Assignments
and Student Writing:
Chats with Students
A Chat Between Student and Instructor About the United States v. Nixon Essay
The assignment was to write an essay explaining the United States Supreme Court's unanimous decision in United States v. Nixon (1974), in which the Court rejected Nixon's claim of executive privilege and ordered him to comply with a lower court's subpoena for tapes of his White House office conversations. For this essay, I assigned my students an audience of "eleventh and twelfth graders who know nothing about the Watergate incident or the Nixon tapes controversy". This student is still figuring out how to use the FirstClass Private Chat Function, and also is struggling with factual and procedural issues in this complicated opinion.
Andra:
I have a question on Nixon which I think was gone
over in class, but I am still unclear of.
Viti: So what
is it?
Andra: Why
exactly did the special prosecutor want the tapes, to investigate the
President or for the trial of the others involved?
Viti: He wanted
it for the immediate purpose of the criminal prosecution of the MENTORS
of the "plumbers" (who of course were burglars, not plumbers
at all) but since Nixon was also an "unindicted co-conspirator"
it seems likely that Jaw
Viti: I think this is explained pretty well in All The President's
Men, which is on reserve. You may want to read it (use the index for
the parts you need) b/w tomorrow and the final due date for this paper,
next Friday the 19th.
Andra: I only
got your first message up to Jaworski.
Viti: Jaworski
wanted to get the goods on Nixon and either indict him as a conspirator
or turn over this evidence to the congressional impeachment committees.
Viti: Does that help?
Viti: Well, give your reader exactly what you think your reader
will need. If it seems just too detailed, use an endnote or parenthetical
note.
Andra: Thanks,
that's all. See you tomorrow.
Viti: Have I answered your questions? I
will bring All the President's Men tomorrow to class and give you the
cites.
This past semester, when my students were in the process of revising their Roe v. Wade paper (after peer editors had critiqued the first drafts), I invited volunteers from both classes to chat with me and with one another about how concerns about their audience affected their final versions of this paper--and in some cases, stymied their progress in revising. In this IRC, students also explored how they might adapt their writing if they were to post it on the Intercollegiate Electronic Democracy Project forum on abortion, in which these students had been participating. Their consciousness of "audience addressed" here is quite evident.
Lynne
Viti has joined the chat.
Ashley has joined the chat.
Ashley: Hello
Ashley: I'm here
Lynne Viti: Hi, let me gather the other
students --
Ashley: okay
Sofya has joined the chat.
Sofya: hello
Ashley: Hi Sofya
Lynne Viti: Hi--just a minute more--
Nell has joined the chat.
Nell: hello all
Lynne Viti: OK, we can start and see if Cat Cachero comes
on soon.
Sofya: hello
Ashley: hi Nell
Lynne Viti: My questions were about audience
and how thinking about audience in the Roe essay has either stalled
you
Lynne Viti: or made it easier for you to write your first draft...
Lynne Viti: So--any thoughts?
Sofya: I found this essay to be easier
because
Lynne Viti: because...?why?
Ashley: I also found it easier
Sofya: the audience was more educated than that of the last essay
Ashley: because
Nell: Knowing my audience helped chose the tone of may paper.
Lynne Viti: Is that because the audience
was Wellesley students who haven't read the case, the operative words
here being WELLESLEY STUDENTS?
Ashley: the audience knows about as much
as i knew
Sofya: so I could go in with an assumption that they would have
a more diversified understanding of social issues
Ashley: going into the paper
Lynne Viti: Nell, what do you mean by "tone"?
Lynne Viti: Ashley, so, you just think that your audience is
you, say a month ago?
Ashley: maybe
Lynne Viti: What changes might you make in the way you
wrote your paper, the arguments you make, if you were, say, going to
publish it on the IEDP forum?
Ashley: it makes it easier for me to think
of it that way
Lynne Viti: Would you hold back? Would you be more or
less argumentative?
Sofya: I made assumptions that my audience
was generally aware of what abortion is.
Ashley: i would not hold anything back
Lynne Viti: But Sofya, wouldn't people down to about age
14 or 15 know this?
Nell: My tone on the IEDP project would have to be more accepting
of pro-life views
Lynne Viti: Ashley, you mean you write
straight from the heart even in an academic PAPER?
Ashley: my paper is not to argue whether
abortion
Ashley: is right or wrong
Sofya: If I were going to publish my paper on IEDP I would be
more argumentative since I would be specifically writing to provoke
a reaction
Ashley: it is to address the case
Nell: In my paper for Wellesley students, I gave less basis for
my own views
Lynne Viti: Nell, so you think that there is a sort of "anti-Pro-Life"
audience at this institution?
Nell: not quite
Nell: but I think the majority is pro choice, even if some people
think that abortion should be quite limited
Lynne Viti: Well then what kind of range
of view on abortion, and on Roe, do you perceive here? Not just Nell.
Ashley: what do you mean by that?
Cat has joined the chat.
Ashley: Hi Cat
Nell: hi Cat
Cat: hi everyone
Lynne Viti: Ashley you need to state your question more fully
--what does who mean by what?
Sofya: Hi Cat
Lynne Viti: Hi Cat. Scroll back and catch up.
Cat: how do i do that?
Cat: there's no way for me to scroll up?
Lynne Viti: check your email then
Nell: the scroll should be to the left of the dialogue box
Lynne Viti: Ashley, back to your restatement
of the question.
Ashley: What do you mean by "range
of view on abortion"? are you talking about our audience
Ashley: Well then what kind of range of view on abortion, and
on Roe, do you perceive here? Not just Nell.
Ashley: that question
Lynne Viti: I am thinking that if you are
writing for students here, you might have a different approach, or tone,
as Nell called it, than if you were writing a formal paper to publish
on the IEDP forum.
Ashley: oh
Lynne Viti: But would you, necessarily?
Ashley: i would not
Sofya: I would
Lynne Viti: Or do you write all formal papers the same way no
matter form whom?
Sofya: no
Lynne Viti: Sofya, you would what?
Lynne Viti: You sort of have to express your thought completely
so we don't lose the thread here!!
Sofya: I would write with a much more radical
viewpoint so as to provoke some sort of a reaction
Sofya: sorry
Nell: I think that it would be harder to
write from an anti abortion stand point for Wellesley students than
for the students of IEDP because someone would support you there
Nell: Good point Sofya, I might too
Ashley: that
makes sense
Lynne Viti: So, Sofya, --if you feel comfortable talking about
this--here--and the same goes for the rest of you--if you believe that
Roe v. Wade is a good decision, one that you want to see stick around,
you would feel okay arguing that position--
Ashley: i would
Cat: me too
Sofya: yes
Sofya: of course
Sofya: I would feel ok arguing such a position anywhere
Nell: I would feel ok arguing either side. A pro-life paper written
by me would probably be better proven =)
Ashley: me too
Lynne Viti: Nell, so you are saying that
here there is not such a range of views on the topic of abortion. That
it is therefore easier to peg your audience and not offend them if you
are writing for Wellesley students, whereas if you were p
Nell: I don't really mind offending people, as long as I think
I have some hope of getting them to think at least for a moment about
the value of my view
Nell: I'm so sorry that I can't type
Lynne Viti: Nell, not to worry, we can figure it out,and my typing
is worst of all!
Ashley: that's okay, i think that's a good point
Ashley: good point Nell
Lynne Viti: How would you react, any of you, if I said, hey,
I can assign particular audiences from now till 2008 but students are
still writing for the TEACHER.
Nell: It might be more fun to choose a
view opposite to the majorities so that people would get thinking
Lynne Viti: And hoping the TEACHER can decipher what it is they
mean even when the writing is not so clear.
Sofya: If I am writing a formal, graded
paper I tend to be more conservative than if I am writing for "fun"
-- when I write for fun I tend to experiment
Lynne Viti: Nell, but did you choose a viewpoint you disagreed
with in your Roe essay? I don't think any of you here did that.
Cat: I tend to be the some way Sofya is
Cat: same way
Cat: sorry
Nell: no, but I didn't have a view on the case before, just on
abortion
Lynne Viti: Why is it not good, in your
view, to "experiment" when writing for a grade? Is there some
evidence you can bring to us here that a boring and conservative B+
paper is better than taking the risk of "offending" your readers?
Lynne Viti: So shall we weigh in on abortion, first our particular positions,
personal ones, and secondly, our views of the Roe case?
Lynne Viti: I will start.
Nell: I think that by arguing that a woman's
right to chose is not fully protected by the case, I would get the attention
of people who think that they wholly support the case
Cat: it is not offending the audience that i am afraid of, it's
doing something that doesn't fit the formula
Lynne Viti: I think that there are many
circumstances in which a woman ought to be able to have an abortion
up until viability: medical, economic, psychological reasons. But
Nell: I think that teachers might give be more interested in
a paper that was not so conservative as to be easily proven
Lynne Viti: I also think that Roe was ,
as one student recently wrote, the best the Court could do under the
circumstances, but that it may have erred in choosing viability as the
compelling point for state intervention.
Nell: my teacher last year always used to write things on outlines
like "I really don't; agree, but good "
Lynne Viti: Nell...you lost me there. Teachers
would prefer not to read the same same same essay over and over every
year. That's part of the reason we vary the readings. Only Roe is so
important that it's hard to skip it.
Nell: good to know
Nell: too bad I won't surprise you or get to attack your views
Lynne Viti: But I'd like someone to convince me that Roe is a
perfect case.
Lynne Viti: Or that Roe is a total disaster of a decision.
Ashley: i don't think it is a perfect case
Lynne Viti: More
importantly, I'd like some of you in your papers to convince someone
ELSE other than me that your reading of Roe is correct.
Lynne Viti: Cat what's the FORMULA you referred to?
Cat: does this mean that you (Prof Viti) believe in the middle
ground and no where in the extreme of it being good or bad totally?
Sofya: I think that the way the essay question was phrased makes
it impossible to argue that Roe is a totally perfect case...
Lynne Viti: What's the middle ground? Tell me what it is and
I will tell you.
Cat: the formula with thesis in the 1st parag, five paragraph
essay, etc.
Ashley: Cat- i think as long as you
Lynne Viti: Sofya, you have brought up a good point: in an academic
assignment, the teacher sort of sets up the paper to an extent. I could
have said simply, "Write an argumentative paper about Roe for other
Wellesley students who haven't read
Nell: I think that the fact that abortion is so fiercely debated
shows that the case did not end the discussion.
Cat: i guess middle ground is saying that the case is good in
some ways and bad in other ways
Ashley: argue your point you need not follow
a formula
Cat: yeah i do take a long time to think
Sofya: I believe that the question states in part "Point
out the specific weaknesses you see in this decision."
Lynne Viti: But if I said forget the 5-paragraph
formula, doesn't that free you up to do so?
Sofya: To me that seemed to imply that you wanted us to write
about how Roe is bad
Lynne Viti: I'm checking the assignment's wording right now
Cat: yes but we still remember what we were taught back in the
high school days and can't totally forget that
Ashley: you could just argue that you don't see anything bad
in the case
Nell: I think it is possible to argue the Blackmun argues well,
but bases his guidelines for State laws of fuzzy definitions
Nell: did I just use Bush's word?
Ashley: hahaha
Cat: lol
Ashley: lol
Sofya: :)
Nell: Cat, what were taught in high school?
Nell: high school
Cat: in my reg English classes i was told to follow the 5-parag
essay w/ opening sentences, transitions, yadayaya
Lynne Viti: I wrote the assignment in such a way as to
let you decide if Roe had weaknesses or not,
Sofya: ok
Sofya: perhaps I misinterpreted it
Cat: but in my journalism and creative writing classes i was
taught to avoid that formula
Nell: I was taught that in 8th grade, but then taught to move
away form it, expand on it
Lynne Viti: Cat, but that was then. This
is now, and I've announced that you should put aside those formulas
for awhile.
Lynne Viti: Given that
Lynne Viti: --
Lynne Viti: what differences if any are there in the way you
act as a writer now with specific audiences, and the way you acted then?
Lynne Viti: if any
Sofya: how does one write a good essay without such formulas?
Ashley: the mystery of life
Ashley: :)
Cat: keeping your audience in mind- i need to be cautious of
my word choices and what i include in the essay
Lynne Viti: How does one write a letter without a formula?
Sofya: Before, I would assume that my audience
was fully educated - had read the novel/or literary work that I was
writing about
Lynne Viti: Cat--word choices...tell us more...
Lynne Viti: Does anyone here ever read
her paper aloud to herself to see if it makes sense?
Cat: well, you would write diff for high sch students versus
college students
Lynne Viti: Sofya, sounds like you were writing for the TEACHER.
Nell: I think that having an audience to write for forces me
to more consider how my paper will be received. In highschool , I was
writing for my classmates (or I saw it that way) who had had the same
discussions I had had (with them
Cat: sometimes if you use the wrong words w/ educated readers
they might be insulted
Sofya:
:)
Cat: insulted
Nell: now I am writing for people with different experiences
form my own
Lynne Viti: Cat, I am not so sure you would NEED to differentiate
b/w hs and college students. After all, we know the NYTimes is written
on a ..what? 6th or 56th grad level?
Lynne Viti: that was 5th or 6th, sorry
Cat: i see your point
Cat: but taking Nell's point in mind
Lynne Viti: One more comment from each of you about how my insistence
on audience awareness has changed--or not changed at all--the way you
approach a paper and then let's return to the debates...!!
Cat: i think if you included things that your audience already
know then you'd insult them
Nell: these makes me look at the paper form more varied standpoints,
and this makes for a better proven paper
Nell: I guess
Sofya: makes it harder to write the paper
Lynne Viti: more varied standpoints? I am not following you.
Lynne Viti: makes it harder why Sofya?
Nell: but don't you get to remind your audience of things they
know in the right order to prove your point?
Lynne Viti: Yes, there's no problem with reminding your audience.
Ashley: more varied- i think she means- not just one person and
their opinion
Sofya: because I am forced to "tone down" what I say
and include more detailed explanation of what I am referring to
Ashley: i don't know, though
Lynne Viti: so Nell, you are imagining say 3 or 4 people with
different views on abortion and trying to see if you will OFFEND them
when they read your essay?
Cat: it forces me to think about what i include in the essay
because my audience like Nell said is not coming from the same experiences
or background as i am
Nell: I don't; know. I guess I mean I've been trying to put myself
in the shoes of my audience and ask myself the question I think they'd
ask me. It is challenging, but I don't always know how to make my proofs
stronger
Lynne Viti: Sofya, who or what is making
you "tone down" your writing ? This is interesting, tell me
more--
Nell: Not only if I will offend them, but
how to say the same thing as strongly and not let them feel offended
Cat: Nell- like they're wrong and you're right all the time?
Sofya: where b/4 while writing for the
"teacher" (or someone like the teacher) I could go into my
essay with certain assumptions in mind, I had an audience in mind whose
views I already knew, so I knew how much support I had to make for
Sofya: a given argument
Nell: from the point of view of a writer, yes
Ashley: i think the idea of the audience
helps me in way b/c as i write my paper i need to clarify things. this
helps me and my reader.
Nell: I don't; always full agree with my
papers, but I try to make it sound like I totally do =)
Ashley: that is my attempt as well
Nell: sly, aren't we
Ashley: sly
Cat: how do you that Nell and Ashley?
Ashley: very sly
Nell: he
Ashley: i decide what I'm going to argue
Cat: wouldn't i be able to tell that you're just being "sly"?
Nell: I guess I just make a statement and try to back them up
with text
Ashley: take that sides and write
Ashley: not really
Ashley: would you be able to tell
Lynne Viti: so in the next essay
you write after this, if I said, you have to design your own audience,
be as specific as possible, what would you want to do, write for?
Ashley: as my audience- you don't know
me
Cat: I'll try that next time...and see if anyone can tell
Ashley: go cat go
Nell: I really like controlling a text in my mid to the point
that I feel that I could help anyone with any theory or disprove them
Cat: =)
Cat: the power of words!
Nell: words words words
Ashley: it depends on the topic prof viti
Nell: I really felt like i "controlled" Hamlet last
year
Ashley: that's good Nell
Ashley: i just kept thinking lion king
Cat: hamlet? wow, I'm impressed
Cat: lol
Ashley: same story i tell ya
Ashley: :)
Lynne Viti: Let's steer away from the easy stuff like
Hamlet and back to the cold hard legal stuff like Blackmun or Rehnquist
in Roe.
Nell: I think I would choose some part of me. Even if all of
me if not sure about what I'm proving
Sofya: I would choose a lawyer for an audience
Sofya: or
Sofya: law school students
Nell: You'd have to be very careful
Sofya: that's fine
Ashley: i would choose a peer
Sofya: but then I would not have to explain everything
Cat: i wouldn't mind just writing for the class or Prof. Viti
Sofya:
that would be fine as well
Ashley: i like the idea of writing to fellow Wendys
Cat: then everyone already knows what i am talking about
Ashley: i agree
Cat: but i guess that's too easy
Nell: I like setting the stage in a way
that benefits my thesis
Nell: benefits
Ashley: what do you mean
Ashley: Nell
Ashley: /
Ashley: ?
Sofya: I don't quite understand either, Nell
Cat: ?
Ashley: are you saying that the audience
Sofya: Would you write the paper, then find an audience
Nell: You have to tell the truth, the whole
truth and n-thing but the truth, but you can emphasize whatever you
want
Sofya: Would you write the paper, then find an audience that
would be sympathetic?
Lynne Viti: Are you as a writer actually trying to shape
or construct your own audience?
Ashley: meaning that you would write to
an audience that fits your emphasis
Cat: or your argument?
Ashley: that makes sense prof viti
Lynne Viti: Or, would you write the paper or the article
or the letter to the editor or the poem in such a way as to attract
your audience?
Nell: cool
Ashley: everyone- i need to go get some
work done so i can go to
Ashley: opps
Ashley: go to bed
Ashley: crew in the am---yeah
Nell: that is so cool!!!
Nell: not the early AM though
Ashley: I'd say bottom line: it's good
to provoke thought
Ashley: Lurio did
Ashley: :)
Ashley: good night ladies
Sofya: g-dnight
Cat: good nite Ashley
Nell: Yeah, taking a radical standpoint will probably attract
those who disagree
Ashley: bye, thank you prof viti for chatting
with us
Sofya: which would provoke a reaction
Nell: But if you tone your writing down, it might get the radically
opposed to consider your point
Sofya: not necessarily
Nell: do you have more questions Viti?
Sofya: but it is the easy way out
Lynne Viti: This was good. Go back to work or the debate
or exercising. Thanks!
Nell: only if it was a very well crafted paper
Nell: bye
Sofya: Nell, was that related to me?
Sofya: bye