SATURDAY SEMINAR
Sports & Leisure
October 6, 2012
Today’s Writing Practice
• Time to discuss and practice writing basic claims and
evidence from a piece of writing today.
• Reading and writing about content (always in curricular
context)
• The article: “The Shame of College Sports,” by Historian
Taylor Branch
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/308643/
Defining an author’s
claim…
• Isn’t always that
easy to do.
• Remind your
partner of the
definition of a
claim.
st
1
• Come up with
three
adjectives to
describe a
great claim.
nd
2
• Takes practice.
• Helps us understand
how to better state
our own claims.
• Write a claim
you heard
from John this
morning (1
sentence).
rd
3
The Shame of College Sports
A litany of scandals in recent years have made
the corruption of college sports constant frontpage news. We profess outrage each time we
learn that yet another student-athlete has been
taking money under the table. But the real
scandal is the very structure of college sports,
wherein student-athletes generate billions of
dollars for universities and private companies
while earning nothing for themselves. Here, a
leading civil-rights historian makes the case for
paying college athletes—and reveals how a
spate of lawsuits working their way through the
courts could destroy the NCAA.
Taylor Branch
This is the
introduction to
a recent
article in The
Atlantic.
Given this
introduction,
what do you
think the
author’s super
claim is? Be
as specific as
possible.
Write down a
one sentence
claim.
SHARE OUT YOUR
CLAIMS.
What details were
necessary to include in
the claim statement
beyond: “College
athletes should be
paid”? How did you
use the 4 E’s to add
make your claim
statement?
Elaboration
Evidence
&
Reasoning
Explanation
Examples
WHAT WE DON’T
WANT TO DO:
QUOTING
OUT OF
CONTEXT
Otherwise known as…
QUOTE MINING or
CONTEXTOMY (think surgery to remove the context)
Example from Darwin: Origin of Species
• “To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the
focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the
correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by
natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”
• The quote in context is…
• To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the
focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the
correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by
natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree. Yet
reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a perfect and complex eye to
one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its possessor, can be
shown to exist; if further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and the variations be
inherited, which is certainly the case; and if any variation or modification in the
organ be ever useful to an animal under changing conditions of life, then the
difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural
selection, though insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be considered real.
Movie “Blurb” Examples of Quote Mining
Se7en
• The ad copy for New Line
Cinema’s 1995 thriller Se7en
attributed to Owen Gleiberman, a
critic for Entertainment Weekly,
used the comment “a small
masterpiece.”
• Gleiberman actually gave Se7en
a B− overall and only praised the
opening credits so grandiosely:
“The credit sequence, with its
jumpy frames and nearsubliminal flashes of
psychoparaphernalia, is a small
masterpiece of dementia.”
Hoodlum
• United Artists “contextomized”
critic Kenneth Turan’s review of
their flop Hoodlum, including just
one word from it — “irresistible”.
• The real quote: “Even Laurence
Fishburne’s incendiary
performance can’t ignite
Hoodlum, a would-be gangster
epic that generates less heat
than a nickel cigar. Fishburne’s
‘Bumpy’ is fierce, magnetic,
irresistible even… But even this
actor can only do so much.”
An Example From
“The Shame of College Sports”
• In talking about the Olympics, Anne Audain, world record holder in
track-and-field, once proclaimed, “It’s like losing your virginity.”
• FOR ALL OUR queasiness about what would happen if some athletes
were to get paid, there is a successful precedent for the
professionalization of an amateur sports system: the Olympics.
….The International Olympic Committee expunged the word amateur
from its charter in 1986. …This sweeping shift left the Olympic
reputation intact, and perhaps improved. Only hardened romantics
mourned the amateur code. “Hey, come on,” said Anne Audain, a
track-and-field star who once held the world record for the 5,000
meters. “It’s like losing your virginity. You’re a little misty for awhile,
but then you realize, Wow, there’s a whole new world out there!”
WHAT WE DO WANT TO DO:
QUOTING & PARAPHRASING
CORRECTLY
QUOTING & PARAPHRASING CORRECTLY
Quoting
Quote…
• if you can’t say it any better and the
author’s words are particularly brilliant,
witty, edgy, distinctive, a good illustration
of a point you’re making, or otherwise
interesting.
• if the source is very authoritative and has
particular expertise.
• if you are taking a position that relies on
the reader’s understanding exactly what
another writer says about the topic.
• Be sure to introduce each quotation
you use, and always cite your
sources.
• Avoid “plop quotations.” Introduce,
discuss, or follow-up on every quote.
Quotes don’t normally work well in
their own sentence.
Paraphrasing
• Specific section of text (not a summary
•
•
•
•
of text)
Not just changing or rearranging of
author’s words
Set your source aside and restate the
sentence or paragraph in your own
words…then start writing.
Indicate the author you are
paraphrasing
Explain how the paraphrase matters
and link it to your other points clearly
(reasoning).
Helpful Words for Quote Attribution
Any of these words can be placed in the past tense as well.
add
remark
exclaim
announce
reply
state
comment
respond
estimate
write
point out
predict
argue
suggest
propose
declare
criticize
proclaim
note
complain
opine
observe
think
note
Quoting With Confidence
Answer the following questions:
• Who said this?
• In what context?
• What does it mean?
• How can we use this to support the claim? (What is
our reason for using this quote?)
Then, create a passage that successfully integrates the quote (and
contextualizes it and introduces it).
Paraphrasing with Confidence
• Think about the essence of the passage that you care
about sharing.
• Change the structure of the sentence(s) that you are
paraphrasing from – start and end in a different way.
• Then, change the actual words to ensure that your
thought is your own.
• Check – do you have any groupings of words that match
the original that could be changed and keep the meaning
the same?
Check Out the Sample Paraphrase
Handout
• Read “A.” This is a piece from which people will
paraphrase.
• Now read “B.” Approximately what percentage of the
paragraph is in the author’s own words?
• Read “C.” What is the problem here? Take two of the
underlined portions and rewrite them in your own words.
• Read “D.” Compare it to passage “A.” Tell your partner
what the lesson of this handout is.
Support The Claim:
College Sports Has Become Very Big Business
The United States is the only country in the world that hosts
big-time sports at institutions of higher learning. This should not,
in and of itself, be controversial. College athletics are rooted in
the classical ideal of Mens sana in corpore sano—a sound mind
in a sound body—and who would argue with that? College sports
are deeply inscribed in the culture of our nation. Half a million
young men and women play competitive intercollegiate sports
each year. Millions of spectators flock into football stadiums each
Saturday in the fall, and tens of millions more watch on television.
The March Madness basketball tournament each spring has
become a major national event, with upwards of 80 million
watching it on television and talking about the games around the
office water cooler. ESPN has spawned ESPNU, a channel
dedicated to college sports, and Fox Sports and other cable
outlets are developing channels exclusively to cover sports from
specific regions or divisions.
With so many people paying for tickets and watching on
television, college sports has become Very Big Business.
According to various reports, the football teams at Texas, Florida,
Georgia, Michigan, and Penn State—to name just a few bigrevenue football schools—each earn between $40 million and
$80 million in profits a year, even after paying coaches
multimillion-dollar salaries. When you combine so much money
with such high, almost tribal, stakes—football boosters are
famously rabid in their zeal to have their alma mater win—
corruption is likely to follow.
QUOTE
• What words or phrases should the author be
noted for because they are unique or written
in a way that paraphrasing could not
appropriately capture?
• Introduce your quote.
• Do not quote more than 10 words.
•
•
•
•
PARAPHRASE
What is the best information to support this
claim?
First, change the structure of the sentence(s)
– start and end in a different way.
Then, change the actual words to ensure that
your thought is your own.
Check – do you have any groupings of words
that match the original that could be changed
and keep the meaning the same?
Paraphrase the Paragraph
• The debates and commissions about reforming
college sports nibble around the edges—trying to
reduce corruption, to prevent the “contamination”
of athletes by lucre, and to maintain at least a
pretense of concern for academic integrity.
Everything stands on the implicit presumption that
preserving amateurism is necessary for the wellbeing of college athletes. But while amateurism—
and the free labor it provides—may be necessary
to the preservation of the NCAA, and perhaps to
the profit margins of various interested
corporations and educational institutions, what if it
doesn’t benefit the athletes? What if it hurts them?
After reading this
paragraph, push
it away from you
and tell your
partners what
the most
important idea in
the paragraph is.
Then, start a
sentence that
does not begin in
the same way as
any sentence
you read.
Elaborate with
one detail in your
sentence.
Understand Well to Quote Well
“The Plantation Mentality”
“Ninety percent of the NCAA
revenue is produced by 1 percent
of the athletes,” Sonny Vaccaro
says. “Go to the skill positions”—
the stars. “Ninety percent African
Americans.” The NCAA made its
money off those kids, and so did
he. They were not all bad people,
the NCAA officials, but they were
blind, Vaccaro believes. “Their
organization is a fraud.”
Explain the “plantation
mentality” in your own words
in the apace below (no
statistics…just a basic
description).
Write out the entire quote
from Sonny Vaccaro, without
the textual interruptions of the
author.
Now quote Vacarro in your
own sentence with an
introduction and ending. Use
only the “meat,” the most
important part of the quote, in
your sentence.
Summarize four paragraphs.
A deeper reason explains why, in its predicament, the NCAA has no
recourse to any principle or law that can justify amateurism. There is no such thing.
Scholars and sportswriters yearn for grand juries to ferret out every forbidden bauble
that reaches a college athlete, but the NCAA’s ersatz courts can only masquerade as
public authority. How could any statute impose amateur status on college athletes, or
on anyone else? No legal definition of amateur exists, and any attempt to create one
in enforceable law would expose its repulsive and unconstitutional nature—a bill of
attainder, stripping from college athletes the rights of American citizenship.
FOR ALL OUR queasiness about what would happen if some athletes
were to get paid, there is a successful precedent for the professionalization of an
amateur sports system: the Olympics. ….The International Olympic Committee
expunged the word amateur from its charter in 1986. Olympic officials, who had once
disdained the NCAA for offering scholarships in exchange for athletic performance,
came to welcome millionaire athletes from every quarter, while the NCAA still refused
to let the pro Olympian Michael Phelps swim for his college team at Michigan.
This sweeping shift left the Olympic reputation intact, and perhaps
improved. Only hardened romantics mourned the amateur code. “Hey, come on,”
said Anne Audain, a track-and-field star who once held the world record for the 5,000
meters. “It’s like losing your virginity. You’re a little misty for awhile, but then you
realize, Wow, there’s a whole new world out there!”
Without logic or practicality or fairness to support amateurism, the NCAA’s
final retreat is to sentiment. The Knight Commission endorsed its heartfelt cry that to
pay college athletes would be “an unacceptable surrender to despair.” Many of the
people I spoke with while reporting this article felt the same way. “I don’t want to pay
college players,” said Wade Smith, a tough criminal lawyer and former star running
back at North Carolina. “I just don’t want to do it. We’d lose something precious.”
A summary is a
shortened
version of a
longer segment
of text into one’s
own words.
Summarize
these four
paragraphs,
which represent
Branch’s
argument
against the
counterclaim in
two sentences.
How can you
summarize? 1)
Agree on the
four main points.
2) Write four
short (not
complex)
sentences.
3) Combine
sentences.
Reflection & Application
• What happens when you have to work with a group to
quote and paraphrase?
• Could you use something like this with a reading you are
doing soon in your classes?
• Why is it important to choose specific passages for
students to quote and paraphrase?