However, he does accomplish
George Lucas’s goals of creating comic relief for young audiences, who were a target
demographic for the prequels.” A few people nod in agreement; a few people are
clearly put out by this interpretation. The conversation continues, and as it grows
later, you walk away from the discussion (which is still in full force without you) having
made a small but meaningful contribution—a ripple, but a unique and valuable ripple.
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This dynamic is much like the world of research writing. Your writing is part of an
ongoing conversation: an exchange of ideas on a certain topic which began long
before you and will continue after you. If you were to simply parrot back everyone’s
ideas to them, you would not advance the conversation and it would probably feel
awkward. But by synthesizing many different sources with your unique life
experiences, from your unique vantage point (or, “interpretive position” viz. Chapter
Four), you can mobilize research and research writing to develop compelling,
incisive, and complex insights. You just need to get started by feeling out the
conversation and finding your place.
Developing a Topic
Finding a conversation that you’re excited about and genuinely interested in is the
first and most important step. As you develop a topic, keep in mind that pursuing
your curiosities and passions will make your research process less arduous, more
relevant, and more pleasant. Such an approach will also naturally improve the quality
of your writing: the interest you have for a topic will come across in the construction
of your sentences and willingness to pursue multiple lines of thought about a topic.
An author’s boredom results in a boring paper, and an author’s enthusiasm translates
to enthusiastic writing.
Depending on the parameters your teacher has set, your research topic might need
to (a) present a specific viewpoint, (b) focus on a specific topic, or (c) focus on a
certain theme or set of ideas. It’s also possible that your teacher will allow complete
autonomy for one or all of your research assignments. Be sure you review any
materials your instructor provides and ask clarifying questions to make sure your
topic fits the guidelines of their assignment.
To generate ideas, I recommend completing some of the activities included later in

this chapter. I find it most productive to identify areas of interest, then develop
questions of all sizes and types. Eventually, you will zero in on a question or
combination of questions as your path of inquiry.
What makes for a good research question or path of inquiry? Of course, the answer to
this question will depend on your rhetorical situation. However, there are some
common characteristics of a good research question in any situation:
• It is answerable, but is not easily answerable.16 Engaging and fruitful
research questions require complex, informed answers. However, they
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shouldn’t be so subjective, intricate, or expansive that they simply cannot be

answered in the scope of your rhetorical situation.17
• It is specific. By establishing parameters on your scope, you can be sure your
research is directed and relevant. More discussion of scope and focus
continues below, and you can try the exercise titled “Focus: Expanding and
Contracting Scope” later in the chapter to learn more.
• It matters to someone. Research questions and the rhetoric they inform are
valuable only because they have stakes: even if it’s a small demographic, the
answers to your research question should impact someone.
• It allows you to say something new or unique. As discussed earlier in this
chapter, inquiry-based research should encourage you to articulate a unique
standpoint by synthesizing many different voices, interpreted from your
individual perspective, with your life experiences and ideas. What you say
doesn’t have to be groundbreaking, but it shouldn’t just reiterate ideas,
arguments, histories, or perspectives.
It is difficult to find a question that hits all these marks on your first try. As you proceed
through research, pre-writing, drafting, and revising, you should refine and adjust
your question(s). Just like any other part of writing, developing a path of inquiry is
iterative: you’ve got to take a lot of chances and work your way toward different
results. The activity titled “Focus: Expanding and Contracting Scope” in this section
can help you complicate and develop your question along a variety of axes.
To hear a different voice on developing research questions, check out this short video
from Wilfrid Laurier University.
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In order to find the best version of your research question, you should develop
“working questions”—questions of all sizes and types that are pertinent to your
subject. As you can see below, you can start with a handful of simple working
questions that will eventually lead to a viable research question.
Working Revised
Working Question
Research Question Research Question
Too easy to answer, low Higher stakes, more

More complex answers, higher
stakes, not specific specific:
stakes, very specific:
enough:
What does Vietnamese
How does Vietnamese cuisine
What do people eat in food reflect about
reflect a history of colonialism?
Vietnam? Vietnamese culture?
More complex answers, higher

Too straightforward, not More specific:
stakes, very specific:
specific enough:
Have obesity rates
Is there a correlation between
Are people in the United increased in the United
obesity rates and economic
States more obese than States over the last 100
instability in the United States
they used to be? years?
over the last 100 years?
Not specific enough, More specific, easier to

Very specific, higher stakes,
difficult to answer in- answer:
more complex answers:
depth:
How has religion
How has religion’s influence on
What is the role of influenced politics in the
government impacted the day-to-
religion in the Middle Middle East in the last 50
day lives of Qatari citizens?
East? years?
As you hone your path of inquiry, you may need to zoom in or out in terms of scope:
depending on your rhetorical situation, you will need different degrees of focus. Just
like narration, research writing benefits from a careful consideration of scope. Often,
a narrower scope is easier to work with than a broader scope—you will be able to
write more and write better if your question asks for more complex thinking.
It’s important to be flexible throughout your research project. Be

prepared to pivot topics, adjust your research question, change your
opinions, and confront unanticipated challenges.
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Consider the diagram above. As you build a working knowledge of your topic (get
the feel for the conversation that began before you arrived at the party), you might
complicate or narrow your working questions. Gradually, try to articulate a research
question (or combination of questions). Remember to be flexible as you research
though: you might need to pivot, adjust, refocus, or replace your research question
as you learn more. Consider this imaginary case study as an example of this process.
Ahmed began his project by identifying the following areas of interest: racism
in the U.S.; technology in medicine and health care; and independent film-
making. After doing some free-writing and preliminary research on each, he
decided he wanted to learn more about racially motivated police violence. He
developed working questions:
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Are police officers likely to make judgments about citizens based on

their race?
Have police forces instituted policies to avoid racism?
Who is most vulnerable to police violence?
Why does it seem like police officers target people of color?
Who is responsible for overseeing the police?
He realized that he needed to narrow his focus to develop a more viable path of
inquiry, eventually ending up with the research question,
Over the last thirty years, what populations are most likely to experience
police violence in the U.S.?
However, after completing more research, Ahmed discovered that his answers
came pretty readily: young Black men are significantly more vulnerable to be
victims of police violence. He realized that he’s not really saying anything new,
so he had to tweak his path of inquiry.
Ahmed did some more free-writing and dug around to find a source that
disagreed with him or added a new layer to his answers. He discovered
eventually that there are a handful of police organizations that have made
genuine efforts to confront racism in their practices. Despite the widespread
and normalized violence enacted against people of color, these groups were
working against racial violence. He reoriented his research question to be,
Have antiracist police trainings and strategies been effective in reducing
individual or institutional racism over the last thirty years?
Writing a Proposal
Bigger research projects often require additional steps in preparation and process.
Before beginning an extended meditation on a topic—before rushing into a long-term
or large-scale research project—it’s possible that your teacher will ask you to write a
research proposal. The most effective way to make sure your proposal is on the right
track is to identify its rhetorical purpose. Are you trying to process ideas? Compile
and review initial research? Demonstrate that you’re pursuing a viable path of
inquiry? Explain the stakes of your subject?
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Although every rhetorical audience will value different parts of the proposal, there are
a handful of issues you should try to tackle in any proposal.
• Your subject. Introduce your topic with a general introduction to your topic—
not too general, but enough to give the reader a sense of grounding.
Too general: Education is something that happens in every facet of our

lives.
Better: Access to education is a major concern for people living in a
democratic society.
• Your occasion. When you developed your research question, you chose an
issue that matters to someone, meaning that it is timely and important. To
establish the significance of your topic, explain what’s prompting your writing
and why it matters.
Since Betsy Devos’ nomination for U.S. Secretary of Education, the

discussion surrounding school choice has gained significant momentum.
Socioeconomic inequality in this country has produced great
discrepancies in the quality of education that young people experience,
and it is clear that something must be done.
• Your stakes and stakeholders. Although you may have alluded to why your
question matters when introducing your occasion, you might take a sentence
or two to elaborate on its significance. What effect will the answer(s) you find
have, and on whom?
Because educational inequality relates to other forms of injustice, efforts

to create fairness in the quality of schools will influence U.S. racial
politics, gender equality, and socioeconomic stratification. For better or
for worse, school reform of any kind will impact greater social structures
and institutions that color our daily lives as students, parents, and
community members.
• Your research question or path of inquiry. After introducing your subject,

occasion, and stakes, allow the question guiding your research to step in.
Some people believe that school choice programs are the answer. But is
it likely that people of all socioeconomic backgrounds can experience
parity in education through current school voucher proposals?
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• Your position as a working thesis. Articulate your position as a (hypo)thesis—

a potential answer to your question or an idea of where your research might
take you. This is an answer which you should continue to adjust along the way;
writing it in the proposal does not set your answer(s) in stone.
In my research, I will examine whether school choice programs have the

potential to create more equitable schooling experiences for all students.
Even though proponents of school choice use the language of freedom
and equality to justify school vouchers, recent propositions for school
choice would likely exacerbate inequality in education and access.
• The difficulties you anticipate in the research and writing process and how
you plan to address them. In your proposal, you are trying to demonstrate
that your path of inquiry is viable; therefore, it is important to show that you’re
thinking through the challenges you might face along the way. Consider what
elements of researching and writing will be difficult, and how you will approach
those difficulties.
There are a vast number of resources on school choice, but I anticipate

encountering some difficulty in pursuing my guiding question. For
example, many people discussing this topic are entrenched in their
current viewpoints. Similarly, this issue is very politicized, dividing
people mostly along party lines. I also need to do more preliminary
research: I’m not certain if there have been school choice experiments
conducted on any significant scale, in the U.S. or elsewhere. Finally, it is
difficult to evaluate complex social phenomena of inequality without also
considering race, gender, disability status, nationality, etc.; I’ll need to
focus on socioeconomic status, but I cannot treat it as a discrete issue.
• Optional, depending on your rhetorical situation: A working list of sources

consulted in your preliminary research. I ask my students to include a
handful of sources they have encountered as they identified their topic and
path of inquiry: this shows that they are working toward understanding their
place in an ongoing conversation.
Works Cited
Worsnop, Richard L. “School Choice: Would It Strengthen or Weaken
Public Education in America?” CQ Researcher, vol. 1, 10 May 1991,
pp. 253-276. CQ Researcher Online,
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http://library.cqpress.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/cqresearcher/cqresrre
1991051000.
Zornick, George. “Bernie Sanders Just Introduced His Free College
Tuition Plan.” The Nation, The Nation Company LLC, 3 April
2017, https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-just-
introduced-his-free-college-tuition-plan/.
Combining these examples, we can see our proposal come together in a couple of
paragraphs:
School Vouchers: Bureaucratizing Inequality

Access to education is a major concern for people living in a democratic
society. Since Betsy Devos’ nomination for U.S. Secretary of Education, the
discussion surrounding school choice has gained significant momentum.
Socioeconomic inequality in this country has produced great discrepancies in the
quality of education that young people experience, and it is clear that something must
be done. Because educational inequality relates to other forms of injustice, efforts to
create fairness in the quality of schools will influence U.S. racial politics, gender
equality, and socioeconomic stratification. For better or for worse, school reform of
any kind will impact greater social structures and institutions that color our daily lives
as students, parents, and community members. Some people believe that school
choice programs are the answer. But is it likely that people of all socioeconomic
backgrounds can experience parity in education through current school voucher
proposals?
In my research, I will examine whether school choice programs have the
potential to create more equitable schooling experiences for all students. Even though
proponents of school choice use the language of freedom and equality to justify school
vouchers, recent propositions for school choice would likely exacerbate inequality in
education and access.
There are a vast number of resources on school choice, but I anticipate
encountering some difficulty in pursuing my guiding question. For example, many
255
people discussing this topic are entrenched in their current viewpoints. Similarly, this
issue is very politicized, dividing people mostly along party lines. I also need to do
more preliminary research: I’m not certain if there have been school choice
experiments conducted on any significant scale, in the U.S. or elsewhere. Finally, it is
difficult to evaluate complex social phenomena of inequality without also considering
race, gender, disability status, nationality, etc.; I’ll need to focus on socioeconomic
status, but I cannot treat it as a discrete issue.
Works Cited
Worsnop, Richard L. “School Choice: Would It Strengthen or Weaken Public
Education in America?” CQ Researcher, vol. 1, 10 May 1991, pp. 253-276. CQ
Researcher Online,
http://library.cqpress.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/cqresearcher/cqresrre1991051000.
Zornick, George. “Bernie Sanders Just Introduced His Free College Tuition Plan.”
The Nation, The Nation Company LLC, 3 April 2017,
https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-just-introduced-his-free-
college-tuition-plan/.
As you develop your own proposal, I encourage you to follow these steps, answering
the questions listed above. However, in order to create a more cohesive proposal, be
sure to revise for fluency: your proposal shouldn’t read like a list of answers, but like a
short essay outlining your interests and expectations.
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Activities
Idea Generation: Curiosity Catalogue18 and Collaborative Inquiry
This exercise encourages you to collaborate with other classmates to develop a topic,
working questions, a path of inquiry, and a baseline of communal knowledge. You
should complete Part One independently, then gather with a small group of two or
three other students for Part Two, and a different small group of two or three other
students for Part Three: Small Group. (If you are working on this exercise as a full
class, complete Part One, Part Two, and Part Three: Gallery Walk.) Before you get
started, divide three large sheets of paper (11x17 is best) into columns like this:
Part One
Create a catalogue of topics you are personally curious about—things that you want to
learn more about. These don’t have to be revolutionary things right away; it’s more
important that they’re meaningful to you. First, choose three of the following broad
topic headings:
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Politics Sports Social Justice
Science and The Environment

Music and Art
Technology and Sustainability
Other Cultures and
Food Health and Disease
Nations
Business and
Education
Economy
On your first sheet of three-column paper,

write those three topic headings.
Next, underneath each topic heading, write

bulleted lists of as many subtopics or related
ideas that come to mind that interest you. (Try
not to censor yourself here—the idea is to
generate a large number of bullet points. To
some extent, this is an exercise in free
association: what are the first things that
come to mind when you think of each topic?)
Spend ten to fifteen minutes on your lists.
Then, take a five-minute break away from
your lists and clear your head; return to your lists for three more minutes to make any
additions that you didn’t think of at first.
Read over your lists, making note especially of items that surprised you. Choose the
three items from the full page that most interest you. You can choose one from each
column, three from the same, or any combination of lists, so long as you have three
items that you care about.
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Part Two
Begin to develop a working knowledge by collaborating with classmates to consider
the topic from several perspectives beyond your own.
Write your three favorite list items from Part One

in the headings for your second piece of three-
column paper. Sit in a circle with your
groupmates; each student should pass their
three-column paper one position clockwise. For
five minutes, each student will free-write what
they already know about each topic using prose,
lists, or illustrations. Then, rotate your papers
another step—repeat until you have your original
sheet of paper back.
Review the knowledge your groupmates compiled on your sheet. Have they offered
anything that surprises you—stuff you didn’t know already, conflicting perspectives, or
connections to other ideas or topics?
Part Three: Small Group

Begin to develop working and research questions by collaborating with your
classmates to explore different curiosities. (This part of the exercise is designed for a
small group of three or four total students, including you, different from the group in
Part Two. If you are completing this part of the exercise with your whole class, skip to
Part Three: Gallery Walk.)
Write your three favorite list items from Part One, potentially modified by insights
from Part Two, in the headings for your third piece of three-column paper.
Sit in a circle with your groupmates; each

student should pass their three-column paper
one position clockwise. For five minutes, each
student will free-write questions about each
topic. No question is too big or small, too
simple or complex. Try to generate as many
questions as you possibly can. Then, rotate
your papers another step—repeat until you
have your original sheet of paper back.
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Review the questions your groupmates compiled on your sheet. Have they offered
anything that surprises you—issues you haven’t thought of, relationships between
questions, recurring themes or patterns of interest, or foci that might yield interesting
answers?
Part Three: Gallery Walk

Begin to develop working and research questions by collaborating with your
classmates to explore different curiosities. (This part of the exercise is designed for an
entire class of students of about twenty to twenty-five students, including you. If you
are completing this part of the exercise a small group of three to four total students,
including you, return to Part Three: Small Group.)
Write your three favorite list items from Part One, potentially modified by insights
from Part Two, in the headings for your third piece of three-column paper. Every
student should tape their papers to the classroom wall, just below eye-level, such that
it forms a circular shape around the perimeter of the room. Each student in the class
should stand in front of their paper, then
rotate one position clockwise. At each new
page, you will have two minutes to review the
headings and free-write questions about each
topic. No question is too big or small, too
simple or complex. Try to generate as many
questions as you possibly can. Then, rotate
through clockwise until you’ve returned to
your original position.
Review the questions your classmates compiled on your sheet. Have they offered
anything that surprises you—issues you haven’t thought of, relationships between
questions, recurring themes or patterns of interest, or foci that might yield interesting
answers?
After completing all three parts of this exercise, try to articulate a viable and
interesting research question that speaks to your curiosity. Make sure its scope is
appropriate to your rhetorical situation; you can use the exercise “Focus: Expanding
and Contracting Scope” later in this chapter to help expand or narrow your scope.
If you’re still struggling to find a topic, try some of other idea generation activities that
follow this, or check in with your school’s Writing Center, your teacher, or your peers.
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Idea Generation: Mind-Mapping
By organizing and exploring your current knowledge, you might find an area of
interest for your research project. A mind-map, also known as a “web” or “cluster,” is a
graphic representation of your thought processes. Since this form allows for
digressions, free association, and wandering, it allows for organic thinking and
knowledge-building.
Start out by putting a general subject area in the middle of a blank piece of paper in a
circle—for the example below, I started with “education.” (If you don’t have any
immediate ideas, try Part One of the Curiosity Catalogue exercise above.) Then,
branch out from this general subject to more specific or connected subjects. Because
this is a pre-writing activity, try to generate as many associations as you can: don’t
worry about being right or wrong, or using standardized grammar and spelling. Your
goal is to create as many potential topics as possible.
Once you’ve finished your mind-map, review the idea or clusters of ideas that seem to
demand your attention. Did any of your bubbles or connections surprise you? Do you
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see any patterns? Which were most engaging to meditate on? From these topics and
subtopics, try to articulate a viable and interesting research question that speaks to
your curiosity. Make sure its scope is appropriate to your rhetorical situation; you can
use the exercise “Focus: Expanding and Contracting Scope” later in this chapter to
help expand or narrow your scope.
Idea Generation: Internet Stumbling
In addition to its status as an ever-expanding repository of knowledge, and in

addition to its contributions to global human connection, the Internet is also an
exceptional free association machine. Through the magic of hyperlinks and social
media, random chance can set us in the right direction to develop a research topic.
Spend fifteen to twenty minutes clicking around on the Internet, using one of the
following media for guidance, and jot down every potential topic that piques your
interest.
• Wikipedia: Go to the
Wikipedia homepage
and check out the
“featured article” of the
day, or choose “Random
Article” from the sidebar
on the far left. Click any
of the hyperlinks in the
article to redirect to a
different page. Bounce
from article to article,
keeping track of the
titles of pages and
sections catch your eye.
• StumbleUpon: Set up a free account from this interest randomizer. You can
customize what kinds of pages, topics, and media you want to see.
• An Instagram, Facebook, reddit, or Twitter feed: Flow through one or more
social media feeds, using links, geotags, user handles, and hashtags to
encounter a variety of posts.
After stumbling, review the list you’ve made of potentially interesting topics. Are you
already familiar with any of them? Which surprised you? Are there any relationships
or intersections worth exploring further? From these topics and subtopics, try to
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articulate a viable and interesting research question that speaks to your curiosity.
Make sure its scope is appropriate to your rhetorical situation; you can use the
exercise “Focus: Expanding and Contracting Scope” later in this chapter to help
expand or narrow your scope.
Focus: Expanding and Contracting Scope
At this point, you have hopefully identified some topic or path of inquiry for your
research project. In order to experiment with scope, try complicating your research
question(s) along the different dimensions in the following table. A completed table
is included as an example after the blank one.
Your current topic or research question(s):
Scope dimension: More narrow More broad
Time (When?)
Place (Where?)
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Population (For
whom?)
Connections
(Intersections with
other issues)
Other… (Topic-
specific
adjustments)
264
Model:
Your current topic or research question(s):

Should marijuana be legalized nationally?
Scope dimension: More narrow More broad
What do trends in marijuana

How has marijuana been treated
Time consumption in the last twenty
legally over the last 100 years?
years indicate about legalization?
Should marijuana be legal in our Should marijuana be legalized

Place
state? internationally?
Should marijuana be legalized

Should marijuana be legalized
Population for all citizens of and visitors to
for medical users?
the country?
Does marijuana legalization

How does marijuana compare to
Connections correlate to addiction, economy,
legal pharmaceutical drugs?
or crime?
Should marijuana sales be Should all drugs be legalized

Other…
organized by government? nationally?
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Pirates & Anarchy19

(Research proposal – see the annotated bibliography here and final essay here)
My inquiry has to do with piracy and its relationship with anarchist culture.
There seem to be two tipping points to the life cycles of piratical and anarchist
cultures. First, there is the societal inequality and/or economic stagnation that cause
groups to lose faith in established power structures (Samatar 1377). This
disenfranchisement leads to groups’ choosing to take self-guided action, to meet
needs not satisfied. It is a bid for freedom. The other shift appears to be when the
actions of the group become predatory upon vulnerable groups. What begins as
notions of self-sufficiency become violent victimizations of other segments of society
(Wilson ix).
The current guiding questions that I am following are these: What societal
breakdowns lead to groups subscribing to anarchist philosophies? Are pirates and
anarchists synonymous? Do the successes and/or failures of pirate organizations create
any lasting change in the societies from which they spring?
Piracy has been around for a very long time and has taken on many forms. One
of these incarnations was the seafaring sort terrorizing ships during the golden age of
piracy in the seventeenth century. Another example was the Somali pirates preying on
the African coast in the early 2000s. Information pirates in cyberspace and anarchist
protestors in political activism are current forms. The relevance of why individuals
turn to piracy is important to explore.
Political polarization continues to freeze up the government, rendering them
ineffectual. Worse, elected officials appear more concerned with ideology and
campaign funding than the plight of the common man, leaving their own constituents’
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needs abandoned. Citizens may turn to extreme political philosophies such as anarchy
as a way to take piratical action to counteract economic disparity. A pervasive sense of
powerlessness and underrepresentation may lead to the splintering of societal
structure, even rebellion. Of import is understanding whether acts of piracy lead to
societal erosion via this loss of faith and turn to violence, shrugging off accountability
to the system as a countermeasure to what is seen as government’s inability to provide
a free and fair system. This may be seen as empowering. It may also signal a
breakdown of centralized government.
There are several difficulties I anticipate. Dedicating time in an efficient
manner is the main concern with managing this project. This topic will require a lot of
exploration in research. At the same time, writing and revising need their fair share of
dedication. I’m looking to find that balance so each aspect of the process gets its due.
I will handle this by utilizing the strategy of setting a timer for research and then for
writing. A little of both will get done each day, with greater allotments of time given to
writing as I go along.
Also of concern is narrowing this topic further. The phenomenon of piracy is
so interesting to me, especially in the context of history. However, considering how
this topic may be relevant in the current shifting political landscape, it seems
important to dwell on the now as well as the past. Much has been written already on
piracy, so I’ll be going into the research looking for a more focused place where I can
contribute to the subject matter. I’m going to set up a couple of writing center
appointments to get some guidance as I go along.
Finally, I want to be watchful of wandering. Many side paths are open to
inspection with this topic. Not only will this waste time, but it will also weaken my
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argument. Once I tighten up the thesis, I
Teacher Takeaways
want to make sure my research and “The proposal introduces the subject
writing stay focused. well and identifies guiding questions
(and some context) clearly. However,
the questions are not yet specific or
Works Cited complex enough to act as the essay’s
central research question; the main
Samatar, Abdi Ismail, Lindberg, Mark, components (pirates and anarchy) are
and Mahayni, Basil. “The still too general. Choosing a type of
piracy (and perhaps a location), for
Dialectics of Piracy in Somalia: instance, would lend context and
The Rich Versus the Poor.” Third definition to “anarchy” as it is
considered here. Then the stakes may
World Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 8, be clearly determined. Everything rides
2010, pp. 1377-1394. EBSCOhost, on greater specificity. That said, the
author has done well to convert an
doi:10.1080/01436597.2010.538238. interest into a compelling and unique
Wilson, Peter Lamborn. Preface. The line of inquiry — an important first step.”
Devil’s Anarchy: The Sea Robberies
of the Most Famous Pirate Claes G.
Compaen and The Very Remarkable Travels of Jan Erasmus Reyning, Buccaneer by
Stephen Snelders, Autonomedia, 2005, pp. vii-xi.
A Case of Hysterics20
(Research proposal – see the annotated bibliography here and final essay here)
The concept of female Hysteria was a medical recognition dating back to the
13th century that has been diagnosed by physicians quite liberally until recent times.
The diagnosis and treatment of Hysteria were routine for hundreds of years in
Western Europe, as well as the United States. Symptoms that indicated Hysteria were
broad and all encompassing: nervousness, sexual desire, faintness, insomnia,
irritability, loss of appetite, depression, heaviness in abdomen, etc. These symptoms
268
were said to be caused by a “wandering womb,” described as a kind of living creature

that sought to disrupt biological processes, disrupt breathing, and cause disease.
The number of diagnosed cases of hysteria slowed as medical advancements
proceeded, and in the early 1960s (coinciding with the popularization of feminism) the
“disease” ceased to be considered a true medical disorder. In modern medicine,
however, the treatment and diagnosis of female medical issues continues to be vague
and potentially harmful due to lack of knowledge. Does the concept of female hysteria
have continuity today?
Although the vocabulary has changed, it is clear that the practice of ignoring
serious medical ailments based on sex remains prominent in the world of medicine. It
is not uncommon for a physician to diagnose a woman with chronic stress or
psychosomatic issues, and then later discover a disease like lupus, fibromyalgia, or
polycystic ovarian syndrome, all of which are still commonly dismissed because it is
likely the patient is experiencing the chronic pain in their heads. Because of sexism in
the medical field, many women are receiving subpar healthcare. In my research, I will
examine the past culture of Hysteria as well as the current state of misdiagnoses of
women’s health issues and how this reinforces gender norms in today’s society; this
will demonstrate the need for eliminating bias and sexism in medicine.
In my research process, I imagine I will encounter difficulties in finding
detailed scientific research in the misdiagnoses of women’s health, despite having
found multiple accounts on non-scientific platforms. I also anticipate a possible
attitude of mistrust coming from the audience because of this topic; it is common
nature to trust doctors blindly, as well as the norm in our culture to assume women
are irrational and excessive. Finally, it will be difficult to attribute sexism and bias
simply to the idea of misidentification of ailments. While this is common, sexism has
269
also contributed to, plainly, a lack of Teacher Takeaways
research and knowledge of female “The author takes the time to give historical
context, and that is important for building the
healthcare. Therefore, willful analogy referenced in the research question.
ignorance plays a role in the However, the question itself, and the following
discussion, lack some precision. What does
imbalance between male and female ‘continuity’ mean here? What ‘notions of
medicine as well. I will mention this feminine temperament’ will be examined? Are
they a cause or an effect of misdiagnosis? The
concept briefly in my essay, but author may already have a (hypo)thesis in
continue to focus on the idea of mind, but the terms of the question must first
be clarified. Still, the context and the
frequent female misdiagnosis and discussion of gender theory and medicine
how this perpetuates preconceived indicate a researcher who is eager to
synthesize information and join a larger
notions of feminine temperament in discussion.”
society. – Professor Fiscaletti
Wage Transparency and the Gender Divide21

Discussing salaries with neighbors and especially colleagues is often an
unthinkable offense against social mores in the United States. Pay secrecy has long
been the norm in most of Western society, but it comes with an information
imbalance during any salary negotiations. Lately, wage transparency has gained some
legal foothold at the national level as a tool to combat gender wage disparity for equal
work. Is pay transparency an effective tool to close the gender pay gap, or will it only
succeed in making colleagues uncomfortable?
States have been successively passing local laws to reinforce prior national
legislation protecting employees’ rights to share salary information, and recent hacks
have made information public involuntarily. In some situations, like in Norway, wage
transparency has been the law for years. Norway also has the third smallest wage gap
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in the world. Compensation also has an impact Teacher Takeaways

“This student has chosen an
on self-esteem and performance, so the wage
interesting and focused topic for
gap could be causing a systematic decrease in their inquiry-based research
paper. I appreciate their
self-worth for women in the workforce relative
anticipation of difficulties, too.
to their male counterparts. I plan to research Although I expect their
understanding of the issue will
whether increased wage transparency would
evolve as they learn more about
cause a decrease in the gender pay gap. it, I would still encourage this
author to spend some more time
There are many readily available statistics
in this proposal hypothesizing
on the wage gap, although it may be difficult to about the connection between
gender discrimination and pay
avoid politically polarized sources. I’m not sure
secrecy; it’s not 100% clear to
how available analytical studies of pay me how those important topics
are related to each other. This is
transparency will be, although sites like
germane to my other major
Glassdoor have published some admittedly self- concern—that the student doesn’t
appear to have done any
serving studies. It will be difficult, although research at this point. A couple
interesting, to assess the issue of pay of preliminary sources may
provide guidance as the student
transparency and the wage gap, as they are both wrestles with complex ideas.”
complex sociological issues. – Professor Dawson
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Chapter Nine
Interacting with Sources
Less than one generation ago, the biggest
challenge facing research writers like you was
tracking down relevant, credible, and useful
information. Even the most basic projects required
sifting through card catalogues, scrolling through
endless microfiche and microfilm slides, and
dedicating hours to scouring the stacks of different
libraries. But now, there is no dearth of information:
indeed, the Internet has connected us to more
information than any single person could process in
an entire lifetime.
Once you have determined which conversation you

want to join, it’s time to begin finding sources.
Inquiry-based research requires many encounters
with a diversity of sources, so the Internet serves us
well by enabling faster, more expansive access. But
while the Internet makes it much easier to find those sources, it comes with its own
host of challenges. The biggest problems with primarily Internet-based research can
be boiled down to two issues:
• There is too much out there to sift through everything that might be relevant,
and
• There is an increased prominence of unreliable, biased, or simply untrue
information.
This chapter focuses on developing strategies and techniques to make your research
and research writing processes more efficient, reliable, and meaningful, especially
when considering the unique difficulties presented by research writing in the digital
age. Specifically, you will learn strategies for discovering, evaluating, and integrating
sources.
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Chapter Vocabulary
annotated a research tool that organizes citations with a brief paragraph for
bibliography each source examined.
a posture from which to read; reader makes efforts to
believer
appreciate, understand, and agree with the text they encounter.
a direct quote of more than four lines which is reformatted
block quote
according to stylistic guidelines.
the process of finding new sources using hyperlinked subject
bootstrapping
tags in the search results of a database.
the process of using a text’s citations, bibliography, or notes to
citation mining
track down other similar or related sources.
an argument determining relative value (i.e., better, best, worse,
claim of evaluation worst). Requires informed judgment based on evidence and a
consistent metric.
an argument exploring a measurable but arguable happening.
claim of
Typically more straightforward than other claims, but should still
phenomenon
be arguable and worth discussion.
an argument that proposes a plan of action to address an issue.
Articulates a stance that requires action, often informed by
claim of policy
understanding of both phenomenon and evaluation. Often uses
the word “should.” See call-to-action.
a technique for evaluating the credibility and use-value of a
source; researcher considers the Currency, Relevance, Accuracy,
CRAAP Test
Authority, and Purpose of the source to determine if it is
trustworthy and useful.
the degree to which a text—its content, its author, and/or its
credibility
publisher—is trustworthy and accurate.
the verbatim use of another author’s words. Can be used as
direct quote evidence to support your claim, or as language to analyze/close-
read to demonstrate an interpretation or insight.
a posture from which to read; reader makes efforts to challenge,
doubter
critique, or undermine the text they encounter.
a part or combination of parts that lends support or proof to an
evidence
arguable topic, idea, or interpretation.
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a voice that disagrees with the writer or speaker included within

the text itself. Can be literal or imaginary. Helps author respond
the naysayer’s voice
to criticism, transition between ideas, and manage
argumentation.
author reiterates a main idea, argument, or detail of a text in
paraphrase their own words without drastically altering the length of the
a psychological effect experienced by most audiences: the
opening statements of a text are more memorable than much of
primacy effect
the content because they leave a ‘first impression’ in the
audience’s memory. Contrast with recency effect.
a psychological effect experienced by most audiences: the
concluding statements of a text are more memorable than much
recency effect
of the content because they are more recent in the audience’s
memory. Contrast with primacy effect.
a phrase or sentence that directs your reader. It can help you
make connections, guide your reader’s interpretation, ease
signpost
transitions, and re-orient you to your thesis. Also known as a
“signal phrase.”
a rhetorical mode in which an author reiterates the main ideas,
summary arguments, and details of a text in their own words, condensing
a longer text into a smaller version. Contrast with paraphrase.
a 1-3 sentence statement outlining the main insight(s),
argument(s), or concern(s) of an essay; not necessary in every
thesis (statement) rhetorical situation; typically found at the beginning of an essay,
though sometimes embedded later in the paper. Also referred
to as a "So what?" statement.
the degree to which a text is usable for your specific project. A
source is not inherently good or bad, but rather useful or not
use-value
useful. Use-value is influenced by many factors, including
credibility. See credibility and CRAAP Test.
274
Techniques
Research Methods: Discovering Sources
Let’s bust a myth before going any further: there is no such thing as a “good” source.
Check out this video from Portland Community College.
What makes a source “good” is actually determined by your purpose: how you use
the source in your text is most important to determining its value. If you plan to
present something as truth—like a fact or statistic—it is wise to use a peer-reviewed
journal article (one that has been evaluated by a community of scholars). But if you’re
trying to demonstrate a perspective or give evidence, you may not find what you
need in a journal.
An Example that Demonstrates Your

Your A Supporting Fact (Something
Position (Something that you present as
Position you present as factual)
a perspective)
Women A peer-reviewed scholarly article: A popular but clickbait-y news site:
are
unfairly Sills, Sophie, et al. “Rape Culture Tamplin, Harley. “Instagram Users Are
criticized and Social Media: Young Critics Massive Narcissists, Study Shows.” Elite
on social and a Feminist Counterpublic.” Daily, Bustle Digital Group3 April 2017,
media. Feminist Media Studies, vol. 16, no. https://www.elitedaily.com/social-
6, 2016, pp. 935–951. news/instagram-study-narcissistic-social-
media-site/1848268.
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If you want to showcase a diversity of perspectives, you will want to weave together a
diversity of sources.
As you discover useful sources, try to expand your usual research process by
experimenting with the techniques and resources included in this chapter.
The first and most important determining factor of your research is where you choose
to begin. Although there are a great number of credible and useful texts available
across different search platforms, I generally encourage my students begin with two
resources:
• Their college or university’s library and its website, and
• Google Scholar.
These resources are not bulletproof, and you can’t always find what you need
through them. However, their general search functionality and the databases from
which they draw tend to be more reliable, specific, and professional. It is quite likely
that your argument will be better received if it relies on the kind of sources you
discover with these tools.
Your Library
Although the following information primarily
focuses on making good use of your library’s
online tools, one of the most valuable and under-
utilized resources at your disposal are the
librarians themselves. Do you know if your school
has research librarians on staff? How about your
local library? Research librarians (or, reference
librarians) are not only well-
versed in the research
process, but they are also
passionate about
supporting students in
their inquiry.
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It’s also possible that your library offers research support that you can access
remotely: many colleges and universities provide librarian support via phone, text,
instant message/chat, or e-mail. Some libraries even make video tutorials and do-it-
yourself research tips and tricks.
The first step in learning how your library will support you is to investigate their
website. Although I can’t provide specific instruction for the use of your library
website—they are all slightly different—I encourage you to spend ten minutes
familiarizing yourself with the site, considering the following questions especially:
• Does the site have an FAQ, student support, Librarian Chat, or DIY link in case
you have questions?
• Does the site have an integrated search bar (i.e., a search engine that allows
you to search some or all databases and the library catalogue simultaneously)?
• How do you access the “advanced search” function of the library’s search bar?
• Does your account have an eShelf or reading list to save sources you find?
• Is your library a member of a resource sharing network, like ILLiad or SUMMIT?
How do you request a source through this network?
• Does your library subscribe to multimedia or digital resource services, like
video streaming or eBook libraries?
• Does the site offer any citation management support software, like Mendeley
or Zotero? (You can find links to these tools in the Additional Recommended
Resources appendix.)
Depending on where you’re learning, your school will provide different access to
scholarly articles, books, and other media. Most schools pay subscriptions to
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databases filled will academic works in addition to owning a body of physical texts
(books, DVDs, magazines, etc.). Some schools are members of exchange services for
physical texts as well, in which case a network of libraries can provide resources to
students at your school.
It is worth noting that most library websites use an older form of search technology.
You have likely realized that day-to-day search engines like Google will predict what
you’re searching, correct your spelling, and automatically return results that your
search terms might not have exactly aligned with. (For example, I could google How
many baksetbal players on Jazz roster and I would still likely get the results I needed.)
Most library search engines don’t do this, so you need to be very deliberate with your
search terms. Here are some tips:
• Consider synonyms and jargon that might be more likely to yield results. As
you research, you will become more fluent in the language of your subject.
Keep track of vocabulary that other scholars use, and revise your search terms
based on this context-specific language.
• Use the Boolean operators ? and * for expanded results:
o wom?n yields results for woman, women, womyn, etc.
o medic* yields results for medic, medicine, medication, medicinal,
medical, etc.
• Use the advanced search feature to combine search terms, exclude certain
results, limit the search terms’ applicability, etc.
When using library search

engines, be very deliberate
with your search terms.
278
Advanced search fields like these allow you to put more

specific constraints on your search. Your library website’s
search feature will likely allow you to limit the results you get
by year of publication, medium, genre or topic, and other
constraints.
279
You may also be able to refine your first set of

results using filters (typically on the left side of
the page and/or above the results). For instance,
if your teacher requires you to use a peer-
reviewed source, your library database may
allow you to limit your results to only peer-
reviewed journals, as illustrated here.
JSTOR, Academic Search Premier, and EBSCO are

three databases that most schools subscribe to;
they are quite broad and well established.
Especially if your school’s library doesn’t have an
integrated search function, you may need to
access these databases directly. Look for a link on
your library website to “Databases” (or something
to that effect) to find specific networks of sources.
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Google Scholar (scholar.google.com)

Because Google Scholar is a bit more
intuitive than most library search
engines, and because it draws from
large databases, you might find it
easier to use. Many of the results you
turn up using Google Scholar are
available online as free access PDFs.
That said, Scholar will often bring up

citations for books, articles, and other
texts that you don’t have access to.
Before you use Google Scholar, make
sure you’re logged in to your school
account in the same browser; the
search engine should provide links to
“Find it @ [your school]” if your
institution subscribes to the
appropriate database.
If you find a citation, article preview, or

other text via Google Scholar but can’t
access it easily, you return to your
library website and search for it
directly. It’s possible that you have
access to the text via a loaning
program like ILLiad.
Google Scholar will also let you limit

your results by various constraints,
making it easier to wade through
many, many results.
Although Google Scholar is fairly

intuitive, like the Google you already know, there are a number of features of both
Google and Google Scholar that you may not already know! Check out these pages
for more detail:
281
• “Google Tricks That Will Change the Way You Search” by Jack Linshi
• “Refine web searches” and “Filter your search results” from Google’s help
section
Wikipedia
A quick note on Wikipedia: many instructors forbid the use of Wikipedia as a cited
source in an essay. Wikipedia is a great place for quick facts and background
knowledge, but because its content is user-created and -curated, it is vulnerable to
the spread of misinformation characteristic of the broader Internet. Wikipedia has
been vetting their articles more thoroughly in recent years, but only about 1 in 200
are internally rated as “good articles.” There are two hacks that you should know in
order to use Wikipedia more critically:
• It is wise to avoid a page has a warning banner at the top, such as:
o This article needs to be updated,
o The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the
United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject,
o The neutrality of this article is disputed,
o This article needs additional citations for verification,
o This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear
because it has insufficient inline citations.
• If your Wikipedia information is crucial and seems reliable, use the linked
citation to draw from instead of the Wikipedia page, as pictured below. This
will help you ensure that the linked content is legitimate (dead links and
suspect citations are no good) and avoid citing Wikipedia as a main source.
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Other Resources
As we will continue to discuss, the most useful sources for your research project are
not always proper academic, peer-reviewed articles. For instance, if I were writing a
paper on the experience of working for United Airlines, a compelling blog post by a
flight attendant that speaks to the actual working conditions they experienced might
be more appropriate than a data-driven scholarly investigation of the United Airlines
consumer trends. You might find that a TED Talk, a published interview, an
advertisement, or some other non-academic source would be useful for your writing.
Therefore, it’s important that you apply the skills and techniques from “Evaluating
Sources” to all the texts you encounter, being especially careful with texts that some
people might see as unreliable.
Additional Techniques for Discovering Sources

All it takes is one or two really good sources to get you started. You should keep your
perspective wide to catch as much as you can—but if you’ve found a handful of good
sources, there are four tools that can help you find even more:
• The author of that perfect article probably got some of their information from
somewhere else, just like you. Citation mining is the process of using a text’s
citations, bibliography,
or notes to track down
other similar or related
sources. Plug the
author’s citations into
your school’s library
search engine or Google
Scholar to see if you
have access.
• Web of Science is like
reverse citation mining:
instead of using a text’s
bibliography to find
more sources, you find other sources that cite your text in their bibliographies.
Web of Science is a digital archive that shows you connections between
different authors and their writing—and not only for science! If you find a good
source that is documented in this database, you can see other texts that cite
that source.
283
• Bootstrapping is a technique that works best on search engines with detail

features, like your library search engine. As you can see in the screenshot
below, these search engines tag each text with certain subject keywords. By
clicking on those keywords, you can link to other texts tagged with the same
keywords, typically according to Library of Congress standards.
• WorldCat is a tremendous tool that catalogs the most citations of any database
I’ve ever seen. Even though you can’t always access texts through WorldCat,
you can figure out which nearby libraries might be able to help you out.
The first and most important piece of advice I can offer you as you begin to dig into
these sources: stay organized. By taking notes and keeping record of where each
idea is coming from, you save yourself a lot of time—and avoid the risk of
unintentional plagiarism. If you could stand to brush up on your notetaking skills, take
a look at Appendix A: Engaged Reading Strategies.
Research Methods: Evaluating Sources
If there’s no such thing as an inherently “good” or “bad” source, how do we

determine if a source is right for our purposes? As you sift through sources, you
should consider credibility and use-value to determine whether a source is right for
you. Credibility refers to the reliability and accuracy of the author, their writing, and
the publisher. Use-value is a broad term that includes whether you should use a text
284
in your research paper, as well as how you will use that text. The CRAAP Test will help
you explore both credibility and use-value.
How recently was the text created? Does that impact the accuracy or
Currency value of its contents, either positively or negatively?
Generally, a text that is current is more credible and useful: data will
be more accurate, the content will reflect more up-to-date ideas,
and so on. However, there are some exceptions.
• A text that is not current might be useful because it reflects
attitudes of its publication era. For instance, if I were writing a
paper on sexism in the office environment, it might be
convincing to include a memo on dress codes from 1973.
• A text that is current might not be useful because the
phenomena it discusses might not have existed long enough to
have substantial evidence or study. For instance, if I were writing
a paper on nanorobotics, it would be difficult to evaluate long-
term impacts of this emergent technology because it simply
hasn’t been around long enough.
Is the text closely related to your topic? Does it illuminate your topic,
Relevance or is it only tangentially connected?
A text that is relevant is generally more useful, as you probably

already realize. Exceptions to this might include:
• A text that is too relevant might not be useful because it might
create overlap or redundancy in your argument. You should use
texts like this to pivot, complicate, or challenge your topic so
you are not just repeating someone else’s ideas.
• A text that is only slightly relevant might be useful in providing
background knowledge, drawing out an analogy, or gesturing
to important questions or ideas you don’t have room to discuss
in the scope of your paper.
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Is there any reason to doubt the validity of the text? Is it possible that
Accuracy the information and ideas included are simply untrue?
You might start out by relying on your instincts to answer these

questions, but your evaluation of accuracy should also informed
more objectively by the other elements of the CRAAP Test (e.g., if a
text is outdated, it might no longer be accurate). Of course, the
importance of this element depends on your use of the source; for
instance, if I were writing a paper on conservative responses to
Planned Parenthood, I might find it useful to discuss the inaccurate
videos released by a pro-choice group several years ago.
Who is the author? Who is the publisher? Do either or both

Authority demonstrate ethos through their experience, credentials, or public
perception?
This element also depends on your use of the source; for instance,
if I were writing a paper on cyberbullying, I might find it useful to
bring in posts from anonymous teenagers. Often, though,
academic presses (e.g., Oxford University) and government
publishers (e.g., hhs.gov) are assumed to have an increased degree
of authority when compared with popular presses (e.g., The
Atlantic) or self-published texts (e.g., blogs). It may be difficult to
ascertain an author and a publisher’s authority without further
research, but here are some red flags if you’re evaluating a source
with questionable authority:
• There is no author listed.
• The website hosting the webpage or article is incomplete,
outdated, or broken.
• The author seems to use little factual evidence.
• The author is known for extreme or one-dimensional views.
• The source has a sponsoring organization with an agenda that
might undermine the validity of the information.
What is the author trying to achieve with their text? What are their
Purpose motivations or reasons for publication and writing? Does that
purpose influence the credibility of the text?
As we’ve discussed, every piece of rhetoric has a purpose. It’s
important that you identify and evaluate the implied and/or
declared purposes of a text before you put too much faith in it.
286
Even though you’re making efforts to keep an open mind to different positions, it is
likely that you’ve already formed some opinions about your topic. As you review each
source, try to read both with and against the grain; in other words, try to position
yourself at least once as a doubter and at least once as believer. Regardless of what
the source actually has to say, you should (a) try to take the argument on its own
terms and try to appreciate or understand it; and (b) be critical of it, looking for its
blind spots and problems. This is especially important when we encounter texts we
really like or really dislike—we need to challenge our early perceptions to interrupt
projection.
As you proceed through each step of the CRAAP Test, try to come up with answers as
both a doubter and a believer. For example, try to come up with a reason why a
source’s Authority makes it credible and useful; then, come up with a reason why the
same source’s Authority makes it unreliable and not useful.
This may seem like a cumbersome process, but with enough practice, the CRAAP
Test will become second nature. You will become more efficient as you evaluate
more texts, and eventually you will be able to identify a source’s use-value and
credibility without running the entire test. Furthermore, as you may already realize,
you can eventually just start eliminating sources if they fail to demonstrate credibility
and/or use-value through at least one step of the CRAAP Test.
Interpreting Sources and Processing Information
Once you’ve found a source that seems both useful and credible, you should spend
some time reading, rereading, and interpreting that text. The more time you allow
yourself to think through a text, the more likely your use of it will be rhetorically
effective.
Although it is time-consuming, I encourage you to process each text by:

• Reading once through, trying to develop a global understanding of the
content
• Re-reading at least once, annotating the text along the way, and then copying
quotes, ideas, and your reactions into your notes
• Summarizing the text in your notes in casual prose
• Reflecting on how the text relates to your topic and your stance on the topic
• Reflecting on how the text relates to others you’ve read
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You need not perform such thorough reading with texts you don’t intend to use—e.g.,
if you determine that the source is too old to inform your work. However, the above
list will ensure that you develop a nuanced and accurate understanding of the
author’s perspective. Think of this process as part of the ongoing conversation:
before you start expressing your ideas, you should listen carefully, ask follow-up
questions to clarify what you’ve heard, and situate the ideas within the context of the
bigger discussion.
The Annotated Bibliography

So far, you have discovered, evaluated, and begun to process your sources
intellectually. Your next steps will vary based on your rhetorical situation, but it is
possible that your teacher will ask you to write an annotated bibliography before or
during the drafting process for your actual essay.
An annotated bibliography is a formalized exercise in the type of interpretation

described throughout this section. An annotated bibliography is like a long works
cited page, but underneath each citation is a paragraph that explains and analyzes
the text. Examples are included in this section to give you an idea of what an
annotated bibliography might look like.
Annotated bibliographies have a few purposes:

a) To organize your research so you don’t lose track of where different ideas
come from,
b) To help you process texts in a consistent and thorough way, and
c) To demonstrate your ongoing research process for your teacher.
This kind of writing can also be an end in itself: many scholars publish annotated
bibliographies as research or teaching tools. They can be helpful for authors like you,
looking for an introduction to a conversation or a variety of perspectives on a topic.
As an example, consider the model annotated bibliography “What Does It Mean to
Be Educated?” later in this chapter.
Although every teacher will have slightly different ideas about what goes into an
annotated bibliography, I encourage my students to include the following:
• A brief summary of the main ideas discussed in the text and/or an evaluation of
the rhetoric or argumentation deployed by the author.
o What are the key insights, arguments, or pieces of information included
in the source? What is the author’s purpose? How does their language
pursue that purpose?
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•A consideration of the text’s place in the ongoing conversation about your

topic.
o To what other ideas, issues, and texts is your text responding? How
would you describe the intended audience? Does the author seem
credible, referencing other “speakers” in the conversation?
• A description of the text’s use-value.
o Is the text useful? How do you predict you will use the text in your work?
You might note that your work in the CRAAP Test will provide useful answers for
some of these questions.
Sometimes, I’ll also include a couple of compelling quotes in my annotations.

Typically, I request that students write about 100 words for each annotation, but you
should ask your teacher if they have more specific guidelines.
Your annotated bibliography will be an excellent tool as you turn to the next steps of
research writing: synthesizing a variety of voices with your ideas and experiences. It is
a quick reference guide, redirecting you to the texts you found most valuable; more
abstractly, it will support you in perceiving a complex and nuanced conversation on
your topic.
Research Methods: Drawing from Sources and Synthesizing

Finding Your Position, Posture, and Perspective
As you begin drafting your research essay, remember the conversation analogy: by
using other voices, you are entering into a discussion that is much bigger than just
you, even bigger than the authors you cite. However, what you have to say is
important, so you are bringing together your ideas with others’ ideas from a unique
interpretive standpoint. Although it may take you a while to find it, you should be
searching for your unique position in a complex network of discourse.
“Research is to see what everybody else

has seen, and to think what nobody else
has thought.”
- Albert Szent-Györgyi
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Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you consider this:

• How would I introduce this topic to someone who is completely unfamiliar?
• What are the major viewpoints on this topic? Remember that very few issues
have only two sides.
• With which viewpoints do I align? With which viewpoints do I disagree?
Consider agreement (“Yes”), disagreement (“No”), and qualification (“Yes,
but…”).
• What did I know about this issue before I began researching? What have I
learned so far?
• What is my rhetorical purpose with this project? If your purpose is to argue a
position, be sure that you feel comfortable with the terms and ideas discussed
in the previous section on argumentation.
Articulating Your Claim

Once you’ve started to catch the rhythm of the ongoing conversation, it’s time to find
a way to put your perspective into words. Bear in mind that your thesis statement
should evolve as you research, draft, and revise: you might tweak the wording, adjust
your scope, change your position or even your entire topic in the course of your work.
Because your thesis is a “working thesis” or
“(hypo)thesis,” you should use the following Your thesis statement can and
strategies to draft your thesis but be ready to should evolve as you continue
make adjustments along the way.
writing your paper.
Often, I prefer to think of a thesis
In Chapter 6, we introduced the T3,
instead as a (hypo)thesis—an
Occasion/Position, and Embedded Thesis
models. As a refresher, informed estimation of the
• A T3 statement articulates the author’s answer(s) to your research
stance, then offers three supporting question.
reasons, subtopics, or components of the
argument.
Throughout history, women have been legally oppressed by different
social institutions, including exclusion from the workplace, restriction of
voting rights, and regulations of healthcare.
• An Occasion/Position statement starts with a statement of relevance related to
the rhetorical occasion, then articulates the author’s stance.
Recent Congressional activity in the U.S. has led me to wonder how
women’s freedoms have been restricted throughout history. Women
have been legally oppressed by many different institutions since the
inception of the United States.
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• An Embedded Thesis presents the research question, perhaps with a gesture

to the answer(s). This strategy requires that you clearly articulate your stance
somewhere later in your paper, at a point when your evidence has led you to
the answer to your guiding question.
Many people would agree that women have experienced oppression
throughout the history of the United States, but how has this oppression
been exercised legally through different social institutions?
Of course, these are only three strategies to write a thesis. You may use one of them,
combine several of them, or use a different strategy entirely.
To build on these three strategies, we should look at three kinds of claims: three sorts
of postures that you might take to articulate your stance as a thesis.
• Claim of Phenomenon: This statement indicates that your essay will explore a
measurable but arguable happening.
Obesity rates correlate with higher rates of poverty.
Claims of phenomenon are often more straightforward, but should still be
arguable and worth discussion.
• Claim of Evaluation: This statement indicates that your essay will determine
something that is better, best, worse, or worst in regard to your topic.
The healthiest nations are those with economic safety nets.
Claims of evaluation require you to make an informed judgment based on
evidence. In this example, the student would have to establish a metric for
“healthy” in addition to exploring the way that economic safety nets promote
healthful behaviors—What makes someone “healthy” and why are safety nets a
pathway to health?
• Claim of Policy: This statement indicates that your essay will propose a plan of
action to best address an issue.
State and federal governments should create educational programs,
develop infrastructure, and establish food-stamp benefits to promote
healthy eating for people experiencing poverty.
Claims of policy do the most heavy lifting: they articulate a stance that requires
action, from the reader or from another stakeholder. A claim of policy often
uses the word “should.”
You may notice that these claims can be effectively combined at your discretion.
Sometimes, when different ideas overlap, it’s absolutely necessary to combine them
to create a cohesive stance. For instance, in the example above, the claim of policy
would require the author to establish a claim of phenomenon, too: before advocating
for action, the author must demonstrate what that action responds to. For more
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practice, check out the activity in the following section titled “Articulating Your Claim
— Practicing Thesis Development.”
Situating Yourself Using Your Research

While you’re drafting, be diligent and deliberate with your use of other people’s
words, ideas, and perspectives. Foreground your thesis (even if it’s still in progress)
and use paraphrases, direct quotes, and summary in the background to explain,
support, complicate, or contrast your perspective.
Depending on the work you’ve done to this point, you may have a reasonable body
of quotes, summaries, and paraphrases that you can draw from. Whether or not
you’ve been collecting evidence throughout your research process, be sure to return
to the original sources to ensure the accuracy and efficacy of your quotes, summaries,
and paraphrases.
In Section 2, we encountered paraphrasing, quoting, and summarizing for a text

wrestling essay, but let’s take a minute to revisit them in this new rhetorical situation.
How do you think using support in a research paper is different from using support in
an analysis?
A direct quote uses quotation marks (“ ”) to indicate where you’re borrowing an

author’s words verbatim in your own writing. Use a direct quote if someone else
wrote or said something in a distinctive or particular way and you want to capture
their words exactly.
Direct quotes are good for establishing ethos and providing evidence. In a research
essay, you will be expected to use some direct quotes; however, too many direct
quotes can overwhelm your thesis and actually undermine your sense of ethos. Your
research paper should strike a balance between quoting, paraphrasing, and
summarizing—and articulating your own perspective!
Summarizing refers to the action of boiling down an author’s ideas into a shorter
version in your own words. Summary demonstrates your understanding of a text, but
it also can be useful in giving background information or making a complex idea
more accessible.
When we paraphrase, we are processing information or ideas from another person’s

text and putting it in our own words. The main difference between paraphrase and
summary is scope: if summarizing means rewording and condensing, then
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paraphrasing means rewording without drastically altering length. However,

paraphrasing is also generally more faithful to the spirit of the original; whereas a
summary requires you to process and invites your own perspective, a paraphrase
ought to mirror back the original idea using your own language.
Paraphrasing is helpful for establishing background knowledge or

Whether you general consensus, simplifying a complicated idea, or reminding
your reader of a certain part of another text. It is also valuable
are quoting,
when relaying statistics or historical information, both of which are
paraphrasing, usually more fluidly woven into your writing when spoken with
or summarizing, your own voice.
you must
Each of these three tactics should support your argument: you
always include should integrate quotes, paraphrases, and summary in with your
an appropriate own writing. Below, you can see three examples of these tools.
citation. Consider how the direct quote, the paraphrase, and the summary
each could be used to achieve different purposes.
Original Passage
It has been suggested (again rather anecdotally) that giraffes do communicate using
infrasonic vocalizations (the signals are verbally described to be similar—in structure
and function—to the low-frequency, infrasonic “rumbles” of elephants). It was further
speculated that the extensive frontal sinus of giraffes acts as a resonance chamber for
infrasound production. Moreover, particular neck movements (e.g. the neck stretch)
are suggested to be associated with the production of infrasonic vocalizations.22
Quote Paraphrase Summary

Some zoological experts have Giraffes emit a low-pitch noise; Baotic et al.
pointed out that the evidence some scientists believe that this conducted a
for giraffe hums has been hum can be used for study on giraffe
“rather anecdotally” reported communication with other hums in
(Baotic et al. 3). However, members of the social group, but response to
some scientists have others are skeptical because of the speculation that
“speculated that the dearth of research on giraffe these noises are
extensive frontal sinus of noises. According to Baotic et al., used
giraffes acts as a resonance the anatomy of the animal deliberately for
chamber for infrasound suggests that they may be making communication.
production” (Ibid. 3). deliberate and specific noises (3).
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These examples also demonstrate additional citation conventions worth noting:

• A parenthetical in-text citation is used for all three forms. (In MLA format, this
citation includes the author’s last name and page number.) The purpose of an
in-text citation is to identify key information that guides your reader to your
Works Cited page (or Bibliography or References, depending on your format).
• If you use the author’s name in the sentence, you do not need to include their
name in the parenthetical citation.
• If your material doesn’t come from a specific page or page range, but rather
from the entire text, you do not need to include a page number in the
parenthetical citation.
• If there are many authors (generally more than three), you can use “et al.” to
mean “and others.”
• If you cite the same source consecutively in the same paragraph (without citing
any other sources in between), you can use “Ibid.” to mean “same as the last
one.”
There are infinite ways to bring evidence into your discussion,23 but for now, let’s
revisit a formula that many students find productive as they find their footing in
research writing: Front-load + Quote/Paraphrase/Summarize + Cite +
Explain/elaborate/analyze.
explain,
front-load quote, elaborate,
+ paraphrase, or + (cite) + analyze
summarize
(1-2 sentences) (2-3 sentences)
Set your reader up

Use an in-text
for the quote using Perhaps most
citation
a signpost (also importantly, you
appropriate to
known as a “signal Use whichever need to make the
your discipline. It
phrase”). Don’t technique is value of this
doesn’t matter if
drop quotes in relevant to your evidence clear to
you quote,
abruptly: by front- rhetorical purpose the reader. What
paraphrase, or
loading, you can at that exact point. does it mean? How
summarize—all
guide your does it further your
three require a
reader’s thesis?
citation.
interpretation.
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This might feel formulaic and forced at first, but following these steps will ensure that
you give each piece of evidence thorough attention.
What might this look like in practice?
Humans and dolphins are not the only mammals with complex systems of
communication. As a matter of fact, some scientists have “speculated that the
extensive frontal sinus of giraffes acts as a resonance chamber for infrasound
production” (Baotic et al. 3). Even though no definitive answer has been found,
it’s possible that the structure of a giraffe’s head allows it to create sounds that
humans may not be able to hear. This hypothesis supports the notion that
different species of animals develop a sort of “language” that corresponds to
their anatomy.
1. Front-load
Humans and dolphins are not the only mammals with complex systems of
communication. As a matter of fact,
2. Quote
some scientists have “speculated that the extensive frontal sinus of giraffes acts
as a resonance chamber for infrasound production”
3. Cite
(Baotic et al. 3).
4. Explain/elaborate/analyze
Even though no definitive answer has been found, it’s possible that the
structure of a giraffe’s head allows it to create sounds that humans may not be
able to hear. This hypothesis supports the notion that different species of
animals develop a sort of “language” that corresponds to their anatomy.
Extended Quotes
A quick note on block quotes: Sometimes, you may find it necessary to use a long
direct quote from a source. For instance, if there is a passage that you plan to analyze
in-depth or throughout the course of the entire paper, you may need to reproduce
the whole thing. You may have seen other authors use block quotes in the course of
your research. In the middle of a sentence or paragraph, the text will break into a
long direct quote that is indented and separated from the rest of the paragraph.
There are occasions when it is appropriate for you to use block quotes, too, but they
are rare. Even though long quotes can be useful, quotes long enough to block are
often too long. Using too much of one source all at once can overwhelm your own
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voice and analysis, distract the reader, undermine your ethos, and prevent you from
digging into a quote. It’s typically a better choice to
• abridge (omit words from the beginning or end of the quote, or from the
middle using an ellipses […]),
• break up (split one long quote into two or three shorter quotes that you can
attend to more specifically), or
• paraphrase
a long quote, especially because that gives you more space for the last step of the
formula above.
If, in the rare event that you must use a long direct quote, one which runs more than
four lines on a properly formatted page, follow the guidelines from the appropriate
style guide. In MLA format, block quotes are: (a) indented one inch from the margin,
(b) double-spaced, (c) not in
quotation marks, and (d) use
original end-punctuation and
an in-text citation after the
last sentence. The paragraph
will continue after the block
quote without any
indentation.
Readerly Signposts
Signposts are phrases and sentences that guide a reader’s interpretation of the
evidence you are about to introduce. Readerly signposts are also known as “signal
phrases” because they give the reader a warning of your next move. In addition to
foreshadowing a paraphrase,
quote, or summary, though, your
signposts can be active agents in
your argumentation.
Before using a paraphrase, quote,

or summary, you can prime your
reader to understand that
evidence in a certain way. For
example, let’s take the imaginary
quote, “The moon landing was
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faked in a sound studio by Stanley Kubrick.”

[X] insists, “The moon landing was faked in a sound studio by Stanley
Kubrick.”
Some people believe, naively, that “The moon landing was faked in a sound
studio by Stanley Kubrick.”
Common knowledge suggests that “The moon landing was faked in a sound
studio by Stanley Kubrick.”
[X] posits that “The moon landing was faked in a sound studio by Stanley
Kubrick.”
Although some people believe otherwise, the truth is that “The moon
landing was faked in a sound studio by Stanley Kubrick.”
Although some people believe that “The moon landing was faked in a sound
studio by Stanley Kubrick,” it is more likely that…
Whenever conspiracy theories come up, people like to joke that “The
moon landing was faked in a sound studio by Stanley Kubrick.”
The government has conducted many covert operations in the last
century: “The moon landing was faked in a sound studio by Stanley Kubrick.”
What does each signpost do to us, as readers, encountering the same quote?
A very useful resource for applying these signposts is the text They Say, I Say, which
you may be able to find online or at your school’s library.
Addressing Counterarguments
As you recall from the chapter on argumentation, a good argument acknowledges
other voices. Whether you’re trying to refute those counterarguments or find
common ground before moving forward, it is important to include a diversity of
perspectives in your argument. One highly effective way to do so is by using the
readerly signpost that I call the naysayer’s voice.
Simply put, the naysayer is a voice that disagrees with you that you imagine into your
essay. Consider, for example, this excerpt from Paul Greenough:
It appears that tigers cannot be accurately counted and that uncertainty is as

endemic to their study as to the study of many other wildlife populations. In
the meantime, pugmark counting continues. … In the end, the debate over
numbers cannot be resolved; while rising trends were discernible through the
1970s and 1980s, firm baselines and accurate numbers were beyond anyone’s
grasp.
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CRITIC: Are you emphasizing this numbers and counting business for some
reason?
AUTHOR: Yes. I find it instructive to compare the degree of surveillance
demanded by the smallpox eradication campaign…with the sketchy methods
sufficient to keep Project Tiger afloat. …
CRITIC: Maybe numbers aren’t as central to these large state enterprises as
you assume?
AUTHOR: No, no—they live and die by them.24
Notice the advantages of this technique:

• Greenough demonstrates, first and foremost, that the topic he’s considering is
part of a broad conversation involving many voices and perspectives.
• He is able to effectively transition between ideas.
• He controls the counterargument by asking the questions he wants to be
asked.
Give it a shot in your own writing by adding a reader’s or a naysayer’s voice every few
paragraphs: imagine what a skeptical, curious, or enthusiastic audience might say in
response to each of your main points.
Revisiting Your Research Question, Developing an Introduction, and

Crafting a Conclusion
Once you’ve started synthesizing ideas in your drafting process, you should
frequently revisit your research question to refine the phrasing and be certain it still
encompasses your concerns. During the research and drafting process, it is likely that
your focus will change, which should motivate you to adjust, pivot, complicate, or
drastically change your path of inquiry and working thesis. Additionally, you will
acquire new language and ideas as you get the feel for the conversation. Use the new
jargon and concepts to hone your research question and thesis.
Introductions
Introductions are the most difficult part of any paper for me. Not only does it feel
awkward, but I often don’t know quite what I want to say until I’ve written the essay.
Fortunately, we don’t have to force out an intro before we’re ready. Give yourself
permission to draft out of order! For instance, I typically write the entire body of the
essay before returning to the top to draft an introduction.
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If you draft out of order, though, you should dedicate time to crafting an effective
introduction before turning in the final draft. The introduction to a paper is your
chance to make a first impression on your reader. You might be establishing a
conceptual framework, setting a tone, or showing the reader a way in. Furthermore,
due to the primacy effect, readers are more likely to remember your intro than most
of the rest of your essay.
In this brief section, I want to note two pet peeves for introductions, and then offer a
handful of other possibilities.
Don’t
Avoid these two techniques:
• Starting with fluffy, irrelevant, or extremely general statements.
Sometimes, developing authors make really broad observations or facts that
just take up space before getting to the good stuff. You can see this
demonstrated in the “Original” version of the student example below.
• Offering a definition for something that your audience already knows. At
some point, this method became a stock-technique for starting speeches,
essays, and other texts: “Merriam Webster defines x as….” You’ve probably
heard it before. As pervasive as this technique is, though, it is generally
ineffective for two reasons: (1) it is hackneyed—overused to the point of
meaninglessness, and (2) it rarely offers new insight—the audience probably
already has sufficient knowledge of the definition. There is an exception to this
point, though! You can overcome issue #2 by analyzing the definition you give:
does the definition reveal something about our common-sense that you want
to critique? Does it contradict or overlook connotations? Do you think the
definition is too narrow, too broad, or too ambiguous? In other words, you can
use the definition technique as long as you’re doing something with the
definition.
Do
These are a few approaches to introductions that my students often find
successful. Perhaps the best advice I can offer, though, is to try out a lot of
different introductions and see which ones feel better to you, the author. Which
do you like most, and which do you think will be most impactful to your audience?
• Telling a story. Not only will this kick your essay off with pathos and specificity,
but it can also lend variety to the voice you use throughout the rest of your
essay. A story can also provide a touchstone, or a reference point, for you and
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your reader; you can relate your argument back to the story and its characters
as you develop more complex ideas.
• Describing a scene. Similarly, thick description can provide your reader a
mental image to grasp before you present your research question and thesis.
This is the technique used in the model below.
• Asking a question. This is a common technique teachers share with their
students when describing a “hook.” You want your reader to feel curious,
excited, and involved as they start reading your essay, and posing a thought-
provoking question can bring them into the conversation too.
• Using a striking quote or fact. Another “hook” technique: starting off your
essay with a meaningful quote, shocking statistic, or curious fact can catch a
reader’s eye and stimulate their curiosity.
• Considering a case study. Similar to the storytelling approach, this technique
asks you to identify a single person or occurrence relevant to your topic that
represents a bigger trend you will discuss.
• Relating a real or imaginary dialogue. To help your readers acclimate to the
conversation themselves, show them how people might talk about your topic.
This also provides a good opportunity to demonstrate the stakes of the issue—
why does it matter, and to whom?
• Establishing a juxtaposition. You might compare two seemingly unlike ideas,
things, or questions, or contrast two seemingly similar ideas, things, or
questions in order to clarify your path of inquiry and to challenge your readers’
assumptions about those ideas, things or questions.
Here’s an example of a student’s placeholder introduction in their draft, followed by a

revised version using the scene description approach from above. He tried out a few
of the strategies above before settling on the scene description for his revision.
Notice how the earlier version “buries the lede,” as one might say—hides the most
interesting, relevant, or exciting detail. By contrast, the revised version is active,
visual, and engaging.
Original:
Every year over 15 million people visit Paris, more than any other city in the
world. Paris has a rich, artistic history, stunning architecture and decadent
mouth-watering food. Almost every visitor here heads straight for the Eiffel
Tower (“Top destinations” 2014). Absorbing the breathtaking view, towering
over the metropolis below, you might notice something missing from the
Parisian landscape: tall buildings. It’s easy to overlook but a peculiar thing.
Around the world, most mega cities have hundreds of towering skyscrapers, but
here in Paris, the vast majority of buildings are less than six stories tall (Davies
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2010). The reason lies deep below the surface in the Paris underground where
an immense cave system filled with dead bodies is attracting a different kind of
visitor.25
Revised:
On a frigid day in December of 1774, residents of a small walled district in Paris
watched in horror as the ground before them began to crack and shift. Within
seconds a massive section of road collapsed, leaving behind a gaping chasm
where Rue d’Enfer (Hell Street) once stood. Residents peeked over the edge
into a black abyss that has since become the stuff of wonder and nightmares.
What had been unearthed that cold day in December, was an ancient tunnel
system now known as The Empire of the Dead.26
You may notice that neither of these model introductions articulates a thesis
statement or a research question. How would you advise this student to transition into
the central, unifying insight of their paper?
Conclusions
A close second to introductions, in terms of difficulty, are conclusions. Due to the
recency effect, readers are more likely to remember your conclusion than most of the
rest of your essay.
Most of us have been trained to believe

that a conclusion repeats your thesis and
main arguments, perhaps in different
words, to remind the reader what they just
read—or to fluff up page counts.
This is a misguided notion. True,

conclusions shouldn’t introduce
completely new ideas, but they shouldn’t
only rehearse everything you’ve already
said. Rather, they should tie up loose ends
and leave the reader with an extending
thought—something more to meditate on once they’ve left the world you’ve created
with your essay. Your conclusion is your last chance to speak to your reader on your
terms based on the knowledge you have now shared; repeating what you have
already established is a wasted opportunity.
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Instead, here are few other possibilities. (You can include all, some, or none of them.)
• Look back to your introduction. If you told a story, shared a case study, or
described a scene, you might reconsider that story, case study, or scene with
the knowledge developed in the course of your paper. Consider the
“ouroboros”—the snake eating its own head. Your conclusion can provide a
satisfying circularity using this tactic.
• Consider what surprised you in your research process. What do those
surprises teach us about commonsense assumptions about your topic? How
might the evolution of your thought on a topic model the evolution you expect
from your readers?
• End with a quote. A final thought, meaningfully articulated, can make your
readers feel settled and satisfied.
• Propose a call-to-action. Especially if your path of inquiry is a matter of policy
or behavior, tell the reader what they should do now that they have seen the
issue from your eyes.
• Gesture to questions and issues you can’t address in the scope of your
paper. You might have had to omit some of your digressive concerns in the
interest of focus. What remains to be answered, studied, or considered?
Here’s an example of a placeholder conclusion in a draft, followed by a revised

version using the “gesture to questions” and “end with a quote” approach from
above. You may not be able to tell without reading the rest of the essay, but the
original version simply restates the main points of each paragraph. In addition to
being repetitive, the original is also not very exciting, so it does not inspire the reader
to keep thinking about the topic. On the other hand, the revised version tries to give
the reader more to chew on: it builds from what the paper establishes to provoke
more curiosity and lets the subject continue to grow.
Original:
In conclusion, it is likely that the space tourism industry will flourish as long as
venture capitalists and the private sector bankroll its development. As noted in
this paper, new technology will support space tourism and humans are always
curious to see new places. Space tourism is currently very expensive but it will
become more affordable. The FAA and other government agencies will make
sure it is regulated and safe.
Revised:
It has become clear that the financial, regulatory, and technological elements of
space tourism are all within reach for humanity—whether in reality or in our
imaginations. However, the growth of a space tourism industry will raise more
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and more questions: Will the ability to leave our blue marble exacerbate
income inequity? If space tourism is restricted to those who can afford
exorbitant costs, then it is quite possible that the less privileged will remain
earthbound. Moreover, should our history of earthly colonization worry us for
the fate of our universe? These questions and others point to an urgent
constraint: space tourism might be logistically feasible, but can we ensure that
what we imagine will be ethical? According to Carl Sagan, “Imagination will
often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere” (2).27
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Activities
Research Scavenger Hunt
To practice using a variety of research tools and finding a diversity of sources, try to
discover resources according to the following constraints. Once you find a source,
you should make sure you can access it later—save it to your computer; copy a live,
stable URL; request it from the library; and/or save it to your Library eShelf, if you
have one. For this assignment, you can copy a URL or doi for digital resources or
library call number for physical ones.
If you’re already working on a project, use your topic for this activity. If you don’t have
a topic in mind, choose one by picking up a book, paper, or other written text near
you: close your eyes and point to a random part of the page. Use the noun closest to
your finger that you find vaguely interesting as a topic or search term for this exercise.
URL, doi, or Call Number
A peer-reviewed journal
article through a
database
A source you
bootstrapped using
subject tags
A newspaper article
A source through Google
A source originally cited

in a Wikipedia article
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A physical text in your

school’s library (book,
DVD, microfilm, etc.)
A source through Google

Scholar
A source you citation-

mined from another
source’s bibliography
An eBook
A text written in plain

language
A text written in
discipline-specific jargon
A text that is not credible
A text older than twenty

years
A text published within

the last two years
Identifying Fake News
To think more about credibility, accuracy, and truth, read this article from Al Jazeera.
Then, test your skills using this fake news quiz game.
305
Interacting with Sources Graphic Organizer
The following graphic organizer asks you to apply the skills from the previous section
using a text of your choice. Complete this graphic organizer to practice critical
encounters with your research and prepare to integrate information into your essay.
a. Discovering a Source: Find a source using one of the methods described in this
chapter; record which method you used below (e.g., “Google Scholar” or
“bootstrapped a library article”).
b. Evaluating Credibility and Use-Value: Put your source through the CRAAP Test to
determine whether it demonstrates credibility and use-value. Write responses for
each element that practice reading with the grain and reading against the grain.
With Grain (Believer) Against Grain (Doubter)

“This source is great!” “This source is absolute garbage!”
Currency
306
Relevance
Accuracy
Authority
307
Purpose
c. Citation: Using citation and style resources like Purdue OWL for guidance, write
an accurate citation for this source for a Works Cited page.
d. Paraphrase/Quote/Summarize: Choose a “golden line” from the source.

First, copy the quote, using quotation marks, and include a parenthetical in-text
citation.
308
Second, paraphrase the quote and include a parenthetical in-text citation.
Third, summarize the main point of the source and include a parenthetical in-text
citation; you may include the quote if you see fit.
309
e. Integrating Information: Using your response from part d, write a sample

paragraph that integrates a quote, paraphrase, or summary. Use the formula
discussed earlier in this chapter (front-load + P/Q/S + explain/elaborate/analyze).
310
Articulating Your Claim – Practicing Thesis Development
To practice applying the strategies for developing and revising a thesis statement
explored in this chapter, you will write and revise a claim based on constraints
provided by your groupmates. This activity works best with at least two other
students.
Part One – Write

First, on a post-it note or blank piece of paper, write any article of clothing. Then,
choose one type of claim (Claim of Phenomenon, Claim of Evaluation, or Claim of
Policy, introduced in “Research Methods: Drawing from Sources and Synthesizing”)
and write “Phenomenon,” “Evaluation,” or “Policy” on a different post-it note or blank
piece of paper.
Exchange your article of clothing with one student and your type of claim with
another. (As long as you end up with one of each that you didn’t come up with
yourself, it doesn’t matter how you rotate.) Now, write a thesis statement using your
choice of strategy:
• T3 (Throughout history, women have been legally oppressed by different social
institutions, including exclusion from the workplace, restriction of voting rights,
and regulations of healthcare.)
• O/P (Recent Congressional activity in the U.S. has led me to wonder how
women’s freedoms have been restricted throughout history. Women have been
legally oppressed by many different institutions since the inception of the
United States.)
• Embedded Thesis (Many people would agree that women have experienced
oppression throughout the history of the United States, but how has this
oppression been exercised legally through different social institutions?)
Your thesis should make a claim about the article of clothing according to the post-its
you received. For example,
311
Now that it’s November, it’s time

to break out the cold weather
clothing. When you want to be
sweater evaluation both warm and also fashionable,
a striped wool sweater is the best
choice.
Part Two – Revise

Now, write one of the rhetorical appeals (logos, pathos, or ethos) on a new post-it
note. Exchange with another student. Revise your thesis to appeal predominantly to
that rhetorical appeal.
Example:
Original: Revised:
Now that it’s November, it’s With the colder months
time to break out the cold looming, we are obliged to
weather clothing. When you bundle up. Because they
want to be both warm and logos help you maintain consistent
also fashionable, a striped and comfortable body
wool sweater is the best temperature, wool sweaters
choice. are the best option.
Finally, revise your thesis once more by adding a concession statement.
Example:
Original: Revised:
With the colder months looming, With the colder months looming, we are obliged to
we are obliged to bundle up. bundle up. Even though jackets are better for rain
Because they help you maintain or snow, a sweater is a versatile and functional
consistent and comfortable body alternative. Because they help you maintain
temperature, wool sweaters are the consistent and comfortable body temperature, wool
best option. sweaters are the best option.
312
Guiding Interpretation (Readerly Signposts)
In the organizer on the next page, create a signpost for each of the quotes in the left
column that reflects the posture in the top row.
Cautious
Complete faith Uncertainty “Duh”
disbelief
Most parents
“Peanut butter have wondered
and jelly if “peanut
butter and jelly
sandwiches are a
sandwiches are
nutritious part of a nutritious part
a child’s lunch.” of a child’s
lunch.”
Even though some

people argue that
“The bees are “the bees are
dying rapidly,” it
dying rapidly.” may be more
complicated than
that.
313
Cautious
Complete faith Uncertainty “Duh”
disbelief
We can all agree,

“Jennifer Lopez is
“Jennifer Lopez is
still relevant.” still relevant.”
It should be
obvious that
“Morality cannot
“morality
be learned.” cannot be
learned.”
314
What Does It Mean to Be Educated?28

Broton, K. and Sara Goldrick-Rab. “The Dark Side of College (Un)Affordability: Food
and Housing Insecurity in Higher Education.” Change: The Magazine of Higher
Learning, vol. 48, no. 1, 2016, pp. 16-25. Taylor & Francis, doi:
10.1080/00091383.2016.1121081.
This article shines a light on food and housing insecurity in higher
education. It makes the argument that not having adequate meals or
shelter increase the likelihood of receiving poorer grades and not
finishing your degree program. There are a few examples of how some
colleges and universities have set up food pantries and offer other types
of payment plan or assistance programs. It also references a longitudinal
study that follows a group of students from higher education through
college and provides supporting data and a compelling case study. This
is a useful article for those that would like to bring more programs like
these to their campus. This article is a good overview of the problem, but
could go a step further and provide starter kits for those interested in
enacting a change in their institution.
Davis, Joshua. “A Radical Way of Unleashing a Generation of Geniuses.” Wired, 15

October 2013, https://www.wired.com/2013/10/free-thinkers/all/.
This article profiles a teacher in a small school in an impoverished area
of Mexico. He has created a space where students are encouraged to
learn by collaborating and testing, not by lecture. The article ties the
current system of learning to being rooted in the industrial age, but goes
on to note that this is negative because they have not adapted to the
needs of companies in the modern age. This article is particularly useful
to provide examples of how relinquishing control over a classroom is
beneficial. It also has a timeline of alternative teaching theorists and
examples of schools that are breaking the mold of traditional education.
My only critique of the article is that, although it presents numerous
examples of a changing education system, it is very negative regarding
the prospects for education.
315
Davis, Lois M., and Robert Bozick, Jennifer L. Steele, Jessica Saunders, and Jeremy
N.V. Miles. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education: A Meta-Analysis
of Programs That Provide Education to Incarcerated Adults. RAND, 2013,
http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/researchreports/RR200/RR266/RA
ND_RR266.pdf.
This meta-analysis from the RAND Corporation, a non-partisan think
tank, reviews research done on the topic of education in correctional
institutions. The facts show that when incarcerated people have access to
education, recidivism drops, career prospects improve, and taxpayers
save money. There are differences based on the type of education
(vocational versus general education) and the methods (using technology
had better outcomes). It is interesting that the direct cost of the
education was offset by the reduced recidivism rate, to the point where it
is more cost effective to educate inmates. This analysis would be
particularly useful for legislators and correctional institution policy
makers. I did not see in this research any discussion of student selection;
I believe there may be some skewed data if the people choosing to attend
education may already be more likely to have positive outcomes.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Complete Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Wm. H. Wise
& Co., 1929.
In this collection of writing, Emerson insists that primary inspiration
comes from nature and education is the vehicle that will “awaken him to
the knowledge of this fact.” Emerson sees the nonchalance of children as
something to aspire to, which should be left alone. He is critical of
parents (and all adults) in diminishing the independence of children.
This source is particularly useful when considering the alignment of
educators and pupils. Emerson contends that true genius is novel and is
not understood unless there is proper alignment between educators and
pupils. I think this is a valuable source for pupils by increasing their
level of “self-trust.”
Gladwell, Malcolm. David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants,
Little, Brown & Co., 2014.
Malcolm Gladwell generally has some interesting takes on the world at
large. In this book he looks at what is considered a strength and where it
may originate. The most interesting part of his argument, I believe, is
that which states that a perceived deficiency, like dyslexia, may serve as a
316
catalyst for increased ability in another area. Gladwell says that
compensation learning can be achieved when there is a desirable
difficulty. This book, and much of Gladwell’s work, can be especially
useful for those which want to look beyond the surface of the world to
make sense of seemingly random data. Much of the book rang true to me
since I have had an especially hard time reading at an adequate speed,
but can listen to an audiobook and recite it almost verbatim in an essay.
Hurley, J. Casey. “What Does It Mean to Be Educated?” Midwestern Educational

Researcher, vol. 24, no. 4, 2011, p.2-4. EBSCO,
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f16817be-4d80-4588-
9b1b-ddeal13479468%40sessionmgr120&vid=1&hid=116.
In his keynote speech, the speaker sets forth an argument for his
understanding of an “educated” person. The six virtues he espouses are:
understanding, imagination, strength, courage, humility, and generosity.
These, he states, can lift a person past the baseline of human nature
which is instinctively “ignorant, intellectually incompetent, weak, fearful
of truth, proud and selfish” (3). I prefer this definition over any other
that I have come across. I have been thinking a bit about the MAX
attacks and how Micah Fletcher has responded to the attention he has
received. I am proud to see a 21 year old respond with the level of
awareness around social justice issues that he carries. These traits that
he exemplifies, would not likely exist in this individual if it not for the
education he has received at PSU.
Introduction to El Sistema. Annenberg Learner Firm, 2014. Films Media Group, 2016,
http://fod.infobase.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=113511.
This video profiles El Sistema. El Sistema was designed in Venezuela by
José Antonio Abreu in 1975 as a method for teaching social citizenship.
The method is to have groups of children learn how to play orchestral
music. It is community-based (parents participate) and more experienced
members of the group are expected to teach younger students. In
Venezuela, this program is government-funded as a social program, not
an arts program. This video would be useful for those that are interested
in how arts can be used for social change. I thought it was interesting
that one of the first tasks that groups perform is to construct a paper
317
violin. I am a fan of breaking down a complicated item, like the

instrument, to its constituent parts.
Petrosino, Anthony and Carolyn Turpin-Petrosino, and John Buehler. “‘Scared

Straight’ and Other Juvenile Awareness Programs for Preventing Juvenile
Delinquency.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,
vol. 589, 2003, pp. 41-62. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/stable/3658560.
This article is a meta-analysis of Scared Straight and similar crime
deterrence programs. These programs were very popular when I was in
high school and are still in use today. The analysis shows that these
programs actually increase the likelihood for crime, which is the
opposite effect of the well-meaning people that implement such
programs. This is particularly useful for those that are contemplating
implementing such a program. Also, it is a good example of how analysis
should drive decisions around childhood education. I do remember
programs like this from when I was in high school, but I was not because
I was not considered high-risk enough at the time. It would be
interesting to see if the data is detailed enough to see if selection bias
affected some of the high rates of incarceration for these offenders.
Robinson, Ken. “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” TED, February 2006,

https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.
In this video Ken Robinson simply states that creativity is as important as
literacy. Creativity, he defines, as “the process of having original ideas
that have value.” Robinson states that children are regrettably “educated
out of creativity” and that is imperative that we do not stigmatize failure.
To emphasize this point he gives an example of a cohort of children
which would retire in 2065, but no one can possibly imagine what the
world may look like then. This piece is particularly useful for the fact
that it highlights the ways creativity may be stifled or encouraged. There
are is a bit of conflating of creativity and ADHD in this video, but in
either case the message is to listen and encourage the pupil as a whole
being.
318
Smith, Karen. “Decolonizing Queer Pedagogy.” Journal of Women and Social Work, vol.
28, no. 4, 2013, pp. 468-470. SAGE, doi: 10.1177/0886109913505814.
In Karen Smith’s essay, the
purpose of education—at least the
course entitled Queer Theories
Teacher Takeaways
and Identities—is to “interrupt
queer settler colonialism by “This annotated bibliography
challenging students to study the fulfills its purpose well: it sets out
ways in which they inherit to answer a question, then brings
colonial histories and to insist that a variety of voices into
they critically question the conversation as a sort of
colonial institutions through ‘recommended reading.’ If the
which their rights are sought” author continued to pursue this
(469). This particular course is purpose, I would advise them to
then, going beyond simply elaborate on how these sources
informing pupils, but attempting might be applicable/useful. What
to interrupt oppressive patriarchal would a classroom inspired by
systems. This article is particularly these texts look like? Although
useful as an example of education this AB is useful in answering its
as social activism. This theme is guiding question, this author
not one that is explored greatly in would likely struggle with scope
if they tried to use this AB as
other works and looks at
fodder for a research essay. The
education as a means of
different sources offer a diversity
overthrowing the system, instead
of ideas, but they don’t speak to
of pieces which may looking at
the same topic.”
increasing an individual’s
knowledge or their contribution
to society.
Pirates & Anarchy29

(Annotated Bibliography – see the proposal here and the final paper here)
“About Rose City Antifa.” Rose City Antifa. http://rosecityantifa.org/about/.
The “about” page of Rose City Antifa’s website has no author or date
listed. It is referenced as a voice in the conversation around current
political events. This is the anarchic group that took disruptive action
during the Portland May Day rally, turning the peaceful demonstration
into a destructive riot. This page on their website outlines some core
beliefs regarding what they describe as the oppressive nature of our
319
society’s structure. They specifically point to extreme right wing political
groups, so-called neo-nazis, as the antithesis of what antifa stands for.
Along with this, they state that they acknowledge the frustration of
“young, white, working-class men.” Antifa as a group intends to give
these men a meaningful culture to join that doesn’t include racism in its
tenets, but seeks freedom and equality for all. Action is held in higher
regards than rhetoric. This voice is important to this body of research as
a timely and local consideration on how anarchy and anarchic groups
relate to piratical acts in the here and now.
Chappell, Bill. “Portland Police Arrest 25, Saying A May Day Rally Devolved Into
‘Riot’.” Oregon Public Broadcasting, National Public Radio, 2 May 2017,
http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-portland-police-arrest-25-saying-a-may-
day-rally-devolved-into-riot/.
This very short news report documents the events at the Portland May
Day Rally this past May 2nd. What began as a peaceful rally for workers’
rights became a violent protest when it was taken over by a self-
described anarchist group. The group vandalized property, set fires, and
hurled objects at police. This is an example of recent riots by local
anarchist groups that organize interruptions of other political group’s
permitted demonstrations in order to draw attention to the anarchist
agenda. The value of this report is that it shows that anarchy is still a
philosophy adopted by certain organizations that are actively seeking to
cause disruption in political conversation.
Dawdy, S. L. & J. Bonni. “Towards a General Theory of Piracy.” Anthropological

Quarterly, vol. 85, no. 3, 2012, pp. 673-699. Project MUSE,
doi:10.1353/anq.2012.0043.
Comparisons are drawn between Golden Age pirates and current
intellectual pirates in this in-depth article looking at piracy over time.
The authors offer a definition of piracy as “a form of morally ambiguous
property seizure committed by an organized group which can include
thievery, hijacking, smuggling, counterfeiting, or kidnapping” (675). They
also state that pirates are “organizations of social bandits” going on to
discuss piracy as a rebellion against capitalist injustices (696). The
intentional anarchic nature of the acts committed are a response to being
left behind economically by political structures. The authors conclude
with a warning that “we might look for a surge in piracy in both
representation and action as an indication that a major turn of the wheel
320
is about to occur” (696) These anthropological ideas reflect the
simmering political currents we are experiencing now in 2017. Could the
multiple recent bold acts of anarchist groups portend more rebellion in
our society’s future? The call for jobs and fair compensation are getting
louder and louder in western countries. If political structures cannot
provide economic stability, will citizens ultimately decide to tear it all
down? The clarity of the definitions in this article are helpful in
understanding what exactly is a pirate and what their presence may mean
to society at large.
Hirshleifer, Jack. “Anarchy and Its Breakdown.” Journal of Political Economy, vol. 103,
no. 1, 1995, pp. 26-52. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2138717.
This rather dense article is written around the question of the
sustainability of anarchic organizations. The goals and activities are
discussed in their most basic form in terms of resource gathering,
distribution and defense. It does provide a solid definition of anarchy by
stating, “anarchy is a social arrangement in which contenders struggle to
conquer and defend durable resources, without effective regulation by
either higher authorities or social pressures.” While social groups are
connected in order to obtain resources, there is not hierarchy of
leadership. The author does discuss the fragility of these groups as well.
Agreement on a social contract is challenging as is remaining cohesive
and resisting merging with other groups with different social contracts.
This element of agreement on structure make sense in terms of piratical
organizations. Captains are captains at the pleasure of the crew so long
as his/her decision making enables the group as a whole to prosper. The
anarchy definition is useful to bring understanding on what ties these
groups together.
Houston, Chloe, editor. New Worlds Reflected: Travel and Utopia in the Early Modern
Period, Ashgate, 2010.
This book, which is a collection of essays, explores the idea of utopia.
The editor describes it in the introduction as “an ideal place which does
not exist”—a notion that there is in human nature a desire to discover
the “perfect” place, but that location is not attainable (1). The desire itself
is key because of the exploration it sparks. There are three parts to the
book, the second being “Utopian Communities and Piracy.” This section
mostly contains essays that relate to explorations for the New World and
pirate groups’ contributions that either helped or hindered the success
of such expeditions. While there is much that is interesting here,
321
especially in terms of “utopia” as a motivator, there is not much that
lends information on piratical exploits. I’ll likely not use this source in
my essay.
“I Am Not a Pirate.” This American Life, episode 616, National Public Radio, 5 May
2017, https://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/616/i-am-not-a-
pirate.
This podcast showcased three examples of pirates, discussing the
circumstances surrounding their choice to enter that world and the
consequences that befell them. One example was a gentleman pirate
from the early 1700s who bit off more than he could chew. Another was a
Somali-American who went back to Somalia to help reestablish
government in the region and ended up tangled in the gray area between
good intention and criminality. The final pirate is a female Chinese
pirate from the early 1800s who was so successful that she was able to
remake the rules of piracy to her and her crew’s great advantage. The
information offered in this podcast includes valuable information
(especially regarding Somalia) on the opportunities or lack thereof that
attract otherwise normal individuals to piracy. The vacuum of ineffectual
governance and unfair economic practices both contribute to this.
Citizens’ determination to be masters of their own destiny results from
this lack of central societal structure. They choose desperate measures.
Otto, Lisa. “Benefits of Buccaneering: The Political Economy of Maritime Piracy in

Somalia and Kenya.” African Security Review, vol. 20, no. 4, 2011, pp. 45-52.
Taylor & Francis, doi: 10.1080/10246029.2011.630809.
The economy of piracy in Somalia is addressed in this article. From the
economic vacuum of a failed state leaving citizens to turn to desperate
measures, to the eventual organization of piracy into burgeoning
industry, perfect conditions existed for the normalization of criminal
acts. The article goes on to elaborate on the costs to other industries in
the region, to the social structure of Somalia, and the cost in lives lost.
Finally, the author makes suggestions for counter-piracy strategies.
Interestingly, those suggestions are similar to the efforts that ultimately
led to the ending of piracy in Somalia, as referenced in the more recent
podcast, “I Am Not a Pirate.” Published around 2011, this article predates
the demise of the industry after 2012. The research value here is in the
economic and social factors that led otherwise average citizens to violent
criminality. The decentralization of government in particular leading to
322
clans sanctioning piracy is especially interesting in terms of anarchic

political structure.
Samatar, Abdi Ismail, Mark Lindberg, and Basil Mahayni. “The Dialectics of Piracy in
Somalia: The Rich Versus the Poor.” Third World Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 8, 2010,
pp. 1377-1394. EBSCO, doi:10.1080/01436597.2010.538238.
This article is similar topically to the Otto article, though it is a much
deeper dive into the historical and political events that led to the collapse
of the Somali centralized government. It also describes various piratical
incidents as the criminal industry became more rampant. There is a list
of four conditions that precipitate the foundation of modern piratical
groups with similar themes noted in other articles. These should be
referenced in my essay. The author also states, “It appears that the
patterns of piracy in East Asia, and West and East Africa shadow global
economic cycles and reflect the contestation over resources between the
powerful and the poor” (1379).The idea of “moral economy” is addressed
as the argument is made that a certain portion of Somali pirates are
practicing “defensive piracy.” This in particular is useful as it outlines
the consequences when the people’s expectations of government are not
met—those expectations being a certain amount of livelihood and
security. Citizens in poverty then believe it is their right to rebel when
those in power shirk their responsibilities.
Snelders, Stephen, with a preface by Peter Lamborn Wilson. The Devil’s Anarchy: The
Sea Robberies of the Most Famous Pirate Claes G. Compaen and The Very
Remarkable Travels of Jan Erasmus Reyning, Buccaneer, Autonomedia, 2005.
The Devil’s Anarchy is a small book of about two hundred pages that
outlines the loose societal structures of seafaring pirate groups that
shunned hierarchical systems in their ranks. The historical tales of
several pirates, including Claes Compaen and Jan Erasmus Reyning, are
told. These swashbuckling accounts are full of details describing pirate
lifestyles. The truly useful portions of the book are the introduction and
the final chapter entitled “The Politics of Piracy.” The preface by Peter
Wilson discusses ideas of “freedom” as the primary motivator for those
seeking this way of life, a dismissal of expected norms of society. The last
323
chapter talks about the ways in which the anarchical approach both
helped and hindered various pirate groups. These ideas will be helpful
in drawing connections between anarchy and piracy.
Wachhaus, T. Aaron. “Anarchy as a Model for Network Governance.” Public

Administration Review, vol. 72, no. 1, 2011, pp. 33-42. Wiley, doi: 10.1111/j.1540-
6210.2011.02481.x.
This author of this article seeks to propose the application of anarchist
perspectives onto network studies and theory. There is a shift of mind
necessary to turn from hierarchical structures of management to one that
is a linkage of groups acting collectively. Several points of direction are
listed as suggestions for moving toward this perspective. Repeatedly, the
author mentions the necessary strength in the linkages of groups, to
provide stability and promote “dynamic” activity and sharing. More
research is called for to discover what has made anarchy-oriented groups
successful in the past. While this article isn’t specific to political groups,
it does break down elements of anarchic social structure in a way that
provides clarity to how they tend to be organized. There is similar ideas
of collective action and sharing of resources, in this case information,
and fairness in distribution and contribution of actors in these groups.
This will be helpful for synthesizing information on anarchy in
application to pirate groups.
Williams, Daniel E. “Refuge Upon the Sea: Captivity and Liberty in The Florida
Pirate.” Early American Literature, vol. 36, no. 1, 2001, pp. 71-88. Project MUSE,
doi: 10.1353/ea1.2001.0009.
This is a review of a text from the 1820’s called The Florida Pirate. The
text tells the tale of a slave that escapes slavery and becomes a pirate—
the oppressed becoming the oppressor. His ultimate demise comes when
he chooses to set free some captives rather than kill them, which is
rewarded with those captives betraying the ex-slave to the authorities. He
is then executed. According to the author of the review, it is the slave’s
personal journey through these incarnations of his personhood that were
intended as a condemnation of the institution of slavery. The text was
intended to compare slave-owners to pirates in an attempt to highlight
the criminal nature of owning humans. While this is a fascinating read,
324
and piques my interest in reading the original text, it is less relevant to

my argument. It refers to a fictional work rather than factual events.
Teacher Takeaways
“This annotated bibliography includes very detailed summary with accurate citations. I also like that the
student is clearly considering how they will make use of the source in their research essay. If they were to
keep working on the annotations, I would ask them to revise with attention to credibility; certainly these
sources have different degrees of credibility, and I would like to see more explicit consideration of that.”
A Case of Hysterics30
(Annotated Bibliography – see the proposal here and the final paper here)
Annandale, Ellen. “Missing Connections: Medical Sociology and Feminism.” Medical
Sociology Newsletter, vol. 31, no. 3, 2005, pp. 35-52. Medical Sociology Online,
http://www.medicalsociologyonline.org/resources/MSo-8.2/8.2-Archive-Article-
Annandale.pdf.
This journal article looks into how society’s definition of gender has
changed, and how medical sociology needs to change with it. The author
proposes that that there is a need to bring feminist theory and gender-
related research on health and illness within medical sociology much
closer together than they are at present. Annandale argues that “Within
this new single system the common experience of health-related
oppression is produced differently, and experienced differently, through
systematically driven processes of sex/gender fragmentation” (69). This
source is unique because it addresses the concept that gender as we
know it today is much different than what it was when Hysteria was a
common phrase. Annandale recognizes that sexism in the medical field
is prominent, and that sexism reinforces these exhausted gender
stereotypes.
——. Women’s Health and Social Change, Routledge, 2009.

Upon researching for this paper, I’ve learned that Ellen Annandale is a
very reputable source on the topics of feminism, sociology, and
epidemiology. In this book, she discusses the relation between women’s
325
health and their position in society at the time from the perspective of
women writers and feminists. Because of the past negative appraisal of
feminine capabilities, she argues that we have been forced into a binary
society that is characteristic of our patriarchal past. She boldly defines
the system of women’s health as a brand of patriarchal capitalism.
Interestingly, she also brings forth the knowledge that the gender gap is
decreasing in terms of life expectancy. Why has men’s life expectancy
improved so greatly while women’s falls short? Ignorance. This has
already proven useful in my research due to the addressing of current
health issues that affect both men and women due to sexism.
“Brought to Life: Exploring the History of Medicine – Hysteria.” Science Museum,

www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/techniques/hysteria.
This brief web article serves to loosely explain the history of Hysteria as a
disease. The author begins with Plato and ends with the eradication of
the term hysteria in the mid-1960s. While the article’s purpose is to
explain where hysteria began and where it has come to, the author offers
a brief acknowledgment that the practices are still with us in modern
medicine. The author states that modern doctors have merely “cloaked
old ideas behind new words.” While this source doesn’t offer a lot of
thesis support, it is useful as a reliable source of facts on the history of
Hysteria. This article will be helpful in creating a timeline for the
practice of diagnosing women with the disease.
Culp-Ressler, Tara. “When Gender Stereotypes Become a Serious Hazard to

Women’s Health.” ThinkProgress, 11 May 2015, http://thinkprogress.org/when-
gender-stereotypes-become-a-serious-hazard-to-womens-health-flf130a5e79.
In this web article, Culp-Ressler analyzes the widespread and serious
effects that gender stereotypes can perpetuate within the medical field.
She utilizes individual accounts of women who experienced sexism when
seeking medical attention, as well as current studies which further prove
the gap that exists between male and female healthcare quality in the
United States. Through these detailed experiences, Culp-Ressler argues
that the frequent disregard for women’s knowledge of their own bodies
contributes to both harmful gender stereotypes as well as deadly diseases
that go untreated. She states that society is willfully ignorant in their
knowledge of female medicine: “This has been going on for centuries...
conversion, hysteria, the name changes but it’s still the same and it’s
happening today.” This will be useful in that it presents a number of
documented cases of misdiagnosis; especially with a common theme in
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being treated as a mentally ill patient rather than one experiencing pain.
This source follows my argument rather closely, and will be helpful in
supporting my thesis.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” 1892. Archived at U.S. National
Library of Medicine, 7 June 2017,
www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/theliteratureofprescription/exhibitionAssets/digital
DocsLT_he. -Yellow-Wall-Paper.pdf.
The Yellow Wallpaper is an important narrative from the early 1900s that
illustrates the delusional medical procedures placed onto women.
Gilman herself experienced what was called the “rest cure,” which in
essence confined women who were diagnosed with Hysteria or nervous
diseases in a room to do nothing, limiting their “stressors”. They were
forced to eat copious amounts of food to gain weight, and they were
allowed no company. This story is told from the perspective of an insane
person, as she herself admittedly nearly slipped into madness. If
anything, this piece serves as a firsthand account of the damage done to
women in a time when they had less rights, and when women’s medicine
was seriously lacking. This will be helpful in understanding how these
treatments were accepted by the public, as well as noting the unintended
effects of said treatments.
——. “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper.’” 1913. Archived at The College of Staten
Island, City University of New York, 8 June 1999,
https://csivc.csi.cuny.edu/history/files/lavender/whyyw.html.
This brief letter was meant to address the many inquiries that Gilman
received about her story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” This letter is meant to
explain that although she added little “embellishments and additions”, it
remains a fully viable account of a woman who fell into madness because
of unsound medical advice. Within, she details her nervous breakdowns.
She also provides details of the lifestyle she was told to lead in order to
keep her nerves at bay: she was given advice to “‘live as domestic a life as
far as possible,’ to ‘have but two hours’ intellectual life a day,’ and ‘never
to touch pen, brush, or pencil again’ as long as I lived.” Of course, this
didn’t work. Just as “The Yellow Wallpaper” is helpful in providing an in
depth look at someone experiencing such a treatment, Gilman’s letter is
useful in that it was written in a place where she had fully recovered due
to not taking her physician’s advice. She also notes that a different
327
physician read her book, and since had ceased prescribing “rest cures”.
First-hand accounts of experiences such as these will help provide
credibility to my argument.
Gilman, Sander L., et al. Hysteria beyond Freud, University of California Press, 1993.
Though this book has five authors contributing, the section titled
“Hysteria, Feminism, and Gender” will be the most useful for this paper.
In this essay, Elaine Showalter attempts to explain to the reader that
although the term “hysteria” was used mainly by men toward females as
a negative term, modern women are “reclaiming” the feminine right of
hysteria. Feminism was coming more into the mainstream during the
early/mid 90s, when this book was published. It is clear that Showalter’s
views might not hold true today, because of more recent medical studies
confirming the falseness of Hysteria. This piece is interesting because in
her attempt to argue the reclamation of hysteria by modern feminists,
she succumbs to the long-enforced stereotypes of patriarchal medicine
and culture. This source would be helpful to demonstrate the extent to
which sexism can reach, internalization of stereotypes is common. While
this book might not help in furthering my argument, it is interesting to
see women that view Hysteria as a right of femininity and something to
be claimed.
Kellogg, John Harvey. Ladies’ Guide in Health and Disease: Girlhood, Maidenhood,
Wifehood, Motherhood, Modern Medicine Publishing Co., 1896. Archived at
University of North Texas Health Science Center, 4 March 2011,
http://digitalcommons.hsc.unt.edu/hmedbks/13.
This book’s title screams exactly what its purpose was: describing
women’s health risks based on what part of life they were in (all parts
centered around the presence or absence of a man). Limiting women to
particular and confined social roles was the norm in the early 1900s. This
book is so sexist, and so perfect for my paper. Not unlike Emily Post,
Kellogg attempts to explain to women the necessary steps they ought to
take in order to lead healthy, childbearing lives. Aside from being
hilarious, this instruction manual is written by a man, for women, and
perfectly demonstrates how sexism has continually permeated the
medical field.
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Scull, Andrew. Hysteria: The Disturbing History, Oxford University Press, 2011.
In this book, Andrew Scull covers a lot of ground as he moves through
analyzing the history of Hysteria. His argument centers on a Freudian
Hysteria, and how his views (or rather all psychoanalytical views) came to
be seen as obsolete but Hysteria still lingers with new vocabulary. Scull
also delves into the history of men being diagnosed with Hysteria, or
nervous diseases, most specifically due to the Second World War. He
notes that as Hysteria was seen as a feminine disease and an affliction of
the imagination, these men received little to no treatment - similar to
females diagnosed with hysteria. They were seen as cowardly and
inferior for something that today would be easily recognizable as post-
traumatic stress disorder. This source will be helpful in demonstrating
that while the patients were male, they were seen as contracting a
feminine disease that was “made up in the mind,” therefore hindering
the help that they needed. This illustrates the bias that exists with
illnesses associated with women.
Tasca, Cecilia, et al. “Women and Hysteria in The History of Mental Health.” Clinical
Practice & Epidemiology in Mental Health, vol. 8, no. 1, 2012, pp. 110-119. BioMed
Central Open Access Free, doi: 10.2174/1745017901208010110.
This is a thought-provoking scientific look at the history of women being
diagnosed with mental disorders (specifically nervous diseases like
Hysteria) correlated to where in the world and at what historical time
these diagnoses occurred. Tasca aims to inform the audience that
perhaps the role of women in these different global locations contributes
to firstly the opportunity to be diagnosed by a sexist male physician, as
well as whether their emotions would be seen as varying from the norm.
She further explains this by saying, “We have seen that both the
symptomatic expression of women’s malaise and the culturally specific
interpretation of the same malaise witness the changing role of women.
From incomprehensible Being (and therefore mean of the Evil) to frail
creatures that try, however, to manipulate the environment to their own
ends (in Freud’s view) to creature arbiter of his fate (in the modern
transformation from hysteria to melancholia), where the woman seems to
have traded power with the loneliness and guilt.” This article has given
me a new look at why and how these misdiagnoses are so common and
continuing. It is helpful due to its extensive studies in multiple parts of
329
the world, as well as Tasca’s analysis of the effect that the evolution of
the role of women has on stereotypes.
Teacher Takeaways
“This annotated bibliography shows that the student is thinking critically about their sources, but also
approaching them with an open mind to avoid confirmation bias. Judging by the citations, this student
has made good use of their library’s database subscriptions. They have also indicated how they intend to
use certain sources in the essay they will write. If anything, I might say that these annotations are a bit too
long: the density of each (especially in terms of summary) would make it difficult to use as a research
tool.”
Planting the Seed: Norway’s Strong Investment in Parental Leave31

Few experiences, if any, can match the power of becoming a parent, both in
terms of sheer magnitude and pure happiness. Many parents consider the birth of
their children their lives’ single greatest moments—the heart and purpose of human
existence. From the instant a tiny, brand-new life is handed off to eager parents,
overcome with awe and amazement at the sight of what they created together, friends,
family and even strangers come forward bursting with excitement to pour out their
deepest affection to the new arrival. To the world, a birth inspires hope and radiates
joy, even for those who never have children of their own. But with it also come some
intense fears. From worries over the ever-soaring prices of daycare to concerns about
simply finding the time to properly raise a child amid work and other life obligations,
welcoming a new baby gets frightening quickly. Time off from work to focus fully on
the many challenges of baby-rearing can drastically ease the burden for moms and
dads. New parents all across the world know this, but few actually experience it as
strongly as those in Norway.
From low crime rates to accessible health care to high-quality education, all
piled on top of immediately obvious breathtaking scenery, countless perks make it
clear why Norway was ranked the happiest country in the world for 2017 (Hetter)—not
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the least of which is the country’s generosity toward new parents. Norway offers one
of the best parental leave policies in the world, granting parents a liberal sum of both
shared and individual paid leave so they can stop and concentrate on parenthood
during their newborns’ critical early months, and fostering gender equality by
allowing paid leave time for fathers. Meanwhile, many other countries, like the U.S.,
the world’s only industrialized nation to guarantee no paid parental leave whatsoever,
place a lesser focus on time off for parents, seemingly without respect for the myriad
struggles new families face. This could be to the disadvantage of not only moms and
dads but also the economy at large, given the many benefits of parental leave—
reduced infant mortality, better care for babies, reduced likelihood of mental illness
for mothers and savings for businesses—most of which carry into the long-term
(Wallace). Considering even a few advantages of parental leave, it’s easy to wonder
why more countries don’t make leave for parents a top priority, especially when
countries like Norway are realizing its positive impacts.
While Norway (along with a small handful of other countries) currently leads
the way when it comes to parental leave following a birth, the country once offered
leave for working mothers that more so resembled what the U.S. offers today—which
isn’t much. Before the introduction of new leave reform in 1977, Norway only gave
mothers 12 weeks off after the birth of a child, and with no pay; today, however,
mothers get about a full year of paid leave and an additional year of job protection
(Carneiro). So what does that mean for the busy, modern-day working mother? For
Else Marie Hasle, a 32-year-old marketing professional living in Oslo, Norway’s capital
city, it meant 11 months at home with her infant daughter while collecting 80 percent
of her salary (Grose). In an August 2014 interview with Slate Magazine, Hasle explained
that she spent the three weeks at home before the birth of her daughter, Natalia, at
home and remained home with Natalia until she was 10 months old (Grose). Mothers
like Hasle also have the option of a shorter leave period with 100 percent of their pay.
The choice of shorter leave with more pay, or vice versa, is up to the mother.
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The permission for parents to choose their own terms makes Norway’s parental
leave not only generous but also flexible. Right now, according to the Norwegian
Labour and Welfare Administration, or NAV for short, Norway offers parents 49
weeks at full salary or 59 weeks at 80 percent pay—one of the longest parental leave
allowances in the world. This time includes three weeks of leave for the mother prior
to the baby’s due date and 10 weeks each for the mother and the father—called
“maternal quotas” and “paternal quotas,” respectively—as well as 26 or 36 weeks,
depending on the terms the couple chooses (salary in full or at 80 percent), which may
be distributed among the parents as they see fit (“Parental Benefit”). Parents who
adopt a child younger than 15 years of age may also draw benefits. These numbers are
only matched by a handful of other countries, which includes Sweden, Denmark and
Finland.
The reality for American mothers paints a bleak contrast to the situation in
northern Europe. In the U.S., which stands alone as the only developed country in
the world to guarantee no paid leave to either parent following a birth, expectant
mothers apply for time off through the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, which
allows up to 12 weeks of job-protected and employee benefits-protected leave
(“FMLA”). Unfortunately, mothers must spend this time taking a pay cut. Meanwhile,
most of the rest of the world mandates some form of paid parental leave. Many
countries also provide paid leave for fathers. Nearly half of 167 countries whose leave
policies were examined in 2013 by the International Labor Organization offer paternity
leave (Lord). The sad state of leave for new parents in the U.S. has remained a top
issue of concern among politicians in recent years, oftentimes catching the common
counter-argument that it simply costs businesses and the economy too much money.
But while this is an important point, parental leave appears to be worth it in the long
run.
A new mother leaving her place of work to dedicate time caring for a newborn
continues to hold a position within the organization and to draw benefits, and, in
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countries that mandate paid maternity leave, to also receive a paycheck—all for no
work. Considering the same circumstance for fathers as well spells double trouble for
both productivity and revenue for businesses. Consider Christa Clapp, an American
climate change economist living and working in Oslo with her husband, who took
about a full year away from her job in 2016 to care for her son. But Clapp, writing for
the “On Parenting” section of the Washington Post, argues that paid parental leave is
actually a smart move for a country’s economy. The economic value of more mothers
staying in the workforce full time, she claims, offsets the costs of the parental leave
that makes it possible and results in an altogether more productive society (Clapp).
Companies also save money on training and turnover costs because mothers are more
likely to stay with the same employer after their leave (Wallace). What’s more, fathers
taking their own paid leave creates a culture in which dads are more present in their
children’s lives, and a more gender-equal and balanced workforce—a reality that fades
in the U.S., where women often transition from employee to stay-at-home mom
because it makes more economical sense for the family.
The benefits of parental leave appear to be strongest for mothers, like Clapp,
and their children. In the immediate, obvious sense, the mother is home with the
baby and free to devote her time to caring for and bonding with her child. But the
benefits run deeper and last longer than what one can see at face value. A 2011 study of
the leave policies in 141 different countries found that paid parental leave can actually
reduce infant mortality by as much as 10 percent; another study found that paid leave
also increases the odds that babies will be seen regularly by a health care professional
and receive vaccinations on time (Wallace). Paid parental leave also makes
breastfeeding, the healthiest meal option for babies, more successful, with women
who take leave generally breastfeeding about twice as long as those who don’t (Ibid.).
Mothers who take paid parental leave also face a smaller likelihood of mental health
challenges, such as depression, even as many as 30 years later in life (Ibid.). This
means that not only is mom in better condition when caring for her infant under the
333
protection of paid leave, but the relationship between mother and baby is also
healthier. And these benefits are lasting.
Children continue to reap the benefits of paid parental leave even into their
adult years. A team of researchers examined the long-term impacts of maternity leave
in Norway since the country’s introduction of paid, job-protected leave time for
mothers on July 1, 1977. The team compared the outcomes of children born both
before and after July 1, 1977, when new reform began guaranteeing paid leave to
mothers, and found that “reform had strong effects on children’s subsequent high
school dropout rates and earnings at age 30, especially for those whose mothers had
less than 10 years of education” (Carneiro). Thus, increased time at home with
children—especially time during which mothers can relax without fear of sacrificing
their income—can lead to success in the child’s life. These findings, taken with the
numerous benefits to mothers, demonstrate that parental leave isn’t necessarily a
financial liability for businesses, who end up paying employees for no work; rather,
it’s a wise investment not only in the short-term future of the worker but also in the
long-term future of the country’s broader economy. But while these benefits focus on
mothers and children, as does much of the research on parental leave, paid time off
for fathers following a birth has its perks as well.
One of the unique features of parental leave in countries like Norway is that it
also allows fathers to break away from work for time with their new children. Fathers
in Norway enjoy 10 weeks of paid parental leave—referred to as a “paternal quota”—
and they may also take additional time that comes from a leave bank they share with
their partners, depending on their agreement with their spouses (“Parental Benefit”).
To some, this may seem counterintuitive. For thousands of years, much of the world
has believed that mothers exclusively—or at least mostly—handle newborn and infant
care. Perhaps this is because, in the animal kingdom, it often makes the most sense,
from the standpoint of survival. It once made sense for humans as well. But the
334
human race of today is different, with fathers involving themselves more and more in
their children’s lives from an early age—and to the benefit of both child and mother.
Currently, in many households, both parents work full-time. And despite a
common theme throughout history of male superiority in the workplace—at least
when it comes to salary—in 40 percent of families with children, the mother is the sole
or primary provider of income (Livingston). This means that, more than ever, fathers
are taking on childcare responsibilities. Aside from simply freeing dads up to shoulder
the work of child-rearing equally with their spouses, leave for fathers results in
stronger, lasting father-child bonds. Dads who take at least 10 days of parental leave
are more likely than those who don’t take any leave at all to stay actively involved with
child care; in Iceland, 70 percent of men who take parental leave are sharing care with
their partners as far out as three years later (Wallace). Active fathers are a norm in
Norwegian culture today, most likely because of parental leave.
Keeping dads active in child care, and in turn active in the child’s life
altogether, is good for the whole family. Research has shown that a strong connection
between father and child promotes social and emotional development, such as
learning to regulate feelings and behaviors, and also results in better educational
outcomes for the child (Oliker). Greater involvement of fathers also fosters gender
equality in both the household and the workplace. Through shared and individual
leave quotas, a father can help his spouse tackle childcare more like an equal; in doing
so, he helps free his partner up to return to work and stay at work, evening the playing
in the professional environment.
In the U.S., gender roles still largely represent traditional, more dated values
and beliefs. Men are guaranteed no parental leave, paid or otherwise, and are
therefore often less active and available in their children’s early months and years
than their Norweigan counterparts. Gender inequity is accentuated and even mocked
in the U.S. This inequality could be the result of no paid parental leave policy for
Americans, and it could also be what’s holding such a policy back. At any rate, it’s a
335
Teacher Takeaways
central, relevant problem, along with a host
“The data presented here is well-
of other factors, like extreme individualism, integrated, and often supported by
which keeps Americans working 60- to 70- individual instances, which help to
personalize what would otherwise
hour weeks just to climb the professional seem like lifeless statistics and
ladder. Thus, for Americans, the birth of a percentages. Sentences flow
smoothly and main points are clear.
new baby is often scary and intimidating However, the essay could use some
when it should be tender, happy and reorganization and better transitions
between sections. Overall, though,
exciting. With paid leave for new parents, the argument benefits from a
the event could hold the special joy it’s delayed thesis (a typical result of
inquiry-based research); instead of
naturally meant to. The introduction of paid outlining an argumentative stance in
parental leave would likely mean a challenge full at the beginning of the essay, the
author waits until a thorough
to ingrained patriarchal ideologies, although comparison is made between
ultimately for the hope of a better society. Norway and the United States, then
allows for a natural progression to a
Change is seldom easy, but it’s necessary for final, persuasive conclusion.”
progress.
Works Cited
Carneiro, Pedro et al. “A Flying Start? Maternity Leave Benefits and Long-Run
Outcomes of Children.” Journal of Political Economy, vol. 123, no. 2, 2015, pp.
365-412. University of Chicago Press Journals, doi: 10.1086/679627.
Clapp, Christa. “The Smart Economics of Norway’s Parental Leave, and Why the U.S.
Should Consider It.” Washingtonpost.com, 11 January 2016. Infotrac Newsstand,
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=STND&sw=w&u=s1185784&v=2.1&id=GALE
%7CA439615968&it=r&asid=ff084063bc4ea84e7a90e25bd5e82803.
“FMLA (Family & Medical Leave).” United States Department of Labor, 06 May 2016,
https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/fmla.
336
Grose, Jessica. “What It’s Like for a Working Mom in Oslo, Norway.” Slate Magazine,
21 August 2014,
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/08/21/child_care_in_norway_an_oslo_
mom_on_how_working_parents_manage.html.
Hetter, Katia. “Where Are the World’s Happiest Countries?” CNN, 21 March 2017,
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/20/travel/worlds-happiest-countries-unitednations-
2017/.
Livingston, Gretchen. “Among 41 Nations, U.S. Is the Outlier When It Comes to Paid
Parental Leave.” Pew Research Center, 26 Sept 2016,
http://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2016/09/26/u-s-lacks-mandated-paid-
parental-leave/.
Lord, Andrew. “8 Countries That Put U.S. Paternity Leave to Shame.” The Huffington
Post, 17 June 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/17/best-countries-for-
patern_n_7595946.html.
Oliker, Ditta M. “The Importance of Fathers.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 23
June 2011. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-long-reach-
childhood/201106/theimportance-fathers.
“Parental Benefit.” NAV, 19 July 2013,
https://www.nav.no/en/Home/Benefits+and+services/Relatert+informasjon/pare
ntal-benefit.
Wallace, Kelly, and Jen Christensen. “The Benefits of Paid Leave for Children Are
Real, Majority of Research Says.” CNN Wire, 29 Oct. 2015. Infotrac Newsstand,
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=STND&sw=w&u=s1185784&v=2.1&id=GALE
%7CA433033758&it=r&asid=77442d92bb22860c946f48bbff7cdcef.
337
Pirates and Anarchy: Social Banditry Toward a Moral Economy32

(Research essay – see the research proposal here and annotated bibliography here)
The power to prosper: is this not every human’s inalienable right? What
happens when social, political, and economic systems conspire to limit the power of
citizens to gain a fair share of resources? It may be that a government has sanctioned
monopolistic practices to large corporate interests. It may be that racism or classism
has damaged the ability of certain groups to exercise equal rights to education and
employment. Perhaps the government structure has collapsed all together. The case
could be that government actors have exchanged the well-being of citizens for
ideological power and financial gain. Time and again, these types of inequitable
scenarios have supplied the basis for otherwise average people to rise up and seize
control of their own destinies. They disown the system. For freedom, for self-
sufficiency, for a fair livelihood, they turn to anarchy. They turn pirate.
Pirates can be characterized as rebels rejecting societal structures that
disenfranchise those with less access to resources. There is a common element of
anarchy as a guiding philosophy of piracy. It is scaffolding on which to attempt to
define why pirates do what they do. Viewing current political events through this lens,
there seem to be more and more examples recently of small acts of piracy perpetrated
by citizenry. This has taken the form of message hijacking at otherwise peaceful
protests, rebellious attitudes and actions toward established government structure,
cyber-attacks, and far-left-wing demonstrations and violence. Examining various
piratical groups over time may help shed light on what current rebellious acts by
citizens may portend.
To that end, let us begin by pinning down what exactly constitutes a pirate. The
swashbuckling high-seas crews depicted in movies capture one incarnation. Rather,
they display one romantic idea of what pirates might have been. Stripped of those
trappings though, pirates can be defined in much simpler terms. Dawdy and Bonni
338
define piracy as: “a form of morally ambiguous property seizure committed by an
organized group which can include thievery, hijacking, smuggling, counterfeiting, or
kidnapping” (675). These criminal acts have to do with forceful fair distribution of
resources. When small powerful segments of society such as corporations, the
wealthy, and the well-connected hoard these resources, pirate groups form to break
down the walls of the stockpiles to re-establish level ground (Snelders 3).
Put another way, pirate cultures arise when the benefits of obtaining resources
outside the rule of law outweigh the risk of violating the laws themselves (Samatar et
al. 1378). When resources are unfairly distributed across society, citizens lose faith in
the system of government. They see it as their right to take action outside the law
because the government in charge of that law has shirked their responsibilities to
provide security and a moral economy (Ibid. 1388). When the scope of the world
narrows to eating or starving, when there is no one coming to save the day, when
there is no other way out, when all that is left is survival, those are the moments that
pirates are born. Citizens’ determination to be masters of their own destiny results
from the lack of fair central societal structure. They choose desperate measures (“I Am
Not”).
Piratical groups across time have other commonalities. They tend to be
cohesive assemblies of displaced people. They have binding social agreements among
members, such as work ethic and equal distribution of takings (Dawdy and Bonni 680-
681). There tends to be an anti-capitalist agenda in the prizes sought as a bid for
economic freedom. While locally sanctioned by average citizens, pirates act counter to
the rule of law, especially when economic opportunity within societal norms becomes
scarce (Dawdy and Bonni 677). Pirates act in defiance of government.
In fact, parallels can be drawn between piratical groups and the philosophy of
anarchy. Indeed, as noted above, pirates emerge out of the void left when hierarchical
governments either collapse or abandon their responsibilities to citizens. Anarchy is
339
the antithesis of centralized government. It is governance by social networks
(Wachhaus 33).
The English Oxford Living Dictionary defines anarchy as “A state of disorder due
to absence or non-recognition of authority or other controlling systems” (Anarchy).
However, Hirshleifer provides a more robust explanation by stating “anarchy is a
social arrangement in which contenders struggle to conquer and defend durable
resources, without effective regulation by either higher authorities or social pressures”
(27). The lack of an overarching power structure is the main idea in both definitions,
but in the latter, the motivations and activities of such groups are considered.
In a system of anarchy, groups must act collectively to seize and defend
resources. Dissolution of ties between members is always a threat dependent on the
individual profits of fighting for and defending resources (Hirshleifer 48). Cohesion
then is contingent on mutual success.
There is a shift of mind necessary to turn from hierarchical structures of
management to one that is a linkage of groups acting communally. Without decisive
leaders in the power structure, social contracts can be difficult to construct and
manage (Hirshleifer 48). The fluid nature then of anarchic group organization leaves
them fragile. Group members must agree on goals and methods in order to achieve
stability. Agreement on a social contract is challenging as is remaining cohesive and
resisting merging with other groups with different social contracts (Hirshleifer 48).
Fairness in distribution of holdings and contribution of actors in these groups is
essential (Wachhaus 33-34). The constraints on authority within anarchic structures
and the social agreements necessary for actionable goal achievement, mean that these
groups are small and locally oriented. They must focus on the here and now of
meeting the needs of members.
The anarchic element of agreement on structure makes sense in terms of
piratical organizations as well. Captains are captains at the pleasure of the crew so
long as his/her decision-making enables the group as a whole to prosper. His/her skills
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are useful only if plunder is acquired regularly and allotted equally. Crews are
successful so long as they maximize skill sets and cooperate to compete with other
groups to seize resources and to defend them. Therein lies their strength. A resistance
of submission to anything but self-rule is, of course, paramount. To illustrate this, let
us now explore some cases of pirates over time.
Piracy has been in existence throughout the ages and has taken on many forms.
It is beyond the scope of this paper to cover the detailed history from its inception to
current times. However, a few examples will be described that help to showcase the
idea of societal inequalities leading to anarchy and piracy.
One of these incarnations was the seafaring sort terrorizing ships during the
Golden Age of Piracy. This was during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
reaching an extreme height of activity from 1690 to 1730 (Skowronek and Ewen 2).
This exacerbation began after a combination of economic factors. First, the British
Royal Navy released thousands of sailors by 1715 following the end of the War of the
Spanish Succession (Snelders 168). Employment competition for these skilled seamen
was fierce. Available posts were minimal and working conditions poor. This left many
to turn to a life of piracy as a way to find occupation and freedom from oppressive
maritime companies. Also, government sanctioned monopolization of trade mercantile
companies caused damage to local economies. Smaller operations were not allowed to
compete. The glut of unemployed sailors gave rise to piracy as economic protest
(Dawdy and Bonni 681-682; Snelders 168). In fact, piracy in the early 1700s worked to
throw trade into turmoil (Dawdy and Bonni 681). They robbed ships specifically to clip
the metaphorical purse strings of enterprises such as the East India Company, which
held a monopoly on maritime trade. Pirates during this time believed that their
practices, violent though they were, were justified. It was their right to find their
fortune outside the societal structure that would have them live in poverty.
Piracy was therefore a bid for freedom (Wilson xi). They were “organizations of
social bandits,” rebelling against capitalistic injustices (Dawdy and Bonni 675). The
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intentional anarchic nature of the acts committed were a response to being left behind
economically by political structures. They were fleeting and yes, floating communities
involved in this social banditry intent on “Redistribution of economic wealth that
would otherwise flow to merchant capitalists and state bureaucracies” (Snelders 3).
They acted to balance the scales, though it should be said that those with even less
access to resources also suffered at the hands of the pirates. Though this paper will
not be going into specific details of exploits, it should be acknowledged that not all
groups during the Golden Age of Piracy acted for the good of the moral economy.
Each of these pirate operations had its own micro-culture. To say they were all
the same would be reductive. However, there was a generalizable pirate code during
this time. Many of the elements of anarchy discussed above apply to the structure of
these brotherhoods. Pirates created their own societies with their own agreed upon
rules (Snelders 3). Pirate cultures demanded “mutual discussion, agreement upon
goals, strategy, and tactics, and a fair distribution of the plunder” (Ibid. 162). Fraternal
bonds were powerful. Without country or refuge, they had only their brotherhood by
which to bind themselves (Ibid. 198). Home was a ship. Family was their crew. All the
world their country. Pirate life was short and violent. They spent their shared plunder
and celebrated often as if it were their last day on earth (Ibid. 198). The fact was that
that might just be the case.
The pirate industry of the Golden Age of Piracy could not last. They had
flouted their lawlessness and power too much. They had inflicted massive damage on
the fortunes of the East India Company. Governments resolved to hunt down pirate
operations (Skowronek and Ewen 2). Some slipped away to anonymity, but the
majority were captured and hung as criminals. The Golden Age thus faded to legend.
However, this was not the end of piracy.
An example of piracy in more modern times was the Somali pirates that preyed
on ships skirting the Eastern African coast from 2008 to 2013. Many elements came
together for this to take place. The crumbling state, a non-functioning government,
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clan rule, and tribal warfare all were contributors. Samatar et al. outline the following
conditions that lead to modern piracy:
1) the existence of a favourable topographic environment; 2) the
prevalence of ungoverned spaces—either as the result of legal dispute
between states or simply because of their absence; 3) the existence of
weak law enforcement or weak political will of governments or a cultural
environment that is not hostile to piracy; and 4) the availability of great
rewards for piracy while the risks are minimal. (1378)
All of these elements came together in Somalia to propagate piracy as a normalized
practice. The downfall of the Somali government was the final catalyst for the
emergence of piracy in the region (Samatar et al. 1384). State institutions became non-
functioning, leaving instability in its wake (Otto 46). Without the structure of a central
government, citizens were left to fend for themselves.
Piracy originated as ordinary Somali fishermen defending against foreign
interests illegally looting fish from the coastline, depriving them of a valuable resource
during desperate times (Otto 46; Samatar et al. 1387). There was no government force
to prevent fish from being poached by adversarial enterprises seeking to capitalize on
undefended waters. It fell to Somali citizens to maintain security.
What became evident was that there was a larger prize than fish as an economic
resource. Protecting the waters became fining or taxing for territory invasion. This in
turn became kidnapping and ransoming (“I Am Not”; Otto 46). According to Otto, “a
single ransom can generate up to US $10 million” (47). In 2010 alone, 1000 people were
taken hostage (“I Am Not”). In the vacuum that was Somalia’s economy at the time,
ransom piracy became the main industry in the region. Without a centralized
government, clans ran the country in a network of warring tribes (Ibid.). Warlords and
other clan members helped in the recruitment and coordination of pirate groups (Otto
47). Locals could invest in piracy and expect returns. The pirates grew well-funded
and well-armed (“I Am Not”).
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Eradication of piracy was a long and complicated process. A slow to strengthen
central government reformed and began working with clans to end the ransom
industry through a three step plan. A condensed look at this goes like this: religious
pirate shaming, creation of alternative economic incentives, and rehabilitation of
pirates (“I Am Not”). They were, after all, at a basic level, fishermen in need of
employment. These were the efforts on land. This combined with seaward endeavors
by foreign navies, increased security on shipping industry vessels, along with the
practice of sailing farther from the coast allowed for the elimination of the pirate
activity (Ibid.). By 2013, the industry of piracy in Somalia was ended.
Somalia remains economically fragile. Clans still maintain a level of power. A
re-emergence of rogue efforts to acquire resources doesn’t seem far-fetched. Piracy
arises in this area of the world when global economic cycles leave the poor without
proper access to economic participation (Samatar et al. 1379). It is a tried-and-true
means of survival. Between piracy and community death by starvation, there is little
choice. Now we will turn to a final and current piratical case.
This last example to be discussed is not a group of actors labeled as pirates.
Rather they take action in a piratical manner. Self-identified anarchists, they are
morally murky groups that utilize the practice of appropriating by force the protest
demonstrations organized by other groups. This is done for the purpose of
showcasing the anarchist agenda to which they subscribe (Farley). They seek to
disrupt what they deem as society’s oppressive structure, particularly in terms of
racism and fascism (“About Rose City”). These groups have become more active in
defiance of the current political milieu in the United States.
At the Portland May Day Rally on May 2nd, 2016, what began as a peaceful and
legally permitted rally for workers’ rights became a violent protest when it was taken
over by an anarchist group (Chappell). Covered head to toe in black clothing complete
with masked faces, the well-coordinated members of Rose City Antifa emerged from
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the crowd to sow chaos. The group vandalized property, set fires, and hurled objects
at police.
Individual identities of members of anarchist groups are opaque. However, it is
possible to find information on the belief system via their online presence. Rose City
Antifa’s website outlines some core beliefs regarding what they describe as the
oppressive nature of society’s structure. They see themselves in direct conflict with
fascism. This is defined on their website as “an ultra-nationalist ideology that
mobilizes around and glorifies a national identity defined in exclusive racial, cultural,
and/or historical terms, valuing this identity above all other interests (ie: gender or
class)” (About Rose City). The group points specifically to extreme right wing political
organizations, so-called neo-nazis, as the antithesis of what Antifa stands for. Along
with this is the acknowledgment of the frustration of “young, white, working-class
men” in relation to economic opportunity. Antifa as a group intends to give these men
a meaningful culture to join that doesn’t include racism in the tenets, but seeks
freedom and equality for all. Action is held in higher regard than rhetoric. Thus the
violent and destructive measures intended to send a strong and highly visible
message.
Since the US election of 2016, citizens have become more politically engaged.
Protests are once again growing normalized as the public seeks to have their political
positions recognized by government representatives. Another anarchist group known
as the Black Bloc create spectacle at a growing number of protests using militant
tactics, especially property damage. They see political protests becoming more violent
as a call out and call to arms to liberal citizens whom they feel are not taking right-
wing activists with enough seriousness. The Black Bloc steadfastly believes in the
righteousness of these tactics against fascism in the US, despite the illegality of such
actions. They feel that they need to meet far right aggression with equal force in order
to protect equal rights. Like other successful pirate operations, these anarchist groups
have the will and the organization to take extreme measures (Farley).
345
The viewpoint is that this is standing up for the disenfranchised in a country

where the centralized government has abdicated their duties. Freedom and facts being
flouted by the current administration is stirring anarchist anger. The Black Bloc see
themselves as rebelling against a system that is sanctioning a corrupt government
(Farley).
Throughout this exploration of the above pirate groups, there is the thread of
demanding a moral economy. One that provides an equal measure of opportunity and
access to resources for all citizens in a nation. Samatar et al. explains it in this way:
The essence of the moral economy argument is that peasants and the
poor in general have a set of expectations that govern their sense of
justice. When such values are violated they respond vigorously to protect
their livelihood and their sense of fairness. (1388)
Pirates defy the rule of law under hierarchical governments that fail to provide a moral
economy. They create their own rules and cultural norms. They take action rather
than sit quietly while rights are violated. Yes, there is violence. Yes, other members of
society suffer losses at the hands of pirates. However, looking from a distance, it is
possible to see the arc of change that occurs due to piratical movements. Golden Age
pirates were able to disrupt harmful monopolized trade practices. Somali pirates
forced leaders to reform a centralized government. It is yet to be seen what anarchist
groups in the US such as Rose City Antifa and the Black Bloc will accomplish. One
thing is certain: they are drawing attention to difficult issues. Perhaps the multiple
recent bold acts of anarchist groups portend more rebellion in our society’s future.
Pirates can be seen as oracles of change. Dawdy and Bonni warn that “we might
look for a surge in piracy in both representation and action as an indication that a
major turn of the wheel is about to occur” (696). These anthropological ideas reflect
346
the simmering political currents we are
Teacher Takeaways
experiencing now in 2017. The call for jobs
“The student makes great use of a
and fair compensation are getting louder
variety of sources to provide
and louder. Political polarization continues complex and numerous perspectives
on the issue, using both academic
to freeze up the government, rendering
and non-academic sources, which
them ineffectual. Worse, elected officials allows us to see the topic from both
historical and contemporary
appear more concerned with ideology and
viewpoints. The student also
campaign funding than the plight of the synthesizes the information from
these sources with their own ideas
common man. They leave their own very well by paraphrasing and
constituents’ needs abandoned. Citizens summarizing. Some of the shorter
paragraphs seem as though they
may turn to extreme political philosophies continue the ideas and thoughts of
such as anarchy as a way to take piratical those around them and could likely
be merged rather than allowed to
action to counteract economic disparity. A stand on their own. It is also a little
pervasive sense of powerlessness and unclear what the student is arguing
for. Is this an examination of piracy
underrepresentation may lead to the through history and in contemporary
splintering of societal structure, even times? Or is it an argument that
piracy is a symptom of failed
rebellion. Shrugging off accountability to governments that eventually benefit
the system as a countermeasure to what is the oppressed? While the
introduction and conclusion are
seen as government’s inability to provide a engaging, captivating, and pose
free and fair system. This may be seen as great questions, the student should
revise with an eye toward giving a
empowering to the public. It may also signal clear statement of what they are truly
a breakdown of centralized government. If arguing for, or how their research
throughout the body of the essay
political structures cannot provide economic speaks to that argument.”
stability, will citizens ultimately decide to – Professor Dannemiller
tear it all down?
Works Cited
“About Rose City Antifa.” Rose City Antifa. http://rosecityantifa.org/about/.
347
“Anarchy.” English Oxford Living Dictionaries, 2017,
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/anarchy.
Chappell, Bill. “Portland Police Arrest 25, Saying A May Day Rally Devolved Into
‘Riot’.” Oregon Public Broadcasting, National Public Radio, 2 May 2017,
http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-portland-police-arrest-25-saying-a-may-
day-rally-devolved-into-riot/.
Dawdy, S. L. & Bonni, J. “Towards a General Theory of Piracy.” Anthropological
Quarterly, vol. 85, no. 3, 2013, pp. 673-699. Project MUSE, doi.:
10.1353/anq.2012.0043.
Farley, Donovan. “These Black Bloc Anarchists Don’t Care What You Think of
Them.” VICE, 2 June 2017, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/these-anarchists-
dont-think-youre-doing-enough-to-fight-fascism.
Hirshleifer, Jack. “Anarchy and Its Breakdown.” Journal of Political Economy, vol. 103,
no. 1, 1995, pp. 26-52. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2138717.
“I Am Not a Pirate.” This American Life, episode 616, National Public Radio, 5 May
2017, https://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/616/i-am-not-a-
pirate.
Otto, Lisa. “Benefits of Buccaneering: The Political Economy of Maritime Piracy in
Somalia and Kenya.” African Security Review, vol. 20, no. 4, 2011, pp. 45-52.
Taylor & Francis,
http://dx.doi.org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1080/10246029.2011.630809.
Samatar, Abdi Ismail, Mark Lindberg, and Basil Mahayni. “The Dialectics of Piracy in
Somalia: The Rich Versus the Poor.” Third World Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 8, 2010,
pp. 1377-1394. EBSCO, doi: 10.1080/01436597.2010.538238.
Skowronek, Russell K. and Charles R. Ewen, editors. X Marks the Spot: The
Archaeology of Piracy, University Press of Florida, 2006.
348
Snelders, Stephen, with a preface by Peter Lamborn Wilson. The Devil’s Anarchy: The
Sea Robberies of the Most Famous Pirate Claes G. Compaen and The Very
Remarkable Travels of Jan Erasmus Reyning, Buccaneer, Autonomedia, 2005.
The Hysterical Woman33

(Research essay – see the research proposal here and annotated bibliography here)
Hysteria was a medical recognition dating back to 1900 BC, diagnosed by
physicians liberally until recent times. The term Hysteria comes from the Greek word
“Hystera,” which literally translates into “uterus.” The diagnosis and treatment of
Hysteria were routine for hundreds of years in Western Europe and the United States,
mainly for keeping women in line. Symptoms that indicated Hysteria were broad and
all encompassing: nervousness, sexual desire, faintness, insomnia, irritability, loss of
appetite, depression, heaviness in abdomen, etc. The number of diagnosed cases of
Hysteria slowed as medical advancements proceeded, and in the early 1960’s
(coinciding with the popularization of feminism) the “disease” ceased to be considered
a true medical disorder. In modern medicine, the treatment and diagnosis of female
medical issues continues to be vague and potentially harmful due to lack of
knowledge. Does the concept of female Hysteria have continuity today? Although the
vocabulary has changed, it is clear that the practice of ignoring serious medical
ailments based on sex remains prominent in the world of medicine, and contributes to
the continuation of harmful gender stereotypes.
The beginnings of Hysteria can be followed back to ancient Egypt, around 1900
BC, when a “misplaced womb” was commonly thought to be the cause of the disease.
Plato later expanded on this concept around 500 BC with his explanation of the womb
as a living creature that sought to disrupt biological processes, impede breathing, limit
emotional regulation, and cause disease (Adair). While Plato agreed with the
prevailing theories of the time in regard to the effect of Hysteria, his ideas differed
349
slightly on the cause. It was taken as fact that Hysteria was due to a hormonal
imbalance within the female body, causing those afflicted to act out irrationally, or fall
into a fit of anger. Plato, however, introduced the idea that Hysteria was due to a
“moving psychological force, which arises from the womb: sexual desire perverted by
frustration” (Adair). It is important to note that his theory, more insightful than
anything that had been proposed before, would be opposed by physicians and
commentators for nearly two thousand years following. A more sophisticated and
medically forward concept of a psychiatric rather than physical affliction would not be
seen for years to come.
The time and place that Hysteria saw its highest peak in relevance was around
1800-1900 in Western countries. Where Hysteria was previously diagnosed to females
who “acted out” or showed signs of irritability, the diagnoses were given out for less
specific symptoms in the 1800s. The women who attempted to deviate from the
domestic standards of their gender, those who were depressed, and those who were
irritable were now also labeled as “hysterical” (Culp-Ressler). Perhaps not so
coincidentally was the simultaneous increase in frequency of Hysteria diagnoses and
rise in popularity of Freudian psychoanalysis (Scull). This is necessary to consider
because Freud himself placed a great deal of importance on gender roles and
normative societal behavior of the sexes. It should then come as no surprise that both
the stigma for being diagnosed with Hysteria, as well as the treatments and “cures” for
the disease, were sexist during this time.
Women labeled “hysterical” in the 1800s and 1900s were placed in insane
asylums, given the Rest Cure, and in some extreme cases given hysterectomies (Culp-
Ressler). The main goal of the Rest Cure treatment was to confine women in rooms
that were not distracting, over-feed them with the goal of weight gain, and allow them
no visitors in order to limit their “stressors” and revive them back to their normal
temperaments. An article published within the American Journal of Nursing in 1936
describes the daily life of a Rest Cure patient: “I’m having a rest cure and I can’t see
350
anybody ... and all I have to do is eat and sleep and not worry about anything. Just rest
... and that’s just what I’m doing. I may not look it but that’s just what I’m doing”
(“The Rest Cure” 451). The article is just one of many accounts, fictional and
otherwise, that provide a look into how women that were labeled “hysterical” were
treated. It was believed that if women were able to limit their stressful tasks that they
would be likely to remain delicate, proper, and feminine—desirable traits in a
Victorian wife and mother. John Harvey Kellogg’s book titled Ladies’ Guide in Health
and Disease: Girlhood, Maidenhood, Wifehood, Motherhood was a common source on
explaining to women the necessary steps they ought to take in order to lead healthy,
childbearing lives. On the topic of Hysteria, Kellogg notes that the common causes are
“sexual excess, novel reading, perverted habits of thought, and idleness” (586). As
Kellogg mentions that the disease is one of “morality”, he further shames women into
lives free of hard work and free thinking. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of “The
Yellow Wallpaper” (a fictional tell-all of her experience with the Rest Cure), once
wrote a letter detailing the lifestyle she was told to lead in order to keep her unruly
nerves at bay. She was given advice to “live as domestic a life as far as possible”, to
“have but two hours’ intellectual life a day”, and “never touch pen, brush, or pencil
again” as long as she lived (Gilman). As gender norms went unquestioned in the
Victorian era, as did the sexism visible in the medical world.
Due to Hysteria’s feminine association, it was further deemed shameful and
embarrassing. This stereotype was promoted after the Second World War, when
many soldiers returning home from battle were diagnosed with nervous diseases, most
specifically Hysteria (Scull). Due to nervous diseases being seen as feminine afflictions
of the imagination, these men received little to no treatment—similar to females
diagnosed with Hysteria. These men were seen as cowardly and inferior for a malady
that today would be easily recognizable as post-traumatic stress disorder. While the
patients were male, they were seen as contracting a feminine disease that was “made
up in the mind” (Scull), therefore hindering the help that they needed. The lack of
351
attention shown to these soldiers reinforces the idea of a bias that exists with illnesses
that are associated with women.
During the 1960s and 1970s, feminist writers were quick to isolate Hysteria’s
literal definition in order to successfully convey criticisms of Freud’s psychoanalytic
treatments of the “disease” (“Brought”). Women of this age began to critique the
healthcare system, and were able to expose the effect of sexism in medicine. Because
of fervent denunciations, the term slowly fell out of medical use but remained a
common phrase in day-to-day conversations. Hysteria was officially removed from the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1980 (Culp-Ressler),
and is now considered a derogatory term. Many physicians and psychologists
attempted to continue the diagnosis of the disease, but under new, more socially
acceptable terms. Freud himself claimed to change focus to one’s “sexual conflicts”
within (Scull), and the effects. He then created a way of disguising old ideas of
Hysteria behind fresh words. This trend carries on today despite opportunities to
change the culture.
One of the more surprising turns in the history of Hysteria as a concept, is the
reclamation of the word by 1990s feminists. In striking contrast to the views held by
progressive women of the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, some ‘90s women sought to recover and
take ownership of the inherently feminine rights of Hysteria. Elaine Showalter, an
author of the 90s on the topics of Hysteria, gender, and feminism, claims that “for
some writers, Hysteria has been claimed as the first step on the road to feminism, a
specifically feminine pathology that speaks to and against the patriarchy” (286).
Interestingly, prior to this time, Hysteria was dubbed a tool of the patriarchy and that
notion held true amongst feminists. This insight from Showalter addresses the lengths
that sexism can reach. Internalization of patriarchal views on sex is a common effect,
especially with views that are enforced blindly without question. The concept of an
irrational woman, or a woman possessed by emotion rang true for some women of the
‘90s, but they saw this falsehood as something to be proud of, and something to aspire
352
to. In their attempts to argue the reclamation of Hysteria, they succumb to the long-
enforced stereotypes that many fought to destroy. While emotion, passion, and
vulnerability aren’t necessarily traits to be ashamed of, they were used through the
trustful relationship of physicians as a tool to suppress the social, economic, and
personal growth of women through the diagnoses of nervous diseases.
Stereotypes of the feminine gender have made their way into modern medicine
as well. As women are socialized from birth to be passive and to respect authority,
more specifically male authority, it is uncommon for a woman to resist the diagnosis
received from a physician. Typically, if a woman is told that she is a hypochondriac, or
that her symptoms are psychosomatic (all in her head), she will most likely internalize
the notion that she is imagining all of her issues. The term “psychosomatic” is a cover-
all diagnosis commonly used by physicians to attribute to any symptoms that cannot
be explained. As a result, many women continue suffering through treatable and
preventable diseases because they are fearful of being told that they are overreacting
(Culp-Ressler). This demonstrates that even within ourselves, women fear falling into
the feminine gender stereotypes of irrational and excessive behavior—internalized
misogyny presents itself here.
From this, we must ask why do we, as individuals and as a society, not trust
women to know their own bodies? We see this in cases ranging from the extreme to
the everyday—from the treatment of rape survivors to a typical visit to the doctor’s
office. Aside from flaws in women’s reproductive health care, there is also a well-
documented gap in the treatment of pain between men and women. Of the 25% of
Americans suffering from chronic pain, women make up a disproportionate majority
(Edwards). Not only are women more likely to suffer from chronic pain, but that pain
is more likely to be categorized as “emotional,” “psychogenic,” or “not real”. Women
are also less likely than men to receive aggressive treatment after being diagnosed with
autoimmune diseases that cause chronic pain (Edwards). Multiple studies have found
that women are far less likely to receive any kind of medical intervention to manage
353
pain (Culp-Ressler). Why? Pain is self-reported and subjective, and treatment of pain
fully relies on the idea that a physician trusts the patient reporting symptoms.
However, trusting a woman to be a reliable source on her own body is still not the
norm. This practice contributes to the long-standing cycle of attributing women’s pain
to mental disorders, thus reinforcing the stereotype of the Hysterical Woman.
While many medical professionals would agree that there needs to be a shift in
how we look at both the gender and sex dynamics of healthcare, there is little being
done about it. Clinical trials are just one example. Women make up roughly half of
the country’s population, but an astonishing majority of participants in clinical trials
within the United States are men. According to the Journal of Women’s Health, in 2004,
women made up less than 25% of all patients enrolled in clinical trials for that year
(Moyer). The reasoning for this is that women present a less uniform sample
population: they have menstrual cycles and hormones, making results more difficult to
analyze. However, this does not eradicate the need for personalized care being
available to women. This bias is decades-old, and leads doctors to preferentially study
diseases and test drugs in male participants. A bias this prominent is a serious health
risk for women, limits the reach of our preventative care and hinders growth of
scientific knowledge. Another struggle presenting itself is the unwillingness of
medical professionals to make use of what little sex-specific data has been found. For
example, despite well-recognized sex differences in coronary heart disease
management in critical care units, the guidelines for management are not sex-specific
(Holdcroft). Unfortunately, guidelines rarely state that evidence has been mainly
obtained from men; disregarding this information perpetuates inequality in treatment
of disease and distribution of medication.
The limited scope of our current knowledge on gender/sex differences can be
observed in newly discovered differences in disease symptoms, as well as the
continuing decrease of the life expectancy gap. Biased medical research and practice
focuses on gender differences, and therefore risks overlooking similarities. For
354
example, coronary heart disease was once perceived as strictly affecting males;
therefore, less research and attention was given to the possibility of women
contracting the disease (Annandale). Now, perhaps as a result, coronary heart disease
kills more women than men. Women in the 1960s and 70s lived markedly longer than
men, but in recent years the gap has decreased (Ibid.), and shrunken more than one
third since the early 80s.The exact cause of the decline in the gender life expectancy
gap cannot be pinpointed due to a number of confounding variables. The increase in
women working to retirement and the added stress of contributing financially as well
as taking full responsibility of children are just a few. One widely debated cause of the
gap decrease is the fact that the quality of men’s healthcare is surpassing that of
women’s. The standard of disregarding women from clinical trials creates an
unhealthy environment of willful ignorance on the topic of women’s healthcare due to
stereotypes, and the effects are measurable.
With the sex-biased culture of medicine so ingrained into its academia and
practice, the task of eradicating it seems all the more important. This becomes more
true as a greater percent of the population becomes aware of gender stereotypes and
the harm that they cause. Unfortunately, due to fear of being labeled a hypochondriac,
or neurotic, women refrain from telling their medical experiences and demanding
quality care. With a majority of women experiencing patriarchal authority during
doctor visits, and many women sharing similar stories of struggling with a lack of
accurate diagnosis, it’s a shame that this topic isn’t discussed on a broad scope. If
experiences were documented, it would be a faster way to make society more aware of
this specific branch of inequality and how it contributes to negative gender
stereotypes.
A practical way of accomplishing this would be to implement changes into the
medical school curricula. We should seize the opportunity to implement the best
practices for healthcare regardless of gender identification, as well as to establish
evidence-based guidance that focuses on both gender and sex differences. Informing
355
future physicians that it is not in the best interest of the patient to quickly jump to the
conclusion that their symptoms are psychosomatic, or to share stories of specific
experiences would eventually trickle down into the medical culture. Informing these
students that it is within the realm of
possibility that these women might be
Teacher Takeaways
presenting symptoms to an affliction that
“This student presents a solid and well-
is not well understood, even by modern researched argument that builds off a clearly
medicine. The exercise of attributing the stated thesis in the introduction and returns
to this thesis in the conclusion with a fully
valid symptoms of women to mental developed call-to-action and prompt for
continued research. Each paragraph follows
disorders has been commonplace for
the path of the thesis’s spine, elaborating on
centuries—Hysteria, Conversion, etc. the historical contexts the student first
presents, to introduce new complexities and
While the name continues to change, the
further evidence of how these claims add to
meanings behind them stay the same, the need for response to the bias against
women in health care. Although the student
and women continue to be subjected to
synthesizes paraphrases, quotes, and
sexism, and low-quality healthcare as a summaries well most of the time, there are
moments (mostly later in the essay) in which
result. Acknowledging the bias within is
the student gives us information without
the first and most important step to clearly signaling or citing where that
information is coming from.”
moving forward and increasing the
quality of women’s healthcare.
Works Cited
Adair, Mark J. “Plato’s View of the ‘Wandering Uterus’.” The Classical Journal, vol. 91,
no. 2, 1995, pp. 153-163. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stab1e/3298478.
Annandale, Ellen. Women’s Health and Social Change, Routledge, 2009.
“Brought to Life: Exploring the History of Medicine – Hysteria.” Science Museum,
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/techniques/hysteria.
356
Culp-Ressler, Tara. “When Gender Stereotypes Become a Serious Hazard to
Women’s Health.” ThinkProgress, 11 May 2015, http://thinkprogress.org/when-
gender-stereotypes-become-a-serious-hazard-to-womens-health-flf130a5e79.
Edwards, Laurie. “The Gender Gap in Pain.” The New York Times, 16 Mar 2013,
www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17_opinion/sunday/women-and-the-treatment-of-
pain.html?r=0.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper.’” 1913. Archived at
The College of Staten Island, City University of New York, 8 June 1999,
https://csivc.csi.cuny.edu/history/files/lavender/whyyw.html.
Holdcroft, Anita. “Gender Bias in Research: How Does It Affect Evidence Based
Medicine?” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, vol. 100, no. 1, Jan. 2007, pp.
2-3. U.S. National Library of Medicine, doi: 10.1258/jrsm.100.1.2.
Kellogg, John Harvey. Ladies’ Guide in Health and Disease: Girlhood, Maidenhood,
Wifehood, Motherhood, Modern Medicine Publishing Co., 1896. Archived by
University of North Texas Health Science Center, 4 March 2011,
http://digitalcommons.hsc.unt.edu/hmedbks/13.
Moyer, Melinda Wenner. “Women Aren’t Properly Represented in Scientific
Studies.” Slate Magazine, 23 July 2010,
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2010/07/dru
g_problem.html.
“The Rest Cure.” The American Journal of Nursing, vol. 36, no. 5, 1936, pp. 451-451.
JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3412197.
Scull, Andrew. Hysteria: The Disturbing History, Oxford University Press, 2011.
Showalter, Elaine. “Hysteria, Feminism, and Gender.” Hysteria Beyond Freud,
University of California Press, 1993.
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Assignment:
Persuasive Research Essay
In order to apply and extend the skills and techniques you’ve learned in this section
on argumentation, research, and research writing, you will write an essay which
synthesizes research on an arguable topic to create a well-informed and rhetorically
impactful argument.
Assignment
Your task is to write an argumentative essay which takes a position on a topic,
supports that position using credible sources, addresses counterarguments, and
rebuts those counterarguments. Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
Choose a Topic
Using the idea generation activities in Chapter Eight, identify a path of inquiry that is
open-ended, focused, and—most importantly—interesting to you.
Write a Proposal
Before beginning your research, identify your path of inquiry (research question) and
your working thesis—this is your research proposal. Keep in mind, this is not set in
stone, but is rather a starting point. Your proposal should be no fewer than 250
words. Consult the discussion of research proposals in Chapter Eight for guidelines.
Research and Write an Annotated Bibliography

Using multiple resources (your school’s library, Google, Google Scholar, and
beyond), identify the different perspectives on your topic. Consider:
o What conversation already exists about this topic? Are you saying
something new, or aligning with existing viewpoints?
o Who are the authorities on this topic? What stance do they take? Who is
weighing in?
358
o What aspects of this topic make it arguable?

o What other issues is this debate connected to?
Try to gather a diversity of sources in order to catch the contours of a complex
conversation. Be sure to document your research along the way to save yourself a
headache when you begin your annotated bibliography.
You should compile any sources you seriously consult (even if they do not seem
useful at the time) in a bibliography using a citation style appropriate to your class.
Then, you will evaluate them in the form of an annotated bibliography. Each
annotation of roughly 100 words should:
o briefly summarize the source,
o attend to its use-value, and
o consider its credibility and place in the ongoing conversation.
Your annotated bibliography is a research tool; you are not obliged to use all of the
sources from this portion of the project in your essay. You may include any sources
you’ve encountered for your annotated bibliography, even if you don’t plan on using
all of them as evidence in your essay.
Write, Re-research, Revise, Revise, Revise!

a. Write a first draft of your essay; this can be an outline, mind-map,
draft, or hybrid of pre-writing. This will help you organize your ideas and
research so your instructor knows you’re on track to write a successful
final draft. Although a rough draft does not need to hit all these points,
your final draft will include:
o Your question and your stance
o Justification for your stance, including sources
o Opposing/varying stances, including sources
o Your response to other stances
o An ultimate conclusion on your topic
Note: this is not an outline or prescription, but
a set of recommended subtopics.
b. Using feedback from your instructor, your peers, and the Writing
Center—as well as new ideas you discover along the way—revise your first
draft as many times as possible until it is ready to submit.
Your essay should be thesis-driven and will include evidence in the form of quotes,
paraphrases, and summaries from sources to support your argument.
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Subject: Occasion:
Audience: Purpose:
360
361

Workshop” useful.


examples:
I’m worried that my voice is being overwhelmed by other voices in the
conversation. How do you think I can foreground my ideas?
Do you think my conclusion is convincing? What do you think my call-to-
action should be?
Do you see anywhere that I could better cultivate pathos?
362

feedback.
so striking?
§ Structure
§ Mechanics
363
The Advertising Black Hole34

The little girl walked along the brightly lit paths of vibrant colors and enticing
patterns. Her close friends watched her as she slowly strolled by. She made sure to
inspect each one of them as she moved through the pathways, seeing if there was
anything new about them, and wondering which one she was interested in bringing
home. She did not know, however, that these so-called friends of hers had the
potential to be dangerous and possibly deadly if she spent too much time with them.
But she was not aware, so she picked up the colorful box of cereal with her friend
Toucan Sam on the outside, put it in the cart and decided that he was her top choice
that day. Many children have similar experiences while grocery shopping because
numerous large corporations thrive on developing relationships between the young
consumer and their products; a regular food item can become so much more than that
to children. Due to the bonds that children and products are forming together, early-
life weight issues have become an increasingly large issue. While marketing is not the
leading or only cause of the obesity epidemic affecting children and teenagers, it does
aid in developing and endorsing preferences of unhealthier food options sold in
grocery stores, which can lead to higher weights if not controlled.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that up to 17% of
children and adolescents, from ages zero to seventeen, are overweight in the United
States. This comes out to approximately 12.7 million young individuals who are
affected by the obesity epidemic (“Childhood Obesity”), and there is no projection of
this number getting smaller any time soon, as the general population continues to
increase. Without any significant changes with how food products are marketed to
children and its influence on their food choices, one might predict that there will
most likely not be a decline in obesity in kids and teens as populations continue to
rise.
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Today, large corporations like Oreo, Trix, and Yoplait, amongst others, spend
great sums of money marketing to younger generations in hopes that they will want
their products and, more importantly, grow an attachment to them. In 2009 alone,
companies spent about $1.79 billion on the endeavor (“FTC Releases”). Leading
businesses in the food industry spend a lot of money on advertising so that they can
establish an emotional connection between their products and fledgling consumers.
They try to inspire feelings of familiarity, comfort, “coolness,” adventure, warmth,
excitement, and many others that will attract kids and teenagers.
Through trials and studies, leading advertising agencies have found what types
of pictures, words, and designs resonate the most with the younger audiences. It is not
about selling a product, but creating an experience of joy and wonder for the child.
While younger children especially are not aware of the premeditated enticements
from the corporate end, they can still become highly engrossed in the products. Some
research has shown that a child’s attraction to certain brand characteristics may
actually be out of their conscious control (Keller 380).
Young children pick up on things very easily, whether something is specifically
taught to them or not, and food preferences are no different. Toddlers as early as two
or three can be affected by advertising (McGinnis 376) and can develop bonds to
certain products. This shows that even without outside pressures from society or a
knowledge of advertising, children can bond with food items just like they do people.
This makes sense, as brands are created to be as relatable and welcoming as possible,
just like a human being.
With this in mind, developing a specific personality for a brand is extremely
important. Many advertising authorities believe that without a brand personality that a
company would have an extremely hard time standing out from the crowd. In “Brand
Personalities Are Like Snowflakes,” David Aaker, a well-known expert in his field,
gives examples of large corporations that use branding to bring a likeability or specific
personality type to the business in order to identify with certain groups of people, or
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to have a larger mass appeal. For example, Betty Crocker comes across as motherly,
traditional, and “all-American” (Aaker 20). It makes sense why children and
adolescents would develop a fondness for a product that seems homey and loving. If a
company succeeds in gaining the interest of a child and creating an emotional
connection with them, then it is not impossible or unusual that the individual could
stay a brand loyalist into adulthood. But with unhealthy food companies being the
source of some of the most intelligent marketing techniques, it is easy for them to
entice children to eat foods that are not good for them, all the while making them feel
content about their choices.
Once a company comes up with a good branding technique or personality, they
can start marketing their products, and the avenues in which companies share them is
almost as important as the products themselves. In order for the item to become
popular and generate high revenue, they need to reach as many people as possible. If
the wrong methods are chosen and there is less of a consumer response, then money
has been wasted. While marketing food to children has been very successful in the
past, it is even more so now in the 21st century because of the prevalence of mobile
devices. Kids and teens are very frequently exposed to advertising through websites,
games, or applications that they are using on cell phones, tablets, and laptops.
Corporations even collect meta-data from sites or applications that kids access on the
device in order to figure out what their preferences are, and to further expose them to
ads within their frame of interest, hopefully boosting their sales and likeability
through repeated exposure (“Should Advertising”). Television has not been phased
out by the internet, however, and it is still a huge contributor to advertising success,
accounting for almost half of marketing costs (Harris 409). Movies, magazines and
other print sources, sporting events, schools, displays in grocery stores, the boxes
themselves, and many other routes are taken in order to create as much of a product
“buzz” as possible.
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Within these avenues, there are countless techniques that are used in order to
gently sway a child or adolescent into wanting a product. Some of these methods are
direct, but others are hardly recognizable. I decided to do a little investigating of my
own at Fred Meyer’s, one of the leading supermarkets in the Portland area, and found
many trends and practices that were used to promote kids’ food. One of the main
techniques used is called cross-branding. Also called
cross-promoting, this is where a specific product, like
cereal for example, will sign an agreement with another
company so that they can use each other’s popularity in
order to sell more merchandise. The picture shown is a
perfect example of this. Kellogg’s teamed up with
Disney and Pixar in order to create a one-of-a-kind
Finding Dory cereal. This example is actually different
than most of the cross-promoting cereals or products,
because this is a whole new item made just for the
movie; it is not just a picture on a box for a cereal that had already existed. Both
companies will come out ahead in this case, since Finding Dory is beloved by children
and so will bring revenue to both. Celebrity and sports endorsements are other forms
of cross-branding, since they are promoting themselves and the
product at the same time. While cartoon characters may be better
suited for younger kids, movie and television stars, singers, and
athletes help to drawn in the pre-teen and teenage crowds.
Other identified advertising tools from the packages
themselves might include sweepstakes to win prizes, toys inside,
free games or applications with purchase, and collecting UPC
codes for gifts. The picture shown to the right is another example
from my personal research, which shows a Go-Gurt box. It not
only shows cross-branding with the movie Trolls, but it also
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includes something for free. The top right-hand corner displays that inside of the box
there is a special link for a free Trolls Spotify playlist. Prizes that used to be included
with purchased goods before the onset of the internet were typically toys, stickers,
puzzles, or physical games, whereas they are now mostly songs, videos, digital games,
or free applications which generally include either the company’s branding mascot or
the cross-promotion character they are using at the time. As a child, I remember that
getting free gifts was a huge incentive for me to ask my parents for something at the
store, and can vouch for how strong of an effect this can have on a kid’s mind.
Not all tactics to gain consumer interests are as noticeable though, yet still
appear to have positive effects on children. Bright colors, boldness of design, cartoon
mascots, and catch phrases are all part of the overall enjoyable experience that
corporations try to create for young customers. The location of the product on the
shelves is also important. Most children’s products are
kept on bottom shelves, especially in aisles of grocery
stores where adult and child products are mixed. This
way the items are in their direct line of sight and reach,
creating a higher probability for purchase. Another
method that is not so heavily researched, but is
extremely convincing, comes from “Eyes in the Aisles:
Why is Cap’n Crunch Looking Down at My Child?”, an
article by Aviva Musicus and other scholars. This
article breaks down the research study of whether eye
contact with cartoon characters on cereal products
creates a sense of comfort and trust, and if it affects the item’s purchase. Many cereal
characters’ eyes look down (as shown), typically looking at the product that pictured
on the box—but also at the smaller people perusing the aisles, like children.
Researchers wanted to determine if this tactic is intentional, and if so, if it is effective
in selling more product. This tactic appears to be used mostly for cereal, but I was
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able to find similar artistry on Danimals yogurt drinks and some fruit snacks as well. It
was concluded through the study that eye-
contact by a friendly face in general creates
feelings of trust and friendship. In applying this
to product branding, the study confirmed with
many of its subjects, that a welcoming glance for
a child can essentially create positive feelings
that make him or her feel more connected to the product and in turn choose it over
others. The findings of the study for whether or not characters are designed to make
eye contact were inconclusive, however (Musicus et al. 716-724).
While the amount of money that is spent on food advertising for children
seems exorbitant to most, it is not necessarily the amount of money or the advertising
in itself that is the problem for many Americans; instead, it is the type of food that is
being promoted with such a heavy hand. Soda, fruit snacks, donuts, cereal, granola
bars, Pop-Tarts, frozen meals, sugary yogurts, cookies, snack cakes, ice cream, and
popsicles are some of the most branded items for children at grocery stores. Most of
the things listed are not adequate snacks or meals, and yet it is proven that children
want them the most due to their appealing containers. Depending on the age of the
child, they may not even know what the product is but still want it, because of the
color of the package or because their favorite character is on it. Experts agree that the
majority of the highly advertised and branded food products are unhealthy and that
they can contribute to higher weights if consumed in too large of quantities or too
often. One such expert is Kathleen Keller, along with her research partners from
various universities in the United States. They have found that the most marketed
food items at the grocery store are generally high in fat, sodium, and sugar, which is
easily confirmed with a look in your city’s popular supermarkets. Keller also
determined that children who are enticed by “good” marketing and branding for
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unhealthy products often keep going back for more due to the addictive nature of
those three main ingredients (409).
Keller and her team also conducted three different experiments, two of which I
will discuss. It is important to add that Keller is not the only one that has conducted
these studies, but is being used as an example of the type of tests that have been
executed in regards to branding, and the movements that have been made in the
scientific field to try to help with the obesity epidemic. In the first study, Keller sought
to determine whether actively watching commercials made young people eat more.
She found that all of the children, regardless of age and weight, ate more food while
watching advertisements about food than when they were not. Others researchers
however, have had opposing viewpoints based on their collected data in similar
studies, and the issue is that there are too many variables with this type of test. Age,
type of food offered, advertisements watched, familiarity with the ads or characters
used, and other factors all come into play and can skew the data. Some studies found
that none of the children ate more while watching television advertisements about
food, while others concluded that despite some children eating more, not all of them
did like in Keller’s experiment. The issue with the variables are still being worked out
in order to have more accurate data (Keller 380-381).
In the second trial, one test group was offered raw fruits and vegetables in
containers with characters on the outside, such as Elmo, and included a sticker inside
like many of the products that come with free gifts. Both groups consisted of children
of different ages that regularly ate below the recommended amounts of fruits and
vegetables, which is one to three cups a day depending on age. The kids who had
containers with the characters increased their consumption of fruits and vegetables by
approximately three servings from where they were before the test started, while the
intake for the second group with the plain containers did not go up at all.
The most interesting part of the study is that when the experiment was over the
children who were in the character test group continued on eating more fruits and
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vegetables despite the fact that they no longer had the original containers. This could
potentially mean that once a child makes a connection with a product, that it becomes
engrained in their minds and that they no longer need stickers, toys, or package
designs in order to appreciate or crave a certain food. However, more testing would
have to be done to confirm this (Keller 383-384). While this could be a negative thing
in the context of unhealthy food product advertising, it also shows that cross-branding
could be used to promote healthier alternatives. Keller’s results along with the
responses of the scientists that conducted like-studies, appear to have a general
consensus that while there is correlational data between advertising, branding, and
obesity, it is not a direct one, which is encouraging (Breiner 5). Advertising itself does
not increase obesity, but rather the products being advertised and the methods by
which they are advertised.
The good news is that since advertising and branding does not have a straight
link to obesity then it should be possible to prevent some occurrences from
happening, either from the government and food companies themselves, or from
inside the home. On the governmental side, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continue to partner up
with each other, along with the leading food manufacturers, to discuss ways that
companies can promote healthier eating. Some companies have already joined the
fight by offering lower calorie, sugar, fat, or sodium versions of their popular foods by
using whole grains or by limiting portion sizes (Wilks 66).
Another example of governmental efforts was in 2010, when Michelle Obama
launched the campaign for “Facts Up Front” with the Grocery Manufacturers
Association (GMA). The goal of this movement was to encourage food distributors to
voluntarily put nutrition information on the front of the package. The act is to
encourage label reading and awareness of what is being consumed, with labels being
monitored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure that customers get
accurate information (“Facts”). There are still many companies, however, that do not
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state their health facts on the front of the container though, and the FTC, HHS, and
GMA are always pushing for more participation. As you can see in the picture I took at
Fred Meyer’s, even companies that have
sought action can have the same product with
and without nutrition labeling sitting right
next to each other on the shelves. In the
photo, the nutrition label is on the bottom left
of the package of Pop-Tarts in the right-hand
photo, but is absent from the one on the left.
It seems like this could occur if a company either began or stopped their contribution
to the “Facts Up Front” movement and older stock was being sold alongside newer
stock. It is possible as well that there could be inconsistent procedures in the
company with packaging; however, this seems unlikely since companies would have to
set up their machines to create varying products. Hopefully, as more years pass, front-
labeling will become the overall standard in the marketplace.
Another governmental organization that joined in the battle against obesity is
the Institute of Medicine (IOM) at the National Academies of Science, Engineering,
and Medicine (NASEM). While the IOM does not have any direct say on what types of
policies are enacted, they do conduct studies on childhood obesity and ways to
prevent it, including advertising’s effects on eating patterns and weight. After they
summarize their findings, they submit the information in a report to agencies like the
FDA to see if they can encourage any change. In their report from 2009, they
witnessed a correlation between advertising and early weight gain and acknowledged
that advertising practices are not in line with healthy eating. The IOM states that food
manufacturers should be more aware of what types of foods that they are advertising
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to children and adolescents. They do also recognize the groups that are working to
make a change, like the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (which works with
the food industry to try to lower caloric content of current food products), as well as
the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (a non-profit that encourages
advertising for nutritionally dense foods only and inspires healthy eating habits within
households) (Breiner 6-9). Examples of productive advertising could be using
characters on packages of carrots, apples, milk, or any other healthy items,
commercials that promote health and wellness for kids, and games or applications that
are directed to teach kids about nutrition. However, many experts believe that any
type of advertising and branding, even if it is to influence positive food choices,
becomes negative as it continues to endorse a society based on consumerism. This is
just a broad overview of what type of work is being done and what major players are
involved, but because of the severity of the obesity epidemic, there is much more work
going on behind the scenes than what is listed here.
The government is not the only entity that can make a change, however, and
modifications can possibly be made inside the home to avoid excessive marketing
control on young ones and their consumption of unhealthy food products. It is
important to say, though, that not everyone may be able to make certain positive
changes; those who can are encouraged to do so. As stated previously, there are many
factors that go into children’s eating habits. Some of the most common reasons are
that unhealthier items are less expensive, and that fresh food goes bad faster, so
purchasing nutritional options may not be possible for lower-income families. There
is also the issue of research and education: some parents or guardians may not be
well-informed of advertising’s effects on younger minds or how to serve well-rounded
meals, and they may also not have a lot of access to resources that could help. It is
373
unwise to say that all people in the United States have access to the same information,
as this is just not the case.
But families that do have the means to purchase healthier products and are
knowledgeable on the subjects of advertising and nutrition (or have ways learn about
these subjects) are greatly encouraged to take small or big steps to implementing
change at home. Some steps could be to limit time spent on mobile devices, so that
kids and teens are not viewing as many advertisements each day, or to completely
eliminate television viewing and the use of internet-based devices if a more extreme
option was needed or wanted. If the cost of groceries is not a major issue, then
encouraging the consumption of new fruits and vegetables each week is an easy place
to start, as well as offering more lean proteins, healthy fats like olive oil and coconut
oil, and less processed starches. Probably the most crucial element is to talk to kids
about consumerism: how to be a smart and mindful customer, and how to not let
advertisements influence our decision-making. They can also make a point to discuss
portion control, and what healthy eating means for our bodies and our longevity of
life. Since children develop preferences as early as two years old, it is best to start
implementing healthier eating habits and interactive conversations as early as
possible—but it is never too late to start.
It is encouraging to know that companies are making changes to their policies
and product ingredients, and that governmental organizations, non-profits, and
families continue to strive for a healthier country. There should be better protection
of our youth, but what is hindering a more drastic movement for change of advertising
techniques targeted to children and adolescents is the amount of variables in studies
due to age, weight, background, mental health and capacity, etc. Because of these
differences amongst children, studies are not consistent, which creates feeble
374
evidence for marketing and branding’s

Teacher Takeaways
effects on childhood obesity. But there is “I like how this essay combines extensive
still hope for the future of our country, research with the author’s own direct
observations. Together, these strategies
as scientists continue to strive to can produce strong logos and ethos
establish better research techniques that appeals, respectively. However, the
author too often wants the information
can either solidly prove or deny the speak for itself, and because the findings
correlation between the two. In the of many of the studies were inconclusive
or contradictory, they don’t support the
meantime, households at the least can author’s central claim. These studies
start having conversations with their certainly could still be used effectively,
but this essay demonstrates the
children and teenagers about importance of actively engaging in
marketing’s effect on their preferences argument—the author cannot just
present the information, but needs to
and choices, and can proactively work on interpret it for the audience to
breaking the hold that food corporations demonstrate how the evidence supports
the thesis.”
have over so many of them. – Professor Dunham
Works Cited
Aaker, David. “Brand Personalities Are Like Snowflakes.” Marketing News, vol. 49, no.
7, 1 July 2015, pp. 20-21. EBSCOhost,
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/ehost/c8%40sessionmgr.
Breiner, Heather, et al. Challenges and Opportunities for Change in Food Marketing to
Children and Youth Workshop Summary. National Academies Press, May 2013.
ProQuest eBook Library,
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/portlandstate/reader.action?docID=10863889.
“Childhood Obesity Facts: Prevalence of Childhood Obesity in the United States,
2011-2014.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html.
375
“Facts Up Front Front-of-Pack Labeling Initiative.” Grocery Manufacturers Association,
2016, http://www.gmaonline.org/issues-policy/health-nutrition/facts-up-front-
front-of-pack-labeling-initiative.
“FTC Releases Follow-Up Study Detailing Promotional Activities, Expenditures, and
Nutritional Profiles of Food Marketed to Children and Adolescents: Commends
Industry for Progress, Urges Broader Participation and Continued
Improvement.” Federal Trade Commission, 21 December 2012,
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2012/12/ftc-releases-follow-study-
detailing-promotional-activities.
Harris, Jennifer L., et al. “Marketing Foods to Children and Adolescents: Licensed
Characters and Other Promotions on Packaged Foods in the Supermarket.”
The Nutrition Society, vol. 13, no. 3, March 2010, pp. 409-417. Cambridge University
Press, doi: 10.1017/S1368980009991339.
Keller, Kathleen L., et al. “The Impact of Food Branding on Children’s Eating
Behavior and Obesity.” Physiology and Behavior, vol. 106, no. 3, 6 June 2012, pp.
379-386. Elsevier ScienceDirect, doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2012.03.011.
McGinnis, J. Michael and Jennifer Appleton Gootman. Food Marketing to Children and
Youth: Threat or Opportunity? National Academies Press, April 2006. ProQuest
eBook Library,
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/portlandstate/detail.action?docID=10120677.
Musicus, Avira, et al. “Eyes in the Aisles: Why is Cap’n Crunch Looking Down at My
Child?” Environment and Behavior, vol. 47, no. 7, 2015, pp. 715-733. SAGE,
http://eab.sagepub.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/content/47/7/715.full.pdf+html.
“Should Advertising to Kids Be Banned?” Stuff You Should Know, HowStuffWorks, 24
Nov 2016, http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/banned-kids-
advertising.htm.
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Wilks, Nicoletta A. Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents. Nova Science
Publishers, Inc., 2009. ProQuest eBook Library,
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/portlandstate/reader.action?doc1D=10671274.
A Changing Ball-Game35
LaVar Ball is changing the National Basketball Association’s shoe- and player-
branding culture without playing a single NBA minute. His son, Lonzo, is a few short
weeks away from hearing his name among the first few called in the NBA Draft after a
standout year playing basketball at UCLA. Lonzo has two younger brothers as well,
one of whom, LiAngelo, will play at UCLA in the 2017-2018 season, and another,
LaMelo, who committed to the same university as his brothers two years ago even
though he was just an eighth-grader (Calle). The three Ball children played on the
same high school team in Chino Hills, California, setting the world alight in early 2016
with their high-powered, free-flowing offense centered around the brothers. They
would jack shots that “traditionalists would argue against” but after winning a national
championship, “Chino Hills [had] proved its effectiveness in ways never seen before”
(Calle). Since then, as the Balls have started to transition out of the world of children
playing basketball and entered into the more adult level of college sports (and, soon,
the NBA), the attention has shifted from the boys to their father. His outspokenness
and demands for respect and inclusion are making waves across the basketball world,
even possibly having lasting effects on athletes in every sport.
LaVar is attempting to influence everything around his sons, particularly Lonzo
as he goes into the league: he is claiming his son will only play for certain teams and,
most controversially, distancing himself and his sons from the major shoe companies
in a way that an athlete’s camp rarely does at such an early stage in their professional
career. What he is doing is undoubtedly risky, but it has clear upside too. If it works,
it could clear a path for future athletes to be successful building and monetizing a
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brand that is not dependent on the sneaker industry. Even if it does not work, it will
provide a rough blueprint upon which others can improve in order to become as big
as the major signature athletes without having to depend on the corporations backing
them.
Attacking the status quo is LaVar’s forte. When he and his family first moved
into their home in the Alterra neighborhood in Chino Hills, he received grief from the
homeowner’s association for attempting to paint his home white and not sticking with
the peach color mandated by the association’s guidelines. Fast-forward to now, and
President of the Alterra Homeowner’s Association LaVar Ball lives in a white home,
proclaiming, “If Obama can have the White House, Goddamnit Big Baller can have a
white house!” (Calle). LaVar’s haughty yet sometimes wildly ambitious statements
about his family and esteemed symbols like the president have become a bit of a...
thing, too. To date, he has said that Lonzo would make the best team in the league
(the Golden State Warriors) better if they somehow swapped him with Steph Curry,
the back-to-back and first-ever unanimous NBA Most Valuable Player. Lavar has
called Lonzo the best player in the world; he said that Lonzo would only play for the
Los Angeles Lakers. Lavar said that he himself would beat Michael Jordan, arguably
the greatest human basketball player to live on the planet Earth, in a one-on-one
game. These comments, along with Lonzo’s campaign on the court and LaMelo’s
highly controversial 92-point game at Chino Hills, have all coalesced into making the
Balls the most (in)famous family in the basketball world’s recent memory. They have
created a name for the family that is extraordinarily atypical in a time where players
are coming in as more and more nondescript products to the league each passing year.
The Balls’ need to have creative control has not stopped at the painted house,
either. In fact, the largest dispute surrounding their branding with shoe companies
today is centered around their need for creative control. The types of deals that are
available to NBA players are very structured and limited to three tiers. According to
Yahoo! Sports’ NBA shoe insider Nick DePaula, undrafted rookies and fringe NBA
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players typically receive “merchandise” or “merch” deals from shoe companies that
gives them sneakers and gear for them to play in. These deals amount to products
around $50,000 to $100,000. That is just a baseline though—effectively the minimum
wage a professional hooper can be paid to promote a brand like Nike, adidas, or
Under Armour, rather than the player cutting a check from their own wallet for
footwear.
The next tier of deal is called a “cash” deal, “where the majority of the league
falls” (DePaula). Players with these deals will get a certain amount of cash, essentially
a salary, over a set number of years according to the contract they sign with the
company. On top of that, though, many of the best players in the league will get their
own logos, phrases or ad campaigns along with colorways, known as player exclusives,
of the shoes that Nike is running out that season to match their team’s jerseys or
something connected to the player. The salaries are negotiated by agents and depend
on how marketable the player is. Usually, “a rookie will sign a shoe deal with a brand
that’ll last three or four years” and the “current shoe deal range for a marketable
lottery pick [such as Lonzo Ball] can be anywhere to $200,000 to $700,000 [per year],
with exceptions every so often for what brands consider to be ‘can’t-miss’
endorsement stars” such as Andrew Wiggins, who signed an $11 million deal spread
over five years with the bonus as being a key headliner for their new line of sneakers
(DePaula). This is the same tier where Lonzo would probably find himself, given the
fame the Balls have crafted for themselves coming into the draft. In an interview with
ESPN Radio’s The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, Lonzo confirmed that Nike,
adidas, and Under Armour offered five-year deals worth $2 million per year.
The most exalted compensation a player can get for partnering with a sneaker
company, though, is a signature sneaker. A signature sneaker deal offers more money,
the status as one of the company’s premier athlete in the sport, and a shoe designed
and marketed specifically for the individual player. This is only for the most elite of
the elite and “will forever be the most sought after deal in basketball” (DePaula).
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There are only ten basketball players out of the current 450 active NBA players that
have signature shoes with American brands: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe
Bryant (now retired), and Kyrie Irving with Nike; Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, and
Carmelo Anthony with Nike’s subsidiary Jordan Brand; Derrick Rose, Damian Lillard,
and James Harden with adidas; and Stephen Curry with Under Armour. Most of these
superstars came into the NBA with cash deals and player exclusives and worked their
way up to a signature. Signature shoes are so hard-earned that rookies are rarely
awarded them for their first professional game. The last two times it happened were
John Wall’s Reebok Zig Slash seven years ago and LeBron James’ Nike Air Zoom
Generation in 2003, nearly a decade-and-a-half ago (DePaula). The two were surefire
commodities, John Wall becoming a multiple time All Star and one of the best players
at his position and LeBron James cementing himself as one of the greatest players in
the history of the game. So, for someone to waltz into negotiations with sneaker
company powerhouses and expect anything more than a cash deal—maybe a player
exclusive colorway or two without being billed as a bona fide superstar—would be like
a player walking up the court and launching shots up from 20 feet beyond the three-
point line.
Of course, shooting shots like this are exactly what the Balls do, whether that is
figuratively in LaVar’s comments or literally in LaMelo’s shot selection in games.
There exists a subset of players in the league with cult-like followings because of the
shots they shoot. Earl “J.R.” Smith, Dion Waiters and others live in this beloved
sphere despite their questionable added benefit to their teams. A wise man, Wayne
Gretzky, once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t shoot,” essentially stating
that no inherent harm exists in attempting the unimaginable. Even wiser and less
accomplished men boiled this down to the phrases “If You Don’t Hunt, You Don’t
Eat” and “Shooters Shoot.” The Balls are shooters who walk into any room with two
spoons in their holsters equipped to dine. In a widely circulated clip from a Chino
Hills game earlier this year, LaMelo dribbled the basketball up from the backcourt,
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pointed at the half court line to indicate the spot he was going to shoot from and
audaciously pulled up from the exact spot. The net subsequently swelled in the purest
of ripples. LaVar did the same thing. He told the world that he would take nothing
less than a billion—with a B—dollars for his sons to sign with a shoe company. The
typical cash deal would not be enough, though, even if they met his billion dollar
demands. Companies would need to absorb the family’s business, Big Baller Brand (or
3 Bs), rather than simply adding a swoosh or three stripes onto Ball products. They
required co-branding, a partnership that would be more akin to Jordan Brand’s
current relationship with Nike than to athletes like Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant’s
relationships with Nike. LaVar has said, “[We] aren’t looking for an endorsement
deal.... We’re looking for... a true partner” (Rovell). This is relatively unprecedented
with Jordan Brand being the only real comparison in the sneaker world and that only
became independent towards the end of Michael Jordan’s esteemed career (Sole Man).
Even LeBron, Jordan’s only active peer in terms of greatness, operates wholly under
Nike when it comes to shoes and athletic-wear.
Naturally, all three of the major shoe companies rejected the Balls’ request
(Rovell). Not only was the request itself unique but, “never in the history of modern-
day shoe endorsements have the big companies all stepped away from a potential top
pick nearly two months before the NBA draft” (Rovell). LaVar maintains that he does
not care about the rejection and this is all for the greater good, part of the bigger plan.
He said that he knew the companies would never agree to his terms but he had to get
them to say no because he “wanted to make sure so when they make this mistake and
they look back, they’re going to say ‘man, we should’ve just given that man a billion
dollars’” (Le Batard). Some people, including FOX Sports’ Lindsey Foltin, have
claimed that despite the fact that “LaVar insists he’s doing what’s best for Lonzo, his
behavior could end up costing his son millions.” Unsurprisingly, LaVar replied, “you
goddang right I’m costing him millions because it ain’t about millions with us. It’s
about them Bs. Billions” (Le Batard).
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Beyond the dollar figure and amount of zeros on the contract, the biggest and
most important part of these public negotiations have been the extent of input the
Balls have on their own brand. That is the essential aspect of co-branding: the
retention of creative control. When it comes down to it, LaVar asserts that “as long as
my son’s got a shoe, if I only made 50 shoes, they’re for him. It’s his own shoe” (Le
Batard). The pride that he has in Lonzo and that the Ball boys can have in their
product is vital, and that is something he says his young, unproven sons would never
get from the giants Nike, adidas, and Under Armour.
Besides a father’s pride in his sons, an athlete’s control over their own brand is
increasingly becoming a point of contention between the players and the shoe
companies. In his seminal piece examining how and why Stephen Curry walked away
at the expiration of his deal with Nike, Ethan Strauss discusses Curry’s own journey to
create his own space in the sneaker and basketball worlds. A huge concern for Curry
while negotiating a renewed deal with Nike, which he signed as a rookie before he
became the superstar he is today, was whether he would get to lead his own Nike-
sponsored camp for elite youth players. This not only lets young players learn from
the best, but it also allows the professionals to tangibly affect the best up-and-coming
talents, something much “more meaningful than strangers clamoring for autographs
on the street” (Strauss). Nike, though, did not value Curry enough to give him this and
put him on their second tier of athletes, the athletes without their own signature.
Now, though, with Under Armour, Curry has both his camp and a signature sneaker
and is a bigger, more unique star than he ever would be under Nike.
Curry is not alone in this, either. A player’s brand is inextricably linked to their
footwear nowadays, perhaps more than the teams they play for and their on-court
prowess. DePaula points out that shoe deals are actually negotiated in much the same
way that free agent contracts are hashed out. He also writes, “[As] players of all levels
enter the league, their eventual shoe deal continues to be secondary to team deals, but
sneaker contracts have become more lucrative and incentivized.” This has gotten so
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extreme that in the same offseason that LeBron signed a one-year contract with the
Cleveland Cavaliers, he signed a lifetime deal with Nike worth more than half a billion
(Strauss). ESPN Radio host Bomani Jones even argues that, because of this, many
players’ first loyalties lie with the shoe companies instead of their teams: “your
primary employer is who pays you the most money.... LeBron was Team Nike before
he was a Cleveland Cavalier or a member of the Miami Heat or any of those things.
We contextualize guys around the teams they play for because that’s the relevant
variable for the kind of work that we do” (Strauss). In fact, Jones and Curry got into a
minor spat on Twitter when Curry saw some jabs that Jones had poked at his Under
Armour shoes. Curry took it very seriously and personally, said Jones, pointing out
that “there doesn’t seem to be much space in his mind between himself and Under
Armour” (Strauss). This is why many athletes, the Balls foremost among them, are
becoming more and more concerned with their role in crafting their own brand and
how it is all integrated into their overall image as public figures: “Curry and James
aren’t just salvos in a battle between brands; it’s a personal war.... It’s a fight for
something even bigger than a basketball career” (Strauss).
While this is all nice and well for players at the height of their basketball
powers, LaVar is endeavoring to claim agency for himself and his family before any of
them have stepped on a professional basketball court, a fact few critics have failed to
point out. They have not earned this yet. Nobody’s ever tried to forge their own lane
without already being great. But maybe this is not the case. In fact, LeBron began
breaking out of the corporation-defined mold after just one year in the league, albeit
an all-time great year. After his rookie year, “Mr. James did the almost unthinkable in
the sometimes stuffy world of sports marketing — he handed his off-the-court
businesses and marketing over to” his childhood friends Maverick Carter, Rich Paul,
and Randy Mims (Thomaselli). LeBron was searching for the same self-definition that
the Balls are now. Looking back, LeBron recalls, “I wanted to wake up in the morning
and say I did it my way. I’m not being cocky and saying it’s my way or the highway; I
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just wanted to make a decision” (Thomaselli). It is nearly the same exact notion that
LaVar and Lonzo are currently pushing more than a decade later. At the time, LeBron
“and his friends also wanted a new type of sports marketing. Rather than
endorsements, he wanted partnerships” (Thomaselli). This reads almost verbatim to
what LaVar is talking about now in the year 2017. History may not be repeating itself
but it is, at the very least, rhyming.
Neither of these journeys—LeBron’s and the Ball family’s—are without
speedbumps, though. LeBron and his people created their own management and
media agency, LRMR, in Maverick Carter’s mother’s kitchen after firing LeBron’s
agent (Torre). LRMR’s first major media project was “The Decision — the broadly
consumed and deeply unpopular ESPN primetime special wherein James announced
he was leaving the Cavs for the Heat” (Torre). This seemingly self-indulgent, look-at-
me production made LeBron the most hated player in the league for quite some time
(despite it raising tens of millions of dollars for charity). Similarly, the Ball family’s
notoriety is coming at the expense of many criticisms of LaVar’s outspokenness. The
resemblances between the two cases are uncanny; the Balls are just more pronounced
in their desires while moving the timeline ahead a year. After all, LaVar did declare
that they were never planning to “sign with a company and then wait around for five
or six years for a shoe” (Rovell).
Now that LeBron has neared the mountaintop of basketball and dominates the
sneaker world as well, he has set his sights to other avenues. He has continuously
chosen partnerships—such as his with Warner Bros. that the studio called
“unprecedented in scope”—that give greater creative control than their competing
alternatives offered (Torre). LRMR has created Uninterrupted, a media outlet for
players to connect directly with fans. Continuing to buck traditional sensibilities that
hang on to the players’ teams as their primary allegiance, he headlines and works
closely in this effort with Draymond Green, “James’ ostensible [Golden State]
Warriors rival” (Torre). Notably, Draymond Green is also a Nike athlete, another hint
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to the waning importance of team conflicts as opposed to promotion of more personal
undertakings. According to LeBron, the projects he is participating in now are all part
of the “vision that [he] had 10-plus years ago” (Torre).
The Balls’ sights, while lofty in their own rights, have only been set on the
sneaker industry as of now. Still, with their “Shooters Shoot” mentality and their
propensity to reject established and outdated standards, it is possible that their
ventures will lead them to paths outside of shoes. They are branding themselves in a
vastly different way than most everyone else has and, most importantly, they are doing
it their own individual way. LaVar said a year-and-a-half ago that they are “doing
some shit that has never been done before. We kind of march to our own beat in the
fact that we make our own rules.... We jumped out the box and took a risk” (Calle).
In a similar vein, LeBron cited the television show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,
noting similarities between himself and Will Smith’s titular character:
It was, [LeBron] admits, more than just a character on TV. More like an
inspiration. ‘The guy makes it out of Philadelphia? I treated that as
Akron, Ohio [LeBron’s hometown]. He makes it to Los Angeles with a
rich family, but he can still be himself? That’s what I wanted to be. With
the blazer inside out... All of that.’ (Torre)
The way players cling to this individuality within the often-starched backdrop is
crucial and only growing in importance as values moves away from conventional team-
based allegiances towards personal brands. LeBron’s circle mentioned how different
things were in the early 2000s, when he came into the league, from the ‘80s, when
Michael Jordan made his name because of the uprise of mass media and its use in
making wider audiences more accessible (Thomaselli). This applies even more aptly in
2017 with social media’s advent, a huge advantage in marketing that has benefitted the
viral-ness of many of the more eccentric shots LaVar has put up.
Frankly, the stakes are huge. It may be just sports, but the money exchanged on
these playgrounds is massive. Stephen Curry’s “potential worth to [Under Armour] is
385
placed at more than a staggering $14 billion” and business experts “peg total sneaker
sales somewhere north of $20 billion annually, and rising” (Strauss).
Unsaid but assumed up until now, much of the Balls’ potential as transcendent
difference-makers depends upon at least one of the Ball brothers (Lonzo, LiAngelo,
and LaMelo) being exceptional at the game that allowed them to get here. They are
using what LeBron has been doing for nearly 15 years and refining the blueprint, but
LeBron has a leg up as one of the few unequalled players in the game’s history. So, let
us hypothetically assume the worst—that the Balls all bust or wear upon the public’s
nerves to the point of no return: the fact that they have gotten this far is nevertheless
remarkable. This phenomenon has not occurred in a vacuum. Even if they end up
being nothing more than a small blip in Nike’s, adidas’s, and Under Armour’s
smooth-sailing Titanics, they matter. They have
presented those who follow a longer runway to Teacher Takeaways
“This essay is an impressive
launch from than was there previously—a
exploration of a current issue: I can
runway that does not rely on these major tell how passionate the student is,
and they develop a nuanced thesis
corporations’ backing. When recalling his time
about the Ball family’s influence on
playing at Chino Hills High School, Lonzo sports marketing and branding.
While the essay is fluid, segueing
reflected, “I felt like I helped change the culture
from idea to idea pretty smoothly,
over there” (Calle). Now, before he has had his the overarching organizational logic
seems arbitrary. In other words, the
name called at the NBA Draft, he and Big Baller
structure feels fine while reading, but
Brand are changing have already changed the taking a step back makes the train of
ideas blurry. I would encourage this
culture on an even larger scale.
student to make a reverse outline to
clarify this issue. On a local level, I
would also emphasize that the
Works Cited
student should spend more time
Calle, Franklyn. “Ball Is Life.” SLAMonline, 4 unpacking the quotes they use,
rather than moving on right away.
Aug. 2016, www.slamonline.com/blogs/on- (Generally, you should avoid ending
the-come-up/ball- a paragraph with a quote, which this
author does often).”
bros/#y4Hp1E4EKHUGZHLE.97. – Professor Wihjlem
386
DePaula, Nick. “Inside the Sneaker Industry: How NBA Shoe Deals Work.” Yahoo!
Sports, Yahoo!, 29 Jan. 2016, http://sports.yahoo.com/news/inside-the-sneaker-
industry--how-nba-shoe-deals-work-032155839.html.
Foltin, Lindsey. “How LaVar Ball Cost Lonzo a Shoe Deal with Nike, Adidas and
Others.” FOX Sports, 30 Apr. 2017, www.foxsports.com/college-
basketball/story/lavar-ball-lonzo-ball-cost-shoe-deal-endorsement-nike-adidas-
under-armour-nba-draft-043017.
Le Batard, Dan and John Weiner. “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz: Hour 1:
LaVar Ball.” ESPN Radio, 5 May 2017,
https://www.mixcloud.com/thedanlebatardshowwithstugotz/hour-1-lavar-ball-
5517/.
Rovell, Darren. “Nike, Under Armour, Adidas Not Interested in Deal with Lonzo
Ball.” ESPN, 30 Apr 2017, www.espn.com/mens-college-
basketball/story/_/id/19264024/nike-armour-adidas-not-interested-deal-lonzo-
ball.
Sole Man, directed by Jon Weinbach and Dan Marks. ESPN Films, 2015,
http://www.espn.com/30for30/film?page=soleman.
Strauss, Ethan Sherwood. “You Won’t Believe How Nike Lost Steph to Under
Armour.” ESPN, 23 Mar 2016, www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/15047018/how-nike-
lost-stephen-curry-armour.
Thomaselli, Rich. “All the King’s Men.” Advertising Age, vol. 77, no. 29, 17 July 2006,
pp. 1-25. EBSCOhost,
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=21668901&sit
e=ehost-live.
Torre, Pablo S. “Lebron: The Sequel.” ESPN, 15 Feb. 2017,
www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/18686205/the-second-chapter-lebron-
james-career.
387
Vaccines: Controversies and Miracles36

Every year billions of people get vaccinated for protection from diseases and
illnesses. Before vaccinations, the flu ran rampant; measles would kill thousands
yearly; polio would paralyze upwards of 15,000 people a year, and many other diseases
would devastate societies (Offit 3). Even with the wonderful advancement of vaccines,
people still opt out of getting them, endangering themselves and everyone around
them. I have observed that the two most common reasons why people choose not to
vaccinate are either that they claim vaccines do not work or that vaccines can even
cause autism. These responses are derived from a place of being horribly
misinformed. We will explore why these claims have become popular, and what the
truth really is. Vaccines are essential for the health of an individual, the people
directly around them, and societies overall. The evidence against the most common
excuses is very strong and in large quantity. Furthermore, there is absolutely no
evidence supporting the autism claim or misunderstanding of vaccines not “working”,
thus making these excuses invalid.
Sometimes misinterpreting something small can create a big wave of damage.
When people say that vaccines do not “work”, they think that vaccines are a definitive
solution to their health, and when they or someone still gets sick, then the vaccine did
not work. This is a fair statement; however, this is not what vaccines actually do.
Getting vaccinated is not an absolute healing technique; rather, it is for reducing the
chances one will get a disease. It is much like wearing pads while riding a bike: your
chances of injury goes down, but there is still a chance of getting hurt. As for vaccines,
the chances of getting the flu after being vaccinated is usually reduced by 40-60%
(“Vaccine”). Pair that with healthy habits like frequent washing of hands, and the odds
go even more in your favor. An example of a highly successful vaccine is the
chickenpox vaccine. It is over 95% effective in preventing severe chickenpox. And only
388
10-30% of vaccinated children may catch a mild case of chickenpox if they are around
someone who has the disease (Hammond). What these statistics show is the benefits
of vaccines, but they also show the limitations of them as well. The math is simple:
getting vaccinated reduces your chances of disease greatly, and in doing so, you are
fulfilling your responsibility to be a healthy individual in society.
In 1998 Andrew Wakefield conducted research to see if there was a link
between the measles mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. But he did not
conduct honest research because he tampered with the medical records of all 12 of his
test subjects to make the connection between autism and the MMR vaccine seem
stronger (Chan). As if this weren’t enough, Wakefield was paid by lawyers to create a
result they could use in their case to sue vaccine manufacturers. Not only that, but
nobody has ever replicated his findings (Gorski).
It goes without saying that being paid to change records automatically
terminates the authenticity of a study. Furthermore, if a result cannot be replicated,
then the original finding is most likely incorrect. A good theory must be able to be
tested and redone with the results being consistent. With Wakefield’s study, there are
no findings supporting his claims but countless studies refuting them. One example is
a study in the New England Journal of Medicine conducted in 2002 that had over
500,000 subjects. This large study followed half a million children for seven years and
found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Wakefield had his medical
license revoked in 2010 (Chan).
Even though the Wakefield hoax has been debunked countless times, some
parents still believe that the vaccine causes autism. They often claim they noticed
signs of autism after the vaccine, but they usually do not know when autism becomes
apparent. Autism is a genetic disorder with signs that become visible at 18 months of
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age. The MMR vaccine is usually given at 12-15 months of age, before anyone would
even know if a child has autism (Bhandari). So, if a child has autism and is given the
vaccine at 15 months, it is reasonable for a parent to notice symptoms of autism a
couple months later and link them to the vaccine. But if that child did not get the
vaccine, those same signs would show due to the genetic factors that cause autism.
Vaccines are known as miracles of medicine; nothing short of a colossal impact
on modern society. But a much larger impact is not vaccinating at all. Japan is an
example of a country that banned a specific vaccine, and with no surprise, an
epidemic broke out. “In 2013, the recent serious measles outbreak was fueled by
children who weren’t vaccinated a decade ago. The disease primarily affected
teenagers but spread to infants who were too young to be vaccinated” (Larson). This is
why vaccinating is a responsibility everyone has; one person has the disease, then
passes it to the next, and on it passes to those who are too young to vaccinate. Would
you be another stepping stone in the spreading of disease? Or would you be protected
from the disease, thus slowing the spreading? Immunity is a group effort, and if a
portion of the population is not participating in vaccination, then disease is bound to
get out of control and infect individuals with no vaccine. This includes innocent
infants who have not been vaccinated yet. Every individual is a part of the picture in
group health.
Vaccines: the misinterpretations, conspiracies, and saved lives has sparked
many of debates. Many believe that vaccines do not “work” and that they are for
ultimate healing, but this is far from what vaccines do. Vaccines protect and reduce
the chances of getting a disease and allow individuals to do their part in mass health.
The conspiracy theory claiming that the MMR vaccine causes autism has been proven
390
false by countless studies and Teacher Takeaways
rendered untrustworthy by the “I appreciate the efforts this essay takes to

establish a Rogerian argument: the author
acts of the man who made the anticipates the current beliefs of their audience
original claims. Vaccines are our by organizing their exploration around
common misconceptions about vaccines. In
tool in keeping ourselves and one turn, the author does not reject these
another healthy. I challenge you misconceptions as foolish, but just
misinformed. This organizational choice could
to do your part in preventing be made clearer, though, with stronger topic
outbreaks and maintaining public sentences and a thesis statement that previews
the structure, like a road-map.”
health by getting your – Professor Wihjlem
vaccinations.
Works Cited
Bhandari, Smitha. “Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) Vaccine.” WebMD, 31 May
2016, www.webmd.com/children/vaccines/measles-mumps-and-rubella-mmr-
vaccine#1.
Chan, Amanda. “1998 Study Linking Autism to Vaccines Was an ‘Elaborate Fraud’.”
LiveScience, Purch, 6 Jan. 2011, www.livescience.com/35341-mmr-vaccine-linked-
autism-study-was-elaborate-fraud.html.
Gorski, David. “Antivaccine Hero Andrew Wakefield: Scientific Fraud?” Science-Based
Medicine, 9 Feb. 2009, https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/antivaccine-hero-
andrew-wakefield-scientific-fraud/.
Hammond, Blair. “How Effective Is the Chickenpox Vaccine?” Everyday Health, 12
Mar. 2008,
www.everydayhealth.com/specialists/pediatrics/hammond/qa/chickenpox-
vaccine-effectiveness/index.aspx.
Larson, Heidi. “Vaccination Gaps Led to Rubella Outbreaks in Japan and Poland.”
The Conversation, 21 May 2018, http://theconversation.com/vaccination-gaps-led-
to-rubella-outbreaks-in-japan-and-poland-15970.
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Smith, Malinda, et al. “Does My Child Have Autism? Recognizing the Early Signs and
Symptoms of Autism.” Helpguide.org, Mar. 2018,
www.helpguide.org/articles/autism-learning-disabilities/does-my-child-have-
autism.htm.
Offit, Paul A., and Louis M. Bell. Vaccines: What You Should Know. 3rd edition, John
Wiley, 2003.
“Vaccine Effectiveness – How Well Does the Flu Vaccine Work?” Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 3 Oct.
2017, www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/vaccineeffect.htm.
Section Three Endnotes

1
NPR released a fascinating investigatory piece on fake news production in 2016
called “We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator in The Suburbs. Here’s What We
Learned.” You can listen to it here.
2
Kinsley, Michael. “The Intellectual Free Lunch.” 1995. The Seagull Reader: Essays,
Norton, 2016, pp. 251-253.
3
Ibid., 253.
4
The Toulmin model of argumentation is another common framework and structure
which is not discussed here.
5
Wetzel, John. “The MCAT Writing Assignment.” WikiPremed, Wisebridge Learning
Systems LLC, 2013, http://www.wikipremed.com/mcat_essay.php.
Reproduced in accordance with Creative Commons licensure.
6
I find this distinction especially valuable because there is some slippage in what
instructors mean by “rhetorical triangle”—e.g., “logos, pathos, ethos” vs. “reader,
writer, text.” The latter set of definitions, used to determine rhetorical situation, is
superseded in this text by SOAP (subject, occasion, audience, purpose).
7
This correlation is an oft-cited example, but the graph is a fabrication to make a
point, not actual data.
8
See Frederic Filloux’s 2016 article, “Facebook’s Walled Wonderland is Inherently
Incompatible with News.”
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9
See “Power and Place Equal Personality” (Deloria) or “Jasmine-Not-Jasmine” (Han)
for non-comprehensive but interesting examples.
Deloria, Jr., Vine. “Power and Place Equal Personality.” Indian Education in America
by Deloria and Daniel Wildcat, Fulcrum, 2001, pp. 21-28.
Han, Shaogang. “Jasmine-Not-Jasmine.” A Dictionary of Maqiao, translated by Julia
Lovell, Dial Press, 2005, pp. 352+.
10
Essay by Samantha Lewis, Portland State University, 2015. Reproduced with
11
Essay by Jennifer Vo-Nguyen, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
12
Essay by Tim Curtiss, Portland Community College, 2017. Reproduced with
13
Perhaps best known in this regard is Bruce Ballenger, author of The Curious
Researcher, a text which has greatly impacted my philosophies of research and
research writing.
14
See Filloux.
15
Inspired by Kenneth Burke.
Burke, Kenneth. The Philosophy of Literary Form, University of California Press, 1941.
16
Depending on your rhetorical situation, you might also ask if your question is
arguable, rather than answerable.
17
Teachers also refer to very complex or subjective questions as “not researchable”—
so it’s likely that your research question will need to be both arguable16 and
researchable.
18
This exercise is loosely based on Ballenger’s “Interest Inventory” exercise.
Ballenger, Bruce. The Curious Researcher, 9th edition, Pearson, 2018, pp. 21-22.
19
Proposal by Kathryn Morris, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
20
Proposal by Hannah Zarnick, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
21
Proposal by Benjamin Duncan, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
22
Medicine, doi 10.1186/s13104-015-1394-3.
23
One particularly useful additional resource is the text “Annoying Ways People Use
Sources,” externally linked in the Additional Recommended Resources appendix of
this book.
24
Greenough 215.
393
Greenough, Paul. “Pathogens, Pugmarks, and Political ‘Emergency’: The 1970s South
Asian Debate on Nature.” Nature in the Global South: Environmental Projects in
South and Southeast Asia, Duke University Press, 2003, pp. 201-230.
25
Excerpt by Jesse Carroll, Portland State University, 2015. Reproduced with
26
Ibid.
27
Sagan, Carl. Cosmos, Ballantine, 2013.
28
Annotated bibliography by Celso Naranjo, Portland State University, 2017.
Reproduced with permission from the student author.
29
Annotated bibliography by Kathryn Morris, Portland State University, 2017.
30
Annotated bibliography by Hannah Zarnick, Portland State University, 2017.
31
Essay by Christopher Gaylord, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
32
Essay by Kathryn Morris, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
33
Essay by Hannah Zarnick, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
34
Essay by Jessica Beer, Portland State University, 2016. Reproduced with permission
35
Essay by Josiah McCallister, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
36
Essay by Ezra Coble, Portland Community College, 2018. Reproduced with
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by both student and professional authors
LZ Gator, Vietnam, February 19941
I’m home, but the house is gone. Not a sandbag, not a nail or a scrap of wire.
On Gator, we used to say, the wind doesn’t blow, it sucks. Maybe that’s what
happened—the wind sucked it all away. My life, my virtue.
In February 1969, 25 years ago, I arrived as a young, terrified pfc. on this lonely
little hill in Quang Ngai Province. Back then, the place seemed huge and imposing
and permanent. A forward firebase for the Fifth Battalion of the 46th Infantry, 198th
Infantry Brigade, LZ Gator was home to 700 or 800 American soldiers, mostly grunts.
I remember a tar helipad, a mess hall, a medical station, mortar and artillery
emplacements, two volleyball courts, numerous barracks and offices and supply
depots and machine shops and entertainment clubs. Gator was our castle. Not safe,
exactly, but far preferable to the bush. No land mines here. No paddies bubbling with
machine-gun fire.
Maybe once a month, for three or four days at a time, Alpha Company would
return to Gator for stand-down, where we took our comforts behind a perimeter of
bunkers and concertina wire. There were hot showers and hot meals, ice chests
packed with beer, glossy pinup girls, big, black Sony tape decks booming “We gotta
get out of this place” at decibels for the deaf. Thirty or 40 acres of almost-America.
With a little weed and a lot of beer, we would spend the days of stand-down in flat-
out celebration, purely alive, taking pleasure in our own biology, kidneys and livers
and lungs and legs, all in their proper alignments. We could breathe here. We could
feel our fists uncurl, the pressures approaching normal. The real war, it seemed, was
in another solar system. By day, we’d fill sandbags or pull bunker guard. In the
evenings, there were outdoor movies and sometimes live floor shows—pretty Korean
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girls breaking our hearts in their spangled miniskirts and high leather boots — then
afterward we’d troop back to the Alpha barracks for some letter writing or boozing or
just a good night’s sleep.
So much to remember. The time we filled a nasty lieutenant’s canteen with
mosquito repellent; the sounds of choppers and artillery fire; the slow dread that
began building as word spread that in a day or two we’d be heading back to the bush.
Pinkville, maybe. The Batangan Peninsula. Spooky, evil places where the land itself
could kill you.
Now I stand in this patch of weeds, looking down on what used to be the old
Alpha barracks. Amazing, really, what time can do. You’d think there would be
something left, some faint imprint, but LZ (Landing Zone) Gator has been utterly and
forever erased from the earth. Nothing here but ghosts and wind.
My Favorite Place2
Starbucks has always been my go-to place. Never have I felt so welcomed with
opened arms in an environment other than my home. Every time I enter through the
translucent glass door, a familiar joyful barista in their signature bright green apron,
shouts out “Welcome in!” My mood instantly lifts up and I already feel euphoric. I
ambitiously make my way past the wall of signature coffees and desirable coffee mugs
with the Starbucks logo of the twin-tailed crowned siren imprinted on them and join
the lengthy line of famished customers anxiously standing along the crystal-clear
polished pastry case. The layered case features its variety of heavenly, toothsome
sweets along with their finest breakfast sandwiches displayed like trophies for
everyone to admire. The pleasing scent of flakey butter croissants and toffee doodle
cookies turn heads as it leaks its way out through the cracks of the pastry case. The
scrumptious aroma of one of the slow-roasted ham and swiss breakfast sandwiches
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escapes out of the oven as one of the baristas pulls it out, finding its way on my lips
and making my mouth water, I can almost taste it.
I listen to the indecisive girls in front of me. “Should I get a caramel macchiato
or caramel latte?” says one of the brunettes with urgency as she slowly sways closer to
the cashier. “Get an iced caramel macchiato!” shouts her eager friend. They place
their order then move to the end of the bar chatting about how she forgot to order her
drink iced. “What can I get for you today?” the attentive and neighborly barista says as
she quickly takes out her sharpie. “Grande Ethiopia pour-over,” I say. I pay and take
my receipt and make my way to the next counter. A smoky and rich, sweet-caramel
breeze wafts up from the espresso machines, racing to my nose, almost strong enough
to caffeinate me instantly. I wait patiently for my coffee, zoning out to the sound of
milk being aeriated and the crushing sound of iced beverages being blended. My
attention is caught by the black display boards hanging above the glossy brick wall
behind the bar and register. I marvel at the handcrafted chalk drawings promoting the
new seasonal drinks that adds a mellow character to the setting. Another amicable
barista heads in my direction, handing me my intense hot black coffee with a cheery
smile on her face. Earthy and acidity impressions hit my tongue when I take my first
sip. My eyes begin to dilate as I start to unfold the soft and velvety layers of coffee with
the hidden notes of dark cocoa and sweet citrus.
I observe the room, admiring its new and sleek modern architecture. The
interior has custom murals and exposed brick walls which create a warm atmosphere.
Reclaimed slick-smooth woods were used for the bars, tables and condiment stations.
The lights in transparent dark-orange colored bulbs dangling from the ceiling, gives
the shop a soft and warm hue, making the environment cozy. The chestnut colored
tiles surround the bar and register. The smooth, cocoa colored wooden tables are
distributed evenly around the mom. The enormous window walls naturally lights the
room. I follow the space-grey colored stone bricks beneath my feet and make my way
to the pleasantly-warm fireplace with a solid chrome black and gold metal rim around
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it. A vibrant picture of a green and orange oil painting of Kenya’s safari sits on the
mantel above. This small spot gives the whole atmosphere a noticeable warm home
feel.
Soft-toned jazz and enthusiastic conversations fill the room, blending
harmoniously. A family of five surround one of the circular tables by the entrance,
laughing and accusing one another of cheating when one loses at Uno. I can hear the
sociable barista behind the bar engaging with one of the regulars about how each
other’s weekend went. Other conversations are being made at the condiment bar with
the three well-dressed gentlemen in navy blue suits and red ties with neatly combed
hair talk about the overwhelming work week ahead as they sweeten their dark roast
coffee with a variety of sweeteners and half and half. Several students have nested at
one of the middle tables with their notebooks, laptops and pencils scattered in front of
them. The constant clacking of their keyboards starts to create a steady beat. The
alerting sound of a timer echoes through the room, going off every fifteen minutes to
signal one of the baristas to brew a fresh pot of coffee. The buzzing noise of coffee
grinding always follows.
This warm and welcoming, comfortable environment created here is why I
always come back to Starbucks. It brings me a place of peace. It’s where I get my VIP
treatment—my mind is put to ease and I can feel my muscles unclench from head-to-
toe as I continuously take sips of my elegant and balanced coffee that I paired with my
favorite soft and flavorful pumpkin loaf. It’s an oasis where I can clear my mind of
distractions and focus on work or socialize with my friends or the familiar baristas. It’s
my home away from home.
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Video: “Running Down the Hill”3
Video: “21”4
The Story of an Hour5
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was
taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.
It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that
revealed in half concealing. Her husband’s friend Richards was there, too, near her. It
was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad
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disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of “killed.” He had
only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had
hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.
She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a
paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild
abandonment, in her sister’s arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went
away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.
There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this
she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to
reach into her soul.
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were
all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the
street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some
one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the
eaves.
There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that
had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.
She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite
motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who
has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.
She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even
a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed
away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection,
but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.
There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What
was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it,
creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color
that filled the air.
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Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this
thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with
her will—as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.
When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly
parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” The vacant
stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen
and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every
inch of her body.
She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A
clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.
She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands
folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray
and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come
that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them
in welcome.
There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would
live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind
persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private
will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem
no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
And yet she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter!
What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-
assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!
“Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering.
Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole,
imploring for admission. “Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door—you will make
yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door.”
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“Go away. I am not making myself ill.” No; she was drinking in a very elixir of
life through that open window.
Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and
summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick
prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder
that life might be long.
She arose at length and opened the door to her sister’s importunities. There
was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess
of Victory. She clasped her sister’s waist, and together they descended the stairs.
Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.
Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard
who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella.
He had been far from the scene of accident, and did not even know there had been
one. He stood amazed at Josephine’s piercing cry; at Richards’ quick motion to screen
him from the view of his wife.
But Richards was too late.
When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of joy that
kills.
Excerpt from My Bondage and My Freedom6

I lived in the family of Master Hugh, at Baltimore, seven years, during which
time—as the almanac makers say of the weather—my condition was variable. The
most interesting feature of my history here, was my learning to read and write, under
somewhat marked disadvantages. In attaining this knowledge, I was compelled to
resort to indirections by no means congenial to my nature, and which were really
humiliating to me. My mistress—who, as the reader has already seen, had begun to
teach me was suddenly checked in her benevolent design, by the strong advice of her
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husband. In faithful compliance with this advice, the good lady had not only ceased to
instruct me, herself, but had set her face as a flint against my learning to read by any
means. It is due, however, to my mistress to say, that she did not adopt this course in
all its stringency at the first. She either thought it unnecessary, or she lacked the
depravity indispensable to shutting me up in mental darkness. It was, at least,
necessary for her to have some training, and some hardening, in the exercise of the
slaveholder’s prerogative, to make her equal to forgetting my human nature and
character, and to treating me as a thing destitute of a moral or an intellectual nature.
Mrs. Auld—my mistress—was, as I have said, a most kind and tender-hearted woman;
and, in the humanity of her heart, and the simplicity of her mind, she set out, when I
first went to live with her, to treat me as she supposed one human being ought to treat
another.
It is easy to see, that, in entering upon the duties of a slaveholder, some little
experience is needed. Nature has done almost nothing to prepare men and women to
be either slaves or slaveholders. Nothing but rigid training, long persisted in, can
perfect the character of the one or the other. One cannot easily forget to love freedom;
and it is as hard to cease to respect that natural love in our fellow creatures. On
entering upon the career of a slaveholding mistress, Mrs. Auld was singularly
deficient; nature, which fits nobody for such an office, had done less for her than any
lady I had known. It was no easy matter to induce her to think and to feel that the
curly-headed boy, who stood by her side, and even leaned on her lap; who was loved
by little Tommy, and who loved little Tommy in turn; sustained to her only the
relation of a chattel. I was more than that, and she felt me to be more than that. I
could talk and sing; I could laugh and weep; I could reason and remember; I could
love and hate. I was human, and she, dear lady, knew and felt me to be so. How could
she, then, treat me as a brute, without a mighty struggle with all the noble powers of
her own soul. That struggle came, and the will and power of the husband was
victorious. Her noble soul was overthrown; but, he that overthrew it did not, himself,
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escape the consequences. He, not less than the other parties, was injured in his
domestic peace by the fall.
When I went into their family, it was the abode of happiness and contentment.
The mistress of the house was a model of affection and tenderness. Her fervent piety
and watchful uprightness made it impossible to see her without thinking and feeling—
“that woman is a Christian.” There was no sorrow nor suffering for which she had not
a tear, and there was no innocent joy for which she did not a smile. She had bread for
the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within
her reach. Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these excellent qualities, and
her home of its early happiness. Conscience cannot stand much violence. Once
thoroughly broken down, who is he that can repair the damage? It may be broken
toward the slave, on Sunday, and toward the master on Monday. It cannot endure
such shocks. It must stand entire, or it does not stand at all. If my condition waxed
bad, that of the family waxed not better. The first step, in the wrong direction, was the
violence done to nature and to conscience, in arresting the benevolence that would
have enlightened my young mind. In ceasing to instruct me, she must begin to justify
herself to herself; and, once consenting to take sides in such a debate, she was riveted
to her position. One needs very little knowledge of moral philosophy, to see where my
mistress now landed. She finally became even more violent in her opposition to my
learning to read, than was her husband himself. She was not satisfied with simply
doing as well as her husband had commanded her, but seemed resolved to better his
instruction. Nothing appeared to make my poor mistress—after her turning toward the
downward path—more angry, than seeing me, seated in some nook or corner, quietly
reading a book or a newspaper. I have had her rush at me, with the utmost fury, and
snatch from my hand such newspaper or book, with something of the wrath and
consternation which a traitor might be supposed to feel on being discovered in a plot
by some dangerous spy.
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Mrs. Auld was an apt woman, and the advice of her husband, and her own
experience, soon demonstrated, to her entire satisfaction, that education and slavery
are incompatible with each other. When this conviction was thoroughly established, I
was most narrowly watched in all my movements. If I remained in a separate room
from the family for any considerable length of time, I was sure to be suspected of
having a book, and was at once called upon to give an account of myself. All this,
however, was entirely too late. The first, and never to be retraced, step had been
taken. In teaching me the alphabet, in the days of her simplicity and kindness, my
mistress had given me the “inch,” and now, no ordinary precaution could prevent me
from taking the “ell.”
Seized with a determination to learn to read, at any cost, I hit upon many
expedients to accomplish the desired end. The plea which I mainly adopted, and the
one by which I was most successful, was that of using my young white playmates, with
whom I met in the streets as teachers. I used to carry, almost constantly, a copy of
Webster’s spelling book in my pocket; and, when sent of errands, or when play time
was allowed me, I would step, with my young friends, aside, and take a lesson in
spelling. I generally paid my tuition fee to the boys, with bread, which I also carried in
my pocket. For a single biscuit, any of my hungry little comrades would give me a
lesson more valuable to me than bread. Not every one, however, demanded this
consideration, for there were those who took pleasure in teaching me, whenever I had
a chance to be taught by them. I am strongly tempted to give the names of two or
three of those little boys, as a slight testimonial of the gratitude and affection I bear
them, but prudence forbids; not that it would injure me, but it might, possibly,
embarrass them; for it is almost an unpardonable offense to do any thing, directly or
indirectly, to promote a slave’s freedom, in a slave state. It is enough to say, of my
warm-hearted little play fellows, that they lived on Philpot street, very near Durgin &
Bailey’s shipyard.
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Although slavery was a delicate subject, and very cautiously talked about among
grown up people in Maryland, I frequently talked about it—and that very freely—with
the white boys. I would, sometimes, say to them, while seated on a curb stone or a
cellar door, “I wish I could be free, as you will be when you get to be men.” “You will
be free, you know, as soon as you are twenty-one, and can go where you like, but I am
a slave for life. Have I not as good a right to be free as you have?” Words like these, I
observed, always troubled them; and I had no small satisfaction in wringing from the
boys, occasionally, that fresh and bitter condemnation of slavery, that springs from
nature, unseared and unperverted. Of all consciences let me have those to deal with
which have not been bewildered by the cares of life. I do not remember ever to have
met with a boy, while I was in slavery, who defended the slave system; but I have often
had boys to console me, with the hope that something would yet occur, by which I
might be made free.
Between the World and Me: An Important Book on Race and Racism7
I rarely read a book that I find to be transformative, that not only adds to my
knowledge and understanding of an issue but significantly alters my way of thinking
about it. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of those works. It’s a
new book and currently sits at number two on the New York Times’ nonfiction best
seller list.
Coates’ book is presented as a letter to his teenage son. It’s his attempt to
describe what it’s like growing up black in present-day America from the inside out,
using his own life as his touchstone. He presents his world from a personal, subjective
point of view. This isn’t a sociological or political text. In the book Coates renders his
confusion, his questions, his grief, his anger and his joys with literary clarity, and with
a depth that can’t be captured in a dry, “objective” discussion of the issues.
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It would be incorrect for me to say I “understand” the book. You can only
understand the world he’s trying to capture if you’ve lived it, if you’ve felt it in your
psyche and your nerve endings. Intellectual understanding, even combined with
valiant attempts at empathy, can’t substitute for being there on a day by day, minute
by minute basis. I’m an older, white, privileged male who does his best to
comprehend the nature of racism in this country, but I know I’m looking at that world
from the outside. Coates grants me the ability to get as close to what the life of a black
man is like as any recent work I can think of.
People compare Coates’ book to James Baldwin’s electrifying 1963 work, The
Fire Next Time. It’s a valid comparison, but for me, the experience of reading Between
the World and Me is more like what I felt when I read Ralph Ellison’s great 1952 novel,
Invisible Man. That’s the only other book I can remember that gave me the momentary
sense of living the black experience, and helped me understand how distant it is from
my experiences and how limited my understanding will always be.
This book deserves to join the literary canon alongside works by Baldwin,
Ellison and Toni Morrison. So let me end by quoting what Morrison wrote about
Between the World and Me.
I’ve been wondering who might fill the intellectual void that plagued me
after James Baldwin died. Clearly it is Ta-Nehisi Coates. The language of
Between the World and Me, like Coates’s journey, is visceral, eloquent, and
beautifully redemptive. And its examination of the hazards and hopes of
black male life is as profound as it is revelatory. This is required reading.
Untitled8
(A text wrestling analysis of “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid)
Societal norms, as well as the skewed expectations of women in society, are in
large part passed down from older generations (as well as often being enforced by
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older generations) to susceptible young children who are just beginning to form their
own moral code. “Girl” is an unconventional poem, written by Jamaica Kincaid, that
illustrates a mother’s detailed instructions on what her daughter must do in order for
her to be accepted and successful in society at that time. Separated by semicolons, the
mother relentlessly lists the rules and duties forced onto women at that time, never
allowing her to intervene or even question what she was being told. This blind (almost
mindless) list of expectations of women emphasizes the oppressed role that women are
faced with, and often expected to comply with without question.
As children, our morals and values are shaped not only by our own
experiences, but that of our family; wisdom, along with hard life lessons that have
been learned over years and generations, are passed down from a mother to child.
Although the identity of the narrator is never implicitly revealed, I believe that it is a
mother passing on life lessons (as bleak as they may be) to her daughter. You can see
this mother-daughter relationship best in Kincaid’s concluding lines, “always squeeze
bread to make sure it’s fresh; but what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread? you mean
to say after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let
near the bread?” (Kincaid 129). The italicized line signals that the daughter (or the
“girl”) is speaking here. There is only one other instance in the poem where the
daughter intervenes, interrupting her mother’s cascading list of teachings; early in the
poem, the mother asks (or rather asserts), “is it true that you sing benna in Sunday
school?” and then later insists, “don’t sing benna in Sunday school” (128). Chiming in
a bit late, the daughter defensively inserts, “but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all, and
never in Sunday school” (128). In this instance, the mother does not acknowledge o
respond to what the daughter has said, rather just continues on with her sporadic list
of instructions (like a chant of “this is how you…” and “don’t…”). This illustration of
the mother as a clear authoritative figure that is educating her child of the gender
roles that are present (and that must be followed!) in their present society is a great
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representation of how these notions survive and are passed down from teachings of
older generations.
Concerning the structure of the poem “Girl”, I believe that Kincaid made the
choice to make her poem into one large paragraph and use semicolons to separate the
mother’s advice and commands (without ending the sentence) in order to convey that
all of the items on the mother’s list are related in the sense that, when they are applied
together, the sum of these actions and behaviors equals what societal and gender
norms say it means to be a well-behaved woman. Having the poem structured this way
also creates a sense of power for the mother figure because the discussion is extremely
one-sided, and her unending breath creates the sense of urgency that she must get
through everything she has to say, and she doesn’t even have time to stop and breath
in between her lessons. For me, this urgency projects what I consider to be fear from
the mother of what will happen to her daughter if she doesn’t learn these lessons or
behave according to society. This fear is most likely rooted from her own negative
personal experiences, as well as knowledge passed down from former generations.
The mother does not want her daughter to be rejected from or reprimanded by
society. So, although the mother is delivering her advice in such way that seems cruel
and impersonal, I believe that it emphasizes her seriousness and strong belief for what
she is saying. Finally, I propose that this informal structure is a method meant to
contrast the insignificance that the mother feels about proper grammar (or even
proper education) with the importance she feels towards having her daughter behave
as a proper, well-trained woman.
Works Cited
Kincaid, Jamaica. “Girl.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, Portable 12th edition,
edited by Kelly J. Mays, Norton, 2017, pp. 127-129.
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Untitled9
(A text wrestling analysis of “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K.
Le Guin)
A small child, alone, playing his new video game. A stay-at-home dad
collapsing into his office chair at his computer after a long day at work. A successful
businesswoman starting her day on the treadmill, sweat trickling down her temples.
How many would be considered happy: all of them, perhaps none of them? The short
story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin describes a
fictional town during its summer festival and the processions. The story is populated
with contrasts and comparisons about the idea of happiness between Le Guin’s
fictional society and ours, and it suggests reasons as to why both societies fall short of
experiencing true joy.
A thought-provoking question arises early in Le Guin’s fairytale: “How is one to
tell about joy?” (Le Guin 2), as if she is troubled by the idea of trying to describe joy to
the reader. Perhaps she knows the reader will not understand happiness. For how can
one understand happiness if they have never experienced it before? “We have almost
lost hold; we can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy”
(Le Guin 2). With the increase in technology and the rise in power of corporations, we
have been receding from happiness. Every big event or holiday celebration is
exploding with advertisements, informing us on more “stuff” we could have. Few of
these advertisements, almost none, predict an enlightened future, free from
overbearing material things. Instead, our celebrations should more similarly follow
that of the summer festival of Omelas.
Le Guin begins her story describing the fictional town during its summer
festival. This festival consists of different processions—one of them being dance—
where citizens of the town celebrate in the streets. “In other streets the music beat
faster, the shimmering of gong and tambourine, and the people went dancing” (Le
Guin 1). The people of Omelas crowd in the streets to play music and dance, enjoying
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in the company of their neighbors. One of the factors in this society’s happiness is
dance. Later in the passage Le Guin goes on to describe a procession of nudes
offering rituals of sex to members of society. “Surely the beautiful nudes can just
wander about, offering themselves like divine soufflés to the hunger of the needy and
the rapture of the flesh. Let them join the processions” (Le Guin 3). The joyful
stimulation of lust: nothing brings more joy than a lover’s touch. But what else does a
society need to be happy beside loving and dancing with others? How about children
in the Omelas? Le Guin describes that children are raised communally in this fictional
society: “Let the offspring of these rituals [processions of sex] be beloved and looked
after by all” (Le Guin 3). In Omelas the infants and children are taken care of by the
entire town. This symbolizes the unity in the town and the fact that everyone cares for
one another. This may seem like a hard for people of today to grasp, because our
society teaches us to only look out for ourselves and things that will stave off our
never-ending hunger for joy. Although there are multiple endorphin producers that
curb the appetite of reasonable happiness, there are many that set our society’s joy
apart from this fictional town’s.
One of the main differences between Le Guin’s society and ours is the share we
place in material items. Our society is caught up on material items, using them to
assess personal happiness levels. This is a place of discord between the people in the
fictional town and people today: “I think that there would be no cars or helicopters in
and above the streets; this follows from the fact that the people of Omelas are happy
people” (Le Guin 3). The citizens of Omelas don’t take the same pride or comfort in
objects as we do. The author is hinting to another reason our society is not happy. Le
Guin feels that machines are no means of measuring happiness: the residents of
Omelas “could perfectly well have central heating, subway trains, washing machines...
Or they could have none of it” (Le Guin 3). This follows from the idea that material
items are not what makes these people happy. One of the biggest contrasts between
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our society and Omelas is the investment we put towards material possessions; people
in Omelas thrive on a different kind of happiness.
The author then goes on to contrast the types of happiness and joy experienced
by both groups of people: “The trouble is that we have a bad habit… of considering
happiness as something rather stupid” (Le Guin 2). Le Guin is conveying the idea that
when a society such as ours deems happiness as unimportant, we will start to lose all
sense of the word. This is perhaps the reason our society values power, wealth, and
weapons over happiness. When a culture condemns knowledge and praises violence,
their reality of happiness becomes skewed.
The author continues the juxtaposition between her fictional society and ours:
“The joy built upon the successful slaughter is not the right kind of joy” (Le Guin 4).
Happiness is not something that can be bought, stolen, or won in battle, and joy isn’t
found by means of power and pain for the people of Omelas. They don’t focus on
violence and wealth: “But there is no king. They did not use swords or keep slaves….
[They] also got on without the stock exchange, the advertisement, the secret police,
and the bomb” (Le Guin 2). She contrasts our society from theirs by highlighting
these differences. The other main difference between the societies being the value we
place on the harm and hurt of others.
However, Le Guin’s society may more closely resemble our society than first
thought. The child, found in the basement tool closet of one of the town’s buildings,
is described by the author as “feeble-minded” or “born defective” (Le Guin 5). It is
kept there solely for the sake of the town’s happiness, enabling citizens in the streets
above to reap joy from the festival. This compares to today’s society in the sense that
people rush through life paying no attention to the needy or homeless, only seldom
stealing a glance to reassure themselves that they do indeed have it better. This is
where our society generates happiness; to know that we have it better than someone
else somehow brings us joy. However, it is wrong for a population to remain happy
based on the suffering of a single person or persons. The story goes on to describe
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that everyone in the town goes to see the child at least once, not one person offering a
single shred of help to the poor, withering child. The people of Omelas know if they
extended any means of help or gratitude to the child, the entire town will be stripped
of all the joy and happiness they experience. This is a conscious choice the citizens
must make daily: to idly stand by knowing of the suffering child.
Moreover, I infer that the author intended the child in the tool closet to have a
much greater meaning. The child is an allusion to the idiom of “having skeletons in
the closet.” It symbolizes the very thing that keeps everyone from experiencing true
joy—“the right kind of joy” (Le Guin 4). As mentioned, Le Guin points out that the
child is what holds this fictional town together, “They would like to do something for
this child. But there is nothing they can do…. [If] it were cleaned and fed and
comforted..., in that day and hour all the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas
would wither and be destroyed” (Le Guin 4). Much like the people of the town, we rely
on past mistakes or haunting memories to sprout into the people we are today. In the
story, there are members of society that can’t handle the guilt festering from knowing
of the broken-down child, so they leave behind the “joyous” town. The ones who walk
away from Omelas are searching for something more profound—the true meaning of
happiness.
The biggest problem with our society is that we are too focused on individual
gain and not enough on the happiness and well-being of everyone. We do not need
video games, treadmills, or even cars and helicopters to be happy. Nor is happiness
determined by account balances, high scores, and followers. While our society feels
like we have a sense of joy and happiness it is truly a mask for selfish desires. This
clouded iteration of happiness is what keeps us from experiencing true joy. While the
fictional town might fall into similar shortcomings as we do, they are far closer to
discovering what true joy exactly means. As Le Guin reiterates, what makes the
fictional town joyous is a “boundless and generous contentment, a magnanimous
triumph felt not against some outer enemy but in communion with the finest and
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fairest souls of all men” (Le Guin 4). While this might be close, the true meaning of
happiness is the coming together of all individuals to take solace purely in the
company of others while eradicating the suffering of all.
Works Cited
Le Guin, Ursula. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” The Unreal and the Real,
Volume 2: Outer Space, Inner Lands. Small Beer Press, 2012, pp. 1-7.
Moonlight (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Read online at Pitchfork here.
Inauthenticity, Inadequacy, and Transience: The Failure of Language in “Prufrock”10

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” widely regarded as the work that
brought T.S. Eliot into a position of influence and prominence amongst his literary
contemporaries, delineates the psychosocial trappings of a first-person speaker struck
by the impossibility of identity, interaction, and authenticity in a modern society.
Although the poem establishes J. Alfred Prufrock, a typical ‘anti-hero’ of modernist
style, as its speaker and central focus, Eliot seeks to generalize to a broader social
commentary: the piece reveals the paralyzing state of universal disempowerment in
social interaction by exploring a broken system of signification and identity.
Eliot’s poem filters its communication through the first-person speaker, J.
Alfred Prufrock; however, the audience is implicated directly and indirectly in the
consciousness of Prufrock. Ironically, the central conflict of the poem is the subject’s
inability to engage and communicate with the world around him. However, in
multiple fashions, even in the very process of performance and reading of the poem,
we the audience are interpellated into Prufrock’s hellish existence. The epigraph of
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“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” draws from Dante’s Inferno, immediately
conjuring the idea of Hell for the audience. The epigraph, in conjunction with the
first line of the piece—“Let us go then, you and I” (1)—and the repetition of second-
person and collective first-person pronouns, implicates the reader in an implied tour
of Prufrock’s personal Hell, a state of imprisonment within his own consciousness.
Prufrock is a speaker characterized first and foremost by overwhelming fear and
alienation, stemming from his hypersensitivity to time, his disillusionment with the
failure of communication, and his inability to construct a stable self. He frequently
questions his capacity to relate to those around him, wondering repeatedly, “[H]ow
should I presume?” (54, 61). Prufrock, worrisome over the audacity implicit in
presumption and fearful of the consequences, hesitates to engage at all, instead setting
himself in frustrated isolation and insecurity. Throughout the work, Eliot insists that
one of the few certainties of Prufrock’s bleak existence is, paradoxically, uncertainty:
from Prufrock’s overarching and unnamed “overwhelming question” (10) to the oft-
quoted “Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach” (122), the clearest
recurring element of the poem is Prufrock’s equivocation. The ambiguity of
consequence is too dangerous for Prufrock. He is concerned that his participation in
society shall “disturb the universe” (45) and so chooses rather to retreat into his
tangled web of hypotheticals.
Eliot symbolizes the society Prufrock so fears in the third stanza as a yellow fog,
invading the descriptions of the architecture and appearance of the city.
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
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Curled once about the house, and fell asleep. (15-22)
The description of this yellow fog is animalistic and untamed. Its presence is quiet but
oppressive, weighing heavily on the tone of the poem with the sort of gaseous
intractability and inescapability of our fluid and chaotic social formation and the
hegemony that it relies upon. The yellow fog figuratively permeates the entire piece,
ubiquitous and stifling, but most evidently as it encroaches on Prufrock’s discussion
and distortion of time, beginning in the following stanza.
While the third stanza most overtly draws attention to Prufrock’s temporal
hyper-awareness (using the frequent repetition of the word “time”), Eliot constructs
an underlying theme of impermanence as early as the epigraph and first stanza of the
poem. The original speaker of the epigraph, Guido da Montefeltro, reminds us of the
imprisoning and irreversible flow of time, and signal words like “one-night” (6) and
“tedious” (8) in the first stanza highlight a hyper-awareness of time. In spite of
Prufrock’s implied worldview that genuine social interaction is dangerous, impossible,
or even futile, he is painfully aware of the disappearance of opportunity within his
hesitation. He admits, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” (51), “I grow
old … I grow old …” (120), and, reflecting on his imprisonment, wonders, “[H]ow
should I begin / To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?” (59-60). In his
position of retrospect, Prufrock imbues a clear tone of regret and loss, noting that he
has expended most of his life in apprehension; he links his spent time to the
humdrum by means of the “coffee spoons,” to the useless and disposable by means of
“butt-ends.” By integrating a theme of transience and a tone of urgency, Eliot begins
to explore Prufrock’s social fears while also preparing to demonstrate the failure of
language, as I discuss later. Considering the entanglement of the reader in the poem’s
exploration of Prufrock’s psychological torture, we read that transience and mortality
command all of our day-to-day actions and interactions—and how could this not leave
us terrified and alienated like Prufrock himself?
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As a consequence of such social fear and detachment, Eliot suggests, Prufrock
struggles to establish public or personal identity: because he cannot truly associate
with other members of his world, he cannot classify himself within a framework of
socially-defined identity. Prufrock frames his failure to adopt an archetype using a
strikingly dehumanizing synecdoche: “I should have been a pair of ragged claws /
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas” (73-74). Prufrock finds it more fitting that he
be separated from the species than to continually find himself inadequate to the
measure of social roles. These lines directly precede a process in which Prufrock
evades commitment (as we learn is characteristic) by presenting three models of which
he falls short, and then discarding the possibility of ever identifying his purpose.
First, Prufrock summons John the Baptist as a prototype by envisioning his own
“head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter” (82), but then immediately
negates the comparison in the next line: “I am no prophet” (83). Prufrock identifies
with the tragic, violent end of John the Baptist, reminding us of his overwhelming fear
of the outside world. He makes clear that he can relate only to the death of the man,
but not to the life: Prufrock believes that he lacks some essence of a prophet—perhaps
charisma or confidence, perhaps respectability or status.
Prufrock seeks to find a more apt comparison, now considering a person as
socially tortured as he but who ultimately discovered meaning. Prufrock attempts to
adopt a different Biblical figure as a model of identity:
Would it have been worth while […]
To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”—
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: “That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all.” (90-98)
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By invoking the character of Lazarus,A Prufrock hopes to procure an archetype
which fits him better than that of John the Baptist. However, Prufrock realizes that
this mold is not adequate either; he questions whether he could interact with
someone even with the support of enlightening, didactic knowledge of the afterlife. In
so doing, he effectively ‘tries on’ an identity, only to abandon it upon fear of being
misunderstood.
Ultimately, Prufrock comments on the ignobility of his very equivocation: “No!
I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be” (111). Prufrock is intensely aware of his
reluctance to commit, to make a decision, reminiscent of the tragic Dane—but he
actively degrades himself by rejecting the comparison. He suggests that, if anything,
he is only fit to be a supporting character, and even then, only an obsequious and
foolish one.
[I am] an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At time, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool. (112-9)
After the adoption and abandonment of three ambitious archetypes (John the
Baptist, Lazarus, and Hamlet), Prufrock’s “almost” in lines 118 and 119 tells us that he
is even reluctant to embody a supporting character with a clearly defined role. Again,
considering the involvement of the reader in Prufrock’s plight, Eliot tells us that the
literary and social characters which shape our models of human identity are
A
There is some ambiguity regarding to which Lazarus—Lazarus of Bethany or
Lazarus of “Dives and Lazarus”—Eliot alludes. Although Eliot does not specify in the
text of the poem, I imagine that line 95 implies that it is the latter, and it is under this
assumption that I continue analysis.
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inauthentic—that perhaps we are all destined to be no more than backing players to
fill out a scene, or if we are lucky, provide comic relief.
To better understand Prufrock’s disenfranchisement, we must recognize Eliot’s
portrayal of human interaction as broken, inadequate, and false. Within the structure
of the poem, Eliot seems to imply the inadequacy of direct communication through
circuitous, repetitious, and ambiguous text. Even as Prufrock introduces his
“overwhelming question,” he almost simultaneously refuses our inquiry to understand
what he communicates—“Oh, do not ask, ‘What is it?’” (9-10). By first calling attention
to the ever-fleeting moments of time to instill a tone of haste, and then exacerbating
those feelings with Prufrock’s continued hesitation, Eliot highlights the infinite
insufficiency of language. Even though there will be “time yet for a hundred
indecisions, / And for a hundred visions and revisions, / Before the taking of a toast
and tea” (27-34), “in a minute there is time / For decisions and revisions which a
minute will reverse” (47-48). Eliot’s recursive language implies that while there is time,
each moment will be inevitably filled with the paralyzing equivocation that we have
come to expect from Prufrock. In a frustrated interjection, Prufrock sums it up well:
“It is impossible to say just what I mean!” (104).
More subtly, though, Eliot incorporates only a few voices aside from Prufrock
himself, and it is these characters who especially illuminate the alienating nature of
interaction and language for Prufrock. It is important to note that while the entirety of
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” seems to be an argumentative internal
monologue within Prufrock’s consciousness, Eliot provides brief voices from
hypothetical speakers imagined through the mediation of Prufrock’s mind.
The unnamed women of the poem are particularly telling: “In the room the
women come and go / Talking of Michelangelo” (35-6). This seeming non sequitur is
repeated twice within the course of four stanzas. Between the two occurrences of this
sentence, Prufrock reassures us (and, in turn, himself) that “there will be time / To
prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet” (26-27). Eliot combines a deliberate
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absence of identifying characteristics of these women, the phrase “come and go,” and
a reference to inauthenticity of identity; this combination implies that these women
are fungible, and that their commentary on the celebrated artist is merely a façade to
suggest sophistication. They offer no substance of interaction beyond falsehood,
flowing in and out of a room with identical, generic conversation while bearing
contrived faces, formulated only to meet other contrived faces. In this way, Prufrock is
disillusioned and discouraged from communication, realizing his mistrust of language
for its inherent unreliability. We, in turn, are encouraged to perceive and reject the
duplicity of common social interaction.
The subsequent hypothetical speakers in the poem seem to explain and
rationalize Prufrock’s fears. In their sole moments of voice throughout the entire text,
Prufrock insists that these speakers will criticize his appearance—“How his hair is
growing thin!” (41) and “But how his arms and legs are thin!” (44)—or his failure to
communicate, saying, “That is not what I meant at all. / That is not it, at all” (97-98,
109-110). Considering his anxieties of language, it is no surprise that Eliot’s character
recognizes the quickly-misunderstood nature of communication beyond the
superficial “talk of Michelangelo.” Nevertheless, Prufrock fears criticism for
inadequacies which he must already recognize in himself: his deteriorating physical
appearance, wasting away with each measured-out coffee spoon, or his inability to
control language. This tension, this certainty of degrading or misconstrued response,
further contributes to Eliot’s implication of a broken system of language as embodied
in Prufrock’s alienation.
The penultimate voices Prufrock imagines, the mermaids, identify Prufrock’s
proximity to interaction. In another moment of doubt and seemingly scattered
thought, Prufrock tells us he has “heard the mermaids singing, each to each” (124).
These mermaids symbolize Prufrock’s last appeal for communicative redemption. But
alas, Prufrock realizes his isolation—“I do not think that they will sing to me” (125)—
and it is human language itself leaves us with the final crushing words of the poem:
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I have seen them [the mermaids] riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown. (126-31)
This final contrast serves to remind us that while Prufrock is close enough to hear,
close enough to “linger in the chambers of the sea,” such hopes are dream-like,
tenuous, ultimately shattered by human voices and all-engulfing reality. The reader
will note that Prufrock and Eliot have shifted back to the collective first-person
pronoun “we” for the final stanza, and distinguish in line 130 that the referent is not
the sea-girls and Prufrock, but rather Prufrock and another party; we can reasonably
interpret the other party is the audience. Eliot is illuminating once again that the
plight of J. Alfred Prufrock and the plight of all humanity are parallel in their
morbidity, futility, and failure. It is not just Prufrock who drowns; it is us.
J. Alfred Prufrock’s quest to construct a genuine, personal expression—a “love
song,” even—results in an excursion through the infernal frustration of Prufrock’s
psychosocial imprisonment. In his portrayal of this character’s alienation, indecision,
fear, and disillusionment, T.S. Eliot demands that we too, wandering through certain
half-deserted streets, are victims of the putrid yellow-smoke society around us: the
snares of inauthentic identity, broken language, and constantly vanishing time.
Works Cited
Eliot, T.S. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” The Seagull Reader: Poems, 2nd
edition, edited by Joseph Kelly, Norton, 2008, pp. 109-114.
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Why Our Feminism Must Be Intersectional (And 3 Ways to Practice It) 11

(Originally published here on Everyday Feminism)A
When Annie Lennox, legendary
Scottish singer from the Eurythmics,
recently declared that BeyoncéB is not
feminist with the statement “Listen,
twerking is not feminism,”C she firmly
established herself as a representative
for White feminism.D
What is “White feminism?” We’ll
let CateE from BattyMamzelle define it for you: F
“White feminism is a set of beliefs that allows for the exclusion of issues that
specifically affect women of color. It is ‘one size-fits all’ feminism, where middle class
White women are the mold that others must fit. It is a method of practicing feminism,
not an indictment of every individual White feminist, everywhere, always.”
Now, Lennox likely doesn’t think of herself as a White feminist, but by
referring to Beyoncé’s feminism and expression as “disturbing,” “exploitative,” and
“troubling,” she expressed the politic many White feminists are known for advancing:
“Feminism must look like we want it to look, or it’s not feminism.”G
It’s usually not that overt, and most White feminists would deny that this is
what’s being said or done, but you notice it in more subtle comments like “Why do
A
For the sake of readability, the links in this text have been converted to footnote references.
B
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/01/beyonce-sexed-up-feminism/
C
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2802433/annie-lennox-slams-beyonce-saying-twerking-
not-feminism-modern-music-disturbing-exploitative.html
D
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/24/feminisms_ugly_internal_clash_why_its_future_is_
not_up_to_white_women/
E
http://battymamzelle.blogspot.com/p/about_29.html - .VNeiRGTF9pw
F
http://battymamzelle.blogspot.com/2014/01/This-Is-What-I-Mean-When-I-Say-White-
Feminism.html - .VNejdGTF9pw
G
http://feminspire.com/why-white-feminists-need-to-shut-up-and-listen-when-it-comes-to-race/
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you have to divide us by bringing up race?”A or “Are trans women really women?
There should be a distinction.”B
In the face of calls for a more intersectional feminism, there are even White
feminists who claim the whole concept of intersectionality is just academic jargon that
doesn’t connect with the real world.
Yet the irony seems lost on some feminists who make these claims while
staunchly opposing the language of “humanism”
in place of “feminism.”C
Simply put, it’s not those who are calling
for a feminism that is responsive to the specific
issues they face that are being divisive. It’s those
of us who refuse to acknowledge the need for an
intersectional ethic in feminism.
What Is Intersectionality?
It makes sense in many ways that those of
us with identity privilege would have a harder
time including in our feminism those who are
oppressed. PrivilegeD conceals itself from those
who have it, and it’s a lot easier to focus on the ways that we are marginalized or
oppressed.
But without an intersectional lens, our movements cannot be truly anti-
oppressive because it is not, in fact, possible to tease apart the oppressions that people
are experiencing. Racism for women of color cannot be separated from their gendered
A
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/10/feminism-shouldnt-discuss-race/
B
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/11/trans-exclusive-feminism-looks-like/
C
http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/05/why-not-say-everyday-humanism-instead-of-everyday-
feminism/
D
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/12/lesson-about-privilege/
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oppression.A A trans person with a disability cannot choose which part of their
identity is most in need of liberation.
Yet there is regularly confusion about what intersectionality really is.
Renowned law scholar and critical race theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw introduced
the term in 1989 in her paper “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A
Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and
Antiracist Politics.”B
She noted that “problems of exclusion” of Black women from both mainstream
anti-racist politics and feminist theory “cannot be solved simply by including Black
women in an already established analytical structure. Because the intersectional
experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis that does not
take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in
which Black women are subordinated.”
While her immediate focus was on the intersections of race and gender,
Crenshaw highlights in “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and
Violence Against Women of Color”C that her “focus on the intersections of race and
gender only highlight the need to account for multiple grounds of identity when
considering how the social world is constructed.”
In short, intersectionality is a framework that must be applied to all social
justice work, a frame that recognizes the multiple aspects of identity that enrich our
lives and experiences and that compound and complicate oppressions and
marginalizations.
We cannot separate multiple oppressions, for they are experienced and enacted
intersectionally.
A
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/10/feminism-shouldnt-discuss-race/
B
http://philpapers.org/archive/CREDTI.pdf
C
http://socialdifference.columbia.edu/files/socialdiff/projects/Article__Mapping_the_
Margins_by_Kimblere_Crenshaw.pdf
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Thus, in the words of Flavia Dzodan, “My feminism will be intersectional or it
will be bullshit.”A
Understanding Intersectionality in Context

To better understand the concept of intersectionality, let’s look at one of the
most cited pieces of evidence for the oppression of women: violence targeting women
and girls.
Using conservative estimates, between 25%B and 50%C of women experience
gender-based violence (sexual violence, intimate partner violence, street harassment,
or stalking) in their lifetime.
But to cite that number without disaggregating the data hides the ways that
multiple oppressions compound this violence.
For instance, women (and men) of color are more likely to experience these
forms of violence than White women or men and that wealth privilege can help to
insulate some women from some forms of violence.D
We also find that bisexual women are far more likely to experience sexual
violence than other women.E
And of those murdered in LGBTQ-based hate incidents, 78% were people of
color, and Transgender people are 27% more likely to experience hate violence than
cisgender people.F
In short, all women are at risk for gendered violence in the United States, but
some women are far more at risk.
A
http://tigerbeatdown.com/2011/10/10/my-feminism-will-be-intersectional-or-it-will-be-bullshit/
B
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6308a1.htm
C
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nisvs/infographic.html
D
Ibid.
E
Ibid.
F
http://www.glaad.org/blog/violence-against-transgender-people-and-people-color-
disproportionately-high-lgbtqh-murder-rate
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And if we just talk generally about violence against women (or other issues
like the wage gap),A we fail to address the actual issues at stake, and as a result, we
cannot envision solutions that dismantle the intersectional oppressions at play.
At a more personal level, though, feminism without intersectionality keeps us
from fully expressing who we are! A lack of intersectionality leads to an erasure of
people and their identities.
In preparing for writing this article, both of us, as the authors, recognized ways
that heteronormative expectations restrict us from living outside of a binary of
attraction and love. We’ve both found that if we are not actively dating people who
share our gender, we are expected to live and act as if we are straight even though that
may not be how we fully identify.
Even in feminist and anti-oppressive spaces, strict gender roles define so many
aspects of relationship that parts of our own identities are erased.
Intersectionality is not only about confronting more obvious problems like
violence and economic inequality. It’s also about allowing people to live more fully in
their being and to have a voice in our movements!
A Truly Inclusive Feminism

One misconception about intersectionality is that it encourages division and
exclusion in the feminist movement. By including race, class, sexuality, and other
identity markers in feminist analysis, some say, intersectional feminists are spreading
the movement thin and undermining its unity.
The trouble with this line of thinking is that a one-size-fits-all feminist
movement that focuses only on the common ground between women is erasing rather
than inclusive. Even if all women deal with sexism, not all women deal with racialized
sexism,B or transmisogyny, or cissexism.
A
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/11/15/2950501/racial-wage-gap/
B
http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/10/dealing-with-racialized-sexism/
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Glossing over the issues faced by specific groups of women for the sake of unity
centers the feminist movement on those who have the most privilege and visibility. It
allows those who already take up a disproportionate amount of space in the movement
to look as if they’re making room for others without giving up any themselves.
One-size-fits-all feminism is to intersectional feminism what #AllLivesMatter is
to #BlackLivesMatter.A The former’s attempt at inclusiveness can actually erase the
latter’s acknowledgment of a unique issue that disproportionately affects a specific
group of people.
3 Ways to Practice Intersectionality in Feminism

Intersectionality must be about more than intellectualizing the work. It must be
grounded in an ethic of feminist praxisB that blends critical theory, like that of
Kimberlé Crenshaw, with self-work and activism.
The following suggestions, then, offer ways that we can all incorporate an
intersectional ethic into our daily practice of feminism.
1. Self-Reflect
Intersectionality demands that we deliberately look within ourselves — at the
places where we don’t understand and where we feel challenged. C We must take upon
ourselves the desire to learn about issues and identities that do not impact us
personally.
Thus, taking up the difficult work of investigating our own privilege is key to
intersectional feminism.
We have to move beyond a theoretical understanding of feminism and actually
consider how we treat people in our daily lives.
A
http://blackmillennials.com/2014/12/01/what-you-mean-by-alllivesmatter/
B
http://www.freire.org/paulo-freire/concepts-used-by-paulo-freire
C
http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/03/self-check-holding-ourselves-and-our-communities-
accountable/
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In Jamie’s work, for example, he has recognized a need to incorporate a more
intersectional ethic that explicitly opposes anti-Semitism into his own Pro-Palestinian
activismA and language as well as the need to continually strive to undo the sexist
socializationB that keeps him from acting accountably to cis women and trans people.
If we don’t do the work of understanding ourselves and our own shortcomings,
our feminism will surely not be intersectional and accountable.
2. Decenter Your Perspective
As feminists, it’s important that we pay attention to the fact that feminism is
about more than ending sexism — it’s also about ending all the interconnected
systems of oppression that affect different women in different ways.
As someone who is middle class, for instance, it’s easy for Jarune to fail
to understand issues of poverty in the Black community despite being otherwise
knowledgeable about issues of race.C Similarly, able bodied people don’t easily notice
ableism,D White people don’t easily notice racism, and cis people don’t easily
notice transphobia.E
The things our privileges allow us to take for granted are the reasons we need
intersectional analysis to do truly inclusive feminist work. Without it, it’s easy to
center feminism around either our own experiences or the experiences of those who
are already the most privileged in society.
So make an effort to avoid centering feminism around yourself or people of
privilege. Because society is more likely to listen to a White woman talk about racism
than a person of color, for example, White feminists need to be mindful that they’re
not talking over or for people of color.
A
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/12/on-ferguson-and-4-ways-we-can-choose-to-divest-from-
white-supremacy/
B
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/12/abusive-feminist-men/
C
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/09/classism-of-eating-healthy/
D
http://everydayfeminism.com/2012/09/why-the-ageism-dialogue-belongs-in-feminism/
E
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/12/laverne-cox-intersection-what-to-do/
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No matter what work you do or what your privileges are, take care to step back
when things aren’t about you, educate yourself on things that don’t affect you, and pay
attention when people speak to their experiences.
3. Be Willing to Make Mistakes
There’s no room for perfectionism in feminism.A That is to say that we must be
willing to make and learn from mistakes in the process of doing feminist work.
Adopting an intersectional framework is not an easy process. It involves seeking
to understand things that are difficult for you to understand, empathizing with people
who are not like you, stepping back instead of speaking over others, and opening
yourself up to a high level of accountability.
But it’s better to do all of that and fail than it is to avoid making an effort
entirely. When people don’t make an effort to be intersectional, they’re quick to
dismiss other people’s lived experiences in favor of their own beliefs, get defensive
when called out, and complain that others are too politically correctB or sensitive.C
It’s less constructive to avoid mistakes and bristle at criticism than it is to be
open to learning, growing, and self-correcting as part of a continuous process. So
when you inevitably mess up or are called out for something, how you respond
matters.
When people call each other out in social justice work, it can be an act of love.D
It’s about holding people accountable and making sure that the work they do is
actually of value to those it’s meant to serve.
Rather than take it personally or become defensive, recognize that being called
out is not really about you or your worth as a person. You can be a perfectly nice
person with good intentions and still do something that upholds oppressive
A
http://everydayfeminism.com/2012/07/confessions-of-perfectionist/
B
http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/04/why-i-stand-up-to-politically-incorrect-jokes/
C
http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/09/over-sensitive-and-other-feminine-flaws/
D
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/02/healing-power-of-community/
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structures, so focus on adjusting your behavior rather than saving face or exempting
yourself from systemic oppression.
Feminism Isn’t Here for Your Comfort

Intersectional feminism is difficult. If you’re doing it right, it should be
challenging you, stretching you, and making you uncomfortable.
But feminism isn’t here to make anyone comfortable.A
Quite to the contrary, intersectional feminism should be making everyone
uncomfortable because we never grow or progress when we are comfortable. We grow
when we are hurting or struggling or stretching ourselves to understand something
new.
The difficulty of intersectional feminism is a difficulty and discomfort that is
meant to inspire change.
Thus, we have to be willing to take up the critical thinking and self-work
necessary to push back against our privileges and to create an intersectional ethic and
lens through which our feminism is crafted.
The journey toward intersectionality is difficult. You will make mistakes; we all
will. But if we want to realize relationships, communities, or societies built upon
justice, we have to keep doing that work.12
Economics and Obesity13

Eating healthy can be difficult for everyone. You have to figure out what is
healthy and find out what diet fits your goals, then you have the struggle of actually
sticking to the diet and avoiding the temptation of junk food. However, eating a
nutritious diet can become even more complicated if you are poor and live in a low-
income area. Healthy food is too expensive for low-income people, forcing them to
A
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/09/called-out-acknowledging-oppression/
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buy cheaper and less healthy alternatives. People may not even have access to
unprocessed foods, like fruits and vegetables, if they live in poor neighborhoods that
do not have a grocery store or supermarket. The lack of access to affordable, healthy,
and unprocessed foods leads to an increased rate of obesity for low-income people,
and current policies and interventions are not effective and need to be changed to
help decrease rates of obesity.
Obesity has been a problem in the United States for a long time. In the 1980s,
the number of obese people began to increase rapidly. The percentage of obese adults
went from 15.0% in 1980 to 32.9% in 2004, more than doubling (Hurt 781). Obesity can
be extremely damaging to the body and can lead to other chronic diseases, such as
diabetes and hypertension. It is clear and has been for a long time, that obesity is an
epidemic in America, and researchers are trying to find the cause. Obesity is
commonly associated with people picking food solely based on taste and not on
nutritional content, leading them to choose delicious junk food over nutritious
vegetables. While this is true for some, the rates of obesity were found to be higher in
American counties that were poverty-dense (Levine 2667). This is not the only study to
find that obesity affects the poor more than others, as a study ran by U.S. Government
found that rates of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases were highest in the most
impoverished populations (Story 261). Obesity is affecting those who are least able to
cope with it, as obesity and related chronic diseases can have a serious economic
impact on people, especially those with diabetes. People with diabetes spend around
2.3 times as much on general medical care a year than someone without diabetes, and
on average a diabetic person spends about $7,900 a year just on medical expenses
associated with diabetes (Yang 1033). These costs are extremely damaging to low-
income people who may already have trouble getting by as it is, and it is important
that the economic causes of obesity are examined so that policies and interventions
can be designed to help protect public health.
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Higher rates of obesity in low-income areas has been associated with a lack of
access to healthy foods. Many of these low-income areas are classified as food deserts,
meaning there is nowhere to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, or other unprocessed foods.
The nearest grocery store or supermarket can be over a mile away, as it is for Casey
Bannister a resident of East Portland, Oregon. The closest grocery store to her is a
mile and a half away, which can be hard for her to walk or bike especially when she
has bags of groceries (Peacher). This is a common problem for many Americans who
also live in food deserts. Many people have to rely solely on nearby convenience stores
for food. These stores rarely sell fresh fruits, vegetables, or unprocessed meats and
have a large selection of unhealthy foods. Along with that, the convenience stores
found in low-income areas were more often small, independent stores which sold food
for higher prices than chain stores (Beaulac), meaning consumers in poor
neighborhoods were spending more there than they would in stores found in higher-
income neighborhoods.
There is an appealingly simple answer to food deserts: add a grocery store.
However, merely adding a grocery store is not going to solve the obesity problem in
impoverished areas, as that is only one part of the problem. According to a study run
by researcher Steven Cummins, the stores added to food deserts in Philadelphia did
not impact that amount of fruits and vegetables consumed. He attributed this to many
causes, including the fact that the kind of stores added may not necessarily sell
cheaper food (Corapi). While food deserts do contribute to obesity, the main
economic cause is more likely the price of healthy, nutritious food. A healthy diet is
too expensive to be accessible to low-income people and families, even if they do have
access to a supermarket.
Nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables, while healthy, are low in calories.
Unhealthier foods have high amounts of calories for a much lower cost, making them
extremely appealing to families on a budget. These calories are made up of grains and
starches as well as added fats and sugars, which have been linked to an increased risk
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for obesity (Drewnowski 265S). Foods like these are quite clearly unhealthy, however,
health must be disregarded when it is the only thing a person can afford to eat. A
study by the American Diabetes Association found that on average healthy diets cost
$18.16 per thousand calories, while unhealthy diets only cost $1.76 per thousand
calories (Parker-Pope). Based on a person who needs two thousand calories a day, it
would cost roughly $1,089.60 a month for one person to eat a healthy diet when an
unhealthy diet would cost $105.60 a month. This means that a person eating a
nutritious diet would spend over ten times as much as a person eating a nutrient
deficient diet. People who earn minimum wage, especially those that have more than
one person to support, cannot spend this much on food a month and are forced to
instead buy unhealthier options and put themselves at a higher risk for obesity.
Influences such as the convenience of unhealthy food and advertisements may
also impact the rates of obesity in low-income areas and populations. It is important
that they are acknowledged as well before designing new policies or interventions, so
that all possible causes and factors of obesity may be addressed. Unhealthy food, for
example, fast food is almost always convenient and simple, as most foods come already
cooked and ready to be eaten. While healthy food is usually raw and unprocessed,
meaning it has to be prepared before being served. Cooking a proper meal can take an
hour or more, and many working people do not have the time. Also, cooking requires
a lot of knowledge about recipes and how to prepare raw food, as well as expensive
resources like pots, pans, and knives. Fast food is quick and requires no prior
knowledge about cooking food or any equipment, making it an easy choice for those
who are poor or busy. Food advertisements may also influence people’s choices. Most
food advertisements seen on TV are for fast food and show this food as extremely
desirable and a good deal. This may affect people’s choices and make them more
likely to buy fast food, as it is shown as delicious and within their budget. While these
influences are unlikely to be the main cause of high rates of obesity for low-income
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people, it is still important that they are examined and thought of while interventions
are being made.
With the obesity epidemic being so detrimental to individual’s health, people
and government have been pushing for interventions and policies to help fight against
obesity. Some interventions have helped bring fruits and vegetables to low-income
families and neighborhoods. Food pantries have been vitally important to providing
food in food deserts. Saul Orduna, another resident of East Portland, lives in a food
desert and gets about half to two-thirds of his groceries from the SUN food pantry.
They provide him and his two children with fresh fruits and vegetables as well as milk,
eggs, and bread. It is an important service for his family, as he only has $380 a month
for food (Peacher). Services like this help bring food to those who cannot afford or
access it, however, they are not a good long-term solution to food insecurity. Other
policies and interventions have been suggested that are likely to have more negative
effects. The taxation of junk food, particularly high-calorie beverages, has been
proposed to discourage people from purchasing unhealthy foods and hopefully lower
obesity rates (Drewnowski 265S). Taxing unhealthy foods might be a good incentive
for middle and high income people to buy healthier food. However, without lowering
the price of nutritional food, policies like this will only put more of an economic
burden on low-income people and make it harder for them to get any food at all.
New policies and interventions are needed, and it is necessary that they address
the many different influences on the rates of obesity, including access, price, and
advertising. Tax subsidies implemented on healthy foods, such as unprocessed meats,
fruits, and vegetables, would encourage people to buy that instead of other options. It
is important that if tax subsidies are put on healthy food that it is advertised to the
public. Advertising on TV and in stores could be used alongside tax subsidies to
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promote the newly affordable, healthy choices and make them seem more desirable.
Putting healthy foods in the front of stores so that they are the first thing people see,
rather than unhealthier options like chips and candy, would also help people choose
more nutritious foods over other choices. These may seem like small changes;
however, they could have a huge impact.
Education may also play an important part in lowering rates of obesity.
Nutrition is extremely complicated, and there are some who may have never learned
what is healthy and what is not. Others may know what is healthy, yet they do not
know how to prepare and use such foods. Free community education classes could be
used to teach people about health and nutrition. Along with cooking classes to teach
people how to properly prepare and cook vegetables and fruits. Both of these classes
would help inform people about their own health and build their confidence in
choosing and preparing food. Classes may also be helpful for teaching skills other
than nutrition and cooking. In an interview with the researcher Steven Cummins, he
stated that “We have to think very carefully about giving people the skills to make
better decisions when they’re in stores, as well as providing access to the stores in the
first place” (Corapi). He brings up an important point about the importance of
teaching people how to manage their money properly and how to find good deals on
healthy food. A class teaching these kinds of skills could help people be more
organized and deliberate in what they buy.
The obesity epidemic in low-income populations is a complex problem that has
been going on for a long time. The answer sadly is not simple and is going to require
involvement from the government, stores, and the communities of America. Until
people are able to afford and access food themselves, it is important that people
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continue to support food banks and pantries, like the Oregon Food Bank, as they
provide vital assistance to those who are food-insecure. Solving the problem of obesity
in impoverished areas is going to be complicated, however, the result will have more
people with equal access to nutritious, healthy food and lower rates of obesity.
Works Cited
Beaulac, Julie, et al. “A Systematic Review of Food Deserts, 1966-2007.” Preventing
Chronic Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vol. 6, No. 3,
2004, pp. 1-10, www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2009/Jul/pdf/08_0163.pdf.
Corapi, Sarah. “Why It Takes More than a Grocery Store to Eliminate a ‘Food
Desert.’” PBS, 3 Feb. 2014, www.pbs.org/newshour/health/takes-grocery-store-
eliminate-food-desert.
Drewnowski, Adam, and Nicole Darmon. “The Economics of Obesity.” The American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 82, no. 1, 2005, 265S-273S,
ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/1/265S.long.
Hurt, Ryan T., et al. “The Obesity Epidemic: Challenges, Health Initiatives, and
Implications for Gastroenterologists.” Gastroenterology & Hepatology, vol. 6, no.
12, 2010, pp. 780-792. US National Library of Medicine,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3033553/.
Levine, James A. “Poverty and Obesity in the U.S.” Diabetes, vol. 60, no. 11, 2011, pp.
2667-2668, diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/60/11/2667.
Parker-Pope, Tara. “A High Price for Healthy Food.” The New York Times,
well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/a-high-price-for-healthy-food/.
Peacher, Amanda. “East Of 82nd: Raising Children In A ‘Food Desert’.” Oregon Public
Broadcasting, 18 Feb. 2015, www.opb.org/news/series/east-of-82nd-a-closer-look-
at-east-portland/east-of-82nd-raising-children-in-a-food-desert/.
Story, Mary, et al. “Creating Healthy Food and Eating Environments: Policy and
Environmental Approaches.” Annual Review of Public Health, Annual Reviews,
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vol. 29, 2007, pp. 253-272,
www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.29.020907.090926.
Yang, Wenya, et al. “Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2012.” Diabetes Care,
vol. 36, no. 4, 2013, pp. 1033-1046, care.diabetesjournals.org/content/36/4/1033.
Student Veterans and Their Struggle with Higher Education14

Did you know that student veterans are one of the largest and most diverse sub-
cultures to matriculate into higher education in America? Ever since the inception of
the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, the enrollment of service members post-military-service has
skyrocketed. “Institutions have not faced such a significant influx of veteran students
on campus since World War II” (Cook iii). Although they receive years of extensive
training in military service, the skills that vets have learned are generally not
immediately transferrable into civilian employment. With an abysmal job market,
most service members are forced into higher education to obtain employment. The
passage of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill was the most significant increase in education
benefits for service members and veterans since the original G.I. Bill of 1944; however,
recent data from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) shows that only a small
percentage of veterans use all of their federal education benefits (Lighthall 81).
According to American College Testing (ACT), in the United States approximately one
in four freshmen do not return after their first year and almost half will not graduate—
but the statistic is significantly worse for veterans (Cass 23). Billions of dollars are lost
annually on freshman attrition and wasted G.I. Bill benefits (Ibid.). Why do so many
service members struggle to succeed during their transition into higher education?
The answer may vary from veteran to veteran, but they underlying theme is an
inability to successfully transition from a highly structured military lifestyle into a self-
sustaining civilian one.
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One major challenge faced by veterans is social reintegration after war. The
well-known saying “War changes people” is profoundly true. Although not all vets see
combat, it cannot be denied that the experience of battle is physically, emotionally,
and spiritually damaging. Other students who have not served can never truly
understand this. The people—students and faculty—have no understanding of what
student veterans have been through, causing a feeling of alienation (Lighthall 84).
Universities have long been a place where young people develop a purpose in life and
make friends, but for many veterans, it can have the opposite effect. In “Lonely Men
on Campus: Student Veterans Struggle to Fit In,” Alex Horton writes a case study on
a combat veteran struggling from this difficulty with social integration. He explains
Josh Martell’s experience: “He has quarantined himself almost entirely. He shows up
for class, takes notes, and leaves, most of the time without communicating with
students or professors” (Horton). Josh isolated himself, never saying “more than a few
words to anyone” (Ibid.). This behavior is not abnormal: it is a reaction many veterans
exhibit when they go to college. Horton explains how this reclusive behavior betrays
the man Josh really is, explaining that he has transformed into an introvert. For many
veterans, the feeling of being different or not relating to other students creates a
feeling of isolation (Cass 29). Alienation from the student body certainly contributes to
veteran attrition.
Coupled with this feeling of isolation, college campuses can have a drastic
culture shock for veterans. During their years spent in the military, people in the
service are inextricably tied to some sort of social system, and solitude is rare or even
absent altogether. In “Ten Things You Should Know about Today’s Student Veteran,”
Alison Lighthall explains how the many vets lose friends upon leaving the military, as
well as a sense of purpose, identity, and structure. This can push anyone to their limit.
Lighthall goes on to say that the unfamiliar social system of the university has no
resemblance to the military. Classes and assignments might have less structure or
438
Additional Readings
looser expectations. They might require more self-management of time rather than
following a strict schedule.
For myself, being a student veteran, I have faced many of these same struggles
during my transition into higher education. I purposefully never solicit that I am a
veteran unless I need to. It’s not that I’m not proud of it, or even that I am ashamed of
anything I have done; it’s because I don’t want to feel any more singled out than I
already do. I also find that people either have strong feelings against the military or
simply have no understanding of what myself or other veterans have gone through. I
try to avoid hearing questions like, “Did you know anyone who died?” or, “Have you
killed anyone?” After spending years always surrounded by military personnel and
within a unique culture, it is very difficult to relate to and want to be around college
students. Like Josh, I find myself wanting to be alone rather than attempt to connect
with my classmates.
Another major barrier for student veterans are the physical and mental health
challenges that might have resulted from their service. This is another place where the
vast majority of Americans who choose not to join the military do not have the context
to understand the experience. Witnessing your best friend get blown apart or shot is a
massive shock and emotionally devastating. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
haunts many of today’s student veterans and further hinders their education. This is
not to mention the risk of physical disability that veterans take when they enroll in
service. Because of anxiety or injury related disorders, some veterans may show up to
class late or even miss class. Other may show up early to orient themselves in a seat
that has a full view of the classroom to reduce the sense of a physical threat (Lighthall
88). During class, they may have trouble staying focused or have difficulty composing
themselves. They may struggle to process the information or skills being taught (Ibid.
85). Teachers should be aware of these challenges and support veterans in their
learning and access needs.
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Additional Readings
Many veterans that suffer from PTSD go undiagnosed and attempt to live,
work, and go to school without seeking aid (Cook 8-9). The mentality instilled in them
is to not be a victim, and many student veterans fight PTSD without any assistance.
Because of the stigma around PTSD and a veteran’s desire to be self-sufficient, a
student veteran might not seek help from Disability Services, the tutoring centers, or
other on-campus resources.
Universities may be logistically suited to help veterans return to civilian life;
however, the disconnected social experience, age discrepancies, and unique
challenges make it difficult for them to seek help. Faculty and university officials are
beginning to understand this issue as the veteran population steadily rises, but it may
not be fast enough to help current student veterans. Helping this diverse subculture
in today’s universities starts first with awareness and an understanding of their needs.
Educators should reach out to them with compassion and respect, accommodate their
individual learning needs, and most importantly, see them as unique people who
chose to serve our country and endured burdens beyond anything we could imagine.
It could make all the difference to that student veteran. It might even mean the
difference between finding success in life, or ending up lost, jobless, and homeless.
Works Cited
Cass, David. The Strategic Student: Veteran’s Edition, Uvize, 2012.
Cook, Bryan J., and Young Kim. From Soldier to Student: Easing the Transition of Service
Members on Campus, American Council on Education, Lumina Foundation for
Education, 2009, http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/From-Soldier-
to-Student-Easing-the-Transition-of-Service-Members-on-Campus.pdf.
Horton, Alex. “Lonely Men on Campus: Student Veterans Struggle to Fit In.” The
Atlantic, 8 August 2012,
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/08/lonely-men-on-campus-
student-veterans-struggle-to-fit-in/261628/.
440
Additional Readings
Lighthall, Alison. “Ten Things You Should Know about Today’s Student Veteran.”
Thought & Action, Fall 2012, pp. 80-89. National Education Association Archive,
http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE/2012-TA-Lighthall.pdf.
“Our Town” from This American Life

An inquiry-driven exploration of the effects of immigration on Albertville,
Alabama. Listen to Part One here and Part Two here .
“The Unfinished Battle in the Capital of the Confederacy” from Code Switch
A research-based investigation into the legacy of the confederacy, including
monuments built in tribute 50 years after the Civil War. Listen to the podcast here.
Excerpt from Nickel and Dimed15

Self-restraint becomes more of a challenge when the owner of a million-dollar
condo … takes me into the master bathroom to explain the difficulties she’s been
having with the shower stall. Seems its marble walls have been “bleeding” onto the
brass fixtures, and can I scrub the grouting extra hard? That’s not your marble
bleeding, I want to tell her, it’s the worldwide working class—the people who
quarried the marble, wove your Persian rugs until they went blind, harvested the
apples in your lovely fall-themed dining room centerpiece, smelted the steel for the
nails, drove the trucks, put up this building, and now bend and squat to clean it.
Not that I … imagine that I am a member of that oppressed working class. My
very ability to work tirelessly hour after hour is a product of decades of better-than-
average medical care, a high-protein diet, and workouts in gyms that charge $400 or
$500 a year. … But I will say this for myself: I have never employed a cleaning person
441
Additional Readings
or service.... [M]ostly I rejected the idea … because this is just not the kind of
relationship I want to have with another human being.1
1
In 1999, somewhere between 14 and 18 percent of households employed an outsider to do the
cleaning and the numbers are rising dramatically. Mediamark research reports a 53 percent
increase, between 1995 and 1999, in the number of households using a hired cleaner or service
once a month or more….
Gaycation
(TV series by Ellen Page)
Watch this investigatory TV series online: VICELAND usually has at least one
episode that you can stream for free, or you can stream it for $1.99/episode on
YouTube, iTunes, Amazon, or Google Play.
Sweet Crude
(Documentary - ISBN: 9780781513449)
Watch the trailer here. Find this documentary through your school’s library via
WorldCat, or order it online here.
Why Boston’s Hospitals Were Ready

(New Yorker article, informed by research)
Read the article on The New Yorker’s website here.
Additional Readings Endnotes

1
excerpted from O’Brien, Tim. “The Vietnam in Me.” The New York Times: Books, 2
Oct. 1994, http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/20/specials/obrien-
vietnam.html. Reproduced here under Fair Use guidelines.
442
Additional Readings
2
Essay by Cristian Lopez, Portland Community College, 2017. Reproduced with
3
Roche, Patrick. “21.” March 2014, CUPSI, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. Video
published by Button Poetry, 24 April 2014,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LnMhy8kDiQ.
4
Vazquez, Robyn. “Running Down the Hill.” 2 July 2017, Deep End Theater, Portland,
OR.
5
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” 1894. The Kate Chopin International Society,
13 Aug. 2017, https://www.katechopin.org/story-hour/. Reproduced from the
Public domain.
6
Excerpted from Douglass, Frederick. My Bondage and My Freedom, Partridge and
Oakey, 1855. “A Change Came O’er the Spirit of My Dream.” Lit2Go, University
of Southern Florida, 2017, http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/45/my-bondage-and-my-
freedom/1458/chapter-11-a-change-came-oer-the-spirit-of-my-dream/.
Reproduced from the Public domain.
7
Saifer, David. “‘Between the World And Me’: An Important Book on Race and
Racism.” Tucson Weekly, 25 Aug. 2015,
https://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2015/08/25/between-the-
world-and-me-an-important-book-on-race-and-racism. Reproduced with
permission from the author and publication.
8
Essay by Cassidy Richardson, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
9
Essay by Tim Curtiss, Portland Community College, 2017. Reproduced with
10
Unpublished essay by Shane Abrams, 2014, Portland State University.
11
Uwuajaren, Jarune and Jamie Utt. “Why Our Feminism Must Be Intersectional (And
3 Ways to Practice It).” Everyday Feminism, 11 Jan. 2015,
http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/01/why-our-feminism-must-be-
intersectional/. Reproduced in accordance with Everyday Feminism guidelines
with attribution and minimal adaptation (for the sake of formatting).
12
Jarune Uwujaren is a Contributing Writer for Everyday Feminism. They are a
Nigerian-American student recent grad who’s stumbling towards a career in writing.
Jarune can currently be found drifting around the DC metro area with a phone or a
laptop nearby. When not writing for fun or profit, Jarune enjoys food, fresh air, good
books, drawing, poetry, and sci-fi. Read their articles:
http://everydayfeminism.com/author/jaruneu/
Jamie Utt is a Contributing Writer for Everyday Feminism. He is the Founder and
Director of Education at CivilSchools, a comprehensive bullying prevention program,
a diversity and inclusion consultant, and sexual violence prevention educator based
443
Additional Readings
in Minneapolis, MN. He lives with his loving partner and his funtastic dog. He blogs
weekly at Change from Within. Learn more about his work at his website and follow
him on Twitter @utt_jamie. Read his articles at
http://everydayfeminism.com/author/jamieutt/ and book him for speaking
engagements at http://everydayfeminism.com/speakers-bureau/jamie-utt/.
13
Essay by Catherine Sterrett, Portland Community College, 2017. Reproduced with
14
Essay by Bryant Calli, Portland Community College, 2017. Reproduced with
15
Ehrenreich 90-91.
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed, Henry Holt & Co., 2001. Reproduced in
accordance with Fair Use guidelines.
444
Appendix A: Strategies and Concepts for Revision
Appendix A
Concepts and Strategies for
Revision
Let’s start with a few definitions. What is an essay? It’s likely that your teachers have
been asking you to write essays for years now; you’ve probably formed some idea of
the genre. But when I ask my students to define this kind of writing, their answers vary
widely and only get at part of the meaning of “essay.”
Although we typically talk of an essay (noun), I

find it instructive to think about essay (verb):
to try; to test; to explore; to attempt to
understand. An essay (noun), then, is an
attempt and an exploration. Popularized
shortly before the Enlightenment Era by
Michel de Montaigne, the essay form was
invested in the notion that writing invites
discovery: the idea was that he, as a lay-
person without formal education in a specific
discipline, would learn more about a subject
through the act of writing itself.
What difference does this new definition make for us, as writers?
• Writing invites discovery. Throughout the act of writing, you will learn more
about your topic. Even though some people think of writing as a way to
capture a fully-formed idea, writing can also be a way to process through
ideas: in other words, writing can be an act of thinking. It forces you to look
closer and see more. Your revisions should reflect the knowledge you gain
through the act of writing.
• An essay is an attempt, but not all attempts are successful on the first try.
You should give yourself license to fail, to an extent. If to essay is to try, then it’s
okay to fall short. Writing is also an iterative process, which means your first
draft isn’t the final product.
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Now, what is revision? You may have been taught that revision means fixing
commas, using a thesaurus to brighten up word choice, and maybe tweaking a
sentence or two. However, I prefer to think of revision as “re | vision.”
Revision isn’t just about polishing—it’s about seeing your piece from a new angle, with
“fresh eyes.” Often, we get so close to our own writing that we need to be able to see
it from a different perspective in order to improve it. Revision happens on many
levels. What you may have been trained to think of as revision—grammatical and
mechanical fixes—is just one tier. Here’s how I like to imagine it:
GLOBAL Revision
• Ideas, Focus, and Conent
• Your Approach or Angle
• Overall Structure and
Organization
LOCAL Revision
• Sentence Fluency and
Pacing
• Word Choice
PROOF-
READING
• Grammar & Mechanics
• Formatting
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Even though all kinds of revision are valuable, your global issues are first-order
concerns, and proofreading is a last-order concern. If your entire topic, approach, or
structure needs revision, it doesn’t matter if you have a comma splice or two. It’s likely
that you’ll end up rewriting that sentence anyway.
There are a handful of techniques you can experiment with in order to practice true
revision. First, if you can, take some time away from your writing. When you return,
you will have a clearer head. You will even, in some ways, be a different person when
you come back—since we as humans are constantly changing from moment to
moment, day to day, you will have a different perspective with some time away. This
might be one way for you to make procrastination work in your favor: if you know you
struggle with procrastination, try to bust out a quick first draft the day an essay is
assigned. Then, you can come back to it a few hours or a few days later with fresh
eyes and a clearer idea of your goals.
Second, you can challenge yourself to reimagine your writing using global and local
revision techniques, like those included later in this appendix.
Third, you can (and should) read your paper aloud, if only to yourself. This technique
distances you from your writing; by forcing yourself you read aloud, you may catch
sticky spots, mechanical errors, abrupt transitions, and other mistakes you would miss
if you were immersed in your writing. (Recently, a student shared with me that she
uses an online text-to-speech voice reader to create this same separation. By listening
along and taking notes, she can identify opportunities for local- and proofreading-
level revision.)
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you

should rely on your learning community.
Because you most likely work on tight
deadlines and don’t always have the
opportunity to take time away from our
projects, you should solicit feedback from your
classmates, the Writing Center, your instructor,
your Peer Workshop group, or your friends and
family. As readers, they have valuable insight to
the rhetorical efficacy of your writing: their
feedback can be useful in developing a piece
447
which is conscious of audience. To begin setting expectations and procedures for

your Peer Workshop, turn to the first activity in this section.
Throughout this text, I have emphasized that good writing cannot exist in a vacuum;
similarly, good rewriting often requires a supportive learning community. Even if you
have had negative experiences with peer workshops before, I encourage you to give
them another chance. Not only do professional writers consistently work with other
writers, but my students are nearly always surprised by just how helpful it is to work
alongside their classmates.
The previous diagram (of global, local, and proofreading levels of revision) reminds
us that everyone has something valuable to offer in a learning community: because
there are so many different elements on which to articulate feedback, you can
provide meaningful feedback to your workshop, even if you don’t feel like an expert
writer.
During the many iterations of revising, remember to be flexible and to listen. Seeing
your writing with fresh eyes requires you to step outside of yourself, figuratively.
Listen actively and seek to truly understand feedback by asking clarifying questions
and asking for examples. The reactions of your audience are a part of writing that you
cannot overlook, so revision ought to be driven by the responses of your colleagues.
On the other hand, remember that the ultimate choice to use or disregard feedback
is at the author’s discretion: provide all the suggestions you want as a group member,
but use your best judgment as an author. If members of your group disagree—great!
Contradictory feedback reminds us that writing is a dynamic, transactional action
which is dependent on the specific rhetorical audience.
Chapter Vocabulary
a medium, typically nonfiction, by which an author can achieve a

variety of purposes. Popularized by Michel de Montaigne as a
essay method of discovery of knowledge: in the original French,
“essay” is a verb that means “to try; to test; to explore; to attempt
to understand.”
448
uneconomical writing: filler language or unnecessarily wordy

phrasing. Although fluff occurs in a variety of ways, it can be
fluff generally defined as words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs
that do not work hard to help you achieve your rhetorical
purpose.
literally, a repetition within a process. The writing process is
iterative iterative because it is non-linear and because an author often has
to repeat, revisit, or reapproach different steps along the way.
the iterative process of changing a piece of writing. Literally, re-
vision: seeing your writing with “fresh eyes” in order to improve
it. Includes changes on Global, Local, and Proofreading levels.
Changes might include:
• rewriting (trying again, perhaps from a different angle or
with a different focus)
• adding (new information, new ideas, new evidence)
revision
• subtracting (unrelated ideas, redundant information, fluff)
• rearranging (finding more effective vectors or sequences
of organization)
• switching out (changing words or phrases, substituting
different evidence)
• mechanical clean-up (standardizing punctuation,
grammar, or formatting)
449
Revision Activities
Establishing Your Peer Workshop
Before you begin working with a group, it’s important for you to establish a set of
shared goals, expectations, and processes. You might spend a few minutes talking
through the following questions:
• Have you ever participated in a Peer Workshop before? What worked? What
didn’t?
• What do you hate about group projects? How might you mitigate these issues?
• What opportunities do group projects offer that working independently
doesn’t? What are you excited for?
• What requests do you have for your Peer Workshop group members?
In addition to thinking through the culture you want to create for your workshop
group, you should also consider the kind of feedback you want to exchange,
practically speaking. In order to arrive at a shared definition for “good feedback,” I
often ask my students to complete the following sentence as many times as possible
with their groupmates: “Good feedback is…”
The list could go on forever, but here a few that I emphasize:
“Good feedback is…”

not prescriptive (offers
kind actionable
suggestions, not demands)
cognizant of process (i.e.,
recognizes that a first draft respectful honest
isn’t a final draft)
comprehensive (i.e.,
specific global, local, and attentive
proofreading)
Once you’ve discussed the parameters for the learning community you’re building,
you can begin workshopping your drafts, asking, “What does the author do well and
what could they do better?” Personally, I prefer a workshop that’s conversational,
allowing the author and the audience to discuss the work both generally and
specifically; however, your group should use whatever format will be most valuable
for you. Before starting your workshop, try to get everyone on the same page
logistically by using the flowchart on the following two pages.
450
451
452
Global Revision Activity for a Narrative Essay

This assignment challenges you to try new approaches to a draft you’ve already
written. Although you will be “rewriting” in this exercise, you are not abandoning your
earlier draft: this exercise is generative, meaning it is designed to help you produce
new details, ideas, or surprising bits of language that you might integrate into your
project.
First, choose a part of your draft that (a) you really like but think could be better, or (b)
just isn’t working for you. This excerpt should be no fewer than 100 words and can
include your entire essay, if you want.
Then, complete your choice of one prompt from the list below: apply the instruction
to the excerpt to create new content. Read over your original once, but do not refer
back to it after you start writing. Your goal here is to deviate from the first version, not
reproduce it. The idea here is to produce something new about your topic through
constraint; you are reimagining your excerpt on a global scale.
After completing one prompt, go back to the original and try at least one more, or
apply a different prompt to your new work.
Change genres: For example, if your excerpt is written in typical essay form,
try writing it as poetry, or dialogue from a play/movie, or a radio
advertisement.
Zoom in: Focus on one image, color, idea, or word from your excerpt and
zoom way in. Meditate on this one thing with as much detail as possible.
Zoom out: Step back from the excerpt and contextualize it with background
information, concurrent events, information about relationship or feelings.
Change point-of-view: Try a new vantage point for your story by changing
pronouns and perspective. For instance, if your excerpt is in first-person
(I/me), switch to second- (you) or third-person (he/she/they).
Change setting: Resituate your excerpt in a different place, or time.
Change your audience: Rewrite the excerpt anticipating the expectations of a
different reader than you first intended. For example, if the original excerpt is
in the same speaking voice you would use with your friends, write as if your
strictest teacher or the president or your grandmother is reading it. If you’ve
written in an “academic” voice, try writing for your closest friend—use slang,
swear words, casual language, whatever.
453
Add another voice: Instead of just the speaker of the essay narrating, add a
listener. This listener can agree, disagree, question, heckle, sympathize,
apologize, or respond in any other way you can imagine. (See “the nay-
sayer’s voice” in Chapter Nine.)
Change timeline (narrative sequence): Instead of moving chronologically
forward, rearrange the events to bounce around.
Change tense: Narrate from a different vantage point by changing the
grammar. For example, instead of writing in past tense, write in present or
future tense.
Change tone: Reimagine your writing in a different emotional register. For
instance, if your writing is predominantly nostalgic, try a bitter tone. If you
seem regretful, try to write as if you were proud.
Reverse Outlining
Have you ever written an outline before writing a draft? It can be a useful pre-writing
strategy, but it doesn’t work for all writers. If you’re like me, you prefer to brain-dump
a bunch of ideas on the paper, then come back to organize and refocus during the
revision process. One strategy that can help you here is reverse outlining.
Divide a blank piece of paper into three columns, as demonstrated below. Number
each paragraph of your draft, and write an equal numbered list down the left column
of your blank piece of paper. Write “Idea” at the top of the middle column and
“Purpose” at the top of the right column.
Idea Purpose
¶
(What is the ¶ saying?) (What is the ¶ doing?)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
.
.
.
454
Now, wade back through your essay, identifying what each paragraph is saying and
what each paragraph is doing. Choose a few key words or phrases for each column to
record on your sheet of paper.
• Try to use consistent language throughout the reverse outline so you can see
where your paragraphs are saying or doing similar things.
• A paragraph might have too many different ideas or too many different
functions for you to concisely identify. This could be a sign that you need to
divide that paragraph up.
Here’s a student’s model reverse outline:1
Idea Purpose
¶
(What is the ¶ saying?) (What is the ¶ doing?)
Theatre is an important part of
Setting up and providing thesis
1 education and childhood
statement
development
There have been many changes in
2 recent history to public education in Providing context for thesis
the United States
Theatre programs in public schools
Providing context and giving urgency
3 have been on the decline over the
to the topic
past two decades
a) Theatre has social/emotional
4 benefits b) Theatre has academic Supporting and explaining thesis
benefits
a) Acknowledge argument in favor of
standardized testing Disarming audience, proposing a
5 b) STEAM curriculum incorporates solution to underfunded arts
arts education into other academic programs
subjects
Socioeconomic inequality is also an Acknowledging broader scope of

6
obstacle to theatre education topic
Looking forward at public education

Call to action, backing up and
7 reform, we should incorporate
restating thesis
theatre into public education
But wait—there’s more!

455
Once you have identified the idea(s) and purpose(s) of each paragraph, you can start
revising according to your observations. From the completed reverse outline, create
a new outline with a different sequence, organization, focus, or balance. You can
reorganize by
• combining or dividing paragraphs,
• re-arranging ideas, and
• adding or subtracting content.
Reverse outlining can also be helpful in identifying gaps and redundancies: now that
you have a new outline, do any of your ideas seem too brief? Do you need more
evidence for a certain argument? Do you see ideas repeated more than necessary?
After completing the reverse outline above, the student proposed this new
organization:2
Proposed changes based on reverse outline:

1
4a
4b
Combine 2 and 5a
Combine 3 and 6
5b
Write new paragraph on other solutions
7
You might note that this strategy can also be applied on the sentence and section
level. Additionally, if you are a kinesthetic or visual learner, you might cut your paper
into smaller pieces that you can physically manipulate.
Be sure to read aloud after reverse outlining to look for abrupt transitions.
You can see a simplified version of this technique demonstrated in this video.
456
Local Revision Activity: Cutting Fluff

When it’s late at night, the deadline is
approaching, and we’ve simply run out of
things to say… we turn to fluff. Fluff refers to
language which doesn’t do work for you—
language that simply takes up space or sits flat
on the page, rather than working economically
and impactfully. Whether or not you’ve used it
deliberately, all authors have been guilty of
fluffy writing at one time or another.
Fluff happens for a lot of reasons.

• Of course, reaching a word- or page-
count is the most common motivation.
• Introductions and conclusions are often
fluffy because the author can’t find a way
into or out of the subject, or because the author doesn’t know what their exact
subject will be.
• Sometimes, the presence of fluff is an indication that the author doesn’t know
enough about the subject or that their scope is too broad.
• Other times, fluffy language is deployed in an effort to sound “smarter” or
“fancier” or “more academic”—which is an understandable pitfall for
developing writers.
These circumstances, plus others, encourage us to use language that’s not as
effective, authentic, or economical. Fluff happens in a lot of ways; here are a few I’ve
noticed:
A writer uses inappropriately complex language (often because

Thesaurus of the right-click à Synonyms function) to achieve a different
Syndrome tone. The more complex language might be used inaccurately
or sound inauthentic because the author isn’t as familiar with it.
Rather than making a direct statement (“That man is a fool.”),

the author uses couching language or beats around the bush
Roundabout
(“If one takes into account each event, each decision, it would
phrasing
not be unwise for one to suggest that that man’s behaviors are
what some would call foolish.”)
457
If the author hasn’t quite figured out what they want to say or
Abstraction or
has a too broad of a scope, they might discuss an issue very
generalities
generally without committing to specific, engaging details.
An author might get off topic, accidentally or deliberately,

Digression
creating extraneous, irrelevant, or unconnected language.
Similarly to Thesaurus Syndrome, often referred to as “purple

Ornamentation or
prose,” an author might choose words that sound pretty or
flowery language
smart, but aren’t necessarily the right words for their ideas.
Even if the sentences an author creates are grammatically

Wordy sentences
correct, they might be wordier than necessary.
Of course, there’s a very fine line between detail and fluff. Avoiding fluff doesn’t mean
always using the fewest words possible. Instead, you should occasionally ask yourself
in the revision process, How is this part contributing to the whole? Is this somehow
building toward a bigger purpose? If the answer is no, then you need to revise.
The goal should not necessarily be “Don’t write fluff,” but rather “Learn to get rid of
fluff in revision.” In light of our focus on process, you are allowed to write fluff in the
drafting period, so long as you learn to “prune” during revisions. (I use the word
“prune” as an analogy for caring for a plant: just as you must cut the dead leaves off
for the plant’s health and growth, you will need to cut fluff so your writing can thrive.)
Here are a few strategies:

• Read out loud,
• Ask yourself what a sentence is doing, rhetorically,
• Combine like sentences, phrases, or ideas,
• Use signposts, like topic-transition sentences (for yourself during revision and
for your reader in the final draft), and
• Be specific—stay cognizant of your scope (globally) and the detail of your
writing (locally).
To practice revising for fluff, workshop the following excerpt by yourself or with a
partner. Your goal is not to cut back to the smallest number of words, but rather to
458
prune out what you consider to be fluff and leave what you consider to be detail. You
should be able to explain the choices you make.
There was a time long before today when an event occurred involving a young woman
who was known to the world as Goldilocks. On the particular day at hand, Goldilocks
made a spontaneous decision to wander through the forest, the trees growing up high
above her flowing blonde pigtails. Some time after she commenced her voyage, but
not after too long, she saw sitting on the horizon a small residency. Goldilocks rapped
her knuckles on the door, but alas, no one answered the door. Therefore, Goldilocks
decided that it would be a good idea to enter the unattended house, so she entered it.
Atop the average-sized table in the kitchen of the house, there were three bowls of
porridge, which is similar to oatmeal. Porridge is a very common dish in Europe; in
fact, the Queen of England is well-known for enjoying at least one daily bowl of
porridge per day. Goldilocks, not unlike the Queen of England, enjoys eating porridge
for its nutritional value. On this day, she was feeling quite hungry and wanted to eat.
She decided that she should taste one of the three bowls of porridge, from which
steam was rising indicating its temperature. But, because she apparently couldn’t tell,
she imbibed a spoonful of the porridge and vocalized the fact that the porridge was of
too high a temperature for her to masticate and consume: “This porridge is too hot!”
Appendix A Endnotes
1
Reverse outline by Jacob Alexander, Portland Community College, 2018.
2
Ibid.
459
Appendix B: Engaged Reading Strategies
Appendix B
Engaged Reading Strategies
There are a lot of ways to become a better writer, but the best way I know is to read a
lot. Why? Not only does attentive reading help you understand grammar and
mechanics more intuitively, but it also allows you to develop your personal voice and
critical worldviews more deliberately. By
encountering a diversity of styles, voices, and
perspectives, you are likely to identify the ideas
and techniques that resonate with you; while your
voice is distinctly yours, it is also a unique
synthesis of all the other voices you’ve been
exposed to.
But it is important to acknowledge that the way we

read matters. At some point in your academic
career, you’ve probably encountered the terms
“active reading” or “critical reading.” But what exactly does active reading entail?
It begins with an acknowledgment that reading, like writing, is a process: active

reading is complex, iterative, and recursive, consisting of a variety of different
cognitive actions. Furthermore, we must recognize that the reading process can be
approached many different ways, based on our backgrounds, strengths, and
purposes.
However, many people don’t realize that there’s more than one way to read; our early
training as readers fosters a very narrow vision of critical literacy. For many
generations in many cultures across the world, developing reading ability has
generally trended toward efficiency and comprehension of main ideas. Your family,
teachers, and other folks who taught you to read trained you to read in particular
ways. Most often, novice readers are encouraged to ignore detail and nuance in the
name of focus: details are distracting. Those readers also tend to project their
assumptions on a text. This practice, while useful for global understanding of a text, is
only one way to approach reading; by itself, it does not constitute “engaged reading.”
In her landmark article on close reading, Jane Gallop explains that ignoring details
while reading is effective, but also problematic:
460
When the reader concentrates on the familiar, she is reassured that what
she already knows is sufficient in relation to this new book. Focusing on the
surprising, on the other hand, would mean giving up the comfort of the
familiar, of the already known for the sake of learning, of encountering
something new, something she didn’t already know.
In fact, this all has to do with learning. Learning is very difficult; it takes a
lot of effort. It is of course much easier if once we learn something we can
apply what we have learned again and again. It is much more difficult if every
time we confront something new, we have to learn something new.
Reading what one expects to find means finding what one already knows.
Learning, on the other hand, means coming to know something one did not
know before. Projecting is the opposite of learning. As long as we project onto
a text, we cannot learn from it, we can only find what we already know. Close
reading is thus a technique to make us learn, to make us see what we don’t
already know, rather than transforming the new into the old.1
To be engaged readers, we must avoid projecting our preconceived notions onto a

text. To achieve deep, complex understanding, we must consciously attend to a text
using a variety of strategies.
The following strategies are implemented by all kinds of critical readers; some
readers even use a combination of these strategies. Like the writing process, though,
active reading looks different for everyone. These strategies work really well for some
people, but not for others: I encourage you to experiment with them, as well as others
not covered here, to figure out what your ideal critical reading process looks like.
Chapter Vocabulary
engaged reading strategy by which a reader marks up a text with

annotation
their notes, questions, new vocabulary, ideas, and emphases.
also referred to in this text as engaged reading, a set of
critical/active
strategies and concepts to interrupt projection and focus on a
reading
text.
an engaged reading strategy to improve comprehension and
SQ3R
interrupt projection. Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review.
461
Annotation
Annotation is the most common and one of the
most useful engaged reading strategies. You
might know it better as “marking up” a text.
Annotating a reading is visual evidence to your
teacher that you read something—but more
importantly, it allows you to focus on the text
itself by asking questions and making notes to
yourself to spark your memory later.
Take a look at the sample annotation on the

next page. Note that the reader here is doing
several different things:
• Underlining important words, phrases,
and sentences.
Many studies have shown that
underlining or highlighting alone does
not improve comprehension or recall;
however, limited underlining can draw
your eye back to curious phrases as you
re-read, discuss, or analyze a text.
• Writing marginal notes.
Even though you can’t fit complex ideas in the margins, you can:
o use keywords to spark your memory,
o track your reactions,
o remind yourself where an important argument is,
o define unfamiliar words,
o draw illustrations to think through an image or idea visually, or
o make connections to other texts.
In addition to taking notes directly on the text itself, you might also write a brief
summary with any white space left on the page. As we learned in Chapter Two,
summarizing will help you process information, ensure that you understand what
you’ve read, and make choices about which elements of the text to focus on.
For a more guided process for annotating an argument, follow these steps from Brian
Gazaille,2 a teacher at University of Oregon:
Most “kits” that you find in novelty stores give you materials and instructions
about how to construct an object: a model plane, a bicycle, a dollhouse. This
462
kit asks you to deconstruct one of our readings, identifying its thesis, breaking
down its argument, and calling attention to the ways it supports its ideas.
Dissecting a text is no easy task, and this assignment is designed to help you
understand the logic and rhetoric behind what you just read.
Print out a clean copy of the text and annotate it as follows:

1. With a black pen, underline the writer’s thesis. If you think the thesis
occurs over several sentences, underline all of them. If you think the text has
an implicit (present but unstated) thesis, underline the section that comes
closest to being the thesis and rewrite it as a thesis in the margins of the
paper.
2. With a different color pen, underline the “steps” of the argument. In
the margins of the paper, paraphrase those steps and say whether or
not you agree with them. To figure out the steps of the argument, ask:
What was the author’s thesis? What ideas did they need to talk about to
support that thesis? Where and how does each paragraph discuss those
ideas? Do you agree with those ideas?
3. With a different color pen, put [brackets] around any key terms or
difficult concepts that the author uses, and define those terms in the
margins of the paper.
4. With a different color pen, describe the writer’s persona at the top of
the first page. What kind of person is “speaking” the essay? What kind of
expertise do they have? What kind of vocabulary do they use? How do they
treat their intended audiences, or what do they assume about you, the
reader?
5. Using a highlighter, identify any rhetorical appeals (logos, pathos,
ethos). In the margins, explain how the passage works as an appeal.
Ask: What is the passage asking you to buy into? How does it prompt me to
reason (logos), feel (pathos), or believe (ethos)?
6. At the end of the text, and in any color pen, write any questions or
comments or questions you have for the author. What strikes you as
interesting/odd/infuriating/ insightful about the argument? Why? What do
you think the author has yet to discuss, either unconsciously or purposely?
For a more guided process for annotating a short story or memoir, follow these steps
from Brian Gazaille,3 a teacher at University of Oregon:
Most “kits” that you find in novelty stores give you materials and instructions
about how to construct an object: a model plane, a bicycle, a dollhouse. This
463
kit asks you to deconstruct one of our readings, identifying its thesis, breaking
down its argument, and calling attention to the ways it supports its ideas.
Dissecting a text is no easy task, and this assignment is designed to help you
understand the logic and rhetoric behind what you just read.
Print out a clean copy of the text and annotate it as follows:

1. In one color, chart the story’s plot. Identify these elements in the margins
of the text by writing the appropriate term next to the corresponding part[s]
of the story. (Alternatively, draw a chart on a separate piece of paper.)
Your plot chart must include the following terms: exposition, rising action,
crisis, climax, falling action, dénouement.
2. At the top of the first page, identify the story’s point of view as fully as
possible. (Who is telling the story? What kind of narration is given?) In the
margins, identify any sections of text in which the narrator’s
position/intrusion becomes significant.
3. Identify your story’s protagonist and highlight sections of text that supply
character description or motivation, labeling them in the margins. In a
different color, do the same for the antagonist(s) of the story.
4. Highlight (in a different color) sections of the text that describe the story’s
setting. Remember, this can include place, time, weather, and atmosphere.
Briefly discuss the significance of the setting, where appropriate.
5. With a different color, identify key uses of figurative language—metaphors,
similes, and personifications—by [bracketing] that section of text and
writing the appropriate term.
6. In the margins, identify two distinctive lexicons (“word themes” or kinds of
vocabulary) at work in your story. Highlight (with new colors) instances of
those lexicons.
7. Annotate the story with any comments or questions you have. What strikes
you as interesting? Odd? Why? What makes you want to talk back? Does
any part of the text remind you of something else you’ve read or seen?
Why?
SQ3R
This is far and away the most underrated engaged reading strategy I know: the few
students I’ve had who know about it swear by it.
The SQ3R (or SQRRR) strategy has five steps:

464
Survey (or Skim): Get a general idea of the text to prime your brain for
new information. Look over the entire text, keeping an eye out for
bolded terms, section headings, the “key” thesis or argument, and
other elements that jump out at you. An efficient and effective way to
Before reading
skim is by looking at the first and last sentences of each paragraph.
Question: After a quick overview, bring yourself into curiosity mode

by developing a few questions about the text. Developing questions
is a good way to keep yourself engaged, and it will guide your
reading as you proceed.
• What do you anticipate about the ideas contained in the text?
• What sort of biases or preoccupations do you think the text will
reflect?
Read: Next, you should read the text closely and thoroughly, using
other engaged reading strategies you’ve learned.
• Annotate the text: underline/highlight important passages and
make notes to yourself in the margins.
• Record vocabulary words you don’t recognize.
• Pause every few paragraphs to check in with yourself and make
sure you’re confident about what you just read.
• Take notes on a separate page as you see fit.
Recite: As you’re reading, take small breaks to talk to yourself aloud While reading
about the ideas and information you’re processing. I know this seems
childish, but self-talk is actually really important and really effective.
(It’s only as adolescents that we develop this aversion to talking to
ourselves because it’s frowned upon socially.) If you feel
uncomfortable talking to yourself, try to find a willing second party—a
friend, roommate, classmate, significant other, family member, etc.—
who will listen. If you have a classmate with the same reading
assignment, practice this strategy collaboratively!
465
Review: When you’re finished reading, spend a few minutes “wading”

back through the text: not diving back in and re-reading, but getting
After reading
ankle-deep to refresh yourself. Reflect on the ideas the text
considered, information that surprised you, the questions that remain
unanswered or new questions you have, and the text’s potential use-
value. The Cornell note-taking system recommends that you write a
brief summary, but you can also free-write or talk through the main
points that you remember. If you’re working with a classmate, try
verbally summarizing.
Double-Column Notes
This note-taking strategy seems very simple at first pass, but will help keep you
organized as you interact with a reading.
Divide a clean sheet of paper into two columns; on

the left, make a heading for “Notes and Quotes,”
and on the right, “Questions and Reactions.” As
you read and re-read, jot down important ideas
and words from the text on the left, and record
your intellectual and emotional reactions on the
right. Be sure to ask prodding questions of the text
along the way, too!
By utilizing both columns, you are reminding

yourself to stay close to the text (left side) while
also evaluating how that text acts on you (right
side). This method strengthens the connection you
build with a reading.
Increasing Reading Efficiency

Although reading speed is not the most important part of reading, we often find
ourselves with too much to read and too little time. Especially when you’re working
on an inquiry-based research project, you’ll encounter more texts than you could
possibly have time to read thoroughly. Here are a few quick tips:
466
Encountering an Article in a Hurry:

Some articles, especially scholarly articles, have abstracts. An abstract is
typically an overview of the discussion, interests, and findings of an article; it’s a
lot like a summary. Using the abstract, you can get a rough idea of the contents
of an article and determine whether it’s worth reading more closely.
Some articles will have a conclusion set off at the end of the article. Often,
these conclusions will summarize the text and its main priorities. You can read
the conclusion before reading the rest of the article to see if its final destination
is compatible with yours.
If you’re working on a computer with search-enabled article PDFs, webpages,
or documents, use the “Find” function (Ctrl + F on a PC and ⌘ + F on a Mac) to
locate keywords. It’s possible that you know what you’re looking for: use
technology to get you there faster.
Encountering a Book in a Hurry:

Although print books are more difficult to speed-read, they are very valuable
resources for a variety of reading and writing situations. To get a broad idea of a
book’s contents, try the following steps:
Check the Table of Contents and the Index. At the front and back of the book,
respectively, these resources provide more key terms, ideas, and topics that
may or may not seem relevant to your study.
If you’ve found something of interest in the Table of Contents and/or Index,
turn to the chapter/section of interest. Read the first paragraph, the
(approximate) middle two to three paragraphs, and the last paragraph.
Anything catch your eye? (If not, it may be worth moving on.)
If the book has an introduction, read it: many books will develop their focus
and conceptual frameworks in this section, allowing you to determine whether
the text will be valuable for your purposes.
Finally, check out this video that has both practical tips to increase reading
speed and conceptual reminders about the learning opportunities that reading
creates.
Appendix B Endnotes
1
Gallop 11.
2
This activity was developed by Brian Gazaille, University of Oregon, 2018.
Reproduced with permission of the author.
3
Ibid.
467
Appendix C: Metacognition
Appendix C:
Metacognition
Glaciers are known for their magnificently
slow movement. To the naked eye, they
appear to be giant sheets of ice; however,
when observed over long periods of time,
we can tell that they are actually rivers
made of ice.1
Despite their pace, though, glaciers are

immensely powerful. You couldn’t notice in the
span of your own lifetime, but glaciers carve out
deep valleys (like the one to the right) and grind
the earth down to bedrock.2 Massive changes to
the landscape and ecosystem take place over
hundreds of thousands of years, making them
difficult to observe from a human vantage point.
However, humans too are always changing, even within our brief lifetimes. No matter
how stable our sense of self, we are constantly in a state of flux, perpetually changing
as a result of our experiences and our context. Like with glaciers, we can observe
change with the benefit of time; on the other hand, we might not perceive the
specific ways in which we grow on a daily basis. When change is gradual, it is easy to
overlook.
Particularly after challenging learning experiences, like those embraced by this

textbook, it is crucial that you reflect on the impact those challenges had on your
knowledge or skillsets, your worldviews, and your relationships.
Throughout your studies, I encourage you to occasionally pause to evaluate your

progress, set new goals, and cement your recent learning. If nothing else, take 10
minutes once a month to free-write about where you were, where you are, and where
you hope to be.
468
You may recognize some of these ideas from Chapter 3: indeed, what I’m talking
about is the rhetorical gesture of reflection. Reflection is “looking back in order to
look forward,” a way of peering back through time to draw insight from an experience
that will support you (and your audience) as you move into the future.
I would like to apply this concept in a different context, though: instead of reflecting
on an experience that you have narrated, as you may have in Section 1, you will
reflect on the progress you’ve made as a critical consumer and producer of rhetoric
through a metacognitive reflection.
Simply put, metacognition means “thinking about

thinking.” For our purposes, though, metacognition
means thinking about how thinking evolves. Reflection on
your growth as a writer requires you to evaluate how your
cognitive and rhetorical approaches have changed.
In this context, your metacognitive reflection can evaluate

two distinct components of your learning:
• Concepts that have impacted you: New ideas or
approaches to rhetoric or writing that have impacted the way you write, read,
think, or understanding of the world.
o Ex: Radical Noticing, Inquiry-Based Research
• Skills that have impacted you: Specific actions or techniques you can apply
to your writing, reading, thinking, or understanding of the world.
o Ex: Reverse Outlining, Imagery Inventory
Of course, because we are “looking back in order to look forward,” the concepts and
skills that you identify should support a discussion of how those concepts and skills
will impact your future with rhetoric, writing, the writing process, or thinking
processes. Your progress to this point is important, but it should enable even more
progress in the future.
Chapter Vocabulary
literally, “thinking about thinking.” May also include how thinking
metacognition
evolves and reflection on growth.
469
Metacognitive Activities
There are a variety of ways to practice metacognition. The following activities will help
you generate ideas for a metacognitive reflection. Additionally, though, a highly
productive means of evaluating growth is to look back through work from earlier in
your learning experience. Drafts, assignments, and notes documented your skills and
understanding at a certain point in time, preserving an earlier version of you to
contrast with your current position and abilities, like artifacts in a museum. In addition
to the following activities, you should compare your current knowledge and skills to
your previous efforts.
Writing Home from Camp

For this activity, you should write a letter to someone who is not affiliated with your
learning community: a friend or family member who has nothing to do with your class
or study of writing. Because they haven’t been in this course with you, imagine they
don’t know anything about what we’ve studied.
Your purpose in the letter is to summarize your learning for an audience unfamiliar
with the guiding concepts or skills encountered in your writing class. Try to boil down
your class procedures, your own accomplishments, important ideas, memorable
experiences, and so on.
Metacognitive Interview
With one or two partners, you will conduct an interview to generate ideas for your
metacognitive reflection. You can also complete this activity independently, but there
are a number of advantages to working collaboratively: your partner(s) may have
ideas that you hadn’t thought of; you may find it easier to think out loud than on
paper; and you will realize that many of your challenges have been shared.
During this exercise, one person should interview another, writing down answers
while the interviewee speaks aloud. Although the interviewer can ask clarifying
questions, the interviewee should talk most. For each question, the interviewee
should speak for 1-2 minutes. Then, for after 1-2 minutes, switch roles and respond to
470
the same question. Alternate the role of

interviewer and interviewee for each question
such that every member gets 1-2 minutes to
respond while the other member(s) takes
notes.
After completing all of the questions,

independently free-write for five minutes. You
can make note of recurring themes, identify
surprising ideas, and fill in responses that you
didn’t think of at the time.
• What accomplishments are you proud of from this term—in this class, another
class, or your non-academic life?
• What activities, assignments, or experiences from this course have been most
memorable for you? Most important?
• What has surprised you this term—in a good way or a bad way?
• Which people in your learning community have been most helpful, supportive,
or respectful?
• Has your perspective on writing, research, revision, (self-)education, or critical
thinking changed this term? How so?
• What advice would you give to the beginning-of-the-term version of yourself?
471

Model Metacognitive Reflection 13
I somehow ended up putting off taking this class until the very end of my
college career. Thus, coming into it I figured that it would be a breeze because I’d
already spent the past four years writing and refining my skills. What I quickly
realized is that these skills have become extremely narrow; specifically focused in
psychological research papers. Going through this class has truly equipped me with
the skills to be a better, more organized, and more diverse writer.
I feel that the idea generation and revision exercises that we did were most
beneficial to my growth as a writer. Generally, when I have a paper that I have to
write, I anxiously attempt to come up with things that I could write about in my head.
I also organize said ideas into papers in my head; rarely conceptualizing them on
paper. Instead I just come up with an idea in my head, think about how I’m going to
write it, then I sit down and dive straight into the writing. Taking the time to really
generate various ideas and free write about them not only made me realize how much
I have to write about, but also helped me to choose the best topic for the paper that I
had to write. I’m sure that there have been many times in the past when I have simply
written a paper on the first idea that came to my mind when I likely could have
written a better paper on something else if I really took the time to flesh different
ideas out.
Sharing my thoughts, ideas, and writings with my peers and with you have
been a truly rewarding experience. I realized through this process that I frequently
assume my ideas aren’t my comfort zone in this class and forced myself to present the
ideas that I really wanted to talk about, even though I felt they weren’t all that
interesting. What I came to experience is that people were really interested in what I
had to say and the topics in which I chose to speak about were both important and
interesting. This class has made me realize how truly vulnerable the writing process is.
472
This class has equipped me with the skills to listen to my head and my heart
when it comes to what I want to write about, but to also take time to generate multiple
ideas. Further, I have realized the important of both personal and peer revision in the
writing process. I’ve learned the importance of stepping away from a paper that you’ve
been staring at for hours and that people generally admire vulnerability in writing.
Model Metacognitive Reflection 24

I entered class this term having written virtually nothing but short
correspondence or technical documents for years. While I may have a decent grasp of
grammar, reading anything I wrote was a slog. This class has helped me identify
specific problems to improve my own writing and redefine writing as a worthwhile
process and study tool rather than just a product. It has also helped me see ulterior
motives of a piece of writing to better judge a source or see intended manipulation.
This focus on communication and revision over perfection was an awakening
for me. As I’ve been writing structured documents for years, I’ve been focusing on
structure and grammatical correctness over creating interesting content or
brainstorming and exploring new ideas. Our class discussions and the article “Shitty
First Drafts” have taught me that writing is a process, not a product. The act of
putting pen to paper and letting ideas flow out has value in itself, and while those
ideas can be organized later for a product they should first be allowed to wander and
be played with.
Another technique I first encountered in this class was that of the annotated
bibliography. Initially this seemed only like extra work that may prove useful to a
reader or a grader. After diving further into my own research however, it was an
invaluable reference to organize my sources and guide the research itself. Not only did
it provide a paraphrased library of my research, it also shined light on patterns in my
sources that I would not have noticed otherwise. I’ve already started keeping my own
473
paraphrased notes along with sources in other classes, and storing my sources
together to maintain a personal library.
People also say my writing is dry, but I could never pin down the problem they
were driving at. This class was my first exposure to the terms logos, ethos, and pathos,
and being able to name and identify different styles of argumentation helped me
realize that I almost exclusively use logos in my own writing. Awareness of these styles
let me contrast my own writing with how extensively used paths and ethos are in most
nonfiction writing found in books and news articles. I’ve noticed how providing
example stories or posing questions can keep readers engaged while meaningfully
introducing sources in the text, rather than as a parenthetical aside, improves the flow
of writing and helps statements land with more authority.
As for narrative writing, I found the Global Revision Exercise for the first essay
particularly interesting. To take a piece of writing and intentionally force a different
voice or perspective on it showed how I can take improve a boring part of my paper by
using a unique voice or style. This could be useful for expanding on reflective sections
to evoke a particular feeling in the reader, or in conjunction with the Image Building
Exercise to pull the reader into a specific moment.
This class was a requirement for me from which I didn’t expect to gain much.
English classes I have taken in the past focused on formulaic writing and grammar or
vague literary analysis, and I expected more of the same. Ultimately, I was pleasantly
surprised by the techniques covered which are immediately applicable in other classes
and more concrete analysis of rhetoric which made the vague ideas touched on before
reach a more tangible clarity.
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Appendix C Endnotes
1
“Glaciers of Glacier Bay National Park.” National Park Service, U.S. Department of the
Interior, 12 March 2018, https://www.nps.gov/glba/learn/kidsyouth/glaciers-
of-glacier-bay-national-park.htm.
2
Ibid.
3
Essay by an anonymous student author, 2017. Reproduced with permission from the
student author.
4
Essay by Benjamin Duncan, Portland State University, 2017. Reproduced with
475
Additional Recommended Resources
Additional Recommended
Resources
“Students' Right to Their Own Language” from NCTE’s Conference on
College Composition and Communication
http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Groups/CCCC/NewSRTOL.pdf
“Revising Drafts” by the Writing Center at University of North Carolina

at Chapel Hill
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/revising-drafts/
“’I need you to say “I”’: Why First Person Is Important in College
Writing” by Kate McKinney Maddalena
http://parlorpress.com/pdf/mckinney-maddalena--i-need-you-to-say-i.pdf
“Annoying Ways People Use Sources” by Kyle D. Stedman
https://wac.colostate.edu/books/writingspaces2/stedman--annoying-ways.pdf
Your Logical Fallacy Is…
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/
“Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott
from Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anchor, pp 21-27.
“Argument as Emergence, Rhetoric as Love” by Jim W. Corder
http://www.jstor.org/stable/465760
476
Additional Recommended Resources
“The Ethics of Reading: Close Encounters” by Jane Gallop
from Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, volume 16, issue 3, 2000, pp. 7-17.
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Home: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
MLA Style & Citation: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/11/
APA Style & Citation: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/10/
Chicago/Turabian Style & Citation: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/12/
A Pocket Style Manual (7th edition, 2016), edited by Diana Hacker

and Nancy Sommers
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1011848718
https://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Style-Manual-2016-Update/dp/1319083528
North Carolina State University Citation Builder
https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/citationbuilder/
Citation Management Software

Overview Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCTizduU54o
Zotero: https://www.zotero.org/
Mendeley: https://www.mendeley.com/
477
Glossary
Glossary
analysis the cognitive process and/or rhetorical mode of studying
constituent parts to demonstrate an interpretation of a
larger whole.
annotated a research tool that organizes citations with a brief
bibliography paragraph for each source examined.
annotation engaged reading strategy by which a reader marks up a text
with their notes, questions, new vocabulary, ideas, and
emphases.
argument a rhetorical mode in which different perspectives on a
common issue are negotiated. See Aristotelian and
Rogerian arguments.
Aristotelian a mode of argument by which a writer attempts to convince
argument their audience that one perspective is accurate.
audience the intended consumers for a piece of rhetoric. Every text
has at least one audience; sometimes, that audience is
directly addressed, and other times we have to infer.
authorial intent the inferred or speculated intention of a writer. Must be
overlooked in the process of text wrestling analysis.
believer a posture from which to read; reader makes efforts to
appreciate, understand, and agree with the text they
encounter.
blockquote a direct quote of more than four lines which is reformatted
according to stylistic guidelines.
bootstrapping the process of finding new sources using hyperlinked
subject tags in the search results of a database.
call-to-action a persuasive writer’s directive to their audience; usually
located toward the end of a text. Compare with purpose.
characterization the process by which an author builds characters; can be
accomplished directly or indirectly.
citation mining the process of using a text’s citations, bibliography, or notes
to track down other similar or related sources.
claim of evaluation an argument determining relative value (i.e., better, best,
worse, worst). Requires informed judgment based on
evidence and a consistent metric.
478
Glossary
claim of an argument exploring a measurable but arguable

phenomenon happening. Typically more straightforward than other
claims, but should still be arguable and worth discussion.
claim of policy an argument that proposes a plan of action to address an
issue. Articulates a stance that requires action, often
informed by understanding of both phenomenon and
evaluation. Often uses the word “should.” See call-to-action.
close reading a technique of reading that focuses attention on features of
the text to construct an interpretation. (This is in contrast to
interpretive methods that rely on research, historical context,
biography, or speculation.)
complaint tradition the recurring social phenomenon in which a generation
complains about the way things have changed since their
earlier years. Coined by Leonard Greenbaum.
confirmation bias a cognitive bias by which a person seeks only ideas which
confirm their existing worldview, thus convincing themselves
that that worldview is universal and/or truthful.
connotation the associated meanings of a word, phrase, or idea beyond
its ‘dictionary’ definition; the complex, subjective, and
dynamic meanings of a word, phrase, or idea the shift based
on interpretive position. Contrast with denotation.
constraint-based a writing technique by which an author tries to follow a rule
writing or set of rules in order to create more experimental or
surprising content, popularized by the Oulipo school of
writers.
CRAAP Test a technique for evaluating the credibility and use-value of a
source; researcher considers the Currency, Relevance,
Accuracy, Authority, and Purpose of the source to
determine if it is trustworthy and useful.
credibility the degree to which a text—its content, its author, and/or its
publisher—is trustworthy and accurate.
critical/active also referred to in this text as “engaged reading,” a set of
reading strategies and concepts to interrupt projection and focus on
a text. See Appendix B: Engaged Reading Strategies.
defamiliarization a method of reading, writing, and thinking that emphasizes
the interruption of automatization. Established as
“остранение” (“estrangement”) by Viktor Shklovsky,
defamiliarization attempts to turn the everyday into the
strange, eye-catching, or dramatic.
479
Glossary
denotation the dictionary definition of a word, phrase, or idea; the

standard and objective meaning of a word, phrase, or idea
which, theoretically, does not vary based on interpretive
position. Contrast with connotation.
description a rhetorical mode that emphasizes eye-catching, specific,
and vivid portrayal of a subject. Often integrates imagery
and thick description to this end.
dialogue a communication between two or more people. Can include
any mode of communication, including speech, texting, e-
mail, Facebook post, body language, etc.
direct quote the verbatim use of another author’s words. Can be used as
evidence to support your claim, or as language to
analyze/close-read to demonstrate an interpretation or
insight.
diegetic gap from “diegesis,” the temporal distance between a first-
person narrator narrating and the same person acting in the
plot events. I.e., the space between author-as-author and
author-as-character.
doubter a posture from which to read; reader makes efforts to
challenge, critique, or undermine the text they encounter.
dynamic character a character who noticeably changes within the scope of a
narrative, typically as a result of the plot events and/or other
characters. Contrast with static character.
epiphany a character’s sudden realization of a personal or universal
truth. See dynamic character.
essay a medium, typically nonfiction, by which an author can
achieve a variety of purposes. Popularized by Michel de
Montaigne as a method of discovery of knowledge: in the
original French, “essay” is a verb that means “to try; to test;
to explore; to attempt to understand.”
ethnography a study of a particular culture, subculture, or group of
people. Uses thick description to explore a place and its
associated culture.
ethos a rhetorical appeal based on authority, credibility, or
expertise.
evidence a part or combination of parts that lends support or proof to
an arguable topic, idea, or interpretation.
480
Glossary
figurative language language which implies a meaning that is not to be taken

literally. Common examples include metaphor, simile,
personification, onomatopoeia, and hyperbole.
flat character a character who is minimally detailed, only briefly sketched
or named. Generally less central to the events and
relationships portrayed in a narrative. Contrast with round
character.
fluff uneconomical writing: filler language or unnecessarily
wordy phrasing. Although fluff occurs in a variety of ways, it
can be generally defined as words, phrases, sentences, or
paragraphs that do not work hard to help you achieve your
rhetorical purpose.
genre a specific category, subcategory, style, form, or medium (or
“generic imperative,” which is an expectation or set of
expectations an audience holds for a particular genre of
rhetoric; the foundational assumptions that particular genres
carry.
imagery sensory language; literal or figurative language that appeals
to an audience’s imagined sense of sight, sound, smell,
touch, or taste.
inquiry-based research and research writing that is motivated by questions,
research not by answers.
interpretation the process of consuming rhetoric to create meaning. “An

patterns.
interpretive the unique position from which each of us interprets a text—
position necessarily different for all people at any given time, and
often different for the same person at different times in their
life. Impacted by your purpose, posture, lens, and
background.
iterative literally, a repetition within a process. The writing process is
iterative because it is non-linear and because an author
often has to repeat, revisit, or reapproach different steps
along the way. Analysis is iterative because it requires
repeated critical encounters with a text.
481
Glossary
kairos the setting (time and place) or atmosphere in which an

argument is actionable or ideal. Consider alongside
“occasion.”
lens a metaphor for the conceptual framework a reader applies
to an analysis. A “lens” brings certain elements into focus,
allowing the reader to attend to specific parts of a text to
develop an interpretation.
logical fallacy a line of logical reasoning which follows a pattern of that
makes an error in its basic structure. For example, Kanye
West is on TV; Animal Planet is on TV. Therefore, Kanye West
is on Animal Planet.
logos a rhetorical appeal to logical reasoning.
medium the channel, technology, or form through which rhetoric is
constructed and communicated. Different rhetorical
situations value different media, and different media value
different kinds of rhetoric.
metacognition literally, “thinking about thinking.” May also include how
thinking evolves and reflection on growth.
mode the style and techniques employed by of a piece of rhetoric
to achieve its purpose. Different rhetorical situations value
different modes, and different modes value different kinds
of rhetoric. Compare to genre.
mood the emotional dimension which a reader experiences while
encountering a text. Compare with tone.
motif a recurring image or phrase that helps convey a theme.
Similar to a symbol, but the relationship between symbol
and symbolized is more one-to-one than between motif and
theme.
multimedia / a term describing a text that combines more than one media
multigenre and/or more than one genre (e.g., an essay with embedded
images; a portfolio with essays, poetry, and comic strips; a
mixtape with song reviews).
multipartial a neologism from ‘impartial,’ refers to occupying and
appreciating a variety of perspectives rather than
pretending to have no perspective. Rather than unbiased or
neutral, multipartial writers are balanced, acknowledging
and respecting many different ideas.
narration a rhetorical mode involving the construction and relation of
482
Glossary
narrative pacing the speed with which a story progresses through plot
events. Can be influenced by reflective and descriptive
writing.
narrative scope the boundaries of a narrative in time, space, perspective,
and focus.
narrative sequence the order of events included in a narrative.
the naysayer’s voice a voice that disagrees with the writer or speaker included
within the text itself. Can be literal or imaginary. Helps
author respond to criticism, transition between ideas, and
manage argumentation.
occasion the sociohistorical circumstances that prompt the
production of a piece of rhetoric, determined by personal
experiences, current events, language, and culture. Every
text has an occasion.
ongoing an analogy for the network of discourse surrounding a topic,
conversation issue, or idea. Adopted from Kenneth Burke.
paraphrase author reiterates a main idea, argument, or detail of a text in
their own words without drastically altering the length of the
pathos a rhetorical appeal to emotion.
pattern a notable sequence; structure or shape; recurring image,

word, or phrase found in a piece of rhetoric.
plot the events included within the scope of a narrative.
point-of-view the perspective from which a story is told, determining both

grammar (pronouns) and perspective (speaker’s awareness
of events, thoughts, and circumstances).
primacy effect a psychological effect experienced by most audiences: the
opening statements of a text are more memorable than
much of the content because they leave a ‘first impression’
in the audience’s memory. See recency effect.
process a complex and multifaceted sequence that results in a
product. As applied in “writing process,” non-linear and
iterative. Contrast with product.
product the end result of a creative process. Often shows little
evidence of the process that created it.
483
Glossary
projection an automatized method of reading and encountering the

world by which a person allows their current assumptions to
determine the content and nature of their encounters.
Contradicts genuine learning. See confirmation bias.
Adopted from Jane Gallop.
purpose the intended result of a piece of rhetoric. Can be stated
using an infinitive verb phrase (“to entertain,” “to persuade,”
“to explain”). Every text has at least one purpose, sometimes
declared explicitly, and other times implied or hidden.
recency effect a psychological effect experienced by most audiences: the

concluding statements of a text are more memorable than
much of the content because they are more recent in the
audience’s memory. See primacy effect.
reference a connection a text makes to another text. Can be explicit or

implicit; might include allusion, allegory, quotation, or
parody. Referencing text adopts some characteristics of the
referenced text.
reflection a rhetorical gesture by which an author looks back, through

the diegetic gap, to demonstrate knowledge or
understanding gained from the subject on which they are
reflecting. May also include consideration of the impact of
that past subject on the author’s future—“Looking back in
order to look forward.”
research a question, series of questions, or inquisitive topic that
question/path of guides an inquiry-based research project.
inquiry
response a mode of writing that values the reader’s experience of and

reactions to a text. Should also unpack what parts of the text
contribute to that experience in an effort to practice
analytical thinking.
484
Glossary
revision the iterative process of changing a piece of writing. Literally,

re-vision: seeing your writing with “fresh eyes” in order to
improve it. Includes changes on Global, Local, and
Proofreading levels. Changes might include:
• rewriting (trying again, perhaps from a different angle
or with a different focus)
• adding (new information, new ideas, new evidence)
• subtracting (unrelated ideas, redundant information,
fluff)
• rearranging (finding more effective vectors or
sequences of organization)
• switching out (changing words or phrases,
substituting different evidence)
• mechanical clean-up (standardizing punctuation,
grammar, or formatting)
rhetoric a combination of textual strategies designed* to do
something to someone. In other words, ‘rhetoric’ refers to
language, video, images, or other symbols (or some
combination of these) that informs, entertains, persuades,
compels, or otherwise impacts an audience.
* Note: whether or not a text is

deliberately designed to achieve
a purpose, it will still have an
impact. See authorial intent.
rhetorical appeal a means by which a writer or speaker connects with their
audience to achieve their purpose. Most commonly refers to
logos, pathos, and ethos.
rhetorical situation the circumstances in which rhetoric is produced, understood
using the constituent elements of subject, occasion,
audience, and purpose. Each element of the rhetorical
situation carries assumptions and imperatives about the kind
of rhetoric that will be well received. Rhetorical situation will
also influence mode and medium.
Rogerian argument a mode of argument by which an author seeks compromise
by bringing different perspectives on an issue into
conversation. Acknowledges that no one perspective is
absolutely and exclusively ‘right’; values disagreement in
order to make moral, political, and practical decisions.
485
Glossary
round character a character who is thoroughly characterized and

dimensional, detailed with attentive description of their traits
and behaviors. Contrast with flat character.
signpost a phrase or sentence that directs your reader. It can help you
make connections, guide your reader’s interpretation, ease
transitions, and re-orient you to your thesis. Also known as a
“signal phrase.”
SQ3R an engaged reading strategy to improve comprehension
and interrupt projection. Survey, Question, Read, Recite,
Review.
stakes the potential value or consequence of an exploration or
argument; what stands to be gained from investigation of a
subject or advocacy for a position. Consider also
“stakeholders,” the people or institutions that stand to gain
from the outcome of an investigation or argument.
static character a character who remains the same throughout the narrative.
Contrast with dynamic character.
subject the topic, focus, argument, or idea explored in a text
summary a rhetorical mode in which an author reiterates the main
ideas, arguments, and details of a text in their own words,
condensing a longer text into a smaller version. Contrast
with paraphrase.
syllogism a line of logical reasoning similar to the transitive property (If
a=b and b=c, then a=c). For example, All humans need
oxygen; Kanye West is a human. Therefore, Kanye West
needs oxygen.
symbol an artifact (usually something concrete) that stands in for
(represents) something else (often something abstract).
synthesis a cognitive and rhetorical process by which an author brings
together parts of a larger whole to create a unique new
product. Examples of synthesis might include an analytical
essay, found poetry, or a mashup/remix.
text any artifact through which a message is communicated. Can
be written or spoken; digital, printed, or undocumented;
video, image, or language. Every text is rhetorical in nature.
See rhetoric.
text wrestling a rhetorical mode in which an author analyzes a text using
close reading, then presents an interpretation supported by
evidence from the text.
486
Glossary
thesis (statement) a 1-3 sentence statement outlining the main insight(s),

argument(s), or concern(s) of an essay; not necessary in
every rhetorical situation; typically found at the beginning of
an essay, though sometimes embedded later in the paper.
Also referred to as a "So what?" statement.
thick description economical and deliberate language which attempts to
capture complex subjects (like cultures, people, or
environments) in written or spoken language. Coined by
anthropologists Clifford Geertz and Gilbert Ryle.
tone the emotional register of the text. Compare with mood.
use-value the degree to which a text is usable for your specific project.
A source is not inherently good or bad, but rather useful or
not useful. Use-value is influenced by many factors,
including credibility. See credibility and CRAAP Test.
487
Full Citations and Permissions
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accordance with the Creative Commons under which the rest of the text is licensed.
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© 2018 Shane Abrams

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This publication was made possible by PDXOpen publishing initiative

Published by Portland State University Library

Cover art by Emmett Rose, Portland State University, 2017

How to Use This Book: Instructors i

“The Devil in Green Canyon”

“Blood & Chocolate Milk” Description

“Drag the River”

“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”

“Close Reading Roundtable”

“Pronouns & Bathrooms”

“You Snooze, You Peruse”

“Normal Person: An Analysis of the Standards of Interpretation

“Analyzing ’Richard Cory’” Interpretation

“The Space Between the Racial Binary”

“Pirates & Anarchy” Research

“A Case of Hysterics” Research

“Wage Transparency and the Gender Divide”

“What Does It Mean to Be Educated?”

“Pirates & Anarchy”

“Vaccines: Controversies and Miracles” Research

“My Favorite Place”

“Running Down the Hill” Description

Excerpt from My Bondage and My Freedom

“Between the World and Me: An Important Book on Race

“Untitled” (A text wrestling analysis of “Girl” by Jamaica

“Moonlight (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”

“Inauthenticity, Inadequacy, and Transience: The Failure of Interpretation

“Why Our Feminism Must Be Intersectional”

hosted by Shereen Marisol Meraji and Gene Demby Interacting with

How to Use This Book – Instructors

In addition to this advantage, this text afforded me a handful of other opportunities.

These characteristics are representative of broader trends in Open Educational

consider my approach a valuable contribution to buoying the perception of value in

Student-Centered Writing and Learning

I see student-centered curriculum as necessarily invested in what I call learning

The realization that “good” writing cannot be essentialized is not groundbreaking in

purpose should influence message and delivery. However, it often is groundbreaking

Shifting the paradigm—from “How do I write right?” to “How do I respond to the

Why this focus? My emphasis on rhetorical situations is twofold:

Assignments and Activities

This textbook is organized according to the following general formula:

You should feel free to bounce

a network of learners and teachers, each equipped and

How to Use This Book – Students

Student-Centered Writing and Learning

the work at hand. While these takeaways are not

failures. Communities that learn adapt to their unique makeup in order to

Different circumstances, different audiences, and different subjects require different

Chapter on a Rhetorical Mode or Skill

a network of learners and teachers, each equipped and

Maguire’s article advocates for a return to old-school instructional methods—

Most importantly, though, I believe that pedagogy should aim to be transparent. In

So Maguire and I have our differences on teaching philosophy; we disagree on the

“The student writer’s goal should be mastery of the readable style.”6

Throughout this text, you will be challenged to respond to different rhetorical

But let’s back up a second. What’s rhetoric?

The aforementioned tries to stimulate reflection.