Q&R5

How do you organize your writings?

As we learned in “Helping students Use Textual Sources Persuasively” the way that students should avoid writing their informative writings is in a chronological or time based order. Instead, they should organize their ideas in a way that allows them to argue and persuade their audience more efficiently. This means they have to focus mostly on facts.

In my writing I’ve noticed that I am a more analytical writer. I prefer to go down a list of facts and giving explanations to them in order of importance, rather than attempting to tell a story. I believe that when a writer organizes his or her text(s) based on the importance of the different aspects of the topic, the text as a whole becomes a very persuasive argument. Without sources convincing an audience becomes difficult. The writer needs to provide a ground for their ideas to expand, rather than trying to tell a story and avoid using any type of reference to gain credibility and the trust of the audience.

Credibility is, in my opinion, the key part of convincing an audience. If the information that you present is not credible, then quite simply your audience will be skeptical. However, if the writer uses a source form anther more experienced writer, or data from a scientist or statistician who already has a credible name, then the audience automatically is pushed to think that the argument is at least worth hearing. After that the writer has the ability to use the sources that he or she has gathered to the best of their abilities to convince their audience of something. The art of persuasion is based on how well one person can appeal to another, which further means that in order to convince someone you need to get that person to think about a why they should get involved in something.

Q&R 5: Why do students write research papers as narrative essays?

One of the reasons why students do that write narrative essay in place of a research paper is because they don’t have much experience with research papers and they are used to the simple pattern of narrative essays. Students tend to write in the way they are most comfortable with and so when they have to write in a new way, they have difficulty adjusting to the transition because they aren’t use to it. According to the article, this is known as writer-based prose which is when a student “organizes what should be an expository analysis as a narrative, especially when she writes a narrative about how she did her research” (78). Students start to narrate how they are going to write their paper and explain what they wrote. By doing so, students are now writing a narrative essay rather than the research paper that they were supposed to do. However, that is not only the students’ fault; it is also the professors’. This is due to the fact that the professors don’t explain clearly what they want and they don’t really teach the students anything about textual sources and how to use them in their essays. To prove my point the article mentions that “Professors may have to do some preparatory teaching about why certain kinds of texts have certain characteristics and what kinds of problems writers must solve as they design text for a particular audience. They may have to teach a model for the kind of writing they expect.” (78). If the professors aren’t clear about how they want their research papers to be done, then the student will not write a research paper; he/she will instead start to narrative essay because they won’t know what to do.

By: Denise Valdez

Q&R 5

Why should students use textual sources? Why are textual sources so accurate?
Students should use textual sources because they are another way of writing about the assignment. These sources are out there for us, the students, to use at our own will. However, we must properly cite them in order for us to not get arrested due to plagiarism. Information from books is usually the best way to get ahead in an assignment that HAS to be turned in right away. Usually, information that the students acquire from books are the most valuable and precise information that they can possibly attain. However; I’m not saying that books are always right (usually they are), what I’m saying is that I believe students should use textual sources in order to attain the proper grades in their assignment. The only reasons that I can think about regarding this question, would definitely have to be the following:
1. Textual sources are so accurate because they come from a book.
2. They have been studied, refined, and perfected by professionals.
3. They are facts, proven by the authors.
I have given these three statements mostly because they are the only thing that comes to my mind.

Q&R5

Q: What is Margaret Kantz trying to explain to readers about student readers?

In Katz’s article it says that a theory based explanation is needed to understand the nature and reasons for students’ problems with writing persuasive researched papers. It means that teachers support student creativity by teaching students to see themselves as better writers and to set reading and writing goals for themselves that will allow them to think deeper ideas. Kantz does say that you should know how to interpret your own readings also you should be able to understand what you are reading because it will be much easier to comment on different articles. She explains how difficult it is to express “original” arguments, arguments that concern your own idea, ideas that come from your own thoughts. Based on her researched I’ve learned that people find it easier to use what one likes in writing basis, and also using a source than original ideas. This I point out that she is concerned about how people do not use what they’ve learned and put it into their own concept. It would help a writer become incredibly aware of their own writing ideas and thoughts they posses due to using methods of their own originality

Q & R 5

Why is it important for students to learn how to read, analyze and write using rhetorical skills?
In her essay, Margret Kantz tries to illustrate to us the great necessity for writing students, and any writer to learn to read, analyze what they read, and write rhetorically to be able to write knowledgeably, clearly, and effectively. She does this by giving us the example of a college sophomore writing student named Shirley. Shirley writes a research paper for her English class about the Battle of Agincourt, however, her instructor Dr. Boyer gives her a C. Shirley obtained this grade because she did not read rhetorically, her research sources. In her paper, Shirley merely summarized what her research had said and restated it, she made no effort to analyze or interpret her sources. Shirley failed to do what so many other college writings students do. They fail to read something and “read between the lines”, to interpret for themselves the true meaning and purpose of a work of fiction or a historical work, and the context in which it was written. Kantz argues that it is very important for all readers and writers to read and write rhetorically so as to be able to gain the deeper meaning of something and to be able to analyze it and think for themselves. Many writing students fail to come up with their own original ideas and to expand on them. If Shirley had known more about the Battle of Agincourt, she might have been able to understand the conditions under which it occurred and from different sources, then analyzed it and drawn from it her own conclusions. It is important for the creation of good, well composed, flowing writing that readers and writers be able to read and write between the lines and draw the true meaning of things.

1.What were your reading purposes of this text? And what were your attitudes? Can you tell how these two factors affected your writing Q&R 5?

To show the reader ways of making a good argument without summarizing sources. We realized that the techniques we usually use to create an argument are wrong because they don’t create a genuine argument, its more summarizing and paraphrasing. This article presented ways of using sources differently. We still use the sources but put more originality into the response.

2. What is original argument? How did you come up with a question every time you write a Q&R? How did you formulate your response? Do you see your responses as original arguments? Why?

An original argument is a genuine idea, the writer’s own opinion. The question comes from what you do not understand or are curious to know. You have to go back and reread the article and formulate what you think is the response to the question. Yes because it is your own opinion.

3. What is “writer-based prose”? Examples?

It is a writing in which you express your own ideas and thoughts without worrying about what the audience thinks. Examples: journals, advertising.

4. What is rhetorical situation? What includes in a typical rhetorical situation? What is the significance of each angle in the rhetorical situation triangle? What does a focus on a particular point of the triangle tell you?

It is a communicative situation that includes the speaker/writer (encoder), an audience (decoder), and a topic (reality). Every angle is so important but it depends on the purpose of the writer. It tells you whether it is the encoder, decoder, or reality.

5. What are the differences between facts and opinions?

A fact is a claim that people will accept as being true but they do not ask for a proof. An opinion is a claim that people need proof to accept.

Ruth Espiricueta

Ruby Garcia

Dulce Rivera

Discussion on Kantz

1. Our reading purposes for this text were to develop our skills in regards to obtaining research information. Our attitudes toward the piece showed surprise to finding that there is more to using textual evidence. We asked ourselves questions to why it is more difficult to find sources and decided to make Q&R’s reflecting what we were thinking toward quoting and finding evidence.

2. The original argument is how one finds evidence correctly for an effective paper. By commenting on what the writer is trying to say and coming up with questions you would like to ask them. I formulated my response by answering the question myself and then looking for evidence in the article to support it. I see my responses as an original argument because it can strike a discussion in between the class.

3. “Writer-based prose” is writing an “expository analysis” as a narrative or any other type of time-based style.

4. A rhetorical situation is composed into a triangular diagram used to help express the thoughts of the writer and persuade the reader. The triangular diagram explains that the Encoder is the speaker or writer, the Decoder is the audience and Reality is the topic. I considered the particular point of the Encoder to be an important part of the triangular diagram because it is what begins an argument that may bring the Decoder to think of the Reality.

5. A fact is mostly part from the text and what you read to attain information and opinions come from the researcher –basically sharing what they think of what they are discussing.

Composed by: Itzel Lopez, Geno Martinez, and George Llanos