Process 2:
Comparing Source
Articles 
You go to the library... Well, maybe online. You find your articles!
How will you know whether a
magazine is at "popular level" or a "technical
journal?"
Hint: journals are very specialized, broad appeal magazines like
Time are
popular publications. The Linux Journal (pictured) is a technical
journal. Now look at
these articles for how they are put together.
We have a chart of points to read for. There is
also a model essay.
Magazines write differently
because they aim at different audiences. Keep
audience in mind. The
fact that magazines and journals differ so much and
aim at narrow "niche
markets" means that someone is sophisticated in
studying the audience for
that magazine. Who reads The Linux Journal?
The Process 2 Paper
For this paper, choose a subject that means a good deal to you. In the
last Process, we learned how much a "box" that boxes us in can hurt.
One
choice is to write about a
"box" that is pinching our toes, so to speak. One
student wrote about global
warming because she always wondered if it were
real. That student
analyzed several articles from different levels (popular
and technical journal) for style.
She did not tell what they argued but how.
And it doe not have to be as serious as global warming, of course.
Do you love cats?
Compare several articles on cats' language: one from a
magazine, one from a cat
breeder's journal, one from a zoology journal, one from
a pet store. Note how
some articles are at popular level and some at technical
journal level. Not all
topics can get a complete spread, though. It does
depend upon your topic.
Take
your articles apart using a highlighter pen or underlining them. Find
where they use statistics,
logical presentation, a civil tone (or not), quotations
from experts, and other
points on the chart.
Is this just a laundry list of points?
In some
ways, this paper will seem a bit dry, but you will learn the extremely
valuable skill of reading
critically, which will follow you for life.
Here is a
guide to your paper's format:
Intro (What kinds of
articles? Were they hard to find?
Other descriptive points? 3 to 4 articles, minimum.)
point 1 (Example: John
Smith's essay was logical.
Go through and tell
how each article presented,
logically or
not. Use
labels such as "Smith's essay used a sequential
approach because --" One paragraph per point.)
point 2 (Example: named
studies)
point 3 (Example:
interviewed experts)
point 4 (Example:
statistics)
conclusions (Tell how the
articles appeared after analyzing them.
Did they surprise you in any way? Maybe they were
all personal opinion and you couldn't find
ones that gave quoted experts, although you thought
there would be many.)
Don't Quote extensively: it is enough that John Smith cited
an authority in his field named -- give exact title and name:
John Smith cited
William Jenner, the superintendent of schools,
about the issue of vending machines.
Not this lengthy quotation(!):
John Smith cited William Jenner, the Superintendent
of schools, who said that
the fact junk foods were being sold in the cafeteria
was causing students
to think more poorly, due to bad
nutrition--and---and---blah---blah---.
Works Cited list: on last page list all the reference source articles.
Use MLA style citations that
you will find in SMG beginning on p. 706.
Format: Just send all drafts as an email message.
Be sure to make final
draft at least 3-4 pp., double-spaced in TEXT w/ LINE
BREAKS (using 12 pt. new
Times Roman or similar font.) You should "save as"
a text file. Paste your
drafts into email messages.