Opinion | A Beauty Product’s Ads Exclude the Black Women W...
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nytimes.com
Opinion | A Beauty Product’s Ads
Exclude the Black Women Who Use It
Tressie Mcmillan Cottom
SheaMoisture products on display in Brooklyn. The brand is usually
marketed to black women with unstraightened hair, but an effort to expand
has drawn a backlash. Craig Barritt/Getty Images
Last week, the hair-care line SheaMoisture faced a powerful
customer backlash. The offense was a series of online video clips
that highlighted the versatility of the brand’s shampoos,
conditioners and styling aids.
One clip features women discussing how much they struggle with
their hair. Some of the women are white; the only non-white woman
prominently featured in the clip is very light-skinned with loosely
textured curly hair. The ad encourages women to reject “hair hate”
and “embrace hair love in every form.”
When the video was released on social media, SheaMoisture’s
black customers revolted. Social media users with huge followings,
many of whom have provided years of free advertising for the
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Opinion | A Beauty Product’s Ads Exclude the Black Women W...
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brand, criticized it as marginalizing their loyal black buyers in an
effort to attract white women.
Understanding SheaMoisture’s target market is critical to
understanding this backlash. The brand has long been marketed to
black women with “natural hair” — hair that is not chemically
straightened. For black women, the choice to “be natural” is
simultaneously private and extremely political. It shouldn’t matter
what black women do with their hair, but racism means that it
matters a great deal. Deeply ingrained bias against black women’s
natural, unstraightened hair has tangible effects on women’s lives.
Lighter-skinned black women and black women with straighter hair
are more likely to marry than other black women. Black women with
natural hair have been subject to discrimination at work and in the
military.
When black women bought SheaMoisture products, they were
rejecting powerful stereotypes about black women’s hair as
inherently unattractive. Unwittingly or not, SheaMoisture was part of
a political project for black women, helping us resist harmful biases
about our natural hair that circumscribe our choices and well-being.
But Sundial Brands, the black-owned company that runs
SheaMoisture, has its own goals. In 2015, it company sold a
minority stakee to Bain Capital to finance an expansion. At the time,
Richelieu Dennis, the chief executive of Sundial, said SheaMoisture
would be pursuing the “new general market,” which he described as
a “consolidation of cultures, ethnicities and demographics aligned
with commonalities, needs and lifestyles.”
To believe it is possible to diversify SheaMoisture beyond its black
natural-hair customer base, one must believe that black beauty is
desirable for non-black consumers. For that to be true, black
women would have to be an ideal beauty type in the global market
that Mr. Dennis was going after. Mr. Dennis had one problem:
reality.
The sociologist Margaret Hunter writes about a concept she calls
the beauty queue: a hierarchy of desirable female characteristics.
At the head of the queue are white women with pale skin, narrow
features and straight (ideally blond) hair. Behind them are the rest
of the world’s women, in descending order from most to least white-
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looking, with black women at the end. This theory describes what
black women in the United States have experienced for two
centuries: lighter skin and “Anglo” features are a type of global
capital that derives its value from the status of white people.
For an example of the beauty queue in action, you need only
compare the marketing of Korean beauty (or “K-beauty”) products
to what SheaMoisture attempted to do last week. According to one
beauty industry marketing publication, South Korea’s beauty
exports grew to $3.9 billion in 2016 from $800 million in 2011. Even
amid a retail slump, elite retailers like Barneys have carved out floor
space for K-beauty lines, while lifestyle bloggers promote “must
have” K-beauty products. .
These products are selling a very specific version of Korean beauty.
Their advertisements do not reflect the full range of skin tones of
Asian women. Instead, they feature remarkably pale women selling
products whose primary selling point is how “luminescent” they will
make skin appear. K-beauty is noted for its many “whitening”
products, from soaps to treatments. They have names like Missha
Time Revolution White Cure Blanc Tone-Up Cream, Klavuu White
Pearlsation Pearl Serum Mask, and Skinfood Yuja Water C
Whitening Ampoule. Products like these reinforce white women’s
position at the head of the beauty queue. They are ultimately selling
the idea summarized in a black Southern folk saying: “White is all
right; Brown get out of town; Black jump back.”
SheaMoisture could not sell a product meant to make black women
look “whiter,” such as a chemical treatment to straighten hair,
without changing its entire product line. But it could concede to the
demands of capital by marketing its existing products to non-black
women. SheaMoisture eventually apologized, acknowledging the
insult many black women felt. By prominently featuring white
women in what had become a political project, the company had
signaled to black women that we could never be enough.
Beauty is never just about preference. It is about economics and
power and exclusion. Brands like SheaMoisture rely on certain
ideas of what is beautiful to make money. And too often, selling
beauty means throwing black women under the bus.
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LA 207 - OL3: Persuasion & Argument for the
Multilingual Writer M6
MODULE 6: INTRODUCTION TO WRITING AND
RESEARCHING AN EVALUATION ARGUMENT
Introduction
In this module, you will learn more about your next project—the Evaluation Argument essay outline.
You'll come to understand how ethos, pathos, and logos will shape your evaluation argument, and you
will become familiar with online research resources. Finally, you will review subject-verb agreement.
Student Outcomes
●
Introduce evaluation argument and claim and review associated rubric.
●
Discuss expectations for research and view library demo.
●
Consider Ethos, Logos, and Pathos in relation to evaluation arguments.
●
Examine professional models of evaluation arguments.
Argument Through
Evaluation, Part 1
This module begins your focus on your second project, the Evaluation Argument outline. Instead of
writing a full essay, you will outline the evaluation argument. This outline will incorporate research of
the larger social issue you introduced in your Narrative Argument essay and will focus more
objectively on that larger social issue rather than presenting your subjective experience of it. Instead
of a full essay, you will choose a topic, write a claim, and develop ideas for body paragraphs and a
conclusion with main points through outline form.
The elements of arguing through evaluation will help you construct a persuasive argument in any
situation in which you must persuade someone that something is good/bad. These elements are also
useful if you want to argue that something is successful/problematic or beneficial/harmful, and they
can be used for written or verbal communications in professional and personal settings. Don't just
think of these elements as something to study; think of them as tools to help you advocate for yourself
and your ideas and be successful in the world! Many of you will need to give written or verbal
evaluation of colleagues' work in your art and design industries, so again, think of these elements as
tools that will help you later.
Equation to Help You Remember the Parts of an Argument
Argument = Claim + Reasons + Evidence (CRE for short!)
●
Essay #1: Even though a narrative argument doesn’t use a traditional essay structure
(introduction, thesis, body paragraphs, conclusion), it still gives reasons to support a claim.
The reasons, just like the claim, are implied through the story you tell rather than directly
stated. Your personal experience serves as your evidence.
●
In the evaluation and proposal arguments, your claim and reasons will be directly stated. Your
claim will be directly stated in your thesis statement and your reasons will be directly
stated in your body paragraphs. In a well-organized "classic" argument, the writer presents a
claim (your thesis) in the introduction and then each body paragraph fully develops one of the
reasons in support of the claim.
Elements of a "Classic" Argument (what you will write for the evaluation and proposal arguments):
Looking toward the future: these elements will help you construct a persuasive argument in any
situation (written or verbal, professionally or personally), so don’t just think of these as something to
study; think of them as tools to help you advocate for yourself and your ideas and be successful in the
world.
Claim (assertion about a topic)
↓
Reasons to support your claim
↓
Evidence to support reasons
●
evidence should be relevant (appropriate) to the context or situation
●
evidence should be sufficient (generally, you need more than one piece of evidence and a
variety of evidence to be persuasive)
In addition, somewhere in the evaluation and proposal arguments, you should acknowledge
opposing views of the claim and refute (and/or concede a point to) those views. This is sometimes
called counterargument.
Evidence = data, facts, statistics, examples, expert opinion, and personal experience. In your
narrative argument, your personal experience serves as evidence; your claim and reasons are
implied.
***All arguments should avoid logical fallacies (weak/illogical reasons or reasons given without
sufficient evidence), and most good arguments have a balance of logos, pathos, and ethos.
Argument Through
Evaluation, Part 2
Your task in an evaluation argument is to choose a subject, choose criteria to evaluate it, make a
judgment about it, and present reasons and evidence to support your judgment.
You will claim that something, such as a . . .
●
program
●
service
●
system or institution
●
federal, state, or local law or policy
●
approach to solving a problem or helping others
●
or something else
●
ineffective
●
unjust
●
harmful
●
a failure
●
inadequate
●
or another judgment about the topic
IS
You will present three reasons why the subject is ineffective, harmful, unjust, or whatever judgement
you state in your claim.
You will present evidence (facts, statistics, expert opinions, and examples) to support your claim.
Most of your evidence should come from sources you find through research. The library topic due in
this module is designed to help you get started on your research for this outline.
An effective argument also presents one or more opposing views and refutes the opposing
views.
Important: This is not a proposal essay, so you should avoid arguing that action should be taken to
address a problem. Instead, use the evaluation argument outline to show that a problem exists, and
use Essay #3 to propose a solution. If your thesis statement says that someone "should" or "must" do
something about a problem, you are not writing an evaluation argument but, rather, a proposal
argument, which is what you'll do in Essay #3. The main goal of this project is to research and outline
how something practical related to your social issue is a problem, so then you can develop the
solution to the problem in the proposal argument essay.
Ethos, Pathos, and Logos
and Evaluation
Arguments
To be successful, your researched outline should employ a balance of pathos, ethos, and
logos and avoid logical fallacies.
●
You might employ pathos by describing the effect the subject has on a person or group in
order to give a "human face" to the issue rather than just presenting statistics.
●
To employ ethos, you will cite your sources, use credible sources, and address opposing
views to establish your credibility and reliability.
●
Employ logos by presenting logical reasons to show that something is a problem, including
relevant and sufficient evidence to support your claim, and avoiding logical fallacies. Tip:
the most common logical fallacies in student papers are hasty generalizations (insufficient
evidence to support a generalization or claim), oversimplification of a complex topic, post hoc
(arguing that correlation equals causation without sufficient evidence), and non sequitur
(arguing that one event leads to or is related to another event without sufficient evidence).
Logical Fallacies
Appeal to Misleading Authority Form: Celebrity C endorses Brand X (or Candidate Y, or Cause Z).
Therefore, Brand X (or Candidate Y, or Cause Z) is good.
Vintage ad depicting Marylin Monroe promoting Lustre Creme shampoo
You can think of fallacies of logic as an extension of pathos because, for the most part, their goal is to
appeal to emotions rather than logic. As you read the list of common fallacies assigned for this
module, consider the many examples you have heard or read.
It’s helpful to be able to recognize logical fallacies in arguments you read/see/hear (in the media, in
advertising, in politics, etc.) and you want to avoid them in your own writing. As you begin work on
your evaluation arguments, your goal is to argue responsibly and logically. Be sure to avoid the pitfalls
of these fallacies even if they are present in larger social discourses. In fact, here's an example of a
bandwagon appeal fallacy:
It's okay to use fallacies of logic because I hear them all the time on the news, from politicians, and on
my favorite shows.
Just because they are used doesn't mean they are effective (except to appeal to emotional reactions).
Because your goal is to appeal to logic and reason, you should avoid them in your mode of
argumentation. Many logical fallacies will be things you’ve noticed before but just didn’t know had a
name; in some cases, they may be things that you've come across and sensed that something was
not quite right, but you may not have been able to explain why.
Read through the list of fallacies carefully and be prepared to identify different logic fallacies for your
quiz. Once you can recognize them, you will be able to call attention to weaknesses in others'
arguments and construct more persuasive arguments of your own. You will also sharpen your critical
thinking skills, which will empower you both professionally and personally.
Important
Each logical fallacy refers to a specific type of logical problem. However, many of these fallacies also
refer to a type of logic that can be used to build strong arguments. What do I mean by this? Let’s look
at a couple examples.
Hasty generalization. Making a generalization is not a bad thing in and of itself. In fact, most
academic writing relies, to at least a certain extent, on generalizations. The problem (the fallacy) is
when the writer makes a hasty generalization (when the writer makes a generalization without
sufficient evidence).
Faulty cause and effect. Inferring that one event is caused by another event because the first event
followed the second event is not necessarily flawed logic. There might be a causal connection. The
problem (the fallacy) is when the writer makes such a claim without providing sufficient evidence.
Notice a pattern here? Logical fallacies often occur because a writer reaches a conclusion (an
inference) without sufficient evidence or s/he presents the claim as fact without acknowledging lack of
evidence.
As you work on the evaluation and proposal arguments, there’s one logical fallacy to be particularly
careful about: oversimplification of a complex issue. This usually occurs when someone draws a
conclusion without knowing very much about an issue. In student writing, it often occurs because the
student’s topic is too broad, and the student hasn’t yet learned about the issue. As a result, the
student’s thesis statement (and the whole of the essay) may be built on a logical fallacy. How do you
avoid this? Research! The more you learn about an issue, the easier it will be to narrow the topic and
the less likely you will be to oversimplify a complex issue.
Example of oversimplification:
"Homeless people are homeless because they are lazy or have weak morals." This ignores the
complexities of our social and political environment, such as poverty, economic downturn/lack of jobs,
disparities in educational opportunity, abuse and domestic violence, mental illness, and a multitude of
other factors that may lead to someone living on the street.
For humorous examples of common fallacies, watch the following brief video: "The Fallacy Project:
Examples from Politics, Advertisements, and Popular Culture."
Common Logical Fallacies
1. Faulty Appeal to Authority
●
cites an authority who is not qualified to have an expert opinion
●
cites an expert by hearsay only
"Firemen support Jones as the best choice for our town's future. Elect Jones!"
(Firemen would be experts only on the town's fire safety.)
2. Appeal to Popularity (also known as "Bandwagon")
●
holds an opinion to be valuable because large numbers of people support it
"Polls show that Americans prefer their current health care system, so we should keep the current
system." (Are there other options? Could a majority be missing something?)
3. Attacking the Person (also known as "Ad Hominem")
●
attacks the person making the argument instead of the argument
●
attacks the person making the argument because of those with whom he or she associates
"Certainly he's in favor of a single tax. He's rich!"
(But could it be that he supports a single tax because others might benefit, too?)
4. False Dilemma
●
offers a limited number of options, usually two, when there are really more choices
"Either we continue the failed war against drugs and lose another generation or make marijuana
legal.” (Are there other ways to deal with the drug issue?)
5. Hasty Generalization
●
uses a sample too small to support the conclusion
●
generalizes without sufficient evidence
"We've seen here in Smallville's widget factory that free trade doesn't help the American
worker, so it’s not a good idea."(How about the millions of American workers elsewhere?)
6. Faulty Cause and Effect (also known as “Post Hoc”)
●
claims that because a second event occurred after a first one, the first is the cause of the
second
correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation
“Smith became mayor two years ago, and as soon as he was in office, twenty downtown stores
closed. Clearly, he is the reason for these closures.” (Did Smith’s policies have anything to do with the
store closures, or are there other factors that might have contributed, such as a WalMart coming to
town?)
7. Slippery Slope
●
threatens a series of increasingly dire consequences from taking a simpler course of action.
"First it's gun show laws, and then they'll come to confiscate all guns, and then we lose
democracy altogether." (Do gun laws imply eventual loss of democracy?)
8. Rationalization
●
weak excuse or explanation for one’s own or someone else’s behavior
"I could have finished the project on time if my boss had given me a higher salary.”
(Not getting a higher salary isn’t a valid excuse for missing a project deadline).
9. Begging the Question
●
Makes a circular argument by assuming the truth of a conclusion, rather than supporting it.
●
Uses a claim or premise to support itself.
“Freedom of speech is important because people should be able to speak freely.”
Evaluation Argument Assignment
The purposes of this assignment are to identify a problem that links back to the topic of your narrative
argument and to learn how to create an evaluation argument that addresses a social issue. You will
incorporate the use of ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade your audience. You will conduct research
on your topic and use proper MLA documentation to cite your sources in your paper. Below are the
guidelines for the outline due in Module 8 [Assignment 8.1]. These are also available in the Essays
menu at the top of the page.
INSTRUCTIONS
Write an argument that makes an evaluative claim about a problem, and base this argument on three
reasons. For example, argue that something is harmful, unethical, failing, backfiring, etc. based on
three reasons. Determine a set of criteria you will use to argue your claim. Your thesis statement will
be tailored to establish that the topic is a problem:
●
X is (harmful/unjust /another adjective) because [insert three reasons: A, B, and C].
Your topic must be specific and debatable. For example, most people would agree that violence is
harmful but not everyone would agree that the death penalty is ethical. Claiming that violence is
harmful to society would not only be too broad a topic, but it would not be debatable. For this reason,
it would not make an effective claim. It would be much more manageable to argue that California's (or
another state's) application of the death penalty is unjust or to argue that the appeals process for
death-row inmates discriminates against (or disproportionately affects) a particular group. Because
you will need to introduce and respond to an opposing view in your evaluation argument, it's
especially important that you choose a topic about which there is at least some disagreement.
LINK TO THE EVALUATION ARGUMENT
Your topic for your evaluation argument outline must be linked with the topic you chose for Essay #1.
Here is an example sequence of projects:
For Essay #1, a student writes about an incident in which they said something incorrectly in
Spanish to their mother-in-law, leading to confusion, chaos, and embarrassment. For
project 2, the student writes an evaluation outline in which they argue that the foreign
language study requirements in U.S. schools are not rigorous enough. For Essay #3, they
choose to make a proposal argument for required language instruction beginning in
kindergarten.
FORMAT
Your Evaluation Argument outline should include the following elements:
Introduction:
●
An effective lead-in that introduces
what you will evaluate: why the problem
is important and how it affects people.
●
A thesis statement that tells the reader
1) the subject of your essay; 2) your
judgment about the subject; and 3) the
three reasons you will use to support
your claim
Body:
●
Support for your thesis in the form of
three reasons (list one reason per
sub-topic). Each sub-topic can be
listed as a number or bullet, and should
include the following: 1) a reason to
support your claim; 2) anticipated
evidence (facts, statistics, expert
opinions, and/or examples) to illustrate
your point; and 3) essential points of
analysis/discussion of what the
evidence shows in connection to your
sub-topic/reason.
●
Acknowledgement and rebuttal of
opposing viewpoints. This could be
included in a separate bullet point (if
there is one larger voice of opposition
you want to address and counter) or
incorporated into the end of your
discussion of your reasons (if there are
opposing viewpoints related directly to
each reason).
Conclusion:
●
Briefly summarize your position,
address the broader implications of
your argument, and anticipate a
proposal or solution.
Works Cited Page:
●
A list of sources organized in proper
MLA format
Recommended Length:
●
1-2 pages, plus Works Cited page
CRAFTING YOUR ARGUMENT
Write in the third-person singular. There should be little or no use of "I" in this outline. "I think," "I
feel," and "It is of my opinion" get in the way of an argument. For example, which statement is more
convincing?
●
It is of my opinion that poor little lambs should not be eaten.
●
Research shows that human beings can consume ample protein from a plant-based,
OR
vegetarian diet. Moreover, the pain and suffering experienced by factory-farmed
animals outweigh any nutritional benefit from meat.
Research and the Evaluation Argument
Source Requirements: Your essay should incorporate evidence from at least three credible
sources. Credible sources include articles published in scholarly journals, articles published in
major newspapers, websites or publications by academic institutions and centers, websites or
publications by nonprofit organizations, and government websites or publications. Interviews count if
your source is credible; check with your instructor if you think you will conduct an interview as part of
your research. The following do NOT count as credible sources: popular magazines (like Vanity
Fair or People); websites published by anonymous individuals or individuals without
credentials/expertise on the topic they're writing about; blogs published by anonymous individuals or
individuals without credentials/expertise on the topic they're writing about; student websites or student
papers; and websites not affiliated with an educational institution, research center, nonprofit
organization, or the government. If you have questions about whether a source is credible, ask your
instructor.
See the AAU Library's MLA Citation Guide for information about how to properly cite your sources in
MLA format (http://elmo.academyart.edu/reference-help/mla_citation_guide.html).
The Purdue OWL site also offers information about MLA citation
(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/) and a sample student paper formatted in
MLA (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/13/).
●
Use in-text citations for information summarized, paraphrased, or quoted.
●
Use evidence from at least three credible sources and cite them both in-text and in a Works
Cited page at the end of your paper.
●
Do not use Wikipedia other than to get ideas.
A Note on Quotes: It can be helpful to use quotations in your writing; however, use them sparingly.
For example, one or two brief quotations per page is sufficient. The evaluation argument should be
your own writing, not a list of quotes strung together. When you use quotes, properly introduce them
(avoid making a quotation into its own sentence with no introduction or context) and follow them by
stating how they illustrate, exemplify, or apply to your argument. Instead of quoting long, mundane
paragraphs of writing (and getting downgraded for it), liven up the information by putting it into your
own words and adding commentary. Just be sure to cite all information found in secondary sources,
even if you summarize or paraphrase the information.
Tressie McMillan Cottom
This biography is from her website:
Tressie McMillan Cottom, PhD, is an assistant professor of sociology. She is co-editor of two
volumes on technological change, inequality and institutions: “Digital Sociologies” (2016, UK Bristol
Policy Press) and “For-Profit Universities: The Shifting Landscape of Marketized Higher Education”
(2017, Palgrave MacMillan). Her book “Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the
New Economy” (2017, The New Press) has received national and international acclaim. Professor
Cottom serves on dozens of academic and philanthropic boards and publishes widely on issues of
inequality, work, higher education and technology. In 2017, the professional association,
Sociologists for Women in Society, awarded McMillan Cottom the Feminist Activist award for using
sociology to improve the lives of women. Her research on higher education, work and technological
change in the new economy has been supported by the Microsoft Research Network’s Social
Media Collective, The Kresge Foundation, the American Educational Research Association and the
UC Davis Center for Poverty Research. Her public scholarship has appeared in The New York
Times, The Washington Post, Slate, and The Atlantic to name a few. You can read more at
www.tressiemc.com.
Tressie McMillan Cottom
Photographic portrait of Tressie McMillan Cottom.
We can consider her professional and academic experience in relation to her argument in “A Beauty
Product’s Ads Exclude the Black Women who Use it.” As you read, consider how this article presents
an evaluation argument and what kind of background information, based on research, it presents to
us. Anticipate these questions for Discussion:
In “A Beauty Product’s Ads Exclude the Black Women who Use it,” what is Tressie McMillan Cottom’s
main evaluation claim? What is not working and why?
In paragraph four, Tressie Mcmillan Cottom begins “Understanding SheaMoisture’s target market is
critical to understanding its backlash.” How does the information in the paragraph and the following
one support her argument? Does it provide ample background information?
How does Tressie Mcmillan Cottom’s explanation of “the beauty queue” support her claim? Does she
successfully define what she means by “the beauty queue? How do her examples of “the beauty
queue” support her argument?
How effective is the last paragraph (conclusion)? Does it sum up the argument well? If you were to
add more information to the concluding paragraph, what would you add and why?
Finding Credible Sources and
Conducting Research
RE-SEARCH
Let's take a closer look at the word itself. The pre-fix re means again, so to research is to search and
search again (and search again…). At its heart, research is a form of detective work! It's about looking
for leads and following each one until you find what you're looking for. It's also about not getting
discouraged when a lead turns out to be a dead-end, adjusting your strategy when you're not finding
what you’re looking for, and asking for help when you need it. Successful research depends on
discovering the right search terms or keywords. This can take time. It's always a good idea to ask a
reference librarian for help because they are trained in how to find good search terms.
Let's examine the difference between credible and non-credible sources.
CREDIBLE SOURCES
Following is a list of sources considered credible at the college level:
1) Scholarly Sources are peer-reviewed by experts in the field and include articles published in
academic journals/books published by academic presses. You can find these in online library
databases (for example, Proquest, EBSCO OmniFile Full Text Select, and Academic Search Premier)
or through a library catalogue (which can be accessed online or onsite). Scholarly journals often,
though not always, have the word journal in the title (for example, Journal of Art and Design).
Because they are peer-reviewed, scholarly sources are considered the most reliable source of
information and ideas for college-level research. Articles in scholarly journals always contain
bibliographies of source material and those bibliographies are typically quite extensive. Because the
intended audience is other experts in the field, not the general public, the language is often specific to
the field and the writing is more complex than that in newspaper articles. Nonetheless, and this can't
be stressed enough, scholarly sources are the most reliable and sometimes the most useful sources
out there. If you find a scholarly source you find helpful, you have a gem on your hands because that
source will contain a bibliography of related sources. Think of these related sources as leads. Like any
good detective, you want as many leads to go on as possible!
2) Nonprofit Organizations and Research Institutions. You can find articles or other materials from
these sources through an online library database or online. If you use the internet, you must carefully
evaluate the source. Not all organizations on the internet are credible! Tip: The websites of most
organizations will end with the domain name .org and the sites of most educational institutions will end
with .edu. Even then, you must carefully evaluate these sites for credibility. Examples of credible sites
include the National Association of _________ or the University of California Center for _______.
3) Government Publications/Websites. Most instructors consider these credible sources of
information, although they are not considered as reliable as scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. You
can find these sources through online library databases or on the internet. Tip: Most government
websites end with the domain name .gov. Examples include the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the
Department of Health and Human Services, or the White House home page.
4) Substantive News Sources. These sources are considered reliable but are not as reliable as
scholarly sources because they are not peer-reviewed; instead, they are fact-checked "in house" by
the newspaper staff (i.e., they are not generally reviewed by experts in the field). You can find these
sources through an online library database or online. Be careful if you look on the internet because
not all newspapers provide substantive news (i.e., some contain mainly "fluffy" or local content and
are not as high-quality as national publications). Examples of substantive news sources include the
New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
The following sources are not reliable and are not acceptable sources for papers written in college:
●
Popular magazines like Rolling Stone, Utne Reader, or Vanity Fair
●
Anonymous websites, blogs, or articles
●
Websites, blogs, or articles written by individuals not affiliated with an organization or
institution and/or an author without credentials/expertise in the field (s)he is writing about.
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Student papers
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Comments by the general public in response to an article
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Tabloids like the National Enquirer
COMMON MISTAKES TO AVOID
The most commonly used non-credible sources in student papers are anonymous sources or sources
written by individuals without credentials/expertise in the field they are writing about. This usually
happens because the student conducts research through a general search of the internet (i.e. a
Google search) instead of using an online library database (like EBSCO OmniFile Full Text Select and
Academic Search Premier) or an internet search tool designed for research. For example, the
Librarian's Internet Index is an internet search tool vetted by librarians, so you can be fairly sure that
websites you find through this site are credible. If you link to outside sources through those websites,
however, it's up to you to evaluate the credibility.
What if I'm not finding sources related to my topic or not finding credible sources? If you're not
finding what you're looking for, contact a reference librarian at the AAU library (through email, chat, or
in person) and/or go to the San Francisco Public Library. Remember that reference librarians are
trained in conducting research and are there to help you! Believe it or not, most—though not
all—really like helping people find information! If you're having a difficult time finding information, what
you should not do is assume that there just isn't anything out there on your topic; talk to a reference
librarian first. Tip: One of the best databases for research outside the fields of art and design is called
Academic Search Premier.
Important: You simply will not find as many good sources through Google as you will through a
library because Google doesn't check sources for credibility; it simply pulls up all sources related to
your search term. Generally, credible sources are found through online library databases and
catalogues. If you do a Google search, it's up to you to evaluate your sources. See the Checklist for
Evaluating Web Sources on page 243 of your textbook for an overview of how to evaluate websites.
Wikipedia is not a credible source for college-level research. It can be a good source to consult when
you're first learning about a topic but it should not be cited in your paper. You might look at the
sources cited by the Wikipedia author (listed at the end of the page) to see if any of those are credible
sources—sometimes they are and can be good leads!
Verb Agreement
Getting verbs to agree is just a matter of learning the rules.
Do I use a singular or plural verb? What if the subject is two nouns or includes a string of adjectives?
What about sentences with and, or, neither and nor?
In the case with a double-headed subject joined by or or nor, if both sides are plural you
should use a plural verb:
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Apples or oranges are fine for breakfast.
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Peaches or nectarines are good snack choices.
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Neither cupcakes nor potato chips are healthy snacks.
If the double-headed subject is singular on both sides and connected by or or nor, use a
singular verb:
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An apple or an orange is fine for breakfast.
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The jacket or the sweater is in the closet.
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A tie or a suit coat is appropriate for the event.
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Neither soup nor salad is a choice on the menu.
What if one side is plural and the other is singular in a double-headed subject connected by or
or nor? Remember this: Go with the side that is closer to the verb. If it is singular, choose a
singular verb. If plural, choose plural:
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An apple or eggs are better than eating a candy bar.
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Eggs or an apple is better than eating a candy bar.
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Neither donuts nor candy is good for you.
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Neither candy nor donuts are good for you.
In the case of a double-headed subject connected by and, always go with the plural verb, regardless
of whether the two subjects are singular or plural.
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John and May love to eat out.
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Phillip and his brothers like to cook at home.
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A suit and tie are required for the wedding.
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Jeans and t-shirts are totally unacceptable.
Doesn't and do not should always be used with a singular verb.
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Kayla doesn't like to go to museums.
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They do not like to go to horror films.
Verb Agreement, Part 2
Often, phrases that come between the subject and verb can be confusing. The verb should always
agree with the subject and not with a noun in the phrase.
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One of my favorite fruits is the apple.
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The students who go to that school are smart.
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That club, as well as the other clubs in that neighborhood, is cool.
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The teenager with the three dogs runs every day after school.
The following words are singular and require a singular verb:
each, each one, either, neither, everyone, everybody, anybody, anyone, nobody, somebody, someone,
and no one.
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Each of the books is easy to read.
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Either of those movies is fine with me.
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Neither of the boys knows how to play the game.
Certain words ending in s go with a singular verb:
mathematics, news, civics, dollars.
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Mathematics is a difficult subject for him.
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The news is on at eight o'clock.
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Two dollars is all he asked for.
Note that dollars is treated as plural if referred to the dollars themselves, while singular when treated
as an amount of money.
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Two dollars isn't much.
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Dollars are accepted in some foreign countries as currency.
These words ending in s are treated as plural:
jeans, scissors, pants, trousers
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The jeans are made of cotton.
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The scissors are new and quite sharp.
Collective nouns take a singular verb
Collective nouns refer to more than one person. This includes words such as class, team, family, and
crew.
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The class is ready for more instruction.
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The family reads together every evening.
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The team never loses a game.
Wishful thinking can cause verbal disagreement. Pay careful attention to what you wish for. Is
it I wish I was on another planet? Not likely. In wishful thinking, was becomes were. This is the
use of the subjunctive form in English.
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He wishes he were tall. (He's not tall.)
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She wishes he were rich. (He's not rich.)
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He wishes Rachel were more sympathetic. (She's not.)
Be sure to read the entire chapter in Woe Is I for more discussion of verbal agreement. Your quiz
questions will reflect the reading.
Conclusion
In this module, you learned more about your next project the Evaluation Argument outline. You came
to understand how ethos, pathos, and logos will shape your evaluation argument, and you became
familiar with online research resources. Finally, you reviewed subject-verb agreement.
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