The Little Red Schoolhouse
Session One
Working for Readers
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Introduction
For Readers
The University of Virginia
Little Red Schoolhouse
University of Virginia
Introduction
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For Readers
Rhetorical Problems, Tangible Outcomes
Following are three introductions to documents written to produce an outcome in a business
context. Which ones do you think are most likely to motivate their reader to read on because
she cares about that outcome? To motivate the reader to read at all? Why?
1 The following are two versions of the opening of a letter written by a graduating
senior to a commodity trading firm with which he has already had a first
interview. The screening interviewer suggested to the candidate that he write to
the department supervisor directly if he wished to receive serious consideration
for the job.
a.
I write to call your attention to my résumé. Yesterday, I had an interview with
Carson’s campus recruiter, Mr. Tortorici, who noticed that I have qualifications he had
not seen in my résumé. Mr. Tortorici told me I could help my case by writing to you
about them.
Mr. Tortorici said that it is as important to Carson that management trainees have
leadership skills as that they have good grades. He could see from my résumé that I
did well in the University of Illinois’ demanding program in accounting. But he did not
notice that my experience as a volunteer leader gave me the kind of leadership skills
that Carson is looking for.
For the past three years, I have served. . . .
b.
I write hoping that I can persuade you to give my résumé a second look. Carson’s
campus recruiter, Mr. Tortorici, was impressed by some of my qualifications that he
did not expect to find after reading my résumé. After my interview yesterday, Mr.
Tortorici suggested that I write to alert you to some of my experiences that Carson
might particularly value.
According to Mr. Tortorici, Carson needs management trainees who can lead and
motivate people, and Carson values those qualities as much as grades and other
academic achievements. My résumé highlights my success as a student in the
University of Illinois’ demanding program in accounting. But it does not emphasize
that I have proven myself as a volunteer leader who can organize and coordinate
complicated tasks and who can motivate volunteers and contributors to achieve more
than they thought possible.
For the past three years, I have served. . . .
University of Virginia
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The Problem Problem
Writers often fail to state a problem clearly because most of us think and talk
about problems in a misleading shorthand. Those who do not yet understand a
problem typically think and talk only in terms of its symptoms, immediate
manifestations of pain, loss, error, and so on. Those who do understand a
problem typical name it in terms of a state of affairs that they would like to see
changed or mitigated. Both ways of thinking and talking miss at least half of the
story.
STANDARD NAIVE APPROACH TO PROBLEMS:
Problem = Symptom
a)
What’s the problem? My car won’t start.
b)
What brings you into the office? My back hurts.
c)
Why are the stockholders upset? Manufacturing costs are up 20%.
STANDARD SHORT-HAND FORMULATION OF PROBLEM SOLVERS:
Problem = Situation
a)
What’s the problem? The timing is off two degrees.
b)
What’s your research problem? The regeneration of spinal disks.
c)
What’s wrong with this business? Its manufacturing lines were set up in 1973.
In fact, problems are defined not by symptoms nor by situations, but by a causal
connection between a bad situation and its unwelcome consequences. In fact,
we don’t have a problem worth acting on until the situation has consequences
that are intolerable, or at least less tolerable than the cost of changing the
situation. So to think about problems well, we have to think about a bad
situation—call it a predicament—and its intolerable consequences—call them
costs.
Problem = Predicament + Costs
You will not convince readers that your document is
worth their time and attention unless they recognize
right from the start both a Predicament and its Costs.
Little Red Schoolhouse
University of Virginia
Introduction
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For Readers
2 The following is the opening of a memo written by a junior member of a
management consulting firm, addressed to the firm’s Executive Committee. The
Executive Committee has been discussing the general issue of relocating
employees, but is hearing about job counseling for spouses for the first time.
Among the issues yet to be decided for the proposed Employee Relocation Assistance
Program is the need for job counseling for spouses. In FY 94, of the eighteen employees
offered cross-country transfers, thirteen requested help with a job search for their spouses.
The firm denied the requests of seven employees, four of whom decided not to accept the
transfer. The Firm has no specific policy for authorizing requests for such assistance, nor
does it have any standard resources for assisting spouses in a job search. Since many
employees have working spouses, the Firm can anticipate increasing difficulties not only in
agreements to transfer but in recruiting new employees. I have identified several relocation
firms that can provide the needed services at a reasonable cost. Following is a summary of
my research, an outline of proposed policy guidelines, and list of recommended job
counseling firms in Charlotte, Houston, and Los Angeles.
3 The following is the opening of a memo by an apprentice stock broker at a large
brokerage office, addressed to the office manager. The assignment was given by
the assistant manager. The manager has heard about new furniture
arrangements once before, in a meeting concerning many assorted matters.
I was asked to investigate the possibility of rearranging the office modules. In the
beginning, I gave a lot of thought to rearranging and reusing the modular wall system
already in place. Since then I have revised my original plan several times, sometimes using
the existing wall system and sometimes considering purchase of one of the newer modular
systems with work stations and moveable storage options. These alternate plans were the
basis on which I weighed our needs in view of our enlarged duties and added staff, both full
University of Virginia
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Introduction
For Readers
and part time. My research has generated three viable plans and a set of priorities for
deciding about a new office arrangement.
Little Red Schoolhouse
University of Virginia
Introduction
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For Readers
Among the issues yet to be decided for the proposed
Employee Relocation Assistance Program is the need for job
counseling for spouses. In FY 94, of the eighteen employees
offered cross-country transfers, thirteen requested help with
a job search for their spouses. The firm denied the requests
of seven employees, four of whom decided not to accept the
transfer. The Firm has no specific policy for authorizing
requests for such assistance, nor does it have any standard
resources for assisting spouses in a job search. Since many
employees have working spouses, the Firm can anticipate
increasing difficulties not only in agreements to transfer but
in recruiting new employees. I have identified several
relocation firms that can provide the needed services at a
reasonable cost. Following is a summary of my research, an
outline of proposed policy guidelines, and list of
recommended job counseling firms in Charlotte, Houston,
and Los Angeles.
I was asked to investigate the possibility of
rearranging the office modules. In the beginning, I gave
a lot of thought to rearranging and reusing the modular
wall system already in place. Since then I have revised
my original plan several times, sometimes using the
existing wall system and sometimes considering
purchase of one of the newer modular systems with work
stations and moveable storage options. These alternate
plans were the basis on which I weighed our needs in
view of our enlarged duties and added staff, both full and
part time. My research has generated three viable plans
and a set of priorities for deciding about a new office
arrangement.
University of Virginia
Predicament #1 (old
information)
Predicament #2 (new
information)
Cost #2
Predicament #3 (based on writer’s
analysis of the situation)
Cost #3
Promise of a Solution
A problem for the writer, but so far
nothing for the reader to be
concerned about.
A suggestion of a problem in “our
needs,” but a very weak one at
best. What’s the Cost?
So what? What is the reader
supposed to concern herself with?
Why?
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4 The following are introductions to project proposals for ENWR 380. These
proposals are submitted to seminar leaders, called lectors, to set the writing
assignments for individual students. How fully does each one address the lector’s
problem—that each student must have a viable set of projects, that offer the kind
of challenges addressed in the Schoolhouse, and that the student can reasonably
be expected to complete?
a)
Strategic information acquisition has become a subject of special interest to me, as it
should be particularly useful to the kind of work I hope to do, using game theory to study
industrial organizations. A project concerning SIA will give me the chance to read
extensively in the literature on SIA, which will greatly enhance my preparation for the job
market and graduate school. The literature on strategic information acquisition is divided
into three categories based on the author's answer to the following question: is the decision
regarding strategic information acquisition a one-, two-, or three-stage game? I plan to
write a paper on what the literature has to offer and the strengths and weaknesses I
discover in each of the three views by reading these articles.
b)
This semester, I am working on a semester-long project for the Volunteer Services
Office. My sponsor, Ms. X, is always recruiting new volunteers, and she needs some sort of
portfolio describing the different volunteer positions. A portfolio would help volunteers
know what they are getting into and help Ms. X make sure that she does not put volunteers
into positions that they are not suited to hold. Also, the portfolio would help Volunteer
Services take a marketing approach to recruiting volunteers rather than just wait to see
who shows up. In this way, the portfolio can be a part of a larger project of the Volunteer
Services staff, to create excitement and increase the interest in the community in order to
sell them on volunteer work. With such a portfolio, Volunteer Services will be better able to
serve the University hospital and the community it serves.
Little Red Schoolhouse
University of Virginia
Introduction
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For Readers
c)
This semester I will participate in the Distinguished Majors Program in Chemistry,
which I hope will help prepare me for graduate work in biochemistry. The program requires
that I write a scientific article reporting my research, in a form that might be publishable in
a chemistry journal. Although the program gives us lots of support in our research, it does
little to teach us how to write a publishable article. I propose to make this article the
centerpiece of my work in ENWR 380. I will already be doing original research on an
important research problem (whether it is possible to regenerate damaged epithelial hair
cells necessary for hearing in transgenic C3HHEN Immortomouse). Writing the article will
involve not only reporting my data and results but also integrating this research into the
larger literature on both hearing and regeneration. It will also help me to develop writing
skills that will be important in my future career. Because the article will be shorter than 20
pages, I will supplement that project with research summaries and progress reports, both of
which will involve complex writing tasks of a sort that practicing researchers must be able
to produce.
University of Virginia
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Identifying Costs in Tangible Problems
Effective documents motivate their readers by articulating a problem that the
readers have and the document can help to resolve. Although some situations
are so obviously problems that anyone would want to see them solved, you can
only be sure that your readers understand your problem as you do if you
articulate not only the Predicament or situation itself, but also the Consequences
that make the Predicament a problem worth solving. And for a tangible problem,
those Consequences had better feel to readers like real costs they don’t want to
pay.
5
The following is the first page of an unsolicited proposal prepared by engineering
students and submitted to the City of Atlanta in preparation for the 1996
Olympics. How does it articulate costs for its readers?
PEOPLE MOVERS, INCORPORATED
Moving Atlanta to a Brighter Future
Olympic Traffic Impact Study
Executive Summary
The city of Atlanta faces many challenges as it prepares to host the 1996
Olympic Games. From the point of view of city services, Atlanta is in a good
position to house, feed, and amuse the many Olympic visitors. Its airports and
highways are adequate to bring the visitors to the city conveniently and safely.
But Atlanta may not be able to move its visitors around after they arrive.
Atlanta’s streets, notoriously inadequate in normal times, will be hard pressed
to accommodate increased traffic during the Olympics. It can also be
anticipated that the tangled layout of streets will confuse visitors, as will the
city’s unusual scheme of street names. The Olympics will not succeed and
Atlanta’s image will be significantly tarnished if overcrowded and confusing
streets keep visitors from the events they have come to see.
People Movers has conducted an extensive survey of Atlanta traffic patterns in
order to establish a base line for predicting 1996 levels for normal volume and
usage patterns as well as volume and usage patterns for the ten days of the
Olympic festival. Based on those data, People Movers has formulated a staged
ten-point plan for limiting peak volume and improving usage patterns during
the Olympic festival. Fully implemented, this plan will assure that Atlanta’s
visitors and residents can use the streets with minimal difficulty. . . .
Little Red Schoolhouse
University of Virginia
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For Readers
You can find the Costs of a tangible problem that are most likely to motivate
readers by walking up the “So what?” ladder, answering each new “So what?” as
you imagine your readers would:
Atlanta’s streets cannot accommodate much additional traffic. They also have a tangled
layout and an unusual naming scheme.
So what? I get around just fine. Why is that my problem?
When Olympic visitors try to get to events at downtown venues, there will be significantly
more traffic on Atlanta’s streets, which cannot accommodate much more. Also when these
visitors encounter Atlanta’s tangled layout of streets and unusual scheme of street names,
they will be confused.
So what?
When visitors try to use streets which cannot accommodate the increased traffic, they will
be delayed by traffic jams. Also, if they become confused, they will get lost.
So what?
If the visitors are delayed or lost, they will miss the events they have come to see.
So what?
If visitors miss events because of traffic problems, they will blame the city.
So what?
With all the world watching the Olympics on TV, if visitors blame the city for making them
miss events, the media will say that the Olympics have been a failure and the city’s image
will be tarnished in the eyes of the world.
So what?
The city will lose prestige, which will cost it money because of decreased tourism and
decreased business development.
So what?
Well . . . .
University of Virginia
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Rhetorical Problems, Conceptual Outcomes
6
Here are three versions of an introduction to a student paper in a history class
The assignment: “Compare and contrast how Thucydides in the History of the
Peloponnesian Wars presents the rhetorical appeals of Corcyra and Corinth in
order to give readers an insight into Athenian values.”
Which version do you think is most likely to motivate its reader to read on
because she cares what the paper says? Least likely? Which do you predict would
get the best and worst response from the teacher? Why?
a.
In 433 BC, the cities of Corcyra and Corinth became involved in a dispute over which
of them should rule Epidamnus. Because they could not settle the dispute between
themselves, they sent representatives to Athens to appeal for its help against the
other. After hearing the two speeches and debating among themselves, the Athenians
finally decided to support Corcyra. As presented in The History of the Peloponnesian
Wars, the two speeches differ in many ways, but the most important difference is in
the reasons that each side gives to support its appeal for help. The appeals that
Athens accepted and rejected can tell us something about Athenian values. In order to
show these values, I will first discuss the Corcyrean speech and then the Corinthian
speech.
b.
Just before the Peloponnesian War, Corcyra and Corinth disputed who should rule
Epidamnus. Because they could not settle the dispute themselves, they appealed to
Athens for help against the other. As presented in The History of the Peloponnesian
Wars, the appeals that each side gave differ. The Corinthians appealed to Athens’
sense of justice and tradition, while the Corcyreans appealed to their self-interest.
After debating the question, the Athenians finally sided with Corcyra’s appeal,
because at this time the Athenians knew that war was coming and that they would
probably need Corcyra’s naval power. When we understand the kind of appeals that
the two sides made and which ones Athenians accepted and rejected, we can better
recognize Athens’ real values and motives.
c.
When Corcyra and Corinth disagreed over control of Epidamnus in 433 BC, they each
went to Athens to ask for help against the other one. As presented in The History of
the Pelloponesian Wars, the Corinthian speech appealed to Athens’ sense of honor and
justice, while the Corcyrean one appealed to their self-interest. Since it was in Athens
that Socrates and Aristotle first taught about honor and justice, it would be easy to
assume that Athens would side with Corinth and its appeal to higher values. But they
sided with Corcyra, revealing that in this instance Athenians were motivated by selfinterest. Unless we recognize that right from the earliest episodes in the war Athens
rejected justice when it contradicted their self-interest, we will misjudge their real
motives when they later defended some of their cruel actions by calling them just.
Athens showed its real values when it rejected justice and honor in favor of future selfinterest.
Little Red Schoolhouse
University of Virginia
Introduction
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For Readers
In 433 BC, the cities of Corcyra and Corinth became
involved in a dispute over which of them should rule
Epidamnus. Because they could not settle the dispute
between themselves, they sent representatives to Athens
to appeal for its help against the other. After hearing the
two speeches and debating among themselves, the
Athenians finally decided to support Corcyra. As
presented in The History of the Peloponnesian Wars, the
two speeches differ in many ways, but the most
important difference is in the reasons that each side
gives to support its appeal for help. The appeals that
Athens accepted and rejected can tell us something about
Athenian values. In order to show these values, I will
first discuss the Corcyrean speech and then the
Corinthian speech.
When Corcyra and Corinth disagreed over control of
Epidamnus in 433 BC, they each went to Athens to ask
for help against the other one. As presented in The
History of the Pelloponesian Wars, the Corinthian speech
appealed to Athens’ sense of honor and justice, while the
Corcyrean one appealed to their self-interest. Since it
was in Athens that Socrates and Aristotle first taught
about honor and justice, it would be easy to assume that
Athens would side with Corinth and its appeal to higher
values. But they sided with Corcyra, revealing that in
this instance Athenians were motivated by self-interest.
Unless we recognize that right from the earliest episodes
in the war Athens rejected justice when it contradicted
their self-interest, we will misjudge their real motives
when they later defended some of their cruel actions by
calling them just. Athens showed its real values when it
rejected justice and honor in favor of future self-interest.
University of Virginia
A Predicament for Athens, but not
for the reader.
All old information so far.
So the speeches differ; what two
speeches don’t?
So what if they give different
reasons?
A hint of a problem, if the reader
already cares about Athen’s values.
No question or answer; only a topic.
All old information so far.
Common, but mistaken assumption.
Problem; raises implied question:
“How can A act on such base
motives?”
Cost in the form of poor
understanding; raises implied
question: “What are A’s real
motives?”
Gist of an answer.
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Identifying Costs in Conceptual Problems
Since Conceptual Problems center around Questions rather than Predicaments,
their Consequences will involve those things that come with not knowing
answers: ignorance and misunderstanding. Sometimes, you can also find distant
tangible consequences that are associated with that ignorance or
misunderstanding. For conceptual problems, you can find the Consequences
most likely to motivate readers by walking up the “So what?” ladder, answering
each new “So what?” as you imagine your readers would. But in this case, the
answers will involve not painful costs but unsatisfying ignorance or
misunderstanding.
a Flannery O’Connor’s treatment of race is ambiguous. Implied question: “Are there
elements of racism in O’Connor’s work?”
So what? Why is that my problem?
If we cannot decide whether there are elements of racism in O’Connor’s work, then we
will not be able to decide how to understand and value that work.
So what?
If we cannot decide how to understand and value O’Connor’s work, then we will not
know whether we should read her with appreciation.
So what?
If we do not know whether to read O’Connor’s work with appreciation, then we will not
know how we should place her in the canon of American authors.
So what?
Well . . .
b Sally Fitzgerald’s exculpatory explanation of O’Connor’s treatment of race is only
half true. Implied question: “Is there an acceptable explanation that O’Connor’s
treatment of race is not entirely racist?”
So what? Why is that my problem?
If we cannot accept this explanation, then we will not be able to decide how to
understand and value O’Connor’s work.
So what?
If we cannot decide how to understand and value O’Connor’s work, then we will not
know whether we should read her with appreciation.
Etc.
Little Red Schoolhouse
University of Virginia
Introduction
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For Readers
You know that you have identified motivating Consequences of a conceptual
problem when your readers shift from “So what?” to “Tell me more.”
Two Tickets to Sacrifice:
Racism and Activism in O’Connor’s Short Stories
In 1959 Flannery O’Connor was invited to meet with James Baldwin but
declined the offer. She explained in a letter that his visit to Georgia “would cause
the greatest trouble, disturbance and disunion”. After reading this, a reader
could conclude that O’Connor was racist. But did she refuse to see Baldwin
because he was black? In a 1964 letter, she hinted at the real reason:
About the Negroes, the kind I don’t like is the philosophizing prophesying pontificating
kind, the James Baldwin kind. Very ignorant but never silent. Baldwin can tell us what it
feels like to be a Negro in Harlem but he tries to tell us everything else too. King I don’t
think is the age’s great saint but at least he’s doing what he can do & has to do . . .
(Letters, 580)
O’Connor disliked Baldwin not because he was black, but because of his
overbearing approach to race. Although she supported the idea of racial equality,
she denounced Baldwin’s means of achieving it.
PROBLEM
Question
+
Costs
PROBLEM
Question
+
Implied Costs
But the ambiguous treatment of race here and throughout her work remains a
difficult subject for her admirers, who are unwilling to cast her aside as another
Southern racist. In her Introduction to The Habit of Being, Sally Fitzgerald tries
to excuse O’Connor’s puzzling presentation of race and save her place in the
canon by explaining it as the product of “an imperfectly developed sensibility”
(Letters, xvi). She notes that “large social issues as such were never the subject of
her writing,” and adds that O’Connor “was never in danger on the score of racism
(xix).”
Fitzgerald’s analysis, however, is only half true. Large social issues were not
the subject of O’Connor’s writing, but her attitudes concerning race cannot be
dismissed as the product of an imperfectly developed sensibility. They were welldeveloped and firmly based intellectually in her religious beliefs. For her, racism
was not a social issue but the symptom of a larger spiritual and religious crisis.
To O’Connor, to treat racism as a social problem is to misunderstand it. Analysis
of her best known short stories shows that her treatment of racism as a spiritual
crisis was more sympathetic to racial equality than is apparent and, far from
indicating that racism was an aberration in her life, they suggest that O’Connor
had an understanding of racism that set her apart from liberals of her time.
University of Virginia
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7
The following text is a cover letter for a formal proposal to receive funding for an
HIV-AIDS education program. The letter was written by the Director of
Development and External Relations at a university in Florida. The reader of the
letter is the Executive Director of a foundation that makes grants to health
education programs and organizations.
Eastern
Florida
University
Office of Development
and External Relations
22 Administration Bui lding
300 North College Avenue
Sei tonvill , Florida 27652
(204) 684-2739
March 19, 1995
Mr. Michael Garvarich
Executive Director
The Bryant Foundation
423 Third Street, Suite 300
Gainesville, Florida 94013
Dear Mr. Garvarich:
Florida ranks first in the country with the highest transmission rate for HIV
among heterosexuals, second in the number of pediatric cases and third in the
number of total AIDS cases. Until a cure for HIV-AIDS is found, the most
effective way of preventing the spread of the virus is through education of our
youth. Recognizing the Bryant Foundation’s commitment to the HIV-AIDS
battle, we request that you consider a gift of $79,200 to fund two years of two
peer education programs entitled INFO-AWARE and AWARE THEATER at the HIVAIDS Institute at Eastern Florida University in Seitonville, Florida. Designed
to reach thousands of middle school, high school, and college students
throughout eastern Florida, the programs should have an enormous impact on
the Florida battle for HIV-AIDS prevention.
The goal of the HIV-AIDS Institute at Eastern Florida University is to take the
two AWARE programs, INFO-AWARE and AWARE THEATER, into 300 schools and
colleges in the next academic year, reaching an estimated 75,000 young people
aged 12-23.
The INFO-AWARE program involves training student volunteers by providing
accurate information for them to relate to their peers. The initial target
volunteers are white, black, and Latino middle and high school students
recommended by their teachers. Once educated, these students will go into
classrooms and share their knowledge with others like themselves.
Because young people learn in various ways and because visual presentations
are often understood better and retained longer than written
Little Red Schoolhouse
University of Virginia
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Mr. Michael Garvarich
2
March 19, 1995
documents, Institute Director Sharon Patton has also developed the AWARE
THEATER, a second program that is designed to target young people by using live
performance and video. Cooke County Community College has already joined in
the Institute’s efforts and volunteered a group of theater students ready and
willing to be trained and to go on the road by this June. To our knowledge, no
other HIV-AIDS education group has taken the approach of the AWARE
THEATER. Our design and concept could easily be imitated across the country.
To fully implement both the INFO-AWARE and AWARE THEATER programs, the
HIV-AIDS Institute at Eastern Florida University needs a cadre of young
volunteers, the approval of the east Florida community, and initial funding of
$79,200 (please see attached budget). Approval has been granted by the Cooke
County and Turner County Public Schools, and community college students are
in line to form the AWARE THEATER troupe. The Institute has already received
some funding from the State of Florida and from the Center for Disease Control
to serve as money for INFO-AWARE program materials and start-up funds.
W e now seek additional sources of revenue to enhance the INFO-AWARE
program and to implement the AWARE THEATER program. Support from the
Bryant Foundation would enable us to pay peer educators (an additional
benefit to young people needing jobs) and a full-time coordinator for the INFOAWARE program; it would also fund a training conference, props and scenery,
transportation, and publicity for the AWARE THEATER. A gift of $79,200 would
assure the full implementation of both AWARE programs by the fall of 1993.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of our proposal. The Eastern
Florida University HIV-AIDS Institute is a worthwhile recipient of a Bryant
Foundation grant and a good investment for the Foundation. Your published
interests in youth, health, education, and the HIV-AIDS epidemic are all
addressed by both of the Institute’s AWARE programs. I will call you the week of
April 5 to verify the arrival of our materials and to answer questions about our
proposal or budget; in addition, please feel free to call me any weekday at (407)
765-2279 if there is any additional information you would like.
Sincerely,
Lisa Phillips
Director of Development and External Relations
Enclosures
University of Virginia
Proposal, Project Budget, IRS Determination Letters (2),
Audited Financial Statement
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8
GARY & LIST
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
J. Williams Gary, C.P.A.
K. Garner List, C.P.A.
Janine R. Starr, C.P.A.
Robert L. Windower, C.P.A.
Kim Sung-Flowers, C.P.A.
1300 E. Columbus Street
P.O. Box 1928
Corvallis, Oregon 73584
Phone 802/601-3902
FAX 802/601-2548
INSPECTION PROGRAM REPORT, YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1996
The firm’s inspection program has been completed for the year ending
December 31, 1996. The inspection program includes a sample review of some
of our clients’ files. Reviews of workpapers, audit program, checklists, and so
forth are performed in order to see that all staff follow procedures and apply
them consistently. The purpose of the inspection is to help us all improve the
quality of our work in this office and to prepare for our next peer review in May
of 1997.
The following is a list of eleven findings from the inspection:
1. INDEPENDENCE
Our review disclosed a case where our firm was not independent of a client and
where this fact was not noted in our report. A compilation report was issued but
the statement that the firm was not independent was not included. Everyone in
the firm signs a statement on independence annually, but not everyone may
have available the list of clients of which we are not independent. The following
is a list of clients of which we are not independent as of November 30, 1996:
[list of clients]
2. CHECKLIST FOR COMPILATION AND REVIEWS
Last year we issued a policy memo with information about signing off on audit
steps in the audit programs. However, it appears that we may have been
somewhat lax about signing off on the compilation and review checklists.
We need to be sure that these checklists of procedures are followed to the letter
and then signed off. If you have a question about a procedure, ask one of the
partners for an explanation. As a reminder, disclosure checklists also need to be
completed for each financial statement prepared when notes are included.
In addition, a cover sheet is required on the compiled and reviewed financial
statement. The cover sheet must list “date prepared,” “reviewed by,” “typed by”
and “footed by,” and “signed by.” As each step is completed, it must be dated
and signed. Our review noted that the “reviewed by” and “signed by” steps were
not always completed as required.
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For Readers
9
The following introductions are from four honors theses, two in history and two
in English. We have already seen that the first raises a question that points to a
significant conceptual problem. Which of the other three articulate a problem
based on a question that a reader might be willing to care about long enough to
read on?
Two Tickets to Sacrifice:
Racism and Activism in O’Connor’s Short Stories
In 1959 Flannery O’Connor was invited to meet with James Baldwin but declined
the offer. She explained in a letter that his visit to Georgia “would cause the greatest
trouble, disturbance and disunion”. After reading this, a reader could conclude that
O’Connor was racist. But did she refuse to see Baldwin because he was black? In a 1964
letter, she hinted at the real reason:
About the Negroes, the kind I don’t like is the philosophizing prophesying pontificating kind, the James
Baldwin kind. Very ignorant but never silent. Baldwin can tell us what it feels like to be a Negro in Harlem
but he tries to tell us everything else too. King I don’t think is the age’s great saint but at least he’s doing
what he can do & has to do . . . (Letters, 580)
O’Connor disliked Baldwin not because he was black, but because of his overbearing
approach to race. Although she supported the idea of racial equality, she denounced
Baldwin’s means of achieving it.
But the ambiguous treatment of race here and throughout her work remains a
difficult subject for her admirers, who are unwilling to cast her aside as another
Southern racist. In her Introduction to The Habit of Being, Sally Fitzgerald tries to
excuse O’Connor’s puzzling presentation of race and save her place in the canon by
explaining it as the product of “an imperfectly developed sensibility” (Letters, xvi). She
notes that “large social issues as such were never the subject of her writing,” and adds
that O’Connor “was never in danger on the score of racism” (xix).
Fitzgerald’s analysis, however, is only half true. Large social issues were not the
subject of O’Connor’s writing, but her attitudes concerning race cannot be dismissed as
the product of an imperfectly developed sensibility. They were well-developed and firmly
based intellectually in her religious beliefs. For her, racism was not a social issue but
the symptom of a larger spiritual and religious crisis. To O’Connor, to treat racism as a
social problem is to misunderstand it. Analysis of her best known short stories shows
that her treatment of racism as a spiritual crisis was more sympathetic to racial
equality than is apparent and, far from indicating that racism was an aberration in her
life, they suggest that O’Connor had an understanding of racism that set her apart from
liberals of her time.
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For Readers
Parnell and deValera Crises: Two Challenges to the Irish Consensus
During their time, Charles Stewart Parnell and Eamon de Valera were at one point
the most powerful men in Ireland. By leading the Irish consensus, which involved the
relationship between the Leader, the Party, and the Bishops, Parnell and deValera were
able to develop constitutional states in Ireland. In 1890, Parnell attempted to
undermine the consensus he created when his role as Leader was threatened. In 1921,
de Valera tried to disrupt the consensus he led when it was evident that the Irish
Republic was jeopardized by the Treaty with Great Britain. The Party and the Bishops
were not only able to bring down their leaders in both cases, but also the Irish
consensus was able to reconstruct itself after each constitutional crisis.
To understand the Parnell and de Valera crises, we must understand the consensus
Parnell constructed between 1880 and 1890. Then Parnell’s challenge to the
constitutional system and the Irish Parliamentary Party he built must be examined, as
well as the survival of the Irish Party up to 1918. The rise of Sinn Fein under de Valera
during and after 1918 and the Anglo-Irish war up to the Treaty will also be
investigated. After the Treaty, de Valera’s challenge to the Irish consensus and the
resulting Irish civil war will be scrutinized. Finally, the survival of the Irish consensus
and the evolution of a more democratic Irish political system will be developed.
The Neutral and Natural Effects of Love and War
in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms is a novel which carefully and concisely
blends the themes of love and war, and other themes based on this grand scale of love
and death. The main themes of love and war and the bliss and tragedy in both originate,
develop, and intermix, often coinciding and coexisting in certain sections of the novel,
depicting life as it is. The result of this intermixing necessitates a fusion of the idyllic or
comic, and the tragic or disturbing which is certainly affected by the impending doom of
the war. A Farewell to Arms is a story about the love of two people affected by the
disastrous events that happen during this period of war. It is a narrative which, with
meticulous care, follows the development of the psychological characteristics of the two
lovers, Catherine Barkley and Frederic Henry, as they encounter tragic and idyllic
settings, thus developing their relationship amidst the unstable, insecure surroundings
of a country at war. Hemingway writes the story of the two lovers as they represent
average human beings in their emotions, thoughts, and actions in a natural and neutral
world of love and war. In A Farewell to Arms Hemingway describes the story of the
lovers as they stand on unstable ground during this uneasy period, coupled with and
comforted by the neutral territory they always seem to find amidst the natural
instability of their surroundings as a whole.
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For Readers
Francisco Bulnes: Counter-Revolutionary Polemicist
My attitude is not one of enmity toward the Mexican Revolution. . . But when the people who revolt
lack the necessary reactionary power to reconstruct their country, they perish as a nation . . . I am not an
enemy of the revolution, but I do look with horror upon its progress, because Mexico is my native land and
from the final, supreme test of the revolution may result in the loss of its independence ....
With this statement, Francisco Bulnes prefaces The Whole Truth About Mexico, a
critique of the Mexican Revolution which testifies to the culpability of the United States
in seeking to implant in Mexico an Anglo-Saxon notion of liberty that lacks logical basis
or understanding of the Mexican people. According to Bulnes, such a program
orchestrates the demise of Huerta and nurtures the “de facto anarchy” and despotism of
Caranza. To change US policy, Bulnes went on to construct a caustic but confusing
polemic that some critics think is merely one more Mexican nationalist. Others have
claimed that while Bulnes’ critical re-thinking of the Porfiriato was visionary, it
represented only a crisis of Nineteenth Century Positivism. But those views
underestimate his role as a seminal transitional thinker and as the deeply philosophical
and influential polemicist that he was. We believe that his writings were an attempt to
adjust to an intellectual perspective more attuned to Twentieth Century modernity. He
provides an unexpected link between the late Nineteenth Century Cientifico program
and the post-Revolutionary, Twentieth Century organization of Mexican political and
social life. While we may marvel at Bulnes’ visionary ability to predict programs
implemented by the “institutionalizing” forces of Revolutionary Mexico, it would be a
mistake to overlook his contribution to the modern Mexican state, because there is
evidence that Bulnes was widely read and debated in the later literature of the 30’s, and
40’s, evidence suggesting that he may have influenced later policy-makers, as well.
This paper will clarify three areas of Bulnes's interpretation of the Mexican
Revolution: the agrarian question, the collapse of the Porfiriato, and U.S./Mexican
relations, in order to explain how Bulnes elucidated a connection between the Porfiriato
and the formation of the modern Mexican State and hinted at ways in which various
sectors could maximize social and political restructurings to advance Mexican
development.
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For Readers
A Possible Structure for Project Proposals
Introduction
What is the context out of which your project arises for you? How does the project meet
both your need to learn and to demonstrate what you’ve learned and your lector’s need
for you to have viable assignments? Why is the project valuable to its readers? Why is it
valuable to you? Why is it valuable to the class? What resources do you have for
completing the project on time?
Project Description
What documents will you produce? What will they look like? What kind of information
will they include? How many pages? Who will be your readers and why do they need the
documents? How will you produce them? Where will you get the information in them?
What resources will you need?
Value to Readers
What problem do your readers have that your document will solve? How is the
document a solution? What are its benefits? What will count as success?
Value to ENWR 380
How does this project advance the goals of ENWR 380? What writing challenges does it
pose? How does it help you prepare for your future?
Plan of Execution
How will you accomplish what you propose? What resources do you have and what ones
will you need? What makes you qualified to write such a document? Do you anticipate
any difficulties that your lector and colleagues should know about? Most of all, what is
your schedule, both for producing the document and for due dates for submitting
materials to your seminar?
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For Readers
Rhetorical Problems: A Beginning
When you construct rhetorical problems you can only count something as a
Consequence if your readers recognize it and accept it as a Cost or lost Benefit.
For professional writers, there is no such thing as a problem that every reader
will consider to be inherently worth acting upon. Remember that earlier we said
a situation contains a problem only in relation to its Consequences; likewise, a
Cost or Benefit is only a Consequence in relation to a specific group of readers
who will care enough about the Consequence to act on the problem. When you
formulate a problem, you have to be certain that what you present as a
Consequence is indeed undesirable to your particular readers – and serious
enough for them to bother about it. Let’s take a look at our SAT example again:
SAT scores have declined and show no signs of rising. CONDITION
If this author were writing an editorial and wanted to appeal to parents who
expect their children to go to good colleges, he might attach the following Cost to
the Condition:
SAT scores have declined and show no signs of rising. CONDITION If children get low
SAT scores, they may not get into a good college, and their prospects for a comfortable
and satisfying life will be reduced. COST
On the other hand, if he wanted to appeal to employers who must compete in a
global marketplace with undereducated workers, he might attach this Cost:
SAT scores have declined and show no signs of rising. CONDITION If SAT scores reflect
achievement, then our workforce is becoming less well-educated, which will put the
U.S. at a disadvantage in an international marketplace, thereby weakening the
economy and reducing the standard of living for many of us.COST
And notice that this Cost would also work if our writer wanted to appeal to
varied readers with differing interests – for example, everyone who stands to
have their standard of living reduced; employers who have to be competitive in a
global marketplace; educators who want more funding for schools.
The point is this: the Consequences you choose to state in your
document must be appropriate to your particular readers. In business
and professional situations, you must carefully tailor your Costs or
Benefits to the specific needs of your readers in order to convince them
to act. In academic situations, you must tailor the Consequences of not
knowing something to the specific interests of your readers in order to
convince them to change their minds.
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For Readers
Sometimes business and professional writers write because someone has come to
them with a problem. In this case, you have only to keep your eye focused on
your reader’s problem and address the Consequences your reader has already
explained to you.
Just as often, however, business and professional writers write because they
have discovered a problem that their readers do not yet recognize, or because
they have a problem that their readers can help them resolve if they can be
convinced to act. In this case, your job is to formulate the problem in such a way
that your readers are persuaded to act because they recognize the Costs or lost
Benefits that the problem means to them.
If you are the boss, then your task is made a little bit easier: your problems are
necessarily your subordinates’ problems, although it pays to be persuasive rather
than tyrannical.
But if you’re not the boss, you must find some way to get your readers to care
about the Consequences you see in your problem – or, more frequently, you must
find some other Consequences that your readers do, in fact, care about.
And you may face one additional challenge as a professional writer: almost every
document you write will be read by multiple readers with differing interests.
Therefore you must formulate your problem in terms of Consequences that all of
these groups of readers will accept.
Readers will try to understand your document in terms of
the problem or question it purports to resolve. Your job is
to inform or, if necessary, to persuade readers why the
problem is important to them.
You do not persuade readers that your problem is their
problem just by presenting the condition that brings the
problem about, nor by emphasizing the problem’s interest
or importance, nor by stressing the many difficulties
associated with it. To sell readers on your problem you
must emphasize the particular Consequences — Costs or
lost Benefits — for your particular readers.
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Introduction
For Readers
Conceptual Problems
Conceptual problems always focus on some form of question, something your
readers do not know or do not understand, but should. What is at stake in a
Conceptual Problem is your readers’ minds. When looking for a Conceptual
Problem, look for words like these:
an overlooked connection or disjunction
unexplained differences or similarities
what seems to be the case is not
inability to find a pattern
inability to generalize
unaccounted for data
excessive complexity
a gap in knowledge
unpredictability
inconsistency
aberrant facts
contradiction
disagreement
discrepancy
uncertainty
perplexity
confusion
ambiguity
anomaly
surprise
conflict
paradox
error
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For Readers
Consequences in Conceptual Problems:
More Questions
The Consequences of a conceptual problem can be hard to state because they are
normally abstract consequences that you cannot readily point to. Typically, the
Cost of a conceptual problem is that if the Destabilizing Condition is not
resolved, your readers will also fail to understand or appreciate something else
that is still more important than the Destabilizing Condition alone. Similarly,
the Benefits of resolving a conceptual Destabilizing Condition is that your
readers will understand more than they now do. A conceptual problem must
have Consequences that go beyond the puzzle or question inherent in the
Destabilizing Condition.
Because conceptual Costs or Benefits can be hard to state, it is particular
dangerous for writers to assume that their readers already understand them.
However, when you articulate the Consequences explicitly,
•
you make sure that you understand both the Consequences and their relation
to the Condition;
•
you may discover more Costs and Benefits than you thought you knew;
•
you may discover additional Destabilizing Conditions related to the one with
which you began;
•
you may discover intermediate Conditions and/or Consequences that link
your original Condition with the assumed Consequences;
•
you guard against overestimating what your readers know and, especially,
what they will accept.
Readers of Conceptual Problems
In order to see a conceptual problem as a problem, readers have to share the
body of knowledge and ways of thinking that are disrupted by the Destabilizing
Condition. Few of us would find our conceptual landscape destabilizing if we
found out that the Dead Sea Scrolls were a fraud. But for those working in the
history of Judeo-Christian religions, such a revelation would be shattering. Its
Cost would include not only having to change their minds about many things
they now believe, but also rewriting textbooks, abandoning research programs,
perhaps even ruining a few careers.
Since conceptual problems destabilize knowledge, ideas, understanding, they are
only problems for readers who understand things in a certain way. Conceptual
problems tend to be tied to groups of readers who share knowledge, hold many of
the same beliefs, and mostly understand things in the same or related ways. In
both academic and professional life, such groups are organized around
disciplines. What counts as a problem worth writing about for one discipline,
might or might not count for those outside.
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For Readers
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Finding a Problem Worth Writing About
Tangible Problems
Usually, we write about a tangible problem not because we sought it out but because
it has jumped up to bite us. Few people go around looking for tangible problems to
write about. Instead, they write about a tangible problem because they face a
problem that they believe can be solved by writing to enlist others in solving it. That
is way documents that deal with tangible problems almost always focus on action —
whatever action the writer wants her readers to take or support in order to resolve
the problem.
So when you ask whether a tangible problem is worth writing about, apply these
tests:
1. Do you need readers to help you address the problem? Are your readers in a
position to provide you the help you need?
2. Are the Costs of the Predicament to the reader greater than the Cost to the
reader of taking action to resolve it?
3. Are the Costs of the Predicament to you greater than the Cost to you of the
writing and everything else you have to do to resolve it?
If your teacher gives you an assignment to find a tangible problem to write about,
your best bet is to find someone who has a problem that meets those three tests.
1.
Name the general situation: Describe the general area of your problem:
I am working on the traffic situation for the Atlanta Olympics . . .
2.
Describe the predicament you find in that situation: To your first clause,
add another one that identifies what you want to change in that situation:
. . . because Atlanta’s inadequate streets cannot handle the added traffic and the
confusing street names will lead visitors astray. . .
3.
Describe that harm that you expect your solution to prevent or remove:
Complete your sentence with a clause that what will happen if you don’t solve
the problem:
I am working on the traffic situation for the Atlanta Olympics because Atlanta’s
inadequate streets cannot handle the added traffic and the confusing street names
will lead visitors astray, which will them to miss or be late for events and tarnish
the reputation of the city on an international stage.
4.
Change the perspective from yourself to your readers::
I am working on the traffic situation for the Atlanta Olympics because unless the
Atlanta Olympic Committee does something about the inadequate streets that
cannot handle the added traffic and the confusing street names that will lead
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visitors astray, it will face unhappy visitors who miss or are late for events and so
will tarnish the reputation of the city on an international stage.
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Conceptual Problems
Most classroom writing involves conceptual problems, often conceptual problems
that the student must invent in order to write about it. Here are some steps for
creating and evaluating a conceptual problem at three different stages in the writing
process.
1.
Name your topic: Describe your topic with at least one nominalization that
could be a specific verb. That is, do not describe your topic like this:
I am working on stories about the Battle of the Alamo . . .
Instead, include at least one substantive nominalization:
I am working on the evolution of stories about the Alamo . . .
2.
Describe what you (or your readers) do not know about it: To your first
clause, add another one that contains an indirect question of the form:
. . . because I want to find out who/what/when/where/why/how/whether . . .
I am working on the evolution of stories about the Battle of the Alamo because I
want to find out how the stories became part of our national mythology . . .
3.
Add a rationale for finding out what you don’t know: Complete your
sentence with a clause that states a purpose for answering your question:
. . . in order to understand better how/why/ whether . . .
I am working on the evolution of stories about the Battle of the Alamo because I
want to find out how the stories became part of our national mythology in order to
understand better why stories about military defeats come to represent nationalistic
values.
4.
Change the perspective from yourself to your readers: Remember,
readers are less motivated to find out what you don’t know and why you should
than to find out what they don’t know and why they should:
I am working on the evolution of stories about the Battle of the Alamo because I
want to show you how the stories became part of our national mythology in order
to explain to you why stories about military defeats come to represent
nationalistic values.
NOTE: You are unlikely to be able to complete steps 3 and 4 until you have
made some progress in learning about your topic.
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Stating the Problem Your Paper Solves
If you are like most academic writers, you get some of your best ideas as you write
and revise. If so, once you have completed a revisable draft you should suspect that
at least two things are true: (1) Your paper has more real potential after you draft it
than it did before, if only you can find where that potential is; and (2) whatever you
said about your problem in your first draft of an introduction does not quite match
what you did in your paper.
So follow these steps as soon as you have a revisable draft. In order to show you the
steps, we’ll use the following fairly typical paper Western Civ paper as an example
(this excerpt includes the first two and the last three paragraphs):
The Church and its Crusades
During the eleventh through thirteenth centuries, the Roman Catholic Church initiated several
Crusades against the Muslims in the Holy Lands. The Pope would usually instigate and call for
armament and support for this endeavor. Pope Urban II started the first Crusade in 1096. His
predecessor, Gregory VII, had also petitioned to get support for a crusade in 1074 but did not succeed
in launching his Crusade. There are written statements from these Popes concerning the Crusades.
Pope Urban II in “Speech at the Council of Clermont” in the year 1095 calls for a Crusade and Pope
Gregory VII in a Letter to King Henry IV during the year 1074 also proposes a Crusade.
Both the text preceding Urban’s speech and Urban’s speech mention several serious problems
within the society, both lay and clerical. At the end of his speech, Urban discusses the need for a
Crusade. The introductory text, The Version of Fulcher of Chartes, including His Description of
Conditions in Western Europe at the Time, furnishes some background information about
controversies which Urban does not discuss in his speech and he also summarizes and emphasizes
the important points in the Pope’s speech. . . . . . . . (cont’d)
. . . The concept of using the Crusades not as a purely religious project but as a means of political
unity can also be seen in Gregory’s letter. One reason he wishes to go on a Crusade is the chance that
the Roman and Orthodox Churches might reconcile. They have held different views on the place of
the Holy Ghost in the Trinity, and the Eastern Church also did not recognize the Pope’s authority.
Hopefully, with a successful Crusade, both of these schisms could be rectified. They were to hold a
conference to discuss the Holy Ghost and also the Eastern Church would accept the authority of the
Roman Pope. Then all of Christianity would be under the guidance of one Church and not two
separate Churches.
Another subtle coalescence is between the Church and the Empire. The beginnings of the power
struggle between the Pope and Emperor occur during the reigns of Henry IV and Gregory VII. The
Pope is head of the Church and the Emperor is head of the Empire. When Gregory assures Henry of
his affections and says that he will leave the Church under the care of Henry if he, Gregory, goes on
the Crusade, this could show that Gregory wishes to prove that the Church and the Empire are still
united and should work towards a common goal. Perhaps Gregory wishes to prevent a power
struggle between the Pope and Emperor, so his proposal for a Crusade may also be a suggestion that
the Church and the Empire unite to fight a common enemy instead of fighting amongst themselves.
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The Popes, Urban II and Gregory VII, heralded the Crusades as a way to restore the Holy Lands
to Christian rule, but in fact, they also used the concept of the Crusades as a means to achieve a
form of unity important to them during their pontificate. During Urban’s pontificate, he could
establish his authority, fight the devil (Muslims), and control fighting amongst the Europeans and
direct those energies elsewhere. Gregory VII wishes to achieve unification between the Roman
Church and the Greek Orthodox Church. And he also seems to be trying to keep the unity or prevent
the breakup of the Church and The Empire. In both cases each Pope tried to unite people in a
common cause to fight against the infidels instead of amongst themselves. Therefore the Crusade
was not just a fight against the Muslims to recapture the Holy Land and to save God’s faith, but it
was an effort to save the Church and Europe from the dissensions which were tearing it apart.
Four Steps for Revision
1. Name your topic: Describe your paper with at least one nominalization that
could be a specific verb.
As I worked on the motivation of the Popes to initiate the Crusades . . .
2. Describe the most important thing that you now know about your
topic: Add another clause that states what you found out:
. . . the most important thing that I found out was that . . .
In order to finish that clause, find the point of your paper, it’s main idea or
main claim. You might find it in the introduction, but you are more likely to
find it at the end.
As I worked on the motivation of the Popes to initiate Crusades, the most
important thing that I found out was that the Crusades were not just a
fight against the Muslims to recapture the Holy Land, but an effort to save
the Church and Europe from the dissensions which were tearing it apart.
3. Add a statement of why it is important to know what you have found
out: Add another sentence that includes an implied question that is larger and
more important than the one your paper has answered:
Now that I know that, I can understand better the larger question of
how/why/. . .
To finish that sentence, you have to do some hard thinking about the
significance of what your paper says. Don’t fall into the trap of just repeating
your first question:
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Now that I know that, I understand better why the Popes ordered the
Crusades.
Instead, ask yourself whether there is some larger question to which your paper
can be a small part of the answer. It is often helpful to make some of the terms
in your first question more general:
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As I worked on the motivation of the Popes to initiate Crusades, the most
important thing that I found out was that the Crusades were not just a
fight against the Muslims to recapture the Holy Land, but an effort to save
the Church and Europe from the dissensions which were tearing it apart.
Now that I know that, I understand better the larger question of how the
Vatican used theological rhetoric to solve pragmatic political
problems in early European history.
4. Preface your statement of the problem with a description of some
common knowledge or received wisdom that your paper will challenge:
Add a last element:
Before I/my readers knew what I found out, we thought . . .
Finish that sentence with whatever ideas or information a reader will have to
change as a result of reading your paper. (You can invent readers for this
purpose, but it is better if there are real people who hold the views you
contradict.)
Before I/my readers knew what I found out, we believed the common myth,
encouraged by the Church over the centuries, that the Crusades were
motivated entirely by popular religious zeal to liberate Jerusalem and
restore it to Christianity.
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FFA
AQ
Qss
?
“I’m not sure what you mean by a problem. In most of my courses I write
papers that answer questions, not solve problems.”
The problems we’re talking about are the kinds of problems that organize documents —
think of them as rhetorical problems. Rhetorical problems include some kinds of
questions — the kinds of questions that your readers feel that they need to have
answered. They also include what you might think of as ordinary problems. So, as we
use the term, rhetorical problems are of two kinds:
1. Predicaments— Tangible, Pragmatic Problems (cancer, slumping profits, a
high divorce rate, etc.)
This is the most common sense of the word problem. Ordinary problems are people,
things, or situations that have consequences we do not like. Ordinary problems
almost always have a physical component. In order to solve them we have to act to
change a person, an object, or a situation. The damage done by tangible problems is
usually evident in the world around us — palpable in the form of pain, visible in the
form of suffering people. Sometimes, however, tangible problems seem to be personal
and “inside” us — depression, anxiety, unhappiness. But even these problems have a
substantial physical component.
Some academic documents, many professional documents, and most business documents deal with tangible problems. Their outcome and their point tend to involve
physical actions.
2. Questions or Puzzles – Conceptual Problems (What came before the Big Bang?
Why did the Anasazi Indians disappear? How do we best categorize ancient Greek
vases? etc.)
Conceptual problems are questions, missing facts, things misunderstood — any gap
in our knowledge or understanding that bothers us, either because we need that
knowledge in order to resolve a tangible problem or because we just need to know.
They tend not to have a physical component. Conceptual problems are often sought
out rather than avoided. For teachers and students, they are almost always good,
because they are the chief currency of academic endeavor.
Most academic documents, many professional documents, and some business documents deal with conceptual problems. Their outcome and their point tend to involve
mental actions.
?
“What about the problems on exams?”
Some exam questions, especially essay questions, pose conceptual problems. But many
of them are only rote problems, which are not important for organizing documents. Rote
problems are the kind of schoolbook exercise you find in many of your textbooks. Rote
problems have one right answer, and usually one set routine for arriving at the answer.
Most math problems are rote problems. Spelling correctly is a rote problem. Repeating
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information in a chapter you just read is a rote problem. You never want to organize
your documents around a rote problem.
Little Red Schoolhouse
University of Virginia
Introduction
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FFA
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“I don’t believe every document has to solve a problem. In my other
courses, I write papers that discuss issues rather than solve problems.”
You might be right about that. All documents don’t solve problems, just as all documents don’t make points — lists, minutes of meetings, anecdotes, novels, etc. But all
documents that make points should normally solve readers’ problems. When you write a
paper discussing an issue, you should frame it as a response to a conceptual problem.
When you answer a question, frame it as a problem. Academic readers like this, and it
will get you far.
Remember that you don’t have to use the actual language of problems and solutions in
order to frame your papers as responses to problems. We recommend, however, that you
always articulate Consequences explicitly, even if only to yourself, just to make sure
that you really have a problem that your readers will care about.
LR
University of Virginia
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Little Red Schoolhouse
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