It appears as if Harris values the writing tool he
calls “Taking an Approach.” He dedicates an entire chapter of his book
elaborating on what is meant by “taking an approach,” but it seems to me that
this academic writing tool does not have much importance. In any case, taking
an approach does not mean using the ideas or words of another writer and
putting them into a new context; that is what forwarding does. It does not mean
respectfully challenging the stance of another writer’s work; that is what
countering does. Rather, taking an approach means working in the same manner as
that of another writer. Perhaps the best way to take an approach would be to
analyze how the author reaches their conclusion and how the author deals with
information. Taking an approach requires both your own thinking and the
thoughts of the original writer to change. The change in thoughts simply
reshapes the original idea; the original idea still exists but looks different.
You can take an approach by applying these methods of working in the mode of
another writer: acknowledging influences, turning an approach on itself, and
reflexivity. Briefly, the first method, acknowledging influences, allows you to
note the writers who help shape your thoughts and interests. The second method,
turning an approach on itself, means that you apply the same questions to the
writer that the writer asks to others. Lastly, reflexivity simply gives an
author the opportunity to openly reflect on the choices he or she made while
forming their writing.
The New York Times ran an article about gender equality in their
opinion section. The author of the article, Stephanie Coontz, writes a brief
history of gender equality in the United States and how this equality has been
changing. She implicitly reflects and acknowledges her influences near the
beginning and end of her article. For example, it appears as though the reason Coontz
wrote the article was because, at the time of the article’s publication, it was
“the 50th anniversary of the
publication of Betty Friedan’s international best seller, “The Feminine
Mystique.” By acknowledging why she decided to write the article, Coontz gives
an example of an author “taking an approach.” This helps the reader understand
the author’s thoughts towards writing their article.
I realize this is not the greatest example of “taking an
approach,” but I encountered many difficulties in finding a good example.
Perhaps good examples do not exist?http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/opinion/sunday/why-gender-equality-stalled.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=opinion&
I half agree with your point about it not being that huge of a tool. At first, I agreed but then after doing it I realized even though it seems little we do it all the time without even realizing we're doing it. I think good examples exist it's just such a subtle thing it's hard for us to catch on to it. If I understood the chapter correctly, an example would be almost any research paper we write for school where we examine another authors work.
ReplyDeleteAfter I wrote and published this blog I went and read other blogs about "taking an approach." I realized that it's not that useless of tool, and you're right: good examples do exist. They're just hard to find because we take approaches frequently that doing so just becomes natural.
ReplyDeleteI agree that "taking an approach" can be subtle, and the way Harris describes it allows a lot of uses and interpretations. I have a sense that he wanted to acknowledge the ways that we can work with and be influenced by sources beyond forwarding and countering, and so he brought all of that together in "taking an approach." I think the author acknowledging Friedan's influence can work as a pretty good example.
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