DEFINITON, STRUCTURE, AND

LANGUANGE FEATURES DESCRIPTIVE,

NARRATIVE, PROCEDURE, REPORT,
AND RECOUNT
DESEMBER 8, 2012 BY RUGAYAMANAN

Descriptive Text
1. Definiton
descriptive text is a text that describes what kind of person or an object described, good
shape, properties, and other numbers. Goal (purpose) of the descriptive text was clear,
namely to explain, DESCRIBE or disclose an individual or an object.
2. Structure
When writing descriptive text, there are several sets of common / generic structure
(actually not mandatory) that our writing is considered correct. The order is:
1. Identification: contains the identification of matter / a will be described.
2. Description: contains the explanation / description of the thing / person to mention a
few properties.
3. Languange Features
-. The use of adjectives and compound adjectives.
Using the simple present tense.

Compound adjectives Exceptions

Note that combining an adverb and an adjective does not create a compound adjective. No hyphen
is required because it is already clear that the adverb modifies the adjective rather than the
subsequent noun. For example:

1. It was a terribly hot day.

2. It is an amazingly good idea.

In addition, you should not place a hyphen in a compound adjective if the adjectives are capitalized,
such as when they are part of a title.

Examples of compound adjectives

1. This is a four-foot table.
2. Daniella is a part-time worker.
3. This is an all-too-common error.
4. Beware of the green-eyed monster.
5. He is a cold-blooded man.
6. I love this brightly-lit room!
7. Dannys dog is well-behaved.
8. You have to be open-minded about things.

Compound adjective exercises

1. From each group, choose the sentence that contains a compound adjective:

A. Sheila was horribly moody.

 B. Wed like you to be part of the decision-making process.
C. The company showed steady improvement in their stock trades.

A. This is a widely used procedure for finishing wood floors.

B. Moths ate his woolen socks.
C. That was really generous of you.

A. Sharons adopted son is five years old today.

B. My new car has leather upholstery.
C. She was a well-known actress by the time she reached age five.

Answers:B, A, C

2. Using hyphens in compound adjectives: Which sentences are correct?

A. The group was full of rowdy 10 year old schoolboys.

B. The group was full of rowdy 10-year-old schoolboys.

A. The actress is well known.

B. The actress is well-known.

A. They enjoyed a three-year profit streak.

B. They enjoyed a three-year-profit streak.

Answers:B, A, A

3. Using ly adverbs in compound adjectives: Which sentences are correct?

A. Along the river, rapidly increasing floodwaters caused evacuations.

B. Along the river, rapidly-increasing floodwaters caused evacuations.

A. My neighbor Jim is an internationally recognized author.

B. My neighbor Jim is an internationally-recognized author.

A. The bank robbers tried to hatch their ill conceived plan and failed.
B. The bank robbers tried to hatch their ill-conceived plan and failed.

Answers:A, A, B

4. Choose the correct compound adjective for each sentence.

A. He is fond of ______________________ Scotch.

good
12-year-old
10 year old
B. The weather has been ___________________ lately.
terribly-cold
terribly cold
too cold
C. Babysitting these kids is like trying to manage a _____________________.
three ring circus
 three-ring-circus
three-ring circus

Answers: A 12-year-old B terribly cold C three-ring circus

5. Fill in the blanks with the best compound adjective for the situation:

A. Melanie has everything she needs. She is _____________________.

two-faced
very badly behaved
well-cared for
B. Louis overcomes difficulties easily. He is _______________________.
short-tempered
level-headed
internationally renowned
C. Mr. Chan likes to hear about new ideas. He is ______________________.
strong-minded
two faced
open-minded

Answers: A well-cared for B level-headed C open-minded

6. Fill in the blanks with the best phrase for the situation:

A. Jesse was promoted, so he bought ________________________________.

himself-a brand new car
himself a brand-new-car
himself a brand-new car
B. The _______________________ has been going on for decades.
gun control debate
gun-control debate
gun-control-debate
C. The sound of ___________________________ always soothes my mind.
gently-flowing water
gently flowing water
gently-flowing-water

Answers: A himself a brand-new car B gun-control debate C gently flowing water

7. From each group, choose the sentence containing the correct compound adjective:

A. Maria is old-fashioned. She cant quite see the words on the blackboard.
B. Maria is near-sighted. She cant quite see the words on the blackboard.
C. Maria is very shy. She cant quite see the words on the backboard.

A. She wore an old-fashioned dress to the ball.

B. She wore a deeply-rooted dress to the ball.
C. She wore a seasonal dress to the ball.

A. He works for a Texas-based pharmaceutical company.

B. He works for a rapidly increasing pharmaceutical company.
 C. He works for an American-style pharmaceutical company.

Answers:B near-sighted A old-fashioned C Texas-based

8. Creating compound adjectives: From each group, choose the sentence pair that makes the most
sense.

A. I dont like glue that dries slowly. = This is a quick-drying glue.

B. Did you know that some plants eat meat? = Did you know that there are meat-eating plants?
C. Professor Brown has a very narrow mind. = Professor Browns mind is very narrow.

A. The price of the car was high. = It was a high-priced car.

B. The meal tasted good. = This was a tasteful-meal.
C. He likes to weigh in on political issues. = He is loud-mouthed and boring.

A. The tapeworm measured 35 inches. = The tape-worm measured 35-inches.

B. The duck has flat feet. = Thats a flat-footed duck.
C. Why not try some carrot juice? = Have some carrot-juice.

Answers:B meat-eating plants A high-priced car B flat-footed duck

9. Compound adjectives containing numbers: From each group, choose the sentence containing the
correct compound adjective.

A. The earthworms were at least three inches long.

B. He ate a 12-inch sandwich for lunch.
C. The sumo champion weighed 210-kilograms.

A. He drives a one-ton truck.

B. Our house has three-bedrooms and two-bathrooms.
C. There are nine-carrots in each bottle of juice.

A. My new chainsaw cost three-hundred dollars.

B. I got a 300-dollar chainsaw for two hundred dollars.
C. The best chainsaws cost more than three-hundred-dollars.

Answers:B 12-inch sandwich A one-ton truck B 300-dollar chainsaw

10. Use the underlined phrase to make a compound adjective.

A. He suggested an innovative plan to save money.

B. Her brother had a sharp mind.
C. My cat died suddenly when it was ten years old.

Answers:

A. He suggested an innovative money-saving plan.

B. Her brother was sharp-minded.
C. My ten-year-old cat died suddenly.
I saw a man-eating alligator.
We are describing the alligator. What type of alligator is it? It is one that eats men (or people).
I saw a man eating alligator.
This sentence without the hyphen sounds like a man is eating an alligator.
(man is the subject, eating is the verb, alligator is the object or thing that is being eaten).

As you can see, the hyphen (or lack of it) makes a big difference in the meaning of the sentence.
Before we explain in more detail why we put that hyphen between those two words in the first
sentence, we need to do a quick review of Adjectives.

What is an adjective?
An adjective is a word that describes something.
A red car (red is an adjective because it describes the car. How is the car? Red)
A big book (big is an adjective because it describes the book. How is the book? Big)

See our other grammar notes about Adjectives in English. (LINK)

But sometimes we use more than one adjective to describe something.

Compound adjectives
A compound adjective is an adjective that contains two or more words.

In general we put a hyphen between two or more words (before a noun) when we want them to act
as a single idea (adjective) that describes something.

I live in an English-speaking country.

English-speaking is an adjective (used to describe the country). We use a hyphen to connect the
word English with speaking to show that it is one adjective (or one idea).

This adjective with two words joined by the hyphen is called a compound adjective.

Some more examples of compound adjectives are:

Our office is in a twenty-storey building.

I have just finished reading a 300-page book.
He is a well-known writer.

There are many types of Compound Adjectives. Here is a list of the most common types:

Compound Adjectives + Periods of Time

When he have compound adjectives using numbers + a time period, that word referring to a time
period is in singular form and is joined to the number with a hyphen.

I work eight hours every day --> I work an eight-hour day

I'm going on vacation for three weeks --> I have a three-week vacation
There was a delay of 5 seconds --> There was a five-second delay

Notice how we normally write the number as a word, not in numerical form.

Adverbs and Compound Adjectives

Adverbs modify a verb.

She walks slowly.

How does she walk? Slowly. Slowly is an adverb that modifies (or describes) the verb.
Adverbs can also be used to modify an adjective.

It is very hot today. (Very is an adverb)

She is extremely intelligent. (Extremely is an adverb)
Notice how we do not put a hyphen between an adverb and an adjective (not even before a noun).

It is a very hot day.

She is an extremely intelligent girl.

Adverb + Past Participle

However when we have an Adverb + past participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to
make it a compound adjective.

This is a brightly-lit room.

She is a well-known actress.
We live in a densely-populated city.

Noun + Past Participle

When we have a noun + past participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a
compound adjective.

We should start using wind-powered generators to cut costs.

I love eating sun-dried raisins.

Noun + Present Participle

When we have a noun + present participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a
compound adjective.

I bought some mouth-watering strawberries.

That was a record-breaking jump.

Noun + Adjective
When we have a noun + adjective, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a compound
adjective.

She is a world-famous singer.

This is a smoke-free restaurant.

Adjective + Noun
When we have an adjective + noun, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a compound
adjective.

It was a last-minute decision.

We watched the full-length version of the movie.

Adjective + Past Participle

When we have an adjective + past participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a
compound adjective.

That is an old-fashioned dress

Reptiles are cold-blooded creatures.

Adjective + Present Participle

When we have an adjective + present participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it
a compound adjective.

She is a good-looking girl.

It left a long-lasting taste in my mouth.

Compound Adjectives with Proper Nouns

A proper noun is the name of something or someone (e.g. John, Susan Sanders).
Compound Adjectives made from Proper nouns don't need a hyphen though must have capital
letters.

I bought the James Jackson tickets for us.

James Jackson is a compound adjective describing the tickets (What type of tickets? James Jackson
tickets). Since the adjective is a Proper noun, we don't need a hyphen between the two names.

How do we know when to put a hyphen?

If you can use the word and between the two adjectives or words, then a hyphen isn't necessary.

She has a big blue book.

(Big and Blue are adjectives)

Can we say: She has a big and blue book. (Yes, it is possible)

He is a world famous singer

Can we say: He is a world and famous singer. No, it doesn't sound correct so we need a hyphen to
join the words worldand famous.
Also, look at the following:

It's an old coal-mining town

Notice how we didn't put a hyphen between the word old and coal. If we had have done that, we
would have been referring to old coal, as in coal that is old. We want to emphasis that the town in old
and not the coal.
Here we can say it is old and a coal-mining one.
I saw a man-eating alligator.
We are describing the alligator. What type of alligator is it? It is one that eats men (or people).

I saw a man eating alligator.

This sentence without the hyphen sounds like a man is eating an alligator.
(man is the subject, eating is the verb, alligator is the object or thing that is being eaten).
As you can see, the hyphen (or lack of it) makes a big difference in the meaning of the sentence.

Before we explain in more detail why we put that hyphen between those two words in the first
sentence, we need to do a quick review of Adjectives.

What is an adjective?
An adjective is a word that describes something.
A red car (red is an adjective because it describes the car. How is the car? Red)

A big book (big is an adjective because it describes the book. How is the book? Big)
See our other grammar notes about Adjectives in English. (LINK)
But sometimes we use more than one adjective to describe something.

Compound adjectives
A compound adjective is an adjective that contains two or more words.
In general we put a hyphen between two or more words (before a noun) when we want them to act
as a single idea (adjective) that describes something.

I live in an English-speaking country.

English-speaking is an adjective (used to describe the country). We use a hyphen to connect the
word English with speaking to show that it is one adjective (or one idea).
This adjective with two words joined by the hyphen is called a compound adjective.

Some more examples of compound adjectives are:

Our office is in a twenty-storey building.

I have just finished reading a 300-page book.
He is a well-known writer.

There are many types of Compound Adjectives. Here is a list of the most common types:

Compound Adjectives + Periods of Time

When he have compound adjectives using numbers + a time period, that word referring to a time
period is in singular form and is joined to the number with a hyphen.

I work eight hours every day --> I work an eight-hour day

I'm going on vacation for three weeks --> I have a three-week vacation
There was a delay of 5 seconds --> There was a five-second delay

Notice how we normally write the number as a word, not in numerical form.

Adverbs and Compound Adjectives

Adverbs modify a verb.

She walks slowly.

How does she walk? Slowly. Slowly is an adverb that modifies (or describes) the verb.
Adverbs can also be used to modify an adjective.

It is very hot today. (Very is an adverb)

She is extremely intelligent. (Extremely is an adverb)

Notice how we do not put a hyphen between an adverb and an adjective (not even before a noun).

It is a very hot day.

She is an extremely intelligent girl.

Adverb + Past Participle

However when we have an Adverb + past participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to
make it a compound adjective.

This is a brightly-lit room.

She is a well-known actress.
We live in a densely-populated city.

Noun + Past Participle

When we have a noun + past participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a
compound adjective.

We should start using wind-powered generators to cut costs.

I love eating sun-dried raisins.

Noun + Present Participle

When we have a noun + present participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a
compound adjective.

I bought some mouth-watering strawberries.

That was a record-breaking jump.
Noun + Adjective
When we have a noun + adjective, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a compound
adjective.

She is a world-famous singer.

This is a smoke-free restaurant.

Adjective + Noun
When we have an adjective + noun, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a compound
adjective.

It was a last-minute decision.

We watched the full-length version of the movie.

Adjective + Past Participle

When we have an adjective + past participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a
compound adjective.

That is an old-fashioned dress

Reptiles are cold-blooded creatures.

Adjective + Present Participle

When we have an adjective + present participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it
a compound adjective.

She is a good-looking girl.

It left a long-lasting taste in my mouth.

Compound Adjectives with Proper Nouns

A proper noun is the name of something or someone (e.g. John, Susan Sanders).
Compound Adjectives made from Proper nouns don't need a hyphen though must have capital
letters.

I bought the James Jackson tickets for us.

James Jackson is a compound adjective describing the tickets (What type of tickets? James Jackson
tickets). Since the adjective is a Proper noun, we don't need a hyphen between the two names.

How do we know when to put a hyphen?

If you can use the word and between the two adjectives or words, then a hyphen isn't necessary.

She has a big blue book.

(Big and Blue are adjectives)

Can we say: She has a big and blue book. (Yes, it is possible)

He is a world famous singer

Can we say: He is a world and famous singer. No, it doesn't sound correct so we need a hyphen to
join the words worldand famous.

Also, look at the following:

It's an old coal-mining town

Notice how we didn't put a hyphen between the word old and coal. If we had have done that, we
would have been referring to old coal, as in coal that is old. We want to emphasis that the town in old
and not the coal.

Here we can say it is old and a coal-mining one.

Narrative Text
1. Definiton
A Narrative text is a text that Tells a story. (A Narrative text is a text that tells a story)
The purpose of this text is to amuse, entertain and to deal with actual or various
experience in different ways. (The purpose of this text is to entertain))
Narrative always deal with some problems roomates leads to the climax and then turn
into a solution to the problem. (Narrative always deals with some of the problems that
led to the climax and then turn into a solution for this problem.)
2. Structure
Orientation: (in this section is the introduction of the characters, the story takes place
or time.)
Complication: (at this stage the problem started to appear.)
Resolution: (at this stage of resolution, is the final stage in which the story will be
completed).
3. Languange Features
Using the simple past tense, past perfect, past continous, past perfect continous &
past future continous.
PROCEDURE TEXT
1. Definiton
procedure text are (1) Text that explains how something bekerjaatau text that explains
how to use instruction guide / usage. example: how to use video, computers, copiers,
fax etc.. (2) The text shows how to perform certain activities. eg recipes, rules, play
games, scientific experiments, road safety rules. (3) Text-related behavior
manusia.contoh: Courant way of life, how to be successful. Procedure text etc. .. The
purpose is to tell the reader how to do / These events are usually divided into several
steps langkahterpisah. This text is usually written using the present tense. Palingumum
example procedure text is recipes.
2. STRUCTURE
As with any procedure definition text above, the generic structure procedure also text
was threefold:
1 Goal (purpose or goal)
2 Material Needed (material / equipment / materials required)
3 Methods or Steps (Method / steps) Note: In the procedure text in the form of How-to
(Anyway titled howto), sometimes the material needed (materials needed) not included
3. Languange Features
Use of imperatives (cut, dont mix)
Use of action Verbs (turn, put, mix)
Use of connectives (first, then, finally)
Use of adverbial phrases (for five minutes, 2 centimeters from the top)
Report Text
1. Definition
Report is a text which presents information about something, as it is. It is as a result of
systematic observation and analysis
2. Structure
1. General classification: Stating classification of general aspect of thing; animal, public
place, plant, etc which will be discussed in general
2. Description: Describing the thing which will be discussed in detail; part per part ,
customs or deed for living creature and usage for materials
3. Language Feature
Introducing group or general aspect
Using conditional logical connection; when, so, etc
Using simple present tense
Recount Text
1. Definition
texet text recounts are usually recounted an incident that had occurred in the past.
Usually texet recounts drawn from personal experience then written into essays that
form the text itself.
2. structure:
Orientation (Orientation): Provides an introduction to the events experienced, a figure
that is in the event, where the event occurred, and the time when the incident / event
occurred.
Events: Contains tangle of events / events in the story experience. This section usually
consists of several Events / Events
Re-orientation: Contains summary / cover story.
3. Languange Features
Using the simple past tense
1. Definition of Discussion
Discussion is a text which present a problematic discourse. This problem will be
discussed from different viewpoints. Discussion is commonly found in philosophical,
historic, and social text.

1. 2. Generic Structure of Discussion

Statement of issue; stating the issue which is to discussed
List of supporting points; presenting the point in in supporting the presented issue
List of contrastive point; presenting other points which disagree to the supporting
point
Recommendation; stating the writer recommendation of the discourse
1. 3. Language Feature of Discussion
Introducing category or generic participant
Using thinking verb; feel, hope, believe, etc
Using additive, contrastive, and causal connection; similarly, on the hand, however,
etc
Using modalities; must, should, could, may, etc
Using adverbial of manner; deliberately, hopefully, etc
1. 4. Examples and structures of the text

Homework
Issue I have been wondering if homework is necessary.
I think we should have homework because it helps us
to learn and revise our work.
Statement Homework helps people who arent very smart to
of issue remember what they have learned. Homework is
and really good because it helps with our education.
Preview
But, many times, doing homework is not a great idea.
I think we shouldnt have homework because I like to
go out after school to a restaurant or the movies.
Sometimes homework is boring and not important.
Statement I think homework is bad because I like to play and
of various discuss things with my family.
viewpoints

Example of Discussion Text

1. A. Example of Discussion Text on Nuclear Power
The Advantage and Disadvantage of Nuclear Power
Nuclear power is generated by using uranium which is a metal mined in various part of
the world. The first large scale of nuclear power station was opened at Calder Hall in
Cumbria, England in 1956.

Some military ships and submarines have nuclear power plant for engine. Nuclear
power produces around 11% of the worlds energy needed, and produces huge amounts
of energy. It cause no pollution as we would get when burning fossil fuels. The
advantages of nuclear plant are as follow:

It costs about the same coal, so it is not expansive to make.

It does not produce smoke or carbon dioxide, so it does not contribute to the
greenhouse effect.
It produces huge amounts of energy from small amount of uranium.
It produces small amount of waste.
It is reliable.
On the other hand, nuclear power is very, very dangerous. It must be sealed up and
buried for many years to allow the radioactivity to die away. Furthermore, although it is
reliable, a lot of money has to be spent on safety because if it does go wrong, a nuclear
accident ca be a major accident.

People are increasingly concerned about this matter. In the 1990s nuclear power was
the fastest growing source of power in many parts of the world.

Note on the Generic Structure of Discussion Text

Discussion is a process to find the meet point between two different ideas. It is
important to to get the understanding between the two differences. In many social
activities, discussion is the effective way to calm down any friction and difference in
thought, perception and recommendation.

This example of discussion text present the two poles, between the advantage and
disadvantage of using nuclear plant to fulfill the energy needed. It is a case which need
to be talked and discussed from two points. They are represented in the generic
structure which is used:

Stating the Issue: In the first paragraph, it is stated that using nuclear power can be
the choice in fulfilling the needed energy.
Supporting Point: In the second paragraph, it is presented the advantages of nuclear
power plant to be used as the source of the worlds energy needed
Contrastive Point: The third paragraph shows the balance. It gives the contradictory
idea in using nuclear power plant as the resource of energy.
Recommendation: This text is ended with a similar recommendation on how people
should concern in the matter of nuclear energy.
1. B. Hunting Fox
Foxhunting is a subject that provokes very strong feelings. Many people believe that it is
cruel to hunt a fox with dogs and totally agree with its ban.

Many farmer and even conservationists, however, have always argue that the fox is a
pest which attacks livestock and must be controlled.

(Taken from: www.bbc.co.uk)

Generic Structure Analysis

Stating the issue; hunting fox.
Supporting point; farmers and conservationists agree to hunt fox because they attack
livestok.
Contrastive point; many people disagree hunting fox with dog because it is cruel.
Recommendation; Do not be cruel in hunting fox just control it in safe way.
Language Feature Analysis
Introducing category participant; farmer, conservationists.
Using thinking verb; believe.
Using connectives;
Using modalities; must, always

Contoh Discussion Text Terbaik dalam Bahasa Inggris

Sebelum melihat link 6 contoh discussion text terbaik didalam blog ini, you may want to read again the
basic things of a discussion text, you can read what is a discussion text in my previous post. Now lets see
the following 6 examples of discussion texts!
1. The Pros and Cons of National Exam. The existence of national exam which determines whether
students succeed or not for 3 years in high school and deserve to hold graduating certificate extremely
raises pros and cons. Some agree to the existence of national exam for high school students. On the other
hand, a lot of people disagree to the existence of national exam
2. The Pro and Con of Giving Children Homework. This is another example of discussion text. The pros
and cons of children homework. Some parents agree that children who go to formal school should be given
a homework. It stimulate them to study at home. However, some of parents disagree. children who go to
school and have spent all morning in school should have a little free time at their home
3. The advantages and Disadvantages of Distance Learning. One of the most obvious examples of a
discussion text is reading a text which includes the phrase of advantage and disadvantage It means that
the text is about certain issue which 2 different sides.
4. The Pros and Cons of Nuclear Power. Using nuclear energy always raises a debate. Some agree. the
other disagree.
5. The Pro and Con of Hunting Fox. Hunting is exciting activity to spend leisure time. Since it hunt foxes,
surely it is debatable. It will be written in pros and cons.
6. Gift Cards Give Advantages and Disadvantages. Gift card is another example of discussion text.
Because it explores the advantageous side and disadvantageous one.

Those are discussion texts with 6 best examples referring to the purpose and the generic structure.
Hopefully they can help you to do your assignment and encourage to read, correct, revise, and make your
own discussion text.
HORTATORY EXPOSITION

Definition
Hortatory exposition is a type of spoken or written text that is intended to explain the listeners
or readers that something should or should not happen or be done.
Hortatory exposition text can be found in scientific books, journals, magazines, newspaper
articles, academic speech or lectures, research report etc.
Hortatory expositions are popular among science, academic community and educated people.
To strengthen the explanation, the speaker or writer needs some arguments as the
fundamental reasons of the given idea. In other words, this kind of text can be called as
argumentation.
Purpose:
To persuade the readers that something should or should not be the case or be done.
Generic Structure:
1. Thesis : Statement or announcement of issue concern
2. Arguments : Reasons for concern that will lead to recommendation
3. Recommendation : Statement of what should or should not happen or be done based on
the given arguments
Language features:
1. Using Simple Present Tense
2. Using modals
3. Using action verbs
4. Using thinking verbs
5. Using adverbs
6. Using adjective
7. Using technical terms
8. Using general and abstract noun
9. Using connectives/transition
Then what is the basic difference between analytical and hortatory exposition?
In simple word. Analytical is the answer of How is/will while hortatory is the answer of How
should. Analytical exposition will be best to describe How will student do for his examination?
The point is the important thing to do. But for the question How should student do for his
exam? will be good to be answered with hortatory. It is to convince that the thing should be
done.
The examples of Hortatory Exposition:
Internet for students
Nowadays, in modern era, I think internet is very important for students.
As we all know internet has many function for supporting our life. They are, first, it gives us
various information, news, knowledge etc. Students can search anything or something from
internet. Take for example, they search about education, entertainment, knowledge etc that is in
the world.
Second, they can add their friends in all countries in the world by internet. Chatting, e-mail,
facebook, twitter, interpals are some examples of internet facility to have many friends. Besides,
they can share, communicate, discuss and so on.
From my arguments above, as student, we should use internet facility well to get knowledge,
friends, information etc.
_________________________
Watching TV
Thesis:
Is it important to know what your kids are watching? Of course it is. Television can expose your
children to things that you have tried to protect them from, especially violence, drug abuse, etc.
Argument 1:
One study demonstrated that watching too much TV during the day or at bedtime often causes
bedtime resistance, sleep onset delay and anxiety around sleep, followed by shortened sleep
duration.
Argument 2:
Another study found a significant association between the amount of time spent watching
television during adolescence and early adulthood, and the like hood of subsequent aggressive
acts against others.
 Argument 3:
Meanwhile, many studies have found an association between kids watching a lot of TV, being
inactive and overweight.
Recommendation:
Considering some facts above, protect your children with some following tips:
1. Limit television viewing to 1-2 hours each day.
2. Do not allow your children to have a TV set in their bedrooms.
3. Review the ratings of TV shows that your children watch.
4. Watch television with your children and discuss what is happening during the show.

The difference between analytical and hortatory exposition. (for the eight a,b,c please write and
make 5 questions on each example)

Perbedaan Analytical and Hortatory Exposition

ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION
Social function/fungsi sosial: To persuade the readers or the listeners that something in the case,
to analyze or to explain/untuk membujuk pembaca atau pendengar bahwa sesuatu bisa
menjadi masalah, untuk menganalisa/menjelaskan sebuah masalah.
Generic Structure/Struktur:
1. Thesis (usually includes a preview argument. It introduces topics and indicates the writers
position.)
2. Arguments (consists of a point and elaboration sequence. The number of points may vary,
but each must be supported by discussion and evidence).
3. Reiteration (restates the position more forcefully in the light of the arguments presented).
Jenis teks ini di awali dengan
THESIS, yaitu pendapat kalian tentang suatu masalah. Biasanya di awali dengan kalimat I
personally think, In my opinion, I believe, etc. Setelah kalian menuliskan thesis atau pendapat,
kalian harus menuliskan ARGUMENTS, yaitu argumen-argumen atau alasan-alasan yang
disertai dengan fakta dan bukti-bukti yang relevan sehingga pendengar atau pembaca
terpengaruh dengan argumen yang kalian kemukakan. Biasanya dimulai dengan Firstly, Nest,
Third, The last, etc.
Untuk mengakhiri teks, kalian harus menuliskan REITERATION, yaitu simpulan dari thesis
dan arguments yang telah kalian bicarakan sebelumnya. Kalian bisa mengungkapkannya melalui
kalimat In my conclusion, To conclude, From the facts above, we can conclude that, etc.
Language features:
Emotive words such as : alarmed, worried.
Words that qualify statements such as: usual probably
Words that link arguments such as: firstl y, however, on the other hand, therefore.
Usually present tense
Compound and complex sentences
Example: Text 1.

Before we are going to smoke, it is better to look at the fact. About 50 thousands people die every
year in Britain as direct result of smoking. This is seven times as many as die in road accidents.
Nearly a quarter of smokers die because of diseases caused by smoking.
Ninety percent of lung cancers are caused by smoking. If we smoke five cigarettes a day, we are
six times more likely to die of lung cancer than a non smoker. If we smoke twenty cigarettes a day,
the risk is nineteen greater. Ninety five percent of people who suffer of bronchitis are people who
are smoking. Smokers are two and half times more likely to die of heart disease than non smokers.
Additionally, children of smoker are more likely to develop bronchitis and pneumonia. In one hour
in smoky room, non smoker breathes as much as substance causing cancer as if he had smoked
fifteen cigarettes.
Smoking is really good for tobacco companies because they do make much money from smoking
habit. Smoking however is not good for every body else.
Make 5 questions!

Thesis: This pre-conclusive paragraph states the writers point of view about the topic discussed.
Writer has show himself in clear position of the discussed topic. Paragraph 1 is the thesis of this
analytical exposition text. It states the fact of the very fatal impact of the smoking habit. Clearly
the writer wants to say that smoking is not a good habit.
Arguments: Presenting arguments in analytical exposition text is as important as giving conflict
plot in narrative text. The series of argument will strengthen the thesis stated before. In this
example of analytical exposition text, paragraph 2 and 3 are the detail arguments presented in a
reporting fact to support that smoking is not good even for smokers themselves. Furthermore,
people who do not smoke but they are in smoky area have the bad effect too from the smoking
habit.
Reiteration: This end paragraph actually is restating the thesis. It is something like conclusive
paragraph from the previous arguments. The last paragraph of this example of analytical exposition
points again that smoking is not good for smokers and people around smokers. However smoking
is very good for Cigarette Companies
Notes on the generic structure of this example of analytical exposition
As we know that both analytical exposition and hortatory exposition are classified as
argumentative essay. Both present argument to support the thesis state in the orientation. This
thesis places the writers position on the essay. From the generic structure, what make big different
is that analytical exposition ends with paragraph to strengthen the thesis while hortatory makes a
recommendation for readers.
Dalam mengungkapkan pendapat, kalian pasti berusaha untuk meyakinkan lawan bicara agar
mau mengikuti apa yang kalian inginkan. Makanya kalian juga akan memberikan argumen-
argumen yang kuat untuk mendukung opini kalian sehingga lawan bicara bisa terpengaruh dan
mengiyakan pendapat kalian.
Jadi, untuk membedakan teks Analytical Exposition dengan teks lainnya adalah di lihat dari isi
dan tujuannya. The social function is to persuade by presenting arguments. Tujuannya adalah
untuk membujuk pendengar atau pembaca sehingga mereka mau mengikuti keinginan kalian.
Teks ini berisi tentang argumen atau alasan.
Contoh:
I personally think learning English through music and songs can be very enjoyable. You can mix
pleasure with learning when you listen to a song and exploit the song as a means to your English
progress. Some underlying reason can be drawn to support the idea why we use songs in language
learning.
Firstly, the song stuck in my head Phenomenon (the echoing in our minds of the last song we
heard after leaving a restaurant, shopping malls, etc) can be both enjoyable and sometimes
unnerving. This phenomenon also seems to reinforce the idea that songs work on our short-and-
long term memory.
Secondly, songs in general also use simple conversational language, with a lot of repetition, which
is just what many learners look for sample text. The fact that they are effective makes them many
times more motivating than other text. Although usually simple, some songs can be quite complex
syntactically, lexically and poetically, and can be analyzed in the same way as any other literary
sample.
Furthermore, song can be appropriated by listener for their own purpose. Most pop songs and
probably many other types dont have precise people, place or time reference.
In addition, songs are relaxing. They provide variety and fun, and encourage harmony within
oneself and within one group. Little wonder they are important tools in sustaining culture, religion,
patriotism and yeas, even revolution.
Last but not least, there are many learning activities we can do with songs such as studying
grammar, practicing selective listening comprehension, translating songs, learning vocabulary,
spelling and culture.
From the elaboration above, it can be concluded that learning through music and songs, learning
English can be enjoyable and fun.
Coba perhatikan teks di atas. Kalian pasti sudah tau kan yang mana thesis, argument dan
reiteration.
I personally think (thesis)
Firstly, Secondly, Furthermore, In addition, Last but not least (arguments)
From the elaboration above (reiteration)
HORTATORY EXPOSITION

I. Teks ini hampir sama dengan Analytical Exposition, dapat ditemukan pada berbagai macam
surat maupun artikel yang bersifat membujuk, mempengaruhi misalnya surat pembaca, promosi,
surat terbuka dan lain-lain.

II. Struktur susunan teks

* Thesis *
Berisi issue atau topic permasalahan yang diangkat sebagai pokok persoalan, serta posisi penulis
terhadap persoalan tersebut.

* Arguments *
Serangkaian alasan yang mendukung ide penulis.

* Recommendation *
Berisi anjuran, nasihat atau apa yang seharusnya atau tidak seharusnya dilakukan menanggapi
persoalan yang diangkat.
The generic structure is as follow:
Thesis; thesis is similar to tentative conclusion which needs to be proven by certain fact and
argument. In the end, it can be true or false
Arguments; this is the phase which try to examine and support that the thesis stated above is true.
Recommendation; this is what should or should not be done in the hortatory text. This
recommendation is differentiating from analytical exposition.

III. Language features / ciri-ciri kebahasaan

* Generic participant. Obyek, pokok persoalan bersifat umum.

* Terdapat action verb, kata kerja tindakan

* Menggunakan mental process, missal : think, feel, understand dsb.

* Simple present tense

IV.Tujuan Komunikatif
Membujuk, mempengaruhi dan menganjurkan kepada pembaca, pendengar bahwa sesuatu
seharusnya atau tidak seharusnya menjadi permasalahan.

To persuade the readers that something should or should not be the case.

Hortatory is similar to analytical exposition but if we have to differentiate both from one to each
other, we have one useful tool by making analysis on the generic structure. What makes
hortatory different from analytical exposition is the last finalizing step which analytical
exposition is ended by a reiteration while hortatory is finalized by certain a recommendation.

V. CONTOH TEKS.
Higher Education for Woman
In this modern era, there are still some parents who are reluctant about sending their
daughter to college. Such narrow attitude shown to woman higher education is largely due to the
traditional role of woman in society. A woman is expected just to be a wife and a mother most
parents believe that if their daughter gets married and chooses to be a housewife, then the higher
education will be a waste. However an educated woman does not only make a better wife abut also
contributer better thing to the large society.
Nowadays more women are successfully combining their career and marriage. Educated
women are richer both emotionally and financially. They are able to find an outlet for monotonous
drudgery of their housekeeping. They bring more satisfaction and contentment to their lives.
Depriving girl of higher education is crash discrimination. Time has changed. Modern
society need the talents of its people regardless of gender. Today women work alongside men. In
fact, in the last few decades women have made outstanding contributions to society.
 Woman should be given the freedom to be educated whether they get married or go to work
after finishing their education because it is only through education that a woman will find herself
useful and discover what she wants in life. A woman who work is not an insult to her husband.
Conversely, her husband should feel proud of her achievement since marriage is actually an equal
partnership. Therefore, parents should not think that girls should receive less education just
because they will get marriage one day.
Make 5 questions!
Example II

Why Should Wearing a Helmet when Motorcycling

We often hear lots of stories from road regarding people taking spill on motorcycle when they
are riding without using helmet. Mostly the riders badly end up in mess.
Wearing a fitted protective helmet offers many benefits which reduces the negative aspects of
riding. First and the most important is that wearing the correct helmet can save a rider's life,
physical ability, family pain, and money. The recommended designs of motorcycle helmets can
provide total protection. They not only protect riders from getting a worse road injured accident
but also from flying bugs, such as rain, sleet, mud and other potential projectiles.
Second, wearing a helmet can gives the raiders a matter of style. Helmets give the opportunity
for rider to express the image they may want to project when riding on they way. This benefit
may not be important to some people, but to others, it means a lot and important. By choosing
the most appropriate helmet from all of the various styles, such as beanie, shorty, German, and
many others, wearing a helmet which can projecting an image is an inherent crucial part of
motorcycling and help riders feel more confident when riding on the road.
However, what most important is wearing helmet when riding is a matter of using it properly.
Bikers should use the helmets which are fixed to their head. It is really not good if they places
simply the helmets on the head without settling them properly. The bikers should fasten the
helmet correctly to their head in order to get safe and comfort.

How can we see the generic structure of the hortatory example above?
Thesis: the importance of wearing helmet which is stated in the first paragraph
Argumentative: Wearing helmet gives a total protection and giving a chance in imaging self
which presented in the second paragraph.
Recommendation: Bikers should wear helmet properly to get the benefits.
Make 5 questions!

Teks hortatory exposition berisi tentang teks yang mengemukakan alasan-alasan dengan tujuan
untuk membujuk pendengar atau pembaca agar mau mengikuti apa yang dikemukakan penulis.
Dalam pelajaran bahasa Indonesia kita tentu sudah mengenal teks persuasi, yang sama isinya
dengan teks hortatory.
Teks hortatory di awali dengan Thesis, yaitu menuliskan opini penulis tentang suatu masalah.
Kemudian dilanjutkan dengan argumen, yaitu alasan-alasan yang mendukung pendapat penulis.
Terakhir, menuliskan saran atau nasihat.
Contoh Teks hortatory dalam bentuk surat:
Dear Editor,
We are writing to complain about ads on TV. There are so many ads, especially during our
favourite programmes. We think they should be stopped for a number of reasons.
First, ads are nuisance. They go on for a long time and there are so many. Sometimes there
seems to be more ads than programmes.
Second, ads are bad influence on people. They try to encourage people to buy unhealthy food
like beer, soft drink, candy and chips. And they make people want things they do not really need
and can not.
Finally, the people who make ads have too much say in what programmes people watch. That is
because they want to put all their ads on popular programs that a lot of people watch. Some
programmes which are not so popular get stopped because they do not attract enough ads, even
though those programmes may be someones favourite.
For those reasons, we think TV station should stop showing ads. They interrupt programmes.
They are bad influences on people, and they are sometimes put a stop to peoples favourite
shows. We are sick of ads, and now we mostly watch other channels.
David
Make 5 questions!
Coba perhatikan teks di atas. Paragraf pertama berisi thesis, yang dilanjutkan dengan arguments
(alasan) di paragraf 2, 3, dan 4. Paragraf ke 5 berisi tentang recommendation (saran). Isi dari
paragraf terakhir inilah yang membedakan teks horatatory dan analytical.
 What Is Critical Reading?

To non -critical readers, texts provide facts. Readers gain knowledge by

memorizing the statements within a text.
To the critical reader, any single text provides but one portrayal of the facts,
one individuals take on the subject matter. Critical readers thus recognize
not onlywhat a text says, but also how that text portrays the subject
matter. They recognize the various ways in which each and every text is the
unique creation of a unique author.
A non-critical reader might read a history book to learn the facts of the
situation or to discover an accepted interpretation of those events. A critical
reader might read the same work to appreciate how a particular perspective
on the events and a particular selection of facts can lead to particular
understanding.
What a Text Says, Does, and Means: Reaching for an Interpretation
Non-critical reading is satisfied with recognizing what a text says and restating
the key remarks.
Critical reading goes two steps further. Having recognized what a text says ,
it reflects on what the text does by making such remarks. Is it offering
examples? Arguing? Appealing for sympathy? Making a contrast to clarify a
point? Finally, critical readers then infer what the text, as a whole, means ,
based on the earlier analysis.
These three steps or modes of analysis are reflected in three types of reading
and discussion:
What a text says restatement
What a text does description
What a text means interpretation .
You can distinguish each mode of analysis by the subject matter of the
discussion:
What a text says restatement talks about the same topic as the original text
What a text does description discusses aspects of the discussion itself
What a text means interpretation analyzes the text and asserts a meaning
for the text as a whole
Goals of Critical Reading
Textbooks on critical reading commonly ask students to accomplish certain
goals:
to recognize an authors purpose
to understand tone and persuasive elements
to recognize bias
Notice that none of these goals actually refers to something on the page. Each
requires inferences from evidence within the text:

recognizing purpose involves inferring a basis for choices of content

and language
recognizing tone and persuasive elements involves classifying the
nature of language choices
recognizing bias involves classifying the nature of patterns of choice of
content and language

Critical reading is not simply close and careful reading. To read critically, one
must actively recognize and analyze evidence upon the page.
Analysis and Inference: The Tools of Critical Reading
These web pages are designed to take the mystery out of critical reading. They
are designed to show you what to look for ( analysis ) and how to think
about what you find ( inference ) .
 The first part what to look for involves recognizing those aspects of a
discussion that control the meaning.

The second part how to think about what you find involves the processes
of inference, the interpretation of data from within the text.

Recall that critical reading assumes that each author offers a portrayal of the
topic. Critical reading thus relies on an examination of those choices that any
and all authors must make when framing a presentation: choices of content,
language, and structure. Readers examine each of the three areas of choice,
and consider their effect on the meaning.

What is critical writing

Study guide

For a printer-friendly PDF version of this guide, click here

It is common for feedback on student writing to focus on the need to engage more critically with the source

material. Typical comments from tutors are: too descriptive, or not enough critical analysis. This Study Guide

gives ideas for how to improve the level of critical analysis you demonstrate in your writing. Other Study Guides

you may find useful are: What is Critical Reading? Using Paragraphs and The Art of Editing.

What is critical writing?

The most characteristic features of critical writing are:

a clear and confident refusal to accept the conclusions of other writers without evaluating the arguments and
evidence that they provide;

a balanced presentation of reasons why the conclusions of other writers may be accepted or may need to be
treated with caution;

a clear presentation of your own evidence and argument, leading to your conclusion; and

a recognition of the limitations in your own evidence, argument, and conclusion.

What is descriptive writing?

The most characteristic features of descriptive writing are that it will describe something, but will not go beyond

an account of what appears to be there. A certain amount of descriptive writing is needed to establish for

example:

the setting of the research;

a general description of a piece of literature, or art;
the list of measurements taken;
the timing of the research;
an account of the biographical details of a key figure in the discipline; or
a brief summary of the history leading up to an event or decision.
The difference between descriptive writing and critical writing
With descriptive writing you are not developing argument; you are merely setting the background within which

an argument can be developed. You are representing the situation as it stands, without presenting any analysis

or discussion.
 Descriptive writing is relatively simple. There is also the trap that it can be easy to use many, many words from

your word limit, simply providing description.

In providing only description, you are presenting but not transforming information; you are reporting ideas but

not taking them forward in any way. An assignment using only descriptive writing would therefore gain

few marks.

With critical writing you are participating in the academic debate. This is more challenging and risky. You need

to weigh up the evidence and arguments of others, and to contribute your own. You will need to:

consider the quality of the evidence and argument you have read;

identify key positive and negative aspects you can comment upon;

assess their relevance and usefulness to the debate that you are engaging in for your assignment; and

identify how best they can be woven into the argument that you are developing.

A much higher level of skill is clearly needed for critical writing than for descriptive writing, and this is reflected

in the higher marks it is given.

Finding your academic voice

When you engage in critical writing you are developing your own academic voice within your subject.

Wellington et al. (2005 p.84) offer some suggestions for distinguishing between the academic and the non-

academic voice. They suggest that the academic voice will involve:

healthy scepticism but not cynicism;

confidence but not cockiness or arrogance;

judgement which is critical but not dismissive;

opinions without being opinionated;

careful evaluation of published work not serial shooting at random targets;

being fair: assessing fairly the strengths and weaknesses of other peoples ideas and writing without
prejudice; and

making judgements on the basis of considerable thought and all the available evidence as opposed to
assertions without reason.

Wellington J., Bathmaker A., Hunt C., McCulloch G. and Sikes P. (2005). Succeeding with your doctorate. London: Sage.

Try to get into the habit of writing critically, by making sure that you read critically, and that you include critique

in your writing.

Stringing together of quotes

It can be tempting to string together quotes to support an argument, feeling that the more quotes you include,

the stronger your argument. It is important, however, to remember that you also need to interpret the quotes to

the reader, and to explain their relevance, discuss their validity, and show how they relate to other evidence.

Strategic use of paragraphs

There are several ways in which you can use the paragraph to enhance your critical writing.
 You can use paragraphs to make a clear and visual separation between descriptive writing and critical analysis,

by switching to a new paragraph when you move from description to critical writing, and vice versa. This can

help in:

emphasising to the reader that you are including both description and critical analysis, by providing a visual
representation of their separation; and

pushing you to produce the necessary critical writing, especially if you find that your description paragraphs are
always longer, or more frequent, than your critical analysis paragraphs.

A paragraph break can provide a brief pause for your readers within a longer argument; giving them the

opportunity to make sure they are keeping up with your reasoning. Paragraphs that are overly long can require

readers to hold too much in their mind at once, resulting in their having to re-read the material until they can

identify the point you are making.

You can also use paragraphs to push yourself to include critical writing alongside descriptive writing or

referencing, by considering each paragraph almost as an essay in miniature. Within each paragraph you would:

introduce the point you want to make;

make the point, with supporting evidence;

reflect critically on the point.

If its worth including, its worth telling us why

A certain amount of descriptive writing is essential, particularly in the earlier parts of the essay or assignment or

dissertation. Beyond that, however, there is a danger that too much descriptive writing will use up valuable

words from your word limit, and reduce the space you have for the critical writing that will get you higher marks.

A useful habit to get into is to make sure that, if you describe some evidence relevant to your argument, you

need then to explain to the reader why it is relevant. The logic of your explanation contributes to the critical

component of your writing.

So, a sentence or two might describe and reference the evidence, but this is not enough in itself. The next few

sentences need to explain what this evidence contributes to the argument you are making. This may feel like

duplication at first, or that you are explaining something that is obvious, but it is your responsibility to ensure

that the relevance of the evidence is explained to the reader; you should not simply assume that the reader will

be following the same logic as you, or will just work out the relevance of the quote or data you have described.

Line of argument
So far this Study Guide has considered the detail of what you write. The other key element in critical writing is

the overall structure of your piece of writing. For maximum effectiveness, your writing needs to have a line, or

lines of argument running through it from the Introduction to the Conclusion.

Just as you have used paragraphs on a micro scale to present your critical writing, so you need to consider the

ordering of those paragraphs within the overall structure. The aim is to lead your readers carefully through the

thread of your argument, to a well-supported conclusion.

 Example of effective critical writing
The text below is an example of good critical writing, and is based on essay material supplied by University of

Leicesters School of Psychology.

The author refers to the available evidence, but also evaluates the validity of that evidence, and assesses what

contribution it can realistically make to the debate.

There are a number of inherent methodological difficulties in evaluating treatment efficacy in this
area, and this has contributed to controversy within the research literature surrounding
treatment outcomes for this group of offenders (Marshall, 1997). Firstly, while there is no doubt
that the primary criterion of treatment success is a reduction in the rate of re-offending (Marshall
et al., 1999), reconviction data does not, in isolation, provide a realistic representation of actual
levels of re-offending by this group. It is well established that there is a discrepancy between re-
offending and reconviction rates: the latter underestimating the number of offences committed
(Grubin, 1999). Indeed, a significant proportion of offences committed by offenders are either
unreported, or do not result in the offender being convicted (Abel et al., 1987).

You can see how the author is considering the available evidence, but also the limitations on that evidence,

and will be taking all of this into account in drawing conclusions.

Checklist for an overall review of your writing

It is always worth taking a critical look at your own writing before submitting it for assessment. The kinds of

questions that might be useful to ask at that stage are:

What is the balance between descriptive and critical writing?

While a certain amount of description is necessary to set the context for your analysis, the main characteristic

of academic writing is its critical element. A useful way to check this balance in your own writing is to use two

coloured pens and to mark in the margin whether the lines are descriptive or critical. The balance will change at

different points, but you need to make sure there is enough of the colour that represents critical writing.

Why should the reader be convinced by what Ive just written?

Remember that, just as you are asking Why should I believe what Ive just read?, the readers of your work will

be asking the same question of your writing. A critical read through your own writing may reveal gaps in your

logic, which you can rectify before you submit it for the critique of others.

Is my conclusion trailed and supported sufficiently well by my preceding analysis and

argument?

Check out the conclusions that you have drawn, then locate and check the supporting evidence you provide

earlier on. This is a good way of making sure you havent forgotten to include a crucial piece of evidence. It is

also a way of checking that, when your reader comes to the end of your writing, the conclusions make sense,

rather than being a surprise, or an unconvincing leap of logic.

Have I included any unsubstantiated statements?

Sometimes a generalised, sweeping statement can slip through: the kind of statement that might be acceptable

on conversation, but not in academic writing. There are three main ways of dealing with such statements:

present the evidence to support the statement

re-phrase the statement to sound more cautious e.g.: it could be argued or this suggests that
 remove the statement

Examples of Critical Reading

August 2006. Edited February 2007. Substantially revised August 2011. Minor edits January 2013,
April 2013.

For a one-page list of these techniques, see Critical Reading Moves.

In his book, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts, Sam Wineburg describes the start of a
history of religion course with Professor Jacob Neusner.

What is the text doing, [Neusner] asked about Genesis 1, as a hundred students or so collectively
quaked in their seats. One after another, baffled freshmen summarized the text, only to have
Neusner strike his fist on the podium: Doing, not saying. What is the text doing?

That distinction, between saying and doing, lies at the heart of critical reading. To read critically
means to extract information actively from a text, rather than taking the authors own statements as
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. In some cases, it can mean doubting the factual
accuracy of the authors statements. More commonly, it means asking what we can learn from the
way the author selected and arranged facts the way she did

Critical reading is not the only way to use a source; historians mostly read primary sources for the
facts they contain, and they assemble stories from the patterns they find. But they must always be
alert to the opportunity to extract from a source more information than its creator wished to convey.

I. Challenge A Sources Credibility

The most critical of critical readings will show that a source says something that is factually
inaccurate or logically incoherent. Historians sometimes do so to hold historical figures to account for
their misdeeds. In other cases, the goal is not to condemn the creator of the source, but to use the
inaccuracies or fallacies to understand better that persons view of the world.

A. The source is lying

1. Internal evidence shows that a source is lying.

Whitney Strub, Perversion for Profit: The Politics of Pornography and the Rise of the New Right, 27:

Kefauvers report downplayed juvenile delinquency as a general concept and instead dwelled
specifically on sex crimes. A very large percentage of the pornography market reaches the hands
of juveniles, the report claimed, and the impulses which spur people to sex crimes unquestionably
are intensified by reading and seeing pornographic materials. Once again, as with the comics, an
absolute lack of evidence confronted Kefauver in his efforts to establish the pornographysex crime
connection. This time, instead of grappling with this obstacle in the text of his report, he banished it
to the margins: a brief note buried in the reports bibliographypresented in smaller print type than
the reports bodyobserved, There are no studies of the relationship of pornographic literature to
sexual offense.

What is the source saying? That pornography spurs sex crimes, and that there is no evidence to
show that pornography spurs sex crimes.
What is the source doing? Claiming that pornography spurs sex crimes despite a lack of evidence.

2. External evidence shows that a source is lying.

Richard White, Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America, 86.

Everyone agreed to lie. The utilitarian fictions of capitalism are apparent when the annual report for
the Central Pacific Railroad for 1873 and the report of the railroads bankers, Fisk and Hatch, to
Central Pacific bondholders in January of 1874 are compared with the less imaginative letters
exchanged among the Associates. On January 1, 1874, Fisk and Hatch published numbers that
assured investors that the Central Pacific had a large surplus from earnings, more than enough to
cover its bonded debt (it didnt mention other debts) . . . The Central Pacifics annual report for 1873
remained as reassuring as ever: the financial and business prospects of your Company were never
brighter. In November of 1873, however, Hopkins wrote Huntington that it was impossible to save
out of it (revenues) enough to [pay] the C.P. January interest.
What is the source (the report to bondholders and the annual report) saying? The Central
Pacific has enough money to pay the interest on its debt.
What is the source doing? Lying to investors.

B. The sources logic contradicts itself, or at least reveals a tension

Eric Foner, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, 238

The message to Congress revealed Lincolns thinking at a crucial moment of transition. He clung to
a proposal he had been promoting for a year with no success, yet pleaded with Americans to
abandon the dogmas of the past. He again endorsed colonization, yet referred to prospective
emigrants as free Americans of African descent rather than alien members of some other
nationality, and argued that the nation had nothing to fear if former slaves remained in the United
States.

What is the source saying? That Americans should promote colonization yet consider former
slaves to be free Americans of African descent who could remain in the United States.
What is the source doing? Showing that Lincoln was on the way to abandoning his commitment to
colonization.

Michael Sherry, The Rise of American Air Power, 55

The planners vacillation about whether the final objective would be the morale of the population or
its war-making capacity was a critical weakness of their doctrine. A 1926 text asserted that
complete destruction of vital parts of the enemys sources of supply would lead eventually . . . to
the collapse of the whole system. In the masterful evasion of Muir Fairchild, an important tactical
school instructor who wrote in the wake of Polands defeat in 1939:

The industrial mechanisms which provide the means of war to the armed forces, and those that
provide the means of sustaining a normal life to the civil population, are not separate, disconnected
entities. They are joined at many vital points. If not electrical power, then the destruction of some
other common element, will render them both inoperative at a single blow. The nationwide reaction
to the stunning discovery that the sources of the countrys power to resist and sustain itself, are
being relentlessly destroyed, can hardly fail to be decisive.
This was a disturbing mixture of confidence about success and evasion about how to achieve it.
Admittedly, Fairchild finally considered the enemys will as the ultimate objective, and distinctions
between will and the capacity to wage war can be arbitrary. Yet it made a great difference, in
strategy and in the lives of the attackers and defenders, which objective was singled out. For
Fairchild, apparently, one objective was as good as another. As was often the case in strategic
thinking, belief in success encouraged imprecision about how to achieve it.

What is the source saying? Arguing that strategic bombing could win wars.
What is the source doing? Showing that strategists werent sure if the goal of strategic bombing
was to cripple an army or demoralize a people.

II. Explain the Nuances of Argument

Even sources that are factually accurate and logically sound are worthy of exploration, for every
person must make choices when presenting information or argument. Look for the following, and use
them to understand the sources creators views.

A. The source makes surprising choices about what facts to present, how to present them, and what
to emphasize.

William Cronon, Changes in the Land, 21.

Seeing landscapes in terms of commodities meant something else as well: it treated members of an
ecosystem as isolated and extractable units. Explorers describing a new countryside with an eye to
its mercantile possibilities all too easily fell into this way of looking at things, so that their descriptions
often degenerated into little more than lists. Martin Prings account of the trees of Marthas Vineyard
illustrates this tendency:

As for Trees the Country yeeldeth Sassafras a plant of sovereigne vertue for the French Poxe, and
as some of late have learnedly written good against the Plague and many other Maladies; Vines,
Cedars, Okes, Ashes, Beeches, Birch trees, Cherie trees bearing fruit whereof wee did eate, Hasels,
Wichhasels, the best wood of all other to make Sope-ashes withal, walnut-trees, Maples, holy to
make Bird lime with, and a kinde of tree bearing a fruit like a small red Peare-plum.
Little sense of ecological relationships emerges from such a list. One could not use it to describe
what the forest actually looked like or how these trees interacted with one another. Instead, its
purpose was to detail resources for the interest of future undertakings.

What is the source saying? Marthas Vineyard has a lot of valuable plants.
What is the source doing? Listing plants as individual commodities, rather than trying to
understand their relationship within an ecosystem.

Alan Brinkley, The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century, 186.

The films, like the magazines, had one cultural standard that they used consistently to interpret and
explain events: the progressive outlook of the Anglo-American world, reflecting Luces own
consistent views. Almost everything carried in The March of Time either displayed that world or
made invidious comparisons with it. One example was an otherwise pointless piece about Lake
Tana in Ethiopia, the source of the Blue Nile. High in the mountains of northeast Africa, the
narration boomed over shots of the landscape, fed in the rainy season by the drainage of a vast
plateau, likes a lake seldom visited by white men but of vital importance to one great white nation.
The importance of the lake, in short, was that it irrigated cotton fields that were important to the
British textile industry.

What is the source saying? Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile.
What is the source doing? Presenting Africa as important only to the degree it serves Europe.

John Dower, Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq, 184.

The fatality estimate for Tokyo was exaggerated by a factor of ten or twenty, but more suggestive in
retrospect is how causally such a staggering number [1 million] of projected Japanese civilian deaths
could be reported, and tucked away, by this date. It did not even qualify as the lead story.
Suggestive, too, is how nonchalantly even a paper at the respected level of the Times could report
that one or perhaps two million of the Emperors subjects had been killed in an attack on arsenals,
electric plants, engine plants, and home factoriesand leave it at that.

What is the source saying? That U.S. bombers had killed up to two million people.
What is the source doing? Downplaying the importance of up to two million deaths by emphasizing
instead American advances in Okinawa and the ostensible targeting of military, not civilian, facilities.

B. The source uses striking terminology, metaphors, and imagery

Marilynn S. Johnson, Street Justice: A History of Police Violence in New York City, 37.

Unlike working-class critics who cast police as capitalist henchmen, middle-class reformers saw
police as lower-class brutes allied with immigrant political machines. The term police brutality,
which first appeared in newspaper accounts in the 1860s, reflects some of these middle-class
biases. The use of the term brutalitydefined as the state or condition of brutes or animals
suggested that the infliction of pain on others turned man himself into a beast. . . . In highlighting the
animal-like traits of policemenmost of whom came from working-class backgroundselite critics
drew on popular ethnic and class stereotypes of lower-class people as bestial and subhuman. These
derogatory characterizations would persist into the late twentieth century, with middle-class radicals
of the 1960s casting police as pigs and brutes.

What is the source saying? Policemen are like animals.

What is the source doing? Blaming police violence on the lower-class origins of officers, rather
than the demands of capitalist employers.

C. The source makes concessions

Alan Taylor, The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies,
382.

Longing to erase the disgrace of past defeats, Brown vowed that his troops would fight to gain a
name in armys worthy of our selves or the gallant nation in whose name we fight. Matching the
British in combat became his definition of victory: Let us meet our present gallant and accomplished
Foe, Reg[ular] to Reg[ular], for only then could Americans be proud of our Men and Nation. Brown
substituted an intangiblethe restoration of honorfor the tangible conquest of Canada.

What is the source saying? That Americans can win honor by fighting British regulars.
What is the source doing? Giving up on conquering Canada.
III. Put the Source in Context

By reading a source with outside events in mind, the historian can extract new meanings.

A. Contemporary context

1. The source is advancing an unstated agenda

Thomas J. Sugrue and John D. Skrentny, The White Ethnic Strategy in Rightward Bound: Making
America Conservative in the 1970s, eds. Bruce J. Schulman and Julian E. Zelizer, 178.

In the political climate of the civil rights and black power eras, ethnicity was necessary but not
sufficient. For the category of white ethnic to sustain political claims, its members needed to draw
analogies between their condition and that of officially recognized minorities, most notably African
Americans. They would need to recover two historiesone of the groups past triumphs, a filiopietistic
ethnic past to forge a common ethnic identity to supplant the broad category of whiteness, and the
other a history of group oppression, of shared suffering, that would allow them to gain political
recognition on the same terms then enjoyed by blacksas well as a widening circle of other
aggrieved minorities, including Latinos, American Indians, and Asian Americans. As a young
Barbara Mikulski wrote in a New York Times op-ed, We called ourselves Americans. We were
called wop, polack, and hunky.

What is the source saying? That immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe faced
discrimination.
What is the source doing? Claiming that the descendants of those immigrants deserved some of
the privileges being granted to African Americans, Latinos, American Indians, and Asian Americans.

2. The source is countering an argument

Barbara Young Welke, Recasting American Liberty, 240

Underlying the groundswell of legal authority approving court-sanctioned exams was a mixture of
distrust of those claiming injury, an overweening confidence in the power of courts to protect against
unwarranted invasions of the person, and an emphatic embrace of the superiority of expert
knowledge. The Arkansas Supreme Court noted in an 1885 case,

There could be no more flagrant case of the evils resulting from such refusal [to submit to a physical
exam] than the present case affords. The plaintiff was an uneducated man, incapable of estimating
the consequences of his injury except by the pain and inconvenience which it caused him . . . . His
claim for damages was based principally on alleged internal injuries, which could only have been
understood and properly estimated by a physician.
Certainly, doctors often understood more fully than their patients the nature of injury, but the level of
confidence placed in expert knowledge said more about the distrust of accidental injury victims, new
attitudes toward expertise in general, and the success of doctors in raising the scientific profile of the
medical profession than knowledge in fact.

B. Historical context

1. The source says something old

Manning Marable, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention

Though the announced topic, The Ballot or the Bullet, seemed incendiary, at its core the speech
actually contained a far more conventional message, one that had defined the civil rights movement
as far back as 1962: the importance of voting rights . . . By embracing the ballot, [Malcolm X] was
implicitly rejecting violence, even if this was at times difficult to discern in the heat of rhetoric.

What is the source saying? That African Americans should seek change through politics, rather
than violence.
What is the source doing? Adopting an argument that had been around for years.

2. The source says something new

Peter Bacon Hales, Atomic Spaces: Living on the Manhattan Project, 140.

The ideology of technological progress upon which the [Manhattan Engineering] District based its
programs posed a rosy future in which engineers and scientists would render neutral, or reclaim to
benevolent use, the toxins of atomic bomb production. This had been the assumption from the
beginning. (A District report phrased it this way: the wastes are placed in large . . . underground
storage tanks which will permit appropriate action to be taken at a later date.) But as planning
turned to production and the District measured its existence in years rather than weeks or months,
this mirage of appropriate action seemed to have receded further and further. Writing in 1946,
District officials confessed that the materials cannot be disposed of by ordinary means.

What is the (1946) source saying? That engineers do not know how to dispose of radioactive
waste.
What is the source doing? Breaking from an earlier position that waste disposal would be easy to
solve.

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