Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively

1. "It is usually easier to write a paper that uses all of only one short source on a familiar topic than to write a paper that selects material from many long sources on a topic that one must learn as one reads and writes" (38) This is very true. Most students are just looking to get the work done usually, not to learn something new. I think many college students have this attitude.
   
2. "It is easier to use whatever one likes, or everything one finds, than to formally select, evaluate, and interpret material" (38) This is also true. We tend to pick topics we are familiar with because we will not have to spend time looking up new research information. We can simply use our prior knowledge about things we already know and just build off of that instead of taking the time to learning something new. This is also an attitude I think most college students have.
   
3. "If we want students to learn to build original arguments from texts, we must teach them the skills needed to create divergent interpretations." (43) Some students probably often experience this because teachers are stressing to build arguments from sources, yet some are never taught thoroughly how to interpret text and use sources successfully.
   

5 User Friendly Points from CR

1. "I know that starting early will help ensure writing a better paper" (165)
2. "Have a real conversation with an imagined reader" (180)
3. "Push yourself with questions that really get you thinking about your topic and that might help you see it in a fresh way." (180)
4. "That is, you can write a research essay this week that doesn't use the f irst person or isn't autobiographical and still provides your readers with a strong sense of your presence as an individual writer and thinker" (183)
5. "One thing that will make it easier to get started is to write three leads to your paper, instead of agonizing over one that must be perfect." (186)

In class assignment

A question that was checked off on my comment sheet was “Are we doing this for economic gain?” This question could be addressed throughout my essay. Since we have a reliance on goods being produced in factories, we might look past the conditions within factories. For example, we know that Nike sneakers are made in sweatshops, yet since there is such a high demand to buy them, we don’t even consider where they are coming from. Maybe no one is taking a stance against this because of our reliance on the economic benefits of selling these sneakers.
Another question that could be addressed in my essay is “what about factories today was seen in slavery mills?” I think it would be interesting to see what conditions are being seen today that have been seen during slavery. For example, the verbal, sexual, and physical abuse that occurred in slave mills and on slave ships also occurs in present day sweatshops. It is interesting to see this parallel.


What are the similarities between the conditions during slavery compared to those in present day factories? In addition, is the reason we aren’t taking action against these conditions is because of our economic reliance on the goods produced?

The Research Log: A Jay Leno Approach

Project: Essay on Bury the Chains-Working conditions during slavery vs. Working conditions in present day

Citation: Chandrasekaran, Rajiv. “Indonesian Workers in Nike Plants List Abuses.” The Washington Post. 13 Feb. 2001: E1.

Date: 2/20/08

What Strikes Me Most:

This article was very interesting to me as I read it. I had heard about the different claims being made against Nike because of working conditions, but I was unaware of the specific actions that have been taking place in the factories. In present day, it is hard to believe that verbal, physical, and sexual assault is still occurring within the work place. What is harder to believe is that the treatment of the workers is extremely similar to that of the slaves who were working on plantations and mills. Just like the Nike workers, slaves were being verbally and physically abused daily and many women encountered sexual assaults as well. It’s shocking to see the same awful behaviors continuing over such a widespread time frame. One would think that we could learn from history, but apparently we haven’t. I wonder if we are choosing not to learn because of our reliance on the products being produced in these industries as opposed to simply not recognizing inappropriate behaviors within different workforces. I’d be curious to see how many Nike factories are still engaging in these behaviors. In addition, I’d be curious to see if people recognize these problems within the workforce, but still don’t do anything because of economical reliance and benefits.

Source Notes:

3 types of abuse in the workforce

-physical

-verbal

-sexual

30% subjected to verbal abuse

8% received unwelcome sexual comments

3.3% physically abused

Summary Pages 324-354

On pages 324-354 of Bury the Chains, Hochschild starts off by talking about how the West India Committee was trying to offer self-regulation instead of abiding by some laws that Parliament was trying to pass. The public was waiting for “immediate abolition” (324) and felt that that was what needed to be done. Elizabeth Heyrick was apart of this public who wanted immediate abolition and published a pamphlet and setting out to organize another sugar boycott. Hochschild also talks about other women activists including Sophia Sturge and Lucy Townsend who were involved in the quest to abolish slavery. John Smith was a Protestant missionary to the slaves and helped organize a rebellion on the nearby plantations. Unfortunately, John Smith was later put on trial and killed. His death caused quite a stir among the public and once again, the empathy of Briton’s grew.

Material from Text connected to my essay

On page 365, Hochschild makes a comparison between ending slavery and ending present day issues like war, the gap between the rich and the poor, and the assaults on earth, air, and water. Once again Hochschild is making a comparison between slavery and a present day issue and it's working. He says "None of these problems will be solved overnight, or perhaps even in the fifty years it took to end British slavery. They will not be solved at all unless people see them as both outrageous and solvable" (365). He makes an excellent point about people not taking a stance to solve a problem unless they see a reasonable way to find a solution. For my topic drawing on the comparisons between slavery and present day sweatshops, I find it being a similar situation. If people thought of a feasible way to go about eliminating sweatshops and the goods produced in them without economically suffering, it could happen. But since there is such a reliance on the goods produced and people may not see this as such a burning issue in society, not as many people are going to stand up against it. I agree with Hochschild's point that unless people see issues as very important and likely to be solved, they aren't going to be as likely to stand up against it.

Chapter 21 Summary-BTC

In Chapter 21 of Bury the Chains, Hochschild opens the chapter with the duel that is occurring with William Witt and George Tierney in Putney Heath. James Stephen re-enters the chapter and is described as “one of the empire’s leading maritime lawyers” (301). Because of Stephen’s knowledge of the world of international commerce, he became and influential member in the abolition movement. Due to his maritime knowledge, Stephen played a role in organizing the Foreign Slave Trade Act which would cut off two-thirds of the British slave trade. Luckily, the low turnout rate at the debate at the House of Commons helped pass the act without any problems. The next stop for the act was the House of Lords and luckily, the support of the public was still against the slave trade and after gathering a petition with an adequate number of names, the bill passed. As growing support for the antislavery movement continued and flourished, a bill abolishing the slave trade passed in both houses of Parliament in 1807. Unfortunately, despite the abolition of the slave trade, the slaves in the Caribbean islands were still slaves.