Using a Genre Study to Teach Editorial Writing

by David Bearup

The genre study represents a new and interesting way for teachers to instruct students in the art of writing. It provides students a new avenue for expressing their concerns and beliefs in a format that can be made accessible to the community. Furthermore, it teaches students that their writing can be used to influence society and approach real problems facing their communities. Students are often more responsive to such projects because they aim for a real, attainable goal, as opposed to the more common practice of assigning various, unrelated writing assignments. Genre study techniques also create a classroom community of writers that will learn how to work together and solve problems as a team, through activities like brainstorming and peer editing. The genre approach also gives students the opportunity to enhance their skills in critical thinking and writing persuasive arguments. Such skills are necessary in preparing for the Regents Exams and for success in numerous professional fields after school. Finally, the genre approach achieves a variety of the NCTE standards for teaching English Arts: 1. Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. This is accomplished by introducing students to the editorial, a genre that is rarely read by high school students. Furthermore, the topics students encounter in this genre will expand their understanding of the world around them. 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes. Again, this is a different genre that students are unfamiliar with. They will learn to write professional quality pieces for diverse audiences, as opposed to the standard essay that is written solely for the teacher's evaluation. 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience. This approach is an excellent opportunity to have students research for a specific purpose. Common research in high schools is limited to “How to make something” presentations that lack any quality level of research.

Many modern educators realize the need to teach students writing skills within the context of larger, more meaningful projects. The genre study incorporates this need, along with those of enhancing research skills and teaching group work dynamics. Researchers like Randy Bomer and Lucy Calkins advocate this method because they realize the variety of levels of education students receive through such instruction. The following chapter draws from their research and that of others to create a coherent plan for teaching the art of writing through the study of the editorial.

Critics will question whether instruction in the art of editorial writing will have any positive effect on a student's level of literacy or quality of writing. Substantial studies have examined the benefits of introducing newspapers and journalism studies into the classroom. One of the lead researchers in this field of study is Jack Dvorak, who worked with at risk Native Alaskan students to improve their language art skills. Dvorak trained a collection of teachers in journalism education and introduced a school newspaper program. The students enrolled in the journalism program achieved greater improvements in their reading and writing skills than those in the control group (Morgan & Dvorak, 1994).

Another study proved that merely introducing newspapers into the classroom as an alternative form of media was enough to significantly improve students reading and writing skills. In Florida , an experiment was initiated whereby three groups of students were regularly tested in reading and vocabulary skills. The first group was given newspapers for reading every week. The second group received newspapers as well, but they were integrated into classroom lessons. The third group received only traditional lessons. Students who received newspapers for school on the whole witnessed greater levels of improvement in reading and writing skills than their traditionally educated counterparts (Palmer, Fletcher, & Shapley, 1994).

Overall, research concludes that introducing newspaper articles to high school students improves their literacy levels and improves their writing skills. For the purposes of this study, it is important to distinguish between the newspaper and the editorial. The newspaper is a large genre that incorporates many smaller, related genres, including the editorial, the feature, and the sports column. Editorials provide the best opportunity for instruction because they incorporate all the best features of various newspaper formats: research, opinion writing, anecdotes, and analysis of current events.

Defining the Editorial

While much of the research cited up to now has dealt with the generic topic of journalism education, one must realize that there are many facets of such studies, each with its own merits. Editorial writing is quite different from feature writing as it focuses on imparting an opinion and makes no claims as unbiased truth. For this reason, it is crucial to describe what editorial writing is and is not, as the focus of the instruction is determined by the nature of the genre.

1. The defining feature of the editorial is the clear presence of the writer's opinion. The goal of an editorial is not merely to inform readers, but to convince them of the validity of your position. Historically, editorials have been written to influence the outcomes of elections, to sway the nation for or against wars, and to raise the call for new laws.

2. A crucial element to editorial writing is strong descriptive language and solid imagery. The reader must have a clear image of the situation being described before they can be expected to choose a side with or against the author.

3. The editorial is persuasive. It is not enough for writers to provide their opinions; they must be defended by strong evidence. There must be a clear and concise reason for the author to take his or her position on the issue and that position must be supported.

4. As a result of the first three points, editorial writing has a much stronger sense of the author's voice than standard news articles. More than in any other form of news media, an author's voice should be present in editorial writing. In many cases, the best editorialists are known both for their position on issues and their familiar style of writing.

The editorial may also be described by what it is not.

1. It is not an argumentative essay, although it shares the feature of stating an author's opinion. Essays of that nature are intended for specific audiences, usually academic, and utilize a professional, often detached voice. Editorials are written for a larger audience and take a personal tone, presenting the author's own opinion.

2. It is not news reporting. As previously described, the editorial conveys an opinionated position that is not present in other forms of news writing like feature writing and headline writing. The purpose is not just to inform, but to sway opinions to the author's side.

3. Editorial writing is also not to be confused with specialized column writing, like “Dear Abby”. Such columns present the author's opinion on a variety of often less than newsworthy topics, including marital problems and family issues. While these issues are relevant to news media, editorials focus on current events that affect a large portion of society.

Overall, we can conclude that, in the simplest terms, an editorial is a piece of writing, intended for publication that expresses an opinion on a newsworthy topic of interest.

The Steps to Success in Teaching Editorial Writing Through Genre Study

What follows is a series of steps to follow for instructing high school students in the art of editorial writing through a genre approach. The following outline is based on the generic model designed by Charles Cooper for teaching writing skills as part of a genre study (Cooper 47-50). Cooper is a leading researcher in the field of genre study at the University of California at San Diego and a staunch advocate of genre study application in the classroom.

1. Reading Models

All students are not equally informed and they do not commonly read the editorials in class, so the first step in instruction must be to familiarize students with the editorial as a product of writing. The best method is, of course, to expose students to sample writings first hand. These models must present as expansive an image as possible for the students, so that they may see the various possibilities present in writing editorials. The instructor should create a list of “touchstone texts”: a collection of three to four examples of quality editorials that will introduce students to the genre. These texts must be linguistically accessible to students: they should be written in a style that is comfortable to the target audience and with vocabulary that is challenging to students, yet not beyond their grasp. I chose Mark Twain's “Civilized Brutality” because students will connect with the theme of adolescents taking responsibility for their actions, Hodding Carter's “Go For Broke” because it focuses on racist attitudes during the Second World War, and “Waking Up to War,” by Bob Herbert, because it explores American attitudes towards the war in Iraq . These topics connect with students concerns, thus it is easy to engage them in debate over them.

For further editorials, I suggest:

“Justice is Blind – and Gagged” by Philip P. Kerby

“Baseball's Burden” in the New York Post

“A Soldier's Story: The Curious Transformation of a Son of Dynasty” by Lawrence Downes

“High and Dry in the 21 st Century” by Angela Neville

“Home of the Wild” by Angela Neville

Student Editorials:

“Gas Gougers” by Bea Santiago

“Bonds Deserves Better” by Tyler Chabolla

November 20, 1869

“Civilized Brutality” by Mark Twain

Western exchange, commenting upon the recent trapeze accident in St. Louis, where a young girl, perilling her life for the amusement of a theatre full of men and women spectators, lost her balance while swinging in mid air upon one foot and fell twenty-five feet to the floor, curiously enough remarks that "the parent who would trade in this manner upon the life of his daughter ought to have been tied up by the audience and publicly lashed." Now, really, that would have been a sublime exhibition of impudence on the part of the audience. By what right, pray, could the spectators in such a case lash the parent? Were they not parties to the inhuman "trade"? Were not they the purchasers of what the girl's father sold? Was it not because he found them eager buyers that he put the life of his daughter into the market and made brutal merchandise of it? And what moral superiority has the buyer over the seller in transactions of that kind?

The reckless peril in which this unhappy girl nightly placed her person and her life was the fulfillment of a tacit but well understood bargain between herself, or those who controlled her, and the people who nightly formed the audience assembled to witness her performance. They paid her for sporting with death, and the deadly sport was their amusement. They hired her to afford them the brutal gratification of the excitement of the feeling that they might possibly witness just that catastrophe which did occur. Let the fact be plainly acknowledged. It was that ghastly possibility which made the relish of the entertainment. Without its barbaric spice who would have been attracted? Take away the peril from "M'lle Zagrina's" performance, leaving it every other feature, of graceful posturing, of supple movement and of admirable dexterity--what favor would it have found, and with whom? Lower the trapeze upon which she swung and lithely balanced herself, down to an elevation of five feet only from the floor, instead of twenty-five, and where would she find spectators to pay for the exhibition of her graceful feats? Secure by any means the safety of the girl in life and limb, and what theatre could profitably engage her? We say again, it is the deadliness of the performer's peril in all these exhibitions that brings men and women to see them. It is because a tremerous nerve, or a miss or a slip of the hand or foot is death or mutilation to the reckless actor in the scene, that the scene gathers its eager spectators. The risk of the wretched subject of their applause is what they enjoy, and all that they enjoy. Unacknowledged to themselves, perhaps, a savage and barbarous thirst for the excitement of the possible horror of death is in their hearts-- a thirst which differs by how much from that which carried Roman dames and maids and Senators and the Roman rabble to the amphitheatre sixteen centuries ago, when gladiators fought and Christian martyrs were torn by wild beasts?

The fact is, our civilization is scarcely more than a thin coating of varnish over barbarism. If we scratch the skin of the average modern citizen of Christian America, or England, or Germany, of France, we find a man underneath who very much resembles, after all, the old Roman of Caesar's day, or the Goth who marched out of the Northern forests to conquer Rome. He has the ancient barbarous instinct strong within him yet, and his sixteen or eighteen centuries of culture have only served to refine its original coarseness. From the gladiatorial arena to the tournament field--from the tournament to the bull fight and the bear garden--from thence to the prize ring and from the prize ring to the exhibitions of the trapeze and the Blondin tight rope--are but the gradations of a refinement in taste that leaves the essential inhumanity of the feeling which they have successively gratified actually untouched. The soul of the primitive savage, lurking yet in the breast of the sleek gentleman and the dainty lady of our civilization to-day, demands these grim antics with death for the flavor of their entertainments. While the merciless demand is made, its wretched purveyors will be always ready--even as the gladiators for a Roman spectacle were never wanting. Can we do nothing better than to lash them ? [Unsigned]

“Go For Broke” by Hodding Carter

Delta Democrat-Times (Greenville, Miss.)

AFTER serving in World War II on the Stars and Stripes, Hodding Carter returned to his newspaper in Greenville, Mississippi, and immediately began attracting nationwide attention. In numerous editorials he concentrated on building respect between races. For such writing he was awarded the 1946 Pulitzer Prize. "I had been protesting editorially against racial and religious injustices for a long time before our editorials won a Pulitzer Prize," he said. "But . . . the Pulitzer prize induced more people at home to concede that there might be some merit in what we were saying." After winning the Pulitzer, he was also known to have proposed tongue-in-cheek a new slogan for his small chicken enterprise: "All our pullets are prizes." The most popular editorial of his prize-winning series is "Go for Broke," written shortly after V-J Day. Though it is outwardly a challenge to white Americans to treat Japanese-Americans as equals, there is little doubt that Carter intended it to call for racial tolerance for blacks also. "Go For Broke" was widely reprinted and is one of the most frequently quoted Pulitzer Prize editorials in the history of the award.

COMPANY D of the 168th Regiment which is stationed in Leghorn, Italy, is composed altogether of white troops, some from the East, some from the South, some from the Midwest and West Coast.

Company D made an unusual promise earlier this month. The promise was in the form of a communication to their fellow Americans of the 442d Infantry Regiment and the 100th Infantry Battalion, whose motto is "Go For Broke," and it was subscribed to unanimously by the officers and men of Company D.

In brief, the communication pledged the help of Company D in convincing "the folks back home that you are fully deserving of all the privileges with which we ourselves are bestowed."

The soldiers to whom that promise was made are JapaneseAmericans. In all of the United States Army, no troops have chalked up a better combat record. Their record is so good that these Nisei were selected by General Francis H. Oxx, commander of the military area in which they are stationed, to lead the final victory parade. So they marched, 3,000 strong, at the head of thousands of other Americans, their battle flag with three Presidential unit citationed streamers floating above them, their commander, a Wisconsin white colonel, leading them.

Some of those Nisei must have been thinking of the soul-shaking days of last October, when they spearheaded the attacks that opened the Vosges Mountain doorway to Strasbourg. Some of them were probably remembering how they, on another bloody day, had snatched the ThirtySix Division's lost battalion of Texans from the encircling Germans. And many of them were bearing scars from those two engagements which alone had cost the Nisei boys from Hawaii and the West Coast 2,300 casualties.

Perhaps these yellow-skinned Americans, to whose Japanese kinsmen we have administered a terrific and long overdue defeat, were holding their heads a little higher because of the pledge of their white fellowsoldiers and fellow-Americans of Company D. Perhaps, when they gazed at their combat flag, the motto "Go For Broke" emblazoned thereon took on a different meaning. "Go For Broke" is the Hawaiian-Japanese slang expression for shooting the works in a dice game.

The loyal Nisei have shot the works. From the beginning of the war, they have been on trial, in and out of uniform, in army camps and relocation centers, as combat troops in Europe and as frontline interrogators, propagandists, and combat intelligence personnel in the Pacific where their capture meant prolonged and hideous torture. And even yet they have not satisfied their critics.

It is so easy for a dominant race to explain good or evil, patriotism or treachery, courage or cowardice in terms of skin color. So easy and so tragically wrong. Too many have committed that wrong against the loyal Nisei, who by the thousands have proved themselves good Americans, even while others of us, by our actions against them, have shown ourselves to be bad Americans. Nor is the end of this misconception in sight. Those Japanese-American soldiers who paraded at Leghorn in commemoration of the defeat 6f the nation from which their fathers came, will meet other enemies, other obstacles as forbidding as those of war. A lot of people will begin saying, as soon as these boys take off their uniforms, that "a Jap is a Jap," and the Nisei deserve no consideration. A majority won't say or believe this, but an active minority can have its way against an apathetic majority.

It seems to us that the Nisei slogan of "Go For Broke" could be adopted by all Americans of good will in the days ahead. We've got to shoot the works in a fight for tolerance. Those boys of Company D point the way. Japan's surrender will be signed aboard the Missouri and General MacArthur's part will be a symbolic"Show Me."

“Waking Up to War”

The New York Times , July 2, 2004 pA19 col 05

“Waking Up to the War”. (Editorial Desk)(American public is gradually coming to

feel that the Iraq war has made the world more dangerous, and has not made the

U.S. safer, nor the Middle East more stable)(Column) Bob Herbert.

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2004 The New York Times Company

The public is catching on. Americans heading into the Fourth of July weekend are

increasingly concerned that the war in Iraq, rather than bringing stability to

the Middle East and a greater sense of safety here at home, has in fact made the

world more dangerous and the U.S. more vulnerable than ever to terror attacks.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll published yesterday found that a majority of

Americans now believe the war has increased the threat of terrorism. A New York

Times/CBS News poll earlier this week found that 47 percent of respondents

believe the terror threat has increased, while only 13 percent say it has

declined. Thirty-eight percent of the respondents in that poll said the war had

not made a difference.

There is a sound basis for the concern. The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq

has been a gift-wrapped, gilt-edged recruiting tool for Al Qaeda and its

offshoots. If Osama bin Laden had personally designed a campaign to expand the

ranks and spread the influence of anti-American terrorists, it's hard to imagine

him coming up with a better scenario than the U.S. invasion and occupation of

Iraq.

''We have created the greatest recruiting tool possible for bin Laden and his

ilk,'' said Bob Boorstin, a national security specialist at the Center for

American Progress.

His words echoed the conclusions of the senior Central Intelligence Agency

analyst who is the anonymous author of ''Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing

the War on Terror.'' The author, who spent years tracking bin Laden and his

followers, said, ''There is nothing that bin Laden could have hoped for more

than the American invasion and occupation of Iraq.''

The fact that this war has made America more, not less, vulnerable to terrorism

should be treated as a national scandal. But that is not the kind of story that

has the legs of, say, the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Or the O. J. Simpson saga.

We have certainly known since Sept. 11, if not before, that terrorism poses the

gravest and most immediate threat to the United States. Instead of marshaling

the nation's resources and the support of our allies for a sustained, all-out

campaign aimed at destroying Al Qaeda and its offshoots, President Bush launched

the war in Iraq and turned that country into a breeding ground for such

terrorists.

There were warnings. Recruiting by Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups was

already surging in early 2003 in response to the buildup for war with Iraq. On

March 16, 2003, three days before the start of the war, The Times reported:

''In recent weeks, officials in the United States, Europe and Africa say they

had seen evidence that militants within Muslim communities are seeking to

identify and groom a new generation of terrorist operatives. An invasion of

Iraq, the officials worry, is almost certain to produce a groundswell of

recruitment for groups committed to attacks in the United States, Europe and

Israel.''

We now have nearly 140,000 troops in Iraq, with more on the way, and we'll be

bogged down there for years to come. The tremendous costs in personnel and money

have drained resources needed to combat terror groups around the world and shore

up defenses against terror here at home.

Now the public is tiring of the war. A majority of the respondents in both The

New York Times and The Wall Street Journal polls said the war was not worth its

cost in American lives.

But there is no sign of the war ending. The so-called hand-off of sovereignty

this week was a furtive ritual that was far more symbolic than substantive.

Three marines were killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad on Tuesday, a day

after the transfer, and another was killed yesterday in Al Anbar, west of

Baghdad.

We're holding a terrible hand. There is no exit strategy for American troops in

Iraq. There is no plan in our insane tax-cut environment for paying for the war.

The situation in Afghanistan, which is part of the real war against terror, has

deteriorated. The U.S. military is stretched dangerously thin, lacking

sufficient troops to meet its obligations around the world. Homeland security is

deeply underfunded. And with the terror networks energized, the feeling among

intelligence experts with regard to a strike in the U.S. is not if, but when.

First, the teacher should read the touchstone texts to the class. Students should respond to each article on a personal level in a writer's notebook. For those who have yet to use one, a writer's notebook is a valuable resource for any writer, student or teacher. The writer should write in it daily, recording new ideas for future writing and analysis of literature of all forms that they have read. It is a place to refer to when the writer wishes to begin a new project, as it details where they have been and where they are going. After the students have responded to the articles with their personal reactions, they should be encouraged to share their responses with the class. Next, the teacher should initiate a conversation with the class about the historical context of the writings. Ask the class, “When were these articles written, what problems do they address, what is the author trying to convince you of, and is he successful?” From here, the class should begin to explore the actual craft of the writer. The teacher should ask the class what techniques the author used to elicit the response they received. One possibility is to have the class break up into groups and examine one of the touchstone texts. They need to discover the editorials organization: how does it start, where is the argument introduced, and what follows it. The class should then reconvene and share their responses. From this, the teacher can synthesize a list of features on the chalkboard for the class to write down in their notebooks.

2. Listing Basic Features

Next, the class will separate into groups for collective work. Each group will be assigned the job of critically analyzing one of the touchstone texts. Their mission is to discover the definitive attributes of an editorial. They are to identify the different parts of a genre as well what role each part fills. Upon completion, the groups will present their findings to the class for comparison. From the various reports, the class will synthesize a list of the definitive parts of an editorial. These will later be used as criteria for their own writing assignment.

Finally, the students will be asked to find their own examples of editorials from the library and bring them to school for a brief presentation in the following class. Each student will be responsible for presenting a summary of the editorial, as well as a briefing where they will identify the previously determined attributes in their own example. They can use colored pencils to underline each feature in a different color. This will allow the teacher to determine which students have internalized the basic functions of the editorial and which students need further reinforcement. If a number of students have trouble properly identifying and analyzing an editorial, the teacher may ask the students to return to the library in pairs to find another set of examples. This will allow more experienced students to aid those who are having trouble.

An Introduction to Editorial Writing

What is an editorial?

An editorial is a piece of writing, intended for publication that expresses an opinion on a newsworthy topic of interest. It expresses the author's position through tone and often uses anecdotes to introduce the topic.

How does editorial writing differ from other forms of writing?

1. It is not a form of creative writing. The story is based on actual facts and real situations. While editorial writing is opinion based, it is still a part of the newspaper tradition and therefore must still focus on the facts.

2. It is not news reporting. As previously described, the editorial conveys an opinionated position that is not present in other forms of news writing like feature writing and headline writing. The purpose is not just to inform, but also to sway opinions to the author's side.

3. Editorial writing is also not to be confused with professional journal writing. Professional journals like The National Journalism Review and The Journal of Modern Literature are intended for a specific audience of professionals. They often use occupation specific language that is not common to mainstream America. Editorials are intended for the largest possible audience and so they use everyday, common language.

Discovering the features of an editorial

This is a group discovery assignment. Students should break up into groups of three or four. Each student will receive a copy of graphic organizer 1: The Features of an Editorial . Students will also receive one of the touchstone texts: Hodding Carter's “Go For Broke”, Mark Twain's “Civilized Brutality”, or Bob Herbert's “Waking up to War”. The groups will be charged with identifying and documenting four features of their editorial. The following prompts will focus their research:

1. When was this piece written and where did it appear?

2. What is the author trying to say?

3. What techniques does the author use to convince you?

After the students are done, each group will present their results for the rest of the class. The teacher will record the features on the board. When the class has agreed on a list of features that are central to all texts, they will record them in their writer's notebooks.

Anticipated student responses will include:

1. Dateline and publication information

2. Interesting lead

3. A controversial topic or issue

4. A viewpoint or opinion concerning the topic

5. Factual or supporting information

6. quotes or paraphrasing

7. A clear and constant tone

8. Cadence (a clear pace of writing that is pleasant to read.)

Research on Your Own

“Your homework for tonight is to go home and find an editorial on your own. Take an extra copy of Graphic Organizer 1 and find the four features of your editorial. Students will be responsible for presenting their findings in class tomorrow, along with a brief summary of the article.”

There are a variety of resources available to students for finding editorials.

1. Newspapers:

This is the most common source of editorial writing and can be found almost anywhere, including your home and the school library. Check school, local, and national newspapers.

2. Magazines:

This is not as common a source, but many national magazines like Time and Newsweek often provide valuable editorials. Again, if you don't receive these publications at home, check the local or school library.

3. The Internet:

Many publications can be found on-line. Newspapers like the New York Times publish articles on their websites. Other sites often keep copies of student and amateur writings for contests and educational purposes. A good starting point is http://www.highschooljournalism.org/ .

4. Books:

Many anthologies have been published specifically for the purpose of collecting famous editorials. The school library may have a copy of one of these books.

Graphic Organizer 1: The Features of an Editorial

3. Choosing Topics

Now that the students have been properly introduced to the genre, the teacher will present the culminating activity to the class. Students are to prepare their own editorial for publication within the school and possibly the larger community. The class, as a whole, needs to create a list of topics to explore. This can be done in one of two ways. First, the students can generate a list of topics they wish to develop into editorial pieces. The students discuss possible topics in the classroom and the teacher writes them on the board. This gives students the benefit of their classmates' experiences. It also gives the teacher the opportunity to focus broader options into more manageable topics. In the end, students will submit their three ranked choices for topics to the teacher on paper. The teacher will go through the responses and assign a topic to each student, based on his or her personal preferences. The second option is to have students write down their topics for submission to the teacher. The teacher then responds to each topic on paper and provides focus where he or she sees fit. While the students do not receive input from their peers, this option speeds up the process while still allowing each student to pick their own topic.

Students will need some time to find a topic, so the teacher should inform them at least two days prior to the deadline. One technique that may help students is the journal of “writer's territories”. This is often a part of the writer's notebook. Students should keep this journal on hand at all times and record any ideas they have for possible topics. It should describe possible ideas for writing as well as types of writing and topics the student has already attempted. Nancy Atwell advocates the theory of writer's territories as a way to focus student writings and prepare for various writing assignments (Atwell 120). Common writer territories include reforms in education, one's position on a war, or issues of social reform, like women's rights. This would be a valuable tool to introduce in that it can be carried over, from project to project, so that students always have something to write about. Future genre studies and writing assignments can be fueled by such a journal.

Many students will also need proper opportunities for research in their topics. While some students receive newspapers at home others will not. One or two library trips in class will provide enough time for each student to properly research their editorial. Before they choose to write, they must know what the debate is and where they stand in it.

The most important feature of the topic should be that it speaks personally to the student. They should feel some connection to their topic and have something important to say about it. Students should be encouraged to approach serious topics of interest to the community as a whole. In many cases, this will not be a problem. As instructors in one Detroit high school found, some times the students are more politically charged than school officials would like. School officials have repeatedly censored “The Arrow”, a Detroit high school paper, for tackling serious issues like drug abuse and teen abortion (Rosen 57). Students are, by nature, a very politicized group with strong opinions on the world around them. Instructors may find the Student Press Law Center a valuable resource in determining which topics are too controversial for classroom debate. The SPLC can be contacted at the following website: http://www.splc.org/ . The final decision depends on the individual instructor, the age of the students, and the relative level of leniency in the school district. In the end, the goal is to help students choose topics for editorials that are appropriate to their age level, yet mature enough to allow serious analysis.

The Editorial Assignment

You have learned a great deal about editorials over the past few days, but now is the time to put that knowledge to good use. You must now write an editorial of your own. Imagine you work for a newspaper, real or fictional. Pick a topic that is of interest to you, but that will also concern the community as a whole. Even more importantly, choose a topic that is of importance to you; one that affects you and your community in a serious way. Remember that your goal is to convince your audience. Be persuasive as your goal is to make the reader realize the importance of your opinion. It is not enough for you to summarize a point. Take a stand and support it. Your editorial should be one to two pages in length and in 12pt. Times New Roman font.

Your editorial should have:

1. Dateline and publication information

2. Interesting lead

3. A controversial topic or issue

4. A viewpoint or opinion concerning the topic

5. Factual or supporting information

6. Quotes or paraphrasing

7. A clear and constant tone

8. Cadence (a clear pace of writing that is pleasant to read.)

There is a wealth of topics available from all levels of society. The only determiner is where your interests lay. Are you interested in:

1. School issues like the importance of a school music program

2. Local issues like the placement of a landfill or new business

3. National issues like healthcare for everyone

4. World issues like the state of the war in other countries

Due Dates:

Topic is due _______

Draft 1 is due ________

Peer edit is due _________

Draft 2 is due ________

Draft 3 is due ________ (if necessary)

Rubric for Editorial Writing

The following rubric should serve as a guide while you write your editorial. This is the same document that will be used to assess a grade for you finished work. This ensures that you will have a good idea of the grade your work will receive when handed in. Follow this guide and you will receive the best grade possible. Remember when you hand in your work to include the rough and finished drafts, as well as any outlines you used. This allows me to examine the evolution of your writing.

Your work will be graded according to the following criteria:

Meaning: the extent to which the editorial

• Explores a critical issue from one section of modern society
• States an opinion and supports it
• Demonstrates the author's voice and tone

Development: the extent to which the editorial is elaborated through the use of:

• An engaging lead
• Vivid, specific, striking details
• Quotes
• Action- showing not telling

Organization: the extent to which the editorial:

• Exhibits direction, shape, and coherence
• Moves smoothly between general social issues and specific examples

Language Use: the extent to which the editorial:

• Exhibits effectiveness of words, sentence structure, and sentence variety to convey ideas

Conventions: the extent to which the editorial:

• Exhibits conventional spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, grammar and usage

6. Exceptional Writing

• The writing fully explores a critical issue, focuses on and strongly supports the author's perspective, and clearly demonstrates the author's voice and tone.
• The writing has an engaging lead, uses vivid, specific, striking details, judiciously employs quotes, and avoids telling by using dramatic action and description.
• The writing is coherent and moves in a specific direction. It moves smoothly and flawlessly between the general and the specific.
• The writer uses excellent vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence variety.
• Spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, grammar, and usage are correct.

5. Strong Writing

• The writing fully explores a critical issue, focuses on and supports the author's perspective, and adequately demonstrates the author's voice and tone.
• The writing has an interesting lead, uses specific details, employs quotes, and avoids telling by using dramatic action and description.
• The writing is coherent and moves in a specific direction. It moves smoothly between the general and the specific.
• The writer uses proper vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence variety.

• Spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, grammar, and usage are correct.

4. Capable Writing

• The writing adequately explores a critical issue, focuses on and supports the author's perspective, and often but not always demonstrates the author's voice and tone.
• The writing has a good lead, uses specific details, employs quotes, and often avoids telling by using dramatic action and description.
• The writing is coherent and moves in a specific direction. It usually moves smoothly between the general and the specific with a few exceptions.
• The writer uses common vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence variety.

• Spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, grammar, and usage are correct, with only a few mistakes.

3. Developing Writing

• The writing does not fully explore a critical issue, sometimes loses focus on the author's perspective, and rarely demonstrates a clear voice or tone.
• The lead is present, but not interesting, the writing sporadically uses specific details, employs inappropriate quotes, and often avoids telling by using dramatic action and description.
• The writing is semi-coherent and lacks direction. Transitions between the general and the specific are often choppy.
• The writer uses common vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence variety.

• Spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, grammar, and usage are tolerable, but often incorrect.

2. Limited Writing

• The writing fails to explore a critical issue, constantly loses focus on the author's perspective, and almost never demonstrates a clear voice or tone.
• The lead is questionable and dull; the writing uses few details, employs inappropriate quotes, and rarely employs dramatic action and description.
• The writing is semi-coherent and lacks direction. Transitions between the general and the specific are often choppy ad distracting.
• The writer uses poor vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence variety.

• Spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, grammar, and usage are poor and in need of major revision.

1. Emergent Writing

• The writing fails to explore a critical issue, lacks an author's perspective, and never demonstrates a clear voice or tone.
• The lead is questionable and dull; the writing uses no details, employs inappropriate quotes if any, and never employs dramatic action and description.
• The writing is incoherent and lacks direction. Transitions between the general and the specific are nonexistent.
• The writer uses substandard vocabulary, sentence structure, and sentence variety.
• Spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, grammar, and usage are substandard and in need of major revision.

4. Inventing and Research

Again, students will need time in class to research their project. They cannot write an informed essay without investigating the issue from multiple perspectives. They should be allotted two days to research in class and an additional two days to begin sorting and absorbing their findings. A brief mini lesson in research methods may be in order for younger students, as many will only be familiar with finding books in the library. Students like these may need additional instruction in how to find magazine and newspaper articles because research found in books may be too out of date.

In the following classes, the teacher should begin modeling the writing of an editorial beginning with the prewriting stage for the class. It is advisable that the instructor chooses a topic that no one else has taken and begins working through it in class. This will allow students to see the writing process unfold before them. It will also provide useable examples for students to refer to in their own writing. The teacher should also model the move from a controversial topic to an issue. A topic is general and has no opinion, like the war in Iraq. An issue is specific and takes a position, like returning troops home from the war. This process will show the students that they need to develop a strong opinion on the topic, not just summarize the situation as it stands. The teacher should also briefly describe where he or she found the information they based their argument on. Did they read it in the daily newspaper, or was intense research involved and if so, where was the research done?

The first mission for the class is to construct proper thesis statements, as they will act as guides to insure their writing stays on course. The teacher should take a class period to model effective thesis writing for the class. An effective thesis states the nature of the debate the writer will engage in as well as the position he or she will take in that debate. Ideally, this will be modeled on an overhead projector or other form of media that is visible to the entire class. Students should be encouraged to voice their opinions as to what will go into the thesis statement for the model editorial. In some cases, the teacher may need to present a mini lesson on effective thesis writing. This can be accomplished by asking the students to first write the topic they wish to write about and then focus that statement by rewriting it with the particular opinion they wish to focus. For example, a student may start with the topic of the war in Iraq. They should then be asked to focus their statement to reflect their opinion. The new statement might read, “The war in Iraq is over because the United States deposed Saddam Hussein.”

Students should also create a brief list of points they wish to make in their editorial. This list does not have to be presentable to the class, merely legible to the teacher and student. The value is that the students will have a written log of all the things that they want to include in their writing. This may be well organized, like a technical outline, or it may consist of a loose collection of words and phrases written in the order they were thought of. The only stipulation is that the student should be able to elaborate on any items on the list if necessary. The best way to accomplish this is to model the teacher's outline for the in-class model during a class period. That way, the class can witness the creation process and begin their work with a practical model to emulate.

5. Planning

This is more commonly known as the drafting phase. The teacher must model a first draft of the class editorial, with student input, before the class. The key is to show students how to organize their thoughts into a coherent piece of writing. In a national symposium on creating stronger editorials, Larry Wellborn suggested starting with a clear focus statement and writing it on the top of your piece for easy reference. From there, authors can create a list of subheadings, much like an outline. After reordering them for clarity, the author should begin to flush these subheadings out (Wellborn 11). This will provide a clearly organized editorial and students will benefit from seeing this modeled in class.

In that same symposium, Steve Buttry detailed three questions that will help an editorial writer focus their work. A lack of focus will most likely be a common problem in student editorial writing because they have a lot to say and little space to say it. Furthermore, students will still be relatively unfamiliar to the genre so it may be somewhat disorienting to conform to its style. Buttry suggests authors ask, “What's my point, who is my reader, and what do I want them to do?” (Buttry 12). A mini lesson should be allotted to exploring these questions with the students for use in focusing their own pieces.

Maintaining a Clear Focus

Have you ever read a story that skips around and loses its point? This is a common problem in amateur and professional writing: the lack of focus. Many writers find it difficult to remember the point of what they are writing over the course of a paper. They often lose track of the point of their article as they struggle to develop everything they want to say. The following exercise will help you maintain your focus so that your work is clear and concise.

As you write, frequently ask yourself the following questions:

What's my point?

Who is my reader?

What do I want the reader to do?

These simple questions will focus your writing and keep you on track through the drafting process. In order to clarify these points, let's try the questions out in a group exercise. Gather in groups of three or four and get out your copy of our touchstone texts. Each group will be responsible for analyzing one of the texts. Ask the three questions and discover what the author's focus was. Read through the entire article and see if each segment maintains that focus. After each group is done, we will convene to report our results.

Questions for discussion:

1. What is the focus of each article?

2. Is that focus maintained throughout the whole article?

3. What can be changed in each article to better hold the focus?

4. What does this focus add to the author's writing?

Homework:

Take what you have learned today about focus and apply it to the first draft you are writing. Check to see that your focus is clearly maintained throughout your work.

Writing a good lead is crucial to journalistic writing in all its forms. If an author can't hook readers from the start, then there is no guarantee that they will stay for the rest of the piece. An effective technique is the anecdotal lead because it uses visual imagery to draw their readers in. But this technique can be misused for disastrous results. It can bore the reader with useless details that distract from the central point of the argument. Again, the experts have questions to ask oneself when writing to determine if you are on track: “Would you turn your head to see the sight you're describing in the anecdotal lead? Would you cross the street to see it? Would you talk about it at the dinner table that night? If the answer is no, scrap it and try again” (Washburn 14).

Anecdotal Leads: Do you need them?

Read the opening paragraph of Herbert's “Waking up to War”. How would you classify the information that is given in the opening paragraph? What does it have to do with the focus and thesis we have established in previous classes?

Herbert uses an anecdotal lead to begin his editorial. For class purposes, we can describe an anecdotal lead as:

A brief description of setting that sets the mood of an editorial by invoking familiar imagery for the reader.

As you can see, an anecdotal lead is another form of introduction that gets the reader in the mood for your editorial. The question you need to ask yourself is whether your writing can benefit from using this style of opening. Many authors choose to jump right into the topic or describe the specific scenario they are writing about. The anecdote is a related tale that does not provide factual detail, but rather draws the reader into a situation that prepared the reader for the thesis.

Now that you have chosen to include an anecdotal lead, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Would you turn your head to see the sight you're describing in the anecdotal lead?

2. Would you cross the street to see it?

3. Would you talk about it at the dinner table that night?

This is often called the signpost test because it treats your opening as a signpost, an attention grabber. The opening needs to reach out to your reader and draw them in. The newspaper writing business is very competitive and writers are in a constant battle to maintain readers.

This would be a good time to model effective anecdotal lead writing in class with the class topic, one that the teacher can constantly refer to that no other student is writing on. Students should be encouraged to help the teacher write this lead and it should be modeled on the overhead projector or other accessible media.

The rest of the class will be devoted to a brief writing assignment. Whether you choose to include an anecdotal lead or not in your final draft, I want you all to make an attempt. Think about your topic and develop a short scene to introduce your thesis. Remember to apply the signpost test to your writing and keep the questions about focus in mind. An anecdote is a good way to open your editorial, so long as it furthers your topic and does not distract from it.

Homework:

Finish the in-class writing assignment and try it out on a willing audience. Choose a fellow classmate, a parent, or other interested party. Provide them with only the thesis, anecdotal lead and a brief thesis statement. See if they can find the link between them. Ask if they would continue to read the rest of the article.

Another important aspect of the editorial writing experience deals with the article's tone. It is difficult to define tone, but some might say it concerns “how an author stands, not where he stands” (Woods 6). An editorial that takes an inappropriate tone may miss its intended audience, even if the message is sound. For example, some topics are sensitive and require some finesse and convincing. If the author takes a tone that is too “preachy” that author may lose the audience before the message is conveyed. A mini lesson must be taught to show students a variety of tones and how each affects a target audience. This can be easily accomplished by having the class reread the touchstone texts in search of their tones. Once students see how tone affects their readers they will be able to use it to focus the tone of their editorial for maximum results.

Creating a Tone in Your Editorial

How you say something is as important in editorial writing as what you say. Your tone tells the reader where you stand on your topic. Creating an effective tone and maintaining it throughout your piece allows you another avenue of expressing not just what you are debating, but also what your position is in the point.

Tone dictates how an author stands on a specific point, not where he or she stands- Woods

Examples of tone may include:

Angry, sad, conciliatory, vengeful, optimistic, pessimistic, and defensive.

Get out your copies of the touchstone texts and split into groups of three or four. Each group will be assigned one of the texts and charged with discovering the author's tone. Pick out words or phrases that indicate that tone. Decide how the tone will affect readers. Will they be responsive or turned off? Will they be moved to action or merely concerned?

Ex: “The reckless peril in which this unhappy girl nightly placed her person and her life was the fulfillment of a tacit but well understood bargain between herself, or those who controlled her, and the people who nightly formed the audience assembled to witness her performance.” By Mark Twain

The author's tone is angry about the situation the girl was in, yet mindful of the fact that she put herself there. He is not chastising, he is merely pointing out a fact. To chastise the readers would be to turn them off.

After the class has had ample time to discuss in their separate groups, the class will reconvene for a presentation. Each group will discuss their findings and use the supporting material to defend their beliefs.

Armed with their new knowledge, students should join the teacher in editing the class model editorial. The teacher should take a class poll on what tone to take in the writing. Students should offer their opinions on which phrases should be rewritten and how so that the piece better reflects the intended tone.

Homework:

Examine your work thus far to see if you have already incorporated a tone. If you have, does it follow through the entire piece? If you have not, you should choose a tone now and begin to develop it. Remember to refer to the lesson on focus to make sure that your revisions have not altered your focus. You will be allotted time in the next class to discuss your changes, if you wish.

One necessary mini lesson will be on the practice of quoting other people's words in journalistic writing. Students may have experience in using quotes in research papers and other scholastic writings, but they need to see that this is different from quotes in newspapers. It is important for them to see when and how each form of quoting is used so that they are not confused in other writing assignments.

Quoting

One important way to add detail to your editorial is to incorporate quotes from outside sources. They can come directly from other people or from other print media. Quotes add a tone of authority to your writing by adding facts to support your opinions. It is important to only use quotes that support your thesis and add to the readers understanding of the issue.

Effective quotes:

1. Tell the reader more about the situation that the author is writing about.

2. Provide detail about the situation that has a strong impact

3. Show another person's position on the topic and indicate where he or she stands

Quotes in a journalistic piece take a different form from quotes in scholarly articles, like essays and term papers.

Term Paper Quote:

“The fact is, our civilization is scarcely more than a thin coating of varnish over barbarism.” (Twain 94)

Editorial Quote:

Famed author Mark Twain said, “The fact is, our civilization is scarcely more than a thin coating of varnish over barbarism.”

From these examples, we can see that a quote in an editorial is cited in the text. That means that the author actually tells the reader who said the quote in the sentence. Scholastic quotes rely on more structured and formulaic citations to provide that information. Page numbers are provided so that readers can refer back to the source for further information.

“Why do you think that editorials use this different form of quotation?”

1. The reader does not need the extra information.

2. The writing flows better without the interruption that is caused by the citation.

Gather into groups of three or four and get out your touchstone texts. Each group will examine one text and find any evidence of quotes used in the source and document them. If no quotes were provided, find at least one opportunity that the author missed and create a quote that would help to support the author's thesis.

After the students have had sufficient time to explore the text, the groups will reconvene to share what they have found. Each group will be responsible for telling the class what they have found and what changes they would have made.

Homework:

Return to your editorial. Examine the writing you have done so far and see if there are any opportunities for quotes in your work. Incorporate at least one quote that supports your thesis or provides extra details. This quote does not need to stay in the final draft, but this experience will provide you with good practice. Students will be given some time at the next class to discuss whether they had any success or not with the project.

6. Revising

Revision is a necessary process in any form of writing, especially editorial writing. An excellent strategy for student revision is peer editing, because students get to share their work with others and often find their own mistakes in others' work. The problem is that students are rarely prepared for such editing, so the quality level is low at best. Teachers can improve the quality of peer responses by providing guidelines for the peer revisions. The following peer review assignment will focus student responses by establishing a manageable list of questions to answer concerning the style and content of the editorial.

Peer Review Questions

1. What is your first response to the editorial? In general, what did you think or feel after reading it?

2. Did the author include every feature of the editorial, as defined in class?

_____ A dateline

_____ An interesting lead

_____ A controversial topic or issue

_____ A particular viewpoint or opinion on the issue

_____ Factual information that supports the argument

_____ Quotes or paraphrases

_____ A clear and consistent tone

_____ Cadence

3. If the author did not include these features, suggest helpful ways that they could incorporate them.

4. Does the author lose their focus at all throughout the editorial?

5. Are you convinced by the argument? If not, tell the author why.

6. Is the writing clear and does it flow, or is it choppy and broken up?

Students must also revise for grammar; the teacher should lead this. The process of grammar revision can take place as a group assignment or on the individual level, depending on the teacher's preference. The key to this process is that the teacher guides it so that students focus on the biggest errors. Revision should work on two levels of writing: style and grammar.

Grammar revisions will be dictated by the most common mistakes found in the students' work. With student permission, the teacher should use examples of errors from the students' writing to demonstrate the errors as well as how to fix them. Students will benefit from this because they are dealing with their own writing and their own difficulties as writers. For this reason, it is pointless to dictate necessary grammar mini lessons before the students write a first draft. It is likely, however, that the most common student errors will involve comma splices and various forms of run-on sentences and fragments. High school students often experience these problems in their writings naturally, but the problem will be magnified when they are asked to write for publication. Their attempts to sound intelligent and wordy will naturally draw out these problems. The key is for the teacher to address any prevalent grammatical errors early in the revision process and to deal with them in class. Time does not always allow for private lessons and many of the problems will be common to many students.

Style editing is much easier to plan for, as it will focus mainly on cadence, the natural rhythm of writing. Again, this is a flaw many experts have found to be common in poorly written editorials. Cadence should be described to students as the flow of their writing, the patterns it follows and the places where readers take a breath. One of the best ways to teach cadence is to have students read Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have A Dream” speech. By reading the speech aloud, students will get a sense of where pauses can be inserted for best effects as well as how patterns of words, like the repetition of “I have a dream”, punctuate their points (Jackson 16). After this exercise, students will read their own editorials aloud, outside of class, to listen to the flow and cadence of their writing. They should be encouraged to read to each other, as another person may have the necessary distance from the writing to hear what the writer can't.

Writing with Cadence

Good writing flows. It does not need to be poetry, but it must move in patterns that are agreeable to the reader. The best argument may be doomed to failure if it is not written in a relatively pleasing way. This is called cadence and it refers to the rhythm of your writing. Anyone who has witnessed a squad of soldiers marching has seen cadence in action. The rhymes that they yell as they march dictate the pace of their steps. In this same way, the use of repetitions and breathing points dictate how a reader will read your writing.

This is a somewhat difficult technique to learn, so we will examine a classic example of cadence in a speech, written by one of the most eloquent men of all time, Martin Luther king Jr. His “I Had a Dream Speech” is an extraordinary example of cadence.

“I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and

frustrations of the moment I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in

the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true

meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are

created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former

slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at

the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state

sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into

an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where

they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their

character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governors lips are

presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be

transformed into a situation where little Black boys and Black girls will be

able to join hands with little White boys and White girls and walk together as

sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.”

Prompts:

What do you see happening here?

How is the writing structured?

Where has the author indicated to take breaths?

The best approach is to bring a recording into class, so that the students can hear how each line is enunciated and where the breath points are.

Use of Cadence

1. The shortest lines often have the most to say.

2. Commas were invented to separate phrases in writing, to provide readers with ample places to breath.

3. The use of repetition punctuates your writing and reinforces your thesis.

The final step in this process is to complete a final draft that incorporates the new lessons and fixes all the student errors. Students should be given adequate time to internalize the lesson and incorporate them into the writing before the draft is due.

7. Reflecting

After the final draft is completed, students need an opportunity to reflect on the writing process as a whole. They need to think about what they have learned, how they have incorporated new techniques, and what they might do differently next time. The best opportunity for this is a writing seminar because students will have the opportunity to learn from other students' experiences as well as their own. As a group, students should discuss the thesis and necessary research of their work, what they found that helped them, and what hindered. This conversation should end with a discussion of what might be changed to make the experience more beneficial. This gives the teacher feedback for using the exercise again and allows the students to become a part of the process.

8. Assembling of Portfolio

Many classes collect student writing in a portfolio, so that the students can see how far they have progressed as writers since the beginning of the course. This is a valuable tool for students, as it provides another source of reflection. As long as portfolios are maintained throughout the year, students will return to them repeatedly to examine their writing. The portfolio is also an invaluable tool to teachers in terms of evaluation. The final editorial can be a good assessment of a writer's evolution through one brief project, but a portfolio shows that progression over one or more years and through a variety of scenarios.

In addition to the portfolio, publishing is a major part of this step. Students need to see that their writing is more than busy work. Publishing their work provides that extra level of meaning to the experience as well as incentive for excellence. Students may work harder if they believe that the whole school or town may see their work. The easiest form of publishing would be to print their editorials in the school newspaper or a similar production of their own. This could lead into a whole other lesson on printing and layouts in newspapers. Ideally, the instructor may have the opportunity to submit the best two or three editorials to the local newspaper for the whole town to see. Additionally, the teacher should search for student writing contests and, with student permission, enter the best two editorials. Again, students should write for their own purposes, but these ideas give them the extra incentive to strive for excellence.

Building ties to Other Genres

The editorial shares features with a variety of other genres, the most obvious of which is the persuasive essay. Both forms attempt to persuade the reader of a specific viewpoint on a specific issue of some importance. Both genres use quotes from sources of authority to prove their point. Both genres rely on vivid, descriptive language to enforce their points. In this way, instruction in editorial writing teaches skills in the use of techniques that can be employed in other genres. Students can use these skills to succeed in their Regents Exams, specifically in the realm of comparative literature. Careful analysis of similar writings from two separate genres provides students an opportunity to practice these skills and prepare for the Regents.

Preparing for the Regents “Unified Essay”

A major part of the Regents Exam is the Unified Essay; a test where you are asked to read two separate articles from different genres and write a coherent essay that draws from both. You must use the provided topic to develop a theme, called a “controlling idea”, and support it with information from both sources.

For our practice essay, we will read two articles: an editorial from a high school student and one persuasive essay from a college student. Next, we will search for a controlling idea and supporting information.

Here is the essay task, presented, as it will appear on the Regents exam:

After you have read the passages, write a unified essay on the flaws of fossil fuels. In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the flaws of fossil fuels. Using evidence from each passage, develop your controlling idea and show how the author uses specific literary elements and techniques to convey that idea.

Be sure to:

•  Use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the flaws of fossil fuels.

•  Use specific and relevant evidence from each passage to develop your controlling idea.

•  Show how each writer uses specific literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, structure, point-of-view) or techniques (for example: symbolism, irony, figurative language) to convey the controlling idea.

•  Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner.

•  Use language that effectively communicates ideas.

•  Follow the conventions of standard written English.

The first challenge after reading the two passages is to establish a controlling idea that addresses the topic (flaws with fossil fuels.)

In developing your controlling idea, remember that you need to create an argument. You cannot merely restate the topic. You must write a thesis statement. You should also remember that you need to support your controlling idea with specific information from each source.

Begin your work by writing an outline, like the ones developed in class for your editorial. Make sure you have organized your thoughts and stated your controlling idea clearly. Once complete, draft your essay and be mindful of the instructions above. When you are done, exchange your essay with another student for peer reviewing.

Bea Santiago

Speech 25 -- Martinez

Fall 2001

Gas Gougers

It is an outrage that anyone would try to profit from the unfortunate terrorist attack that happened on Tuesday. Yet, it seems as if the gas industry is trying to do just this. On the day that the attacks happened, the news reported some places in Oklahoma charging up to five dollars for a gallon of gas. Though the price rise in the Fresno area was not as obvious as this, by the morning after the bombing nearly all gas stations were charging up to forty cents more per gallon then they were before the attack. The gas companies have blamed their increase on price on a variety of reasons, yet none have proven to be valid.

Not only do gas companies try to profit during the hard times of our country; they also profit during the better times of our country, such as national holidays. Most recently during Labor Day weekend, which is one of the busiest travel days of the year, vacationers were outraged to see a ridiculous rise in the price of gas for that weekend. Unfortunately, this example is not uncommon, but rather something we experience every traveling holiday.

It is time that our nation says enough is enough. Though I realize that it would be virtually impossible for Americans to have a complete halt on gas usage in order to boycott these rate hikes, we must find a way to make the companies realize we will not tolerate this. This summer we began to make the gas companies aware of that. While gas prices rose to the highest price I can remember ever seeing, Americans decreased their travel and gas usage. Perhaps it is time that we find means of decreasing our gas usage further until gas prices return to a reasonable amount.

Harrison Margolis EEGE101

February 11, 2002

Essay on Fossil Fuel Use

"The United States is the country who uses one-fourth of the worlds energy supply." I am providing this information for you because America gets most of its energy from non-renewable resources. These resources are petroleum, coal, and gas. The use of these resources is very inefficient and leads to many environmental problems. The second law of Thermodynamics states heat cannot be completely converted into work. The amount of heat that will not convert increases the entropy in the universe. Entropy is the measure of disorder and in any conversion process of heat to work the amount of disorder always increases. This is the case because the entropy that occurs is produced through inefficient methods of using these non-renewable resources for energy. The pollution that is caused by the process of the conversion of energy has had severe negative effects on the environment. All three of these resources are being used up at alarming rates and must be obtained and used in such a way that efficiency and safety of the environment is the main priority in converting process. "Fossil fuels- coal, oil, and gas are America's primary source of energy, accounting for 85 percent of current U.S. fuel use." Fossil fuel began to form hundreds of millions of years ago during pre-historic times. Fossil fuels are found deep under oceans and under the earth in certain parts of the world. "The fuels are made up of decomposed plant and animal matter."

All three types of fuel are taken from the ground through different methods. These sources that energize America are used at incredible rates. "Coal is used at 2.5 million tons a day, petroleum is used at 17 million barrels a day, and natural gas is used at 50 million cubic feet per day." This amount of fuel that is produced for one day of powering America is outstanding. All of these resources can not be re-made or reused, yet Americans use and keep using fossil fuels inefficiently not only causing the supply of these resources to dwindle but also causing detrimental affects in the environment.

"Many of the environmental problems our country faces today result from our fossil fuel dependence." The environment faces air pollution, global warming, acid rain, and several other very serious problems because of our use of fossil fuels. Gases are emitted during the process of burning fossil fuels, but Carbon dioxide is one of the gases that have the most severe impact on the atmosphere. "Over the last 150 years, burning of fossil fuels has resulted in more than a 25 percent increase in carbon dioxide in our atmosphere." (www.ucsusa.org) Carbon dioxide is one of the main factors in global warming which is negatively affecting every American.

Fossil fuels also affect water pollution, land pollution, and thermal pollution. The efficiency of the production and use of fossil fuels is also to blame in the affects of pollution in the environment. Efficiency is a problem especially with fossil fuels. The way these fuels are obtained, produced and then used also affects our environment. The loss of fossil fuels before we actually get to use them is enormous. For example the steps of extracting oil from the ground and then putting it into use as gasoline in a car takes these steps. Refining the crude oil, then having it used by an automobile as gasoline, which in turn uses the gasoline and its engine components as kinetic energy. These three steps that enables a car to run has an overall efficiency of "7.8 percent." Where is the other 92.2 percent? You guessed it its entropy that has increased the size of the universe. This means that the 17 million barrels of petroleum consumed each day for the purpose of powering this country actually only about 1.4 million is put towards energy. As you can see fossil fuels are inefficiently produced as well as put to use. In turn the United States should find more efficient ways to produce and use energy.

As more and more heat does not convert into work the universe increases its disorder. The United States is one of the main reasons why entropy is occurring at large rates. The processes in which coal, petroleum, and gas are used to create work should be studied and tested in order to find easier and better ways to control these fossil fuels. The study of solar and wind power will be sources of energy that are renewable and will not create unnecessary amounts of entropy. The environment is one of the main reasons why this needs to take place. America's environment suffers because of the pollution that is created partially because of entropy. In turn America should chair a new energy committee that will just take on finding methods of ensuring better efficiency of fossil fuels and in turn the power that is used by Americans.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/h/f/hfm105/1st_essay.htm

Works Cited:

Atwell, Nancy. In the Middle . Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 1998.

“Baseball's Burden.” New York Post. Dec 7, 2004, 30.

Buttry, Steve. “Ask Early, Often, Finally: What's My Point?” The Masthead , 55.2 (2003): 12.

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