EWRT1A-09: midterm and essay 2 comments

This midterm is Monday. You need paper and pens, as well as your reader and a print dictionary (if you want). You do not need an exam booklet or a scantron sheet. Also, besides your reader and a dictionary, you cannot use any other books, notes, or devices.

I'm not through all the drafts of essay 2 yet, but I have some general comments. You'll see your own comments when you get your draft back, but I thought some general comments here would be helpful for the in-class essay on the midterm.

• Synthesis! A basic way to check to see if you have synthesis is to ask the following question: for each body paragraph point, is there more than one text as evidence? If you give an example from only one text to prove a point, then you aren't synthesizing.
• You do not have to write a five paragraph essay. Personally, I believe the five paragraph essay model teaches bad habits. It makes students think about achieving a certain number of paragraphs instead of focusing on the argument. I'm guessing that a lot of the essays lack synthesis because the thesis statements name three different points so that the essay can be five paragraphs (three body with one introduction and one conclusion). So the essay tackles each of the three points separately. Instead, consider a thesis that names only one point. Then all the body paragraphs work to prove that one point and hence things will be more unified.
• If you have a causal thesis statement, then show causes. If you wish to show the pressures placed on people to conform, then show those pressures. A lot of essays show the effects of the pressures: what the various authors do in response to them. Yet many of the essays never show the pressures themselves. Where do we see the pressures Anzaldúa faces? The ones Cooper faces? If your thesis is about causes, then your examples cannot only show effects. Show what your thesis promises.
• Organization. Consider organizational principles for your paragraphs, including your introduction. This is something we'll discuss more later, but paragraphs are easier to follow if they adhere to a clear pattern. For instance, an introduction can move from general comments to specific ones. Or a body paragraph can move from causes to effects.
• Titles. Only book titles are put in italics. We haven't read a full book yet, so none of the texts you discuss should be put in italics. They are all essays. So their titles must be put in quotation marks. "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens." "A Clack of Tiny Sparks." "Opinions and Social Pressure." The book the essays are in has a title that you can put in italics: EWRT1A Reader. Also, the words in a title get capitalized. If you are confused, just write them out like they are written in our reader.