Listening to And Representing an Argument

Step 1: Are you listening?

Truly listening? Even now, as you read these words.

Are you listening actively, thoughtfully?

It can be trickier than it seems.

As Sherlock Holmes once admonished Dr. Watson, “You see, but you do not observe.” Explaining the distinction, Holmes notes that Watson has climbed the staircase of their lodgings at 221B Baker Street hundreds of times and yet cannot say how many steps it takes to reach the top. Observation, Holmes tells Watson, goes beyond merely seeing. To observe one must endeavor to take the measure of what has been seen.

Listening, like observation, requires that we not only hear, but take the measure of what has been heard, or read.

In English 1213, the Unit 1 assignment: “Listening to and Representing an Argument” asks students to critically consume an argument made for a particular audience. In other words, the first essay asks you to listen.

More specifically, it asks you to listen to an argument. Then, to demonstrate how well you have taken the measure of that argument—i.e., how well you have listened—it asks you to accurately, and fairly, explain that argument to a reader.

Throughout Writing Spaces at OSU, each section of this text identifies concepts and tools that will help you successfully complete the major essays in the 1213 assignment sequence. Subsequent assignments ask you to analyze and evaluate an argument (Unit 2), research a scholarly conversation (Unit 3), and participate in a scholarly conversation by formulating a unique argument (Unit 4).

But first comes the listening.

Step 2: Are you still listening?

The Unit 1 section of Writing Spaces at OSU is comprised of four short chapters:

• What Is “Academic” Writing? (L. Lennie Irvin)
• So You’ve Got a Writing Assignment. Now What? (Corrine E. Hinton)
• Looking for Trouble: Finding Your Way into a Writing Assignment (Catherine Savini)
• Why Visit Your Campus Writing Center? (Ben Rafoth)

Each of these essays addresses a question or concern that students often encounter with this first assignment. For many students, the most pressing of these issues can be simply how to begin.

Student writers often feel some degree of anxiety, dread, or even just nervous energy when introduced to a new assignment, in large part due misconceptions about what academic writing entails. Likewise, concerns over page length, due date, and assessment frequently overshadow considerations of genre, topic, and learning outcomes. Each reading in this section offers guidance on how to negotiate these issues, as well as how to generate topic ideas, develop an argument, and make good use of the campus writing center.

But again… first comes the listening.

Step 3: So, what am I supposed to be listening for exactly?

As you read through the essays in this section, note how each emphasizes the importance of first deciphering the assignment. In other words, before committing a single word to the page, your first step in the writing process should be forming a clear understanding of the type of writing you are being asked to perform, and the expectations generated by the rhetorical context in which that writing act is situated. In other words, you need to begin by listening carefully to what the instructions ask you to do—what specific writing tasks are you required to perform? What learning outcomes is your writing expected to demonstrate?

You might think that simply reading over the assignment sheet should be enough to answer these questions. But deciphering assignments, like listening, can be trickier than it seems.

Ask any group of college freshmen to identify the purpose of an assignment and many are likely to answer, “to get an A.” Ask them to identify the audience and some will answer, “the instructor.” Ask what qualities a successful essay should demonstrate, and likely responses might include practicing good grammar, punctuation, organization, style and flow. While these responses may all be true, after a fashion, they also tend to be equally applicable to just about any piece of writing, and therefore a bit useless at improving your understanding of the current assignment. See my point? Still listening…?

One worthwhile approach to improving this understanding, it would seem, might be identifying the specific writing tasks and expectations that make each assignment unique rather than those things that tend to be universally applicable. For example, the first major writing assignment in English 1213 specifically asks that you listen to and represent an argument.

Perhaps a good place to begin then, might be simply asking yourself “What exactly does that mean—listen to and represent an argument?” Herein, you might think that simply reading over an argument and then summarizing what you have read would be enough to perform the above tasks. But learning to listen to an argument, like learning to listen to music, requires you to do more than merely hear and then repeat back what you have heard. Rather, the assignment asks that you take the measure of the composition, count its steps, identify the composition’s component parts, and describe for the reader how those parts—purpose, claims, evidence—work together to comprise the whole.

This is what it means to listen to and represent an argument.

First, by deciphering the assignment itself.

Then, by deciphering the argument.

And lastly, by composing an essay that demonstrates how well you have taken the measure of each. Your completion of the writing tasks, along with your description of the argument, reflect your understanding of what you have been asked to do, and your understanding of how to do it.

Keep in mind, it takes it a bit of time and practice to learn how to do these things.

For this reason, Unit 1 (and the accompanying readings) are geared toward helping you practice this skill set. Incidentally, this is a skill set that tends to come in handy. Not just for this course, or for your academic career, but more broadly as a life skill. Later essays in the 1213 curriculum will ask you to practice and perform additional writing tasks.

But first comes the listening. Always the listening.

Step 4: And now for a word about argument…

Hopefully the emphasis on argument in in English 1213 has not escaped your attention. When we use the word argument in this context, like the word critical, it should be read with a neutral connotation. To present an argument does not mean a heated exchange or verbal disagreement. Instead, it conveys the act of presenting reasons or evidence as means of supporting a position for the purpose of evaluating that position’s validity.

Likewise, our use of the word critical does not necessarily mean to criticize or find fault, but simply to critique—to offer a detailed analysis or interpretation of a text. Think of a film critic, for instance, who routinely highlights positive as well as negative aspects of a movie.

Much of the work you do in this course will be predicated on your recognition of argument and critical as neutral terms. Consider the stage of your writing process when you receive feedback on a draft or your finished essay. This critique of your writing may be neutral, but in some instances, it can feel very personal. Keep in mind, learning to listen to critical feedback, truly listen, also requires practice. And patience. Just like writing.

Step 5: Thank you for listening.

Please keep reading. And listening. Always the listening.