QUIZ QUESTIONS
Describe how the "streets" were therapeutic for the author. Give three specific examples, and two relevant quotes.
Relate your personal experience to that of Gornick. Make sure you use specific examples from her essay and two relevant quotes.
SYLLABUS * If you can hand in journals and portfolios on Thursday it would be greatly appreciated.
Class 25-- Tuesday Nov. 30, 2010
Hand in final paper.
Discussion of reading.
In class writing assignment.
ASSIGNMENT:
Essay on Vivian Gornick
Read "The Cost of Living" by Bernard Malamud
Class-- Thursday--- Dec, 2, 2010.
Discussion of Reading.
Quiz
Editing session
ASSIGNMENT
Read:"My Lost City" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Class-- Tuesday-- Dec. 7, 2010
Discuss Reading.
Quiz on reading.
Assignment
Write a poem--- a character study of an odd or interesting person you know or knew.
Class 26-- Thursday Dec. 9, 2010
Papers handed back.
Fond farewell.
Students who want to meet with me
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Joan Didion
What changed about Didion from her early 20's to her late 20's....
In love with New York (888) The City as a Lover
Nothing was out of reach (889)
Things changed (894)
What changed for you? Compare it to Didion.
In love with New York (888) The City as a Lover
Nothing was out of reach (889)
Things changed (894)
What changed for you? Compare it to Didion.
ENG 101 11/18/2010
The final paper is due Nov. 30
Hand in Portfolios and Journals Dec 2.
I will hand back your drafts on Tuesday--with comments.
Reading " Writing New York" Hell's Kitchen
Quiz on Hell's Kitchen......
Hand in Portfolios and Journals Dec 2.
I will hand back your drafts on Tuesday--with comments.
Reading " Writing New York" Hell's Kitchen
Quiz on Hell's Kitchen......
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Minor Characters by Joyce Johnson (973)
Minor Characters by Joyce Johnson (973)
Question: " If you were an artist, painter or poet why would the Lower East Side of N.Y. in the 1950's be the perfect place for you to hang your hat?"
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits, with few permanent ties. In this context, Bohemians can be wanderers, adventurers, or vagabond. Make an argument that Joyce Johnson and her friends are Bohemians.
DISCUSSION
Was Johnson an authority?
What was she trying to get across to the reader?
Does she make her point?
How does the writer get your interest?
What is the belief system of the author?
" The Beat Generation"
Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg
What is a " Bohemian?"
Why did they have no use for money?
Why was the Cedar Bar important?
The Five Spot Billie Holiday
Assignment for next class
Joan Didion " Goodbye to all that" 250 word focus paper on it.
Question: " If you were an artist, painter or poet why would the Lower East Side of N.Y. in the 1950's be the perfect place for you to hang your hat?"
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits, with few permanent ties. In this context, Bohemians can be wanderers, adventurers, or vagabond. Make an argument that Joyce Johnson and her friends are Bohemians.
DISCUSSION
Was Johnson an authority?
What was she trying to get across to the reader?
Does she make her point?
How does the writer get your interest?
What is the belief system of the author?
" The Beat Generation"
Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg
What is a " Bohemian?"
Why did they have no use for money?
Why was the Cedar Bar important?
The Five Spot Billie Holiday
Assignment for next class
Joan Didion " Goodbye to all that" 250 word focus paper on it.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Critical Reading of poems...
I: Critical Analysis of Poetry
The process of analyzing a poem
The elements of analysis discussed below are designed to help you identify the ways in which poetry makes its meaning, especially its 'parts'; they do not give a sense of how one goes about analyzing a poem. It is difficult to give a prescription, as different poems call on different aspects of poetry, different ways of reading, different relationships between feeling, i mages and meanings, and so forth. My general advice, however, is this:
look at the title
read the poem for the major indicators of its meaning -- what aspects of setting, of topic, of voice (the person who is speaking) seem to dominate, to direct your reading?
read the ending of the poem -- decide where it 'gets to'
divide the poem into parts: try to understand what the organization is, how the poem proceeds, and what elements or principles guide this organization (is there a reversal, a climax, a sequence of some kind, sets of oppositions?)
pay attention to the tone of the poem -- in brief, its attitude to its subject, as that is revealed in intonation, nuance, the kind of words used, and so forth.
now that you've looked at the title, the major indicators of 'topic', the ending, the organization, the tone, read the poem out loud, trying to project its meaning in your reading. As you gradually get a sense of how this poem is going, what its point and drift is, start noticing more about how the various elements of the poetry work to create its meaning. This may be as different as the kind of imagery used, or the way it uses oppositions, or the level of realism or symbolism of its use of the natural world.
Reading poetry well is a balance among and conjunction of qualities: experience, attention, engagement with the qualities which make the poem resonant or compelling, close reading of structure and relationships. It's an acquired talent, you have to learn it. When you do, however, more and more meaning, power and beauty start leaping out at you.
Elements of analysis
Here then are some questions to apply to your analysis in order to see how the poem is making its meaning: they cover
genre, the speaker, the subject, the structure, setting, imagery, key statements,
the sound of the poetry, language use, intertextuality,
the way the reader is formed by the poem, the poem's historical placement, and
ideology or 'world-view'
1. What is the genre, or form, of the poem?
Is it a sonnet, an elegy, a lyric, a narrative, a dramatic monologue, an epistle, an epic (there are many more). Different forms or genres have different subjects, aims, conventions and attributes. A love sonnet, for instance, is going to talk about different aspects of human experience in different ways with different emphases than is a political satire, and our recognition of these attributes of form or genre is part of the meaning of the poem.
2. Who is speaking in the poem?
Please remember that if the voice of the poem says "I", that doesn't mean it is the author who is speaking: it is a voice in the poem which speaks. The voice can be undramatized (it's just a voice, it doesn't identify itself), or dramatized (the voice says "I", or the voice is clearly that of a particular persona, a dramatized character).
Identify the voice. What does the voice have to do with what is happening in the poem, what is its attitude, what is the tone of the voice (tone can be viewed as an expression of attitude). How involved in the action or reflection of the poem is the voice? What is the perspective or 'point of view' of the speaker? The perspective can be social, intellectual, political, even physical -- there are many different perspectives, but they all contribute to the voice's point of view, which point of view affects how the world of the poem is seen, and how we respond.
3. What is the argument, thesis, or subject of the poem
What, that is to say, is it apparently 'about'? Start with the basic situation, and move to consider any key statements; any obvious or less obvious conflicts, tensions, ambiguities; key relationships, especially conflicts, parallels, contrasts; any climaxes or problems posed or solved (or not solved); the poem's tone; the historical, social, and emotional setting.
4. What is the structure of the poem?
There are two basic kinds of structure, formal and thematic.
Formal structure is the way the poem goes together in terms of its component parts: if there are parts -- stanza's, paragraphs or such -- then there will be a relation between the parts (for instance the first stanza may give the past, the second the present, the third the future).
Thematic structure, known in respect to fiction as 'plot', is the way the argument or presentation of the material of the poem is developed. For instance a poem might state a problem in eight lines, an answer to the problem in the next six; of the eight lines stating the problem, four might provide a concrete example, four a reflection on what the example implies. There may well be very close relations between formal and thematic structure. When looking at thematic structure, you might look for conflicts, ambiguities and uncertainties, the tensions in the poem, as these give clear guides to the direction of meanings in the poem, the poem's 'in-tensions'.
5. How does the poem make use of setting?
There is the setting in terms of time and place, and there is the setting in terms of the physical world described in the poem.
In terms of the physical world of the poem, setting can be used for a variety of purposes. A tree might be described in specific detail, a concrete, specific, tree; or it might be used in a more tonal way, to create mood or associations, with say the wind blowing mournfully through the willows; or it might be used as a motif, the tree that reminds me of Kathryn, or of my youthful dreams; or it might be used symbolically, as for instance an image of organic life; or it might be used allegorically, as a representation of the cross of Christ (allegory ties an image or event to a specific interpretation, a doctrine or idea; symbols refer to broader, more generalized meanings).
Consider this a spectrum, from specific, concrete, to abstract, allegorical:
concrete --- tonal -- connotative -- symbolic --- allegorical
6. How does the poem use imagery?
"Imagery" refers to any sort of image, and there are two basic kinds. One is the images of the physical setting, described above. The other kind is images as figures of speech, such as metaphors. These figures of speech extend the imaginative range, the complexity and comprehensibility of the subject. They can be very brief, a word or two, a glistening fragment of insight, a chance connection sparked into a blaze (warming or destroying) of understanding; or they can be extended analogies, such as Donne's 'conceits'or Milton's epic similes.
7. Are there key statements or conflicts in the poem that appear to be central to its meaning?
Is the poem direct or indirect in making its meanings? If there are no key statements, are there key or central symbol, repetitions, actions, motifs (recurring images), or the like?
8. How does the sound of the poetry contribute to its meaning?
Pope remarked that "the sound must seem an echo to the sense": both the rhythm and the sound of the words themselves (individually and as they fit together) contribute to the meaning.
9. Examine the use of language.
What kinds of words are used? How much and to what ends does the poet rely on connotation, or the associations that words have (as "stallion" connotes a certain kind of horse with certain sorts of uses)? Does the poem use puns, double meanings, ambiguities of meaning?
10. Can you see any ways in which the poem refers to, uses or relies on previous writing?
This is known as allusion or intertextuality. When U-2's Bono writes "I was thirsty and you kissed my lips" in "Trip Through Your Wires," the meaning of the line is vastly extended if you know that this is a reference to Matthew 25:35 in the Bible, where Jesus says to the saved in explanation of what they did right, "I was thirsty and you wet my lips."
11. What qualities does the poem evoke in the reader?
What sorts of learning, experience, taste and interest would the 'ideal' or 'good' reader of this poem have? What can this tell you about what the poem 'means' or is about? The idea is that any work of art calls forth certain qualities of response, taste, experience, value, from the reader, and in a sense 'forms' the reader of that particular work. This happens through the subject matter, the style, the way the story is told or the scene set, the language, the images, the allusions, all the ways in which we are called by the text to construct meaning. The theorist Wayne Booth calls the reader as evoked or formed by the text the "implied reader."
12. What is your historical and cultural distance from the poem?
What can you say about the difference between your culture's (and sub-culture's) views of the world, your own experiences, on the one hand, and those of the voice, characters, and world of the poem on the other? What is it that you might have to understand better in order to experience the poem the way someone of the same time, class, gender and race might have understood it? Is it possible that your reading might be different from theirs because of your particular social (race, gender, class, etc.) and historical context? What about your world governs the way you see the world of the text? What might this work tell us about the world of its making?
13. What is the world-view and the ideology of the poem?
What are the basic ideas about the world that are expressed? What areas of human experience are seen as important, and what is valuable about them? What areas of human experience or classes of person are ignored or denigrated? A poem about love, for instance, might implicitly or explicitly suggest that individual happiness is the most important thing in the world, and that it can be gained principally through one intimate sexually-based relationship -- to the exclusion, say, of problems of social or political injustice, human brokenness and pain, or other demands on us as humans. It might also suggest that the world is a dangerous, uncertain place in which the only sure ground of meaningfulness is to be found in human relationships, or it might suggest on the other hand that human love is grounded in divine love, and in the orderliness and the value of the natural world with all its beauties. What aspects of the human condition are foregrounded, what are suppressed, in the claims that the poem makes by virtue of its inclusions and exclusions, certainties and uncertainties, and depictions of the way the natural and the human world is and works? For a brief elaboration of the concept of ideology, see my page on the subject.
The process of analyzing a poem
The elements of analysis discussed below are designed to help you identify the ways in which poetry makes its meaning, especially its 'parts'; they do not give a sense of how one goes about analyzing a poem. It is difficult to give a prescription, as different poems call on different aspects of poetry, different ways of reading, different relationships between feeling, i mages and meanings, and so forth. My general advice, however, is this:
look at the title
read the poem for the major indicators of its meaning -- what aspects of setting, of topic, of voice (the person who is speaking) seem to dominate, to direct your reading?
read the ending of the poem -- decide where it 'gets to'
divide the poem into parts: try to understand what the organization is, how the poem proceeds, and what elements or principles guide this organization (is there a reversal, a climax, a sequence of some kind, sets of oppositions?)
pay attention to the tone of the poem -- in brief, its attitude to its subject, as that is revealed in intonation, nuance, the kind of words used, and so forth.
now that you've looked at the title, the major indicators of 'topic', the ending, the organization, the tone, read the poem out loud, trying to project its meaning in your reading. As you gradually get a sense of how this poem is going, what its point and drift is, start noticing more about how the various elements of the poetry work to create its meaning. This may be as different as the kind of imagery used, or the way it uses oppositions, or the level of realism or symbolism of its use of the natural world.
Reading poetry well is a balance among and conjunction of qualities: experience, attention, engagement with the qualities which make the poem resonant or compelling, close reading of structure and relationships. It's an acquired talent, you have to learn it. When you do, however, more and more meaning, power and beauty start leaping out at you.
Elements of analysis
Here then are some questions to apply to your analysis in order to see how the poem is making its meaning: they cover
genre, the speaker, the subject, the structure, setting, imagery, key statements,
the sound of the poetry, language use, intertextuality,
the way the reader is formed by the poem, the poem's historical placement, and
ideology or 'world-view'
1. What is the genre, or form, of the poem?
Is it a sonnet, an elegy, a lyric, a narrative, a dramatic monologue, an epistle, an epic (there are many more). Different forms or genres have different subjects, aims, conventions and attributes. A love sonnet, for instance, is going to talk about different aspects of human experience in different ways with different emphases than is a political satire, and our recognition of these attributes of form or genre is part of the meaning of the poem.
2. Who is speaking in the poem?
Please remember that if the voice of the poem says "I", that doesn't mean it is the author who is speaking: it is a voice in the poem which speaks. The voice can be undramatized (it's just a voice, it doesn't identify itself), or dramatized (the voice says "I", or the voice is clearly that of a particular persona, a dramatized character).
Identify the voice. What does the voice have to do with what is happening in the poem, what is its attitude, what is the tone of the voice (tone can be viewed as an expression of attitude). How involved in the action or reflection of the poem is the voice? What is the perspective or 'point of view' of the speaker? The perspective can be social, intellectual, political, even physical -- there are many different perspectives, but they all contribute to the voice's point of view, which point of view affects how the world of the poem is seen, and how we respond.
3. What is the argument, thesis, or subject of the poem
What, that is to say, is it apparently 'about'? Start with the basic situation, and move to consider any key statements; any obvious or less obvious conflicts, tensions, ambiguities; key relationships, especially conflicts, parallels, contrasts; any climaxes or problems posed or solved (or not solved); the poem's tone; the historical, social, and emotional setting.
4. What is the structure of the poem?
There are two basic kinds of structure, formal and thematic.
Formal structure is the way the poem goes together in terms of its component parts: if there are parts -- stanza's, paragraphs or such -- then there will be a relation between the parts (for instance the first stanza may give the past, the second the present, the third the future).
Thematic structure, known in respect to fiction as 'plot', is the way the argument or presentation of the material of the poem is developed. For instance a poem might state a problem in eight lines, an answer to the problem in the next six; of the eight lines stating the problem, four might provide a concrete example, four a reflection on what the example implies. There may well be very close relations between formal and thematic structure. When looking at thematic structure, you might look for conflicts, ambiguities and uncertainties, the tensions in the poem, as these give clear guides to the direction of meanings in the poem, the poem's 'in-tensions'.
5. How does the poem make use of setting?
There is the setting in terms of time and place, and there is the setting in terms of the physical world described in the poem.
In terms of the physical world of the poem, setting can be used for a variety of purposes. A tree might be described in specific detail, a concrete, specific, tree; or it might be used in a more tonal way, to create mood or associations, with say the wind blowing mournfully through the willows; or it might be used as a motif, the tree that reminds me of Kathryn, or of my youthful dreams; or it might be used symbolically, as for instance an image of organic life; or it might be used allegorically, as a representation of the cross of Christ (allegory ties an image or event to a specific interpretation, a doctrine or idea; symbols refer to broader, more generalized meanings).
Consider this a spectrum, from specific, concrete, to abstract, allegorical:
concrete --- tonal -- connotative -- symbolic --- allegorical
6. How does the poem use imagery?
"Imagery" refers to any sort of image, and there are two basic kinds. One is the images of the physical setting, described above. The other kind is images as figures of speech, such as metaphors. These figures of speech extend the imaginative range, the complexity and comprehensibility of the subject. They can be very brief, a word or two, a glistening fragment of insight, a chance connection sparked into a blaze (warming or destroying) of understanding; or they can be extended analogies, such as Donne's 'conceits'or Milton's epic similes.
7. Are there key statements or conflicts in the poem that appear to be central to its meaning?
Is the poem direct or indirect in making its meanings? If there are no key statements, are there key or central symbol, repetitions, actions, motifs (recurring images), or the like?
8. How does the sound of the poetry contribute to its meaning?
Pope remarked that "the sound must seem an echo to the sense": both the rhythm and the sound of the words themselves (individually and as they fit together) contribute to the meaning.
9. Examine the use of language.
What kinds of words are used? How much and to what ends does the poet rely on connotation, or the associations that words have (as "stallion" connotes a certain kind of horse with certain sorts of uses)? Does the poem use puns, double meanings, ambiguities of meaning?
10. Can you see any ways in which the poem refers to, uses or relies on previous writing?
This is known as allusion or intertextuality. When U-2's Bono writes "I was thirsty and you kissed my lips" in "Trip Through Your Wires," the meaning of the line is vastly extended if you know that this is a reference to Matthew 25:35 in the Bible, where Jesus says to the saved in explanation of what they did right, "I was thirsty and you wet my lips."
11. What qualities does the poem evoke in the reader?
What sorts of learning, experience, taste and interest would the 'ideal' or 'good' reader of this poem have? What can this tell you about what the poem 'means' or is about? The idea is that any work of art calls forth certain qualities of response, taste, experience, value, from the reader, and in a sense 'forms' the reader of that particular work. This happens through the subject matter, the style, the way the story is told or the scene set, the language, the images, the allusions, all the ways in which we are called by the text to construct meaning. The theorist Wayne Booth calls the reader as evoked or formed by the text the "implied reader."
12. What is your historical and cultural distance from the poem?
What can you say about the difference between your culture's (and sub-culture's) views of the world, your own experiences, on the one hand, and those of the voice, characters, and world of the poem on the other? What is it that you might have to understand better in order to experience the poem the way someone of the same time, class, gender and race might have understood it? Is it possible that your reading might be different from theirs because of your particular social (race, gender, class, etc.) and historical context? What about your world governs the way you see the world of the text? What might this work tell us about the world of its making?
13. What is the world-view and the ideology of the poem?
What are the basic ideas about the world that are expressed? What areas of human experience are seen as important, and what is valuable about them? What areas of human experience or classes of person are ignored or denigrated? A poem about love, for instance, might implicitly or explicitly suggest that individual happiness is the most important thing in the world, and that it can be gained principally through one intimate sexually-based relationship -- to the exclusion, say, of problems of social or political injustice, human brokenness and pain, or other demands on us as humans. It might also suggest that the world is a dangerous, uncertain place in which the only sure ground of meaningfulness is to be found in human relationships, or it might suggest on the other hand that human love is grounded in divine love, and in the orderliness and the value of the natural world with all its beauties. What aspects of the human condition are foregrounded, what are suppressed, in the claims that the poem makes by virtue of its inclusions and exclusions, certainties and uncertainties, and depictions of the way the natural and the human world is and works? For a brief elaboration of the concept of ideology, see my page on the subject.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Proposing A Solution
Proposing A Solution
A--What is a problem in your community that needs solving?
CRIME?
DRUGS?
Coyotes?
People with bad hair?
B-- Create a case
How do you get a reader's interest?
Have you defined the problem clearly enough?
Do you go into enough detail about how you would implement change or a solution?
C-- Remember to proofread!
The writing assignment
A-- identify a problem in your community***** you are the expert here**** remember use something that you have experienced.........
Remember:
Is it a real problem?
What causes the problem?
Who is affected?
How does it harm members of the community?
Solution
What solutions have been tried/
Is the problem too big? You might want to try to write about one aspect of the problem.
Will the solution really solve the proble?
Do I know enough about the problem?
Do I have a personal interest in the subject/
A--What is a problem in your community that needs solving?
CRIME?
DRUGS?
Coyotes?
People with bad hair?
B-- Create a case
How do you get a reader's interest?
Have you defined the problem clearly enough?
Do you go into enough detail about how you would implement change or a solution?
C-- Remember to proofread!
The writing assignment
A-- identify a problem in your community***** you are the expert here**** remember use something that you have experienced.........
Remember:
Is it a real problem?
What causes the problem?
Who is affected?
How does it harm members of the community?
Solution
What solutions have been tried/
Is the problem too big? You might want to try to write about one aspect of the problem.
Will the solution really solve the proble?
Do I know enough about the problem?
Do I have a personal interest in the subject/
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Review of principles of essay
Introduction
The introduction is the first paragraph in your essay, and it should accomplish a few specific goals.
1. Capture the reader's interest
It's a good idea to start your essay with a really interesting statement, in order to pique the reader's interest.
Avoid starting out with a boring line like
"In this essay I will explain why Rosa Parks was an important figure."
Instead, try something like
"A Michigan museum recently paid $492,000 for an old, dilapidated bus from Montgomery, Alabama."
The second sentence sounds much more interesting, doesn't it? It would encourage most people to keep on reading.
2. Introduce the topic
The next few sentences should explain your first statement, and prepare the reader for your thesis statement.
"The old yellow bus was reported to be the very one that sparked the civil rights movement, when a young woman named Rosa Parks..."
3. Make a claim or express your opinion in a thesis sentence.
Your thesis sentence should provide your specific assertion and convey clearly your point of view.
"In refusing to surrender her seat to a white man, Rosa Parks inspired a courageous freedom movement that lives on, even today."
Body
The body of the essay will include three paragraphs, each limited to one main idea that supports your thesis. You should state your idea, then back it up with two or three sentences of evidence or examples.
Example of a main idea:
"It took incredible courage for an African American woman to make such a bold stance in 1955 Alabama."
Offer evidence to support this statement:
"This act took place in an era when African Americans could be arrested and face severe retribution for comitting the most trivial acts of defiance."
Include a few more supporting statements with further evidence, then use transition words to lead to the following paragraph.
Sample transition words:
moreover
in fact
on the whole
furthermore
as a result
simply put
for this reason
similarly
likewise
it follows that
naturally
by comparison
surely
yet
The fifth paragraph will be your conclusion.
Conclusion
The final paragraph will summarize your main points and re-assert your main claim. It should point out your main points, but should not repeat specific examples.
Once you complete the first draft of your essay, it's a good idea to re-visit the thesis statement in your first paragraph. Read your essay to see if it flows well.
You might find that the supporting paragraphs are strong, but they don't address the exact focus of your thesis. Simply re-write your thesis sentence to fit your body and summary more exactly.
By doing this, you will ensure that every sentence in your essay supports, proves, or reflects your thesis.
The introduction is the first paragraph in your essay, and it should accomplish a few specific goals.
1. Capture the reader's interest
It's a good idea to start your essay with a really interesting statement, in order to pique the reader's interest.
Avoid starting out with a boring line like
"In this essay I will explain why Rosa Parks was an important figure."
Instead, try something like
"A Michigan museum recently paid $492,000 for an old, dilapidated bus from Montgomery, Alabama."
The second sentence sounds much more interesting, doesn't it? It would encourage most people to keep on reading.
2. Introduce the topic
The next few sentences should explain your first statement, and prepare the reader for your thesis statement.
"The old yellow bus was reported to be the very one that sparked the civil rights movement, when a young woman named Rosa Parks..."
3. Make a claim or express your opinion in a thesis sentence.
Your thesis sentence should provide your specific assertion and convey clearly your point of view.
"In refusing to surrender her seat to a white man, Rosa Parks inspired a courageous freedom movement that lives on, even today."
Body
The body of the essay will include three paragraphs, each limited to one main idea that supports your thesis. You should state your idea, then back it up with two or three sentences of evidence or examples.
Example of a main idea:
"It took incredible courage for an African American woman to make such a bold stance in 1955 Alabama."
Offer evidence to support this statement:
"This act took place in an era when African Americans could be arrested and face severe retribution for comitting the most trivial acts of defiance."
Include a few more supporting statements with further evidence, then use transition words to lead to the following paragraph.
Sample transition words:
moreover
in fact
on the whole
furthermore
as a result
simply put
for this reason
similarly
likewise
it follows that
naturally
by comparison
surely
yet
The fifth paragraph will be your conclusion.
Conclusion
The final paragraph will summarize your main points and re-assert your main claim. It should point out your main points, but should not repeat specific examples.
Once you complete the first draft of your essay, it's a good idea to re-visit the thesis statement in your first paragraph. Read your essay to see if it flows well.
You might find that the supporting paragraphs are strong, but they don't address the exact focus of your thesis. Simply re-write your thesis sentence to fit your body and summary more exactly.
By doing this, you will ensure that every sentence in your essay supports, proves, or reflects your thesis.
IN text citations MLA
Each of the following sentences makes at least one error (often more than one) in MLA citation format or usage. Correct those errors.
A major reason families succeeded in the 1950s was that "federal assistance programs were much more generous and widespread than they are today." (Coontz, p. 62).
According to Stephanie Coontz, in the 1950s "federal assistance programs were much more generous and widespread than they are today" (Coontz, 62).
Stephanie Coontz argues that it was the generosity and availability of federal aid programs that made families seem so successful and reliable in the 1950s.
Even politically conservative scholars admit that we "should not hide from students that Colombus and other European explorers were often brutal" (Cheney, 267.)
Lynne Cheney is forced to admit that students should learn that even European explorers were "often brutal (Cheney 267)."
Lynne Cheney concedes that students must be told the errors of our European past (p. 267).
In the online article "The Income Inequality Debate" we are told that although the author finds "the poverty of the very poor unlovely, … [p]overty is a relative concept."
A major reason families succeeded in the 1950s was that "federal assistance programs were much more generous and widespread than they are today." (Coontz, p. 62).
According to Stephanie Coontz, in the 1950s "federal assistance programs were much more generous and widespread than they are today" (Coontz, 62).
Stephanie Coontz argues that it was the generosity and availability of federal aid programs that made families seem so successful and reliable in the 1950s.
Even politically conservative scholars admit that we "should not hide from students that Colombus and other European explorers were often brutal" (Cheney, 267.)
Lynne Cheney is forced to admit that students should learn that even European explorers were "often brutal (Cheney 267)."
Lynne Cheney concedes that students must be told the errors of our European past (p. 267).
In the online article "The Income Inequality Debate" we are told that although the author finds "the poverty of the very poor unlovely, … [p]overty is a relative concept."
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Some sample Thesis Statements for final paper
Thesis Statements
Relationships in Doug Holder's collection of poetry "The Man in the Booth in the Midtown Tunnel" are characterized by miscommunication and alienation.
In the poem "Shea Stadium: 1972" in Doug Holder's poetry collection "The Man in the Booth in the Midtown Tunnel" baseball is used as a metaphor for life.
The Midtown Tunnel, the Brooklyn Bridge, and other landmarks have been a source of literary inspiration. In Doug Holder's "The Man in the Booth in the Midtown Tunnel" and in Lewis Mumford's "Sketches of a Life" both the tunnel and the bridge spark the literary imagination.
Food and eating are an important aspect of every day life. Food can also reveal a lot about the nature of a person, and it is a perfect symbol to be used in poetry. In Doug Holder's " The Man in the Booth in the Midtown Tunnel" Holder effectively uses food as a potent literary symbol.
*************************************************************************************
SOURCES
A. Midtown Tunnel can be one source
B. Other sources can be books, journals, magazine articles, etc.
C. DO NOT USE WIKIPEDIA For instance if you are doing research on Bartleby's depression use such respected sources and NIMH.org MayoClinic.com
*Make sure the author is legit
*A lot of advertisements on a website is an indication that a site is less than reliable.
* Make sure studies are current.
* Databases like Lexus Nexus, NOBLE and Proquest are good places to start.
Would you use the National Enquirer to do research for Obama?
Relationships in Doug Holder's collection of poetry "The Man in the Booth in the Midtown Tunnel" are characterized by miscommunication and alienation.
In the poem "Shea Stadium: 1972" in Doug Holder's poetry collection "The Man in the Booth in the Midtown Tunnel" baseball is used as a metaphor for life.
The Midtown Tunnel, the Brooklyn Bridge, and other landmarks have been a source of literary inspiration. In Doug Holder's "The Man in the Booth in the Midtown Tunnel" and in Lewis Mumford's "Sketches of a Life" both the tunnel and the bridge spark the literary imagination.
Food and eating are an important aspect of every day life. Food can also reveal a lot about the nature of a person, and it is a perfect symbol to be used in poetry. In Doug Holder's " The Man in the Booth in the Midtown Tunnel" Holder effectively uses food as a potent literary symbol.
*************************************************************************************
SOURCES
A. Midtown Tunnel can be one source
B. Other sources can be books, journals, magazine articles, etc.
C. DO NOT USE WIKIPEDIA For instance if you are doing research on Bartleby's depression use such respected sources and NIMH.org MayoClinic.com
*Make sure the author is legit
*A lot of advertisements on a website is an indication that a site is less than reliable.
* Make sure studies are current.
* Databases like Lexus Nexus, NOBLE and Proquest are good places to start.
Would you use the National Enquirer to do research for Obama?
Friday, November 5, 2010
ENG111
In Deborah Tannen's " Sex, Lies and Conversation" she focuses on how men and women communicate very differently. She calls it " cross-cultural" communication and describes how men and women have different expectations when it comes to converstion. A woman sees talk as a sort of intimacy, while men take a more hierarchial approach--to them talk is about status and not being pushed around.
I can relate to this because when I was growing up, I shared secrets with my friends and talked about a lot of things. I noticed that my brother acted differently with his friends and they were always pushing and wrestling with each other. They seemd to have a connection without all of the talking all of us girls had.
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I strongly agree with Tannen's thesis in which she states that systemic differences in childhood socialization make talk between men and women like cross-cultural communication. It is my opinon that men and women are raised and experience things in society that condition that condition them to listen and interpert what is said differently.
In my own personal experience when I talk to my male friends I want to get my point across and dismiss what they say. And when I talk to women I want to stick to the facts and leave out feelings.
*************************************************************************************
*************************************************************************************
I can relate to this because when I was growing up, I shared secrets with my friends and talked about a lot of things. I noticed that my brother acted differently with his friends and they were always pushing and wrestling with each other. They seemd to have a connection without all of the talking all of us girls had.
*************************************************************************************
I strongly agree with Tannen's thesis in which she states that systemic differences in childhood socialization make talk between men and women like cross-cultural communication. It is my opinon that men and women are raised and experience things in society that condition that condition them to listen and interpert what is said differently.
In my own personal experience when I talk to my male friends I want to get my point across and dismiss what they say. And when I talk to women I want to stick to the facts and leave out feelings.
*************************************************************************************
*************************************************************************************
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Kate Simon Eng 101
Your favorite movies and how they affected you?
KATE SIMON
Kate Simon wrote about how she viewed movies as a school.
Kate Simon wrote about how she used movies as an escape vehicle.
THESIS STATEMENT: Compare your own experience with the movies to that of Kate Simon.
Ideas:
Were movies a teaching tool for you?
Did it help you escape the realities of every day.
Kate Simon viewed the movies as a refuge from everyday life. When I was a child like her I too sought the movies to escape from everyday worries and anxieties.
Establish what she was escaping from and how did movies help her escape.
What were you escaping from and how did movies help you escape. You can use specific movies.
******* (948) What she learned...
****** (949) Fantasy of family...
******** (950) Reality of Family...
*************************************************************************************
**Hacker 438 to 437
BOOK:
Cornish, Edward. Futuring: The Exploration of the Future. Bethesda, Maryland: Publisher, 2004 Print.
ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE
Stubben, Jerry. "Native Americans and Government Policy." Social Issues in America. Print.
MAGAZINE ARTICLE:
Urlich, Carmen Wong. "Stop Stressing Over Money Now!" Health. April. 2006. 126-128. Print.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE:
Neill, James. "Professor Doug Holder Wins Nobel Prize." Endicott Daily News. 20 April. 2014: 617. Print.
WEB
United States. Children's Alliance. Children's Problems. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. www.childrensalliance.com
KATE SIMON
Kate Simon wrote about how she viewed movies as a school.
Kate Simon wrote about how she used movies as an escape vehicle.
THESIS STATEMENT: Compare your own experience with the movies to that of Kate Simon.
Ideas:
Were movies a teaching tool for you?
Did it help you escape the realities of every day.
Kate Simon viewed the movies as a refuge from everyday life. When I was a child like her I too sought the movies to escape from everyday worries and anxieties.
Establish what she was escaping from and how did movies help her escape.
What were you escaping from and how did movies help you escape. You can use specific movies.
******* (948) What she learned...
****** (949) Fantasy of family...
******** (950) Reality of Family...
*************************************************************************************
**Hacker 438 to 437
BOOK:
Cornish, Edward. Futuring: The Exploration of the Future. Bethesda, Maryland: Publisher, 2004 Print.
ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE
Stubben, Jerry. "Native Americans and Government Policy." Social Issues in America. Print.
MAGAZINE ARTICLE:
Urlich, Carmen Wong. "Stop Stressing Over Money Now!" Health. April. 2006. 126-128. Print.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE:
Neill, James. "Professor Doug Holder Wins Nobel Prize." Endicott Daily News. 20 April. 2014: 617. Print.
WEB
United States. Children's Alliance. Children's Problems. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. www.childrensalliance.com
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