Synthesizing Information

Synthesis Information

WHAT IS A SYNTHESIS?
A synthesis is a written discussion that draws on one or more sources. It follows that your ability to write syntheses depends on your ability to infer relationships among sources - essays, articles, fiction, and also nonwritten sources, such as lectures, interviews, observations. This process is nothing new for you, since you infer relationships all the time - say, between something you've read in the newspaper and something you've seen for yourself, or between the teaching styles of your favorite and least favorite instructors. In fact, if you've written research papers, you've already written syntheses. In an academic synthesis, you make explicit the relationships that you have inferred among separate sources.
The skills you've already been practicing in this course will be vital in writing syntheses. Clearly, before you're in a position to draw relationships between two or more sources, you must understand what those sources say; in other words, you must be able to summarize these sources. It will frequently be helpful for your readers if you provide at least partial summaries of sources in your synthesis essays. At the same time, you must go beyond summary to make judgments - judgments based, of course, on your critical reading of your sources - as you have practiced in your reading responses and in class discussions. You should already have drawn some conclusions about the quality and validity of these sources; and you should know how much you agree or disagree with the points made in your sources and the reasons for your agreement or disagreement.
Further, you must go beyond the critique of individual sources to determine the relationship among them. Is the information in source B, for example, an extended illustration of the generalizations in source A? Would it be useful to compare and contrast source C with source B? Having read and considered sources A, B, and C, can you infer something else - D (not a source, but your own idea)?
Because a synthesis is based on two or more sources, you will need to be selective when choosing information from each. It would be neither possible nor desirable, for instance, to discuss in a ten-page paper on the battle of Wounded Knee every point that the authors of two books make about their subject. What you as a writer must do is select the ideas and information from each source that best allow you to achieve your purpose.
PURPOSE
Your purpose in reading source materials and then in drawing upon them to write your own material is often reflected in the wording of an assignment. For example, your assignment may ask that you evaluate a text, argue a position on a topic, explain cause and effect relationships, or compare and contrast items. While you might use the same sources in writing an argumentative essay as your classmate uses in writing a comparison/contrast essay, you will make different uses of those sources based on the different purposes of the assignments. What you find worthy of detailed analysis in Source A may be mentioned only in passing by your classmate.
USING YOUR SOURCES
Your purpose determines not only what parts of your sources you will use but also how you will relate them to one another. Since the very essence of synthesis is the combining of information and ideas, you must have some basis on which to combine them. Some relationships among the material in you sources must make them worth sythesizing. It follows that the better able you are to discover such relationships, the better able you will be to use your sources in writing syntheses. Your purpose in writing (based on your assignment) will determine how you relate your source materials to one another. Your purpose in writing determines which sources you use, which parts of them you use, at which points in your essay you use them, and in what manner you relate them to one another.

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TWO TYPES OF SYNTHESES

THE EXPLANATORY SYNTHESIS: An explanatory synthesis helps readers to understand a topic. Writers explain when they divide a subject into its component parts and present them to the reader in a clear and orderly fashion. Explanations may entail descriptions that re-create in words some object, place, event, sequence of events, or state of affairs. The purpose in writing an explanatory essay is not to argue a particular point, but rather to present the facts in a reasonably objective manner. The explanatory synthesis does not go much beyond what is obvious from a careful reading of the sources. You will not be writing explanatory synthesis essays in this course. However, at times your argumentative synthesis essays will include sections that are explanatory in nature. THE ARGUMENT SYNTHESIS: The purpose of an argument synthesis is for you to present your own point of view - supported, of course, by relevant facts, drawn from sources, and presented in a logical manner. The thesis of an argumentative essay is debatable. It makes a proposition about which reasonable people could disagree, and any two writers working with the same source materials could conceive of and support other, opposite theses.

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STANDARDS FOR SYNTHESIS ESSAYS

1. Remember that you are using your sources to support your ideas and claims, not the other way around. 2. Keep in mind that original thought and insightful analysis are required for a 4.0, 3.5, or 3.0 paper; 2.5 and below evaluations tend not to present original ideas.
3. A 4.0, 3.5, or 3.0 paper will create a "dialogue" between the essay author's ideas and her sources, and also among the sources themselves. 2.5 and below evaluations will often summarize one point at a time, with the essay author's idea stated at the end. If you imagine a synthesis essay as a room in which the synthesis writer is joined by the authors of her/his sources, the 4.0, 3.5, or 3.0 essay has everyone engaged in conversation or debate, with everyone commenting on (or arguing against) each other's ideas directly. In the 2.5 and below essay, each person in the room stands up in turn, gives a speech, and sits down, with little or no question and answer period in between or afterward.
4. Take special care to address your audience in an appropriate manner. Make sure you establish your credibility on the subject and that you provide sufficient information to make your argument (thesis) convincing.

5. Organize your paper logically:

A. State your thesis clearly and make sure that it reflects the focus of your essay.

B. Make sure your main points are clearly stated (use topic sentences), and connect each point to your thesis as explicitly as possible.

C. Divide paragraphs logically.

D. Provide appropriate transitions both within and between paragraphs.

6. Develop each main idea thoroughly. Use specific examples and source materials appropriately as support. Be sure to integrate source materials smoothly into your own writing using attribution phrases and transitions. Also be sure to avoid unnecessary repetition (repetition is often an organization problem). 7. Select words precisely. When in doubt, use a dictionary!
8. Make sure sentences are clear and unambiguous. Avoid passive voice. Double-check to see that sentences are adequately varied in length and style, and that there are no fragments or run-ons. Also proofread carefully to correct any other sentence errors.
9. Proofread carefully to identify and correct mechanical errors, such as errors in plurals or possessives, subject-verb agreement, shifts in verb tense or person ("you"), comma errors, spelling errors, and so on.
10. Quadruple check your MLA documentation. Are your parenthetical citations correct? Is your Works Cited list correct according to MLA style, and does it include all sources cited in your essay?
11. Be sure to give your essay a descriptive and attention-getting title (NOT "Synthesis," for goodness sake!!!).
12. Make sure your essay is formatted correctly and posted to your web site correctly.

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HOW TO WRITE SYNTHESIS ESSAYS

1. Consider your purpose in writing. Read the topic assignment carefully. What are you trying to accomplish in your essay? How will this purpose shape the way you approach your sources?
2. Select and carefully read your sources, according to your purpose. Re-read the sources, mentally summarizing each. Identify those aspects or parts of your sources that will help you in fulfilling your purpose. When rereading, label or underline the passages for main ideas, key terms, and any details you want to use in the synthesis.
3. Formulate a thesis. Your thesis is the main idea that you want to present in your synthesis. It must be expressed as a complete sentence and include a statement of the topic and your assertion about that topic. Sometimes the thesis is the first sentence, but more often it is the final sentence of the first paragraph.
4. Decide how you will use your source material and take notes. How will the information and the ideas in your sources help you to fulfill your purpose? Re-read your sources and write down the information from your sources that will best develop and support your thesis.
5. Develop and organizational plan, according to your thesis. (See Techniques for Developing Synthesis Essays immediately below.) How will you arrange your material? It is not necessary to prepare a formal outline, but you should have some plan in mind that will indicate the order in which you will present your material and that will indicate the relationships among your sources.
6. Write the first draft of your synthesis, following your organizational plan. Be flexible with your plan, however, and allow yourself room to incorporate new ideas you discover as you write. As you discover and incorporate new ideas, re-read your work frequently to ensure that your thesis still accounts for what follows and that what follows still logically supports your thesis.
7. Document your sources. Use MLA-style in-text citations and a Works Cited list to credit your sources for all material you quote, paraphrase, or summarize. For example, if I wanted to note in my essay the difference between name-calling and argumentum ad hominem as personal forms of attack, I would credit the article on "Politics: The Art of Bamboozling" from WARAC by offering a citation that includes the author's last name and the exact page number where she discussed this notion (Cross 302). At the end of the essay, I would have a complete bibliographic citation for the "Politics" article.
8. Revise your synthesis. Insert transitional words and phrases where necessary. Integrate all quotations so they flow smoothly within your own sentences. Use attribution phrases to distinguish between your sources' ideas and your own ideas. Make sure the essay reads smoothly, logically, and clearly from beginning to end. Check for grammatical correctness, punctuation, and spelling.

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TECHNIQUES FOR DEVELOPING SYNTHESIS ESSAYS

SUMMARY: The simplest - and least sophisticated - way of organizing a synthesis essay is to summarize your most relevant sources, one after the other, but generally with the most important source(s) last. The problem with this approach is that it reveals little or no independent thought on your part. Its main virtue is that it at least grounds your paper in relevant and specific evidence. Summary can be useful - and sophisticated - if handled judiciously, selectively, and in combination with other techniques. At some time you may need to summarize a crucial source in some detail. At another point, you may wish to summarize a key section or paragraph of a source in a single sentence. Try to anticipate what your reader needs to know at any given point of your paper in order to comprehend or appreciate fully the point you are making.
EXAMPLE OR ILLUSTRATION: At one or more points in your paper, you may wish to refer to a particularly illuminating example or illustration from your source material. You might paraphrase this example (i.e., recount it, in some detail, in your own words), summarize it, or quote it directly from your source. In all these cases, of course, you would properly credit your source.
TWO (OR MORE) REASONS: The "two reasons" approach can be an extremely effective method of development. You simply state your thesis, then offer reasons why the statement is true, supported by evidence from your sources. You can advance as many reasons for the truth of your thesis as needed; but save the most important reason(s) for last, because the end of the paper is what will remain most clearly in the reader's mind.
STRAWMAN: When you use the strawman technique, you present an argument against your thesis, but immediately afterward you show that this argument is weak or flawed. The advantage of this technique is that you demonstrate your awareness of the other side of the argument and show that you are prepared to answer it. The strawman argument first presents an introduction and thesis, then the main opposing argument, a refutation of the opposing argument, and finally a positive argument.
CONCESSION: Like the strawman, the concession technique presents the opposing viewpoint, but it does not proceed to demolish the opposition. Instead, it concedes that the opposition has a valid point but that, even so, the positive argument is the stronger one. This method is particularly valuable when you know your reader holds the opposing view.
COMPARISON AND CONTRAST: Comparison and contrast techniques enable you to examine two subjects (or sources) in terms of one another. When you compare, you consider similarities. When you contrast, you consider differences. By comparing and contrasting, you perform a multifaceted analysis that often suggests subtleties that otherwise might not have come to your attention.
To organize a comparison/contrast analysis, you must carefully read sources in order to discover significant criteria for analysis. A criterion is a specific point to which both of your authors refer and about which they may agree or disagree. The best criteria are those that allow you not only to account for obvious similarities and differences between sources but also to plumb deeper, to more subtle and significant similarities and differences. There are two basic formulas for comparison/contrast analysis:

BY SOURCE	BY CRITERIA
I. Introduce essay, state thesis	I. Introduce essay, state thesis
II. Summarize passage A	II. Introduce Criterion 1
A. View on Criterion I	A. Passage A's viewpoint
B. View on Criterion 2	B. Passage B's viewpoint
III. Summarize passage B	III. Introduce Criterion 2
A. View on Criterion 1	A. Passage A's viewpoint
B. View on Criterion 2	B. Passage B's viewpoint
IV. Discussion and conclusion	IV. Discussion and conclusion

Further Thesis and Source Development

using sources as part of the research paper

1

Refocusing your research topic and developing a thesis

You've chosen a topic, asked questions about it, and located, read, and annotated pertinent sources. Now you need to refocus your topic. What changes do you need to make in order to account for the available sources? If you chose the topic "Business on the Internet" and focused your efforts on the question of how commercial uses of the Internet are affecting the entire Net, you might not have discovered sufficient sources for your research. While trying to find them, though, you might have located plenty on the question of how businesses are using the Internet; thus it would now be advisable for you to refocus your topic.
Having done so, you must think about what you are going to say in your research essay. Remember that in college writing, research papers, term papers, and research essays are not simply a repetition of what you have read. Rather, they are essays: in them, you express your beliefs about the topic and explain how your research has led you to those beliefs citing that research material to support your argument. Once the topic has been refined sufficiently for the research to begin, the student gradually formed an opinion on the subject, answered the research questions, and refined the topic into a thesis:

Figure 3:8--focusing your research question into a thesis

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1. Private citizens on the Internet
2. Censorship on the Internet
3 (i). Is the Internet used by pornographers?
3 (ii). How is the Net used by pornographers?
4. What attempts have been made to prevent the distribution of pornography on the 'net, and how have Internet users responded to them?
5. Many Internet users condemn use of the Net by pornographers, but the arguments they make against government intervention or censorship are not persuasive. Any limitation on the use of the Internet will undermine its power. General topic More focused topic Broad yes/no question Fact-only question Final research question Thesis -- This thesis both makes a claim and sets that claim within the context of the research. The writer will use the arguments of other Internet users to support the thesis that censorship or restrictions will undermine the power of the Internet.

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2

Summarizing and paraphrasing

If you can summarize and paraphrase effectively, you will be able to use the information you discovered in your research to support your thesis. As we have already explained, in college-level research papers, as in published papers, it is unacceptable to put large chunks of other people's prose into your own words without citing them. Nor can you take sentences, substitute a few synonyms and call them summaries. Correct summary and paraphrasing is difficult--but it can be learned. Once you have learned how to summarize and paraphrase, you need to read Section 3 so that you also know how to incorporate the material into your paper without accidentally plagiarizing.

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Summarizing
While the summaries you will incorporate into research papers are not usually as long as formal summary papers, you will use similar strategies when you write them, and you must avoid similar dangers. You might find yourself summarizing an argument so that you can respond to it, summarizing other researchers' findings, or summarizing events. Whatever reason you have for needing to summarize, the guidelines below will help you:

• The summary must be significantly shorter than the source. Your purpose is to report the key elements of the argument, or the essential aspects of the thesis, not to represent every detail of it.
• The summary must support your argument, not make it for you. If you find yourself stitching together long summaries of what other people say with little or none of your own analysis or discussion, or if you write a thesis in your introduction and then support it entirely by summarizing what other people say or by repeating the plot of a piece of literature, again with little or no explanation or discussion of your own, the chances are that you are simply "proving the known"--that is, that your thesis is not really a thesis. In both of these cases you are not ready to write the paper: although you are familiar with the material, you can't synthesize or critique what you know; therefore, you are not yet ready to join the academic conversation on this topic. Reread your notes, look for connections, similarities, contradictions, subtle differences in interpretation, and so on, and spend some more time thinking about your thesis.
• The summary must be in your own phrases and sentences. Of course you may use joining words like "when," "and," and so on; however, any key terms must be placed in quotation marks the first time you use them.
• The summary must be an objective report of the source. Do not misrepresent someone else's argument by ignoring the context of the argument. Your purpose in an incorporated summary is to report what other texts have said on this topic and then discuss that topic yourself. If you misrepresent a source, readers will assume that you didn't understand it or that you are somehow gravely biased.

You will find the guidelines for summary essays helpful as you learn to incorporate summaries into research papers.

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Paraphrasing
A paraphrase is about the same length as the original, but it uses different words. Unlike the summary, which reports the argument, thesis, or event, the paraphrase also reproduces the attitude and tone of the original text. Before you can write an effective paraphrase, you must fully understand the original text. It might help to think of it as translating the passage. Like a translation from one language to another, a paraphrase remains close to the original but uses totally different words. This metaphor also helps answer the obvious question, "Why would anyone paraphrase instead of quote?" Good scholars paraphrase complex material and material that uses disciplinary or technical terminology into more accessible prose when they are writing for an audience less knowledgeable than they. Paraphrase also helps readers follow the argument, because they don't have to adjust from one prose style to another, which is what happens to your readers when you quote. The smoother your prose, the easier it is to read the paper and follow the argument.
These points will help you evaluate the effectiveness of your paraphrases:

• Keep the paraphrase about the same length as the original. Remember that you are "translating" rather than summarizing or describing.
• Maintain the mood and tone of the original. For this you must pay careful attention to the words you use. For example, "mentions" implies a casual relationship to the material, almost an aside; "defends" indicates that the author of the source takes a supportive position to the material; while "observes" suggests an objective or at least less impassioned position. Use a dictionary to check the actual meanings of words that you use as synonyms.
• If you must use terms from the original, quote them. Even translators of foreign languages must do this when there is no equivalent word in the new language. If the term is important, or you will discuss it at length later, or if no other word will replace it, simply place the word in quotation marks the first time you use it.

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3

Introducing and citing quotations, paraphrases, and summaries

Once you have decided which information you will paraphrase, which you will summarize, and which you will quote from, you need to ensure that the material is cited correctly into your paper. If you paraphrase or summarize, you still need to tell readers where the information comes from.
Introducing and citing the sources that you use allows other scholars to follow the research thread that you followed as they try to answer their own questions. For example, we could tell you about a study that says that everyone needs to get eight hours sleep a night and for every hour one is sleep deprived (every hour below 8) one's IQ falls one point. You might decide that you would like to read that study, too, but we didn't provide citations so you don't know where to find it. You don't even know for sure that such a study exists. Because we did not cite sources, we prevented you from joining that academic conversation, and perhaps gaining some important information about sleep. If you feel frustrated now, that's how other scholars feel when you don't cite sources!
Although each academic discipline has a different way of citing paraphrases, summaries, and quotations, the underlying principle is the same. A citation reveals the name of the author, the name of the text, its publication date, the name of its publisher, and the page number(s) of the material to which you refer. The full or partial citation might be provided in parenthesis at the end of the borrowed material, or it might be provided in a numbered footnote or endnote, but it must be provided. At the end of this chapter we describe five different guidelines (style sheets) for citing material. A great many others are also used in academic writing, e.g., The Chicago Style Manual or the style known as "Turabian" after Kate Turabian, the author of A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. If your instructor does not indicate a preference, you may choose the style yourself. But you should choose and use a recognized method; don't make up your own system. The purpose of citations is to convey a large quantity of information in a very small space; thus even the punctuation of citations conveys meaning, and that punctuation varies from one style sheet to another. Readers familiar with the style sheet that the writer has chosen do not have to puzzle over citations in order to decipher the information in them. But if you make up your own style sheet, however consistent it may be, you are forcing your readers to decipher not only the information in the citations but also the means of transmitting that information.

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Paraphrased and summarized material must be introduced as well as cited, so that readers know where that material begins and where the author of the paper's ideas end. Consider the example from Michael's first draft of his synthesis paper using material from Unit i of "The Evolution Debate" (Tim Beardsley's "Darwin Denied" pp.000-000).
Figure 3:9--sample of incorrectly introduced summary

It is one thing to say that anyone can be a scientist no matter what he or she believes, but the point of science is that you have to be open to new ideas and new explanations and not be afraid to throw out the theories you used to hold. If your theory is that God made everything and there was no natural selection, and your research proves otherwise, you aren't going to be able to give up that theory and still go to church on Sundays. Yet even though most scientists don't think "intelligent design" can explain the existence of life, a quarter of the biology teachers in Kansas favor teaching creationism and evolution side by side in the science class (Beardsley, 32).

By placing the citation at the end of the paragraph and not identifying where Beardsley's ideas begin, he makes it seem as if the whole paragraph is a summary of Beardsley, whereas really only the last sentence is. This both implies that Beardsley said something that he did not, and prevents Michael from getting credit for his thoughtful analysis. The revised paragraph below makes everything clear.
Figure 12:10--sample of summary correctly introduced with a signal phrase

It is one thing to say that anyone can be a scientist no matter what he or she believes, but the point of science is that you have to be open to new ideas and new explanations and not be afraid to throw out the theories you used to hold. If your theory is that God made everything and there was no natural selection, and your research proves otherwise, you aren't going to be able to give up that theory and still go to church on Sundays. Yet, as Beardsley explains, even though most scientists don't think "intelligent design" can explain the existence of life, a quarter of the biology teachers in Kansas favor teaching creationism and evolution side by side in the science class (Beardsley, 32).

You must also introduce quotations in addition to citing them; however, this is for a different reason. If you recall our discussion of your papers as part of a conversation, the reason may be clearer. When you are telling someone about the reactions of two of your friends to a movie, you might say, "When we got out of the movie, Tom's first comment was 'that was really boring,' but Alex said that she enjoyed it." There is no doubt as to who thought what about the film. Tom's comment is introduced and quoted, while Alex's is introduced and summarized. The prose flows smoothly. On the other hand "After viewing the movie: 'that was really boring,' Tom observed" just doesn't sound right. It isn't.

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4

Integrating quotations (using ellipses and brackets)

Ellipses:
Sometimes you will want to use a longer quotation. If it is over four lines it should be set apart from the text, indented, and not placed in quotation marks (almost all methods of citation require it to be double spaced and in the same font as the rest of the paper). Sometimes, though, you will really only need to refer to parts of a long paragraph. In such cases you should use ellipses to indicate that material has been omitted. Use three ellipses if part of a sentence is missing, and four to indicate that you have also cut a period. An example of successful use of ellipses can be seen in the following quotation from Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye in an essay by theorist Deborah McDowell:

Jars on shelves at canning, peach pits on the step, sticks, stones, leaves . . . . Whatever portable plurality she found, she organized into neat lines, according to their size, shape, or gradations of color . . . . She missed without knowing what she missed--paints and crayons (Bluest Eye 88-89).

This passage describes a set of related activities of Paula Breedlove, and is used by McDowell to show that Paula's "obsessive ordering" is related to her artistic tendencies. This means that readers don't need the additional material about how she ordered the things; they only need to know that she did. By cutting the inessential material, McDowell makes her point clearer. Notice that she uses capital letters after the four ellipses to show that these are new sentences in the original.
Note: You do not need to use ellipses at the beginning or end of a quotation. If you say that you are quoting from a novel, your readers know that some of it must have omitted if you just include one sentence. Ellipses are necessary only when readers can't work out that something has been cut.
Square Brackets
Sometimes you will need to add "and" or "however" to make a quotation fit smoothly into the sentence you include it in. You can do that as long as you put the added word in square brackets. Another common use of square brackets to make a quotation fit smoothly into a sentence is the addition of square brackets around "ed" or "s" to indicate past tense or plural. You might quote and alter the previous sentence this way:
The authors claim that square brackets are often "use[d] . . . to make a quotation fit smoothly into a sentence."
You will see many examples of ellipses and square brackets used in the extracts throughout this text. Pay attention to them and you will find it easier to use them in your own prose.

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5

Connecting your evidence to your thesis

Once you have worked out your thesis and decided what evidence you will use to support it, it might seem clear how the evidence and the thesis are connected. You need to remember, though, that your readers haven't immersed themselves in the conversation as much as you have. They may not be able to immediately see the connection between two ideas, just as you probably couldn't when you began your research. Your task in the paper is to guide your readers toward the same interpretation or explanation of the data as you have reached. This means that once you have drafted the paper, you need to go back over it and make sure that each piece of evidence does its job and supports the thesis. Sometimes this will necessitate adding sentences or phrases to connect a paragraph or series of paragraphs back to the thesis; sometimes a few connecting words like "although," "however," "another example of this," or "in spite of such findings" will be sufficient. Remember that your reader should be able to follow your argument with ease and see at a glance exactly how the evidence supports it. The transitional phrase or topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph will often provide the necessary connection, and will also help your reader move from one idea to the next without confusion.
You can make clear how your evidence supports your thesis by explaining their relationship in your introduction to the paper. The introduction functions like a little map of the paper that shows where it will end up, how it will proceed, and what it will pass on the way. Each main point is listed in the order it will appear in the paper so that readers may see how the points (evidence) relate to each other.

Developing and Refining your Thesis

Web Resources: Developing and Refining your Thesis

What is a thesis anyway?
Basically, a thesis is an assertion that a paper or argument is designed to prove/support. At the research stage, a thesis is the reasonable assumption (based on what is already known) that an experiment or observation will seek to prove or disprove. To avoid confusion, composition teachers tend to call this the working thesis. The final thesis is the conclusion that is reached at the end of the research: a reasonable interpretation of the available evidence. A thesis is not a statement of fact. A thesis is not an assertion that no reasonable person would accept based on the evidence at hand. Nor is a thesis something that most reasonable people would conclude based on the evidence at hand. A thesis is an interpretation that explains the data but that could be reasonably disputed by others who have also studied the data.

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How does a thesis differ from a topic?
The topic of your paper is the subject you are exploring. Your topic might be "Wicca." You might introduce your topic by saying "I am exploring Wicca in this paper." But that isn't a thesis. Nor is "This paper will explore Wicca, an increasingly popular religion." Even though some might debate Wicca's increasing popularity and others might argue that it isn't a religion, the previous statement isn't a thesis, it is a promise (about what the paper will do). A thesis on the topic might be "Although some refuse to acknowledge that Wicca is a religion, it is one because it meets what we generally accept to be the major characteristics of a religion." The thesis does not need to be written out as one sentence, but by the time readers have reached the end of the introduction, they should be able to write out the thesis in pretty much the same way as the author did [see reviewing papers for thesis]. The introduction to the paper described here should list the characteristics that the writer believes characterize a religion, and the paper would address each one to show how the writer came to the conclusion that Wicca is a religion.

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How does one develop a thesis?
In order to write an effective thesis, a writer must consider several features of what we call the rhetorical situation. According to John T. Gage, the rhetorical situation consists of the following:

1) a question at issue
2) a stance
3) a strategy
4) assumptions

Gage argues that (1) and (4) are determined by the audience, and (2) and (3) are determined by the writer ("A General Theory of the Enthymeme" 168-69). Notice that in the description below these features are written in this order rather than in the order listed above:

• (1) THE QUESTION: The question is the thing that has driven the research, whether it is a point of disagreement between two groups (like the Wicca argument above, which began "Why might one believe that Wicca is a religion?") or something that several people might like to understand ("why is Wicca growing in popularity?"). The audience determines what are appropriate questions ("Should I join a coven?" is not an appropriate question for a college-level research paper, for example), so authors must have a good sense of the expectations of their audience before they begin developing questions.
• Once you have a good sense of the material relating to your topic (perhaps as a result of writing a background synthesis or an annotated bibliography), make a list of questions that one might ask about that material. Select one or two, and reread your research material trying to find an answer. Don't pick questions that lead to yes/no answers ("do Wiccan's worship specific gods or goddesses?") or statements of fact ("what are the names of the major god and goddesses in Wicca?"). Instead, select questions that will encourage interpretation ("why might one believe that Wicca is a religion?" or "why is Wicca growing in popularity?").

• (4) ASSUMPTIONS: Just as they must understand what constitutes an appropriate question according to their audience, authors must also understand their audiences' assumptions about other things related to the topic and the larger society in which they live. Arguments draw on the shared assumptions of the author and his or her audience for their success (in the Wicca case, for example, audience and author must assume that it is possible for there to be more than one religion, that discussing what constitutes a religion is a worthwhile expenditure of time, and that the nature of things can be determined by looking at their parts). When the author and the audience share assumptions, the author can depend on a certain logical framework as he or she develops the paper. Students who are learning to write for academic audiences need to spend some time learning what assumptions they can assume their readers share, and they need to bear this in mind as they develop a thesis and a strategy for writing the paper.

• (2) STANCE: The author determines a stance on the topic based on the answers he or she found to the question (in the example being given here, the stance is "Wicca is a religion"). This stance then becomes the thesis. As you are thinking about your material and continuing your research always ask "what question am I trying to answer here?" If you keep your research question in mind you will read with a view to answering it. If you develop a thesis too soon, you will read only to prove what you already believe. That isn't research (re-search); it is looking for proof.

• (3) STRATEGY: The author develops a strategy to support the thesis, in the form of the layout of the paper and the evidence that will be used in it. However, in doing so, the author must always keep (1) and (4) in mind, or the paper runs the risk of failing to achieve its goal of both informing and persuading.

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What is a Thesis Enthymeme?
An enthymeme is a form of syllogism known as a truncated syllogism. Syllogisms are used in logic in structures like "(a) virtues are praiseworthy; (b) kindness is a virtue; (c) therefore, kindness is
praiseworthy." As long as (a) and (b) are true, then (c) must be true as well. This kind of certainty might be reassuring, but it doesn't help you write a thesis-driven paper because there is nothing to dispute. A truncated syllogism is a syllogism in which one of the premises (a) or (b) is implied ("kindness is a virtue; therefore kindness is praiseworthy," for example, assumes that virtues are praiseworthy, but doesn't say so). But enthymemes are much more than just logical structures. Indeed, rhetorician John Gage argues that we should think of syllogisms as just a kind of enthymeme, and perceive enthymemes to be at the heart of rhetoric.

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Why should I make one (how will it help me)?
The value of using enthymemes as you think about writing papers is that they help you to explore all the parts of the rhetorical situation before you start writing. In order to make a thesis enthymeme, you must think about your question, your thesis, your audience, and your assumptions. Once you have considered all of these things you are well on the way to writing a good paper.

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How do I make one?
An enthymeme has four parts:
1) An implied question (this is your basic research question, but it is implied
because you don't write it out in the paper)
2) An Assertion (i.e.: a thesis)
3) A "because" clause (like the strategy discussed before, a list of the reasons
you will cite to support your thesis)
4) An implied premise (i.e.: an assumption that readers will share with the writer)
You make one by writing out what your implied question, assertion, "because" clause, and implied premise are. For example,
1) An implied question: Why do some people think that Wicca is a religion?
2) An Assertion: Wicca is a religion
3) A "because" clause: Wicca meets the definition of "religion" offered by other
major religions that I have studied because it is a group of people who join together
to serve or worship a god or supernatural force, it has shared practices and
observances relating to this deity, it demands a commitment to its deities from those
who follow it, etc.
4) An implied premise: Religion can be defined as a group of people who
join together to serve, etc., etc. (I assume that the audience will share
my definition of religion, especially if I show them that others share it too)

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Now What?
Once you have made a thesis enthymeme, you are ready to develop an outline of some sort (formal or not) based on the items listed in your "'because' clause." [Check out "Not Your Usual Outline" for a discussion of this.]

Essay Writing

Purdue OWL: Essay Writing

What is an Argumentative Essay?

The argumentative essay is a genre of writing that requires the student to investigate a topic, collect, generate, and evaluate evidence, and establish a position on the topic in a concise manner.

Please note: Some confusion may occur between the argumentative essay and the expository essay. These two genres are similar, but the argumentative essay differs from the expository essay in the amount of pre-writing (invention) and research involved. The argumentative essay is commonly assigned as a capstone or final project in first year writing or advanced composition courses and involves lengthy, detailed research. Expository essays involve less research and are shorter in length. Expository essays are often used for in-class writing exercises or tests, such as the GED or GRE.

Argumentative essay assignments generally call for extensive research of literature or previously published material. Argumentative assignments may also require empirical research where the student collects data through interviews, surveys, observations, or experiments. Detailed research allows the student to learn about the topic and to understand different points of view regarding the topic so that s/he may choose a position and support it with the evidence collected during research. Regardless of the amount or type of research involved, argumentative essays must establish a clear thesis and follow sound reasoning.

The structure of the argumentative essay is held together by the following:

A clear, concise, and defined thesis statement that occurs in the first paragraph of the essay.

In the first paragraph of an argument essay, students should set the context by reviewing the topic in a general way. Next the author should explain why the topic is important (exigence) or why readers should care about the issue. Lastly, students should present the thesis statement. It is essential that this thesis statement be appropriately narrowed to follow the guidelines set forth in the assignment. If the student does not master this portion of the essay, it will be quite difficult to compose an effective or persuasive essay.

Clear and logical transitions between the introduction, body, and conclusion.

Transitions are the mortar that holds the foundation of the essay together. Without logical progression of thought, the reader is unable to follow the essay’s argument, and the structure will collapse. Transitions should wrap up the idea from the previous section and introduce the idea that is to follow in the next section.

Body paragraphs that include evidential support.

Each paragraph should be limited to the discussion of one general idea. This will allow for clarity and direction throughout the essay. In addition, such conciseness creates an ease of readability for one’s audience. It is important to note that each paragraph in the body of the essay must have some logical connection to the thesis statement in the opening paragraph. Some paragraphs will directly support the thesis statement with evidence collected during research. It is also important to explain how and why the evidence supports the thesis (warrant).

However, argumentative essays should also consider and explain differing points of view regarding the topic. Depending on the length of the assignment, students should dedicate one or two paragraphs of an argumentative essay to discussing conflicting opinions on the topic. Rather than explaining how these differing opinions are wrong outright, students should note how opinions that do not align with their thesis might not be well informed or how they might be out of date.

Evidential support (whether factual, logical, statistical, or anecdotal).

The argumentative essay requires well-researched, accurate, detailed, and current information to support the thesis statement and consider other points of view. Some factual, logical, statistical, or anecdotal evidence should support the thesis. However, students must consider multiple points of view when collecting evidence. As noted in the paragraph above, a successful and well-rounded argumentative essay will also discuss opinions not aligning with the thesis. It is unethical to exclude evidence that may not support the thesis. It is not the student’s job to point out how other positions are wrong outright, but rather to explain how other positions may not be well informed or up to date on the topic.

A conclusion that does not simply restate the thesis, but readdresses it in light of the evidence provided.

It is at this point of the essay that students may begin to struggle. This is the portion of the essay that will leave the most immediate impression on the mind of the reader. Therefore, it must be effective and logical. Do not introduce any new information into the conclusion; rather, synthesize the information presented in the body of the essay. Restate why the topic is important, review the main points, and review your thesis. You may also want to include a short discussion of more research that should be completed in light of your work.

Sentence Variety

Purdue OWL: Sentence Variety

Adding sentence variety to prose can give it life and rhythm. Too many sentences with the same structure and length can grow monotonous for readers. Varying sentence style and structure can also reduce repetition and add emphasis. Long sentences work well for incorporating a lot of information, and short sentences can often maximize crucial points. These general tips may help add variety to similar sentences.

1. Vary the rhythm by alternating short and long sentences.

Several sentences of the same length can make for bland writing. To enliven paragraphs, write sentences of different lengths. This will also allow for effective emphasis.

Example: The Winslow family visited Canada and Alaska last summer to find some native American art. In Anchorage stores they found some excellent examples of soapstone carvings. But they couldn't find a dealer selling any of the woven wall hangings they wanted. They were very disappointed when they left Anchorage empty-handed.

Revision: The Winslow family visited Canada and Alaska last summer to find some native American art, such as soapstone carvings and wall hangings. Anchorage stores had many soapstone items available. Still, they were disappointed to learn that wall hangings, which they had especially wanted, were difficult to find. Sadly, they left empty-handed.

Example: Many really good blues guitarists have all had the last name King. They have been named Freddie King and Albert King and B.B. King. The name King must make a bluesman a really good bluesman. The bluesmen named King have all been very talented and good guitar players. The claim that a name can make a guitarist good may not be that far fetched.

Revision: What makes a good bluesman? Maybe, just maybe, it's all in a stately name. B.B. King. Freddie King. Albert King. It's no coincidence that they're the royalty of their genre. When their fingers dance like court jesters, their guitars gleam like scepters, and their voices bellow like regal trumpets, they seem almost like nobility. Hearing their music is like walking into the throne room. They really are kings.

2. Vary sentence openings.

If too many sentences start with the same word, especially "The," "It," "This," or "I," prose can grow tedious for readers, so changing opening words and phrases can be refreshing. Below are alternative openings for a fairly standard sentence. Notice that different beginnings can alter not only the structure but also the emphasis of the sentence. They may also require rephrasing in sentences before or after this one, meaning that one change could lead to an abundance of sentence variety.

Example: The biggest coincidence that day happened when David and I ended up sitting next to each other at the Super Bowl.

Possible Revisions:

• Coincidentally, David and I ended up sitting right next to each other at the Super Bowl.
• In an amazing coincidence, David and I ended up sitting next to each other at the Super Bowl.
• Sitting next to David at the Super Bowl was a tremendous coincidence.
• But the biggest coincidence that day happened when David and I ended up sitting next to each other at the Super Bowl.
• When I sat down at the Super Bowl, I realized that, by sheer coincidence, I was directly next to David.
• By sheer coincidence, I ended up sitting directly next to David at the Super Bowl.

Logic in Argumentative Writing

Purdue OWL: Logic in Argumentative Writing

Logical Vocabulary

Before using logic to reach conclusions, it is helpful to know some important vocabulary related to logic.

Premise: Proposition used as evidence in an argument.
Conclusion: Logical result of the relationship between the premises. Conclusions serve as the thesis of the argument.
Argument: The assertion of a conclusion based on logical premises.
Syllogism: The simplest sequence of logical premises and conclusions, devised by Aristotle.
Enthymeme: A shortened syllogism which omits the first premise, allowing the audience to fill it in. For example, "Socrates is mortal because he is a human" is an enthymeme which leaves out the premise "All humans are mortal."
Induction: A process through which the premises provide some basis for the conclusion.
Deduction: A process through which the premises provide conclusive proof for the conclusion.

Reaching Logical Conclusions

Reaching logical conclusions depends on the proper analysis of premises. The goal of a syllogism is to arrange premises so that only one true conclusion is possible.

Example A:
Consider the following premises:

Premise 1: Non-renewable resources do not exist in infinite supply.
Premise 2: Coal is a non-renewable resource.

From these two premises, only one logical conclusion is available:

Conclusion: Coal does not exist in infinite supply.

Example B:
Often logic requires several premises to reach a conclusion.

Premise 1: All monkeys are primates.
Premise 2: All primates are mammals.
Premise 3: All mammals are vertebrate animals. Conclusions: Monkeys are vertebrate animals.

Example C:
Logic allows specific conclusions to be drawn from general premises. Consider the following premises:

Premise 1: All squares are rectangles.
Premise 2: Figure 1 is a square.
Conclusion: Figure 1 is also a rectangle.

Example D:
Notice that logic requires decisive statements in order to work. Therefore, this syllogism is false:

Premise 1: Some quadrilaterals are squares.
Premise 2: Figure 1 is a quadrilateral.
Conclusion: Figure 1 is a square.

This syllogism is false because not enough information is provided to allow a verifiable conclusion. Figure 1 could just as likely be a rectangle, which is also a quadrilateral.

Example E:
Logic can also mislead when it is based on premises that an audience does not accept. For instance:

Premise 1: People with red hair are not good at checkers.
Premise 2: Bill has red hair.
Conclusion: Bill is not good at checkers.

Within the syllogism, the conclusion is logically valid. However, it is only true if an audience accepts Premise 1, which is very unlikely. This is an example of how logical statements can appear accurate while being completely false.

Example F:
Logical conclusions also depend on which factors are recognized and ignored by the premises. Therefore, different premises could lead to very different conclusions about the same subject. For instance, these two syllogisms about the platypus reveal the limits of logic for handling ambiguous cases:

Premise 1: All birds lay eggs.
Premise 2: Platypuses lay eggs.
Conclusion: Platypuses are birds.

Premise 1: All mammals have fur.
Premise 2: Platypuses have fur.
Conclusion: Platypuses are mammals.

Though logic is a very powerful argumentative tool and is far preferable to a disorganized argument, logic does have limitations. It must also be effectively developed from a syllogism into a written piece.

Rhetorical & Logical Arguments

Purdue OWL: Establishing Arguments

Logos

Logos or the appeal to reason relies on logic or reason. Logos often depends on the use of inductive or deductive reasoning.

Inductive reasoning takes a specific representative case or facts and then draws generalizations or conclusions from them. Inductive reasoning must be based on a sufficient amount of reliable evidence. In other words, the facts you draw on must fairly represent the larger situation or population. Example:

Fair trade agreements have raised the quality of life for coffee producers, so fair trade agreements could be used to help other farmers as well.

In this example the specific case of fair trade agreements with coffee producers is being used as the starting point for the claim. Because these agreements have worked the author concludes that it could work for other farmers as well.

Deductive reasoning begins with a generalization and then applies it to a specific case. The generalization you start with must have been based on a sufficient amount of reliable evidence.Example:

Genetically modified seeds have caused poverty, hunger, and a decline in bio-diversity everywhere they have been introduced, so there is no reason the same thing will not occur when genetically modified corn seeds are introduced in Mexico.

In this example the author starts with a large claim, that genetically modified seeds have been problematic everywhere, and from this draws the more localized or specific conclusion that Mexico will be affected in the same way.

Avoid Logical Fallacies

These are some common errors in reasoning that will undermine the logic of your argument. Also, watch out for these slips in other people's arguments.

Slippery slope: This is a conclusion based on the premise that if A happens, then eventually through a series of small steps, through B, C,..., X, Y, Z will happen, too, basically equating A and Z. So, if we don't want Z to occur A must not be allowed to occur either. Example:

If we ban Hummers because they are bad for the environment eventually the government will ban all cars, so we should not ban Hummers.

In this example the author is equating banning Hummers with banning all cars, which is not the same thing.

Hasty Generalization: This is a conclusion based on insufficient or biased evidence. In other words, you are rushing to a conclusion before you have all the relevant facts. Example:

Even though it's only the first day, I can tell this is going to be a boring course.

In this example the author is basing their evaluation of the entire course on only one class, and on the first day which is notoriously boring and full of housekeeping tasks for most courses. To make a fair and reasonable evaluation the author must attend several classes, and possibly even examine the textbook, talk to the professor, or talk to others who have previously finished the course in order to have sufficient evidence to base a conclusion on.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc: This is a conclusion that assumes that if 'A' occurred after 'B' then 'B' must have caused 'A.' Example:

I drank bottled water and now I am sick, so the water must have made me sick.

In this example the author assumes that if one event chronologically follows another the first event must have caused the second. But the illness could have been caused by the burrito the night before, a flu bug that had been working on the body for days, or a chemical spill across campus. There is no reason, without more evidence, to assume the water caused the person to be sick.

Genetic Fallacy: A conclusion is based on an argument that the origins of a person, idea, institute, or theory determine its character, nature, or worth. Example:

The Volkswagen Beetle is an evil car because it was originally designed by Hitler's army.

In this example the author is equating the character of a car with the character of the people who built the car.

Begging the Claim: The conclusion that the writer should prove is validated within the claim. Example:

Filthy and polluting coal should be banned.

Arguing that coal pollutes the earth and thus should be banned would be logical. But the very conclusion that should be proved, that coal causes enough pollution to warrant banning its use, is already assumed in the claim by referring to it as "filthy and polluting."

Circular Argument: This restates the argument rather than actually proving it. Example:

George Bush is a good communicator because he speaks effectively.

In this example the conclusion that Bush is a "good communicator" and the evidence used to prove it "he speaks effectively" are basically the same idea. Specific evidence such as using everyday language, breaking down complex problems, or illustrating his points with humorous stories would be needed to prove either half of the sentence.

Either/or: This is a conclusion that oversimplifies the argument by reducing it to only two sides or choices. Example:

We can either stop using cars or destroy the earth.

In this example where two choices are presented as the only options, yet the author ignores a range of choices in between such as developing cleaner technology, car sharing systems for necessities and emergencies, or better community planning to discourage daily driving.

Ad hominem: This is an attack on the character of a person rather than their opinions or arguments. Example:

Green Peace's strategies aren't effective because they are all dirty, lazy hippies.

In this example the author doesn't even name particular strategies Green Peace has suggested, much less evaluate those strategies on their merits. Instead, the author attacks the characters of the individuals in the group.

Ad populum: This is an emotional appeal that speaks to positive (such as patriotism, religion, democracy) or negative (such as terrorism or fascism) concepts rather than the real issue at hand. Example:

If you were a true American you would support the rights of people to choose whatever vehicle they want.

In this example the author equates being a "true American," a concept that people want to be associated with, particularly in a time of war, with allowing people to buy any vehicle they want even though there is no inherent connection between the two.

Red Herring: This is a diversionary tactic that avoids the key issues, often by avoiding opposing arguments rather than addressing them. Example:

The level of mercury in seafood may be unsafe, but what will fishers do to support their families.

In this example the author switches the discussion away from the safety of the food and talks instead about an economic issue, the livelihood of those catching fish. While one issue may effect the other, it does not mean we should ignore possible safety issues because of possible economic consequences to a few individuals.

Establishing Arguments

Purdue OWL: Establishing Arguments

How can I effectively present my argument?

Use an organizational structure that arranges the argument in a way that will make sense to the reader. The Toulmin Method of logic is a common and easy to use formula for organizing an argument.

The basic format for the Toulmin Method is as follows:

Claim: The overall thesis the writer will argue for.

Data: Evidence gathered to support the claim.

Warrant (also referred to as a bridge): Explanation of why or how the data supports the claim, the underlying assumption that connects your data to your claim.

Backing (also referred to as the foundation): Additional logic or reasoning that may be necessary to support the warrant.

Counterclaim: A claim that negates or disagrees with the thesis/claim.

Rebuttal: Evidence that negates or disagrees with the counterclaim.

Including a well thought out warrant or bridge is essential to writing a good argumentative essay or paper. If you present data to your audience without explaining how it supports your thesis they may not make a connection between the two or they may draw different conclusions.

Don't avoid the opposing side of an argument. Instead, include the opposing side as a counterclaim. Find out what the other side is saying and respond to it within your own argument. This is important so that the audience is not swayed by weak, but unrefuted, arguments. Including counterclaims allows you to find common ground with more of your readers. It also makes you look more credible because you appear to be knowledgeable about the entirety of the debate rather than just being biased or uniformed. You may want to include several counterclaims to show that you have thoroughly researched the topic.

Example:

Claim: Hybrid cars are an effective strategy to fight pollution.

Data1: Driving a private car is a typical citizen's most air polluting activity.

Warrant 1: Because cars are the largest source of private, as opposed to industry produced, air pollution switching to hybrid cars should have an impact on fighting pollution.

Data 2: Each vehicle produced is going to stay on the road for roughly 12 to 15 years.

Warrant 2: Cars generally have a long lifespan, meaning that a decision to switch to a hybrid car will make a long-term impact on pollution levels.

Data 3: Hybrid cars combine a gasoline engine with a battery-powered electric motor.

Warrant 3: This combination of technologies means that less pollution is produced. According to ineedtoknow.org "the hybrid engine of the Prius, made by Toyota, produces 90 percent fewer harmful emissions than a comparable gasoline engine."

Counterclaim: Instead of focusing on cars, which still encourages a culture of driving even if it cuts down on pollution, the nation should focus on building and encouraging use of mass transit systems.

Rebuttal: While mass transit is an environmentally sound idea that should be encouraged, it is not feasible in many rural and suburban areas, or for people who must commute to work; thus hybrid cars are a better solution for much of the nation's population.

The Twelve Step Program for Revising and Editing Papers

The Twelve Step Program for giving up stress over revising and editing papers

Here’s the deal: Start large and get small. Why would you want to edit punctuation before you know what sentences you want to cut? It is a big waste of time. So, work out what stays and what needs to go first, then pull out your handbook and dictionary and sweat the small stuff. The advice below will take more than 15 minutes—probably a couple of hours, but you should start at least 24 hours before the paper is due in case you need to do additional research or consult the teacher. You need to read over the paper with a critical eye, and I humbly suggest that you do this at the time of day when you are normally in the worst mood. Be reasonable but ruthless. Scowl at the paper. Use a red pen and pretend to be the teacher you hate the most (or a green pen if you prefer). But don’t skip any of the 12 steps below (including #13). Need I say this? “SAVE EACH DRAFT” with a new name—like “draft 53” (Try using a different color for each one, or if you only have one color ink left, try a different font.)

1. First Cut: Read the paper over fairly fast and take out rambling bits, places where you lost direction, sentences or paragraphs that are off topic. Save this as “[your topic]-draft2.”
2. Revising outline 1: Organization: Even if you made a perfect outline to start with, make another one. This time look at each paragraph and write its point in the margin next to it. Then list these points on a separate sheet and evaluate the organization. Is it logical? Do you repeat yourself? Should material be moved together? Do you have important ideas buried in the middle instead of stating them first or last where people will notice them more? Rearrange things. Now cut and paste ideas, sentences, and paragraphs according to what you learned from studying the revising outline. Save this draft in a different color or font than the last one, as “[your topic]-draft3.”
3. Revising outline 2: Evidence: Make another revising outline from the new draft. This time, look at the evidence you used. Highlight and then list all evidence and see how much there is.
• Do you need less evidence? More than 60% highlighted material may be too much, make sure your own analysis, connections, and argument are well formulated and are fore grounded so that the evidence supports your argument rather than being asked to try to make the argument for you. Even a paragraph that summarizes or synthesizes sources should begin with a topic sentence in your own words. If it doesn’t, revise it.
• Do you need more evidence? Where? What kind? Every claim you make must be supported by at least one piece of reputable evidence (“Joe and Vinny’s music tips and medical facts page” is not reputable unless it tells you that the medical facts have been reviewed by a medical doctor—and names the doctor—or tells you the source from which they were taken.) Do you have that evidence somewhere, or must you go and do more research? Add it or do it!
• Make whatever changes this analysis suggests. Save this draft in a different color or font than the last one, as “[your topic]-draft4.”
4. Revising outline 3: Citations: Go over the new draft with your highlighter (or a different one to add variety), marking every single piece of information that comes from any source aside from your head. At each end of the highlight should be a “bookend”—an introductory phrase at the beginning and a citation at the end. If that isn’t so, fix it. Save this draft in another color or font as “[your topic]-draft5.” Use MLA, APA, Chicago, CBE, or whatever style your professor asked you to use. For composition, MLA is generally the default.
5. Thesis check: Reread your introduction and highlight your thesis. Now look at each paragraph and note in the margin how it explains, develops, supports, or challenges your thesis. Is it clear what each paragraph is doing there? If not, add a sentence making it clear. This may well take the form of a topic sentence. (See below) Do you deal with arguments against your thesis (a.k.a. counter evidence?). If not, consider what objections someone could raise and insert at least one paragraph explaining the objection and either showing why it is not really an objection, or acknowledging its persuasiveness but affirming that it is not sufficient to dissuade you from your thesis. If there are no arguments that any reasonable person could make against your thesis if they have considered the same evidence as you, your thesis is weak (or simply a statement of truth). Revise it.
6. Transitions and topic sentence check: These are absolutely essential in longer papers because after a certain point we can too easily get distracted or lost. Your task is to keep us on track. Topic sentences, broadly defined, can do this Topic sentences work like road signs, pointing us in a new direction or reassuring us that we are still going the right way! Each paragraph needs to begin with one or more sentences in your own words that (i) connect back to the previous paragraph, moving us smoothly into the new idea, (ii) connect back to the thesis so we know where we are going, and (iii) introduce the material to come in the rest of the paragraph. A simple topic sentence takes the form of a restatement of the thesis, such as “The second argument in favor of changing the drinking age to 12 is…” By page five this will be nauseatingly boring. Go for informed creativity. Look at your textbooks for examples of how to write really informative topic sentences. Textbooks make an art from of this. Add any topic sentences and transitions your last draft lacks and save the new draft in a different color or font (as “[your topic]-draft6.”)
7. Revising outline 4: Perfection is possible: (This is the last outline—honestly!). This time, write out your thesis, then list each topic sentence, and under it note the source of your evidence. It is good to take a break here and come back to the outline later when your mind is refreshed and has had chance to think about something else for a while. Then make sure the outline is perfect. If there is no evidence to support a claim, look at your notes or pay another visit to the library or a reliable internet site. If there is too much, decide whether you need all of it. If you need more explanatory paragraphs, draft topic sentences for them. Review this the way you were taught to review the kind of outline some people create before they write a paper. Then make any final content additions, revisions, etc. (yes, save…)
8. The head and the tail: Now it is looking like a paper! Read the introduction and then read the conclusion. Do they seem to belong to the same paper? If not, revise. Does the conclusion introduce the paper better than the introduction (come on, be honest)? If so, revise it as necessary and make it your introduction. Then write a new conclusion that concludes the paper (skim through your list of topic sentences and make sure that we are reminded of the main points in the conclusion and don't learn anything new there). Save this. It should be looking pretty good by now.
9. Revising and editing sentences: Now you need to read the paper over from the beginning, retaining your critical mood. This time you’re looking for disjunctures—things that are out of place in this paper or in academic papers in general.
• Pay attention to your tone and avoid informal usage (“kids,” for example) and excessively formal phrases that sound as if they come from the Thesaurus or a dictionary worm. Simple is often clearest. Don’t practice new vocabulary words if you aren’t sure what they mean. (Check your handbook for advice. In The Longman Writer’s Companion, 2^nd ed. you’ll find a whole section on editing words on pages 175-186).
• Avoid the word “you.” (If I’ve corrected this before, do a word search for “you” and replace any that you find.) English does not have a formal form of the word "you," and the informal should be avoided in formal situations just as it is in many other languages. “One,” “readers,” “researchers,” or “we” are appropriate substitutions.
• Watch out for references that don’t refer to anything. The sentence “as soon as a student arrives in class, they should begin revising their paper” makes no sense because we don’t know to whom they and their refer. A student is singular, so can only be referred to by a singular referent (he or she). Pluralizing is your best bet (“As soon as students arrive in class, they should begin revising their papers.”)
• Check for misleading introductory phrases. If you write “In Jamieson’s handout, ‘Revising Research Papers,’ she says….” you are not talking about something I wrote in that handout, but about something that “she” (someone other than me) is quoted in that handout as saying. Fix it to read, “In her handout, ‘Revising Research Papers,’ Jamieson says…” or simply “In ‘Revising Research Papers,’ Jamieson says…”)
• Make sure your sentences are varied in style and length. Too many short sentences will start sounding like a list really quickly; however, don’t be tempted to just connect complete sentences with commas or you will create run-on sentences. (Check your handbook for advice. In The Longman Writer’s Companion, 2^nd ed. you’ll find a section on editing sentences on pages 133-174).
• Type in those editing changes and save the draft.
10. Editing sentences for grammar and mechanics: Finally we get to those small changes! The easiest way to do this effectively is to print out the paper, turn to the last page, and read the last sentence. Then each sentence at a time, working your way up each page to the beginning. This takes a while, but it is amazing how many errors you’ll find. This is the single best way to edit a paper—even better than asking your room mate to do it (unless he or she already knows this strategy, but even so, you should do it yourself first.) Reading this way focuses your attention on each sentence as a sentence and prevents you from getting carried away by the quality of the content and reading right over the errors. As you read each sentence, keep an eye open for the kinds of errors others have pointed out in previous papers. Check to make sure each sentence makes sense, and that there is some overall variety in sentence length. (Check your handbook for advice. In The Longman Writer’s Companion, 2^nd ed. you’ll find a whole section on editing grammar on pages 73 to 132, another on editing punctuation on pages 187 to 210, and a third on proofreading on pages 211 to 230). Write in changes as you go, and then type in those editing changes and save the draft.
11. Formatting: You’re almost done. Now you need to check your formatting. Look at the example on page 70 of the Longman Writer’s Companion, 2^nd ed. and follow the instructions exactly. Make sure your title tells us what the paper is about. Save the final draft in Times/Times New Roman 12, and make sure the text is black (most professors require black ink, which is the default, but if you run out, many will accept any dark color such as blue, purple, or brown—ask first). Make sure you have a works cited list that provides correct citations for all sources referred to in the paper (just the citation information NOT the annotations).
12. Final Check: Read over the works cited listing and review the citations one more time. Then PRINT OUT THE FINAL DRAFT. Staple the pages in the top left corner.
• Wait, there’s one more thing to do: Read over the copy you intend to hand in one last time. Make sure that all the pages are there, in the right otder (and the right way up) and that nothing odd happened during printing.
13. okay, I lied, but -- Yeah. You're DONE!! Do a victory dance and hand in what will be an awesome paper if you have really followed these steps

Analytical Writing

Writing Analyses

Analytical skills in college
Academic writing assignments call for several different kinds of analysis, but we will discuss analysis under three general headings, rhetorical analysis, process analysis and causal analysis. (You may observe that in advancing these three subcategories of analysis, we are engaging in division, and specifically in selective, interpretive division.) .

The purpose of rhetorical analysis is to discover how a text persuades its readers; the purpose of process and causal analysis is to discover and explain how a situation or issue works. In either case, analysis involves examining, selecting, and interpreting. process analysis and causal analysis focus on facts and relationships, figuring out how these facts and relationships work. rhetorical analysis focuses on how the argument of a text is structured.

We discuss these three forms of analysis in some detail below because each has useful applications in academic writing. In a humanities course such as literature, drama, languages, the classics--Greek and Latin or a related sub-discipline like cultural studies, media studies, or communication studies, you might be asked to analyze the rhetoric of a text. In a science course you might be asked to perform a process analysis, and social science courses may ask you to engage in causal analysis. These forms of analysis are not linked exclusively with specific disciplines, but as you learn more about analysis, you will see why different disciplines tend to make particular use of one type.

Rhetorical Analysis

To analyze the rhetoric of a text is to figure out how it persuades its readers--not what it is attempting to persuade them of, but how it goes about accomplishing that task. Nor is rhetorical analysis directly concerned with whether the text's assertions are correct. Thus Kenneth Burke, one of the great American rhetoricians of the twentieth century, asserts that analyzing Hitler's rhetoric is a worthwhile task. It doesn't matter that you might violently disagree with Hitler's motives or his arguments, says Burke; in conducting a rhetorical analysis of his texts, you can learn a lot about the means by which people are persuaded. Hitler was able to persuade a great number of people to join him in a cause that is today widely denounced. How did he do it?
This is the compelling question of rhetorical analysis. It is a useful question for you to learn how to answer; with the ability to understand how you are persuaded, you are less vulnerable to manipulation.

Although few of your classes will assign you to write rhetorical analyses, learning to conduct this type of inquiry and write this type of paper can make appreciable contributions to critical thinking skills that you can then apply to your academic studies. Rhetorical analysis--being able to figure out how arguments work--can help you to understand how the various academic disciplines work. Conducting a rhetorical analysis of a linguistics text, for example, helps you understand how the discipline of linguistics asks and answers questions--by what means members of that discipline tend to form beliefs.

You may be asked to write a form of rhetorical analysis known as explication or close reading in literature classes, and, as we explain in "African American Women Writers," an ability to explicate a text is the first step in writing an effective paper.

Prewriting and organizing your material
 
A reader's summary is a good first step; it aids your understanding of the text. (See p. 000.) The reader's summary gives you preliminary--but essential--information. Once you have drafted your reader's summary (which, in a task of rhetorical analysis, is a form of prewriting), you should ask yourself three preliminary questions: "What is the thesis of this selection?" "What reasons does the author give for me to believe this thesis?" "What other points of view does the author acknowledge or explore?" Again, as part of your prewriting, write out your answers to these questions.

Questions to ask as you perform a rhetorical analysis
Now you are ready to begin your rhetorical analysis, collecting material that will lead you to your own thesis and that will become part of your essay. This analysis is best achieved by asking a whole series of questions, beginning with the following:

What is the context of this text? Where was it published, and when?

Who is the intended audience for this text? (Sometimes that question can be answered from the context, and sometimes there are clues in the text that tell you who the writer imagined his or her readers to be.) Does the text demonstrate a respect for its audience? What stance does it adopt toward that audience--one of teacher, colleague, supplicant? Is the text superior to the audience? Is it the equal of its audience? Is it afraid of or hostile towards its audience? Does it welcome the audience into the discussion, or exclude them from it?

By what means does the text seek to persuade its readers of the thesis? By appealing to their emotions, their fears? By citing authorities? By recounting personal experience, observation, or research? By building the author's own credibility as an authority on the subject or as a generally knowledgeable person? By adducing empirical data--statistics, tables, graphs, and the like? (See the discussion of ethos, logos, and pathos on pp. 000-000.)

How does the text establish that this evidence actually supports the argument--or does it assume that you, the reader, automatically agree that this evidence is valid and sufficient?

Whom does the text portray as the enemies of its argument? Whom does it portray as its friends?

To what extent does the text consider counterevidence--alternative points of view? Are these given serious consideration, or are they "shot down" without a trial?

To what extent does the text acknowledge the complexity of the issue--or does it try to make it seem that the issue is a simple one, with only one "right" answer? Does the text give you options for the conclusions you reach, or does it portray all who disagree with it as ill-informed or even villainous?

What does the text leave out? (If you know something about the issue, ask yourself whether the text is suppressing counterevidence or complexity.) Do you get the "whole picture" from this text? (Keep in mind that no text can cover every aspect of its topic; but on the other hand, when a text seems to suppress key information or perspectives, that is itself a part of its argument.)

How is the text organized? For example, does it include numbered lists of evidence? (Such lists are interesting to interpret. On one hand, they may help the reader keep track of complex information. But in some texts, numbered lists seem to function not to prevent the reader's cognitive overload but to make it seem that there are no options other than those in the numbered lists.)

Consider word choices and the arrangement of ideas. These should provide you with insightful material. Often such inquiry will reveal methods of argument that the author may not have even been consciously using but that nevertheless affect readers' understanding of and response to the material. Words like political correctness and family values, for example, are catchwords that call upon readers' emotions. Americans have so exhausted themselves in argument about the issues of political correctness and family values that the labels for them now announce not a logical argument but an emotional one. When phrases like political correctness and family values are used, it is usually for the purpose of bringing discussion to a close, rather than opening it up.
More generally, though, word choices substantially influence how an argument is developed. Words like progress, for example, marshal readers to the writer's cause. Who doesn't approve of progress? When you hear or read the word, you may respond positively, without thinking about the connotations of progress. One particularly good place for considering issues of word choice is in the text's presentation of evidence and counterevidence. Do the emotional associations of the word choices change according to whether the text is talking about evidence or counterevidence? (i.e., are words with negative emotional association used to describe counterevidence, and words with positive emotional association used to describe the evidence?)

Once you've collected your preliminary data on the means whereby the text advances its argument, you may find it useful to compare those means with the rhetorical strategies of other texts you have read on the same topic. Or you might compare the text's rhetorical strategies with the rhetoric of other texts that you have analyzed. Think about what such comparisons might reveal about the rhetorical structure of this text.

Once you have completed this analysis, you are ready to begin writing your paper. As you do so, consider what your own argument will be, and what evidence you will offer in support of it. Your thesis will probably be a statement of something valuable that you have learned from the process of conducting rhetorical analysis of this text, and your evidence will probably be drawn from your answers to some of the questions above. See page 000-000 for a discussion of possible patterns of organization.

Process analysis
Process analysis offers the steps whereby an effect is achieved. Day-to-day life commonly involves three different types of process analysis. To read a recipe for spinach quiche is to read a process analysis that explains how to create an effect--the effect being a delicious dinner. Follow the steps of the recipe, and culinary delight (depending upon one's love of spinach, eggs, and what not) will result. In the academic world, a similar sort of process analysis is commonplace in science laboratory reports, which are intended to explain a process step by step so that the reader could replicate the experiment and the result.

This creative process analysis is not, however, the only type with which science students are familiar. Another common type is that in which the intended result is the reader's comprehension of how something works. The objective of such process analyses is not that the reader go out and follow the steps presented in the process analysis, but rather that he or she understand how the end product occurs. We generally cause such pieces comprehension-based process analysis.

We might also distinguish a third sort of process analysis, one in which the desired result is not so much that the reader create something nor that he or she understanding something, but that he or she do something. This type of process analysis is well known to all American grocery shoppers. The checkout counters are rife with magazines that tell readers how to behave differently. Typically that behavior has an explicit result, such as not being fat, or having a better sex life, or not being depressed. But the desired result is not just a product like skinniness; it is also an ongoing behavior. This type of process analysis is not very common in academic writing; most college courses, when they undertake process analysis, have either creation or comprehension as the desired result. A few courses, however--those that are skill-based, like composition courses--do engage students in process analysis with desired behavioral outcomes.

To the extent that many of the social sciences also use a version of the scientific method, it should not be a surprise to find examples of process analysis in social science texts, too, especially in a discipline like economics.

Drafting the introduction and organizing your material
Regardless of the desired outcome--creation, comprehension, or behavior modification--when you are writing a process analysis, you must describe each of the steps in the process, in the order in which they are to be performed or were performed. Thus the process analysis to some extent resembles narration: both typically depend upon strict chronological order. If the process is complex, the introduction to your paper should summarize it, so that the reader has a general sense of it before you launch into the detailed steps. Depending upon the assignment, you may also want the introduction to explain the significance of the process.

Because of the interpretive aspect of analysis, it's always wise for the writer to consider alternative interpretations. Ask yourself, "What if I'm wrong?" or "Why would a reasonable, well-informed person not agree with me?" These questions will lead you to counterevidence, explained earlier in this chapter (pp. 000-000). Analysis is one of the modes of writing in which counterevidence is particularly important; it should be incorporated into your essay in a substantial way.

Causal Analysis

Focusing on why an event happens, this form of analysis is typical of social science writing. Sociolinguists want to know why speakers of a colonial dialect continue using linguistic items that speaker of the parent language form have dropped; urban geographers want to know why people stop to talk right in the middle of pedestrian traffic instead of stepping a few feet aside, into a very appealing streetside park; economists want to know why women's wages are lower than men's. Their explanations illustrate causal analysis. Some people call it cause-and-effect analysis. It differs from process analysis in that it analyzes not how something occurs, but why. Usually that "why" analyzes events that have already happened (as in history and anthropology), but sometimes (as in political science or economics) it may try to predict what will happen, and why.

Counterevidence plays an important role in causal analysis. Most social phenomena, for example, are not conducive to single-cause analysis; rather, a number of factors contribute to the phenomenon. As a critical reader of causal analysis, you should ask yourself whether the text is acknowledging other possible causes of the effect described. As a writer of causal analysis, you need to give serious consideration to possible alternative interpretations to your thesis.

Causal analysis often occurs with or employs other modes of writing, such as narration or classification. What distinguishes causal analysis is its purpose, the purpose of explaining why a phenomenon occurs.

Drafting the introduction and organizing your material

The introduction to a causal analysis should identify the effect whose cause will be analyzed; provide a thesis that states what you believe to be the cause of that effect; and give the audience a sense of why it is useful to identify causes of this effect.

The body of the essay, as you have seen, can take on a number of different forms that have already been described in this chapter. Regardless of how you approach your task, though, you should be sure that the body of your essay clearly explains the cause(s) and why you believe that they constitute a plausible explanation. You should also include counterevidence: what other possible causes might an intelligent, well-informed person offer, and why don't you subscribe to those explanations? In addition, as you advance causes, take into account not only the immediate, obvious causes, but also the underlying ("mediate") causes. What, in other words, causes the causes? Cause and effect is seldom a one-two process; rather, it involves a whole series of events.
The conclusion of the essay is a good place to make policy recommendations, if they are appropriate to your task. If recommendations are your choice for concluding the essay, be prepared to have a longer-than-ordinary conclusion. Policy recommendations should not be made quickly and then abandoned; they demand explanation and detail.