Bazerman: I really liked this article. I agree with the current "Independent Self/Original Voice" schematic for writing. I also enjoyed the notion of "writing as a contribution to an ongoing, written conversation". I believe that all academic writing - possibly even leisure writing - should in some way add to the knowledge pool, not just report on it or merely agree or disagree. Another excellent point was that (and I'm paraphrasing here) "paraphrase encourages precise understanding of individual terms and statements; the act of translating thoughts from one set makes the student need to focus and think about what they've read". I always tell my students that comprehension is tantamount to being able to read - and this article drives that point home.
Berthoff: This one I am ambivalent about. While there are usable points here they seem to lack depth. I didn't really like the ripped-off Rhetorical Triangle, and instead I built a Rhetorical Bridge for her which does a better job of explaining her Word, Referent, and Reference. It did raise a question in me however, if we're going to make writing in texts taboo for the majority of a student's life, just to tell them to mark a book up with annotations in college - why not find a middle ground that prepares them earlier? This would also encourage the note-taking habits that will be critical to college learning. If students can practice focusing on the content when they're younger - as opposed to just answering teacher-pointed questions - then they should be able to do better, in theory.
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