How to Read and Understand an Expository EssayThe Initial Read.docx

How to Read and Understand an Expository Essay
The Initial Reading
Read the first paragraph (or section for a longer essay). Then,
read the conclusion. Identify what seem to be key concepts
introduced in the opening of the essay and those concepts that
have been emphasized or that have emerged in the conclusion.
Scan any headings or subheadings for a sense of progression of
the development of key points.
With a pen in hand, begin reading the essay from the beginning,
marking in your notes or on the printed page the main ideas as
you see them appearing.
From your list of main ideas, annotated in the margins of each
paragraph and copied to a separate page or note card, try to
reconstruct mentally the main ideas of each paragraph.
Identify key passages that you may wish to use as direct
quotations, paraphrases, summaries, or allusions in the drafts of
an essay.
Subsequent Readings/Reviews
Always begin by reviewing first your notes and note cards on
which you have copied the annotations of main ideas from each
paragraph.
Turn to the text of the essay only when you fail to remember the
exact reference made in the annotations of main ideas.
Identify the Mode of Development
Is the purpose of the essay to inform, persuade, entertain, or to
explore?
What is the conclusion of any argument the author may be

developing?
As an informational work, is the author's voice prominent or
muted?
Be sure that you understand the writer's viewpoint and purpose:
Is the writer trying to explain his or her own opinion? Trying to
attack another's position? Trying to examine two sides of an
issue without judgment?
Is the writer being persuasive or just commenting on or
describing a unique, funny, or interesting aspect of life and
what it 'says about us'?
As a piece of entertainment, what specific literary humorous
devices does the author employ? (See burlesque, hyperbole,
understatement, other figures of speech.)
As an exploratory work, what is the focus of the inquiry? What
is the author's relationship to that focus? Is s/he supportive,
hostile, indifferent? What?
Analysis of the Author
Explain the author's attitude toward the subject of the essay. Is
s/he sympathetic to the thesis, issue, or key concepts?
Explore on the Internet and/or other electronic or print media
any information you can find about the author and the essay.
Explain how this external information better helps to understand
the essay.
Explain what seems to be the author's motivation in writing the
essay and what s/he hopes to accomplish with the composition.
Identify any other factors in the author's biography or notes that
seem relevant to the purpose of the composition.
Some Major Essayists
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
St. John de Crevecœur (1725–1813)
Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
James Madison (1751–1836)

Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
Margaret Fuller (1810–1850)
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
Frederick Douglass (1817?–1895)
Herman Melville (1819–1891
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)
Mark Twain (1835–1910)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
H. L. Menken (1880–1956)
E. B. White (1899– )
Ralph Ellison (1913–1994)
Louis Auchincloss (1917– )
Betty Friedan (1921– )
James Baldwin (1924–1987)
William F. Buckley Jr. (1925– )
Gore Vidal (1925– )
Edward Abbey (1927–1989)
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968)
John McPhee (1931– )
Joan Didion (1934– )
Garry Wills (1934– )
Jonathan Kozol (1936– )
Barbara Ehrenreich (1941– )
Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002)
George F. Will (1941– )
Garrison Keillor (1942– )
Annie Dillard (1945– )
Dave Barry (1947– )
Katha Pollitt (1949– )
Bill Bryson (1951– )
Brent Staples (1951– )
Deborah Tannen (1951– )
Anna Quindlen (1952– )
Cornel West (1953– )

David Sedaris (1956– )
Malcolm Gladwell (1963– )
Reading and Writing about Film
Truman Capote is not an essayist, but he is a major American
literary figure. His work is paired with the Grisham piece this
week because of the emphasis on Post-modern theme and the
non-fictional nature of the story told in the film. Capote was
undoubtedly one of the more flamboyant characters to grace
American literature. In a sharp contrast to his own persona, he
set out to write a novel chronicling the murders of an all-
American family in the heartland. What he produced was an
epic conglomeration of his own experience as an outsider to the
rural area, social weaknesses, and the faultiness of perception.
This interview in The Paris Review "Truman Capote, The Art of
Fiction No. 17" offers some interesting insight into Capote, the
person and the author. Of particular interest is Capote's views
on his own work and, to some extent, his motivation. Even in
that first published story, it is easy to see the origins of In Cold
Blood.
Expository essay analysis can be applied to this piece just as it
could a documentary film.
When watching and analyzing a purely fictional film, you can
treat it as you would a novel, creating your analysis based on
any of the critical schools of thought we've examined in this
class, and thinking about fictional devices such as setting, plot,
character, symbol, presence of irony, point-of-view, structure as
well as the devices that are particular to the form of 'film'-
cinematography, special effects, directorial choices, acting,
music, costume, etc.
Like novels, films can be analyzed as singular events, or they
can be compared/contrasted in a broader conversation. You

might look at other works featuring the same main actor, the
same main character, or that are by the same director (
comparing "Batmans", for example). You might look at the
same film in its original and re-make form ( comparing versions
of The Great Gatsby, for example). Of course, is a movie is
part of a larger series or has a book/comic tie-in, you can create
an analysis of the movie based on how it compares to the
literary version or how it works in the larger series (analyzing
any of the Marvel comic movies, James Bond, Star Wars,
Twilight, or the Hobbit films, for example). There are lots of
options. When asked to analyze a film try to think of a
persuasive thesis ( an opinion) about the film, then brainstorm
at least three forms of evidence to help you construct the body
paragraphs. When writing a compare/contrast, you want to think
of your three forms of 'evidence' instead as your 'three points
of comparison'.
A film analysis, then, might have thesis statement like this:
The Departed deserved the Best Picture Academy Award for the
superb performances by Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and
Jack Nicholson.
I would then construct the body of the paper to explore and
discuss the performances of these three lead actors.
I could have said:
The Departed deserved the Best Picture Academy Award due to
its gritty realism, its masterful irony, and its cinematography.
The evidence I choose to support my opinion helps me to
structure my piece, no matter what the evidence is.

Compare and Contrast Writing
If I'm comparing/contrasting, I might think of two subjects ( the
original "The Great Gatsby" and the remake by Baz Luhrmann
in 2013) and then three ways to compare/contrast them, my
"points of comparison."
In this case, my thesis might be this:
The 2013 Luhrmann "Gatsby" is superior to the original because
of its use of music, color, and symbol to truly capture the spirit
of the Roaring 20s and the conflict at the center of the story in a
haunting and memorable way.
I would then, most likely, structure the body of my paper like
this:
Intro with thesis
1st body paragraph: Music-discuss both films and how they
handled the musical accompaniment.
2nd body paragraph: Color- and again, I would discuss both
movies.
3rd body paragraph: Symbol- discuss both movies.
Then I would conclude.
This is called a point-by-point arrangement and can be applied
to any compare and contrast assignment, whether you are
examining movies, poems, generals, disease treatment
protocols, presidents, graduate schools, etc.

Your task is to analyze a text, paying special attention to the
features that influence a piece of
writing the most: the audience, the writer’s orientation, the
rhetorical situation, and the genre
(COLFV features). Use the sample rhetorical analysis on pages
42-47 as a flexible guide (not a
rigid model). The content of your project should differ from the
sample because you are
analyzing a different text, but the format of your analysis
should contrast with the sample as
well, due to the nature of this assignment.
PART A : TEXT & SUMMARY (Due Wednesday, Feb. 10th)
• Select one of the texts available on BlackBoard under Project
#1, labeled “Text Options.”
Annotate a hard copy of the text.
• Write a SUMMARY: Use one of the texts made available for
this assignment on
Blackboard. Apply what you have learned about analyzing texts
using the COLFV model and
write a summary of your findings.
Your COLFV summary will include:
1: rhetorical information about the text
2: a brief description of content
3: a brief description of organization
4: a brief description of language
5: a discussion of the values that might be held by the
discourse community of
readers and writer.
PART B : CONTEXT (Due Friday, Feb. 12th on Blackboard)

• Use the close reading, summaries, and notes to analyze the
text — in particular, examine the
effects of the audience, writer’s orientation, rhetorical situation,
and genre (COLFV
elements) by responding to each of the following questions with
2-5 sentences
each. The format of this section should be a numbered set of
responses to each
question, BUT this does not mean giving short or one-word
answers.
1. What is the context of the issues? What do you know about
the topic? What issues
does the topic raise? Is there a larger debate, discussion, or
controversy already going
on? What seems to be at stake?
Project #1 Prompt
Monday Wednesday Friday
Week 4 Review Prompt PART A:
• Bring in annotated text to
class
• Upload Summary to
Blackboard before class
PART B:
Upload Context to Blackboard
by 6pm
Week 5 PART C:
Bring your handout to class

PART D:
Upload the final draft of the
handout to BBD before class
Unit 2!
2. Who is the writer? What do you know about the writer’s
background, credibility,
knowledge of the topic, beliefs, and social allegiances?
3. What is the publication/source? What do you know about its
intended readers,
reputability, political slant, and the topics it covers?
4. How does the writer define to rhetorical situation and
identify the call to write? What
is the writer’s orientation toward the issues involved? What is
at stake for the writer?
5. Who is the intended audience? Is the writer addressing one
group of readers or more
than one? Is the writer trying to bring an audience into being (to
create a group/
audience)? What kind of relationship is the writer trying to
establish with readers?
What assumptions about readers does the writer seem to make?
6. How does the writer use language? What is the writer’s tone?
What does the writer’s
word choice chow about his or her assumptions about readers?
Does the writer use
specialized terms or slang? Are there memorable figures of
speech? Does the writer
stereotype?

7. What is your evaluation of the rhetorical effectiveness? Does
the writer accomplish
his or her purposes? What constraints, if any, qualify the
writing’s effectiveness?
PART C : HANDOUT (Due Monday, Feb. 15th)
• Write your genre analysis in the format of a handout using a
title, subheadings, bullet points,
brief content, and optional images. This should take one to two
pages.
a. Begin with the rhetorical information: title, author’s name,
date, source, genre,
target audience, purpose.
b. State your claim. (How effective is the text based on the
colfv analysis?)
c. List all five elements of the colfv model separately; identify
2-3 features for each
element, include quoted and/or paraphrased text, and explain
how these features
connect to the text’s effectiveness or ineffectiveness.
d. List the reference information, using APA or MLA format.
• Bring your handout to class on Monday, Feb. 15th. We will be
conducting a peer edit in class
on Monday.
PART D : PEER EDIT (Due Wednesday, Feb. 17th)
• Use the feedback from your peers and the self-edit to guide
your revision of project 1. Be

sure to take all comments into consideration, but use your own
judgment about whether or
not following your peers’ advice is helpful to your assignment.
Resources:
• Call to Write Chapters 1 and 2 (rhetorical strategies)
• Keys for Writers (especially APA citations pgs. 241-292
• COLFV Direct Questions [HO]
• Organization Strategies [HO]
• Project 1 – Genre Analysis Rough Draft [HO]
• Student Sample [BBD]
• possible more helpful documents [BBD]
• Class Notes [you can only get these in class, so come to class]
Student Name
LING 305W
Project #1 Final Draft - Handout
23 February 2012
Genre Analysis of the Online Article, ‘Superfoods’ Everyone
Needs
Genre: online article
Author: Susan Seliger
Target Audience: variety of ages; healthy people, healthy cooks,
people who want to eat better, people
with illnesses, diseases, or other health ailments
Article Title: ‘Superfoods’ Everyone Needs
Source: www.webmd.com
Date: February 2007
Author’s claim: “A healthy diet incorporating a variety of...

superfoods will help you maintain your
weight, fight disease, and live longer.” (para. 4)
My analysis tool: COLFV model, which stands for five
elements—content, organization, language,
format, and values
My claim: Using the COLFV model to analyze the genre of this
informative online article, I find that
Seliger effectively uses organization, language, and values;
however, the content and format of the text could be improved.
CONTENT:
Feature 1 – Percentages
• In reference to the outside source, Elizabeth Somer, Seliger
includes percentages. “I’d say about 50%-70% of suffering
could be eliminated by what people eat and how they move:
heart disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension can all be
impacted.” (para. 3)
✛ By including these percentages, the reader can easily
refer to them in the text.
✛ Percentages make the comment more tangible.
Feature 2 – Comparisons
• The author compares age with calcium levels for adults (para.
12). For example, the author includes:
“Age 9-18 – 1300mg; age 19-50 – 1000mg; age 51 and over –
1200mg,” in bullet point format on
separate lines.
✛ These comparisons by age and level of calcium help readers
find which level fits them.
✕ These comparisons are important, however, the ages are
limited to adults. Albeit the first group

includes children from ages 9-18, it can be useful for readers to
be informed about the levels for
younger children.
ORGANIZATION:
Feature 1 – Classification
• Seliger classifies each highlighted superfood in the
subheadings. For example, blueberries are the
“antioxident superfood” (above para. 5) whereas tea lowers
cholesterol and inhibits cancer (above
para. 11).
✛ These classifications help distinguish the beneficial
properties of each superfood.
Feature 2 –Expansion
Blueberries—one
of
the
superfoods
Seliger
describes.
Source:
www.sciencedaily.com
• Describing the preferred form of beans to purchase for the
superfood, fiber, Seliger cites Dr. Ann
Kulze (para. 10). Kulze expands beyond the dried, fresh and
frozen form of beans by mentioning that
consumers should try to avoid canned beans as they contain
high amounts of sodium usually.

LANGUAGE:
Feature 1 – Informal
• The author uses vocabulary like “guess what?” (para. 1) and
“yummiest” (above para. 13).
✛ Seliger does a great job of connecting to her more general
audience by using informal vocabulary.
This shows readers that an expert, like Seliger, is more similar
to them.
Feature 2 – Acronyms
• “ECGC” is described as a powerful antioxident by the author
(para. 11).
✛ Including acronyms can help reduce reading time for readers.
✕ This particular acronym is not defined by each of its letters.
This leaves members of the target
audience to search for its definition or to overlook it.
FORMAT:
Feature 1 – Subheadings
• “Soy – Superfood to Lower Cholesterol” (above para. 9) and
“Calcium” (above para. 12) are two of
the subheadings used by Seliger.
✛ Subheadings nicely guide the reader to the specific content.
Specifically, each superfood receives
its own section with a subheading and a paragraph description.
Feature 2 – Bullet points
• Fourteen items (superfoods) after the fourth paragraph and the
comparisons by age after the twelfth
paragraph receive their own lines with bullet points.

✛ Bullet points help a reader quickly and easily follow
emphasized text.
✛ Seliger does a great job of including the fourteen superfoods
with bullet points as it resembles a
shopping list. In fact, a reader could potentially print this
portion of the article and refer to the
bulleted items as a shopping list at the supermarket.
✕ The comparisons could be enhanced for better reader
interpretation if the content were inserted
into a table or graph rather than in bullet points. The reader
could refer to a visual such as a table
more easily and compare each age group side-by-side.
VALUES:
Feature 1 - The author and the target audience share the same
interest in good health.
• “A healthy diet incorporating a variety of the following
superfoods will help you maintain your
weight, fight disease, and live longer.” (para. 4)
✛ For the readers (as described in the target audience on page
one of this handout), this line directly
connects the benefits of eating superfoods.
Feature 2 - The author and the audience share the same
understanding that health can be improved.
• The author refers to Somer in regards to an additional benefit
of Omega 3s being a depression reducer
(para. 7).
✛ For the target audience, additional benefits support Seliger’s
plea to eat superfoods.
Reference

Seliger, Susan.
PART B: CONTEXT
1. What is the context of the issues? What do you know about
the topic? What issues does the topic raise? Is there a larger
debate, discussion, or controversy already going on? What
seems to be at stake?
The primary context of the issues surrounds the aspect of
concussions and the National Football League (NFL), especially
how the name Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) came
into being. CTE is a freshly discovered disease affecting
footballers and other athletes with symptoms related to suicide.
The disease has elicited a myriad of issues and debate,
including the authenticity of the Webster research that leads to
the first publishing of the disease. Just like stated by Dr. Bennet
Omalu, the continuous discussion and disgrace of the discovery
put the lives of many footballers and athletes at risk. Besides,
rebuking the discovery translates to dehumanizing Webster and
other athletes that have contributed to the research.
2. Who is the writer? What do you know about the writer’s
background, credibility, knowledge of the topic, beliefs, and
social allegiances?
The author of the article is Dr. Bennet Omalu, who is the
current chief medical examiner in San Joaquin County in
California. Besides, Dr. Omalu is a great associate clinical
professor of pathology at the famed University of California.
From the text, there are several things about the writer that can
be drawn, including his credibility, beliefs, background,
understanding of the topic, and social allegiances. First, it is
evident that Dr. Omalu has an extensive and in-depth knowledge
and experience in the medical field, especially pathology. This
is demonstrated by his thorough understanding of the medical
terms and mental illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease and
dementia pugilistica. His credibility is unquestionable as well

as social allegiance, a factor that is clarified by his devotion to
saving lives. (Omalu, 2015)
3. What is the publication/source? What do you know about
its intended readers, reputability, political slant, and the topics
it covers?
The article’s publication source is the Cable News Network
(CNN), an iconic American satellite and fundamental cable
television channel. CNN is a primary branch of the Time
Warner Company and broadcasts several news on a 24-hour
basis, and this particular article falls into the category of
political opinions and social commentaries. The publication is
intended for readers in the medical profession, football line of
business, as well as any other individual that in one way or the
other faces the risk of CTE. For example, the article educates
pathologists on ways to distinguish between Alzheimer’s
disease, dementia pugilistica, and CTE. The report also serves
as a lesson to experts who discover things in their line of duty;
they can indeed provide a solution to present problems that have
never been explored before.
4. How does the writer define to rhetorical situation and
identify the call to write? What is the writer’s orientation
toward the issues involved? What is at stake for the writer?
There is no doubt that Dr. Omalu uses several rhetorical
analysis tools in this article to demonstrate the need to address
the issue of CTE, especially its importance in reducing deaths
among footballers. He also uses this platform to criticize his
opponents, terming them as dehumanizing Webster and other
athletes that played a critical role in the discovery of the
illness. First, the author highlights his firsthand interaction with
Webster’s case, highlighting his ignorance and confusion. He
wittingly introduces the rhetorical situation surrounding the
death of the former Pittsburgh Steelers center, prompting the
need to search for a sound solution. Dr. Omalu believes that the
disease depicts characters similar to other brain injuries but
slide evidence indicate otherwise. He uses this disparity as the
primary need for his study. In the final part of his edition, the

author takes a stand arguing that his discovery is critical to
addressing issues related to CTE. (Omalu 2015).
5. Who is the intended audience? Is the writer addressing one
group of readers or more than one? Is the writer trying to bring
an audience into being (to create a group/ audience)? What kind
of relationship is the writer trying to establish with readers?
What assumptions about readers does the writer seem to make?
The author directs this particular edition to several people.
First, he intends to silence doubters and detractors who think
that the issue of CTE and footballers is not worth mentioning.
In particular, he laments detractors like NFL doctors who have
in the past discredited his discovery. In particular, he quotes
Will Smith’s statement in the movie “Conclusion” that says that
“if you continue to deny my work, more people will die.”
Besides, the writer seems to create a new set of audience,
including medical practitioners, footballers, and athletes, as
well as other ordinary citizens that need to understand the
causes and symptoms of CTE. For example, the author seems to
address medical practitioners by his continued mention of his
professor and encounters. It is also important to understand that
the writer is trying so hard to create a good relationship with
the readers just judging by the proper language he uses to
narrate his discovery. In fact, he makes several assumptions
about the readers, including the belief that all readers are
oblivious of the discovery.
6. How does the writer use language? What is the writer’s
tone? What does the writer’s word choice Chow about his or her
assumptions about readers? Does the writer use specialized
terms or slang? Are there memorable figures of speech? Does
the writer stereotype?
It is also important to understand that Dr. Omalu uses technical
and professional language to demonstrate his deep
understanding of the topic. In particular, he uses medical terms
like an autopsy, schizophrenia, necrosis, and many others to
show his credibility in conducting the research. Besides, he uses
several other writing styles like narration actually to bring out

his first meeting with Webster’s case. He as well manages to
portray himself as a shocked and high figure throughout the
paper, especially with the discovery. For example, he says, “I
was flabbergasted when I opened his skull and saw a brain.’ He
cannot hide his enthusiasm at the freshly discovered disease.
7. What is your evaluation of the rhetorical effectiveness?
Does the writer accomplish his or her purposes? What
constraints, if any, qualify the writing’s effectiveness
I believe that the rhetorical definition of the issue plays a useful
role in addressing the writer’s concern, especially exploring the
symptoms and impacts of the disease as well as silencing the
detractors. In fact, it is clear that the critics like NFL doctors
have served as a driving force for the success of the experiment
because the researcher is motivated to prove them wrong by
providing concrete academic evidence. In the end, the writer
manages to come up with the CTE name for the strange mental
illnesses. It is also important to understand that the gaps
present, especially in labeling Webster’s brain disease, has been
useful in the study.

Reference
Omalu, B. (2015, December 15). Concussions and NFL: How
the name CTE came about. CNN Opinion.
Concussions and NFL: How the name
CTE came about
By Bennet Omalu
Updated 11:38 AM ET, Tue December 22, 2015
CNN Opinion - Political Op-Eds | Social Commentary
Editor’s Note: Dr. Bennet Omalu, chief medical examiner
of San Joaquin County, California, is an associate clinical
professor of pathology at the University of California, Davis.
His story is told in the new movie, "Concussion." The
opinions expressed in this commentary are his.
(CNN) — When I read Mike Webster's file before I began
his autopsy, I knew he was more than a 50-year-old heart
attack victim. His file and the television reports of the death
of the former Pittsburgh Steelers center described a long, steep
fall into bizarre behavior. I
suspected he suffered from some sort of brain disorder.
The potential diagnoses on my mind were post-traumatic
encephalopathy (encephalopathy
means brain disease, damage, or malfunction), Alzheimer's
disease, dementia pugilistica, aka

punch drunk syndrome, and/or schizophrenia.
At this time there was no disease that I was aware of that
was called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
Dementia pugilistica was unlikely since he was not a
boxer. Schizophrenia was unlikely since he did not have
any diagnosis of that disease in the extensive pre-mortem
clinical workup that he had. Alzheimer's disease was less
likely given his age.
Post-traumatic encephalopathy was about the only
remaining diagnosis I had in mind while I performed the
autopsy and considered the case. Based on what I knew
about Webster's career and his post-football behavior, I
expected to see the residual damages of recurrent contusions
and necrosis (death of body
tissue), and even atrophy of a lobe in his brain, which would be
characteristic of post-traumatic
encephalopathy.
The story of the discovery of Webster's brain disorder is worth
telling, not only because of the
upcoming release of the film "Concussion," but also because
some detractors have raised
questions that I believe are unjustified.
_______________________________
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/21/opinions/omalu-discovery-of-
cte-football-concussions/
Dr. Bennet Omalu at a screening
of "Concussion."

No visible damage
I was flabbergasted when I opened his skull and saw a brain that
appeared completely
unremarkable without any visible damage. I saved his brain and
fixed it in formalin because I
was totally lost and confused by what I observed during the
autopsy.
When I examined his brain and requested a battery of tests --
histochemical and
immunohistochemical stains -- I honestly did not know what I
was looking for, and I did not have
any expectation of what I would see.
When I examined slides of Webster's brain under a microscope I
found abnormalities that I
could not explain. The unique and distinctive topographic
patterns of abnormal accumulations of
proteins called tau and amyloid did not match with any
neurodegenerative disease that I was
aware of.
Because I had already excluded Alzheimer's disease and
dementia pugilistica, I was very
surprised to see the abnormal accumulations of tau and amyloid
in his brain, both of which
occur in those diseases. Yet the topographic pattern, cellular
architecture and distribution of
these abnormal proteins were inconsistent with those diseases or
any other of which I knew. I
believed I had found something distinctive.
At this juncture, I wanted to show the slides to Dr. Ronald
Hamilton, my professor and mentor
who had taught me neurodegenerative diseases as a physician in

training.
Seeking Hamilton's opinion was consistent with the guidelines
and standards of practice of
pathology as has been established by the College of American
Pathologists, that when you see
something distinctive in a microscope, you may show it to a
second pathologist to confirm the
microscopic findings that you are observing. I took the slides to
Hamilton, and he confirmed that
I was not being delusional or hallucinatory: The microscopic
findings in Webster's brain were
distinctive and unique.
Hamilton suggested that we show the slides of Webster's brain
to Dr. Steven Dekosky, the
chairman of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Department of Neurology, and director
of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Hamilton arranged
the meeting. I went to
Dekosky's office and showed him the slides. He, too, confirmed
that this was not Alzheimer's
disease and it was not dementia pugilistica. He agreed that I had
observed a new syndrome
and advised me to publish the paper of my findings. At this
point we still had no clue what this
new syndrome was.
_______________________________
A new disease
I went home and began a very comprehensive and extensive
literature review to see if this
observation had been published before in an American football
player. I was utterly surprised
that it had not.

Not a single paper had been published describing what I had
observed in Webster's brain. None
whatsoever. I honestly could not, and did not believe it. It was
simply impossible. Yes, much had
been published on boxers, (the "punch drunk" condition known
as dementia pugilistica) but
nothing had been written on any American football player.
However, I did not want to report the paper simply as a case
report describing the distinct
pattern I had observed in Webster. I believed I had discovered a
new disease in an American
football player, a disease that had to be named. I did not know
what name to give it, but I
decided that whatever name I would give it would satisfy three
criteria:
1. The name must be erudite and intellectually sophisticated.
2. The name must have a good acronym to facilitate recall
should someone not be able to say
the scientific name.
3. The name must be sufficiently generic, so that if someone
down the road proved me wrong
that this was not a distinctive disease, the name would still
accurately describe the observed
symptoms.
I am a forensic pathologist, and in the medico-legal

consultations I had done, I had learned that
precedent is very important in case law. This same principle
applied to the acceptability of
medical concepts in the court of law, frequently referred to as
the Daubert rule or principle in the
American judicial system.
If I derived a name that had been used in the literature as a
descriptive terminology, took that
descriptive terminology and converted it into a proper noun as
the name of a disease, I was less
likely to be deemed a radical, making my proposition more
likely to be accepted by the medical
community.
I therefore went back to the medical literature looking for
descriptive terminologies that had
been used to describe conditions resulting from primary brain
injuries. In my research I identified
and selected 24 descriptive terminologies that referred to long-
term and delayed complications
and outcomes of traumatic brain injury, but were not proper
nouns of any specific disease with
established pathology, especially in an American football
player.
They are: cerebral neurasthenia, chronic traumatic brain injury,
chronic brain injury,
compensation hysteria, concussion neurosis, delayed traumatic
apoplexy, dementia traumatica,
encephalopathia traumatica, litigation neurosis, postconcussion
neurosis, postconcussion
syndrome, post-traumatic concussion state, post-traumatic head
syndrome, post-traumatic
psychoneurosis, terror neurosis, traumatic constitution,
traumatic encephalitis, traumatic

encephalopathy, traumatic encephalopathy of boxers, traumatic
hysterias, traumatic insanity,
traumatic neurosis, traumatic psychosis, and chronic traumatic
encephalopathy.
_______________________________
Choosing a name
I spent days going through these names and analyzing them
within the context of the three
criteria I listed above. I finally settled upon two names:
1. Chronic traumatic brain injury
2. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Of the two, I preferred chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It
accurately described what I found in
Webster's brain. Chronic means long-term, traumatic is
associated with trauma, and
encephalopathy refers to brain damage, disease or malfunction.
The acronym, CTE, seemed
easy to grasp and remember. The name sounded intellectually
sophisticated. The name was
sufficiently generic that if I were proven wrong and this was not
a newly discovered brain
disease, it still referred to a bad brain associated with trauma .
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, thus became the
name of the disease I observed in

Webster's brain. Following DeKosky's advice, I documented my
findings in a paper entitled,
"Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football
League Player," which was published
in the journal Neurosurgery.
In the paper, which listed Hamilton and my boss, Dr. Cyril
Wecht, as co-authors, I differentiated
CTE as a distinctive disease, and presented the defining
microscopic features in a case report
defining Webster as a sentinel case. The paper indicated that
other football players also
suffered from the same disease. This is a very basic and
fundamental step in epidemiological
methods for the surveillance, identification and introduction of
new diseases.
Before the case report on Webster, there was not a disease
called chronic traumatic
encephalopathy or CTE, although chronic traumatic
encephalopathy had been used as a
descriptive terminology in the literature. And this is why the
National Institutes of Health recently
published a paper for the diagnostic criteria for the pathologic
diagnosis of CTE claiming that
this was the very first time in history the pathologic criteria for
the diagnosis of CTE were being
published. If it was not a new disease, why would the NIH be
publishing and presenting such
criteria today?
_______________________________
Discovering more cases
Having published the sentinel case, I began searching for more
cases in football players,

because I believed a great majority, if not all professional
football players, suffered from CTE.
Discovering new cases was not difficult. Going by
epidemiological methods, I published the
second case of CTE in Terry Long, a football player and
teammate of Webster, then a third in
Andre Waters, a football player who played for the Philadelphia
Eagles.
The third case qualified as a case series. I still searched for
more cases of CTE in football
players, and eventually published a cohort study. I identified
and linked CTE with a distinctive
constellation of presenting symptoms, which included suicidal
behavior and suicides, which I
also published.
I believed CTE existed in other high-impact contact sports
athletes, and when Chris Benoit, a
professional wrestler, committed suicide, I secured his brain
and identified the first case of CTE
in a wrestler. I again believed that some, if not all, the so called
PTSD in military war veterans
was a "blast variant" of CTE. Again I was the first to identify
CTE in military war veterans.
Moving forward, I believe CTE will become a disease that will
have sub-types and variants.
Today, chronic traumatic encephalopathy has become a
generally accepted disease and
principle, if not common knowledge, in the medical literature. It

has become a broadly
diagnosed disease by clinicians and pathologists. In fact, I am
very proud that some people
have described the Webster autopsy as one of the most
significant single events in the history
of sports because of the discovery and diagnosis of CTE.
_______________________________
Knowledge of the disease spreads
Knowledge of the disease has now spread through all levels of
football and society. Even my 8-
and 6-year-old daughter and son, Ashly and Mark, know what
CTE is. They may not be able to
say chronic traumatic encephalopathy, but they can say CTE.
The search for the real cause of Webster's death was, for me, a
faith journey that epitomizes
who we are as a common humanity. The search for this disease
was not about gaining any sort
of recognition for myself. Rather, I wanted to make a difference
both for Mike and for all of us.
Some detractors, just like NFL doctors in the past, continue to
deny that I discovered and
named CTE when I performed an autopsy on Webster. These
detractors continue to ridicule me
like the NFL doctors have done. These insinuations are
extremely hurtful and these are part of
the reason I have always said that I wish I never met Mike
Webster. I would never have
imagined that 13 years after the Webster autopsy that certain
people will still be making very
calculated efforts to dehumanize, belittle, discredit and
marginalize me and my work, just like it
was 2002 all over again.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, to discover something
means "to find (something or
someone) unexpectedly or in the course of a search." Therefore,
just like Will Smith has said in
the movie "Concussion," "If you continue to deny my work,
people will continue to die." Anyone
who continues to deny and misappropriate this work is
dehumanizing Webster and the other
athletes who guided me to the truth of the disease that
ultimately contributed to their deaths.
It is my conviction that we are one love, one hope, one spirit
and one body, bound together by
the bond of peace. I wish us all every joy and happiness this
Christmas, for that is actually what
the movie "Concussion" is all about.
Final essay
For your final essay, you should choose one of the following
options.
Compare and contrast In Cold Blood to another filmed depiction
of the true crime genre, whether in feature film or TV series
form. Have a debatable, persuasive claim and focus on specific
points of comparison, using the Lesson in week 7 to guide your
structure. Please consult MLA guidance to see how to cite
television and film!
View the list of essayists in the Lesson for week 7. Search the
internet for an essay by your selected author and read it.
Compose a thesis that has a persuasive, debatable claim about
the significance of the message or theme in the essay or the

success/effectiveness of the essay as a whole. Summarize the
essay in your intro paragraph, end the paragraph with your
thesis, and be sure to include your three points of evidence in
your thesis statement. Cite the essay as you would any article
on the internet as you examine your points of evidence.
Compare and contrast John Grisham's piece to any essay, long-
form article on a website like The Atlantic or other news
sources, or film/documentary that explores a contemporary
social issue that matters to you. Have a debatable, persuasive
claim and focus on specific points of comparison, using the
Lesson in week 7 to guide your structure.
Submission Instructions:
Your essays should be in MLA Style and approximately 500-750
words, not including the Work(s) Cited page. As with most
academic writing, this essay should be written in third person.
Please avoid both first person (I, we, our, etc.) and second
person (you, your).
In the upper left-hand corner of the paper, place your name, the
professor’s name, the course name, and the due date for the
assignment on consecutive lines. Double space your information
from your name onward, and don't forget a title. All papers
should be in Times New Roman font with 12-point type with
one-inch margins all the way around your paper. All paragraph
indentations should be indented five spaces (use the tab key)
from the left margin. All work is to be left justified. When
quoting lines in literature, please research the proper way to
cite short stories, plays, or poems.
You should use the online APUS library to look for scholarly
sources. Be careful that you don’t create a "cut and paste" paper
of information from your various sources. Your ideas are to be
new and freshly constructed. Also, take grea

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