Activities for Chapter 5

Activity 5A

Examine how sources are used in texts in discourse communities related to your major and/or future profession. Are most sources directly quoted, paraphrased, or only summarized? Why do you think this is? Also, why are sources used? To provide background, show research that has been done, quote multiple sides of an argument, provide information, etc.? Are sources—even the authors—clear? Or are source and author information not specified—are the documents collaborative or corporate with it being unclear who contributed what?

Activity 5B

Consider how you might use one or more sources you have found for an assignment you are working on by responding to the summary and response questions below.

Summary (left-hand “record” column of double-entry notes) - Listen, Understand:

Who? What is the author’s full name, credentials or relevant experience (who is this person and why should we care what he or she has to say)?

Where? Where was the text published—in what journal, magazine, etc. (where did the source originally appear)?

When? In what year was it published and is there anything significant about that time (this is important context information—for example, when the author writes “today,” does he or she really mean today)?

What? What is the title of the text (in quotation marks, if it’s an article/italics if it’s a book)? What genre is it? What is the text about—what kind of text is it and what’s the author’s overall point/stance on the topic?

How? How does the author support his or her point, what kinds of evidence and development strategies does he or she use? What other positions or stances does the author acknowledge?

Why? If known, what’s the larger conversation around this text—is it in response to other texts?

Response (right-hand “respond” column of double-entry notes) - “Talk Back”:

What is your overall response to this text? In what ways does the text reinforce ideas you have about the topic? In what ways does the text raise new ideas that affect your understanding and stance on the issue? What answers does the text provide for you? What questions does the text raise on this issue? How might you be able to use this text as a source in a research project? How does it connect with other sources—or not?

Drawing on the examples in the chapter write out some draft sentences for ways you could use specific information or evidence from the text in your writing by quoting or paraphrasing.

Activity 5C

Drawing on the example in the chapter, synthesize two sources: one written and one spoken. Listen to one or more of the following StoryCorps interviews and read the quotes from the written texts.

“I’ve been in and around barbershops all my life” (Lawrence Anthony)

“Given the ridicule heaped on blue-collar speech, it might seem odd to value its cognitive content. Yet, the flow of talk at work provides the channel for organizing and distributing tasks, for troubleshooting and problem solving, for learning new information and revising old.” (from “Blue-Collar Brilliance” by Mike Rose in The American Scholar)

“I spotted this book that looked rather risqué” (Judge Olly Neal)

“‘Why is it,’ [Mireya] asked, ‘that the students who do not need what we need get so much more? And we who need it so much more get so much less?’” (from Jonathan Kozol’s 2005 book The Shame of the Nation, excerpted in the Norton Reader)

OR

Browse the StoryCorps web site and find an interview of your choice that relates to a text you are reading from which you could find a quote.

Write about the ways in which the Storycorps interview subject speaks/talks back to the quote from the text (take double-entry notes placing quotes from the texts in the left-hand “record” column and your synthesis ideas and insights in the right-hand “respond” column). Does the person’s story in his or her interview relate directly to the reading quote? Does it confirm, contradict, raise new issues, extend, etc. issues/ideas in the reading? In short, put the two “texts” in conversation and synthesize them. To support your points, and practice these skills, be sure to provide specific quotes and/or paraphrases from the interview and the reading in your post and cite them using in-text citations. Also, be sure to discuss the context for each text/source consider such factors as the time period in which (or about which) they are speaking/writing, the location, demographic information, etc. Remember, as with all texts, focus not just on what the author says, but also how and/or why he or she says it that way—the rhetoric of the text.

Activity 5D

Practice synthesizing written sources. Use two sources your instructor assigns or that you have found for a writing project you are working on, taking double-entry notes. Or, use the following two texts, which are interesting to synthesize:

“Is Google Making Us Stupid” by Nicholas Carr (2008)

“Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell (1946)

What is one topic to which both source texts speak to? What ideas and insights about that issue—as well as the arguments associated with the issue—have emerged in your synthesis of these two sources? How does this inform your own ideas on the issue—and what you have to say about it? Use and cite at least one direct quote and/or paraphrase from each reading for support.

Activity 5E

This activity is similar to 5D but also provides a tool for synthesizing more sources. Create a synthesis matrix using the sources you have found while conducting research for a writing project you are working on. Complete the chart below, adding rows and columns as needed. In addition to summarizing the various main ideas and topics for each source that discusses them, you may find it helpful to include some direct quotes and page/paragraph numbers in each box. This activity is especially helpful for preparing to draft a literature review.