For this assignment, you're being a "perceptive reader" of two texts in order to become more "comfortable responding to other people’s ideas." Does that sound familiar? It should! Those are two "B-level" course goals, listed on p.2 of the syllabus.

Text 1: Excerpts from They Say, I Say

Read pgs. 3-4, pg. 31, and pgs. 34-35 of They say, I say by Graff, Burkenstein, and Durst. (Remember to click view and "rotate counterclockwise" to make reading easier.) Take notes as you go to paraphrase their ideas and to connect them with your own life. For example, you might write down arguments you've been in, witnessed, or read that follow the "They say, I say" pattern: someone summarizing other people's ideas before responding to them.

Text 2: Barbara Holland's Forbidden Pleasure: "Cigarettes"

Next, read "Cigarettes," starting on p.18 and continuing to page 21 in Barbara Holland's Endangered Pleasures.

Take notes in the margins about how Holland makes her side persuasive--makes smoking sound delightful.

Finally, in this textbox, analyze how well Holland does what Graff et. al call "The Art of Summarizing" in her first and last paragraphs. How does Holland present her opponents' views while also hinting that she disagrees with them? Is Holland fair to her opponents?

Here's the "Cigarettes" chapter, for those of you still waiting for the book to come in the mail. (Turn your computer sideways and start reading at the bottom image.)