Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Venn Venting

I hate Venn Diagrams, at least when they are used in teaching writing strategies. To use the Venn Diagram to show all possible logical outcomes in simple set relationships or statistics is one thing. To use overlapping circles to show thought relationships or arguments in a thesis or to organize points in essay form is counterintuitive to the point of inhibiting the thought process. You have a paragraph of similarities, you have a paragraph of differences, in logical linear order. Then you're left with the contents of half circles swirling around in a formation that defies being translated into written form. I say keep statistics out of our written language. Prose is a beautiful thing!

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