Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively

@article{citeulike:1140397, author = {Kantz, Margaret }, citeulike-article-id = {1140397}, comment = {The synthesis tasks involved in writing a research paper include "the obvious problems of citation format and coordination of source materials with the emerging written product . . . the number and length of the sources, the abstractness or familiarity of the topic, the uses that the writer must make of the material, the degree and quality of original thought required, and the extent to which the sources will supply the structure and purpose of the new paper" (75). "The relative success of some students in finding original things to say about their topics can help us to understand the perennial problem of plagiarism. Some plagiarism derives, I think, from a weak, nonrhetorical task representation. If students believe they are supposed to reproduce source material in their papers, or if they know they are supposed to say something original but have no rhetorical problem to solve and no knowledge of how to find problems that they can discuss in their sources, it becomes difficult for them to avoid plagiarizing" (84). "Kinneavy, analyzing Aristotle's description of rhetoric, posits that every communicative situation has three parts: a speaker/writer (the Encoder), and audience (the Decoder), and a topic (Reality). Although all discourse involves all three aspects of communication, a given type of discourse may pertain more to a particular point of the triangle than to the others. . . ." (79-80). "To move students beyond merely reporting the content and rhetorical orientation of their sources texts, I have taught them the concept of the rhetorical gap and some simple heuristic questions for thinking about gaps" (83). To discover gaps, students may need to learn heuristics for setting rhetorical writing goals. That is, they may need to learn to think of the paper, not as a rehash of the available material, but as an opportunity to teach someone, to solve someone's problem, or to answer someone's question. The most salient questions for reading source texts may be 'Who are you (the original audience of Decoders)?' 'What is your question or problem with this topic?'; and 'How have I (the Encoder) used the materials to answer your question or solve your problem?' More simply, these questions may be learned as 'Why,' "How,' and 'So what?'" (83-4). }, journal = {College English}, keywords = {plagiarism, research, rhetoric}, number = {1}, pages = {74--91}, posted-at = {2007-03-05 03:05:33}, priority = {0}, title = {Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively}, url = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/377413}, volume = {52}, year = {1990} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1140397 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1140397 TI - Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively JF - College English VL - 52 IS - 1 SP - 74 EP - 91 KW - plagiarism KW - research KW - rhetoric N1 - The synthesis tasks involved in writing a research paper include "the obvious problems of citation format and coordination of source materials with the emerging written product . . . the number and length of the sources, the abstractness or familiarity of the topic, the uses that the writer must make of the material, the degree and quality of original thought required, and the extent to which the sources will supply the structure and purpose of the new paper" (75). "The relative success of some students in finding original things to say about their topics can help us to understand the perennial problem of plagiarism. Some plagiarism derives, I think, from a weak, nonrhetorical task representation. If students believe they are supposed to reproduce source material in their papers, or if they know they are supposed to say something original but have no rhetorical problem to solve and no knowledge of how to find problems that they can discuss in their sources, it becomes difficult for them to avoid plagiarizing" (84). "Kinneavy, analyzing Aristotle's description of rhetoric, posits that every communicative situation has three parts: a speaker/writer (the Encoder), and audience (the Decoder), and a topic (Reality). Although all discourse involves all three aspects of communication, a given type of discourse may pertain more to a particular point of the triangle than to the others. . . ." (79-80). "To move students beyond merely reporting the content and rhetorical orientation of their sources texts, I have taught them the concept of the rhetorical gap and some simple heuristic questions for thinking about gaps" (83). To discover gaps, students may need to learn heuristics for setting rhetorical writing goals. That is, they may need to learn to think of the paper, not as a rehash of the available material, but as an opportunity to teach someone, to solve someone's problem, or to answer someone's question. The most salient questions for reading source texts may be 'Who are you (the original audience of Decoders)?' 'What is your question or problem with this topic?'; and 'How have I (the Encoder) used the materials to answer your question or solve your problem?' More simply, these questions may be learned as 'Why,' "How,' and 'So what?'" (83-4). AU - Kantz, Margaret PY - 1990/// UR - http://www.jstor.org/stable/377413 ER -