2 Fri W: Snack Review, Part 2: They say I say

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For Our Reconsideration: Snacking in The Burkean Parlor

"Imagine that you enter a parlor [or a We Chat conversation, or a Facebook feed, or ??]. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally's assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress."-- Kenneth Burke (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Burke is describing academic conversations, where every opinion is a response to someone else's--a "they say, I say" opinion.

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Learning Goals

In this assignment, you are aiming to fulfill the "B-level" quality: "I am comfortable responding to other people's ideas," including:

  • I let my readers know which ideas are mine and which are from other people
  • I get my readers to understand the context in which other people’s ideas were said, and how my context relates to that
  • I can explain why other people’s ideas matter to what I’m talking about
  • My readers can tell right away whether I agree or disagree with others’ ideas, and why
  • I can break down for my readers the assumptions and warrants underlying others’ claims
  • I can paraphrase people when I want to communicate their ideas, but in my own voice

I’m comfortable expressing and supporting my own ideas, even when I know others will disagree

  • I write arguments that have debatable claims and themes
  • I find varied evidence and engage in reasoning to support those claims throughout my arguments, so that everything in my essay relates to my main claims

Read and Eat and Take Notes:

Read your peer's review of your snack. Eat the snack, and as you do, take notes on what you're tasting (likes/dislikes about texture, appearance, smell, etc.) for the two reviews you'll write:

Write--Agree and Disagree:

Write two different reviews of 100-200 words each, each of which paraphrases one or more ideas from your peer's review, and uses those ideas to help you inform your reader about whether or not the snack is worth sampling:

  • Review A should generally disagree with your peer's conclusions about the snack, and offer its own evidence as defense.
  • Review B should generally agree with your peer's review, but add additional reasons or evidence.

Note 1: This will probably result in you writing two contradictory reviews: one review concluding with a high rating, and another concluding with a low rating. You are imagining your reader will only read ONE of these reviews.

Note 2: You're imagining that your reader is interested in both your peer's opinion and your own when deciding whether or not to buy/eat this snack.

 

Models and Templates

Models

Barbara Holland's Endangered Pleasures - Coffee (pgs.6-7), Cigarettes (pgs.18-21)

  • Both of these essays consider what others would say about the products they're recommending

Templates

Here are a few templates to help you imagine what each of your finished "They say, I say snack review"s might try to do. Don’t just fill in the blanks here as you write your reviews. Instead, to fulfill your own purpose and to speak in your ethos, ADAPT and combine elements of these. Or better yet, write in your own style. You can also consult the templates in Tuesday's They Say, I Say reading.

 Template 1:

People debate [something about your food item]. Some prefer ___ and others argue ____. I've always liked ____. So it surprised me when I read my peer [name]'s review of [your food item] OR So I enjoyed finding in [peer name's] snack review that she also enjoys [quality/type].  S/he wrote [paraphrase/quote/summarize]. But that's not true at all! / And that's absolutely right! [Add description supporting opinion.]

Template 2:

Use some of the techniques above, but begin by addressing audience and imagining their eating/buying situation:

  • "You have a lot of snacks to choose .  . ." or
  • "The American market for Chinese snacks is growing" or
  • "Sometimes we miss home and want a Chinese snack" or
  • "Our 39a class ate some snacks" or
  • "You might be wondering which of the snacks we ate last week is worth sampling"

And then proceed to "I say" and perhaps your supporting evidence:

Well, don't eat ___ OR You should definitely try ____ . . . because . . .

And then offer "they say" :

[Peer's name] agrees/disagrees, stating . . .

And then say why peer's right/wrong

 

Handouts

patch.summary.quoatation.39aFood.-2.docx

snack reviews 3.

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