Introduction

Formula If you look at X (in book 1&2) you

will see Y & Z. (x=x factor)

An examination of the the word could and

other words like it in the article

Bathrooms shows that the author has
little to no information on his subject. This
might seem surprising because
Other things counterargument,

explanation of terms (define only using the

text), overview of the different aspects of
your paper, etc.

Introductions
Remember to write only a rough outline of an

introduction and then write your body paragraphs,

then refine and clarify your thesis and rewrite your
introduction
Be clear! Your argument needs to be clear and focused.
Not The article makes some good points and some

bad points.
But Parents do need to intervene when their kids are

in a possibly dangerous situation in college but

otherwise need to let their children grow on their own.

No Essay Should Start:

The article Bathrooms by Johnny X is an

article about recent upgrades to

Oceansides pier.
There is no clear thesis. The essay is a

summary rather than an argument.

Make your argument right off the bat

Essay structure
Introduction (x-factor explained, thesis

outlined)
Paragraph 1-2 (x factor delved into)
Paragraphs 3+ (extra evidence explored)

each paragraph should explain what this

new evidence is doing here, how it is
related to your x-factor
Conclusion (TBD)
Evidence = your manipulation of the text

Quotations / Evidence
The quote does not stand on its own and there it is, it is

in your paper because you see something special in it

You are a lawyer, I am the jury and judge
Yes my client was discovered with a smoking gun,

standing over the dead body, shouting I did it!.

If you look more closely, however, you see that his gun

was a toy smoking gun, the deceased died of a brain

injury and I did it! is my clients way of expressing his
religion.
Evidence is for you to use. Not for it to use you.

Do not Quote and

Drop
Obviously God is a warm-hearted creature. God

said, Let the water below the sky be gathered into

one area, that the dry land may appear (3). The
things he creates are done to improve the world.
The quote is not explained here
Which part of the quote is the author referring to?

Its not clear from the quote what would be

improvements on the world. The author has
committed quote and drop. Their argument is
weakened because of this.

Explain your evidence

The importance of order in the Bible can be

seen as early as its first few verses. God

said, Let the water below the sky be
gathered into one area, that the dry land
may appear (3). Out of the anonymous
mass of water God creates an ordered
space, an area of dry land distinctly
apart from the chaos surrounding it.

Use Quotations
Sparingly
Do you need the whole quote? Why? If so

explain why. If not, just use the words that

you need.
Ex Disorder is clearly a bad thing in

Genesis. The dirty room of Adam is called

filthily unordered (4), Abrahams animal
pen is labeled disgustingly without order
(9), and Rebekahs uncombed hair is
referred to as being in a total disarray like
the evil of Satan himself (11).

Conclusion
Never use in conclusion
Answer one or more of these:
Write something like Based on the

collective evidence it certainly seems that

my thesis is a reasonable connection to
start with
Dont repeat exactly your thesis or your

intro paragraph

What to put
Do you have any suggestive ideas based on

your thesis that could be explored in a

further paper elsewhere?
Ie The se findings suggest that

investigative journalism doesnt exist in this

article. An examination of the entire
newspaper might further back this up.
does this thesis hold up there?
(a bigger application)

What is significant about your

findings?
These findings suggest, in a larger sense,

that we should critically reevaluate news

stories in order to judge for ourselves
whether or not they actually contain useful
information.

What is missing? (can include

that)
Perhaps an examination of this authors

other stories in the Tribune on other days

would further the claims of this essay. On
the other hand it might also show that this
author does engage sometimes in
investigative journalism. Either way, this
article clearly shows a lack of research.

Ideas from elsewhere and YOU

These notions of journalism should be

applied to all writing anywhere how do we

know what we know and where does it come
from? In a bigger sense isnt all writing a
kind of information? But does it actually
inform you?

You
How does what youve argued come from

your life (as a student, as a person, as a

family member, as a religious person, as a
political person, etc.
As a parent with a daughter in college I can

safely say that I am proud to check in with

her from time to time. At the same time I
feel it is going to be her life to live so she
should make the decisions as to how she is
going to do that. With my upbringing and as
a role model myself I hope she makes the
right choices for her future.

Intermission

Exercise
Read a partners homework
Do they have a thesis? What is it?
Can you suggest an alternative thesis?
An answer to so what at the end of their

three paragraphs

Paper
Due next week
Paper answering Despite obviously not

being a Prince of a country, the narrator of

Superassassin shares a number of
common traits. What do you make of these
similarities or differences? What does the
combination of these two very different
works tell us about the human condition?
Family, politics, love, religion, language,

knowledge, sight, etc. whatever you want