The Poisoned Fish Every time a student sits

The Poisoned Fish

“Every time a student sits down to write for us, he has to invent the university for the occasion-invent the university, that is, or a branch of it, like History or Anthropology or Economics or English. He has to learn to speak our language, to speak as we do, to try on the peculiar ways of knowing, selecting, evaluating, reporting, concluding, and arguing that define the discourse of our community” (3). Bartholmae, David “Inventing the University”

The Problem? According to Bartholmae, students are asked to appropriate a specialized discourse (talk/write in a certain way). They must act as experts in a field they are not experts in. “They must learn to speak our language. Or they must dare to speak it, or to carry off the bluff, since speaking and writing will most certainly be required long before the skill is ‘learned’” (5).

Ken Macrobie says students are taught to write this way. He calls it “engfish” There are various types of Engfish. • Writing as a supposed expert • Writing without emotion/passion • Writing with cliché

Why is one better than the other? It is hard to realize just how much you miss someone until you are away from this person. It seems that the time you are away from this person is wasted. You seem to wait and wait till you can see this person again. Then when the time comes, it passes far too quickly. I can play huhwayun music on my gettar. It is like when grandma took a sick spell. Now she was shut up tight as a jar with a lid on. She gave a scream. When she gave that scream it was high. But it got lower and lower. Huhwayun music sounds something like that when she was getting lower.

What’s wrong here? I went downtown today for the first time. When I got there I was completely astonished by the hustle and the bustle that was going on. My first impression of the downtown area was quite impressive. The co-captains of the respective teams are going out to the middle of the field for the toss of the coin.

What’s wrong here? Computers are the biggest thing in the world today. In today’s fast paced global society. Everyone knows As we all know

The difference between cliché and critical thinking/writing Thinking in concert with others

Revise others’ writing.

“I think that all writers, in order to write, must imagine for themselves the privilege of being "insiders" -that is, of being both inside an established and powerful discourse, and of being granted a special right to speak. And I think that right to speak is seldom conferred upon us” (Barthlomae 10).

Add to your free-write from Tuesday. Do you feel like an expert in the field you are researching? Why or why not? What can you do to change the way you feel? Do you have to be an expert to write about the topic or do you just have to be knowledgeable? When writing, do feelings of inadequacy impact your writing? What are some ways you can overcome these fears and not write “Engfish”?

For Tuesday: • Read: Introduction to Primary Research • Read: Ballinger 99 -107 • Write: Bring in ideas of who to interview & draft questions