Reading and Responding to
(Challenging)
academic writing
Scott L. Rogers
February 4, 2014
Our Plan
Keep it simple.
Outcomes
Be stronger readers (particularly in reading difficult text)
Understand strategies academic writers use to respond to disciplinary conversations
...wait, what's a discipline?
brandt "sponsors of literacy"
Any general questions or comments? Do you "like" this article? Why or why not? If it was difficult, try to explain why.
Our reading strategy
(detailed in your handout)
Three Essential Steps in Responding to Academic Work*:
Define an author's project...what does this mean?
Identify and define their key terms or concepts...why are terms so important?
Move toward application
*process largely derived from Harris Rewriting (2006)
Define brandt's project
First, what discipline or field do you think Brandt is addressing?
What is she trying to "do" in the article?
What is interesting or novel about her approach? Where would you expect to locate or situate a study of "literacy" in American culture?
Identify and define key terms/concepts
What terms do you think are essential to understanding Brandt's project? Let's make a list.
Is she using any terms or concepts in unexpected ways?
Do we define any of these terms differently than Brandt?
Move toward application
Key concept: Scholars use other people's work to generate new ideas; key terms are a good access point into these conversations.
How could we use Brandt's argument to examine literacy in America since 1998 (when the article was published)? Is her discussion still relevant?
How might you apply this notion of sponsorship (or literacy) to an analysis of your own educational career?
Any questions?
Thanks for letting my hijack your class.
Wake Forest Teaching Demo
By Scott Rogers
