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DESCRIPTION, 86 A STRATEGY that tells how something looks, sounds, smells, feels, or tastes. Effective description creates a clear DOMINANT IMPRESSION built from specific details. Description can be objective, subjective , or both. Description can serve as the organizing principle for a paragraph or whole text. THESIS, 84-85 A statement that identifies the topic and main point of a piece of writing, giving readers an idea of what the text will cover. |
EVIDENCE, 85-90 In ARGUMENT , the data you present to support your REASONS . Such data may include statistics, calculations, examples, ANECDOTES , QUOTATIONS , case studies, or anything else that will convince your readers that your reasons are compelling. Evidence should be sufficient (enough to show that the reasons have merit) and relevant (appropriate to the argument you're making). |
EMOTIONAL APPEALS, 113-14, 415 Ways of appealing to an AUDIENCE 's emotions, values, and beliefs by arousing specific feelings-compassion, sympathy, anger, and so on. See also ETHICAL APPEALS ; LOGICAL APPEALS CREDIBILITY, 164-66, 297-98 The sense of trustworthiness that a writer conveys through the text. PERSPECTIVES, 90-91, 29-41 Viewpoints, an important part of a writer's STANCE . As a writer and a researcher, you should always strive to seek, think about, and work to understand multiple perspectives. |
DOCUMENTATION, 309-44, 360-86 Publication information about the sources cited in a text. IN-TEXT DOCUMENTATION usually appears in parentheses at the point where it's cited or in an endnote or a footnote. Complete documentation usually appears as a list of WORKS CITED or REFERENCES at the end of the text. Documentation styles vary by discipline. See also APA STYLE ; MLA STYLE CONCLUSION, 92, 211, 417-18 The way a text ends, a chance to leave an AUDIENCE thinking about what's been said. |
Some ways of concluding an essay: REITERATING your point, discussing the implications of your ARGUMENT , proposing some kind of action, inviting response. ANALYSIS, 132-56 A GENRE of writing in which you look at what a text says and how it says it. Key Features: a SUMMARY of a text or other subject - attention to CONTEXT - a clear INTERPRETATION or judgment - reasonable support for your conclusions EVIDENCE, 85-90 In ARGUMENT , the data you present to support your REASONS . |
Such data may include statistics, calculations, examples, ANECDOTES , QUOTATIONS , case studies, or anything else that will convince your readers that your reasons are compelling. Evidence should be sufficient (enough to show that the reasons have merit) and relevant (appropriate to the argument you're making). AUDIENCE, 25-26 Those to whom a text is directed-the people who read, listen to, or view the text. Audience is a key part of any RHETORICAL SITUATION . |
AUDIENCE, 25-26 Those to whom a text is directed-the people who read, listen to, or view the text. Audience is a key part of any RHETORICAL SITUATION . RHETORICAL SITUATION, 25-28, 81-82 The circumstances that affect writing or other communication, including PURPOSE , AUDIENCE , GENRE , STANCE , CONTEXT , MEDIA , and DESIGN . A STUDENT ANALYSIS WESLEY COHEN What's Happening over at Cosmo ? Wesley Cohen wrote this essay for a journalism class at the University of California at Davis. |
It was later published in Prized Writing , an annual book of exemplary writing from across the disciplines done by students at Davis. The version included here has been revised to include MLA documentation, something that was not required in her journalism class. She graduated in 2019 and is now working as a college sales representative at W. W. Norton &Company. The title and opening sentences capture readers' interest. |
Open up Cosmopolitan Magazine 's March 2016 issue and you'll find tips for flirting with a guy at work (Text him a funny follow-up!) and a fashion-infused profile of actress-slash-beauty mogul Jessica Alba (titled Billion Dollar Babe). Summarizes the contrast that she'll explore in her analysis. Between these pieces is an eight-page feature on the intersection of gun rights and domestic violence in America. |
The article includes an eye-catching graphic of a chocolate gun in a candy box surrounded by brightly striped truffles, and a handy flowchart for talking with a new romantic partner about gun ownership. There are also stark warnings and statistics. According to the piece's author, Liz Welch, 8,700 women were shot to death by their partners between 2000 and 2013 (162) and women are 200 percent more likely to be killed when a physically abusive relationship involves a gun. |
The article frames gun control as a women's issue, chronicling the stories of several young women who were murdered by abusive partners or ex-partners (Welch). First claim. It's rare to find a magazine that covers domestic violence and celebrity fashion on equal footing-and this wide editorial scope is largely the work of the former editor-in-chief Joanna Coles. |
Cosmo 's shift toward more diverse content goes against decades of editorial tradition in a brand famous for its focus on sex, celebrities, and fashion-and its racy covers, as figure 1 shows. Provides background information. Cosmo started life in 1886 as a women's magazine that published Willa Cather, Upton Sinclair, and Kurt Vonnegut. |
Chief editor Helen Gurley Brown was brought on in the 1960s in response to weak sales, and she recreated the magazine as a sex-centered, single woman's guidebook to the fab life. Brown pledged to keep Cosmo frisky and fresh over her three-decade reign. |
She acknowledged in her November 1995 letter from the editor that women may be interested in subjects other than sexual pleasure, passion, friendship, love, achievement, but told readers that we let the newspapers, TV shows, and newsmagazines deal with them (30). But Joanna Coles eschewed this either-or approach to writing for women, telling NPR's Rachel Martin, I have no problem understanding that women are interested in mascara and the Middle East ( Morning Edition ). |
(Indeed, figure 2 shows Coles speaking at a Cosmo event that was sponsored by Maybelline, a company known for its mascara.) Fig. 1. 2006 cover names Beyonc Fun, Fearless Female of the Year. www.getty.comFig. 2. Editor-in-chief Joanna Coles speaking at a Cosmopolitan event in 2015 that was sponsored by Maybelline. www.getty.com Provides examples to support the claim that Cosmo tackles serious issues. |
Since 2014, Cosmo has endorsed political candidates based on whether they support equal pay, birth control access, and reproductive rights. Coles doesn't see a conflict in presenting pro-choice political endorsements alongside stiletto recommendations: I feel that these are about lifestyle issues for women. The biggest single decision which will impact your life is when you have a child. I want women to have control over that (qtd. in Gold). |
Coles's Cosmo is all about diversifying what counts as women's interest. A new header, Cosmopolitan.com , next to LOVE, CELEBS, and BEAUTY reads-in appropriate millennial format-#COSMOVOTES. Under this tab, readers can find Cosmo 's political endorsements, updates on polls and primaries, and opinion pieces on candidates and issues. It makes no secret of Cosmo 's political leanings. |
In her same 1995 letter from the editor, Brown laid out her reasoning for leaving hard-hitting subjects out of Cosmo 's pages, writing, We're not big on scaring you (30). But Jill Filipovic's November 2015 piece about anti-abortion violence seems pretty scary to me. Filipovic, a UN Foundation Fellow and award-winning contributor to The Guardian , The New York Times , Al Jazeera America , and Time magazine, is no lightweight. |
But in the margin by Filipovic's byline, there's a picture of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as toddlers above a link offering to show me A Photo from Every Year of Their Lives. This new Cosmo balances pithy quizzes about Hannah Montana and critiques of the hypher-sexual portrayals of African American women in film and TV. How does one women's magazine make it all work? First of all, Cosmo 's new direction rejects the idea of women's-interest journalism as a niche market. |
On CNN's Reliable Sources , Joanna Coles pushed back against host Brian Stelter's suggestion that working with women's magazines to reach voters-instead of reaching out directly through social media or relying on hard news reporting-was a way that political candidates use alternative media. Well, I don't think of women's magazines with 53 million readers as being alternative media,' said Coles, nearly breaking into a laugh. |
I think it might be as big, if not bigger, than the footprint of Reliable Sources , Brian (Coles, Reliable Sources ). Coles noted instead that she believes her very large readership has been underserved by mainstream media. It's hard to argue with her. |
While men's-interest magazines like Esquire publish hard-hitting cultural essays alongside fiction by the likes of George Saunders and Stephen King, the news that Cosmo had won a National Magazine Award in 2014 for an extensive piece on contraception was met with astonishment. Coles seems to carry her sense of humor in her purse, however. About a story titled It's Time to Start Taking Cosmopolitan Seriously, she tweeted Start???? ? (Coles, Twitter ). |
Introduces another perspective: Can women's magazines be serious? A different Reliable Sources interview featured host Brian Stelter asking two uncomfortable-looking female journalists Are women's magazines serious? Roberta Meyers, editor-in-chief at Elle , was set up against Rolling Stone writer Janet Reitman, who worried aloud that female writers who focus on women's-interest writing often never break out of women-only journalism. |
Meyers noted that she started out at Rolling Stone before taking the lead at Elle and pointed out that many of her writers are also published in The New Yorker, New York Magazine , and Rolling Stone . Reitman responded by saying that she appreciates and reads women's magazines herself, but reiterated her earlier concern about the ghettoizing of female-interest journalists. |
This time, Reitman said, eyes focused and concerned, that many women journalists just literally cannot, somehow, make it to write for larger men's magazines or general-interest magazines (Meyers and Reitman). It seems that this, in Reitman's mind, is the ladder that female journalists must climb: women's magazines, men's magazines, then general-interest magazines. Or perhaps: women's magazines/general-interest magazines. Because in many ways, male interests are considered general interest. |
While writing about romance or fashion puts a journalist into the ghetto of trivial feminine pursuits, typically masculine interests are widely considered respectable reading material. As Joanna Coles noted in her NPR interview, Men are allowed to talk about sports relentlessly, and yet we still take them seriously. I don't understand why women can't talk about fashion, or sex, or love, or wanting more money and not be taken as seriously as men ( Morning Edition ). |
In her Reliable Sources appearance, Elle 's Roberta Meyers looked fabulous: her blow-out great, her makeup subtle and professional, her poise unshakeable. But she looked worn down, too. She spoke of a perceived gap between her readers and the rest of the world, the idea that there's a divide between people who care about fashion and only fashion, and everybody else. She then went on to say I find it sad . . . |
that we're still talking about women as a whole separate kind of people, you know? (Meyers and Reitman). Meyers spoke brightly of her love for her readers, but to Reitman and Stelter, choosing to write for Elle instead of Rolling Stone is apparently a real comedown. Acknowledges Cosmo 's earlier reputation. It's hard to find an article discussing Cosmo 's long history without reading contemptuous descriptions of its past content. |
As Jezebel 's managing editor Kate Dries said, Cosmo 's new focus on career advancement and female empowerment has been a slow climb out of lipstick-and-lasagna land (The New Cosmopolitan ). Cites her own experience to support the claim that Cosmo once presented shallow views. Cosmo was forbidden to my sisters and me when we were growing up. My parents didn't want us encountering this male-centric view of sexuality or developing such a shallow image of female beauty. |
They even tried to ban Barbie from the premises before she snuck in inside wrapped birthday presents and well-meant hand-me-downs. I don't blame them. Explores the view that Cosmo presents a narrow view of women. Cosmo still passes down narrow ideas of what a woman is and does and wants. Women of color, transgender women, and queer women are not addressed as Cosmo 's central audience, and the women who star on its covers month to month are overwhelmingly thin and pale and provocatively dressed. |
My parents didn't want to limit the type of woman I could be while I was still a girl. Makes an emotional appeal. So instead I learned how to be like a boy. I learned how to play hockey and laughed at the sorts of girls who wanted to be princesses. I learned not to cry when I got hurt, and I learned to love reading about boys, or girls who pretended to be boys, in Eragon and To Kill a Mockingbird and The Woman Who Rides Like a Man . |
And in many ways this was an honest expression of who I was and who I wanted to be. But perhaps these behaviors also came from an understanding that it was possible-easy, even-to be too feminine. That uber-femininity could be shallow, or stupid, or mean. That it could be dangerous. Cites personal experience to establish her credibility to write on this topic. Now I am learning to look hard at the books that I read and the movies that I watch and the people that I admire. |
I am learning not to dismiss femininity for its own sake, but this is hard when feminine books and speech patterns and movies are constantly dismissed by the cultural outlets I admire. The shock with which media outlets have responded to Joanna Coles's work at Cosmo is yet another example of this dismissal. But still I have learned to love Taylor Swift and horoscopes and eyeshadow, as well as weight lifting and science fiction and neuroscience, Walt Whitman and Suzanne Collins. And Cosmo has helped. |
I am not saying that Cosmo is above critique. It continues to sideline the experiences of women who do not fit its target audience. It builds prehistoric concepts of femininity into its columns, and tells women implicitly or explicitly to trim down, dress up, and make themselves beautiful. Its advertisements and photosets build a fantasy of femininity in which woman is pale and thin and glossy. This does real damage. Why her analysis matters. But Cosmo is not beneath contempt. |
When we close the door to Cosmo for its perceived frivolity or irrelevance, we close the door to women's voices, their interests and concerns and desires. By assuming that women's journalism cannot be real journalism, Brian Stelter and others declare that women cannot know what journalism looks like, that we don't even know which stories are important and which are stupid. That we earn the right to tell our own stories only by making them unfeminine. That femininity cannot be universal. |
But femininity is universal. It always has been. Reiterates claim that Cosmo can be both progressive and not progressive. And universal experiences are feminine. As long as men are taught, like I was, that femininity is saccharine and silly and toxic, they are also taught to hate a part of themselves. Nobody wins this fight. Making room for femininity in feminism means recognizing that outlets like Cosmo can be progressive as well as problematic. |
I want the right to criticize Cosmo when it writes harshly about female celebrities' bodies and the right to relish its fashion slideshows. I want to read about face gloss and I want to know about domestic terrorism. I want the right to be unfeminine without recourse, and the right to delight in my femininity. As a woman, and as a person, I should not have to choose just one story. Concludes on a personal note-and by echoing Walt Whitman's Song of Myself. Do I contradict myself? |
Well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) Works Cited Brown, Helen Gurley. Step into My Parlor. Cosmopolitan , Nov. 1995, pp. 28, 30. Coles, Joanna. Interview with Brian Stelter. Reliable Sources , CNN, 7 June 2015. Transcript. ---. Interview with Rachel Martin. Morning Edition , NPR, 14 Oct. 2014. Transcript. ---. Start???? ? @JillFilipovic: Time to take @Cosmopolitan seriously. Twitter , 2 May 2014, 3:28 p.m., twitter.com/joannacoles/status/462312728812863488. Dries, Kate. |
The New Cosmopolitan &the Slow Climb Out of Lipstick-and-Lasagna Land. Jezebel , 9 Dec. 2014, jezebel.com/the-new-cosmopolitan-the-slow-clim-out-of-lipstick-a-1666538526. Gold, Hadas. The New Cosmo : Love, Sex, Politics? Politico , 9 Apr. 2014, www.politico.com/story/2014/09/the-new-cosmo-love-sex-politics-110586. Meyers, Roberta, and Janet Reitman. Interview with Brian Stelter. Reliable Sources , CNN, 30 June 2013. Transcript. Welch, Liz. Love and Guns. Cosmopolitan , Mar. 2016, pp. 158-66. |
Thinking about the Text 1. Wesley Cohen has a lot to say about Cosmopolitan , but what is her primary CLAIM about what's happening over at Cosmo ? 2. How well do you think she supports that claim? Point out examples of the EVIDENCE she provides that you find most persuasive, and explain why you find them so persuasive. 3. Cohen includes a lot of personal information; how do you think it contributes to her analysis? 4. |
You might say that this essay analyzes more than one text-that which is found on the pages of Cosmopolitan and that which has been said (and written) about it. How effectively does Cohen weave it all together? 5. Go to cosmopolitan.com and see for yourself what's happening over there now. Find some examples that support-or contradict-what Cohen concludes about Cosmo , and draft an email to her about what you find. Glossary CLAIM, 84-85, 103-5 A statement of a belief or POSITION . |
In an ARGUMENT , a claim needs to be stated in a THESIS or clearly implied, and requires support by REASONS and EVIDENCE . EVIDENCE, 85-90 In ARGUMENT , the data you present to support your REASONS . Such data may include statistics, calculations, examples, ANECDOTES , QUOTATIONS , case studies, or anything else that will convince your readers that your reasons are compelling. Evidence should be sufficient (enough to show that the reasons have merit) and relevant (appropriate to the argument you're making). |
Endnotes Poses a question that will guide the analysis. Return to text PART 3 WRITING / MAKE YOUR POINT Chapter 10 Reporting I LOVE THE ADVENTURE OF GOING OUT AND REPORTING ON THINGS. -TOM WOLFE ANYONE CAN BE A REPORTER ON TWITTER , AND THAT'S LED TO A UNIVERSE OF DIVERSE VIEWPOINTS. . . . - WIRED Reporters often think of themselves as adventurers-on a quest to discover something important and to share that information with others. |
Some reports have galvanized the entire country, as was the case with Rachel Carson's report on the dangers of pesticides in 1962, a report that is again at issue this year in thousands of lawsuits against the weed killer Roundup. In the 1940s, the Kinsey Reports on human sexual behavior caused a national uproar of epic proportions-and led to changes in the way people think about sex. |
Much more recently, in 2018 an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report led many Americans to purchase electric cars and install solar panels. So reports-written or spoken accounts of some topic the author has thoroughly investigated-have been influential documents for a long time and continue in that role today. And you yourself may well be assigned to write reports in college-lab reports in biology , ethnographic reports in sociology , research reports in many classes. |
In many ways, then, Reports R Us, providing much of the information we rely on to get as close to the truth as possible, to make sense of the world, and to take effective action. A GUIDE TO DEVELOPING A REPORT Whatever kind of report you're writing, you'll need to think about who will be reading it, what they know about the topic, and what information you'll need to provide. |
And since reports are expected to provide factual information, you'll likely have to do some research-and to demonstrate that the information you report is accurate and trustworthy. Here now is a guide to the process of writing a report. It's designed to be used as you write , so keep it close at hand. Choose a topic that interests you In many instances, you may be assigned a specific topic. If so, find an angle that interests you-and one that you think will interest your audience. |
Say you're assigned to write a report for an economics class on supply and demand in a particular industry. Choose an industry you want to know more about-skin care, craft beer, whatever. On other occasions, you may be able to choose a topic to report on. If so, spend some time BRAINSTORMING about topics or issues that interest you, that you feel you can research with an open mind, and that you want to spend some time learning about. Here's a chance to do so! |
Think about your rhetorical situation Once you have a topic, spend some time thinking about the audience for the report, what you hope the report will accomplish, and the rest of your rhetorical situation. Purpose. What do you want to accomplish with this report-provide information? inspire your audience to take some kind of action? What can you do in your report to achieve this purpose? Audience. Who will be reading your report? Stakeholders of some kind? Your superiors in an organization? Fellow students? |
Think about what your target audience already knows about the topic and what background information you may need to provide. How interested will they be in the topic-or will you have to get them interested? Stance. How do you want to be perceived as the author-as an authority on the topic? an interested and knowledgeable observer? How can you establish that stance-and how will you establish your credibility to report on this topic? Context. |
What have others said about the topic, and do you need to take their perspectives into account in your report? How will your report contribute to the larger conversation about the topic? How much time do you have to complete the report, and what kind of research will you need to do? Reports are often written by a team. Will you be collaborating with other writers? Are there any other requirements you need to keep in mind? Medium and design. How will your report be delivered-in print? as an oral report? |
online? How does the medium affect the way you'll design the report? If it will include information that's best presented in a graph or charts, will that affect the medium you use? Research your topic and decide on a focus The heart of most reports is in the information they provide, so a big part of your job as a report writer will be to gather as much relevant data as possible. Whatever your topic, your report will only be as strong as the information it provides. |
Begin with any information you already have about the topic, and make notes about what more you need to find out. What questions do you have? What will your readers want to know or need to be told? Do some research Start with REFERENCE WORKS that give an overview of the topic. If you're reporting on a current issue, you'll likely find a lot of sources online; sometimes Wikipedia can be a good place to start, for it often includes links to other sources. |
You'll also find help in this book-check out Chapter 14 : Starting with Questions, Finding Sources. What are the various perspectives on your topic? What are others saying about it? Reporting calls on you to maintain a neutral, objective STANCE , but others are sure to have various viewpoints on the topic, and you need to be aware of them. Focus on an angle that interests you Once you have a broad understanding of the topic, what aspect do you want to focus on? |
Here's where you need to consider the constraints of your assignment: What can you do in the time you have? And think about your audience: What angle will interest them? Most of all, though, think about what interests you! Formulate a working thesis Say what you plan to report about the topic. For example, if you're reporting on food insecurity on campus, your working thesis might be something like this: Hunger is a big problem in the United States today. |
Then think about whether you need to QUALIFY that statement-to make it one that you'll be able to support, and that will interest your AUDIENCE . Here's one way to qualify that statement: Hunger is a growing problem on our campus today. If you're reporting on a controversial topic, your research may lead you to develop an opinion about the issue. But remember that your goal is to present information on the topic, not to tell readers what you think about it. |
See how a report written for the general public summing up the findings of an annual survey presents its facts and data. The survey measured who people in 2019 trusted the most. Read on: you may be surprised by what it found. |
Employers are now the most trusted institution, according to the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer, with 75% of respondents saying they trust my employer-25 points more than business in general, 40 points more than government, 20 points more than a peer or expert and 10 points above traditional media. Of the 33,000 people surveyed in 27 countries for the 19th annual Trust Barometer, more than three quarters (76%) say they want CEOs to take the lead on change instead of waiting for government. |
And 73% believe a company can take actions that both increase profits and improve economic and social conditions in the community where it operates. A similarly high number of employees expect their employer to actively join them in advocating for social issues (67%), and 71% expect that their work will shape the future of society in a meaningful way. |
Stephen Kehoe, Edelman's global chair of reputation, told the Holmes Report: Overall, people are pessimistic about the future, and they are also concerned about fake news, and don't trust the media and government, so 58% say they are looking to their employer as being a trustworthy source of information about headline issues where there is not consensus in society, such as gun control, #MeToo, or immigration. -MAJA PAWINSKA SIMS, The Holmes Report Note how much data the reporter packs into this passage: we know that these findings are based on a survey of 33,000 people, for instance, from 27 countries. |
Note too the use of statistics to support the findings: 76 percent of those 33,000 people reported that they wanted CEOs to take the lead on change, rather than waiting for government. Finally, see how this reporter uses quotations to support the findings she reports, quoting the chair of reputation of the firm that conducted the original research. As readers, we know this is information we can trust. |
Tailor your report to a target audience Some reports are written for very specific audiences: a company's annual report to stockholders, for example, will address a group of people who have a stake in the company's performance, attempting to provide a clear and positive overview of the firm's accomplishments in the preceding year. |
A report to members of a synagogue on how their funds have been used to reduce poverty in a partner community will present data documenting the use of funds and may include photos showing the effect that the funds had on those in need. Whatever your audience, you'll want to think hard about what they already know about your topic and what information they'll be looking for. |
The annual report for Girls Who Code, a national non-profit working to close the gender gap in technology, addresses two audiences: contributors to the organization, and those people who might contribute in the future. See how the author of the report, the founder and CEO of the organization, speaks directly to these two audiences: When I started Girls Who Code, I never imagined that we would grow to become a movement reaching almost 90,000 girls of all backgrounds in all 50 states. |
And now, just six years into our work, we've reached a tipping point. We are on track to achieve gender parity in computer science by 2027. And we know why: because our work is as much about quantity as it is about quality. We scale our programs to reach more girls in more places, and to give them the chance to forge lifelong bonds so they may persist in computer science. It's incredible. But for us, parity is really just the beginning. |
We've reached a moment unmatched in our history, a moment as full of anger and anguish as it is promise and potential. Women and girls across the country are coming together to correct centuries-long power imbalances across lines of gender, race, sexuality, and more. Girls Who Code is proud to be a part of this movement, and even prouder because our girls-girls of all races and ethnicities and abilities and zip codes-are leading it. |
They are solving problems in their communities, empowering their friends, and defining the future of our world. We're thrilled to be giving them the tools they need to get there. I hope you'll join us and make sure every girl has the chance to change her world-our world-for the better. Thank you for your support. |
-RESHMA SAUJANI, Annual Report of Girls Who Code Here Saujani engages supporters and potential donors by summarizing the remarkable strides the group has made in its six years of operation-now working with girls of all races and ethnicities and abilities and zip codes! And she includes a map showing that the organization now has programs in all 50 states. |
Note too that girls don't just get coding skills: they get coding skills that can help them change our world. Finally, Saujani concludes her report with a thank-you, another way of acknowledging and encouraging donors. Girl coders.Girls Who Code is in every state. |
Demonstrate your credibility, and that of the information you're reporting In an age of misinformation and even outright lies, it's more important than ever to demonstrate that you are knowledgeable, trustworthy, and fair-and that the information in your report can be trusted as well. You can build credibility by demonstrating that you've read up on the topic, by citing reliable sources, and by documenting your sources. |
And you can demonstrate fairness by being evenhanded in the information you present-by citing sources that reflect various perspectives. In an essay reporting on food production, Sam Forman compares two kinds of farms in Iowa-large industrial farms and small family -owned farms. |
As a student at Grinnell, a college in Iowa, he had some firsthand knowledge of both kinds of farms, but see how he presents information in ways that make readers feel we can trust both the author and what he reports: Proponents of large-scale agriculture argue that it is cheaper and more efficient to produce food following an industrial model. Judging by price tags, they may be right. Often vegetables at a farmer's market fetch a higher price than those in the supermarket do. |
But the supermarket is not the only place we pay for industrially produced goods. Iowa State professor Mark Honeyman pointed out to me, citing work by J. E. Ikerd, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri, that many of the costs of mass-produced agriculture are hidden. For instance, we all pay taxes to the government, which in turn spends billions of tax dollars a year subsidizing the industrial food system. |
Between 2003 and 2005 the government spent an average of $11.5 billion per year on crop subsidies, 47 percent of which went to the top 5 percent of beneficiaries (Crop Subsidy). This means we are subsidizing a lot, and mostly the biggest agri-businesses. Most family farmers receive no government subsidies. |
So when I told Barney Bahrenfuse and Suzanne Costello, who run B &B Farms in Grinnell, that I repeatedly heard from people involved in large-scale agriculture that family farming is nice but ultimately not very profitable if even viable at all, Costello was quick to respond: You take away the industrial farms' government subsidies-they don't work. |
We don't take any government subsidies, so who's viable? In fact, the CEO of Fremont Farms, which holds about 9 million hens, pointed out to me that they receive no government subsidies, which I verified online; according to the Environmental Working Group's website, which gets its statistics from the US Department of Agriculture, except for a paltry $5,361 in corn subsidies between 1999 and 2000, Fremont Farms has gotten no subsidies at all. No direct subsidies, that is. |
It is important to remember, however, that their operation is indirectly subsidized by the artificially low price of corn in their chickens' feed. -SAM FORMAN, The Future of Food Production Note that Forman interviewed and quotes an Iowa State professor, the owners of a small family farm, and the CEO of a large industrial farm-and that he even did the work of verifying what one of them told him. He also cites (and documents) data from a policy analysis database. He's clearly done his homework! |
See also how careful he is to qualify his information, noting that those who say food produced by large-scale farms is less expensive than food sold at farmer's markets may be right and that family farmers receive no subsidies for the most part. And while he quotes one family farmer who says that industrial farms wouldn't work without government subsidies, he also notes that the CEO of a large-scale poultry farm said they get no government subsidies. |
Forman may well have his own opinions, but he's careful here to report only what he has learned about his topic, leaving readers free to reach their own conclusions. Without data, you're just another person with an opinion. -W. E. DEMING It's important to note that reports are supposed to be objective, just the facts. But while you should strive to be as objective as possible, most of the people you cite will have a particular point of view. |
And even as it's important to keep objectivity as a goal, it's also worth noting that reports are rarely if ever completely neutral: think of a fact-filled infographic reporting on the quality of local water sources, which will probably lead readers to draw conclusions that favor one viewpoint more than others. Remember, however, that readers will expect you to provide some kind of information, not to tell them what you think about it-or what they should think. |
Remember too that bringing in more than one viewpoint or perspective can help you aim for fairness and objectivity. REFLECT! Reread the excerpt from Sam Forman 's report on food production. How would you describe Forman's TONE ? What words in his text help you decide what his tone is? And how would you describe his STANCE toward the topic: Can you spot any places where he is less than objective-and if so, does that affect how you respond to the report? |
Write a paragraph reflecting on the challenges of maintaining objectivity when you have your own opinions about a topic you're reporting on. Establish a confident stance and an engaging tone One of your tasks as a writer reporting information is to engage your readers, to make them interested in reading about your topic. In an era when we're all constantly bombarded with information, getting readers' attention is more important than ever. |
Jean Twenge might have been thinking about this reality when she wrote an article for the Atlantic on the question Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? That's a title that grabs attention, and the article that follows includes some startling facts: The arrival of the smartphone has radically changed every aspect of teenagers' lives, from the nature of their social interactions to their mental health. These changes have affected young people in every corner of the nation and in every type of household. |
The trends appear among teens poor and rich; of every ethnic background; in cities, suburbs, and small towns. Where there are cell towers, there are teens living their lives on their smartphone. . . . You might expect that teens spend so much time [on their phones] because it makes them happy, but most data suggest that it does not. |
The Monitoring the Future survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and designed to be nationally representative, has asked 12th-graders more than 1,000 questions every year since 1975 and queried eighth- and tenth-graders since 1991. |
The survey asks teens how happy they are and also how much of their leisure time they spend on various activities, including nonscreen activities such as in-person social interaction and exercise, and, in recent years, screen activities such as using social media, texting, and browsing the web. |
The results could not be clearer: Teens who spend more time than average on screen activities are more likely to be unhappy, and those who spend more time than average on nonscreen activities are more likely to be happy. There's not a single exception. All screen activities are linked to less happiness, and all nonscreen activities are linked to more happiness. |
Eighth-graders who spend 10 or more hours a week on social media are 56 percent more likely to say they're unhappy than those who devote less time to social media. Admittedly, 10 hours a week is a lot. But those who spend six to nine hours a week on social media are still 47 percent more likely to say they are unhappy than those who use social media even less. The opposite is true of in-person interactions. |
Those who spend an above-average amount of time with their friends in person are 20 percent less likely to say they're unhappy than those who hang out for a below-average amount of time. -JEAN TWENGE, Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? Twenge is clear, straightforward, and unequivocal, and she provides data to support the connection between time spent on phones and general unhappiness and stress. |
She tells it like it is, with confidence: The results, she says, could not be clearer: Teens who spend more time than average on screen activities are more likely to be unhappy. Her tone throughout is serious but not alarmist: she reports information her readers need to know, and she comes across as a confident, steady, reliable reporter who provides some very interesting and thought-provoking information. |
Organize your report to suit your topic The way you organize and design a report depends on the information you're presenting and the medium you'll use. Some topics call for COMPARISON , others call for you to present many examples, still others may lead you to present numerical data as a VISUAL in a bar chart or an infographic. So it's not possible to specify one generic way to organize all reports. |
Most reports, however, feature an organization their audiences can easily follow, whether it's using headings to guide readers from topic to topic, presenting some information in a list to make it easier to follow, and so on. See pp. 85-90 on ways of organizing information. Let's say you're writing a report comparing two teams in the NBA finals that are most likely to win the championship. |
You could organize your reports in two sections-one on Team A and the other on Team B-and for each team you would examine the star players, the postseason statistics, and other factors that point toward winning or losing. Or you might choose to organize the report around key statistics-rebounds per game, number of turnovers, and so on-and then look at both Team A and Team B in each of these categories. Each method of organization should yield a clear and reader-friendly result. |
Take a look at part of a recent article from the Washington Post that uses classification as an organizing principle for reporting on the attitudes and feelings of people who have pets-in this case, those who have dogs, cats, cats and dogs, or no pets: Dog or cat? In 2018, the General Social Survey for the first time included a battery of questions on pet ownership. |
The findings not only quantified the nation's pet population -nearly 6 in 10 households have at least one-they made it possible to see how pet ownership overlaps with all sorts of factors of interest to social scientists. Like happiness. For starters, there is little difference between pet owners and non-owners when it comes to happiness, the survey shows. |
The two groups are statistically indistinguishable on the likelihood of identifying as very happy (a little over 30 percent) or not too happy (in the mid-teens). Source: General Social Survey, 2018 But when you break the data down by pet type-cats, dogs or both-a stunning divide emerges: Dog owners are about twice as likely as cat owners to say they're very happy, with people owning both falling somewhere in between. Dog people, in other words, are slightly happier than those without any pets. |
Those in the cat camp, on the other hand, are significantly less happy than the pet-less. And having both appears to cancel each other out happiness-wise. (Since someone's bound to ask, it isn't possible to do this same type of analysis for, say, rabbit owners or lizard owners or fish owners, since there aren't enough of those folks in the survey to make a statistically valid sample.) |
-CHRISTOPHER INGRAHAM, Dog Owners Are Much Happier Than Cat Owners This article reports on a 2018 survey in which researchers set out to answer an age-old question-do dogs or cats make people happier? |
And the answer is DOGS: when you break the data down by pet type-cats, dogs or both-a stunning divide emerges: dog owners are about twice as likely as cat owners to say they're very happy, with people owning both falling somewhere in between. Notice that the writer classifies the pet owners in four categories: those with dogs, with cats, with both dogs and cats, and with no pets. He presents the findings in two different ways: with words, in paragraphs; and in a bar graph. |
Which of these two ways do you find easier to understand? Finally, when it comes to organizing a report that you're assigned to do for a class, make sure to find out if there are any requirements for how to organize your work. Some fields in the sciences and social sciences require an organization known as IMRAD for the headings it includes: introduction, methods, results, and discussion. |