Kantz. Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively

Before you read: I would define an argument as conversation between two people who may not see eye to eye on a subject. I feel the word argument when used in an everyday setting has a negative connotation, and sometimes is viewed as a "fight" when it is probably just a miss understanding between people. It may also be thought of as a debate between people.

In an academic setting I think the word argument is ment more to be persuasive. For example after doing research on a topic you would present and argument about your particular side of the "argument" . When your paper or presentation is more based on research and it is information in the form of a persuasive argument.

The difference is that in everyday life people make arguments just by disagreeing with one another with out being informed of two sides to an argument. where as in an academic setting the argument is based more on fact and reason and usually presented with both.

recently an argument I had with someone was about weather or not Ohio state football should be the number one team in the nation, the are 12-0. we solved the dispute by each giving our sides of the argument and we agreed that each person had valid points. We each still stuck to our own beliefs but we at least tried to understand the other side of the argument.

Summary:

In the her article Helping Students use Textual Sources Persuasively, Margaret Kantz explores the idea that texts dont't always mean the same things to every reader. She goes through the article discussing how the writer needs to interact with the text sources they read, and putting a part of ourselves into each source we read and in the way we use the source in our writing. She relays these ideas through her characters of Shirley and Alice. Shirley represents half of the audience, the students that struggle with forming original ideas in their writing and rely on the sources the read to be fact base. Alice represents the other half of the audience, the students who grasp the concept of using sources to form a new argument. Both characters could have the same assignment but have two totally different views.

Synthesis:

After reading Kantz's article Helping students... I think it compares similarly to Klein's article What is it we do...  Because both articles emphasize the importance of teachers teaching their students the proper way to research for a paper. Also how to use the source information after the research process.

Questions for Discussion:

1.) I think what Kantz is trying to explain about facts is that they are only facts if you believe them to be facts as a decoder.  Otherwise facts are no different than an opinion,  both facts and opinions are claims, once read or heard about people then make the decision whether or  not to believe them to be facts or leave them as an opinion until seeking further proof.    

2.) In paragraph 17 Kantz lists what many students like Shirley misunderstand.  

1. Misunderstanding sources because they read them as stories.  

2. Expecting their sources to tell the truth. 

3. Not understanding that facts are a kind of claim.

She says that students need to read source texts as an argument. I think she is correct based on my own writing experiences I think I tend to read sources like a story to make them seem more interesting but in turn miss out on the point of the source itself.  I think I understand the things on this list a lot better now I feel that going in to this writing assignment I will not expect all of my sources to be true but rather use the differences between source to form a better paper.

Applying and Exploring  ideas.

Previously Ive been taught that creativity and research shouldn't really mix. Ive been taught that research should be about the facts and that there isn't room for creativity in a research paper. However after reading Kantz article I come to learn that you can include creativity in a research paper by developing your own original argument and ideas about a topic. For me personally I think they could be a struggle because it is a completely new way of writing, but at the same time I think it will make writing much more interesting and more enjoyable.

MM:

I think the construct that Kantz is overviewing is that facts and opinions are the same thing, they are both claims. Its how the claims are used that can define a good paper from a bad paper. If you only use facts as "facts" that you believe are true than you will never fully look at the range of specific topics or questions that could be formed from a general topic. Rather if you use a balance of what you may think of as facts and opinions your more likely to form new original ideas for an argument. An example is between Shirley and Alice. Shirley looks at her sources as facts that are true, and doesn't want to question them because they are "true" on the other hand Alice opens up the topic when questioning the facts, in paragraph 10 she tell Shirley " you could have thought about why a book entitled a history of France might present a different view of the battle than a book subtitled a history of british progress." This is the difference between an original creative good paper, and a paper that is repeating what the text book says.

Thoughts:

I thought this article was interesting in some places when Kantz was comparing Shirley to Alice, and showing the difference between the two's thought process toward the same assignment. However I also thought that the article was really long and drawn out for what seemed like three fairly simple concepts to understand. I think the article was helpful in the sense that I would want my papers to be more like the Alice than the Shirley character. and I think some of the key points in the article will be something to return to in the future.