In the next chapterYou should be pleasantly surprised by the number of interesting ideas,
criticisms, and examples that you were able to produce from your own
resources. This will make your essay not only more interesting, but also
more fluent and persuasive, because these are genuinely your own
ideas. In the next chapter we will look at ways of organising your work,
so that you can generate more of your own ideas and insights, and use
them more effectively.Note
1 R. G. Frey, ‘Pain, Interests, and Vegetarianism’, in his Interests and Rights:
The Case Against Animals(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980), ch. XI.Note-taking for Criticism and Evaluation 117Assignment 5
Note-taking for criticism and evaluationIn this assignment select a chapter that you plan to read for your
essay. Read it through first for comprehension. Then, after a day or so,
take a blank sheet of paper and try to recall the broad structure of the
chapter.
After you’ve done this, go over each point in the structure, critically
assessing the argument in the way we have in this chapter. Map out your
reactions in pattern notes, allowing yourself to explore quite freely your
reactions to the arguments the author has made. If you appear to be
going off the point at times, don’t worry. Try to exhaust your ideas on
an issue before you move on to another. But if an idea comes up out of
place, note it, don’t rely on picking it up later. Give yourself licence to
analyse points thoroughly, to make contrasts, and to bring in other evi-
dence you’ve come across elsewhere, that you think has a bearing on
the issues raised.
Remember you are trying to get your mind’s natural self-organisation
down on paper. It’s there, if only you can tap into it. To do that, you
must allow it to pick up top speed. At this point it’s more likely to
make connections, to draw contrasts and comparisons, and to use items
of information, evidence and examples, that you might never have
thought of.HTW15 7/26/01 9:10 PM Page 117