Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively

1. "...you could have thought about why a book entitled A History of France might present a different view of the battle than a book subtitled A History of British Progress. You could have asked if the English and French writers wanted to make a point about the history of their countries and looked to see if the factual differences suggested anything" (39). I think this is very true. Different countries present the same information very differently. I think this would be an awesome paper topic, such as how the U.S. and Britian view the Revolutionary War. Or how the U.S. and Japan view the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
2. "...1) Many students like Shirley misunderstand sources because they read them as stories. 2) Many students expect their sources to tell the truth; hence, they equate persuasive writing in this context with making things up." I think this is true. Sometimes, sources are stories. But most of the time, they're not. It's easier to think of sources as stories, instead of persausive writing. And not all sources tell the truth. It's easier for someone writing a paper to believe that it's true, but it might not always be the case.
3. "Even when students understand that the assignment asks for more than the fill-in-the-blanks, show-me-you've-read-the-material approach described by Schwegler and Shamoon, they cling to narrative structuring devices." This is so true. It's harder to analyze a topic than to just state all the facts in an essay. I think most professors look for the analysis essay rather than the state all the facts essay. My HST 112 professor this semester, Professor Ebner, is such a professor. I had to write an essay that incorporated no information outside of lecture and discussion sections.