Free-Write 2
February 27, 2008
Free-write 2
Based on Kantz’s article, a strong reader and writer has to be familiar with what the author is writing, and not always accept the work for the truth, even if it is non-fiction. A strong reader and writer must evaluate why the author wrote the way he or she did, and how it compares to other writers’ intentions that have written on similar subjects. A strong reader and writer must have the sophisticated goals of inventing an original purpose and rhetorically analyzing the author’s work. Kantz talks about the triangular diagram of a rhetorical situation when conducting research. According to Kantz’s source Kinneavy, “every communicative situation has three parts: a speaker/writer (the Encoder), an audience (the Decoder), and a topic (Reality). A strong research paper, in Kantz’s opinion would entail for me to really evaluate the differences between the various authors of my sources, and why they would choose to the write the way they did. She makes the distinction between opinions and facts when she writes that it is necessary to know that both opinions and facts are claims, and the only essential difference between a fact and an opinion is how they are perceived by an audience. This distinction is important because as writers, we need to know that our main goal is to make the audience engage in our work, and facts and opinions help them to do so. Edward Said can be a role model for this kind of writing because he rhetorically analyzes the media nd why they would portray Arabs in a negative light. In order to write a good paper, I am going to need to evaluate my sources and really compare them to one another. This will help me reach Kantz’s goal of being an effective writer. I might have some trouble with this, since I have never done it before, but we’ll see what happens.
Hi Janelby. Nice job summarizing most of Kantz’s key points. Also, remember that to be a good writer in Kantz’s eyes, you need to come up with an original idea. We discussed at length how to come up with original ideas in class on Wednesday, as many students feel intimated by the notion…. I want you to think deeply about how one discovers and creates an original idea. Our goal for this next paper, after all, is to do just that. Through research and writing, I want you to come up with an original thesis that will be your contribution to the many conversations you have been reading about concerning your topic.
In class, we discussed the concept of gaps that Kantz is writing about and brainstormed ways in which gaps might help us discover something original to say about our topic. We decided that when researching, we need to look for gaps in knowledge that we see in need of filling. Therefore, while you are researching and writing begin to listen to the little epiphanies/realizations in your mind or the places where you read information that isn’t quite congruent, or the information that puzzles you, or places where you see connections that others haven’t seen, etc. For instance in the War Porn essay you will read of mine, I notice that people seemed to be placing all of blame for Abu Ghraib on the soldiers. They did not see the connection between the rhetoric of the government and the events at Abu Ghraib. My paper fills in that missing gap by showing the association between the two…
Similarly, when researching you will want to look for gaps in knowlege that you can fill. Your goal, again, for this next essay is to come up with an original contribution to the discussion surrounding your topic. These little strategies will help…