1. Today’s Standard 2.3 Find similarities and differences between texts in the treatment, scope, or organization of ideas.

2. Just because you read something in print doesn’t mean that it is true or reliable. A subject may be approached in many ways. This standard requires you to analyze and understand how different pieces of writing (text) handle the ideas that are presented therein. First, let’s consider…

3. Treatment: How ideas are treated in a text may vary widely. One piece of writing may approach a topic with humor, whereas another text may present ideas quite seriously. For example: A student may write an editorial to his newspaper suggesting changes in food available for lunch. He may compare the beef to an old shoe and the baked potatoes to cold baseball. This is a light-hearted treatment. A parent, who is a dietician may write on the topic with a totally different treatment. She may site the lack of nutritional value in the lunches, harmful additives or unhealthy fats in the food. This treatment is more serious. Additionally, one writer may treat his or her subject favorably, whereas another writer may address the same subject unfavorably. Example: One writer’s text may praise the proposal to build a new mega-store in her town, including details on the wide availability of all kinds of products at very low prices. Another writer could address the same topic negatively, showing a lack of enthusiasm for the new store because of possible increases in pollution, petty crime, and taxes.

4. Scope: Scope refers to the extent that a topic is covered, how thoroughly a topic is covered. Is it broad in scope (a lot of info.) or narrow in scope (not very much info.)? Example: A text may address the effect of video games on youth and propose that there are many negative effects. The writer may support this idea by citing behavior observed in his child. Another writer may tackle the topic with a much broader scope, including research studies done on hundreds of kids, interviews, and cognitive information provided by doctors. Another example involving scope is whether a text involves just one side of an issue (narrow scope) or both sides of an issue (broader scope). OR

5. Organization: Both treatment and scope have to do with the content of a text, or what it is about. Organization refers to how the content is put together in a text, what order information is in. Ideas can take many organizational forms. Here are some:  Chronological order. What happens first in time to what happens last in time.  Importance of information. Most important ideas first, down to least important ideas.  Local to national. Ideas that affect local citizens in ones town to those ideas that affect people in other areas.  Most dramatic or least dramatic.  Most credible to least credible. Example: Expert opinions vs. local man on the street.  Compare and contrast. While ideas in texts can be organized in a wide variety of ways, what’s most important is that the writing does follow some logical, effective organizational format.

6. Now it’s your turn! You will be reading 3 pieces of writing on the same subject and then determining how they are similar and/or different in their treatment, scope and organization. Text 1: Text 2: Text 3: treatmentscopeorganization vs. text vs. text ©Created by Cathy Shope, EWMS 2007