Example FAS&RA #1 - Fall 2004

Heather Hynes*
WR 121, Prof. C. Agatucci
Formal Academic Summary and Rhetorical Analysis #1: Final Draft
27 January 2003

Adler, Mortimer J. "How to Mark a Book." [Original publication information not provided.] Rpt.

The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed.

Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 42-46.

FORMAL ACADEMIC SUMMARY
Mortimer J. Adler gives readers one essential message in his essay “How to Mark a Book,” and that is to own your books by marking them up. To own a book is not merely to buy the work. Instead, true book ownership requires the reader to make the material a part of himself by engaging actively with the author's words. Adler acknowledges several reasons why people may refuse to write in a book or feel confused when told to actually mark on the pages. Many people have the false impression that it would be disrespectful to write in or on another’s piece of art. But Adler believes that the author would want her audience to gain something lasting from the reading. This gain comes from thinking and writing notes while reading, as if reader and author were engaged in "a conversation" (44). According to Adler, marking up a book also keeps the reader's mind from drifting, and helps readers remember what they have read. Adler explains how to mark up a book by outlining his own procedures, including underlining, starring, circling key words or phrases, and writing responses in the margins. Adler addresses common excuses people come up with to avoid active reading and marking their books. For instance, to readers who protest there isn't enough space to write in their books, Adler proposes an alternative solution: buy a small pad of paper and insert the notes into the book. Readers may also resist note taking because it slows down reading. Adler counters that reading is not a race; reading slowly and taking notes helps the brain obtain and retain the information better. Finally, Adler advises readers not to lend out their annotated books, for "a marked book is a kind of intellectual diary, and lending it is almost like giving your mind away" (45-46).

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RHETORICAL ANALYSIS
Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001) earned a doctorate from Columbia University, published more than 75 books in his lifetime, was "a champion of knowledge," believed "great ideas in philosophy can be of value to everyone," and promoted "universal education and enlightenment" to the last years of his life, according to Gilbert H. Muller's header notes (42). Such impressive credentials establish Adler as a well-educated scholar and successful writer with an expert educator's authority to speak on the active critical reading skills addressed in "How to Mark a Book." Where and when Adler's essay was first published is not specified, but his "goal of universal education" (Muller 42) suggests that anybody who can read and who aspires to advance her education, might benefit from Adler's advice. You don't have to have a Ph.D. in philosophy or education to understand the commonplace language of "How to Mark a Book," for the essay is written in a personal "why-to" and practical "how-to" style accessible to general literate readers. But Adler does indicate that his active reading and annotation techniques are most rewarding when applied to "a great book, rich in ideas and beauty, a book that raises and tries to answer great fundamental questions" (44)--presumably a book like "Plutarch's Lives, 'Shakespeare,' or The Federalist Papers" (46). This internal evidence suggests that Adler's ideal audience would be fairly well-educated readers - including high school and college-level students - who aspire, or who are required, to engage in serious reading of "great" books and to get the most from their reading.
Paragraphs 1-2 constitute the essay introduction. The topic is "how to get the most out of" your reading; the main purpose and thesis is "to persuade you to 'write between the lines' and mark up your books; and, in presenting the thesis, a common false conception is corrected: "...marking up a book is not an act of mutilation but of love" (42). The essay body, presenting and developing support for the thesis/purpose, begins with paragraph 3 and builds to the ending paragraphs 26-27, addressing "one final objection to marking books" (45). Adler's rebuttal to this "final objection" is also his conclusion, presenting the essay's desirable "outcome or

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effects" (Muller 37). One who has marked up her books, following Adler's advice, has constructed "a kind of intellectual diary," "as much a part of you as your head or your heart," and realizes that lending out those books would be "like giving your mind away" (Adler 46).
       One strategy of development that Adler employs in his essay is analogy. This writing technique can open the doors to a whole new perspective, as well as improve understanding of a point that an author is trying to get across. For example, Adler illustrates the difference between purchasing a book and owning a book, by comparing it to the difference between buying and eating a piece of meat. “You buy a beefsteak and transfer it from the butcher’s ice-box to your own. But you do not own the beefsteak in the most important sense until you consume it and get it into your bloodstream” (43). Adler's concept of truly "owning" a book could seem obscure and abstract for many readers, myself included; however, it becomes far easier to grasp when compared to a common physical activity like eating food. But Adler doesn't stop here. His concept of true book ownership is further clarified by classification of three different kinds of book owners in paragraph 6 (43). The third type, the true book owner, is distinguished by vivid description of his books, "every one of them dog-eared and dilapidated, shaken and loosened by continual use, marked and scribbled in from front to back" (43).
        Another writing strategy that Adler uses is anticipating the reader's questions and then proceeding to answer them himself. For example, he asks, “Why is marking a book indispensable to reading?”; then uses causal analysis to answer the question with three good reasons: marking up a book "keeps you awake," stimulates thinking, and "helps you remember" your own and the author's ideas (43). Adler's question-answer technique illustrates, and thus encourages his own readers to engage with him in, the give-and-take "conversation" (44) essential to his notion of active reading. The reader/learner is must question the author/teacher, because "[u]nderstanding is a two-way operation" (44).
       While WR 121 students might benefit from trying many of Adler's writing strategies, I especially recommend analogy and concrete description as effective methods of clarifying unusual, vague, or unfamiliar concepts.

* ADD NOTE: CORA edited and added to conform to Fall 2004 FAS&RA #1 directions & requirements.

Additional Work Cited

Muller, Gilbert H., ed. The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. 8th ed. Boston:

McGraw-Hill, 2003.

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Last Updated: 03 October 2004