Track a Columnist

Pulitzer Prize winning NYT columnist, Maureen Dowd

In keeping with the College Board’s stated goal of fostering a “well-informed citizenry,” let’s read some writers who are discussing policy, politics and culture.

PROCEDURE:

Step One: Find your columnist.
This is going to take some patience on your part. For a more meaningful learning experience, find a writer you can connect with, or a writer who riles you up. Take your time. Browse and read. Be willing to sit and search.

Step Two: Collect six.
Collect six current, consecutive columns by your author. Keep reading and scrolling down help in finding someone you will like...

Step Three: Annotate.
Each article must be annotated. Annotate for the following

• Speaker’s tone
• Rhetorical strategies
• Organizational shifts
• Appeals to logic or emotion
• Main idea/argument; supporting evidence. Examine how the argument is constructed.

Mark places in the text that evoke a reaction from you, be it laughter, anger, or confusion.


Step Four: Write.
After annotating, write a brief response (one-half page to a page) that includes the following:

• A brief summary of the author's main point
• The most salient strategies employed by the author and what effect they have
• The article's effect on you

Your first annotated article and one-page response will be due in class for workshop and peer response on Wednesday, December 17. If you are struggling, I can give you some guidance then. I will not check the next five articles and responses; they are due with the final assignment.

Step Five: The Grand Finale.

The final task is to write AN ESSAY that delineates the following:

• The author's general focus in columns (e.g. political, family, arts, social problems)
• Three of the author's oft-used stylistic devices
• An analysis of the efficacy of those devices

You are to judge the author's writing style as convincing or ineffective and explain why; it is not necessary that you agree with the writer if you feel that a point has been convincingly made. Specific examples must be provided from at least three of your collected columns.

Those Seeking a Favorable Grade Should Follow the Suggested Guidelines:

• Essay length is expected to be between 500-750 words. You are going to have to find something to talk about. This essay is too long to fake.
• Times Roman, 12-point type, double-spaced with one-inch margins.
• Your name, date, and class will be single spaced in the top left hand corner of page one.
• A right header will contain your last name and page number on every page.
• Include a Works Cited page, citing all six editorials in proper MLA form. I will look at this page like a HAWK. Ten points knocked off for any MLA infraction. (Yes, we will go over this ad nauseum.)
• I expect you to include specific examples in the body of your essay as you discuss various stylistic devices, and their rhetorical effectiveness, and I want to see two to four internal citations for three reasons: (1) to show you know the citation form, (2) to show you know how to gracefully incorporate quotations, and (3) to allow you to reinforce the validity of your argument by referring to "proof."
• This is a formal, analytical essay based entirely on primary resources (your six columns). You should write in the third person present tense, avoiding the passive voice. In the final paragraph, you may switch and shift to first person to evaluate the readability of the columnist and to explain your personal response to the writer’s style, perspective, and topics.
• Between now and the due date, we will be reviewing Zinsser and George Orwell’s famous essay, “Politics and the English Language.” Please diligently avoid empty phrases, clichés, jargon, and obfuscation. Dig these out of your essays like something that has gone bad in your refrigerator. Find it, make a face at it, and toss it.
• Please attach your annotated articles to your essay, behind your Works Cited page. These are worth six homework grades. For full credit, I am expecting to see well-annotated articles.

How to Start – Advice and Websites
Here are the links, as promised

A starting point: Blue Eagle.com
That crazy guy that I linked to.

Arts and Letters Daily
One of the most comprehensives site I've seen. You can access a dozen newspapers, book
reviews, and at least 30 columnists of all political stripes.

The Internet Public Library
IPL is always a good starting point for any kind of search you are conducting...

American Journalism Review
Click on Newspapers, and you’ll see over 1000 national newspapers that are online…

Don’t forget to Google

Check out the Commentary section in Journalism as the Pulitzer Prize website to track down the prize-winning journalists, like Ellen Goodman, Thomas L. Friedman, William Safire, Anna Quindlen, many others!

Did you know?
When you get to the newspaper’s homepage, you may find the name of the specific author you wish to follow on the home page; otherwise, check the Editorials or Op-Ed. Archives can be searched on these sites, but many publications require payment for articles older than one or two weeks. Therefore, do not let this go until the due date. Start now and keep up, or it will end up costing you money.

Left or Right?
If you're not sure of the columnist's political bent, you could check here for conservative opinion. There's an archive for each columnist and links to current columns. Some good conservative magazines are National Review and The Weekly Standard; the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times tend to be conservative.

Liberal columnists publish in The Nation, Salon, NY Times, and the Washington Post, among others.

The New York Times
Click on Editorials/Op-Ed. Maureen Dowd, Thomas L. Friedman, Bob Herbert, Paul Krugman, others

The Washington Post Click on Opinions to see a list of regular contributors like Jim Hoagland, William Raspberry, George F. Will (Search for George Will's piece on how growing up as a Chicago Cubs fan is what made him a political conservative. Beautiful, funny piece of writing.)

The Boston Globe Click on Editorials/Op-Ed. Ellen Goodman, Joan Vennochi

The Nation (Note this is a left-wing publication, Republicans beware!) Calvin Trillin, Christopher Hitchens, Katha Pollitt (I sure like Katha Pollitt. She’s like ice water down the back.)

Chicago Sun-Times Click on Commentary and use list of columnists.

Chicago Tribune Click on Columnists.

The Miami Herald Click on Opinion; Columnists are on the right; Click on Search/Archives for Carl Hiaasen (if you want to read him-don't know why he's not listed in columnists!).

The San Francisco Chronicle Click on Columnists.

The Washington Times Click on Opinion/Editorial and scroll down to Regular columnists.

I haven’t even mentioned our beloved and beleaguered Los Angeles Times! There are lots of great writers in the LA Times, and you can read it in traditional newsprint!