Topics for papers for week of 22 April.

1. How to Pick a Significant Other
2. Buying Green
3. Homework in College
4. Small Town or Big City?
5. How to Manage Your Time to Succeed in College

Turn papers into Bill Zeigler or AHSS office.

Our dog ran away this morning, so Bill Zeigler will be getting you started and take up your papers. If you don't give your papers to Bill, turn them in to be put in my box at the AHSS office.

As always, write with questions. I will see you Tuesday morning.

Steve

Here are the topics for your first in-class essay:

1. The Virginia Commonwealth
2. What Super Power Would You Have and Why
3. Punishment and Children
4. Fund Raising/Fund Raisers

Remember: You take a topic and narrow it down by asking yourself:

"What differences of opinion do reasonable people have about my topic?"

Once you have identified a difference of opinion about which you want to write, you take a stance in the difference. This stance is the claim you will prove in your paper.

Remember: The basic structure of an academic essay is:

• Introduction, where you hook your reader and lead them to your thesis statement. So, your introduction usually begins with a hook and ends with your thesis statement.
• Body, where you prove your thesis to be true or fully inform your reader about your thesis. Here, you are making the points you need to make to get your reader to beleive your thesis. For each of these points, you'll write a paragraph topic sentence and fully support and develop your point in the remainder of your paragraph.
• Conclusion, where you explain to the reader, who by now has some good reasons to believe your thesis, why your thesis matters. In other words, in your conclusion, you answer the question: "So what?"

I'll see you at 9:30 on Tuesday, come in having picked your topic and prepared to pre-write and draft.

The Final Two Weeks of the Course

Next week, you will write the first of your timed, in-class essays. In class on Tuesday, you will draft your essay. On Thursday, you will revise and proofread it. The following week, you'll repeat the procedure. It is very, very, very important that you come to class over the next two weeks. If you miss class, there will be no way to make up an essay you miss.

Remember, you'll write one essay next week and one the week of 23 April. You will then decide which of these two essays you want the outside readers to use in making their decision to recommend you for another semester in 01 or for going on to 111.

Too often, students view the recommendation to remain in 01 as failure. It isn't, and I don't want you to think it is. Everyone begins with a different background. Any one student can only make so much progress in any one semester. I want to assure you all that you've made tremendous progress this semester, but some of you are not at the point of being ready to pass 111 and would profit from another semester of college prep writing. This is the decision I and the readers will make, that is, if you would profit from another semester preparing or if you're ready for the deep end of the 111 pool. If you move too early into 111, you will become frustrated and may have to drop the course, so it's in your best interest to move at the right pace to insure your future success.

Steve

Steve

Your Assignment: Due, Thursday, 10 April

Take four of the essays you've written this semester. Read my post on writing conclusions, and re-write your conclusions based on the advice I provide.

On Writing Conclusions

Try memorizing a longish list, and you will be able to remember the first and last elements almost at once; but, it will take you multiple passes through the list to get the bulk of the material and remember it in the order it was presented. The upshot is conclusions are one of the few elements you can hope a casual reader will remember; so, you use them to make the main points you want your reader to remember.

Even though conclusions are necessary, they are often difficult to write. I write conclusions by answering a few questions and remembering a few tactics often used. Here are the questions:

• "So what?" or, as one of my past math professor's said, "Why should you give a damn?" The main purpose of a conclusion is to answer these questions and demonstrate to your reader why your thesis--the stance you take on your topic--is useful or meaningful. In a usual paper, you've just spent the body developing good reasons for your reader to believe your thesis. In your conclusion, you explain why your thesis matters, how accepting your thesis will enrich the reader's life, or explain why your thesis is important.
• "What new perspective have I offered on my topic?" Readers often read to gain a new perspective or outside viewpoint on a topic; so, one of the things you can do with a conclusion is to pose questions that follow from accepting your thesis and which you don't have time to develop in your paper.
• "What do I need to say to finish the story I began in my introduction?" I am fond of using a story to hook my reader and lead them toward my thesis statement. This tactic gives me a ready framework for a conclusion. My introduction sets up a story that explains why the topic I'm addressing is important. My body develops my take on the topic, and my conclusion then "finishes" the story I began in the introduction. I think of this approach as the "OK. Here's the moral of the story" approach.
• "How will the future be changed if my thesis is true?" If I've just spent the body of my paper proving a problem exists or suggesting a solution, then I build on this shared ground to predict the future outcomes of my thesis being true.
• "What do I want my reader to do?" Good writers write to change the beliefs and behavior of their audience; so, I often write with a desired behavior in mind. I challenge the reader to change their behavior with a move like, "OK. You've got little choice but to believe my thesis, so you now know that these actions are necessary as a result."
• "What can I do to complete the circle?" If you think of your paper as a circle which begins with your hook and moves through your thesis and body, then it makes sense to bring your reader full circle by returning to your introduction. The tactic of finishing the story I mentioned above is a variation on this tactic. If you begin with a description or a scenario, then you can end with the same description or scenario as seen through the lens of your thesis being true.

Here are some dos and don'ts which are useful:

• Don't just restate your main points or your thesis in short papers. Student writers often want to just restate their thesis and the main points of the body. Such summary is a useful tactic for the conclusion of long papers where the reader may have been distracted from your main point by subsequent points you raise, and you have more than one paragraph in which to write your conclusion. Having said this, in a short paper--like the five paragraph academic essay or an in class short essay--readers aren't going to get lost in the four or five paragraphs you've just written. Just summarizing what you've said is a tad insulting. Instead, you can use the tactic of reminding your reader of your main points fit into a larger picture.
• Don't introduce a new argument. The body of your paper is where you introduce reasons to believe your thesis. The conclusion is where you synthesize your main points and show why your thesis is important. Remember, there is a subtle but very important difference between proving your thesis to be true and discussing why it matters.
• Do pick out and echo key terms or ideas or images. One method of bringing your reader full circle without just repeating your thesis and main points is simply using key terms, ideas, or images from your paper in your conclusion.
• Do think about ending with a quotation from the research you have done.
• Do think about suggesting further research which is necessary.
• Do focus on your thesis and its importance.
• Don't focus on minor point brand new reasons to believe your thesis. It's easy to get enamored by one's own words, but conclusions are about the broad picture. If your conclusion focuses on a minor point you bring up rather than on your thesis, your reader may well get lost.
• Don't apologize. Readers read authors, that is, AUTHORities on a topic; so, don't apologize or say, "This is just my opinion, but..." or "Others may believe differently, but..." or "I'm no expert, but..." I used to collect a quarter from students who apologized for what they say. You are the author of your essay. What you have to say is important, or you wouldn't be saying it and asking your reader to read it.

Notes on Revision

Here’s the real secret to good writing: revision. As with most profound ideas, it sounds simple, but it’s not. Good writers revise as they draft, AND they go through multiple revisions after a draft is complete. The first manner of revision is easy to get your head around. Because most of us now write on the computer, we tend to see revision as an ongoing part of writing, and we tend to believe a paper is finished when we draft the last paragraph and read back through it once or twice. This isn’t revision.

It is next to impossible to revise completely as you draft and as you proofread. My brother once told me, “If a girl is worth asking out, she is worth your full and undivided attention.” He was right. The same rule applies to revision. When you revise, you revise. Take the time. Just as with a date, you will be happier with the results. Of course, the problem is, just as with that date, if you don’t take the time to give revision your full attention, you may come to the mistaken belief that what you are experiencing is the best date out there. If for no other reason, revise because you want a higher score.

Tips for Revision:

1. Print out a hard copy of your draft.

2. Spend individual time revising, and print out a new copy.

3. Read the new copy *out loud*, and revise it again.

4. Print out yet a new hard copy, and get a second reader to help you revise it.

Here are the most important, general questions you need to answer at as you revise?

• Is there another idea(s) you might introduce which would make your claim(s) sound more reasonable or clarify your thinking?
• Could your paper be organized in a better way? For a moment, play with the idea of moving your paragraphs or sections into a new order.
• Do you provide sufficient evidence to support each of your claims, both the major claim you make in your thesis statement AND the other claims you make in each paragraph? Look at each claim and sub-claim, ask yourself, “What additional evidence could I provide?” “Do I provide enough evidence?” The secret number is three. If I provide three reasons or three pieces of evidence to support an idea, then I know—in general—I’ve provided enough.
• Do you define the terms you use and illustrate them with examples, stories, etc.?
• Do I stay on topic? Do I introduce ideas I need to cut, or do I introduce ideas to which I need to devote their own paragraph?
• Could I add a phrase or sentence which would clarify what I want to say?

Here are questions to ask of each section of your paper?

Introduction:

• Does the introduction hook the reader and draw them into the paper?
• Does the introduction lead in a logical straightforward way to my thesis statement?
• If I introduce unfamiliar terms, do I define them in the introduction?
• Does the introduction provide context for my take on the topic and my thesis?

Thesis:

• Is my thesis narrow enough? Can I fully develop this thesis in the time I have to write?
• Is my thesis too broad? Have I written a thesis which is so broad that everything I have to say about it seems vague and too general?
• Does my thesis say what I want to say about my topic?
• Does my thesis make a point worth considering? Will my reader care about my point? Do I care about the point I am making?
• Does my thesis provide the reader with a sense of the structure of the paper?
• Does my paper fulfill the promises I make in the thesis?

Structure:

• Is my structure logical?
• Are there gaps in the reasons I give my reader to believe my thesis?
• Do I require my reader to make logical leaps for which I haven’t prepared her?
• Is each of my sub-claims, points, and pieces adequately developed?
• Is each point equally developed?
• Is each point interesting?
• Is each point relevant to the case I am making?

Body Paragraphs:

• Does each paragraph have a topic sentence which controls the paragraph?
• Does each paragraph establish a single focus and stay on focus?
• Do I provide adequate transitions from paragraph to paragraph?
• Is each paragraph clearly related to my thesis?

Conclusion:

• Does your conclusion sum up my main point?
• Does my conclusion introduce a completely new idea?
• Does my conclusion leave the reader with something to think about?