Pigeon DropExplanation

&Practice using the

4-Step Method

What is a Pigeon Drop?

They happen when you attempt to integrate your source information in order to help prove your thesis and you do NOT introduce the source and/or the author…you literally “drop” a quote or info into the sentence.

Sample 1

My grades began to suffer in junior high school and I began to despise school. “School should feel less like a prison than it does” (Nathan Glazer, 1984).

Sample 1 FixedIn junior high school, many students find that their grades begin to suffer, and they start to despise school. In the words of Nathan Glazer, in his journal titled “School—the Next Frontier,” “School should feel less like a prison than it does” (23). If students were given freedom of choice along with more hands-on activities many would be more successful.

Sample 2

An alarming amount of identity theft victims has a personal relationship with the thief of were family members. “According to the Identity Theft Clearinghouse report in 2002, persons in their thirties were most susceptible to victimization of identity theft” (Obringer).

Sample 2 Fixed

An alarming amount of identity theft victims have a personal relationship with the thief or their family members do. In the Identity Theft Clearinghouse 2002 Report, Daniel Obringer suggests that “persons in their thirties were most susceptible to victimization of identity theft” (7). Obviously, people in this age group tend to encounter more people in their everyday lives of work, play, and family.

Sample 3

Instead of throwing away things with any personal information, you should shred them that way no one can steal any information. “If you’re traveling, have your mail held at your local post office, or ask someone you know well and trust, another family member, a friend, or a neighbor to collect and hold mail while you’re away” (“Identity Theft and Identity Fraud”).

Sample 3 FixedInstead of throwing away papers with any personal information, one should shred such papers to avoid having his or her identity stolen. The article “Identity Theft and Identity Fraud,” discusses the best way to prohibit possible theft of personal identity, via the mail, while one is away on vacation. The article states, “If you’re traveling, have your mail held at your local post office, or ask someone you know well and trust…” (6). It’s easy to protect one’s personal effects with the use of simple measures and common sense.

4-Step Method

How to fix the Pigeon Drop

Step 1

State the main idea of the source—preview it for the reader.

Step 2

Use an identifying tag to introduce the source info/quote.

Avoid using the verb says!

Step 3

Quote, paraphrase, or summarize the source material.

Step 4

Add your own comment or response on the material cited.

You TryLook at the example on your worksheet titled

“’Have it Your Way’: Consumerism Invades

Education”

On your worksheet…

complete step 1

What do you think the main idea of the article is?

On your worksheet…

complete step 2

Tag: introduce the article & the author (vice versa).

On your worksheet…

complete step 3

Quote / Paraphrase /

Summarize

On your worksheet…

complete step 4

Comment on the information you just quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.

Rate the following Examples…

use the scale below0 = Ridiculous1 = bad2 = okay3 = Awesome

#1In his essay “’Have it Your Way’ Consumerism Invades Education,” Simon Benlow, writer and composition teacher, notes that [consumerist students] see only black and white words—where they anticipate smashy colors and extravagant tools for getting their attention. (p. 173) I completely agree with this wonderful idea.

Rank: 1

#2College students nowadays expect teachers to entertain and amuse them. In his essay entitled“’Have it Your Way’ Consumerism Invades Education,” Benlow argues “[consumerist students] see only black and white words—where they anticipate smashy colors and extravagant tools for getting their attention”(173). So far, I find that college has a lot of very good teachers who really know and love their subjects.

Rank: 2

#3Students today are entering college with a bad mindset form the consumerist society in which they live. Writer and composition teacher Simon Benlow points out in his essay “’Have it Your Way’ Consumerism Invades Education,” that “[s]tudents who come to college with this consumerist attitude are lost […] In the face of pure ingredients (the stuff for making meaning) they will be confused and ultimately, terribly bored” (173).

# 3 cont.

Everyday in our classroom I see students who seem angry that a college education is hard; they are put off by the fact that A’s re not being handed to them just the way that they want them—like a whopper or a happy meal.

Rank: 3

# 4Most students come to college with the idea that a university operates pretty much like a shopping mall. In his essay on consumerism and education, writer Stephen Below on page 173 says that consumers love excitement in their movies and sex and French fries and cherry Cokes. No one wants to watch black and white films from back in the day!

# 4 cont.

I believe that you can easily see why college students are bored and seek entertainment in the classroom.

Rank: 0

My Sample Answers:Step 1: Today’s students have consumerist attitudes.

Step 2: Simon Benlow author of “Have it Your Way Consumerism Invades Education” brilliantly

explains This idea.

Step 3: “[s]tudents who come to college with this consumerist attitude are lost […] In the face of pure ingredients (the stuff for making meaning) they will be confused and ultimately, terribly bored” (173).

Step 4: Students want school to be like a store and

they want to be treated like customers.