An Informative Introduction to the Issue and Opposing Positions: Placing the Issue in a Historical Context

Printed Page 194
 Analyze 
Use the basic features.

Common ground essays often situate the issue in time, as Jeremy Bernard does when he locates the end of baseball’s “age of innocence” and the beginning of “the Steroid Era” in the 1990s and suggests that the issue came to a head in 2006 with the Mitchell Report. Common ground essays may also provide details about the historical context so readers can better understand the issue and the opposing positions.

ANALYZE & WRITE

Write a couple of paragraphs analyzing how Mae contextualizes her issue and opposing positions in “Laying Claim to a Higher Morality”:

  1. Reread paragraph 1. Why do you think Mae chose to mention Abu Ghraib? What, if anything, do you know about it? How does referring to Abu Ghraib help provide historical context for readers?
  2. In paragraphs 2 and 5, Mae introduces the authors whose arguments she is analyzing. How does the information she provides contextualize the issue for readers and help them understand the different points of view?

    Question