Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively

Before You Read.

I think the word fact means something that has to deal with the truth of a situation. In other words, it is something that can not be proven wrong at that period in time. The word claim is something that is stated or said but there is no proof to back it up; there is no evidence. I think the word opinion is something as you see and believe it. -What I just said is my own opinion. And finally, I think the word argument is an action that happens because people have different opinions on a topic.

Summary.

In the article, "Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively", by Margaret Kantz,  she get a point across that students don't really learn anything from writing research papers. They have sources, but none of what they write are their own ideas and therefore, the paper lacks what a really good research paper needs. Basically, the rhetoric can have different "stages". Bottom line, writing a paper that is the writers own, is much better than a paper that is very similar to the sources it came from.

Synthesis.

Kantz is trying to make the reader a better writer. She is very smart and it is easy to see that she also thinks that people (students), need to use sources. But she thinks that from using the sources only, the writer won't have his or her own paper because they won't learn anything or take anything away from all of their research. In a way, both Kantz and Klein get the point across that sources are good. Also, Kants, just like Greene, uses framing to get her point across more clearly.

Questions For Discussion and Journaling.

1. Well, I think Kantz is saying that everything that is heard or seen can be different from other sources previously seen or heard. To me, it seems as if the reader (in whatever is being read), is going to believe what is said. Whether what was stated was an opinion or fact. Opinions are a little different because the reader may have a different stand point on the issue. Overall, these three words, facts, opinions and arguments can be taken by the reader how he or she wants to take them and given a situation can make it how they want to have it seen or heard. -They can change it to what they believe is true possibly because there are different sources, dealing with the same idea but that have different stories or views on it.

2. Personally, yes, I do think she is correct. I looked back at all of the things that students didn't know and I was one of those students too. After reading this article though, my knowledge has widened (once again) and now I am able to think to myself when reading something, "is the the truth? Is this an opinion?". I am able to look at something and make my own judgement call on it and to really think about if what is being said is true (along the lines) or not.

Applying and Exploring Ideas.

2.  Before coming into this class and before I started to learn about some of these new ideas, I truthfully thought that gathering information from different sources was kind of boring and thats just the way I saw research. After going through all different sources, I would rearrange all of what I learned in my head and spell it out on my paper. Kantz is basically saying to be creative and write the paper. Don't just reword all of what you just learned from doing research. Make it your own paper with your own thoughts and ideas. I don't see these ideas overlapping really too much. -Bottom line, research is needed to write a paper. But it is what you do with the research and what you do with it to make the paper the best that it can be. From reading this article, Kantz has taught me to not only be creative and make the paper more thoughtful by not just being so bland with the sources but to also make what I have learned better and to take it to the next level.

Meta Moment.

For me, I think that Kantz is trying to analyze the truth in all sources. Fact or opinion, I believe that she is just saying to be careful and to do your own research. Be creative with what you do hear and make it the truth. I think it would be useful because then you can be sure that something that you are writing is true or not.

After Reading/Thoughts.

Overall, this was another very interesting topic to learn about. Kantz is trying to get the point across that sources are and can be very useful if you do the right thing with them. It is what you take out of the multiple sources and to make it into something more creative and better than it was before.