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Week One: BCIT

Dr. Stephen Ogden

LIBS 7001

Liberal Arts Benefit for Business Professionals

“….not all of us are arts students …. English course[s], in which the text is not as clear as in other courses…. lack the precise detail of business and science texts.”

“…. it is better for the notes to be detailed, as having complete notes can help us better prepare for the final exam. Also, not everyone has awesome memory….”

Question: Is there a practical professional benefit to studying critical reading & writing?

BCBC: What Does Business Want from SFU Graduates?

BC Business Council: “2010 Biennial Skills & Attributes Survey Report: What are BC employers looking for?”

Skills preferred across all industry categories: Nine out of ten preferred attributes ranked are

non-technological. Eight out of ten preferred skills ranked are

non-technological A “Liberal Arts” skill-set: e.g. speaking, writing,

reading, critical thinking are the nine.

Some Reasons to Write Well

More Reasons to Write Well

Reasons to Write Well: #1445

A personal case of a (3rd year) student who, having submitted a Term Paper to me one year late along with (what I suspected to be) a forged letter from a Doctor, responded to my return contact with a second letter from (it said) the same Dr. that reads as follows:

“…. because you may not have understood the medical points in my first letter, I will now put [ the student’s ] condition in laments terms…”

Yet Another Reason to Write Well

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More Reasons to Write Well

Language is a techne. A Formal System—closed,

rule-based. Improved writing = improved

salary. Increased opportunity of

Managerial or Supervisory Promotion

Language is business power: pure & simple.

Vocabulary is strength Words = Tools More Words-More Power

Grammar is Control Correct someone’s

grammar & you own them.

Do try this at home.

ALTERNATIVE: Adj. & N. The other (of two),

which may be chosen instead.

“Hastings St. is a good alternative to Hwy 1.”

ALTERNATE: Adj. & V. Done or changed

by turns, coming each after one of the other kind.

“Alternate between Hastings St. and Hwy 1 to see which is the quicker route.”

Response to the “Language is Evolving” defense of slovenly language use.

[You] “’Alternate’ and ‘alternative’ are two different words with important distinctions between their meanings.”

[Them] “But language is evolving.” [You] “Shut your ugly !&*^%&ing mouth you fat

and #!%*&ing ignorant son of a b_#(^&!!! [Them] “???!!!!!” [You] “No, no—I just meant that ‘I love you & I

respect your opinion’: my language has just evolved, that’s all."

More Reasons to Write Well

Darwinian principle: You are not competing against everyone

everywhere; you are competing against your own kind in the immediate environment.

You do not have to read and write better than everyone else: you just have to read and write better than the tiny number of other people applying for a job, or working in the same job in the same office.

Orwell-Ogden’s Rules for Immediate Written Accomplishment

Ogden: “If a word is not necessary for grammar or meaning, always cut it out”

Orwell (‘Politics & the English Language’): (i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of

speech which you are used to seeing in print. (ii) Never us a long word where a short one will do. (iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. (iv) Never use the passive where you can use the

active. (v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a

jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Critical Writing + Critical Reading

Writing and Reading Critically are two sides of the same coin: Effective writing is simply a

matter of craft and technique.

Effective writing can be achieved by simple learning and training

When the rules and the techniques of writing are known, reading critically is entirely a matter of recognising the writing rules & techniques.

Of Two Very Difficult Things, One is Far Harder Than the Other

DIFFICULT Through critical reading,

recognise and accept a weakness or injustice in a piece of writing—political, social, religious, etc.—with which you completely agree.

VERY DIFFICULT Through critical reading,

recognise and accept a strength or admirable fairness in a piece of writing—political, social, religious, etc.—with which you completely disagree.

Ladder of Critical Reading Right Way versus Wrong Way1. Read

2. Analyse (re-read with notation)

3. Describe

4. Evaluate (compare) Against examples

&/or standards.

5. Judge

1. Read (or not!)

2. Judge (Praise or Damn)

Course Method

• I will adhere very reliably and directly to:– the Course Outline– the Weekly Guide– the two Course Texts

• SSW + Course reader• This will allow you to:

– very directly prepare for the weeks’ lecture– Very directly review the lecture material

• Lecture slides will:– Add enlightening material– Recast terms & concepts into practical, plain-

language, real-world form.

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Double-Aspect of the Course

The course has two, complementary, sides.1. How to Write Effectively2. How to Read Effectively

Knowing effective (sp) writing methods creates the ability to effectively read and analyse writing.

Knowing effective reading & analytical methods creates the ability to effectively write.

A Natural pairing: (a.) every written work has a writer; (b.) every writer wants an audience (even if it is himself)

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Aristotle (4th C. BC): Founder of the Scientific Method

Aristotle’s teacher Plato studied ‘why things are.’ Search for perfection

Aristotle himself instead looked at how things are.1. “What is the purpose of

this?”2. “How does it operate

best?” Pragmatic, not ‘Ideal’

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Aristotle’s Universal Relevance

(Alexander the Great’s teacher) The Physics The Politics The Ethics (x3) The Mechanics The Soul The Universe The Rhetoric On Animals On Logic The Poetics ‘That Book Filed Beside The

Physics’ = The Metaphysics.

The Poetics: Literature is that which pleases and sustains

interest of the audience. Has: Mimesis: fundamental part of

human nature, from our desire to know. I.e. homo sapiens.

Hamartia: injury committed unknowingly.

Catharsis: reordering of the emotions.

Peripateia: reversal of circumstance

Anagnorisis: recognition The 3 Unities: Place, Time,

Action

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Aristotle: writing is Techne—a science with order & rules.Middle-Ages through to (British) present:

Trivium– Grammar: how words work– Rhetoric: how to arrange words to get them to

do what you want.– Dialectic: how ideas are arranged in writing

• Thus, Good Writing is judged essentially by its EFFECTIVENESS

• Cf: With Quadrivium = ‘Seven Liberal Arts.’

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