EWRT1A-62: essay 2

Remember that both drafts of essay 2 are due Tuesday, May 29th. If you have any questions e-mail me. Here are some general comments.

• Cause and effect. Most of the thesis statements deal with cause and effect, so be sure to show the cause and effect. If you are dealing with obstacles to identity make sure you explain how identity is obstructed by the obstacles. A lot of the papers name the obstacles, which is good, but don't make it clear how they are obstacles. In other words, they don't show the full effect.
• Clarify your argument. Some of the papers brought up ideas that didn't really relate to the main argument and ended up confusing things. Edit out sentences that don't contribute to your main argument.
• You don't need to follow a three point thesis/five paragraph essay model. That's the high school model. This is college. It's time to move on. The problem with the above model is that it makes students think about achieving a certain number of paragraphs instead of focusing on the argument. So they write fractured essays. A good essay doesn't argue a certain number of points, but makes a unified, insightful argument. If you do have three separate points, try to figure out how the points connect. Is there some underlying cause of all three? Try to go deeper.
• MLA works cited. Review Rules for Writers to make sure you are doing your works cited list correctly. Remember to indent every line after the first for each entry. Also, your list should be alphabetized by the authors' last names.