SHANNON NICHOLS
"Proficiency"

The first time I took the ninth-grade proficiency test was in March of eighth grade. The test ultimately determines whether students may receive a high school diploma. After months of preparation and anxiety, the pressure was on. Throughout my elementary and middle school years, I was a strong student, always on the honor roll. I never had a GPA below 3.0. I was smart, and I knew it. That is, until I got the results of the proficiency test.

Although the test was challenging, covering reading, writing, math, and citizenship, I was sure I had passed every part. To my surprise, I did pass every part—except writing. "Writing! Yeah right! How did I manage to fail writing, and by half a point, no less?" I thought to myself in disbelief. Seeing my test results brought tears to my eyes. I honestly could not believe it. To make matters worse, most of my classmates, including some who were barely passing eighth-grade English, passed that part.

Until that time, I loved writing just as much as I loved math. It was one of my strengths. I was good at it, and I enjoyed it. If anything, I thought I might fail citizenship. How could I have screwed up writing? I surely spelled every word correctly, used good grammar, and even used big words in the proper context. How could I have failed?

Finally I got over it and decided it was no big deal. Surely I would pass the next time. In my honors English class I worked diligently, passing with an A. By October I'd be ready to conquer that writing test. Well, guess what? I failed the test again, again with only 4.5 of the 5 points needed to pass. That time I did cry, and even went to my English teacher, Mrs. Brown, and asked, "How can I get A's in all my English classes but fail the writing part of the proficiency test twice?" She couldn't answer my question. Even my friends and classmates were confused. I felt like a failure. I had disappointed my family and seriously let myself down. Worst of all, I still couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.

I decided to quit trying so hard. Apparently—I told myself—the people grading the tests didn't have the slightest clue about what constituted good writing. I continued to excel in class and passed the test on the third try. But I never again felt the same love of reading and writing.

This experience showed me just how differently my writing could be judged by various readers. Obviously all my English teachers and many others enjoyed or at least appreciated my writing. A poem I wrote was put on television once. I must have been a pretty good writer. Unfortunately the graders of the ninth-grade proficiency test didn't feel the same, and when students fail the test, the state of Ohio doesn't offer any explanation.

After I failed the test the first time, I began to hate writing, and I started to doubt myself. I doubted my ability and the ideas I wrote about. Failing the second time made things worse, so perhaps to protect myself from my doubts, I stopped taking English seriously. Perhaps because of that lack of seriousness, I earned a 2 on the Advanced Placement English Exam, barely passed the twelfth-grade proficiency test, and was placed in developmental writing in college. I wish I knew why I failed that test, because then I might have written what was expected on the second try, maintained my enthusiasm for writing, and continued to do well.

• any early memory about writing or reading that you recall vividly
• someone who taught you to read or write
• a book or other text that has been significant for you in some way
• an event at school that was interesting, humorous, or embarrassing
• a writing or reading task that you found (or still find) difficult or challenging
• a memento that represents an important moment in your literacy development (perhaps the start of a LITERACY PORTFOLIO)
• the origins of your current attitudes about writing or reading
• perhaps more recent challenges: learning to write instant messages, learning to write email appropriately, learning to construct a Web page

	PURPOSE	Why do you want to tell this story? To share a memory with others? To fulfill an assignment? To teach a lesson? To explore your past learning? Think about the reasons for your choice and how they will shape what you write.
	AUDIENCE	Are your readers likely to have had similar experiences? Would they tell similar stories? How much explaining will you have to do to help them understand your narrative? Can you assume that they will share your attitudes toward your story, or will you have to work at making them see your perspective? How much about your life are you willing to share with this audience?
	STANCE	What attitude do you want to project? Affectionate? Neutral? Critical? Do you wish to be sincere? serious? humorously detached? self-critical? self-effacing? something else? How do you want your readers to see you?
	MEDIA / DESIGN	Will your narrative be in print? presented orally? on a Web site? Will photos or other illustrations help you present your subject? Is there a typeface that conveys the right tone?

• What do you see? If you're inside, what color are the walls? What's hanging on them? What can you see out any windows? What else do you see? Books? Lined paper? Red ink? Are there people? Places to sit?
• What do you hear? A radiator hissing? Air conditioners? Leaves rustling? The wind howling? Rain? Someone reading aloud? Shouts? Cheers? Children playing? Music? The zing of an instant message arriving?
• What do you smell? Sweat? White paste? Perfume? Incense? Food cooking?
• How and what do you feel? Nervous? Happy? Cold? Hot? A scratchy wool sweater? Tight shoes? Rough wood on a bench?
• What do you taste? Gum? Mints? Graham crackers? Juice? Coffee?

• Describe each person in a paragraph or so. What do the people look like? How do they dress? How do they speak? Quickly? Slowly? With an accent? Do they speak clearly, or do they mumble? Do they use any distinctive words or phrases? You might begin by DESCRIBING their movements, their posture, their bearing, their facial expressions. Do they have a distinctive scent?
• Recall (or imagine) some characteristic dialogue. A good way to bring people to life and move a story along is with DIALOGUE, to let readers hear them rather than just hearing about them. Try writing six to ten lines of dialogue between two people in your narrative. If you can't remember an actual conversation, make up one that could have happened. (After all, you are telling the story, and you get to decide how it is to be told.) If you don't recall a conversation, try to remember (and write down) some of the characteristic words or phrases that the people in your narrative used.

• Jump right in. Sometimes you may want to get to the main action as quickly as possible. Nichols, for example, begins as she takes the ninth-grade proficiency test for the first time.
• Describe the context. You may want to provide any background information at the start of your narrative, as I decided to do, beginning by explaining how my grandmother taught me to read.
• Describe the setting, especially if it's important to the narrative. Bragg begins by describing the small Alabama town where his father lived.

• End where your story ends. It's up to you to decide where a narrative ends. Bragg's story ends with him standing in front of a pile of books; mine ends several years after it begins, with my graduation from college.
• Say something about the significance of your narrative. Nichols observes that she no longer loves to read or write, for example. The trick is to touch upon the narrative's significance without stating it too directly, like the moral of a fable.
• Refer back to the beginning. My narrative ends with my grandmother watching me graduate from college; Nichols ends by contemplating the negative effects of failing the proficiency test.
• End on a surprising note. Bragg catches our attention when his father gives him the boxes of books—and leaves us with a complicated image to ponder.

• What would be an appropriate typeface? Something serious, like Times Roman? Something whimsical, like Comic Sans? Something else?
• Would it help your readers if you added headings in order to divide your narrative into shorter sections?
• Would photographs or other visuals show details better than you can describe them with words alone? If you're writing about learning to read, for example, you might scan in an image of one of the first books you read in order to help readers picture it. Or if your topic is learning to write, you could include something you wrote.

• Do the title and first few sentences make readers want to read on? If not, how else might you begin?
• Does the narrative move from beginning to end clearly? Does it flow, and are there effective transitions? Does the narrative get sidetracked at any point?
• Is anything confusing?
• Is there enough detail, and is it interesting? Is there enough information about the setting and the people? Can readers picture the characters and sense what they're like as people? Would it help to add some dialogue, so that readers can "hear" them? Will they be able to imagine the setting?
• Have you made the situation meaningful enough to make readers wonder and care about what will happen?
• Do you narrate any actions clearly? vividly? Does the action keep readers engaged?
• Is the significance of the narrative clear?
• Does the narrative end in a satisfying way? What are readers left thinking?

• Make sure events are NARRATED in a clear order and include appropriate time markers, TRANSITIONS, and summary phrases to link the parts and show the passing of time.
• Be careful that verb tenses are consistent throughout. If you write your narrative in the past tense ("he taught me how to use a computer"), be careful not to switch to the present ("So I look at him and say . . . ") along the way.
• Check to see that verb tenses correctly indicate when an action took place. If one action took place before another action in the past, you should use the past perfect tense: "I forgot to dot my i's, a mistake I had made many times."
• Punctuate DIALOGUE correctly. Whenever someone speaks, surround the speech with quotation marks ("No way," I said.). Periods and commas go inside quotation marks; exclamation points and question marks go inside if they're part of the quotation, outside if they're part of the whole sentence:
  

  Inside: Opening the door, Ms. Cordell announced, "Pop quiz!"
  
  Outside: It wasn't my intention to announce, "I hate to read"!

• PROOFREAD your finished narrative carefully before turning it in.

• How well do you think you told the story?
• What did you do especially well?
• What could still be improved?
• How did you go about coming up with ideas and generating text?
• How did you go about drafting your narrative?
• Did you use photographs or any other graphics? What did they add? Can you think of graphics you might have used?
• How did others' responses influence your writing?
• What would you do differently next time?

DOUG LANTRY
"Stay Sweet As You Are": An Analysis of Change
and Continuity in Advertising Aimed at Women

Magazine advertisements aimed at American women have a long history of pushing things like makeup, mouthwash, soap, and other products that reinforce men's roles in women's lives. The concept of personal hygiene has been used to convey the message that "catching" a man or becoming a wife is a woman's ultimate goal, and in advertisements from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1950s this theme can be traced through verbal and visual content.

For example, a 1922 ad for Resinol soap urges women to "make that dream come true" by using Resinol (see Fig. 1). The dream is marriage. The premise is that a bad complexion will prevent marriage even if a woman has attributes like wit and grace, which the ad identifies as positive. Blotchy skin, the ad says, will undermine all that. The word repellent is used for emphasis and appears in the same sentence as the words neglected and humiliated, equating the look of the skin with the state of the person within. Of course, Resinol can remedy the condition, and a paragraph of redemption follows the paragraph about being repellent. A treatment program is suggested, and the look and feel of "velvety" skin are only "the first happy effects," with eventual marriage (fulfillment) implied as the ultimate result of using Resinol soap.


Visual content supports the mostly verbal ad. In a darkened room, a lone woman peers dreamily into a fireplace, where she sees an apparition of herself as a bride in a white veil, being fulfilled as a person by marriage to a handsome man. She lounges in a soft chair, where the glow of the image in the fireplace lights her up and warms her as much as the comforting fire itself. A smaller image shows the woman washing with Resinol, contentedly working her way toward clear skin and marriage over a water-filled basin suggestive of a vessel of holy water. This image is reinforced by her closed eyes and serene look and by the ad's suggestion that "right living" is a source of a good complexion.

A somewhat less innocent ad appeared more than a decade later, in 1934 (see Fig. 2). That ad, for Lux soap, like the one for Resinol, prescribes a daily hygiene regimen, but it differs significantly from the Resinol message in that it never mentions marriage and uses a clearskinned movie star as proof of Lux's effectiveness. Instead of touting marriage, Lux teaches that "a girl who wants to break hearts simply must have a tea-rose complexion." Romance, not marriage, is the woman's goal, and competition among women is emphasized because "girls who want to make new conquests . . . [are] sure to win out!" by using Lux. Lux's pitch is more sophisticated than Resinol's, appealing to a more emancipated woman than that of the early 1920s and offering a kind of evidence based on science and statistics. The text cites "9 out of 10 glamorous Hollywood stars" and scientists who explain that Lux slows aging, but it declines to cite names, except that of Irene Dunne, the ad's star. The unnamed stars and scientists give the ad an air of untruthfulness, and this sense is deepened by the paradox of the ad's title: "Girls who know this secret always win out." If Lux is a secret, why does it appear in a mass-media publication?


Like Resinol, Lux urges women to seek love and fulfillment by enhancing their outward beauty and suggests that clear skin means having "the charm men can't resist."

The Lux ad's visual content, like Resinol's, supports its verbal message. Several demure views of Irene Dunne emphasize her "pearlysmooth skin," the top one framed by a large heart shape. In all the photos, Dunne wears a feathery, feminine collar, giving her a birdlike appearance: she is a bird of paradise or an ornament. At the bottom of the ad, we see a happy Dunne being cuddled and admired by a man.

The visual and verbal message is that women should strive, through steps actually numbered in the ad, to attain soft, clear skin and hence charm and hence romance. Not surprisingly, the ad uses the language of battle to describe the effects of clear skin: girls who use Lux will "make new conquests!" and "win out!" Similar themes are developed for a younger audience in a 1954 ad for Listerine mouthwash (see Fig. 3). This time the target is no longer grown women but teenage girls: "If you want to win the boys . . . Stay Sweet As You Are!" Because attracting men would be inappropriate for teenagers, boys are the catch of the day in the Listerine ad. The idea of staying sweet means on the surface that girls should have nice breath, but the youthful context of the ad means that for women to be attractive they must stay young and "stay adorable," preferably with the girlish innocence of a teenager. The consequences of not staying sweet are clear: if you don't use Listerine every morning, every night, and before every date, "you're headed for boredom and loneliness." If you do use Listerine, there are "good times, good friends, and gaiety ahead."


Like Lux, Listerine relies on science as well as sex. With talk of "the bacterial fermentation of proteins," research, and clinical tests, the mouthwash props up its romantic and sexual claims by proclaiming scientific facts. Listerine is "4 times better than any tooth paste," the ad proclaims "With proof like this, it's easy to see why Listerine belongs in your home."

Visuals contribute to the message, as in the other ads. The central image is a photo of a perky, seemingly innocent teenage girl playing records on a portable phonograph. A vision of midcentury American femininity, she wears a fitted sweater, a scarf tied at the neck (like a wrapped present?), and a full, long skirt. She sits on the floor, her legs hidden by the skirt; she could be a cake decoration. Leaning forward slightly, she looks toward the reader, suggesting by her broad smile and submissive posture that perhaps kissing will follow when she wins the boys with her sweet breath. The record player affirms the ad's teenage target.

The intended consumers in the Resinol, Lux, and Listerine ads are women, and the message of all three ads is that the product will lead to—and is required for—romantic or matrimonial success. Each ad implies that physical traits are paramount in achieving this success, and the ads' appearance in widely circulated magazines suggests that catching a man (whether or not she marries him) is the ultimate goal of every American woman. While there is a kind of progress over time, the ads' underlying assumptions remain constant. There is evidence of women's increasing sophistication, illustrated in the later ads' use of science and "objective" proof of the products' effectiveness. Women's development as individuals can also be seen in that marriage is not presupposed in the later ads, and in the case of Lux a single woman has a successful career and apparently has her pick of many partners.

Still, one theme remains constant and may be seen as a continuing debilitating factor in women's struggle for true equality in the world of sex roles: pleasing men is the prerequisite for happiness. Despite apparent advances on other levels, that assumption runs through all three ads and is the main selling point. The consumer of Resinol, Lux, and Listerine is encouraged to objectify herself, to become more physically attractive not for her own sake but for someone else's. The women in all three ads are beautifying themselves because they assume they must "make new conquests," "win the boys," and "make that dream come true."

	PURPOSE	Why are you analyzing this text? To demonstrate that you understand it? To persuade readers that the text demonstrates a certain point? Or are you using the text as a way to make some other point?
	AUDIENCE	Are your readers likely to know your text? How much detail will you need to supply?
	STANCE	What interests you about your analysis? Why? What do you know or believe about your topic, and how will your own beliefs affect your analysis?
	MEDIA / DESIGN	Are you writing an essay for a class? to be published in a journal or magazine? something for the Web? If you are analyzing a visual text, you will probably need to include an image of the text.

Several demure views of Irene Dunne emphasize her "pearly-smooth skin," the top one framed by a large heart shape. In all the photos, Dunne wears a feathery, feminine collar, giving her a birdlike appearance: she is a bird of paradise or an ornament. At the bottom of the ad, we see a happy Dunne being cuddled and admired by a man.

• Summarize the text. If the text is one your readers don't know, you need to give a brief SUMMARY early on that introduces it to them and shows that you understand it fully. For example, Lantry begins each analysis of a soap advertisement with a brief summary of its content.
• Provide a context for your analysis. If there is a larger context that is significant for your analysis, you might mention it in your introduction. Safire does this when he begins his analysis of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address by describing its status as a "centerpiece" of 9/11 commemorations.
• Introduce a pattern or theme. If your analysis centers on a certain pattern of textual or contextual elements, you might begin by describing it, as Rubin does in his first sentence when he mentions the "instant associations and pangs of nostalgia" certain song titles evoke.
• State your thesis. Lantry ends his first paragraph by stating the THESIS of his analysis: "The concept of personal hygiene has been used to convey the message that 'catching' a man or becoming a wife is a woman's ultimate goal, and in advertisements from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1950s this theme can be traced through verbal and visual content."
• See Chapter 28 for more advice on beginning and ending.

• Restate your thesis—and say why it matters. Lantry, for example, ends by pointing out that "one theme remains constant" in all the ads he analyzes: that "pleasing men is the prerequisite for happiness."
• Say something about the implications of your findings. If your analysis has any general implications, you might end by stating them as Rubin does: "Taken together, these minutiae present a disconcerting time capsule of Los Angeles in the 1970s."
• See Chapter 28 for more advice on ways of beginning and ending.

• If you cite written text as evidence, be sure to set long quotations and DOCUMENTATION according to the style you're using.
• If your essay is lengthy, consider whether headings would make your analysis easier for readers to follow.
• If you're analyzing a visual text, you may need to include a reproduction, along with a caption identifying it.

• Is the beginning effective? Does it make a reader want to continue?
• Does the introduction provide an overview of your analysis and conclusions? Is your thesis clear?
• Is the text described or summarized clearly and sufficiently?
• Is the analysis well organized and easy to follow? Do the parts fit together coherently? Does it read like an essay rather than a collection of separate bits of analysis?
• Does each part of the analysis relate to the thesis?
• Is anything confusing or in need of more explanation?
• Are all quotations accurate and correctly documented?
• Is it clear how the analysis leads to the interpretation? Is there adequate evidence to support the interpretation?

• Is your thesis clearly stated?
• Does the beginning make readers want to read on?
• Check all QUOTATIONS, PARAPHRASES, and SUMMARIES for accuracy and form. Be sure that each has the required DOCUMENTATION.
• Make sure that your analysis flows clearly from one point to the next and that you use TRANSITIONS that help readers move through your text.
• Does the ending make clear what your findings mean?
• PROOFREAD your finished analysis carefully before turning it in.

• How did you go about analyzing the text? What methods did you use—and which ones were most helpful?
• How did you go about drafting your essay?
• How well did you organize your written analysis? What, if anything, could you do to make it easier to read?
• Did you provide sufficient evidence to support your analysis?
• What did you do especially well?
• What could still be improved?
• Did you use any visuals, and if so, what did they add? Could you have shown the same thing with words?
• How did other readers' responses influence your writing?
• What would you do differently next time?
• Are you pleased with your analysis? What did it teach you about the text you analyzed? Did it make you want to study more works by the same writer or artist?

JEFFREY DEROVEN
The Greatest Generation:
The Great Depression and the American South

Tom Brokaw called the folks of the mid-twentieth century the greatest generation. So why is the generation of my grandparents seen as this country's greatest? Perhaps the reason is not what they accomplished but what they endured. Many of the survivors feel people today "don't have the moral character to withstand a depression like that."¹ This paper will explore the Great Depression through the eyes of ordinary Americans in the most impoverished region in the country, the American South, in order to detail how they endured and how the government assisted them in this difficult era.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) announced in 1938 that the American South "represented the nation's number one economic problem." He commissioned the National Emergency Council to investigate and report on the challenges facing the region. Though rich in physical and human resources, the southern states lagged behind other parts of the nation in economic development.²


Poor education in the South was blamed for much of the problem. Young children attending school became too costly for most families. In the Bland family, "when Lucy got to the sixth grade, we had to stop her because there was too much to do."³ Overcrowding of schools, particularly in rural areas, lowered the educational standards. The short school terms further reduced effectiveness. As Mrs. Abercrombie recalls, "Me and Jon both went to school for a few months but that wa'n't enough for us to learn anything."⁴ Without the proper education, the youth of the South entered the work force unprepared for the challenges before them.

Southern industries did not have the investment capital to turn their resources into commodities. Manufacturers were limited to producing goods in the textile and cigarette industries and relied heavily on the cash crops of cotton and tobacco for the economy. Few facilities existed in the South for research that might lead to the development of new industries. Hampered by low wages, low tax revenue, and a high interest rate, Southerners lacked the economic resources to compete with the vast industrial strength of the North. As Abercrombie indicates, "Penalized for being rural, and handicapped in its efforts to industrialize, the economic life of the South has been squeezed to a point where the purchasing power of the southern people does not provide an adequate market for its own industries nor an attractive market for those of the rest of the country."⁵ The South had an untapped market for production and consumption. However, without adequate capital, it did not have the means to profit from them.

Southern industries paid their employees low wages, which led to a low cost of living. "You could live very cheaply because . . . you couldn't make a great deal of money," remembers Rita Beline."⁶ Most families did not have much left for themselves after bills and living expenses. "Nobody had much money, you know," recalls June Atchetce. "Everybody kind of lived at home, had gardens and raised their own produce, raised their own meat and had chickens and eggs and such as that." The needs of the families "were very small as far as purchases were concerned." What they could not grow, they did not have a need for, except for basic staples such as coffee, flour, sugar, and honey. To save on the cost of clothes, families "had a lot of handmedowns from the oldest to the baby. We did not throw them away. We patched them up and sent them down the line."⁷ Luxury items, like radios, cost too much money, and "only the [aristocrats] had radios because the poor did not stay at home long enough to enjoy them."⁸ The fact was that Southerners wanted modern consumer items but did not have the purchasing power to pay for them. "The people of the South need to buy, they want to buy, and they would buy—if they had the money." Without paying laborers a fair wage, industry had forced upon itself a lower living standard, thus perpetuating losses in local revenue resulting in a decline in purchasing power.⁹

The Federal government had to step in and help, as historians David L. Carlton and Peter A. Coclanis note:

Some of the South's credit difficulties have been slightly relieved in recent years . . . by the Public Works Administration, . . . the Works Progress Administration, [and] the Soil Conservation Service, [which] have brought desperately needed funds into the South.¹⁰ Along with other New Deal projects like the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps [CCC], President Roosevelt was able to prime the pump into a seemingly dead Southern economy.

Other ways the federal government primed the pump was with the WPA [Works Progress Administration]. This New Deal measure gave jobs to those who wanted to work. Local governments benefited too. The WPA provided new roads, buildings, hospitals, and schools. Rita Beline remembers her "father came very short of money, . . . took a job with the WPA, in which he helped in building a road across a lagoon."¹¹ President Roosevelt knew "cheap wages mean low buying power."¹² The WPA ensured a fair wage for good work. Warren Addis remembers that "workers were tickled to death with it because it gave so many people jobs. It started out at eight cents an hour for common labor, and it finally went to thirty cents an hour."¹³

FDR also created the CCC. The concept of putting the American youth to work yielded an economic stimulus by having them send home twenty-five dollars a month. That money worked itself back into local economies as families spent the money on needed goods. Young men across the South "left home to go and do this work. They got paid a little bit of money, which they sent home to their families."¹⁴ The CCC created recreation habitats as well. Jefferson Brock recalls, "They came and built brush poles for the fish to live in the lake near my cottage."¹⁵ The CCC became an outlet for young men who could not find work in their hometowns. Jesse Brooks remembers:

They did a great lot of good. For instance, they built Vogel State Park and raised the wall up on the national cemetery. Just put people to work. Gave them their pride back. A man's not going to feel very good about himself if he can't feed his family. So, that was the New Deal itself—to put people back to work and get the economy growing again.¹⁶

The South did not enjoy the United States' economic successes in the early part of the twentieth century and in many ways was a third world country within our own nation. The federal action that fueled the Southern economy during the Great Depression changed the way of life for the better and helped Southerners endure a time of great despair. Programs like the TVA, WPA, and CCC planted the seeds for a prosperous future. I still do not know if they were the greatest generation, but they did overcome tremendous obstacles to bring forth other "greatest generations."

Notes
1. Allen Furline in Kenneth J. Bindas, "Oral History Project," Kent State University, Trumbull Campus, Trumbull, OH. Dr. Bindas has a collection of 476 oral-history interviews from western Georgia and eastern Alabama, from which the information for this paper is derived. (Hereafter cited in Notes as BOHP.)
2. David L. Carlton and Peter A. Coclanis, Confronting Southern Poverty in the Great Depression: The Report on Economic Conditions of the South with Related Documents (New York: Bedford / St. Martin's Press, 1996), 92.
3. Vera Bland in BOHP.
4. M. Abercrombie in BOHP.
5. Carlton and Coclanis, Confronting Southern Poverty, 76–78.
6. Rita Beline in BOHP.
7. June Romero Atchetce in BOHP.
8. Ruby Girley in BOHP.
9. Carlton and Coclanis, Confronting Southern Poverty, 62–65.
10. Ibid., 73.
11. Rita Beline in BOHP.
12. David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 346.
13. Warren Addis in BOHP.
14. Jane Berry in BOHP.
15. Jefferson Brock in BOHP.
16. Jesse Brooks in BOHP.

• an intriguing technology: file sharing, Google, cell phones, roller coasters
• sports: soccer, snowboarding, ultimate Frisbee, skateboarding, basketball
• an important world event: 9/11, the fall of Rome, the Black Death
• a historical period: the African diaspora, medieval Europe, the Ming dynasty, the Great Depression
• a common object: hooded sweatshirts, gel pens, mascara, Post-it notes
• a significant environmental issue: Arctic oil drilling, the Clean Air Act, mercury and the fish supply
• the arts—hip-hop, outsider art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Savion Glover, Mary Cassatt

How is Google different from Yahoo!?

How was the Great Pyramid constructed?

Why did the World Trade Center towers collapse on themselves rather than fall sideways?

What kind of training do football referees receive?

	PURPOSE	Why are you presenting this information? To teach readers about the subject? To demonstrate your research and writing skills? For some other reason?
	AUDIENCE	Who will read this report? What does your audience already know about the topic? What background information do they need in order to understand it? Will you need to define any terms? What do you think they want or need to know about it? Why should they care or want to know about it? How can you attract their interest?
	STANCE	What is your own attitude toward your subject? What interests you most about it? What about it seems important?
	MEDIA / DESIGN	What medium are you using? What is the best way to present the information? Will it all be in paragraph form, or is there information that is best presented as a chart or a table? Do you need headings? Would diagrams, photographs, or other illustrations help you explain the information?

• Simply state your thesis. DeRoven begins his essay about "the greatest generation" this way. Opening with a thesis works well when you can assume your readers have enough familiarity with your topic that you don't need to give detailed background information.
• Open by asking a question. Eastman and Burrell open this way, asking a question about roller coasters that their report then answers: "Ever wonder how they get the energy to deliver thrill after thrill?"
• Jump right in. The writers of the report on the hijacking of United 175 can assume their audience is familiar with the events they are reporting on, so they open by saying simply that "United Airlines Flight 175 was scheduled to depart for Los Angeles at 8:00."

• Summarize your main points. This is a good way to end when you've presented several key points you want readers to remember. Eastman and Burrell end this way when they write "Remember, the energy does not increase, decrease, or disappear; it just changes from one form to the other."
• Point out the implications of your report. DeRoven concludes with a paragraph explaining that "The federal action that fueled the Southern economy during the Great Depression changed the way of life for the better and helped Southerners endure a time of great despair."
• Frame your report by referring to its introduction. DeRoven begins and ends his report by mentioning "the greatest generation."
• Tell what happened. If you are reporting on an event, you could conclude by telling how it turns out. The report on the hijacking of United 175 ends powerfully by simply saying that "All on board, along with an unknown number of people in the tower, were killed instantly."

• What is an appropriate typeface? Something serious like Times Roman, something traditional like Courier, something else?
• Would it help your readers if you divided your report into shorter sections and added headings?
• Is there any information that would be easier to follow if it were in a LIST?
• Could any of your information be summarized in a table?
• Do you have any data that readers would more easily understand in the form of a bar graph, line graph, or pie chart?
• Would illustrations—diagrams, photos, drawings, and so on—help you explain anything in your report?

• Do the title and opening sentences get readers' interest? If not, how might they do so?
• What information does this text provide, and for what purpose?
• Does the introduction explain why this information is being presented? Does it place the topic in a larger context?
• Are all key terms defined?
• As you read, do you have any questions? Is more information or explanation needed? Where might an example help you understand something?
• Is any information presented visually, with a chart, graph, table, drawing, or photograph? If so, is it clear how these illustrations relate to the larger text? Is there any text that would be more easily understood if it were presented visually?
• Does the organization help make sense of the information? Does the text include description, comparison, definition, or any other writing strategies? Does the topic or rhetorical situation call for any particular strategies?
• If the report cites any sources, are they quoted, paraphrased, or summarized effectively (and with appropriate documentation)?
• Does the report end in a satisfying way? What are readers left thinking?

• Check your use of key terms. Repeating key words is acceptable in reports; synonyms for unfamiliar words may confuse readers while the repetition of key words or the use of clearly identified pronouns can be genuinely helpful.
• Check your use of TRANSITIONS to be sure you have them where you need them.
• If you have included headings, make sure they're parallel in structure and consistent in design.
• Make sure that any photos or other illustrations have captions, that charts and graphs have headings—and that all are referred to in the main text. Have you used white space effectively to separate sections of your report and to highlight graphic elements?
• Check any DOCUMENTATION to see that it follows the appropriate style without mistakes.
• PROOFREAD and spell-check your report carefully.

• How well did you convey the information? Is it complete enough for your audience's needs?
• What strategies did you rely on, and how did they help you achieve your purpose?
• How well did you organize the report?
• How did you go about researching the information for this piece?
• How did you go about drafting this piece?
• Did you use any tables, graphs, diagrams, photographs, illustrations, or other graphics effectively?
• How did others' responses influence your writing?
• What did you do especially well?
• What could still be improved?
• What would you do differently next time?

ANDY MCDONIE
Airport Security: What Price Safety?

We all want to feel safe. Most Americans lock their doors at night, lock their cars in parking lots, try to park near buildings or under lights, and wear seat belts. Many invest in expensive security systems, carry pepper spray or a stun gun, keep guns in their homes, or take self-defense classes. Obviously, safety and security are important issues in American life. But there are times when people are unable to protect themselves.

Air travel is one such situation. There is nowhere to run, and no one is allowed to carry weapons that could be used for self-defense on board an aircraft. Therefore, it is important that no one at all be allowed on board an airplane with a gun or any other weapon. Unfortunately, this is much more easily said than done.

Though airlines and the U.S. government are taking many steps to ensure the safety of passengers, there is still a risk. In light of recent hijackings by militant Islamic Arabs, it would be very easy and economically sensible to target Middle Easterners for security checks at airports and anywhere else security could be an issue. This would allow everyone else who is statistically less likely to be a terrorist to travel more freely without long delays. However, as sensible and economical as this solution could be, it must never be allowed here in the United States.

One airline that targets passengers for security checks based on ethnicity and gender is El Al, Israel's national airline. In "Unfriendly Skies Are No Match for El Al," Vivienne Walt, a writer for USA Today, describes her experience flying with this airline. Before anyone gets on any one of El Al's aircraft, he or she has to go through an extensive interview process. The intensity of the process depends on categories into which passengers fit. Jews are in the low-risk category. Most foreigners are medium risk, while travelers with Arabic names are very high-risk. Women traveling alone are considered high risk as well, because authorities fear that a Palestinian lover might plant a bomb in their luggage. Screening passengers takes time; El Al passengers must arrive three hours before their scheduled departure, and even so flights are sometimes delayed because of the screening process.

El Al is secretive about what goes on in its interviews, and company spokespersons admit that the airline will deny boarding privileges to certain ticket holders, but their security record is the best in the world. Since these and other policies took effect over twenty years ago, not one terrorist act has occurred on an El Al plane (Walt 1D–2D). El Al's anti-terrorist system is indisputably effective. But is it ethical? Here in the United States, airports and airlines are racing to meet new security standards set by the federal government. As travelers are flying and as new regulations are being implemented, more and more air travelers are getting pulled aside for "random" security checks. In my experience, these checks may not be as random as the airports would like the public to think. Since September 11, 2001, I have spent several hours at airport gates and have boarded eight separate flights. Not once have I been delayed at the gate for a random security check. I am a young white male. However, I have seen who does get checked. I have seen some middle-class Caucasians checked, but at least from what I have observed, that is not the norm. Minorities are a target, especially minorities traveling alone. I have seen a seemingly disproportionate number of nonwhites delayed at gates. I have also noticed that women traveling alone or with other women are often picked out.

History has many examples of the U.S. government's suspending or abridging the rights of certain groups during wartime. In the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln suspended the right of habeas corpus (which allows prisoners to have their detention reviewed by a court of law), an act that was later ruled unconstitutional. During the First World War, freedom of speech was restricted by the Supreme Court, which declared, "When a nation is at war, many things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its effort that their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight and that no Court could regard them as protected by any constitutional right." During the same war, Pittsburgh banned Beethoven's music; the Los Angeles Board of Education forbade discussions of peace in school; and in many states German could not be taught. Perhaps the worst example of American wartime discrimination occurred during World War II, when Japanese Americans had their property seized and were forced to live in internment camps. Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt, one commander enforcing the internment, justified this policy by saying that "in the war in which we are now engaged, racial affiliations are not severed by migration. The Japanese race is an enemy race. . . . A jap is a jap" (O'Brien 419–25).

What can we learn from this grim history? Ben Franklin said that if we sacrifice freedom for security, we get neither. Though safety is important, at what price should it be bought? And if we sacrifice our freedoms for it, are we really safe? It would be easy for most Americans to justify restricting the rights of just one minority group. After all, most people would not be affected. But if we can oppress people from the Middle East during a time of crisis, we can do the same to any other group of people at any time. That is not the way Americans should have to live.

There is an additional point here: not all terrorists are of Middle Eastern descent. If we were to target Middle Easterners for security checks, many Muslims might have difficulty boarding an aircraft, but the Unabomber or Timothy McVeigh would have had little or no trouble. Acts of murder, political turmoil, and terrorism are carried out by persons of all races and nationalities. Focusing on one group might only simplify the process for non-Arab terrorists.

New security measures exist in many European airports. Some use retinal scans, a high-tech way of identifying passengers by scanning their eyes. Most screen checked baggage and match checked baggage to passenger lists. Many airports interview all passengers. According to one German frequent flier, "The level of scrutiny at a checkpoint says a lot about security at the whole airport to me. I feel safer flying to the United States than flying back" (Davis).

Clearly more changes need to be made at airports worldwide. Though it would be more economically sensible to target certain groups, doing so would be unethical. If the rights of one group of people are jeopardized, then the rights of all Americans are jeopardized. Freedom must not be sacrificed for security.

Discriminating against a single group would also be ineffective. Many people of Arab descent would have difficulty boarding an aircraft, but white, black, or Asian terrorists could move through security easily. Targeting certain groups would be easier but less than fair. Instead of focusing on one or more groups, airlines should treat all passengers equally, using technology that is currently available.

Works Cited
Davis, Aaron. "Guarding Europe's Airports—Future of Air Travel
     Visible in Tight Security Terminal." San Jose Mercury News.
     22 Nov. 2001: A1+.
O'Brien, Ed. "In War, Is Law Silent?" Social Education 65 (2001):
     419–25.
Walt, Vivienne. "Unfriendly Skies Are No Match for El Al." USA
     Today 1 Oct. 2001: 1D–2D.

• interest you right now,
• are focused, but not too narrowly,
• have some personal connection to your life.

	PURPOSE	Do you want to persuade your audience to do or think something? change their minds? consider alternative views? accept your position as plausible—see that you have thought carefully about an issue and researched it appropriately?
	AUDIENCE	Who is your intended audience? What do they likely know and believe about this issue? How personal is it for them? To what extent are they likely to agree or disagree with you? Why? What common ground can you find with them?
	STANCE	How do you want your audience to perceive you? As an authority on your topic? As someone much like them? As calm? reasonable? impassioned or angry? something else? What's your attitude toward your topic, and why?
	MEDIA / DESIGN	What media will you use, and how do your media affect your argument? If you're writing on paper, does your argument call for photos or charts? If you're giving an oral presentation, should you put your reasons and support on slides? If you're writing on the Web, should you add links to counterarguments?

• As a matter of DEFINITION. What is it? How should it be defined? How can phonics or whole language be defined? How do backers of phonics define it—and how do they define whole language? How do advocates of whole language define it—and how do they define phonics? Considering these definitions is one way to identify different perspectives on the topic.
• As a matter of CLASSIFICATION. Can the issue be further divided? What categories might it be broken into? Are there different kinds of "phonics" and "whole language"? Do various subcategories suggest various positions or perhaps a way of supporting a certain position? Are there other ways of categorizing the teaching of reading?
• As a matter of COMPARISON. Is one way better than another? Is whole language a better way of teaching children to read than phonics? Is phonics a better way than whole language? Is the answer somewhere in the middle?
• As a matter of PROCESS. Should somebody do something? What? Should teachers use whole language to teach reading? Should they use phonics? Should they use a mix of the two methods?

Pete Rose should not be eligible for the Hall of Fame.

Reading should be taught using a mix of whole language and phonics.

Genetically engineered foods should be permitted in the United States.

Pete Rose should not be eligible for the Hall of Fame, though he should be permitted to contribute to major league baseball in other ways.

Reading should be taught using a mix of phonics and whole language, but whole language should be the dominant method.

Genetically engineered foods should be permitted in the United States if they are clearly labeled as such.

• Can it be true in some cases?
• Can it be true at some times?
• Can it be true for some groups or individuals?
• Can it be true under certain circumstances?

Thesis: Pete Rose should not be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Why?

Underlying reason (because): He bet on professional baseball games, an illegal practice. Why?

Underlying reason (because): Professional athletes' gambling on the outcome of games will cause fans to lose faith in professional sports.

Thesis: Pete Rose should be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Why?

Underlying reason (because): He's one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Why?

Underlying reason (because): Few players have played with more hustle and passion than Rose.

• facts
• statistics ("A national study found that X percent of . . . ")
• testimony by authorities and experts ("According to X, . . . ")
• anecdotal evidence ("This happened . . . ")
• scenarios ("What if . . . ?")
• case studies and observation ("This is what happened when . . . ")
• textual evidence ("I found this in . . . ")

• Offer background information. You may need to give your readers information to help them understand your position. McDonie provides a rationale for Americans' desire to fly safely in dangerous times before stating his own position that safety must not be achieved through selective airport security checks.
• Define a key term. You may need to show how you're using certain key words. Lessig, for example, defines piracy as "using the creative property of others without their permission" in his first sentence, a definition that is central to his argument.
• Begin with something that will get readers' attention. Quindlen's first sentence does just that: "Let's use the F word here." From there, she goes on to argue that feminism "is not an expletive but an ideal."
• Explain the context for your position. All arguments are part of a larger, ongoing conversation, so you might begin by showing how your position fits into the arguments others have made. Quindlen does this in her third paragraph when she refers to the "conventional wisdom" that sees feminism as having accomplished all it set out to accomplish.

• Summarize your main points. Especially when you've presented a complex argument, it can help readers to SUMMARIZE your main point. McDonie sums up his argument with the sentence "Freedom must not be sacrificed for security."
• Call for action. Lessig does this when he concludes by saying the law should seek a balance between copyright law and the need for continued innovation.
• Frame your argument by referring to the introduction. Quindlen does this when she ends by saying that "The F word is not an expletive but an ideal—one that still has a way to go."

• What would be an appropriate typeface? Something serious like Times Roman? Something traditional like Courier? Something else?
• Would it help your readers if you divided your argument into shorter sections and added headings?
• If you're making several points, would they be easier to follow if you set them off in a LIST?
• Do you have any supporting evidence that would be easier to understand in the form of a bar graph, line graph, or pie chart?
• Would illustrations—photos, diagrams, or drawings—add support for your argument?

• Is there sufficient background or context?
• Is the thesis clear and appropriately qualified?
• Are the reasons plausible?
• Is there enough support for these reasons? Is that support appropriate?
• Have you cited enough sources, and are these sources credible?
• Can readers follow the steps in your reasoning?
• Have you considered potential objections or other positions? Are there any others that should be addressed?
• Are source materials documented carefully and completely, with in-text citations and a works cited or references section?

• Make sure that every assertion you make is well supported.
• Check to see that your tone is appropriate and consistent throughout, reflects your STANCE accurately, and enhances the argument you're making.
• Be sure readers will be able to follow the argument; check to see you've provided TRANSITIONS and summary statements where necessary.
• Make sure you've smoothly integrated QUOTATIONS, PARAPHRASES, and SUMMARIES from source material into our writing and DOCUMENTED them accurately.
• Make sure that illustrations have captions and that charts and graphs have headings—and that all are referred to in the main text.
• PROOFREAD and spell-check your essay carefully.

• What did you do well in this piece?
• What could still be improved?
• How did you go about researching your topic?
• How did others' responses influence your writing?
• How did you go about drafting this piece?
• Did you use graphic elements (tables, graphs, diagrams, photographs, illustrations) effectively? If not, would they have helped?
• What would you do differently next time?
• What have you learned about your writing ability from writing this piece? What do you need to work on in the future?