THE LANGUAGE OF COMPOSITIONReading, Writing, Rhetoric

Chapter ThreeSynthesizing Sources: Entering the Conversation

Point is to develop your own informed opinion

This opinion should consider multiple perspectives and possibilities

We do this every day: can you think of a situation?

Research lets you “enter the conversation”

A topic with polarized views is boring

Synthesis: What and Why

Any good persuasive writing offers many different types of support

Anecdotes (no doc) Facts (your book is wrong!) Data (document) Expert Testimony (document)

Why document? What does it do for you?

Support

Examples of Support in Use Callahan (63): anecdote Ehrenreich ( 63-64): facts, quotations—

experts Williams (64-65): expert testimony as

counterweight to an emotional anecdote Hillenbrand (65-66):

“Sources should enhance, not replace, your argument… while sources inform your own ideas, support or illustrate them, or demonstrate your understanding of opposing views, what you have to say is the main event; your position is central” (65).

Assignment p. 66

Support

Relationship of Sources to Aud Analyze the rhetorical situation in order to figure

out how sources and documentation should be used

Ex. Moses – aud is broad, general, interested in personal information – so sources are interviews, rather than statistics

Ex. Shea – aud is literary magazine for writers – evidence is more formal and diverse (so is documentation)

Ex. Loichat – aud is scholars and researchers – so evidence is from other scholarly works, very formal documentation

Look at 4 columns by a single author: what can you determine about his/her audience based on sources used?

Assignment p. 72

Your goal is the same as that of the samples we’ve read: “to support and illustrate your own ideas and to establish your credibility as a member of the academic community that values the ‘conversation’” (72)

Documentation may be formal or informal, depending on situation

Synthesis Essay