Taking [ ] <- see, it's taken :)

In “Taking an Approach,” Harris discusses yet another way to rewrite the works of another while using your own words, this time specifically directing attention to influence and style of another writer as opposed to directly quoting them and their sources. When forwarding and countering, you bring new ideas to light by either agreeing with them or providing examples of a view you disagree with to provide conversation. One of the perks of countering is that when you spend time arguing against the piece of evidence, you are exposing your conversation-partner to two views and showing him or her why yours is correct. By having that alternative perspective, others can think more critically about what you are saying, and then whatever viewpoint they come out of the conversation with they will feel that much more strongly for. This means that if you argue well, you now have another strong supporter on your side. This ability to disprove other potentially convincing arguments is used as a major tactic when taking an approach. Bloggers often do a great job of involving readers in their views by making their speeches candid and understandable. This is the necessary base for taking an approach, because the author can now pull in things he or she does and doesn’t agree with and followers trust the points made because they can see alternative points disproven.

            Taking an approach sounds remarkably similar, almost too much so, to countering if we are viewing it solely as a way to bring up and shut down opposing arguments, though. The difference, as Harris explains it, is that when taking an approach you don’t distinctly bring up points just to counter them, but rather use those points to understand and replicate an author’s way of speaking. This is essentially the process of copying someone else’s mode, form, or style I suppose you could say, instead of taking and remarking on direct sources. I feel like The New York Times, random blogs, and even parody-focused sources all tend to resort to forwarding and countering more than taking an approach because it eliminates the majority of questioning that an audience could impose. If the alternative views of a topic are never introduced, and controversial examples are eliminated, opposition often dissipates.