Lesson #4 Responding Critically to Sources

Winston ChurchillWinston Churchill

Writer’s Prompt:

On the next slide, you will read a quote from Sir Winston Churchill.

Critique this quote in terms of:

– Content – what is Churchill trying to say here?– Analysis - what makes it stand out? Figurative

language, repetition, etc?– Evaluation – what is Churchill’s purpose? Does

he achieve his purpose?– Research – how could this quote be used for the

study of a bigger topic or idea?

Writer’s Prompt:

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs - Victory in spite of all terrors - Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.

Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward toward his goal.

Sir Winston ChurchillSir Winston Churchill

Assignment

• Read Chapter 1 and 2 – due by August 28, 2009• Prepare for Quiz over Chapter 1 and 2

Dave Barry• Dave Barry is a humor columnist.

For 25 years he was a syndicated columnist whose work appeared in more than 500 newspapers in the United States and abroad.

• In 1988 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Many people are still trying to figure out how this happened.

• Dave has also written a total of 30 books, although virtually none of them contain useful information.

Responding Critically to Sources

Ask

• Who is the author?• Who is the audience?• What is the writer’s purpose in writing?• What is the writer’s sources of information?

Who is the Author?

• Does he or she have a reputation for honesty?• Is the author writing within his or her area of

expertise?• Is the author identified with a particular set of

beliefs?

Who is the Audience?

• Is it a popular audience, a general but educated audience, or a specialized audience (professional, cultural, political, etc.)

• Is the audience likely to be favorable to the writer’s views?

What is the writer’s purpose in writing?

• To persuade?• To inform?• To entertain?• To inspire?• To motivate?• What does the title of the piece mean?

What are the writer’s sources of information?

• Where was the information obtained?• Is it still valid?• Are sources clearly identified?• Pay close attention to dates.

Class Exercise – What do you think?

• An article on the Obama administration, written by a former campaign worker for John McCain

• A discussion in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, of the Cardinals’ chances for victory next season

• A 1948 article in Nutrition Today on the best diets

• A letter from Jerry Lewis urging you to contribute money to fight muscular dystrophy

Analyzing Style

Analyzing Style

• Style in literature is the literary element that describes the ways that the author uses words together to establish mood, images, and meaning in the text.

• Style describes how the author describes events, objects, and ideas.

The Elements of Style• Word Choice• Sentence Structure• Metaphors and Similes• Organization and Examples• Repetition• Hyperbole, Understatement, and Irony• Question Marks, Italics, and Capital Letters• Parallel structure• Alliteration• Denotative or Connotative words

Word Choice• Are the writer’s words:– Abstract?

• “love” “freedom” “success” “hate” “courage”– Concrete?

• “box” “wood” “steel” “building” “car”– Intellectual?

• “strategery” “placidity” “salutary” “ant disestablishment”– Formal?

• “continent” “gentleman” “manor” “articulate”– Informal?

• “land” “guy” “crib” “say”

Sentence Structure

• Are they long or short?• Are they simple (one independent clause) or

compound (two independent clauses)?– Joe shot the bear.– Joe shot the bear , yet failed to get the wolf.

• Are they complex?– As nations grew wealthier, traditional freedom

wasn’t enough.• Does the writer use fragments?– Wanting to do this

Metaphors

Does the writer use metaphors? This winter is a bear. Democracy is the dent in the high hat. Candy is the cocaine of kids. Money is the opiate of society.

Does the writer use similes? She ran like a herd of turtles. He laughed like a man on a respirator. She fell as if she was made from a concrete slab.

Repetition

Does the writer use the tricolon? …of the people, by the people, for the people …where we live, how we live, and why we live

Does he effectively use repetitions? I have a dream….I have a dream…I have a dream… This we must do…this we must do…this we must

do…

Hyperbole, Understatement and Irony Is the writer using satire to explain a serious

subject? The head of Chrysler, President Barack Obama, introduced a

new car today, the Barackacuda.

Does he exaggerate to make a point? “It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than

for a rich man to get into heaven.”

Does he underplay the problem to make a point? There were a few Jewish people killed during the Holocaust.

Parallel Structure

• Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

• Etymology: From the Greek, "beside one another“– Truth is not a diet but a condiment."

(Christopher Morley)– "When you are right you cannot be too radical; when

you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative."(Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Alliteration

• is the repeated occurrence of the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words in the same phrase.

• An example is the Mother Goose tongue-twister, "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers …". usually used as a form of figurative language

• “The lying lamb lay lustfully on the lawn.”

Denotative and Connotative Word Choice

• Denotation is the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression.

• Connotation is what a word suggests; what we associate the word with.– House versus “Home”– Dog versus “Hound”– Dad versus “old man”– Wife versus “my old lady”

Group Exercise

• Break into groups and think about the positive, negative and neutral connotations of the words listed.

• Follow the directions in the text on Page 38 – 39 in Read, Reason, Write - Collaborative Exercises: On Connotation

• Answer Question #1, #2, and #3 as a group.