Discussion Questions: Annoying Ways People Use Sources/ Stedman

1. One of the biggest issues with the annoyances Stedman discusses is simply being unsure of what is allowed. In our last project we argued in support or opposition of a writing construct. Part of this being unsure, I believe, comes from not wanting to break these writing constructs. How do we ever know what is wrong and what is acceptable? In high school I had teachers who told me never start a sentence with and or because. I've seen very famous authors start sentences with and. I was told in junior high to never use quotations at the beginning of essays but I began my senior thesis paper with a quote and it is by far one of the best papers I have ever written. I argued for the five-paragraph writing form, but there are many professors who don't like it. With all these conflicting rules swirling around in the academic world who is too decide what is right and what is wrong?

2. Another issue that parallels this topic is plagiarism. Young students and even careless older students don't understand how important  it is to cite when quoting. Does this not understanding plagiarism descend from the topic not being taught and stressed or students simply not caring? To many students who don't appreciate the english language, citing is just extra work. They don't understand nor care that the words they are taking are someone else's words On the other hand, my little sister became frustrated this past year with citing because she is in the first stages of learning how to do so. 

3. Kahn discusses early in the article how important is it for authors to know and understand the audience they are trying to reach to know how to write. But when is it okay to start bending the rules? I was always told you have to learn the basics before you can do the fun stuff. Does this mean that students shouldn't be able to start breaking from these "rules" until late high school and early college? Or is the rule breaking for best selling authors and professors only? I think this question is up for heated debate. Obviously many of the annoyances Kahn discussed were grammatical issues that make writing better. But quotes, for example are a tool in writing I feel very strongly about to deepen the audiences understanding and make them think.