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OVERVIEW
Connecting defines relationships. Connecting texts is a way of better understanding and interpreting texts by
examining and interpreting an author’s argument in a piece of writing (or another text) and making connections
between it and another unique text, joining them in conversation about a particular topic.
When making connections between the texts assigned for this and your other major projects, you might want to
try a few different strategies:
Draw the connections. Start by listing the important terms, concepts, and ideas from each text on a sheet of
paper. Once you’ve done that, you can literally draw lines between ideas that have some relation.
Use clustering. You might also try a technique called clustering (see example at the base of “The Writing
Process: Organizing/Outlining.” Put the main concept of each text in a circle on a sheet of paper. Draw other
circles containing related or subsidiary ideas and connect them with lines to the circles containing the main
ideas of the texts. When you find ways to connect the branches of these separate groups, you’re locating
relationships between the texts that you might want to pursue. Through figuring out exactly what these
relationships are, you not only utilize critical thinking but also start the process of forming your own ideas,
which you will express in your major projects for this class.
Ask questions. Think specifically about one text in terms of another. These questions will direct you to think
about both texts, giving you an opportunity to use each assigned text to test the concepts and ideas of the
other.
Identify key terms/concepts. As you read any text, try to identify its key terms and concepts; some of these will
overlap the terms and concepts for other texts. These should help you see some of the more apparent
connections (and perhaps lead you to consider those less obvious) between the assigned texts.
To make effective connections, one must have good critical reading skills and analysis abilities (see Chapter 1
(Links to an external site.) and Chapter 2 (Links to an external site.) of your course text). A textual analysis
essentially “breaks down” a writer’s work into its parts and “examines” those parts to see what the whole text
argues–or doesn’t argue–in the way the author seemingly intended. Textual analyses also draw conclusions
based on both explicit and implicit meanings. Remember the questions to ask once you’ve completed each
reading:
What is the larger conversation? Each of the texts assigned as possible sources for your projects is part of a
larger discussion about an issue: ethics, climate change, food and agriculture, globalism, health, etc. Where do
you see the author acknowledging, including, and joining that conversation? How do you imagine you might
join it as well?
What other voices are in this conversation? Where does the author bring in other voices? How does the author
use quotation? How might you use quotations from this author as you write about his or her text?
What counts as evidence for this author? Each discipline has a different standard for evidence, and the
standards for evidence in academic and public writing differ as well. Does the author rely on anecdotes or
statistics? Does the author use other credible sources? What sources should you use in your own writing?
How does the author acknowledge counterarguments? Why might an author make or avoid this move? When
should you acknowledge opposing positions?
How does the author acknowledge the audience? What sort of contextual information does the author provide?
How does the style of writing reflect the needs of a particular audience?
Then make your connections. The major goals of this project are to clearly reflect your critical thinking process
through analyzing texts (written and/or visual) and to make reasonable and informed connections between two
of them. You are free to reference rhetorical elements, but don’t water down your paper by putting in too many
ideas.
BACKGROUND
For this assignment, you will read, analyze, and connect two of the texts I’ve assigned concerning some aspect
of food, choosing one text from each column. You should read the texts thoroughly, taking notes or annotating
ideas on them. As you read—in fact, any time you read for this course—make use of the strategies you learned
in Chapter 1 (Links to an external site.):
Establish your purpose for reading
Preview the text
Annotate while reading
Review once you’ve finished reading
As you annotate, highlight sections of the text that seem important, interesting, or confusing; write down
questions that you have as you read; mark words that are unfamiliar to you; and mark key terms or main ideas.
Once you’ve read, annotated, and gotten to know a bit about the assigned texts, use the strategies you learned
about the basics of textual analysis and the response assignments on the various texts and apply what you
learned about textual analysis to make connections. The goal is for you to understand not only what each text
says, but also how it might be connected to another.
Choose one text from each column
(I’ve requested a virtual discussion on the topic of “Consumption” based on your feedback. If that is scheduled
and confirmed in time to be included as a “text” for this project, I will add it to one of the columns.)
from Silent Preview the documentSpringPreview the document by Rachel Carson “The Animals: Practicing
Complexity”Preview the document by Michael Pollan
“The Oil We Eat: Following the Food Chain Back to Iraq”Preview the document by Richard Manning “Consider
the Lobster”Preview the document by David Foster Wallace
“The Uninhabitable Earth” (Links to an external site.) by David Wallace-Wells Food, Inc. (Links to an external
site.)
A draft of your essay, with introduction, conclusion, transitions, examples from the texts (as quotes and
paraphrases), and documentation will be due on March 11.
As you begin, here is a “checklist” of questions you may wish to consider about EACH text, courtesy of
Everything’s an Argument by Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz (your final paper can’t possibly respond to all of these):
Who is the author? Where and when was the essay published?
What is the purpose of this argument? What does it hope to achieve?
Who is the audience for this argument? Who is ignored or excluded?
What appeals or techniques does the argument use – emotional, logical, ethical?
What type of argument is it, and how does the genre (essay, book, film) affect the argument?
Who is making the argument? What ethos does it create and how does it do so? What values does the ethos
evoke? How does it make the writer or creator seem trustworthy
What authorities does the argument rely on or appeal to?
What facts, reasoning, and evidence are used in the argument? How are they presented?
What claims does the argument make? What issues are raised – or ignored or evaded?
What are the contexts – social, political, historical, cultural – for this argument? Whose interests does it serve?
Who gains or loses by it?
How is the argument organized or arranged? What media does the argument use and how effectively?
How does the formality of language of the argument (or style, tone, word choice, sentence length, paragraph
length and structure, documentation, use of questions, etc.) persuade an audience?
Is the argument likely to be effective?
Sample Solution
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