A Write Right Teaching Blog
My murder-mystery protagonist, Matthew Diggerson, teaches college writing and gets embroiled in murder, and I’ve decided to give him his own blogs, the third of which is this one below. If you’re interested in my stories or just writing/teaching, then you might enjoy these little texts. – D.G.Gillespie.
Professor Matthew Diggerson
Ocean View College
As a faculty tutor at my college’s writing center, I learned a lot about teaching since working one-on-one with someone requires educating in its purest form—through questions, examples, and focused effort. Normally, I would ask the questions, but once, early on in my tutoring career, a student stumped me with a query: “What do I say after a quotation?” What would you have said? At first, the answer seemed so obvious that I didn’t want to hurt this person’s feelings—i.e., that you explain how the quotation proves your point. I remember that her essay bulged with quotations, that quite often one quoted illustration simply led to another, that her voice was missing almost completely. While I can’t recall her paper’s purpose, I remember mentioning that she should more or less summarize the quote in relation to her point about it, but that advice failed to shift her befuddled and frustrated expression. She needed an example, of course, so I read one of her quotations, then another, and then one more. I saw a pattern. Each quotation contained one or two words that suggested its meaning, both the idea itself and the writer’s attitude about it, and my tactic of “key-word reasoning” was born.
Here’s an example. Note the kernel word in this quotation by John Granville: “Obstinacy in opinions holds the dogmatist in the chains of error, without the hope of emancipation.” Despite a handful of choices, you focused on “chains,” right? That connotative word carries a negative implication, one of physical restraint, a person so bound that he or she can look in but one direction, Granville’s point being that subjectivity is a mental prison. Key-word reasoning—see how it works? Let’s check a couple more illustrations.
What word stands out in this statement by William James? He said, “The greatest discovery of our generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” You probably chose “alter,” not only because James highlighted it by using it twice, but because it offers a positive implication of shifting, turning, changing—a reflective person thinking deeply but openly. With “alter,” you can see James’ point that a positive attitude can be life changing.
One more example—according to Tom Blandi, “Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.” While Blandi offers both hope and warnings in these short statements, I focus on two key connotative words, control and harness, both exuding mainly negative implications. Don’t those two verbs suggest something dangerous, such as controlling a wild horse or harnessing the power of atomic energy? To me, Blandi seems to be warning readers that attitudes are perilous, that humans must understand their attitudes or be ruled by them.
A quotation’s implied point can usually be used to explain why the quoted illustration proves your point, whether you are analyzing a text or using the research to support a point about an issue, and you can use a key word when you explain. Just highlight the word (the author’s word, don’t forget) by putting it in quotation marks or italics, like this:
· Granville shows that subjectivity creates “chains” that build a mental prison.
· James notes that people have the ability to alter their own attitudes and hence their lives.
· Stressing the verbs “control” and “harness,” Blandi warns readers about the power and danger of attitude.
With this key-word reasoning tactic, you always have something clear and specific to explain.
You will find key words like these in nearly all statements, even ones that seem neutral at first, and you will hear them, too. Riding along, listening to classic rock, you will one day hear Bruce Springsteen sing, “In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream.” What word stands out? Is it a positive or negative connotation? What image does it create, and what’s Springsteen’s point about his town? The key-word tactic is easy, isn’t it? No sweat.