Reading Response 3

Getting Ready to Read
A fact is a statement that is know to be true and can be proven.
A claim is a statement that someone believes to be true and tells others is true.
An opinion is an explanation or statement that may be true or false.
An argument is a difference in opinions, ranging from a verbal fight to a scholarly debate or conversation

In her article "Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively", Margaret Kantz attempts to teach students to not just tell a story or inform the reader with research papers but also make an argument and take a side, trying to convince the reader why your side of the argument is right.  She argues that even though this form of writing is more difficult, it is the only legitimate way to write a scholarly research paper.  Using a made up college student name Shirley she explains how college professors will not give good grades to students who retell the information from their sources because it is too simple of a method.  Kantz also explains how facts are often not facts at all but claims, claims trying to get one to think a certain way about an issue.  Part of researching is figuring out which of the claims are accurate and using those to make your paper more accurate and persuasive.  You should not start researching already knowing what your opinion will be, rather you should form it based on your sources.

This article relates strongly to Kleine's article "What Is It We Do When We Write Articles Like This One-and How Can We Get Students to Join Us?" because both articles are attempting to convince the reader to do more in depth research.  Kleine argues that research is not a linear process and students who just copy text are doing it wrong.  Kantz wants students to form an opinion out of their research and explain it in their paper.  That is also a topic in Stuart Greene's article "Argument as Conversation" as he states that you should frame an argument with your research.  Both authors state in their articles that in your paper you should make  points about your subject that have never been made before.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling
1 Kantz contends that facts, opinions, and arguments are much more closely related than one might have thought.  Facts, as she puts it, are just claims, as are opinions.  Since with some 'facts' (the number of people in a battle, the reason for a war, e.t.c.) are not actually known exactly people cannot report what is actually fact.  This is why different sources may have different facts.  Also, on events that involved two groups going against each other each group may have reported different facts about the event, making their side of the issue more justified.  These facts are merely opinions.  Because facts are just opinions, arguments are just debates about whose facts or opinions are accurate.  Kantz looks at argument in a similar was as Greene, as a way of sharing ideas.

2 Students think that textbooks tell the whole truth.  Students don't realize that you need to present an original argument in a research paper, not just tell about your topic. Many students read sources as stories.  Students do not understand that facts are closer to claims.  Kantz is correct about these statements, most students do not understand these parts of writing, partially because low level English instructors (high school teachers) do not teach these concepts.  From reading this article, I believe that I understand all of these concepts.

Applying and Exploring Ideas
2  Prior to this class, creativity and research have not been used together very much for me.  When doing research papers, my thesis usually requires creativity, but after I am able to come up with it little creativity is required in writing the rest of my paper.  I have written papers similar to Shirley's paper, telling the story of my topic but not arguing a point on it.  Kantz talks about using lots of creativity in papers, a better method than how I have been previously instructed.  You need creativity to be able to form a good argument.

Meta Moment
Kantz is mainly trying to analyze the construct that research papers to not need to be persuasive.  She writes about the construct that textbooks tell facts, while in reality they tell claims.  These are useful to understand because they will help me with writing in the future.