March 2021

Kate Warrington, Natasha Kovalyova, and Cindy King

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Reading Journal

 

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Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page Warrington, K., Kovalyova, N., & King, C. (2020). Assessing Source Credibility for Crafting a Well-Informed Argument. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, 3.
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words In Assessing Source Credibility for Crafting a Well-Informed Argument, Kate Warrington, Natasha Kovalyova, and Cindy King explain the importance of source credibility in writing persuasive or argumentative essays. They cover ethos, pathos, and logos, explaining the relevance of each with regards to choosing source material. They also include seven questions by which a person can analyze and furthermore decide whether or not a source is credible or appropriate. These questions are stated as follows, “Who is the author? How do I know that he/she is knowledgeable about the subject? Is the author using emotional appeals/manipulation in his or her argument? Does the author use “loaded” language to distract readers from relevant reasons and evidence? Is the support for the argument appropriate to the claim? Are all the statements believable? Is the argument consistent and complete?” (194). Additionally, the authors provide examples of these questions being used in analytical writing, which help the reader to grasp their functionality. 
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author. Innate – natural
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?

 

 I think that this work relates to that of Sandra Giles, as Giles’ work discussed certain characteristics that would define a writer as incredible.
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion. Aside from those listed in the essay, what questions (if any) have you pondered in determining a source’s legitimacy?

 

Critical Thinking Intake Assessment Reflection

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An analysis of my answers to the critical thinking intake assessment is as follows.

 

I feel that I am relatively sufficient at analyzing texts as potential sources, as I have spent a lot of time throughout my high school and college life evaluating the relevance of content and the objectiveness of evidence. I have had to find and use quite a few primary and secondary resources in this way, so I have reached a level of neutral comfort in doing so.

One thing that I find myself to be naturally exceptional at is determining and explaining the validity of arguments. I believe this is because neither of my parents are agreeable people, so I have always looked up to people with argumentative personalities, and in fact, have developed one myself. This leads me to look directly at all visible flaws in every source’s arguments simply for the sake of evaluating the writer’s intellect. This has led me to be sometimes picky when choosing sources, though I have learned to ignore certain pet peeves when necessary.

Another result of my argumentive tendencies is a knack for forming my own arguments. I cannot help but argue about everything that an opinion can be formed about, so when I am assigned to do such for school, I am typically sufficient at accomplishing such.

Ann Johns

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In her essay “Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice”, Ann Johns calls to question the structural properties of social groups, or more specifically, the part of these groups that focuses on the exchange of knowledge and experience within a certain subject, known as discourse communities. Johns lists the defining characteristics and constraints that naturally filter the constituents of these groups. The following concepts are essential in identifying a group as a discourse community: “a broadly agreed set of common public goals, mechanisms of intercommunication among members, possession and utilization of one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, utilization of participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback, unique lexis specific to members, a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.” (Johns 3). Though at first glance a person may find these requirements to seem highly specific, maybe even questionable, an examination of one’s own discourse memberships would likely prove its objectiveness. A personal example from my (the writer’s) life is as follows. When I am not in attendance at the University of Mississippi, I work at a bike shop back in my home state, Minnesota. Accordingly, I am a member of the discourse community that embodies the world of cycling. Within this community, I can identify each characteristic listed above. Common goals of cyclists include: decrease in race times, increase of skillset, increase of knowledge, increase of possesions, advancement of technology. Many cyclists communicate via forums and social media, but broader communications are also seen through magazines and online articles. Genres of this community include road cycling, mountain cycling, gravel cycling, bicycle mechanics, bicycle sales, and more. An obvious example of participatory mechanisms that provide information and feedback is cycle competitions. Not all of these events are open to all who want to participate, but many are, and those which are not are typically available for spectation in one way or another. Members of the community usually receive feedback from said events regarding personal progress towards goals as well as others’ progress, through times, scores, and leaderboards. Lexis specific to the world of cycling is shown through terminology related to tricks/skills, parts, tools, and more. Lastly, the cycling community exhibits varying levels of expertise between constituents (which differs even between genres).  An example is shown within the mountain bike racing genre, where novices exist at the bottom, simply trying to improve upon the little amount of skill that they have in hopes of reaching a competitive level. World Cup racers exist at the very top, representing the edge of the blade, or the golden standard of mountain bike speed. Finally, I will list several other discourse communities to which I belong.

-Skateboarding

-Music Production

-FasTrack Students

-Snowboarding

-Bodybuilding