Reading Response 3

Summary
In her article "Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively", Margaret Kantz attempts to tell readers about the right way to write a research paper. She argues that writers should write creative, persuasive essays because they offer "infinite possibilities" and allow readers to "think constructively" (81).

Similar readings
This reading is similar to both Greene and Kleine's articles because all three give very useful tips for writing, especially researched writing. All three articles have mentioned the theme of "argument" as being very important to a thoroughly thought out researched essay. 

Pre Reading #2
A fact is something that most all people have agreed on and accept as true. A claim is not quite a fact, but is when a group or individual believe something is true based on proof. An opinion is the belief of an individual or group that something is right based on their own logic and thoughts. An argument is a point that an individual or group is trying to make to persuade an audience to believe that they are right.

QD#1
Kantz contends that facts are not necessarily always the definite truth,  but rather often have angles, especially in historical texts. From how I read it, Kantz argues that fact, opinion and argument actually often work together as one and are not always just like those meanings listed in the question.  Kantz basically says that the writer has to take factual evidence so he or she can create an opinion on the subject, then be creative and tie all of that in to form a researched argument.

QD#2
Kantz says that students don't know how to use texts in the way of understanding how to take evidence and write it in a paper, how to discuss details in these papers, or know how to show different points of view in their papers. Judging from my own experience, I do think that she is correct. when I had to write researched papers in high school, I looked up the information, believed it to be correct, and typed it all up into my own words in a paper, completely disregarding that there could be anything more to it. I do feel like I understand a little better now, but I still can't say that I completely understand it due to the fact that I haven't tried writing a research paper like this yet.

AE#2
Prior to this class, I learned that research was structured and to the point while creativity was loosely structured and had more room for free thought. Kantz, however, talks about the two ideas working together as one when writing a paper. Our ideas really didn't overlap too much, other than I thought about how in high school I had to creatively put the information into my own words so my research wasn't plagarized at all. Her thinking influences mine because now I don't just think of creative papers as changing the words and paraphrasing, but rather that I need to put a little bit of my own actual creative energy into what seems like what would be an official, structured paper.

MM
Kantz is trying to analyze the constructs that research can't be creative. She does this by telling the reader that a paper can be creative and still contain all the necessary information that a research paper needs. It would be useful for me to understand her findings and claims because now I know that I can always look back to this article and remember how to write a creative research paper.

My Thoughts on the Reading
I thought this reading was very informational and very helpful, however I wished that it were presented in a more interesting way. The article seemed like it dragged on forever and just overall seemed way too long, so because of that I kept losing interest and had to re read it a few times before I actually got the point.