College Writing Tips: Count Your Arguments

My teaching career began in the fall of 1997 when a faculty member experienced a heartache about a week before the semester began. During the intervening years between then and today, my peers, colleagues, and even those in business & industry, have noticed a tremendous decline in people's ability to write.

College Writing Tip Five: If you say "four reasons," then you better have four reasons.

Some writing errors should never happen. These particular writing errors should never happen because most people writing can count past four. Some students remember some of the high school English and writing courses to establish a thesis statement to open a paragraph. Such a thesis statement might go something like:

"In the creation of a good map, four elements must be considered."

The author of the above sentence has set the stage for a discussion of a good map by informing us there was a minimum of four essential elements which bind together a good map. Thus, the author needs to follow through and communicate four elements of map creation. The number of elements should also be apparent to the reader.

Proofreaders of textbooks miss these details, as well. Good textbook authors will open paragraphs with leading details, communicating in advance we are about to receive some important information.

"Jerusalem is perhaps the most hotly contested city globally. Jews, Muslims, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Christians all vie for access and responsibilities. Due to the number of different factions with interests in controlling the city, especially the Old City of Jerusalem, three plans are currently being evaluated to ensure all parties have fair and equal access to the world's holiest city."

 "The first plan involves turning the management of the Old City of Jerusalem over to a United Nations management group. While the composition of the management group has yet to be decided, the management of the Old City by a disinterested 3rd party could provide a potential solution. 

A plan suggested by a non-partisan group of Christian and Muslims suggests the creation of governing council comprised of members of each of the four quarters of the Old City. In essence, the Old City of Jerusalem would be managed as a "city-within-a-city." Such a plan is not completely without precedent; Vatican City is an example of such a city.

"Each of the proposed plans has proponents and critics. Many people would prefer outside governance, such as the UN proposal. Other vocal groups rankle at the notion of having outsiders control a city held to be the spiritual center of the world of three religions. Time will tell whether any of the three proposals will be implemented, or, perhaps, a fourth proposal will win out.

If you did not count three plans, good; there are only two plans discussed. Poor proofing and editing by authors and publishers alike generate frustration among students and educators. Such errors are typically easy to find.

How hard is counting three or four arguments?

Next: "Make Sure Your Arguments Are Consistent and Congruent."

Book Review: Coyote Waits

"Coyote Waits." Tony Hillerman. Publisher: Harper Torch Fiction. 1990. Paperback. $8

In Navajo mythology the Milky Way was created by the trickster god, Coyote. Coyote also created the world and the Holy People. The Holy People were assigned the task of helping populate the universe with stars. The Holy People were too slow for Coyote's liking and he took their bag of stars and threw them into space, creating our nighttime sky.

Coyote is a trickster god. He would often masquerade as a well-known man after having transmuted the man into a coyote. Coyote would use the man's reputation to his advantage, often trying to sleep with the man's wife. Coyote would also use deception, lies, and trickery to obtain objects of his desire, for despite his supernatural existence, he enjoys the carnal and superficial pleasures of humans. Sometimes, Coyote is benevolent. In "Coyote Kills A Giant," the god finds a way to kill a giant and save his people from death.

"Coyote Waits," by Tony Hillerman

In "Coyote Waits," a car fire puts two committed law officers on the prowl for a killer. The car belonged to Navajo Tribal Policeman Delbert Nez, but the fire didn't kill Officer Nez. A bullet ended his life, as Officer Jim Chee would realize after dragging Nez's body from the burning car. When a drunk healer is found wandering down the middle of a state highway not far from the crime scene with a bottle of too-good scotch in one hand and a pistol tucked into his waistband, the simple evidence is immediately suspicious.

The death of the officer elevates the crime beyond Officer Chee and his supervisor, Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, and into the hands of the FBI. Neither Chee nor Leaphorn are comfortable with Federal law enforcement acting on tribal lands and both initiate their own investigations.

The nuance of the faith healer's involvement bothers both Navajo officers. The officers aren't too fond of the FBI immediate guilt placed on Pinto. Ashie Pinto was not currently known to be a drunk. The crime scene was also hundreds of miles away from Pinto's home, and Ashie doesn't drive. So, what was a medicine man doing hundreds of miles away from home, drunk, with the murder weapon?

Chee's and Leaphorn's investigations lead them along intersecting paths through Navajo culture and lands. Chee is a traditionalist, himself practicing to be a healer, a Navajo medicine man. Leaphorn, while older, is less attuned to his Navajo heritage, familiar with but distant from the spiritual beliefs, family lineage and tribal membership characteristics of his fellow Navajos.

The dichotomy between Chee and Leaphorn provides wonderful insight into Navajo culture and spiritualism. Chee's interest in Ashie Pinto's jish, a small bag containing a shaman medicinal items, provides insight into the importance of traditional medicine and spiritualism within Navajo culture. Chee's developing friendship with Assistant District Attorney Janet Pete illustrates the complex relationships between Navajo tribal society and the non-Navajo society. In Navajo tribal culture knowing a person's tribal affiliation, such as the Bitter Way tribe or the Slow Talking Dinee can determine who a person can marry and whom a person can't.

The search for evidence leads Chee and Leaphorn across the landscapes of Arizona and New Mexico. From the University of Northern Arizona, the Chuskas Mountains, to the Four Corners, the officers cover the geography of northeast Arizona and northwest New Mexico.

Through Chee and Leaphorn we learn about studies of Navajo history and language at UNA and programs to preserve Navajo language and stories at the University of New Mexico. Chee and Leaphorn both run across a Vietnamese immigrant, a school teacher, whose presence illuminates a diversity in culture beyond Navajo and White, illustrating again the dynamics of today's society.

Chee and Leaphorn also discover the lengths people will design in order to track down the ellusive tales associated with notorious American train robber, Butch Cassidy.

Hillerman's stories are immediately engaging and likeable. Chee and Leaphorn provide an interesting contrast in characters. The younger Chee is more traditional and schooled in Navajo culture. The older Leaphorn, well-respected among folks of all backgrounds, is pragmatic and less bound in Navajo tradition despite being Navajo. Hillerman blends Navajo tradition, Navajo culture and history, Navajo language, and academic efforts into an enjoyable tale of how the Coyote Waits patiently in order to gain his prize.

The Monkeys of Typewriter Island

I write because I think. My thoughts need a form. I give them a form through the laborious machinations of word selection, ordering, and penning them on some hard- or soft copy media, following generations old rules.

My favorite author of all-time is Ray Bradbury. His prose is poetry. The meter, tone, tenor and lyrical nature of his writing captivated me early in my life. Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke are my other literary gods; Bradbury will always remain the pinnacle of the trinity for me.

Reading is a passion of mine. As a youth, I would hide under my covers with a flashlight so as to prevent any light from spilling out under my door, giving away my late night foray into adventure. Another decent trick was to take clothes from my dresser and push them against the bottom of my door. I would read into the wee hours, through Royals baseball, and into the radio show which dealt mostly about UFOs, Bigfoot, and government conspiracies.

My father asks, "Why do you buy so many books? Why don't you just use the library?"

The library was my home away from home, growing up. Located beneath a grocery store in a shopping center three blocks from home, I would spend hours every day during summer vacation reading and wandering among the shelves. Little stickers on the binding would give goers a hint about the book; a magnifying glass was "mystery," a rocket ship meant "science fiction." Other stickers might have existed, those were the two I cared about. I would read my books, write the titles on a pre-lined form, and upon reaching 25 titles, I would turn the list in to the librarian and I would receive a free book from a selection of brand-new books arranged on a table near the check-out counter.

But, for me, the library also had a downside. I had to give the books back. Spending a day, or three, or a week, developing a relationship with the characters, and indirectly the author, and then having to give the book back felt appalling. Would you play with a puppy for two or three days, then return the puppy to the shelter? Some would, I imagine. Not me. Characters, themes, scenes, story arcs, and the energy the author placed into developing his or her fictional world was a relationship to me, albeit a very one-sided relationship.

For some, sure, reading is purely entertainment, nothing more and nothing less. I am no different. However, I also consider the time, effort, energy which a book has been imbued by the author. A book is not merely a pulp-based product containing letters and words arranged in clever ways. Well, actually some books are not much more than a collection of words which at first blush appear to be intelligently arranged yet upon further inspection lend credibility to the existence of The Monkeys of Typewriter Island. I think Typewriter Island might be part of the Self-Publishing Archipelago; being a geographer one might think my geography skills should be more attuned.

For some, those who don't read and their counterparts, those who don't write, writing is seen not simply as drudgery but as a form of torture. I'm pretty sure water-boarding of most Americans would be unnecessary:

"You have a choice: write a 3-pg essay on the Man vs. Nature elements of The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, or water-boarding."

I'm pretty sure most college students would elect water-boarding.

In my college-level geography classes I pose the following essay question:

You are a technology entrepreneur and have been working out of your garage for the last 18 months developing a new technology. You wife and family have had enough, and thankfully, you now have some financial backing, i.e. venture capital, to relocate to more substantive environs. Given the nature of your efforts is technology, locate three cities in North America which could make a good home for your new technology company. Then, narrow your selection to one city. Explain your selection process using the 7 Traits of a Technology Hub as discussed in class."

Sometimes, the responses (which I have captured, errors and all, below) border on literary bankruptcy:

"I would either go to California or Texas or Florida. California would be a nice place to continue a business it has a high yeild to gain economic profit and so does Texas. Californica and Florida are located on the ocean so they would have easier shipping access for products. All three states for the most part have a high level of population. All three have about the same amount of rail way routes but since Florida is a smaller state it seems they would have more travel consumptions to other states. Florida and Taxas are smoother flatter states as to California has the rocky mountains making vehicle travel harder but if i had to place to continue the business i would settle in Miami Florida because it has the best of the most the features i mentioned."

"The three cities I choose were Atlanta, Philidelphia, and Dallas. Each of these cities are driving more than every and are continuously growning...One reason is beacuse the city offers tax incetives for new jobs created. Another reason is because there are colleges there. Which intern means, newly educated people looking for employment."

Frequently, I boggle at the presumed importance of barge traffic, river systems, and the need for unskilled labor in response to questions about technology-based businesses. While the importance of UPS and the USPS is without question highly important in the delivery of books to my doorstep, and the delivery of consumer electronics to Best Buy, Target, and Wal-mart is also highly desirable, I fail to see how Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, or Twitter might even remotely find barge traffic part of their business plan.

After reading about globalization, non-governmental organizations, broad issues of immigration, and the growing interconnectedness of our global societies, I pose another writing assignment.

After having read about the nature of Globalization, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and a number of societal issues and concerns, I want you to communicate your own personal geography. You drive through your town, the countryside, on your way to work, school, church, and now, with a little bit of training, you are hopefully more aware of the life going on the other side of your windshield. Describe your Personal Geography."

Think about your personal geography. Let your mind ferment some thoughts as you read these responses.

"I see geography at work all the time, especially what I was younger and we went on road trips. On those road trips we would drive through the mountains and they were so beautiful. There was so much definition it makes you wonder how they got to be that way. I have also been through the dessert. Even though there is really nothing out there to see but the sunset and how everything grows...It is amazing to realize that all this goes on and how it affects us in our everyday lives but also wiht geography...We can always count on our surroundings and our environment to always be there for us."

"In this section of studying its made known that peoples geography is much different than other peoples geography...someone who lives in the United States has total different geography than someone who lives in the Country of Asia, Australia, or Germany."

"In my everyday life i use geography in more of a younger way. For me being a Freshman college student I use geography for simple things. Like mapping out how to get to ____ from louisville, How to get around a mall without back tracking, and also how to use development to pick where i want to go to school at. Geography is not that big thing in my everyday life sense i am so young."

"The area around us is very unique, we have two large rivers that combine to make a larger area that formed into a larger lake because of a dam. Also to the east of us we have the appilation mountains that forms a location of intrest if your into high altitudes hiking or into snow sports. The demograhics have a major influces in the how you live to because the different age ranges of people means you cant just talk to people about local gossip if thier 80 years old and doesnt no about that."

These are actual responses from college students. College students, meaning these individuals have been passed along through our U.S. educational system, from kindergarten beyond high school. These people either graduated from high school or worked to earn a GED.

Reading and writing is fundamental to education. Reading provides us with examples of how are written language should appear, the form and function our language should assume. Reading helps our brain create imagery, trains our brains to transform symbols into meaning and then into images. I'm describing communication and I feel stupid doing so. Everyone should have basic fluency in reading and writing skills. U.S. citizens proclaim, "ya gotta speak English if ya want to live in this here country!" Yeah, well, apparently reading English and writing English isn't all that necessary, even for natural-born citizens.

Reading truly provides us with brain "food" for thought. Writing, on the other hand, helps us sow more brain "food," by helping us not only train our brains for thought but also aids us in communicating those ideas and notions to other people. Writing, to continue my agrarian-themed analogy, is pollen, seeds of thoughts, notions, ideas, and images which take root in and yield potentially yield luscious fruit. Or, fall lifeless in the desert of Dogma, awaiting for the literary equivalent of Climate Change, er, "Idea Warming," as in, "I'm warming to your idea of selling cupcakes door-to-door."

Meanwhile, China, India, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, and an entire host of other countries cannot learn English fast enough. Many of my international students struggle with American English. Rightly so; American English is the 4th hardest language to learn, behind Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic. I would throw in Korean, too.

Our American Education System cannot continue to dilute the importance of reading, math, and science. As a society, we will ultimately fail. Social fragmentation along income and educational lines will occur, and these ruptures could potentially fall along regional boundaries. The New England states do very well in school-aged spending, median family incomes, ACT scores, and overall academic achievement. The Southwest states of Arizona, New Mexico, along with Oklahoma do not fair well, and neither does Tennessee, Mississippi, or Louisiana.

I provide writing samples simply to illustrate efforts by recently enrolled students in Higher Education. These students have been passed along through Primary and Secondary Education, and now find themselves in Higher Education. As new adults, students often do not recognize they are now responsible for their own effort, not Mommy or Daddy, and they now have to engage their brains and use what they should have been taught in high school. So often, I am told, Standardized Testing rules the classroom, with little room for creativity. Additionally, with "blended" classrooms containing Special Education students through gifted, teachers are often forced to "teach to the middle" abandoning either end, or focusing on the time-consuming needs of the learning disabled to the detriment of other students. In the end, the students lose, and the loss permeates our society creating fractures in our economic and social systems about which I have previous posted.

I hold students accountable for their efforts. One cannot simply say, "that's what I was taught," or "I was't taught that." As an adult in Higher Education, a student has to bring an effort to the classroom and not simply be a respirator of oxygen anchoring a chair. However, I also want to say to administrators and drafters of previous education reform efforts, "thanks for making my life difficult and creating class after graduating class of adults who are barely literate and are unable to abide the rigors of college. Furthermore, you should be ashamed of what you have wrought upon these people, in molding them into people unprepared for Life outside of high school, and setting them up for failure. Only by their own graces will these students be able to correct the damage your policies have inflicted upon them."

Education is a fundamental right, not a privilege.

Repairman Jack Geography

On a whim, I bought my first Repairman Jack novel, "Harbinger." Anyone who has read a Repairman Jack novel, by F. Paul Wilson will realize what came next. I bought my second Repairman Jack novel, "Hosts." And then I bought "Gateways" and "Crisscross," which I am reading now. I bought "Infernal" on Friday.

No, I am not reading them in order. I have been buying them used, based on price and availabililty. I really need a copy of "All The Rage." Events in that novel seem to alter the future of Jack, at least he realizes that there is more to his repair work than meets the eye.

FPW weaves a lot of geography into his works. His endnotes in "Gateway" specifically address his use of literary license to deviate from known geography to relocate certain restaurants and other features. The environment, via the Everglades, becomes a character in "Gateways." Demography of southern Florida is expressed through the Gateway retirement community. Jack's father retires to southern Florida, which is characteristic of our current US population. Early in the novel, Jack runs across the unique fauna and flora of Florida, the sawgrass, mosquitos, herons, plus the low relief terrain. Near the end of the novel, Jack, his father, and Carl have to deal with the looming influence of Hurricane Elvis, in addition to certain reptiles.

FPW novels are rife with geography examples. Jack is highly observant of traffic patterns, the movement of people, when people are active and when they are not, as in commuting patterns and weekend travel. Jack is attentive to the economics of the neighborhoods, caring a mental map of New York City and New Jersey that helps him at a basic level navigate the region, and operate at an advanced level as he uses his knowledge of commerical, industrial, and residential areas to conduct his "repair" operations.

For someone who has only traveled to that area once, FPW through Jack's voice, I feel like I have a better understanding of the geography Newark, NJ and New York City.