Research Guides: ENGL113 Chambers: Source Comparison

Group 1

Journal Article vs Popular Press

Dr. Susan D. Blum, anthropologist and author of this article, has written many scholarly articles and books on her areas of specialization. She also has been a regular contributor to Huffington Post. Skim through a sampling of the popular articles she’s written and also browse her more academic publications. (books & journal articles)

Are there differences in what topics she addresses in these different publication types?
How does she discuss topics differently when she is writing with an academic voice vs a popular one?
How do you think she uses different publication styles to further knowledge on various topics?

Group 4

Academic Essay vs Journalism

Skim a couple of paragraphs of each of these two articles, the above essay by writer Peter Ives, and the famous expose news piece in Smoking Gun that revealed inaccuracies in James Frey’s bestselling memoir A Million Little Pieces.

What research do they use as they construct an argument around their examples of truth in memoir?
How do the purposes of these publications differ?
How might they be used as different types of authority in a discussion of truth in creative non-fiction?

Group 2

Journal Article vs Textbook Chapter

Hetherington, Stephen. "Truth". Reality? Knowledge? Philosophy! An Introduction to Metaphysics and Epistemology. Edinburgh University Press. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.com/stable/10.3366/j.ctvxcrhft. Accessed 21 Aug. 2020.

Hetherington, Stephen. “Concessive Knowledge-Attributions: Fallibilism and Gradualism.” Synthese, vol. 190, no. 14, 2012, pp. 2835–51, doi:10.1007/s11229-012-0088-9.

Skim these two resources, both written by the same scholar, epistemologist Stephen Hetherington. One is a journal article and the other is a chapter from a textbook.

How are they different in their vocabulary?
Who are the intended audiences for these publications and how do you think this impacts how Hetherington discusses the topic?
How are they different in the way that they engage their reader on the subject of truth?

Group 5

Valdés, Mario J. World-Making : the Literary Truth-Claim and the Interpretation of Texts . University of Toronto Press, 1992.

Lazar, David. Truth in Nonfiction Essays . University of Iowa Press, 2008.

Look at these two books. Check out especially their description and table of contents to get a sense of how they were written.

How are they different in their structures?
Come up with an advantage and a disadvantage for style of book as a resource for making an effective argument about truthfulness in writing.

Group 3

Journal Article vs Reference essay

Ullian, Joseph S. "Truth." The Journal of Aesthetic Education , Vol. 25, No. 1, Spring 1991, pp. 57-65. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.com/stable/3333091. Accessed 21 Aug. 2020.

Kraal A. (2013) "Truth." In: Runehov A.L.C., Oviedo L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi-org.ezproxy.hope.edu/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_1543

Questions - Skim these two articles/essays. One is a journal article and the other is from an encyclopedia.

What do you observe about differences in their structure and tone of writing?
Which of these two is thesis-driven writing?
How do you think the purpose of these two articles differs?