Automaticity with Texts Cali Linfor

Muscle Memory

What We Should Note Every Time We Read Title of the text. Date of Publication Publication and Genre Name of writer or writers Topic Main Argument Claims Evidence Structure/Order of development Purpose Tone

Frosting The appeals Context (historical, social, economic, political) Certain beliefs and assumptions (warrants). The exigency which motivates the argument

A sample text:

From the back of the package: “Regular polyethylene-based plastic bags can take over 100 years to degrade and are not compostable. Less than 2% of all plastic bags ever get recycled. Plastic bags litter our streets, backwoods and waterways. Studies indicate that 100,000 marine animals and 2 million birds die every year from ingesting or being caught up in plastic debris.”

Back of package continued: “BioBag products are based on starch, vegetable oil and other renewable resources. No polyethylene is used in the production process. We are fully certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute to be 100% biodegradable and 100% compostable. Please be sure the biodegradable products you buy are properly certified.”

BioBag The genre is packaging for a product. The subject/topic of the argument is using compostable bags for dog waste rather than plastic bags. The writers of the argument are a company, BioBag, who produce compostable products as an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic..

BioBag BioBag’s audience are consumers. The purpose their argument is to convince consumers of the negative effect plastic bags have, and for consumers to buy BioBags instead of plastic bags.

BioBag BioBag’s main claim is “Changing the world without changing the earth.” In other words, that by purchasing BioBags rather than plastic bags, we can help save the environment.

8 Question Argument Sheet What general issue/topic/problem is the author writing about? What other argument is the writer responding to/agreeing or disagreeing with? Does the author suggest a solution to the problem? If so, what is that solution? If not, what does the author do instead of offering a solution? List the sequence of the text’s arrangement, or structure, identifying sections of paragraphs by assigning them specific functions, such as “¶1-4 introduces the topic & states the problem,” or “¶ 5-9 provides personal history of connection to the topic,” etc. (Charting)

Who is the intended audience for this text? (State where, when, why, and for whom the text was first published.) What was/is the author’s purpose for writing this text? (You may have to infer this or it may be directly stated in the text.) Why does the author think this issue is important? Why should the reader care about this issue/problem? If the author’s proposal/solution were to be accepted and implemented by society, what would the consequences be? Who would gain? Who would be disadvantaged?

Reflection What ways other might we create muscle memory?