BUILDING AN ESSAY (REVIEW): THESIS Paragraphs LOGICAL FALLACIES.

BUILDING AN ESSAY (REVIEW): THESISParagraphsLOGICAL FALLACIES

BUILDING AN ESSAY (REVIEW): THESISParagraphs

Paraphrasing

• Paraphrasing means taking another person's ideas and putting those ideas in your own words.

• Paraphrasing does NOT mean changing a word or two in someone else's sentence, changing the sentence structure while maintaining the original words, or changing a few words to synonyms. If you are tempted to rearrange a sentence in any of these ways, you are writing too close to the original. That's plagiarizing, not paraphrasing.

Quotations

• Use quotations at strategically selected moments. • You have probably been told by teachers to provide

as much evidence as possible in support of your thesis. But packing your paper with quotations will not necessarily strengthen your argument.

• The majority of your paper should still be your original ideas in your own words (after all, it's your paper).

• And quotations are only one type of evidence: well-balanced papers may also make use of paraphrases, data, and statistics.

From Smith (?), “Nowhere are those forces more evident than in the Lower East Side [LES]. Even the neighborhood’s different names radiate the conflicts. Referred to as Loisaida in local Puerto Rican Spanish, the LES’s name dropped altogether by real estate agents and art world gentrifiers who, anxious to distance themselves from the historical association with the poor immigrants who dominated this community at the turn of the century, preferred ‘East Village’ as the name for the neighborhood above Houston Street.”

In the LES, “names radiate the conflicts”: what was once the Puerto Rican Loisaida is now East Village—a name developed by “real estate agents and art world gentrifiers…anxious to distance themselves from the historical association with the poor immigrants who dominated this community at the turn of the century” (Smith ?).

1. Smith: “And some of the evictees attracted to the newly ‘liberated space’ of Tompkins Square Park also began to organize” (?).

2. “Acts”: “We are the homeless who came together a year ago in an attempt to better our own lives as well as the lives of our brothers and sisters who are homeless” ([who’s speaking] ?).

These show a unifying of the poor and homeless against gentrification.


2. “Acts”: “We are the homeless who came together a year ago in an attempt to better our own lives as well as the lives of our brothers and sisters who are homeless” ([who’s speaking] ?).

Homeward Bound: “We are the homeless whom you say in City Hall Park for six months last year—the same group who met daily with legislators, housing advocates, and the general public; the same group who registers 2,000 persons to vote; the same group who fed and clothed other homeless in the area. We did all of this without benefit of a roof over our head, without plumbing and electricity, with only our dedication to a cause, and knowing there was a reason for our being” (IYLH 220).

After the TSP riot of 1988—an indicator of city-wide housing reforms, uneven gentrification, increasing poverty and homeless rates (increasingly among non-whites and women), and the war on NYC poor—homeless individuals began to politically organize, reclaim public land, and challenge the conventional stereotypes of the homeless: politically disengaged, selfish, lazy, drug-addled, independent, etc. Tompkins Square Park became “liberated space” under the organization and labor of homeless activists (Smith ?). Homeward Bound, a community organization and charity comprised of the homeless, began to hold meeting with politicians and housing advocates, register voters, and provide essential services (food, clothing, information on citizen’s rights) for their community in the face of repeated attempts by the city government to eliminate all signs of homelessness and abject poverty in the city (although, not the root causes and conditions of homelessness) (“Homeward Bound” 220).

When should I quote?

• 1. Discussing specific arguments or ideas.• Sometimes, in order to have a clear, accurate discussion of the ideas of

others, you need to quote those ideas word for word. Suppose you want to challenge the following statement made by John Doe, a prior NYC mayor:

• "Gentrification means housing for working people." • If it is especially important that you formulate a counterargument to this

claim, then you might wish to quote the part of the statement that you find questionable and establish a dialogue between yourself and John Doe:

• Former mayor John Doe has argued gentrification over the last 20 years in the city has meant "housing for working people (Doe 14). However, less than 10 percent of newly constructed housing is affordable to those in the lower income brackets. Considering that most of those originally displaced by the unaffordable gentrified housing are working-class minorities, equating people who can afford this housing with “working people” is passably racist in nature.


2. Giving added emphasis to a particularly authoritative source on your topic.There will be times when you want to highlight the words of a particularly important and authoritative source on your topic. For example, suppose you were writing an essay about the differences between effects of gentrification on different communities in NYC. One of your most provocative sources is a narrative written by a Harlem resident, Harold Wallace. It would then be appropriate to quote some of X’s words:Harold Wallace, a longtime resident of Harlem, spoke with Monique Michelle Taylor in the production of her thesis: Home to Harlem: black identity and the gentrification of Harlem; he clearly unveils the racial and colonial language of gentrification, equating whites with “urban pioneers[,]… another variety of frontiersmen…[capturing] properties…[and intending] for Harlem…not to be Harlem again.”In this particular example, Wal;ace is providing a crucial first-hand perspective on gentrification within his own neighborhood. Thus, his words deserve more exposure than a paraphrase could provide.


3. Analyzing how others use language.• This scenario is probably most common in literature and linguistics

courses, but you might also find yourself writing about the use of language in history and social science classes. If the use of language is your primary topic, then you will obviously need to quote users of that language.

• Examples of topics that might require the frequent use of quotations include:

The language of anti-gentrification and –homelessness protest signs/chants/songs.

Real-estate advertisements.The language describing neighborhood decline in the popular

media.Popular descriptions of homelessness.


• 4. Spicing up your prose.In order to lend variety to your prose, you may wish to quote a source with particularly vivid language. All quotations, however, must closely relate to your topic and arguments. Do not insert a quotation solely for its literary merits.One example of a quotation that adds flair:

But here’s how we’re going to do it. Starting from 110th Street, we will make a first beachhead on 112th Street. You know, some anchor condominium conversions. Then a second beachhead up on 116th Street. That’ll be a hell of a job. There’s drugs, crime, everything up there. But we’re going to do it. Essentially the plan is to circle the wagons around and move into Central Harlem from the outskirts. (Dennis Cogsville (president of Harlem Urban Development Corporation, of the defunct State Urban Development Corporation)

Occasionally, but rarely, you will need to use a long quotation. If your quotation exists of four lines or more, you should indent it, as in the following example:• Note that the quotation marks are not necessary in this

example because the indented block form shows that it is a quotation.

• But here’s how we’re going to do it. Starting from 110th Street, we will make a first beachhead on 112th Street. You know, some anchor condominium conversions. Then a second beachhead up on 116th Street. That’ll be a hell of a job. There’s drugs, crime, everything up there. But we’re going to do it. Essentially the plan is to circle the wagons around and move into Central Harlem from the outskirts. (Smith 93)

How do I set up and follow up a quotation?In illustrating these four steps, we'll use as our example, Franklin Roosevelt's famous quotation, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."• 1. Provide a context for each quotation.Do not rely on quotations to tell your story for you. It is your responsibility to provide your reader with a context for the quotation. The context should set the basic scene for when, possibly where, and under what circumstances the quotation was spoken or written. So, in providing a context for our above example, you might write:When Franklin Roosevelt gave his inaugural speech on March 4, 1933, he addressed a nation weakened and demoralized by economic depression. What stood out and was to be reproduced ad naseum was a single soundbite: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

How do I set up and follow up a quotation?

2. Attribute each quotation to its source. • Tell your reader who is speaking. Here is a good test: try reading your

text aloud. Could your reader determine without looking at your paper where your quotations begin? If not, you need to attribute the quote more noticeably.

• Avoid getting into the "he/she said" attribution rut! There are many other ways to attribute quotes besides this construction. Here are a few alternative verbs, usually followed by "that":

add remark exclaim announce reply state comment respond estimate write point out predict argue suggest propose declare criticize proclaim note complain opine observe think note • Different reporting verbs are preferred by different disciplines, so pay

special attention to these in your disciplinary reading. If you're unfamiliar with the meanings of any of these words or others you find in your reading, consult a dictionary before using them.

How do I set up and follow up a quotation?3. Explain the significance of the quotation.• Once you've inserted your quotation, along with its

context and attribution, don't stop! Your reader still needs your assessment of why the quotation holds significance for your paper. Using our Roosevelt example, if you were writing a paper on the first one-hundred days of FDR's administration, you might follow the quotation by linking it to that topic:

Seemingly a message of hope and confidence, the new president abstracted and pathologized the national project (from economic trouble to fear), subsequently turning away from huge wealth gaps, Jim Crow laws, and anti-immigration policies.

ESSAY_02: DEFINITION (DUE: T_10.30 || F_10.19)

Directions: (a) 11 or 12pt font, double spaced, <1inch margins, Times New Roman; (b) state what word/phrase you are defining at the top of the 1st page; (c) the top of your essay should have no other information than your name, date, and what question you are answering, all on one line--"NAME, DATE, ESSAY#"--the line below should be the start of your essay (you do not need a title); (d) when you quote and paraphrase, use proper MLA citation (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/).

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

ESSAY_02: DEFINITION (DUE: T_10.30 || F_10.19)For Essay#2, you will choose one of the below listed words/phrases and build YOUR OWN definition of the word or phrase BASED ON the readings and class discussions (NO OUTSIDE SOURCES MAY BE USED--I don't care about what "immigration" is generally or within this one article you read in a newspaper, I want to know how immigration shows up discussions of say "foreignness" or "gentrification" or "housing" or "race". This is neither to be a dictionary definition, nor to be a definition directly taken from one of the authors/artists we've looked at so far. Out of a comparison of how the word/phrase and all it's connotations (who uses such a word, what is the history of the word, what other words/phrases does the word conjure, does the word mean different things to different people and why, how has the word changed meaning over time, why is the word important to understanding ______, how has the word been used by _______ to do ________, what arguments does the word entail or bring up, etc.), I want you to develop A UNIQUE definition, respective to your interpretations of the course materials.• You must use at least 4 sources from our reading packets in your response.• You must use in-text parenthetical citations (that fit w/ your Work Cited

Page) whenever you quote or paraphrase.


• Instead of one long essay there will be five parts to ESSAY#2:

• 1. Definition Page (1 page): (a) YOUR definition of the word/phrase you choose from above (1-2 sentences); (b) a definition of the "urban frontier" (1 sentence); & (c) in a short paragraph explain how your word/phrase relates to the urban frontier (2-4 sentences).

• 2. Narration Page (1 page): Give a short (has to fit in one double-spaced page) story of your definition. This is a historical reading of the term. Focus on context, cause and effect, characters, change/development, and major events.

ESSAY_02: DEFINITION (DUE: T_10.30 || F_10.19)3. Comparison Page (1 page): Find two sources/authors that disagree (if not oppose one another, then differ in approach (their form) or explanation (their content)) on the definition of your term. Make sure you explain each view and then where the views diverge or converge. Explain why their is disagreement or difference in the definitions or presentation of the definitions. Why is this difference significant?4. Analysis Page (1 page): Connect your definition to a larger, more general, concept, explaining it's importance. Examples of concepts that you can connect your definition to are race, sex, gender, class, housing, gentrification, culture, economics, politics, etc. These are general terms but keep your analysis specific. For example, in what ways does the term "urban cowboy" imply something racial, imply a division within the city based on race, or imply that the cowboy him/herself is OF a certain race? Or...another example, in what way is the urban ghetto a result of economics rather than cultural differences?

ESSAY_02: DEFINITION (DUE: T_10.30 || F_10.19)• 5. Work Cited Page: Provide citations for all sources that you talk

about or allude to in your writing. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

REST OF CLASS

(a)Finish the in-class work from last week. (b)Begin work on ESSAY#2.

BUILDING AN ESSAY (REVIEW): THESIS Paragraphs LOGICAL FALLACIES.

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