Table of Contents

Preface for Instructors

A Note to the Student

 

PART: I

How to Write Summaries, Critiques, Syntheses, and Analyses

 

Chapter 1: Summary

What Is a Summary?

Can a Summary Be Objective?

Using the Summary

BOX: Where Do We Find Written Summaries?

The Reading Process

BOX: Critical Reading for Summary

How to Write Summaries

BOX: Guidelines for Writing Summaries

Demonstration: Summary

WILLYOUR JOB BE EXPORTED?–Alan S. Blinder

Read, Reread, Highlight

Divide into Stages of Thought

Write a Brief Summary of Each Stage of Thought

Write a Thesis: A Brief Summary of the Entire Passage

Write the First Draft of the Summary

Summary: Combine Thesis Sentence with Brief Section

Summaries

The Strategy of the Shorter Summary

Summary 2: Combine Thesis Sentence, Section Summaries, and Carefully Chosen Details

The Strategy of the Longer Summary

How Long Should a Summary Be?

    EXERCISE 1.1 : Individual and Collaborative Summary Practice

Avoiding Plagiarism

BOX: Rules for Avoiding Plagiarism

 

Chapter 2: Critical Reading and Critique

Critical Reading

Question: To What Extent Does the Author Succeed in His or Her Purpose?

Writing to Inform

BOX: Where Do We Find Written Critiques?

Evaluating Informative Writing

Writing to Persuade

    EXERCISE 2.1 : Informative and Persuasive Thesis Statements

Evaluating Persuasive Writing

WE ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL IN EVERYWAY–Joan Ryan

    EXERCISE 2.2: Critical Reading Practice

Persuasive Strategies

Logical Argumentation: Avoiding Logical Fallacies

BOX: Tone

    EXERCISE 2.3: Understanding Logical Fallacies

Writing to Entertain

Question 2: To What Extent Do You Agree with the Author?

Identify Points of Agreement and Disagreement

    EXERCISE 2.4: Exploring Your Viewpoints–in Three Paragraphs

Explore the Reasons for Agreement and Disagreement:

Evaluate Assumptions

Critique

BOX: Guidelines for Writing Critiques

How to Write Critiques

Demonstration: Critique

To What Extent Does the Author Succeed in His or Her Purpose?

To What Extent Do You Agree with the Author?

Evaluate Assumptions

MODEL CRITIQUE: A CRITIQUE OF “WE ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL IN EVERY WAY”BY JOAN RYAN–Eric Ralston

    EXERCISE 2.5: Informal Critique of the Model Critique

BOX: Critical Reading for Critique

The Strategy of the Critique

 

Chapter 3: Synthesis

What Is a Synthesis?

Purpose

BOX: Where Do We Find Written Syntheses?

Using Your Sources

Types of Syntheses: Explanatory and Argument

Explanation: News Article from the New York Times

PRIVATE GETS 3 YEARS FOR IRAQPRISON ABUSE–David S. Cloud

Argument: Editorial from the Boston Globe

MILITARY ABUSE

How to Write Syntheses

BOX: Guidelines for Writing Syntheses

The Argument Synthesis 

The Elements of Argument: Claim, Support, and Assumption  

    EXERCISE 3.1 : Practicing Claim, Support, and Assumption  

The Limits of Argument  

Demonstration: Developing an Argument Synthesis–Balancing Privacy and Safety in the Wake of Virginia Tech  

MASS SHOOTINGS AT VIRGINIA TECH–Report of the Review Panel  

LAWS LIMIT SCHOOLS EVEN AFTER ALARMS–Jeff Gammage and Stacey Burling  

PERILOUS PRIVACY ATVIRGINIA TECH–Christian Science Monitor  

COLLEGES ARE WATCHING TROUBLED STUDENTS–

Jeffrey McMurray  

VIRGINIA TECH MASSACRE HAS ALTERED CAMPUS MENTAL

HEALTH SYSTEMS–Associated Press  

THE FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT  

    EXERCISE 3.2: Critical Reading for Synthesis  

Consider Your Purpose  

Making a Claim: Formulate a Thesis  

Decide How You Will Use Your Source Material  

Develop an Organizational Plan  

Formulate an Argument Strategy  

Draft and Revise Your Synthesis  

MODEL SYNTHESIS: BALANCING PRIVACY AND SAFETY IN THE WAKE OF VIRGINIA TECH–David Harrison  

The Strategy of the Argument Synthesis  

Developing and Organizing the Support for Your Arguments  

Summarize, Paraphrase, and Quote Supporting Evidence  

Provide Various Types of Evidence and Motivational Appeals  

Use Climactic Order  

Use Logical or Conventional Order  

Present and Respond to Counterarguments  

Use Concession  

BOX: Developing and Organizing Support for Your Arguments  

Avoid Common Fallacies in Developing and Using Support  

The Comparison-and-Contrast Synthesis  

Organizing Comparison-and-Contrast Syntheses  

Organizing by Source or Subject  

Organizing by Criteria  

    EXERCISE 3.3: Comparing and Contrasting  

A Case for Comparison-and-Contrast: World War I and World War II  

Comparison-and-Contrast Organized by Criteria  

MODEL EXAM RESPONSE: KEY SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WORLD WARS I AND II  

The Strategy of the Exam Response

The Explanatory Synthesis

Summary of Synthesis Chapters  

 

Chapter 4: Analysis  

What Is an Analysis?  

BOX: Where Do We Find Written Analyses?

When Your Perspective Guides the Analysis  

Demonstration: Analysis  

THE PLUG-IN DRUG–Marie Winn  

    EXERCISE 4.1 : Reading Critically: Winn  

MODEL ANALYSIS: THE COMING APART OF A DORM SOCIETY– Edward Peselman  

    EXERCISE 4.2: Reading Critically: Peselman  

How to Write Analyses  

Consider Your Purpose  

Locate an Analytical Principle  

Formulate a Thesis  

Part One of the Argument  

BOX: Guidelines for Writing Analyses  

Part Two of the Argument

Develop an Organizational Plan

Turning Key Elements of a Principle or Definition into Questions  

Developing the Paragraph-by-Paragraph Logic of Your Paper  

Draft and Revise Your Analysis  

Write an Analysis, Not a Summary

Make Your Analysis Systematic

Answer the “So What?” Question

Attribute Sources Appropriately

BOX: Critical Reading for Analysis

Analysis: A Tool for Understanding 

 

PART II

An Anthology of Readings

 

ECONOMICS

Chapter 5: The Changing Landscape of Work in the Twenty-first Century

DEFINITIONS: WORK, CAREER, PROFESSION, VOCATION

A sociologist, a philosopher, a pope, and others define work and work-related activities as these have evolved over the centuries.

FIXED AND FOOTLOOSE: WORK AND IDENTITY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY–Ursula Huws

In the new economy, writes a professor of international labor studies, corporations distribute work across the globe and laborers cross continents to find work–twin “upheavals” that are “transforming social identities and structures.”

NO LONG TERM: NEW WORK AND THE CORROSION OF CHARACTER–Richard Sennett

The life of a winner in the new “No long term” economy is chronicled by a sociologist. His conclusion: “The . . . behavior which has brought [this man] success is weakening his own character in ways for which there exists no practical remedy.”

I FEEL SO DAMN LUCKY!–Tom Peters

Here are six “minimal survival skills for the 21st century office worker” in a business environment of “monumental change and gargantuan opportunity,” according to the up-beat coauthor of an influential business management book.

WORK AND WORKERS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY–Richard W. Judy and Carol D’Amico

A map that demystifies “the journey America’s labor force is now beginning” into an economy that will enrich some but frustrate others–courtesy of the Hudson Institute, a policy research organization.

THE UNTOUCHABLES–Thomas Friedman

Workers in the new economy had better make themselves “untouchable”–or risk losing their jobs to automation or competitors overseas–warns the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist in this excerpt from his best-selling book The World is Flat.

WILL YOUR JOB BE EXPORTED?–Alan S. Blinder

There’s a critical difference between “personal” and “impersonal” jobs in the service economy, according to this economist and former presidential advisor. Not knowing this difference could cost you a job–no matter how well educated you may be.

INTO THE UNKNOWN–The Economist

Concerned about losing jobs to globalization? Relax: “What the worriers always forget is that the same changes in production technology that destroy jobs also create new ones.”

OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK HANDBOOK / TOMORROW’S JOBS–

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Want to know the outlook for any career field you can think of? Two Web sites created by a division of the United States Department of Labor provide a wealth of information about hundreds of jobs.

SYNTHESIS ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

ENVIRONMENT/PUBLIC POLICY

Chapter 6: Green Power

205 EASY WAYS TO SAVE THE EARTH–Thomas L. Friedman

Actually, there are no easy ways to save the earth, declares this Pulitzer Prize- winning New York Times columnist. Rescuing the planet from the effects of climate change will be the biggest industrial task in history

THE DANGEROUS DELUSIONS OF ENERGY INDEPENDENCE–Robert Bryce

Americans may love the idea of independence; but energy independence is an idea whose ime has not come. “From nearly any standpoint–economic, military, political, or environmental–energy independence makes no sense,” declares the author of Gusher of Lies.

WHY THE GASOLINE ENGINE ISN’T GOING AWAY ANY TIME SOON–Joseph B. White

Those who believe that plug-in hybrids, electric cars, and fuel cell vehicles are the wave of the near future are indulging in wishful thinking. An automotive reporter explains that the internal combustion engine has lasted as long as it has for good reasons.

THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST NUCLEAR POWER–Michael Totty

Can nuclear power help us reduce our dependence on fossil fuels like coal? Perhaps. But questions about the economics and safety of nuclear power plants have long stalled their construction, notes a Wall Street Journal reporter.

THE ISLAND IN THE WIND–Elizabeth Kolbert

Some years ago the residents of the Danish island of Samsø decided to generate all of the electricity used in their homes and farms from wind power. They succeeded.

WIND POWER PUFFERY–H. Sterling Burnett

A skeptic argues that the power–and appeal–of wind is considerably less than it appears.

STATE SOLAR POWER PLANS ARE AS BIG AS ALL OUTDOORS–Marla Dickerson

After the state of California mandated that 20 percent of its electrical power be generated from renewable sources by 20 0, solar projects began transforming the landscape: “Rows of gigantic mirrors covering an area bigger than two football fields have sprouted alongside almond groves

near California 99.”

ENVIRONMENTALISTS AGAINST SOLAR POWER–Peter Maloney

You might assume that all environmentalists love solar power. You’d be wrong.

SYNTHESIS ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

SOCIOLOGY

Chapter 7: Marriage and Family in America

THE RADICAL IDEA OF MARRYING FOR LOVE–Stephanie Coontz

A historian of marriage first poses a few questions on how much we really know about the sacred institution. (Expect to be surprised.) Then she investigates when–and why–men and women began to marry for the “radical” idea of love.

A DEBATE ON GAY MARRIAGE–Andrew Sullivan/William J. Bennett

Why defenders of traditional values should support–or oppose–gay marriage. Two prominent spokespersons on opposite sides debate the issue.

THE SATISFACTIONS OF HOUSEWIFERY AND MOTHERHOOD/

PARADISELOST (DOMESTIC DIVISION)–Terry Martin Hekker

A housewife celebrates her role as a traditional mother. Almost thirty years and one divorce later, she has a different perspective.

UNDERSTANDING MOM–Deborah Tannen

A well-known linguist tries to see things from the perspective of her mother, who doesn’t understand why her daughter didn’t just stay married so she wouldn’t have to return to school in pursuit of a professional career.

THE MYTH OF CO-PARENTING: HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. HOW IT WAS.–Hope Edelman

An angry wife writes of the “stalled revolution”–the continued failure of men to share equally in the housework: “It began to make me spitting mad, the way the daily duties of parenting and home ownership started to rest entirely on me.”

MY PROBLEM WITH HER ANGER–Eric Bartels

A husband responds to complaints such as Edelman’s: “For women of my generation, anger appears to have replaced the quiet desperation of the past.”

WILLYOUR MARRIAGE LAST?–Aviva Patz

Short of a crystal ball, how can we predict whether marriages will succeed or fail? A researcher who tracked 68 married couples over 3 years believes that he has found the key.

SYNTHESIS ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

BIOLOGY

Chapter 8: To Sleep

A THIRD OF LIFE–Paul Martin

“Sleep: a state so familiar yet so strange. It is the single most common form of human behaviour and you will spend a third of your life doing it–25 years or more, all being well.”

IMPROVING SLEEP–Lawrence Epstein, MD, Editor

A Harvard Special Health Report explains the mechanics of sleep and the internal “circadian” clock that governs our patterns of waking and sleeping.

AMERICA’S SLEEP-DEPRIVED TEENS NODDING OFF AT SCHOOL, BEHIND THEWHEEL–National Sleep Foundation

Findings of a recent poll: “Many of the nation’s adolescents are falling asleep in class, arriving late to school, feeling down and driving drowsy because of a lack of sleep that gets worse as they get older.”

SLEEP DEBT AND THE MORTGAGED MIND–William C. Dement and Christopher Vaughan

How much sleep do you owe your internal “sleep bank”? What happens to your brain when you fail to repay your sleep debt? (Hint: The collector demands his due.)

THE PITTSBURGH SLEEP QUALITY INDEX–Daniel Buysse

How well do you sleep? Take and score this test, a standard tool in the field of sleep research.

HOW SLEEP DEBT HURTS COLLEGE STUDENTS–June J. Pilcher and Amy S. Walters

So you think you can pull an “all-nighter” and ace an exam the next morning? Think again.

SYNTHESIS ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

BUSINESS

Chapter 9: New and Improved: Six Decades of Advertising

ADVERTISING’S FIFTEEN BASIC APPEALS–Jib Fowles

“[A]n advertising message contains something primary and primitive, an emotional appeal,

that in effect is the thin edge of the wedge, trying to find its way into a mind.” Advertisements

are designed to appeal to the “unfulfilled urges and motives swirling in the bottom half of our

minds.”

A PORTFOLIO OF PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS

Presenting, for your consideration, a series of striking magazine advertisements produced over the past six decades. No obligation to buy.

A PORTFOLIO OF TV COMMERCIALS

From the Energizer Bunny to text-messaging nuns, Madison Avenue has created an often-funny alternative consumer universe that compels viewing. Tune up your YouTube and get ready to laugh.

SYNTHESIS ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

  

Credits

Index

Quick Indexes