Now that you have critically reviewed your book, you will compare some of the writer’s central arguments with your own experience and that of your peers and scholarly experts. To accomplish this, you should address the following:
1. Write 2 paragraphs defining two central arguments or concepts made by the writer.
a. In the first paragraph, use “academic discourse”––the type of language found in our textbook 75 Readings Plus .
b. In the second paragraph, use “colloquial discourse”––the language of the dorm or street which you use to talk to your friends (especially same-sex friends) about dating
and courtship.
In short, you are moving across one discourse community (e.g., the language typically found in an academic classroom environment) to another (e.g., the typical language found in a casual environment of your peers). Therefore, you will need to adapt your language use so that it best suits your audience whether they be in a formal or informal situation.
2. In about 2-3 pages, summarize the book that you read, quoting its most salient phrases. In other words, you are “repackaging” the book review you wrote in your multi-draft essay 1 into an objective report or summary. It is important that you remain objective at this part of your assignment, for, as you will soon see, this part the writing assignment will be a research tool as you gather opinions from your peers.
3. Decide whether or not the author presents a fair or biased argument to his/her audience. Is his/her language entirely objective, or is s/he pushing a political or gender-biased agenda? Illustrate your answer with four examples quoted from the passage.
4. Decide to what extent you agree with the central arguments made by the writer. Test his/her ideas against your own personal experience, the experience of at least six of your peers, and at least three experts. For this, you should interview six or more student “subjects,” explaining the writer’s thesis and central arguments (see 2 above) and recording their responses. In addition, you should find three scholarly articles which agree or disagree with the central arguments made by the writer of your book.
Your essay should be 6-7 pages. Be sure to use MLA documentation to cite your interviews and expert sources.
