A&B Chapter 17 skill 5 and 6

When writing a longer paper, it is important to be aware of the fact that you are taking your reader on a journey.  As with any journey it can be incredibly easy for one to get lost without a proper guides or signs to help them on their way.  One of the most basic signs that you can give your reader is the placement of the topic sentence.  When the reader begins their journey into a paragraph on your paper the first thing that they see is what they will be expecting to read about or discover as they continue on throughout your paper.  If you don’t clearly state you audience what each paragraph is trying to convey then the reader could receive an entirely different message from that paragraph.  Another way to make sure that your reader stays on topic is by carefully managing the old and new information that you present to the reader.  As you explain each part your argument or information start by bringing up the familiar information that they have already encountered.  Finally a way to make sure that the reader stays on the carefully laid out path that you have set up, you can use specific “signpost” words to show them what to expect.  These words such as “first” “for example” “therefore” “however” etc. make your reader expect a twist or turn in the path, they are expecting it and it will you as the author to make your point more clear.

A&B Chapter 17 section 3 and 4

When beginning an essay or a persuasive paper of any kind, making sure that you have a good solid knowledge of how you want to write your paper and where you want to go with it will make the entire writing process significantly smoother and will help you write a better paper.  When starting your paper a very important decision you want to make is what to title your paper.  Your title should give the reader, at a glance, what you are going to be writing about.  It may not show your argument but it should let the reader know what they should expect to be reading about.  After you have decided on an effective title you can move on to how you want to structure your introduction and conclusion.  An important decision you need to make here is when you want to tell your audience what your personal stance is.  If you state your stance early on you give your audience a clear understanding on what this paper is going to be about and what you will be arguing about.  You could also place your thesis at the end of the introduction, allowing the reader to think about the topic at hand and make a decision for themselves on what point they agree with before knowing your point of view.  Finally if you want your reader to have as much information as possible and to be able to see all sides of the argument before making your side clear, you can wait till the conclusion to state your position and argument.  Each of these methods have different effects and deciding on how you would like your audience to react to them will shape the rest of your paper.

A&B Ch. 15 Skill 1 writing a proposal.

One form of rhetoric that is commonly is known as a proposal.  A proposal, as it may sound, is presenting an idea to a group with the goal of getting people to change and take action on some topic or with some part of a group’s life.  When pondering about how to go about this proposal there are many factors that should be considered.  First is you need to show your audience that there is in fact a problem that needs to be brought up.  This can be one of the hardest parts of the proposal as most people are naturally evasive of change and when they hear that there is something with the way that they have always done something, they tend to want to fight back.  Your goal is to make sure that they understand the problem as clearly as possible.  Once you get your audience convinced that something needs to be changes you can move onto the second thing: presenting a solution.  Whenever a problem is pointed out it is always key to provide a solution.  If you have a person who is constantly saying that there is something wrong but have no idea how to fix the problems then all they will accomplish is annoying people.  You need to show to people that you know what you are talking about, how to fix it and that it’s the best solution out there.  In this portion you could also bring up other people’s proposals for solutions and show either why yours would be more effective or why theirs wouldn’t solve the problem like yours would.  And third, you need to show the people that this will not cost them too much, whether it be time, money, or effort, you need to show to the people that this is be better for them or people in general in the long run.

A&B Ch. 7 skill 4, annotated bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources for a given topic, to make it easier for a person who has done research or will be doing research to organize and cleanly present their information.  This bibliography is generally organized alphabetically listing each of the sources that the author used in a particular set of research.  There are two main ways to go about an annotated bibliography, first is a summary-only annotation.  This form is where when creating the bibliography the author will focus strictly on presenting the information that the source provides.  It shows the authors use of rhetoric and simply tells you what is in each source.  The other form is called an evaluative annotation.  In this form the author will not only provide a summary of the various sources but will also give their own personal evaluation of the article or the source, writing how they personally feel on the effectiveness of the article.  No matter the style the author chooses, the annotated bibliography shouldn’t exceed 150 words, it should be clear and concise allowing any readers to understand the information clearly.  When writing the bibliography, the author should pay special attention to three topics.  First the rhetorical information, show how the rhetoric was used and how well it was used.  Second, summarize the content of the source.  Tell the reader what is there.  Finally evaluate the source, if the author were doing a summary they would focus on how they would use it in their article or research, if it was exploratory the author would also talk about its strengths, weaknesses and how useful it was.

A&B Ch.1 skill 1 and Ch. 20 skill 1

One of the keys to writing a good research paper is having a good topic or a good question to write about.  If one were to choose a bad question they may find themselves stuck in a trap of having too much information to research or no particular aim.  When deciding on a topic, one of the most important things that one can do is make sure that you are personally interested in the subject.  Look around for things in your life that make you question the method or execution of something.  This could be when talking to friends about sports, when in class discussing a topic or on your free time relaxing on the couch.  Once you find a topic that you are interested in it is good to start thinking of questions about it. For example you could ask “Do kids have access to cellphones too early in life?” Are kids spending too much time on their phones or computers?  Does increased time on computers cause kids to be less patient?  There are many questions one can ask on even a simple topic that can help narrow it down and make sure that you have a good focused topic to research.

When a topic and a question are finally picked out, you can ask yourself some follow up questions to verify to yourself that you have a good topic.  You can ask are you personally interested in this question.  Is the question both problematic and significant? Is the question limited enough for the intended length of your paper?  Is there a reasonable possibility of finding information on this question based on the time and resources you have available?  Is the question appropriate for your level of expertise? If you can answer yes to these questions, you are ready to begin you research paper.

There are various methods to writing a summary of a specific paper.  How you read the paper, the ideas you want to focus on, and how objective you want to be all play crucial roles when writing a summary.

When reading the paper it’s important to know the authors point of view and what kind of audience you want to be.  The two methods of reading a paper are referred to as reading for the grain and against the grain, reading for the grain means acting as the ideal audience for the writers purpose, to be for the idea that is being presented and maybe even thinking of supporting ideas to improve and build upon the idea presented by the author.  Reading against the grain is challenging the author.  For each idea presented you think of a counter or rebuttal, you want to challenge the author and think of all the angles the author doesn’t want the reader to notice.

After reading with and against the grain your next focus should be on the vocabulary that you use, there are many different approaches to the vocabulary but one should be aware of the differences between “The author presents” and “The author argues” making sure that you stay objective is the largest goal when writing a summary.

A&B Ch 3 skill 3.1 and 3.2

When reading a paper, one thing you should look for is the author’s use of rhetoric, or his use or persuasion.  Every paper will in one form or another try to persuade you to think or act in the way that the author wants you to.  Being able to know what tactics the author is using, as well as identifying what he is trying to persuade you to do is key in analyzing any paper.

One of the more basic of tasks that the author will do to curve your thinking in using a very specific angle of vision.  He will put you in the perspective that most effectively conveys his point while masking as much of the opposing view as possible.  This can be done in various ways.  Through effective use of imagery the author will specifically describe things in only the way that he needs you to see them.  In the book it mentions two views of a tundra plain in Alaska.  The first focuses on a company’s point of view, mentioning the temperature, the length of time that it is cold and the flatness of the area.  The opposing view would describe the same area as booming with life, tons of animals as well as other creatures that happily thrive in that area.