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EVIDENCE, 85-90 In ARGUMENT , the data you present to support your REASONS . Such data may include statistics, calculations, examples, ANECDOTES , QUOTATIONS , case studies, or anything else that will convince your readers that your reasons are compelling. Evidence should be sufficient (enough to show that the reasons have merit) and relevant (appropriate to the argument you're making). COUNTERARGUMENT, 16, 90-91, 265 In ARGUMENT , an alternative POSITION or objection to the writer's position.

The writer of an argument should not only acknowledge counterarguments but also, if at all possible, accept, accommodate, or refute each counterargument. ANALYSIS, 132-56 A GENRE of writing in which you look at what a text says and how it says it. Key Features: a SUMMARY of a text or other subject - attention to CONTEXT - a clear INTERPRETATION or judgment - reasonable support for your conclusions CLAIM, 84-85, 103-5 A statement of a belief or POSITION .

In an ARGUMENT , a claim needs to be stated in a THESIS or clearly implied, and requires support by REASONS and EVIDENCE . THESIS, 84-85 A statement that identifies the topic and main point of a piece of writing, giving readers an idea of what the text will cover. DESCRIPTION, 86 A STRATEGY that tells how something looks, sounds, smells, feels, or tastes. Effective description creates a clear DOMINANT IMPRESSION built from specific details. Description can be objective, subjective , or both.

Description can serve as the organizing principle for a paragraph or whole text. SUMMARIZE To use your own words and sentence structure to condense someone else's text into a version that gives the main ideas of the original. In academic writing, summarizing requires DOCUMENTATION . See PATCHWRITING EVIDENCE, 85-90 In ARGUMENT , the data you present to support your REASONS .

Such data may include statistics, calculations, examples, ANECDOTES , QUOTATIONS , case studies, or anything else that will convince your readers that your reasons are compelling. Evidence should be sufficient (enough to show that the reasons have merit) and relevant (appropriate to the argument you're making). READING ON-SCREEN AND OFF Once upon a time reading meant attending to words on paper.

But today we often encounter texts that convey information in images and in sound as well-and they may be on- or off-screen. Whatever texts you're reading, be sure to think carefully about how the medium may affect your understanding, engagement, and response. Researchers have found that we often take shortcuts when we read online, searching and scanning and jumping around in a text or leaping from link to link.

This kind of reading is very helpful for finding answers and information quickly, but it can blur your focus and make it difficult to attend to the text carefully and purposefully. Here are a few tips to help you when reading on a screen: Be clear about your PURPOSE for reading. If you need to remember the text, remind yourself to read very carefully and to avoid skimming or skipping around. Close Facebook or any other pages that may distract you.

Try taking notes on PDFs or Word documents so that you can jot down questions and comments as you read. Alternatively, print out the text and take notes on paper. Look up unfamiliar terms as you read, making a note of definitions you may need later. For really high-stakes reading, consider printing out the text to read and take notes on. The pervasiveness of reading on-screen may suggest that many readers prefer to read that way.

But current research suggests that most students still prefer to read print, especially if the reading is important and needs to be internalized and remembered. Print texts, it's worth remembering, are easy to navigate-you can tell at a glance how much you've read and how much you still have to go, and you can move back and forth in the text to find something important.

In addition, researchers have found that students who read on-screen are less likely to reflect on what they read or to make connections in ways that bind learning to memory. It's important to note, however, that studies like these almost always end with a caveat: reading practices are changing, and technology is making it easier to read on-screen.

It's also important to note that online texts often blend written words with audio, video, links, charts and graphs, and other elements that can be attended to in any order you choose. In reading such texts, you'll need to make decisions carefully. When exactly should you click on a link, for example? The first moment it comes up? Or should you make a note to check it out later, since doing so now may break your concentration-and you might not be able to get back easily to what you were reading?

Links can be a good thing in that they lead to more information, but following them can interrupt your train of thought. In addition, scrolling seems to encourage skimming and to make us read more rapidly. In short, it can be harder to stay on task. So you may well need to make a special effort with digital texts-to read them attentively, and to pay close attention to what you're reading.

We are clearly in a time of flux where reading is concerned, so the best advice is to think very carefully about why you're reading. If you want to find some information quickly, to follow a conversation on Twitter , or to look for online sources on a topic you're researching, reading on-screen is the way to go. But if you need to fully comprehend and retain the information, you may want to stick with print.

Glossary PURPOSE, 25 In writing, your goal: to explore a topic, to express an opinion, to entertain, to report information, to persuade, and so on. Purpose is one element of the RHETORICAL SITUATION . READING VISUALS Visual texts present their own opportunities and challenges. As new technologies bring images into our phones and lives on a minute-by-minute basis, visual texts have become so familiar and pervasive that it may seem that reading them is just natural.

But reading visual texts with a critical eye takes time and patience-and attention. Take a look at the advertisement for a Shinola watch on page 64 . You may know that Shinola is a Detroit-based watchmaker proud that its watches are built in America; if not, a quick look at Shinola.com will fill in this part of the ad's CONTEXT . But there's a lot more going on in terms of its particular rhetorical situation.

The ad first ran in 2015, when it was clearly responding to smart watches in general and to the launch of the Apple Watch in particular, with its full panoply of futuristic bells and whistles. Hey, the Shinola ad writers seemed to be saying, our watch is just smart enough. Thinking through the rhetorical situation tells us something about the ad's purpose and audience.

Of course its major PURPOSE is to sell watches; but one other goal seems to be to poke a little fun at all the high-tech, super-smart watches on the market. And what about its AUDIENCE -who do you think the ad addresses most directly? Perhaps Americans who think of themselves as solid no frills folks? Reading a visual begins, then, with studying its purpose, audience, message, and context. But there's a lot more you can do to understand a visual. You can look closely, for instance, at its DESIGN .

In the Shinola ad, the stark, high-contrast, black-and-white image takes center stage, drawing our eyes to it and its accompanying captions. There are no other distracting elements, no other colors, no glitz. The simplicity gives the watch a retro look, which is emphasized by its sturdy straps, open face, and clear numerals, its old-fashioned wind-up button and second hand. You'll also want to take a close look at any words.

In this case, the Shinola ad includes a large headline right above the image, three lines of all-caps, sans serif type that match the simplicity of the image itself. And it's hard to miss the mocking TONE : A WATCH SO SMART THAT IT CAN TELL YOU THE TIME JUST BY LOOKING AT IT . The small caption below the image underscores this message: THE RUNWELL . IT 'S JUST SMART ENOUGH . Take that, Apple!

Glossary CONTEXT, 17, 27-28, 59 Part of any RHETORICAL SITUATION , conditions affecting the text such as what else has been said about a topic; social, economic, and other factors; and any constants such as due date and length. PURPOSE, 25 In writing, your goal: to explore a topic, to express an opinion, to entertain, to report information, to persuade, and so on. Purpose is one element of the RHETORICAL SITUATION .

AUDIENCE, 25-26 Those to whom a text is directed-the people who read, listen to, or view the text. Audience is a key part of any RHETORICAL SITUATION . DESIGN, 96-97, 448-58 The way a text is arranged and presented visually. Elements of design include FONTS , colors, illustrations, LAYOUT , and white space. TONE, 27, 96 The way a writer's or speaker's STANCE is reflected in the text.

READING ACROSS ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES Differences in disciplines can make for some challenging reading tasks, as you encounter texts that seem almost to be written in foreign languages. As with most new things, however, new disciplines and their texts will become familiar to you the more you work with them.

So don't be put off if texts in fields like psychology or physics seem hard to read: the more you read such texts, the more familiar they'll become until, eventually, you'll be able to talk the talk of that discipline yourself. Pay attention to terminology It's especially important to read carefully when encountering texts in different academic fields. Take the word analysis , for instance. That little word has a wide range of definitions as it moves from one field to another.

In philosophy , analysis has traditionally meant breaking down a topic into its constituent parts in order to understand them-and the whole text-more completely. In the sciences , analysis often involves the scientific method of observing a phenomenon, formulating a hypothesis about it, and experimenting to see whether the hypothesis holds up. In business , analysis often refers to assessing needs and finding ways to meet them.

And in literary studies , analysis usually calls for close reading in order to interpret a passage of text. When you're assigned to carry out an analysis, then, it's important to know what the particular field of study expects you to do and to ask your instructors if you aren't sure. Know what counts as evidence Beyond knowing what particular words mean from field to field, you should note that what counts as EVIDENCE can differ across academic disciplines.

In literature and other fields in the humanities , textual evidence is often the most important: your job as a reader is to focus on the text itself. For the sciences , you'll most often focus on evidence gathered through experimentation, on facts and figures. Some of the social sciences also favor the use of hard evidence or data, while others are more likely to use evidence drawn from interviews, oral histories, or even anecdotes.

As a reader, you'll need to be aware of what counts as credible evidence in the fields you study. Be aware of how information is presented Finally, pay attention to the way various disciplines format and present their information. You'll probably find that articles and books in literature and history present their information in paragraphs, sometimes with illustrations.

Physics texts present much important information in equations, while those in psychology and political science rely on charts, graphs, and other visual representations of quantitative data. In art history , you can expect to see extensive use of images, while much of the work in music will rely on notation and sound. So reading calls for some real effort.

Whether you're reading words or images or bar graphs, literary analysis or musical notation, in a print book or on a screen, you need to read attentively and intentionally and with an open mind. On top of all that, you need to be an active participant with what you read. As Toni Morrison says: The words on the page are only half the story. The rest is what you bring to the party. REFLECT! The next time you read a text online, pay attention to your process. Do you go straight through, or do you stop often?

Do you take notes? Do you turn away from what you're reading to look at or attend to something else? What do you do if you don't understand a passage? How long can you read at a stretch and maintain full concentration? Then answer the same questions the next time you read a print text. What differences do you notice in the way you read each kind of text? What conclusions can you draw about how to be a more effective reader, both on- and off-screen?

Glossary EVIDENCE, 85-90 In ARGUMENT , the data you present to support your REASONS . Such data may include statistics, calculations, examples, ANECDOTES , QUOTATIONS , case studies, or anything else that will convince your readers that your reasons are compelling. Evidence should be sufficient (enough to show that the reasons have merit) and relevant (appropriate to the argument you're making).

PART 2 READING / GET THE MESSAGE Chapter 6 Recognizing Facts, Misinformation &Lies FACTS ARE FACTS AND WILL NOT DISAPPEAR ON ACCOUNT OF YOUR LIKES. -JAWAHARLAL NEHRU YOU KNOW WHERE I'M COMING FROM, BUT YOU CAN FACT-CHECK ANYTHING I SAY. -RACHEL MADDOW Palestinians Recognize Texas as Part of Mexico. Pope Francis: God Has Instructed Me to Revise the Ten Commandments. Canada Bans Beyonc after Her Superbowl Performance. Really? Well, no.

While these are in fact actual headlines, none is anywhere near the truth. But being false hasn't kept them from being widely shared-and not as jokes, but as facts. With so many people spreading misinformation, unsubstantiated claims, and even outright lies today, it can be hard to know who and what to trust, or whether to trust anything at all. The good news, however, is that you don't have to be taken in by such claims.

This chapter provides strategies for navigating today's choppy waters of news and information so that you can make confident decisions about what to trust-and what not to. Facts, misinformation, fake news, and lies Some say we're living in a post-truth era, that the loudest voices take up so much airtime that they can sometimes be seen as telling the truth no matter what they say.

A 2018 study by MIT scholars examined tweets about 126,000 major news stories in English and came to the conclusion that the truth simply can't compete with hoax and rumor. In fact, the study says, fake news and false rumors reach more people, penetrate deeper into the social network, and spread much faster than accurate stories. A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. -MARK TWAIN It's worth asking why misinformation and even lies outperform real news.

While it is notoriously difficult to establish an airtight cause-and-effect relationship, these researchers suspect that several reasons account for their success. First, they're often outlandish and novel in a way that attracts attention. Second, the content of such stories is often negative and tends to arouse very strong emotions. Third, they use language that evokes surprise or disgust, and seems to lead to the information going viral.

Accurate tweets, the researchers found, use words associated with trust or sadness rather than surprise or disgust-and as they note, the truth simply does not compete. Lies and misinformation are nothing new. What's new is that anyone with an internet connection can post whatever they think (or want others to think) online, where it can easily reach a wide audience. And unlike mainstream newspapers and other such publications, online postings go out without being vetted by editors or fact-checkers.

Perhaps it's time to step back, take a deep breath, and attend to some basic definitions. Just what is a fact? What's fake news? And what about misinformation and lies? Both misinformation and lies give false or inaccurate information. The difference is that misinformation is not necessarily intended to deceive, whereas lies are always told deliberately, for the purpose of giving false information. Fake news stories are fabricated and false articles are made to look authentic.

Often they're used to spread conspiracy theories or deliberate hoaxes-the more bizarre, the better. In addition, many people simply dismiss anything they don't like or agree with as fake news. Facts , on the other hand, can be verified and backed up by reliable evidence-that the Washington Capitals won the 2018 Stanley Cup, for example, or that the consumption of soft drinks in the United States has declined in the last five years.

Unlike claims about what God has instructed Pope Francis to do, these statements can be checked and verified; we can then trust them. Think about your own beliefs It's one thing to be able to spot misinformation, unsubstantiated claims, and exaggerations in the words of others, but it's another thing entirely to spot them in our own thinking and writing. So we need to take a good look at our own assumptions and biases. We all have them!

Attribution bias is the tendency to think that our motives for believing, say, that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is crucially important for keeping our air and water clean are objective or good, while the motives of those who believe the EPA is unnecessary are dubious or suspect. We all have this kind of bias naturally, tending to believe that what we think must be right.

When you're thinking about an argument you strongly disagree with, then, it's a good idea to ask yourself why you disagree-and why you believe you're right. What is that belief based on? Have you considered that your own bias may be keeping you from seeing all sides of the issue fairly, or at all? Confirmation bias is the tendency to favor and seek out information that confirms what we already believe and to reject and ignore information that contradicts those beliefs.

Many studies have documented this phenomenon, including a university experiment with student participants, half of whom favored capital punishment and thought it was a deterrent to crime and half of whom thought just the opposite. Researchers then asked the students to respond to two studies: one provided data that supported capital punishment as a deterrent to crime; the other provided data that called this conclusion into question.

And sure enough, the students who were pro capital punishment rated the study showing evidence that it was a deterrent as more highly credible, while the students who were against capital punishment rated the study showing evidence that it didn't deter crime as more highly credible-in spite of the fact that both studies had been made up by the researchers and were equally compelling in terms of their evidence. Moreover, by the end of the experiment, each side had doubled down on its original beliefs.

That's confirmation bias at work, and it works on all of us. It affects the way we search for information and what we pay attention to, how we interpret it, and even what we remember. That's all to say you shouldn't assume a news story is trustworthy just because it confirms what you already think. Ask yourself if you're seeing what you want to see. And look for confirmation bias in your sources; do they acknowledge viewpoints other than their own? REFLECT! Where do you get the news?

Whatever your sources, what do you pay attention to, and why? What are you most likely to click on? What, on the other hand, are you likely to skip, or ignore? Can you see confirmation bias at work in the choices you make? Read defensively Well over 2,000 years ago, the philosopher Aristotle said that one reason people need rhetoric is for self-defense, for making sure we aren't being manipulated or lied to.

Today, the need for such caution may be more important than ever-especially in social media and elsewhere online, where false stories may look authentic and appear right next to accurate, factual information. These times call, then, for defensive reading -that is, the kind of reading that doesn't take things at face value, that questions underlying assumptions, that scrutinizes claims carefully, and that doesn't rush to judgment.

This is the kind of reading that media and technology critic Howard Rheingold calls crap detection. Crap, he says sardonically, is a technical term he uses to describe information tainted by ignorance or deliberate deception. He warns us not to give in to such misinformation. As Rheingold and many others note, there is no single foolproof way to identify lies and misinformation. But the following discussion offers some specific strategies for determining whether-or not-a source can be trusted.

Triangulate-and use your judgment If you have any doubts, find three different ways to check on whether a story can be trusted. Google the author or the sponsor. Consult fact-checking sites such as Snopes.com or FactCheck.org . Look for other sources that are reporting the same story, especially if you first saw it on social media. If it's true and important, you should find a number of other reputable sources reporting on it.

But however carefully you check, and whatever facts and evidence you uncover, it's up to you to sort the accurate information from the misinformation-and often as not that will call on you to use your own judgment to do that. See p. 269 for more tips on triangulating. Before reading an unfamiliar source, determine whether it can be trusted Take a tip from professional fact-checkers, who don't even start to read an unfamiliar website until they've determined that it's a trustworthy site.

If you have any doubts, here are some ways to proceed: Do a search about the author or sponsor. If there's an author, what's their expertise? Do they belong to any organizations you don't know or trust? Be wary if there's no author. And do a search about the site's sponsor. If it's run by an organization you've never heard of, find out what it is-and whether it actually exists. What do reliable sources say about it? Read the site's About page, but check up on what it says.

If an organization can game what they are, they can certainly game their About page! -SAM WINEBURG Check any links to see who sponsors them and whether they are trustworthy sources. Do the same for works cited in print sources. Be careful of over-the-top headlines, which often serve as CLICKBAIT to draw you in. Check to see that the story and the headline actually match. Question any that are over the top: look for words like amazing , epic , incredible , or unbelievable .

(In general, don't believe anything that's said to be unbelievable!) Pay attention to design. Be wary if it looks amateurish, but don't assume that a professional-looking design means the source is accurate or trustworthy. Those who create fake news sites are careful to make them to look like authentic news sites. Recognize satire. Remember that some authors make a living by writing satirical fake news.

Here's one: China Slaps Two-Thousand-Per-Cent Tariff on Tanning Beds. This comes from Andy Borowitz, who writes political satire in the New Yorker , which tips us off not to take it seriously by labeling it not the news. The Onion is another source that pokes fun at gullible readers. Try this: Genealogists Find 99% of People Are Not Related to Anyone Cool. This one's silly enough that it can't possibly be true. But if you're not sure, better check.

Ask questions, check evidence Double-check things that too neatly support what you yourself think, or that seem too good to be true. What's the CLAIM , and what EVIDENCE is provided? What motivated the author to write, and what's their PURPOSE ? To provide information? Make you laugh? Convince you of something? Check facts and claims using nonpartisan sites that confirm truths and identify lies. FactCheck.org , Snopes.com , and AllSides.com are three such sites.

Copy and paste the basics of the statement into the search field; if it's information the site has in its database, you'll find out whether it's a confirmed fact or a lie. If you use Google to check on a stated fact, keep in mind that you'll need to check on any sources it turns up-and that even if the statement brings up many hits, that doesn't make it accurate. See p. 266 for more on fact-checking sites. If you think a story is too good to be true , you're probably right to be skeptical.

And don't assume that it must be true because no one could make up such a story. They can. Check out stories that are so outrageous that you don't believe them; if they're true, they'll be widely reported. That said, double-check stories that confirm your own beliefs as well; that might be confirmation bias at work. Look up any research that's cited. You may find that the research has been taken out of context or misquoted-or that it doesn't actually exist. Is the research itself reliable?

Pay close attention to QUOTATIONS : Who said it, and when? Is it believable? If not, copy and paste the quotation into Google or check FactCheck.org to verify that it's real. Check any comments. If several say the article sounds fake, it may well be. But remember that given the presence of BOTS and TROLLS -not to mention people with malicious intent-comments, too, may be fake. Fact-check photos and videos Is a picture really worth a thousand words?

In some cases, yes-but only if the picture is an accurate depiction. Today, it's never been easier to falsify photographs. Take the often-repeated, retweeted, and repurposed story of a shark swimming down a highway whenever a hurricane strikes or some other natural disaster causes flooding. A couple years ago, someone tweeted: Believe it or not, this is a shark on the freeway in New Burn, North Carolina. #HurricaneFlorence-a message that was retweeted 88,000 times.

But the same shark popped up on Twitter swimming down a road in Houston, Texas, and in many other cities. Easily done with Photoshop . This 2017 photo looks real-but one of these men was photoshopped in. And see the photo on page 75 that went viral in 2017, showing President Trump, Vladimir Putin, and others in conversation. A little investigation, however, showed that Putin had been photoshopped into the image; he wasn't actually at the table.

Again, there are no simple, foolproof ways to identify doctored photos, but experts in digital forensics recommend various steps we can take. Here's advice from Hany Farid, a computer science professor at the University of California at Berkeley: Do a reverse image search using Google Images or Tin Eye to see if an image has been recirculated or repurposed from another website.

Both sites allow you to drag an image or paste a link to an image into a search bar to learn more about its source and see where it appears online. Check Snopes.com , where altered images are often identified, by typing a brief description of the image into the site's search box. Look carefully at shadows: an image may have been altered if you find shadows where you don't expect them or don't see them where you do expect them.

Farid goes on to say that the best defense against fabricated photos is to stop and think about the source-especially before you share it on social media. After a shooter killed seventeen people at a Florida school in 2018, an altered photo of Emma Gonzlez, one of the students who protested the mass shooting, went viral, showing her tearing up a page of the US Constitution.

In fact, she was actually tearing up a shooting target as part of her advocacy for gun control; the Constitution had been photoshopped in. The same advice holds true for video, which is all too easy to falsify. Videos that flicker constantly or that consist of just one short clip are often questionable, as are videos of famous people doing things that are highly suspicious. How likely is it that Kobe Bryant could jump over a speeding Aston Martin?

Not very-but a lot of us were fooled by a fake video made for Nike. Such fabricated videos proliferate daily, especially on YouTube , now an extremely popular source of news. As YouTube has found in trying to control or ban fake videos, those who make them are getting more and more sophisticated.

As the Guardian reports, artificial intelligence and computer graphics now make it possible to create realistic looking footage of public figures appearing to say, well, anything. Thanks to the internet, there's a lot of misinformation and fake news out there. But the fact-finding and defensive-reading strategies described in this chapter will help you sort out fiction from fact, falsehood from truth-and determine with confidence who and what you can trust.

You may have to dig a little, but truth and the good stuff are out there. Take it from Elvis Presley: Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. REFLECT! Look for something that has been sent to you on social media-retweeted, forwarded, liked, whatever. Then take the time to check out its source, using the help provided in this chapter on page 74 . After checking, do you find that the information in the source holds up as credible and trustworthy? Why-or why not?

Glossary CLICKBAIT, 408 On the internet, headlines or links designed to get readers to read something or to increase page views. CLAIM, 84-85, 103-5 A statement of a belief or POSITION . In an ARGUMENT , a claim needs to be stated in a THESIS or clearly implied, and requires support by REASONS and EVIDENCE . EVIDENCE, 85-90 In ARGUMENT , the data you present to support your REASONS .

Such data may include statistics, calculations, examples, ANECDOTES , QUOTATIONS , case studies, or anything else that will convince your readers that your reasons are compelling. Evidence should be sufficient (enough to show that the reasons have merit) and relevant (appropriate to the argument you're making). PURPOSE, 25 In writing, your goal: to explore a topic, to express an opinion, to entertain, to report information, to persuade, and so on. Purpose is one element of the RHETORICAL SITUATION .

QUOTE, 285-90 To cite someone else's words exactly as they were said or written. Quotation is most effective when the wording is worth repeating or makes a point so well that no rewording will do it justice or when you want to cite someone's exact words. Quotations in academic writing need to be acknowledged with DOCUMENTATION . BOT, 75 An automated program on the internet, often used to advocate ideas-and sometimes used for malicious purposes, for example, to capture email addresses for a spam mailing list.

TROLL, 75 On the internet, someone who says something provocative or disruptive. PART 3 WRITING / MAKE YOUR POINT Chapter 7 Writing Processes THE FUNCTION OF WRITING IS TO DO MORE THAN TELL IT LIKE IT IS-IT IS TO IMAGINE WHAT IS POSSIBLE. -BELL HOOKS IF YOU'VE GOT A PROCESS . . . YOU HAVE A LIST OF THINGS TO DO TO GET TO YOUR GOAL. -NIPSEY HUSSLE Do you knit? play video games? do yoga?

If so, you're probably accustomed to following a process of some kind, whether it's for making socks, playing Fortnite , or doing a downward-dog yoga pose. The same goes for writing: whether it's a thank-you letter after a job interview, an email to a teacher, or an essay for a class, you follow some kind of process. This chapter will help you make your way through the process of writing, from a blank page to a finished text.

Think of it as a GPS that will help you navigate the many choices you have along the way-and direct you to places in the book with additional detail if you need it. Start with questions Whatever your topic or purpose, start out by asking questions. Even if your purpose is to solve some kind of problem, don't just go looking for answers. Whatever the task, approach it with an open mind. If you already have some ideas about your topic, expect to find new ideas. Be curious: inquire! explore!

Here are some tips that can help: If you already know something about your topic , what do you think about it, and why? What more do you want to find out? Be aware of CONFIRMATION BIAS , which can make you too quick to accept ideas that confirm what you already believe. Keep an open mind , ready to be challenged. You're sure to encounter viewpoints that differ from yours-and if you don't, seek them out. Take them seriously and be open to the possibility that they just might be right.

Even if that's not the case, they'll get you thinking! Ask questions : What? Who? How? Where? When? Why? Why not ? What are others saying about your topic , and why? What else might be said? What do you want to say? Ideas come from curiosity. -WALT DISNEY Think about your rhetorical situation Whether you're writing a text or a tweet, an essay or a speech, you have a RHETORICAL SITUATION that you need to consider: A PURPOSE -what you're trying to accomplish by writing.

An AUDIENCE -those who will be reading or seeing or listening to what you say. Your own STANCE , or attitude about the topic, which you convey in the TONE of your writing. A larger CONTEXT . What else has been said about your topic? If you're writing for an assignment, what are its requirements-and what can you accomplish in the time you have? One or more GENRES . You may be ARGUING a position, REPORTING information, SUMMARIZING a text, or something else.

Whatever it is, your genre will determine the way you approach your topic. One or more MEDIA -print, oral, digital, and social. If you have a choice, choose the one(s) that best suit your purpose and audience. DESIGN . What fonts serve your purpose? Do you need headings? images? charts or graphs? Chapter 2 provides detailed guidelines for thinking about each element of a rhetorical situation, but you'll want to keep your audience and purpose in mind from start to finish of whatever you're writing.

Generate ideas Once you have a topic, it's time to learn what you can about it-to think about it and start writing about it. Here are several techniques that can help you think about and generate ideas. I had an old typewriter and a big idea. -J. K. ROWLING Freewriting is a technique for exploring a topic through writing. Start by writing quickly, without stopping.

Some writers find it useful to freewrite for five or ten minutes; others find it works better if they write until they fill a screen or a certain number of pages. Don't worry about your spelling or grammar; just write! Your goal is to come up with ideas, and the more the merrier! Brainstorming is a process for generating as many ideas as you can, quickly. And don't worry about whether they're right or wrong, smart or silly.

You can brainstorm on your own by simply writing down all the ideas you have, or you can work with a group, with everyone suggesting whatever ideas they have, as many as possible. The more brains the better-and the greater the likelihood that you'll discover a range of viewpoints. Alone or with others, the goal is to explore an idea and to be open to whatever it turns up. Questioning is a good way to explore a topic and to get beyond what you already know or think about it.

And it's easy: just ask what, who, where, when, how , and why . What happened (or happens)? Who's involved? Where and when did (or does) it take place? How does it happen? And why: what caused (or causes) it to happen? Do some research Unless your topic is a personal one, you'll probably need to do some research. Wikipedia can be a good starting point, likely to provide an overview of the topic, to give a sense of the various perspectives that exist on it, and to list sources you can check out.

If you're writing about a current issue, you may want to check news articles or periodicals or do a KEYWORD search. If you're writing about a topic from the distant past, you'll need to look for older sources, but you may also need to see if there's any recent scholarship on the topic. And if you're writing about a local issue, you may want to interview experts or do some other kind of FIELD RESEARCH . For more on finding sources, see Chapter 14 .

Start by thinking about what you already know about the topic. What do you need or want to learn? What questions do you have? What have others written about the topic? What are the various issues, and the different POSITIONS and viewpoints? Be sure to seek out a variety of perspectives, and read them all with an open mind. Check FACTS and CLAIMS . If something seems questionable, check it out. If you see a claim that sounds too good to be true, chances are it's not true.

Search the web to see if anyone else is saying the same thing; if not, it may not be true. Or maybe you find several sources that say exactly the same thing; check them out-are they all sponsored by a single organization? Even if sources look real, don't assume they are; fake sources are usually designed to look legitimate. For more on checking facts, see Chapter 6 .

Come up with a working thesis At this point, you should be ready to write out a thesis, a sentence that identifies your topic and the point you want to make about it. Rarely if ever will you have a final thesis when you start drafting, but establishing a tentative one will help focus your thinking and any research you may yet do.

Here are some prompts to get you started: Write out the point you want to make : In this essay, I will present reasons to quit social media. Plot out a working thesis in two parts , first stating your topic and then making a claim about the topic: Quitting social media will improve your ability to focus, eliminate stress, and make you happier. Be sure your CLAIM is debatable-and that it matters .

There's no point in arguing for a claim that is a fact or that no one would disagree with-or that no one would even care about. Think about whether you need to narrow or QUALIFY your thesis . You don't want to overstate your case-or make a claim that you'll have trouble supporting.

Adding words like generally or sometimes, or saying might or could rather than will can make your thesis easier to support: Quitting social media could help you sleep better, might make you more productive, and may even make you happier. Does the thesis tell readers what's coming? Will it help keep you and your readers focused on your message? Will it interest your readers? At this point in your process, this is a tentative thesis, one that could change as you continue to do research, write, and revise.

Continue exploring your topic, and don't stop until you feel you understand it well. But once you're confident that your thesis makes a claim that you can support and that will interest your audience, gather up the notes from your research. This is the information you'll draw from as support for your thesis. Write out a draft Once you have a working thesis, you will need to organize the evidence that supports what you're claiming and to start drafting.

If you're writing a narrative, you might tell the story in CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER . If you're making an argument, you might present your evidence in order of importance, starting with the information that's the most important, followed by the less important information. And if you're describing something, you might organize it SPATIALLY , from left to right or top to bottom. Ways of beginning The way you begin a text can grab an audience's attention, or not.

Here are some ways of making them interested in what you've got to say-and want to read on: By QUOTING or SUMMARIZING something others have said about your topic By telling an ANECDOTE that will get your audience's attention By posing a provocative question By stating your THESIS By using a startling fact, statistic, or VISUAL See Chapter 22 for tips on writing powerful opening sentences.

Ways of organizing your evidence Whatever your thesis, you need to provide good, reliable evidence to support what you say. The good news is that the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle long ago developed strategies for finding such support, strategies that will serve you well both for finding evidence and for organizing it into paragraphs in the body of your essay. Following are a number of familiar strategies that can help you find and present evidence for what you say. Description.

When we describe something, we say what it looks like-or how it sounds, smells, feels, or tastes. Good descriptions provide concrete details that create some kind of DOMINANT IMPRESSION that helps your audience imagine what you're describing-and engages their interest. See, for instance, how Maya Angelou describes a group of people gathered in a store to listen to a prize fight on the radio: Women sat on kitchen chairs, dining-room chairs, stools, and upturned wooden boxes.

Small children and babies perched on every lap available and men leaned on the shelves or on each other. -MAYA ANGELOU, Champion of the World She could have simply said the room was full of women, children, babies, and men-but her vivid descriptive writing brings the scene to life, helps us to picture the scene.

You'll have reason to use description in almost all the writing you do: in a REPORT on climate change, you might describe some recent hurricanes or severe droughts that are thought to result; and in a NARRATIVE , you'd likely describe people, places, and things. While you can sometimes describe something using words alone, there may be cases when you need to include an image to show what you're describing.

If, for example, you were writing an art history essay about the architecture of Barcelona, you might describe the multicolored mosaics, stained glass, and glazed titles of its music hall, pictured on the next page. But could you do so in a way that would enable your readers to visualize it? Facade of the Palau de la Msica Catalana. Narrative. Using narrative means telling a story. And according to Tyrion Lannister, There's nothing in the world more powerful than a good story. Exactly!

A good story well told can engage your readers and provide memorable support for an argument. In a book called The Years That Matter Most , Paul Tough writes about the growing inequality in US colleges and universities, supporting his argument with stories about how this inequality affects several students he interviewed.

He tells about Clara, whose parents pay $400 an hour for ACT tutoring to help her get into Yale; about Kim, who gets no support of any kind, financial or emotional, from her family when she goes to Clemson; and about many other students as well-all narratives that provide powerful support for Tough's argument.

You can use narratives to good effect in writing you do as well-in an essay ARGUMENT for universal early child education, you might include a brief narrative about your own childhood experience in preschool. Or you could add several ANECDOTES about athletes you know who've suffered concussions in a REPORT on head injuries in football. Be sure, however, that any story you tell supports your point, and that it is not the only evidence you offer. See pp. 108-9 for an example of how narrative is used in an ad.

Comparison and contrast. When we compare things, we focus on their similarities; when we contrast them, we look at their differences. These strategies can help support what you say, explaining something that's unfamiliar by comparing (or contrasting) it with something more familiar. In a blog post arguing that the use of singular they is inevitable, for example, linguist Dennis Baron compares it with singular you , pointing out that it too was originally plural but eventually became singular as well.