The Things They Carried - an initial study guide

As an introduction to Tim O'Brien and The Things They Carried, listen to a portion of his speech here: Tim O'Brien - speech for Arlington Reads on youtube. Skip the first 17 minutes of the speech and begin around minute 18. Listen carefully to what O'Brien has to say about the benefit of storytelling, the paradox of fiction being truer than "truth," how one event sparked his story "Ambush," and his thoughts on the elusive nature of truth.                                      

NOTE:  topics for the final exam will come from this study guide

Themes and Motifs in the Novel:

-- The Importance of Storytelling - Why do people tell stories? Why are stories important?   Look for stories that contain references to storytelling, including:

·       “The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”

·       “How to Tell a True War Story”**

·       “Spin,” especially the very last paragraph

·       “Good Form”

·       “Notes”

-- Paradox - How is it related to irony?  What aspects of the novel contain paradox?   Paradox – two things that are opposite that exist at the same time, though it would seem impossible; for example, from “How to Tell a True War Story,” the author writes: “ . . . in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war.” LOTS of examples of paradox in this story and others.

Irony – look for examples of irony of situation—in which the opposite happens to what is expected—example: in the opening story, Ted Lavender is killed suddenly, by a sniper, rather than Lee Strunk, who could have very well been killed as he searched the tunnels; Henry Dobbins, the largest man in the unit, who carries the heaviest guns, is referred to as “Soldier Jesus” by the monks, and would like a life of service or good works, would actually like to be a minister—that is BOTH irony AND paradox

-- Truth & Memory - What is the difference between story-truth and happening-truth? At least in this novel, which is more important? WHY?  How does storytelling connect truth and memory?                                                                                                                                                  

-- Shame/ --Guilt as a motivating force -- Find examples of how shame and guilt become motivating elements in the lives of some of the soldiers like: Tim O’Brien, Jimmy Cross, Norman Bowker

 Connect characters as they interact with each other—note how each man functions:

Kiowa – how does he interact with each of the following men? What does this tell you about Kiowa? (You might not “get” the other men from these stories, but you should be able to relate to Kiowa and his importance to these men and to Alpha Company.)

·       With Norman Bowker, in “The Things They Carried”
·       With Tim O’Brien in “The Man I Killed”
·       With Henry Dobbins in “Churches”

Rat Kiley –

·       With Mitch Sanders, in “The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” – pay close attention to their discussion of telling stories
·       With Curt Lemon in “How to Tell a True War Story” – what is Rat’s way of dealing with a friend’s sudden death? WHY? How is it comparable to the actions of Alpha Company

Norman Bowker--

·       Minor revelations of his character come in the stories “The Things They Carried” and “Spin”
·       Major revelations of his character come in “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes”

Tim O’Brien (note: he is a character in his own novel; as he said on the youtube video, he creates himself as a character, but the character’s experiences are based on true stories, but are not true in themselves)

In-text Citations

A good rough draft should provide you time to reflect on your reading to form an educated position that is supported with your own reasoning and logic.

The next step is begin to find direct supporting evidence—facts, expert opinion—from your references. You MUST use the essays from the text or the blog. You MAY use additional references in your paper. You may NOT use only outside references; you MUST use the essays from the text or the blog.  (Yes, I did repeat myself.)

EVERY reference listed on your Works Cited page should be used in your paper. There should be an in-text citation from EACH of your sources.

Your goal in writing the next draft of your essay is to synthesize the information you have gathered with your own ideas. To do that well requires real time and real thought. It is at this stage that you need to incorporate in-text citations.

Incorporate information using paraphrases, summaries or direct quotes, but provide in-text citations for each.

For example, if you summarize or paraphrase what an author says, you may use a statement that credits the source somewhere in the paraphrase or summary:

According to Richard Daines . . . blah, blah, blah (638). 

 In this example, Daines’ name is mentioned in the text of the sentence, and it is clear who the summary comes from. All you need to do is add the page number, in parentheses, followed by a period at the end of the sentence, if it is from the book.   

If the article is from the internet, using Daines’ name in the text of the sentence will be adequate to indicate the source.

If you use the author’s own words, exactly as they appear in the reference, introduce the quote with a signal phrase,  enclose the words with quotation marks, and provide an in-text citation. Follow the quote with a connection to your thesis or an explanation of the quote.

For example:

Although the internet has become the chosen form of research and communication for the twenty-first century, there are indications that people are becoming less capable of deep and sustained concentration. According to Nicholas Carr, “a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the Net, with its constant distractions and interruptions, is also turning us into scattered and superficial thinkers.” If Carr is correct, it may be time to re-examine the amount of time one spends using the internet.

In this example, the first sentence serves to lead into the second sentence and the second sentence identifies and gives credit to the reference. Also in this example, only the author’s name is used BECAUSE it is from an article in the Wall Street Journal which was found on the internet. 

Remember:

• Check your paraphrase or summary against the original text; correct any errors in content accuracy, and be sure to use quotation marks to set off any exact phrases from the original text
• Check your paraphrase or summary against sentence and paragraph structure, as copying those is also considered plagiarism.
• Put quotation marks around any unique words or phrases that you cannot or do not want to change: e.g., "savage inequalities" exist throughout our educational system (Kozol).

Writing direct quotations

• Keep the source author's name in the same sentence as the quote
• Mark the quote with quotation marks, or set it off from your text in its own block, per the style guide your paper follows
• Quote no more material than is necessary; if a short phrase from a source will suffice, don't quote an entire paragraph
• To shorten quotes by removing extra information, use ellipsis points (...) to indicate omitted text, keeping in mind that:
• In longer quotes where you have omitted a sentence in between other complete sentences, maintain terminal puncutation in between the ellipses. 
• Example: "None of the national reports I saw made even passing references to inequality or segregation. . . . Booker T. Washington was cited with increasing frequency, Du Bois never, and Martin Luther King only with cautious selectivity." (Kozol 3).
• To give context to a quote or otherwise add wording to it, place added words in brackets, ( [] ); be careful not to editorialize or make any additions that skew the original meaning of the quote—do that in your main text, e.g.,
• OK: Kozol claims there are "savage inequalities" in our educational system, which is obvious.
• WRONG: Kozol claims there are "[obvious] savage inequalities" in our educational system.
• Use quotes that will have the most rhetorical, argumentative impact in your paper; too many direct quotes from sources may weaken your credibility, as though you have nothing to say yourself, and will certainly interfere with your style

Revising, proofreading, and finalizing your paper

• Proofread and cross-check with your notes and sources to make sure that anything coming from an outside source is acknowledged in some combination of the following ways:
• In-text citation, otherwise known as parenthetical citation
• Footnotes or endnotes
• Bibliography, References, or Works Cited pages
• Quotation marks around short quotes; longer quotes set off by themselves, as prescribed by a research and citation style guide
• Indirect quotations: citing a source that cites another source
• If you have any questions about citation, ask your instructor well in advanceof your paper's due date, so if you have to make any adjustments to your citations, you have the time to do them well

How to Use Easybib

The best thing you can do is to try and keep working with easybib until you have figured it out. These directions should help:

EasyBib Directions for creating a correct entry from the textbook

Go to easybib.com

Choose “All 59 Options”

From the list, select Chapter/Anthology – that refers to a chapter in an anthology

A form comes up on the next page. Go ahead and enter the title of your textbook

Another form will appear, asking you to complete the information

Do not change the pre-selected information. These articles were collected and re-printed in this book, but were not originally from another text

Next type the chapter/essay  title into the form

For contributors, you need to select the SECTION AUTHOR and provide his/her name--- then you need to select the SOURCE EDITOR and place her name AND select another contributor to add the name of the second editor

Complete the remainder of the boxes. Be sure to add the edition of the book and all other information necessary. Publisher, location, and date can be found on the back of the title page

Once this is complete and accurate, create your citation. This will come up in a separate page

Go ahead and create ALL your works cited at the same time

When you finish, export your page to a Word Document, where all you will need to do is add your name and page number in the upper right

For the MACON Campus English 1101 class

DUE DATES—ALL must be in class, NOT emailed:

Monday: Topic; Introductory Paragraph, with CLAIM; Works Cited page

Wednesday: Rough Draft

Monday: 11/17 – FINAL DRAFT

ALSO due on Monday, 11/17: the first stories in The Things They Carried should be read

Topics and References

Choose from the following topics and yes, you MUST use the references provided. You may ADD to the list of references, but you must use those in the texts:

Should the government tax sugary drinks? - introduction in text - 630

How can we address the shortage of organ donors - introduction in text 605

How Open Should Our Borders Be?

Reference articles found here:
Linda Chavez, "American Dreams, Foreign Flags"
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/30/opinion/30chavez.html?_r=0

Diane Feinstein, "Statement in Support of Comprehensive Immigration Reform"
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/04/why_americans_hate_this_immigr.html

Herbert Meyer, "Why Americans Hate This 'Immigration' Debate
http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=20290


Is There a Case for Torture?

References found here:

Michael Levin, "Is There a Case for Torture"
https://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/torture.html

Alan M. Dershowitz, "The Case for Torture Warrants"
http://www.alandershowitz.com/publications/docs/torturewarrants.html

Cathy Young, "How Much Torture is OK?"
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/12/05/how_much_torture_is_ok/

John McCain, "Torture's Terrible Toll"
http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/opinion-editorials?ID=142ada1a-2aec-42e7-829c-aa5c97c1288d


REFERENCES for topics from the 12th edition coming SOON!!

Writing the Research Paper

1.       Choose  a topic on which you can be open-minded but definite in the position you take.

2.       Before making a decision, consider the reading selections related to your topic. You cannot form a defendable position or claim [thesis statement] UNTIL you have read about the topic itself. You may have a knee-jerk, automatic reaction to the topic, but not a decision that you have come to based on reason and logic

3.       Make a list of all the preliminary references you could use in writing your essay. In this step, it is much easier to go ahead and create your preliminary Works Cited page. (NOTE: it is preliminary because you may or may not use ALL the references in your paper. This is a short, short research essay, coming in at only 3 pages. You should USE a minimum of 3 references in your paper.)

4.       To create a Works Cited page in MLA format, use either www.easybib.com or the Purdue OWL MLA Formatting and Style Guide: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

In most cases, you should be able to use Easybib for all your needs on this paper, BUT if ever you have a problem, check with the Purdue OWL or ask me.  Creating a Works Cited page is not rocket science and you need only follow the “formula” and fill in the blanks.  What is the purpose of this Works Cited page? 

5.       Once your WCP has been created, write your first draft of the paper. Do not use your references. Do not try to make it perfect. Write your introductory paragraph (in all its imperfection),  making certain your claim is stated so strongly and clearly that even Uncle Si couldn’t miss it. THEN . . . write. Write. Write. Don’t worry about anything else except YOUR reasoning. Make sure everything you say is logical and reasonable.

6.       Once you have written that painful first draft, put it down, go outside, play with the dog, take out the trash, go shopping, take in a movie, go to your job, spank the kids—or put them in time out--, watch the ballgame, hang out with friends . . . . you get the idea?

7.       Now that your brain is fresh, drag out that first draft. *Groan* NOW—go back and take a look at those essays that you read in support [or opposing] your position. Look for factual information that you can use in your essay.  DO NOT try to use all of it. DO NOT use long quotes. DO make sure it will fit into your essay.

8.       AFTER you have chosen relevant information, decide where it best fits into the paper, and use one of the following techniques to incorporate it SMOOTHLY into your work AND to cite the information.

a.       Paraphrase or summarize the information in the reference, with both author’s name and page number in the parentheses at the end of the sentence (Brannon 72).

                                                               i.      Explain significance of this information in the position your are stating

b.      Incorporate the author’s name in the sentence, along with the information, with only the page number in the citation (73).

                                                               i.      Explain significance of this information in the position your are stating

c.       Use a signal phrase to set up the quotation and information, ending with author (if not stated in the sentence) and page number.

Explain the connection between the works cited page and the internal citations.

9.       Compose the second draft. This will be still be a gnarly work and difficult, but  necessary.

10.   Repeat Step 6.

11.   After your mind is fresh, come back to your paper and refine and polish it.

THERE IS NOTHING QUICK AND EASY ABOUT A RESEARCH PAPER. IT IS HARD. THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF READING. THERE IS NO WAY TO ESCAPE THE GRUNT WORK THAT MUST GO INTO IT. IT DOES NOT HAPPEN OVERNIGHT—OR IN 3-4 HOURS. IT IS EXHAUSTING, IF DONE CORRECTLY. IT IS WORTH DOING CORRECTLY BECAUSE 20% OF YOUR GRADE RESTS ON THE WORK.