Learning to Use Method Sources, Lesson 2, Step 3 p. 1 Writing Transfer Project Lesson 2, Step 3 Applying Method Sources Identifying Typical Moves in Applying Sources In this step, you will annotate a sample academic paper, identifying the typical moves made by writers when the apply Method sources. If, before you attempt your own annotations, you would like to see one more example where annotations are provided for you, look over the Review Example below. If you feel ready to attempt your own annotations right away, skip ahead to the Unannotated Example below. Review Example: Applying Method sources in the humanities and some social sciences THE SOURCE: For this example, we return to excerpts from one of the Lesson 1 examples: Excerpts from the student paper on the Toys R Us cursing dolls. CITATION NOTE: The citations from this excerpt have at times been altered to provide you with a description of the type of source(s) being cited, to help you analyze the role(s) the sources are playing in the text. In places where the text itself describes/introduces the type of source, such alternations have not been made. OBJECT OF STUDY: The Toys R Us-brand doll, You & Me Interactive Play & Giggle Triplet Dolls, and the discussions caused when parents began reporting the doll as saying, You crazy bitch. Because the Toys R Us brand was tarnished by the values related failure, the company s response was crucial, because it gave the company the opportunity to intervene and reshape positively--the public s future perception of the brand. Marconi (2002) explained the best ways for a company to respond to product crises in his book Reputation Marketing: Building and Sustaining Your Organization s Greatest Asset. He asserts that it is more important to build up a good reputation rather than having to do damage control after an incident occurs. If there is a situation that causes harm to the brand, however, then Marconi suggests that, A good response would be not to say you re sorry (in a transparent, carefully worded legal brief), but to show it Tell Carol 8/22/2015 12:52 PM Comment [1]: Connector Sentence: The writer lets us know which aspect of the object of study the upcoming Method source will help analyze, interpret, or evaluate: the company s response to the cursing doll reports from parents and the media. Carol 8/22/2015 12:53 PM Comment [2]: Connector Sentence: The writer echoes the concept that connects the object of study to this Method source: how a company responds to a branding failure or crisis. Carol 8/22/2015 11:18 AM Comment [3]: Method source: Marconi s book is NOT about the object of study (it never mentions the Toys R Us doll or incident). It serves as an analytical tool, providing the writer with a way to evaluate (in the paragraph that follows) how Toys R Us responded to the swearing dolls. Notice the length of this section: the writer spends significant time introducing and explaining the details of this source to readers unfamiliar with it (building up the scholarly tools she ll then apply in the next paragraph).
Learning to Use Method Sources, Lesson 2, Step 3 p. 2 customers at the community level that the company is not of, for, and about bad guys (p. 125). Customers will not easily forgive a brand for failing to follow through with its promise, so simply saying sorry is not an adequate way to win back popular sentiment. Having just lost the credibility of their promises by marketing a failed product, an apology in the form of more words will not fix the situation. This is especially true when the failure is values related because the public will rebel against the brand that doesn t Carol 8/22/2015 12:55 PM Comment [4]: The writer highlights the key aspect from Marconi s book that she plans to use in the next paragraph to help her analyze the Toys R Us response: Marconi discusses the inadequacy of apologies conveyed through words, in comparison to regret conveyed through action. adhere to social norms. In order to regain some of the brand s past social acceptance, it is important for the company to go above and beyond in their apology by acting in ways that express their apology and show that they are working to fix their mistake. It is important for them to demonstrate that they still believe in and strive to uphold the same values that were initially promised to their customers by showing that the malfunction was wholly unintended. Displaying regret through actions rather than through meaningless words is the most effective way to do damage control when a crisis has occurred. Toys R Us decision to ignore the malfunction and the customer s complaints was not an effective way to build a positive image for the brand. Far from going beyond saying sorry and actually showing the community that they meant it, Toys R Us didn t even issue an apology. Caron (2011) reported for ABC News that, Toys 'R' Us spokeswoman Jennifer Albano said there are no plans to discontinue the doll trio or pull them from shelves adding that the complaints the store has received at the store's guest services department were in the single digits (Caron). This lack of attention is detrimental to their brand because the public is unable to trust them to deliver the safe, appropriate products to their kids that they were promised. Simply because the Carol 8/22/2015 12:57 PM Comment [5]: The writer transitions the reader from the discussion of the Method source back to the object of study, focusing on the aspect of the object of study that the Method source will be used to analyze: how Toys R Us responded to the parental/media concerns over the cursing dolls. Carol 8/22/2015 11:21 AM Comment [6]: Exhibit source: This source is a) about the object of study, and b) the information presented from it is analyzed/evaluated by the writer. The writer uses the Method source s ideas, explained in the preceding paragraph, to interpret Toys R Us s lack of action (and lack of apology) as flawed.
Learning to Use Method Sources, Lesson 2, Step 3 p. 3 complaints the store has received at the store's guest services department were in the single digits does not justify ignoring that the dolls uttered profanity because these customers are now aware that the brand does not uphold the values that it promised. The negative publicity that the brand received on its online option to purchase the toy is demonstrated by one reviewer writing that, These babies were bought for my daughter as a gift. The pink baby doll curses saying "OK Crazy [*]". Sorry, but this is not a doll that I want my 2 year old playing with and learning from! (Toys R Us Customers Review Summary, 2013). This type of public image about the brand is detrimental, especially when it is so easy for people to share this with other potential customers through social media and online reviews. The brand s decision not to recall the dolls or issue an apology was not an adequate way to handle the situation because customers Carol 8/22/2015 11:24 AM Comment [7]: Exhibit source: This source an online review of the doll presents information (parental/customer opinion) that the writer uses to challenge the Toys R Us claim that there wasn t enough concern over the swearing doll to take action. are now unable to rely on the company for appropriate products and will be unlikely to continue shopping there.
Learning to Use Method Sources, Lesson 2, Step 3 p. 4 Unannotated Example: Drawing on Step 2 s list of the typical moves made by writers in the humanities and some social sciences when they apply concepts, definitions, or study results to an object of study, provide your own annotations of the moves the writer is making in the writing sample below. Be sure to identify both Exhibit and Method sources as you discuss the writer s moves. THE SOURCE: The following paragraphs are excerpted from a student paper on Quentin Tarantino s film, Django Unchained. CITATION NOTE: The citations from this excerpt have at times been altered to provide you with a description of the type of source(s) being cited, to help you analyze the role(s) the sources are playing in the text. In places where the text itself describes/introduces the type of source, such alternations have not been made. OBJECT OF STUDY: Quentin Tarantino s film, Django Unchained, and Spike Lee s protest against it. THE EXCERPT: For Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino s film, Django Unchained, should never have been filmed, because Lee believes that the film diminishes the tragedy of slavery by reducing it to a mere action movie. Lee s concerns echo the concerns of art critics after the tragedy of the Holocaust and WWII. In his book, Terror and the Sublime in Art and Critical Theory, G. Ray analyzed T.W. Adorno s critique of the orchestral piece, The Survivor from Warsaw, which was produced shortly after WWI and represented the survivors from a concentration camp. Ray elaborated on Adorno s criticism of this attempt to represent the horrors of a concentration camp in music: The ethical claim is that any aesthetic representation of Auschwitz will carry within it this potential for aesthetic pleasure. The mere possibility of such a redeeming transformation does injustice to the victims, for it makes the unthinkable appear to make sense (Ray, 2005, p. 65). In this case, the orchestral piece is the aesthetic representation of the concentration camp, and the aesthetic pleasure refers to the natural joy or artistic
Learning to Use Method Sources, Lesson 2, Step 3 p. 5 appreciation of the music. Ray, like Adorno, fears that a work of art that depicts an unthinkable experience might end up creating enjoyment among listeners. From this perspective, art from a tragedy such as Auschwitz will diminish the horror of it and will undermine the victims that were affected. To Lee, Django Unchained carries too much of what Ray called aesthetic pleasure (Ray, 2005). As an action film, it provides the viewer with many combat scenes, dramatic standoffs, quick and witty dialogue, and humor. For instance, in one scene, humor is invoked through the representation of the Ku Klux Klan as bumbling and goofy in their hoods. While the film mocks the Ku Klux Klan, it also diminishes the terror and fear that they invoked in their victims, by making the audience see them as bumbling--what Ray would see as an injustice to the victims. For Lee, the film s representation of slavery makes the antebellum South look less like an atrocity; it diminishes the experiences of slavery. On his personal Twitter account, Lee wrote, American Slavery Was Not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was a Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them (SpikeLee, 2012). For Lee, spaghetti westerns are low-budget, low-brow movies that boast shootouts and violence. That Tarantino is trying to represent the unthinkable of slavery is already a problem; that he does so through a genre that was known as a low-brow, popular film focusing purely on audience gratification makes it even worse.
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