Tuesday, May 21, 2013

1) The Hook

GENERAL - you need to introduce the general AREA that you are talking about

In the case of the one we worked on, the general area is -

What do we say about ducks to start this essay?

2) The thesis would be - Mara, in Exodus, is a reluctant saviour, and is not allowed to be a normal girl because of the expectations put on her by a dangerous world.

(Notice how the thesis is an argument statement, where the hook is a topic area)

All that’s left in the intro is to briefly state our THREE areas of discussion (or, ways to prove that argument)

Body Paragraphs

The next skill we need is to make Areas of Discussion from our thesis statement.

Three is pretty common in a starting essay.

One thing you would maybe have to prove is that she’s a saviour!

Another thing is to prove that she is reluctant to be a saviour!

A third thing you could prove is that there are expectations on her!

Working on that third possible area:

She is considered to be the face of the character in the stone telling that the Treenesters use as one of their core beliefs.
She feels like she HAS to save the Treenesters and, specifically Gorbals, by going up to the upper world.

Etc. SO, this is just one step in trying to prove this area of discussion.

We’ll pick one reference and then what?

We EXPAND on what that reference means, how it fits this idea of expectations being put on her, and THEN we have to show how these expectations stop her from being a normal girl.

THAT is what level 4 is all about - explaining the connection to the thesis.


Step 1 - What is the argument being made? (thesis)

Step 2 - What are three ways we could prove that argument? Look at the thesis statement to figure out what needs to be proven.

Step 3 - Find references from your source material that SHOW your area of discussion is true. EXAMPLES from your book. (or RESEARCH from some other source)

Step 4 - EXPLAIN your reference. Be sure the reader knows how it fits what you think it fits. Be sure that your thinking is on the page. Not too much, but enough to show that you get it.

Step 5 - MAKE THE CONNECTION TO THE THESIS.

How does the reference that you just explained prove that thesis that you noted up in the intro? You need to make this logical link.

Example - giving a reference of Mr. Lobb kicking Laine’s chair IS NOT explaining how he is a bad teacher. IT ISN’T!

You need to SHOW HOW that makes him a bad teacher. SPECIFICALLY!

What the heck would be a good thesis on this novel? (Exodus)

A thesis is a statement that has an attitude - it has a YEAH or a NO - VALUE STATEMENT

Your thesis should be able to have a point of view that is the opposite of yours.

Example - listing attributes of Mara has no opposing point of view -

Don’t let the teacher say SO WHAT?

Example - Mara has X, Y, Z attributes - teacher says So What?

So, we add - Mara has these attributes and they make her a great hero.

This answers the so what?