BIU English 106 Slide set #2: Nov. 14

Introduction to Literary Forms and Critical Writing IDr. Daniel Feldman

danielb.feldman@gmail.com

Writing Blurbs 3

Writers have only one duty, as I see it: the duty to express accurately their way of being in the world. If that sounds woolly and imprecise, I apologize. Writing is not a science, and I am speaking to you in the only terms I have to describe what it is I persistently aim for (yet fail to achieve) when I sit in front of my computer.

--Zadie Smith, novelist and critic

Vocabulary from last week

• Consolidate

• Cornucopia

• Diffident

• Paradox

• Cogent

• Eloquent

• Articulate (n. & v.)

This week’s agenda

• Honing an argument – What’s your opinion?

• Finding evidence– What’s your proof?

• Editing– How can this essay be improved?

• Intro to literary analysis– What do we look for in Dubliners?

Thesis to Argument• A good argument demands an opinion

supported by evidence

• Another blast from Bill (next slides)

• Review terms:

»Thesis»Evidence»Argument

(slide 19)

Another Blast from BillWhat’s the affect (characteristic emotion) of

today’s youth culture? Not just the hipsters, but the Millennial Generation as a whole, people born between the late ’70s and the mid-’90s, more or less. The thing that strikes me most about them is how nice they are: polite, pleasant, moderate, earnest, friendly. No anger, no edge, no ego. What is this about? The millennial affect is the affect of the salesman. Today’s polite, pleasant personality is, above all, a commercial personality.

Another Blast from BillWe’re all selling something today, because

even if we aren’t literally selling something (though thanks to the Internet as well as the entrepreneurial ideal, more and more of us are), we’re always selling ourselves. We use social media to create a product — to create a brand — and the product is us. We treat ourselves like little businesses, something to be managed and promoted.

The self today is an entrepreneurial self, a self that’s packaged to be sold.

The Ninety-Five Theses, Martin Luther (1517)

• Make your argument worth nailing to a door!

Constructing a Thesis

Thesis = Main idea

Evidence = Support for that central idea

Thesis + Evidence = Argument

A Thesis is an Answer to a Question or Problem

As you get closer to writing, you can begin to shape the information you have at hand into a unified, coherent whole by framing a thesis statement for your paper: a single sentence that formulates both your topic and your point of view. In a sense, the thesis statement is your answer to the central question or problem you have raised. Writing this statement will enable you to see where you are heading. (MLA Handbook)

A Thesis is an Answer to a Question or Problem

A thesis is often one or more of the following:• The answer to a question you have posed• The solution for a problem you have

identified• A statement that takes a position on a

debatable topic

Be sure to take a position with your thesis! You are entering a debate, not describing it!

Thesis Pitfalls

• Is your thesis too obvious or factual?• Is your thesis too vague or unfocused?• Is your thesis too narrow?• Is your thesis too broad?• Is your thesis supportable with evidence?• Is your thesis interesting enough that a

reader would want to read an essay about it? How would you answer, “So what?”

Thesis Secrets

• An effective thesis states a central idea that

-requires supporting evidence

-is appropriate in scope for an essay

-is sharply focused

-can be developed in interesting directions

-answers a question you or your assignment has posed

-takes a stance in a debate

A thesis is a position, not a question

• A woman these days is expected and desires to fulfill many things almost in every aspect in life – a quite time consuming plan. How much time do such ambitions leave for personal developments like finding a spouse and starting a family. Is late parenthood a good solution?

A thesis takes sides in a debate

• The debate concerning whether students who study in single-sex schools do better or not is rather controversial and is difficult to assess. Studying with the opposite sex on the one hand, could be somewhat distracting and result in diminution in educational achievements. However, on the other hand it could rather be a motivating incentive for students who thrive and do well in a versatile environment. I strongly believe that there is no one particular method for estimating student's educational success in the long term for every person has different mental structure and will thrive differently under certain circumstances.

Like this

• Today's prevalent use of cars run by fuel is highly damaging and polluting, either to us as organisms or to the atmosphere. The innovative breakthrough in technological advancement takes form in electric cars which will substantially reduce the amount of air pollution caused by cars run by gas. Therefore, is it crucial to assist the average citizen in purchasing such cars for the sake of the existence of the earth in future years.

In a thesis, the argument is stated, not implied

• On whether a course in English should be compulsory for all Israeli university students.

• “Mastery of English is an important skill that should be attained by all Israeli students, be they native English speakers or otherwise. Our future scientists, artists, engineers, doctors and lawyers will most likely be required to express themselves in the English language, and their ability to convey complex ideas in the English language will doubtlessly be beneficial to all.”

• So, should courses be compulsory or not?

A revised thesis

• Mastery of English is an important skill that should be attained by all Israeli students, be they native English speakers or otherwise. Our future scientists, artists, engineers, doctors and lawyers will most likely be required to express themselves in the English language, and their ability to convey complex ideas in the English language will doubtlessly be beneficial to all. Therefore, English composition classes should be compulsory for all Israeli students.

Dubliners, “Araby”

NORTH RICHMOND STREET, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers' School set the boys free. An uninhabited house of two storeys stood at the blind end, detached from its neighbours in a square ground The other houses of the street, conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces. […]

I was thankful that I could see so little. All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves

For Wednesday

• More Dubliners– “Eveline”– “Two Gallants”– “The Boarding House”

• For next week (writing on Monday, reading on Wednesday):– “A Little Cloud” – “The Dead”