1. Kali Morrison
English 3366
Case Study One
The article that I selected is Predictors of the Adoption of Low Carbon Lifestyle from the
Arts and Sciences Journal. Its authors explore what factors and influences lead community
leaders to adopt a lifestyle that leaves a smaller carbon foot print. The authors show how when a
community leader either embraces or casts off a low carbon lifestyle the members of their
communities will generally follow their lead, either for or against it.
This article was written primarily for scientists so they can determine what motivates a
low carbon life style and what markers indicate if a community leader will adopt such a lifestyle.
It was also written to increase the body of research on how to contribute to creating green
communities. It also targets those who are trying to encourage the spread of a low carbon
lifestyle. The article focuses on community leaders: their perceptions and if they are innovative
or not; what leads to their acceptance or rejection of a low carbon lifestyle; and how scientist can
predict which communities will be the most receptive to a low carbon lifestyle.
I had high hopes for this article. Its introduction began wonderfully and utilized the
known-new contract in a very effective way. I am by no means a scientist or up to date on what
methods are being explored to spread having a low carbon impact and I appreciated the
background information that the authors provided. As the introduction continued I started to run
into problems. The thesis was presented about halfway through the introduction, then it jumped
back to background information, then it jumped to what the study was looking at. Overall I think
reordering the paragraphs at a minimum would drastically help. The lack of focus and direction
that the introduction evolved into set up the article. In the body of the article information was not

2. presented in an easy to follow way. As the article proceeded the disconnection and lack of
effective direction became more and more apparent.
Some common style techniques that I found throughout the article included using
parenthesis, the use of “i.e.,” commas and semicolons, conjunctive adverbs, and metadiscourse.
These style techniques were overused and at times distracting. Because of the over use of these
techniques it was very difficult to get through some of the passages because I became distracted
by so much punctuation. I believe that the authors used them to try to create coherence
throughout their article, but what they did instead was make the article more difficult to read than
it needed to be.
For the most part they did use parenthesis and i.e. in similar ways – additional
information was presented with i.e. and then parentheses were used to add more information. If
they had spear the use out more it would have been a very useful technique. But, the use of
parenthesis and i.e. occurred very close together. This made several paragraphs difficult to read
because I was unsure of what was important and what was additional information to support the
original claim of the sentence.
The authors inconsistently used semicolons and commas. I think the article would be
much clearer if many of the compound sentences were separated out and developed to be more
complete. I did appreciate the use of semicolons in the lists that were presented. When it was
used correctly it made getting through dense information much easier. The overall use of
commas was very inconsistent. Some lists included the final comma before the conjunction and
others did not. Commas made random appearances where they were not needed and it was
distracting to try to find out why they were being used in such a manner. By being more
consistent in punctuation use I think the article would be much easier to read and understand.

3. My biggest complaint on the style employed is the use of conjunctive adverbs especially
at the beginning of paragraphs and sentences. Out of 84 paragraphs 33 began with a conjunctive
adverb. Of the 51 remaining paragraphs 21 used conjunctive adverbs at some point. The longer
the paragraph the more conjunctive adverbs that were used. Hence and however were used the
most and the others selected averaged 3-4 appearances. I think that for the most part they could
be dropped completely or the sentence revised to be more concise.
My final complaint with the styles used is metadiscourse. Thought out the article firstly,
secondly, etcetera was used. However often a number would be skipped or it would take several
paragraphs to get to the final point. I think the authors attempted to use this style so it would be
easier to follow their points. I found it very difficult because after half a page secondly would
pop up and I would need to go back to refresh my memory with what was going on. I also
struggled with some terms being defined and others not. While I would expect that this would
occur because the target audience should know what a majority of the acronyms are, the use of
defining some and not others became distracting. In looking up some of them I think it would
have been prudent of the authors to define more.
I came to these conclusions by taking note of common themes that I found while reading.
I began the article very excited because information was presented in an easy to follow way, but
as the article continued it got more and more convoluted to where I was reading and editing
sentences so that I could keep up with what information was trying to be conveyed. As I read I
circled, underlined, and took notes on what words were repeatedly used, where I thought
punctuation should or shouldn’t go, where the article was easy to read and where it became more
difficult. Unfortunately, the further into the article I got the more difficult it was to read and
understand. The reasons given above are what I struggled with the most.

4. While I think that there are many ways that this article could be revised to increase
readability and understanding I think the first and most effective step would be to start with the
introduction and continue what it did in the beginning – effective use of the known-new contract.
Had the authors continued with this technique I think that the article would have been much
easier to read and understand.