Dear 310ers
Let me take a few moments to respond to your Minute Papers.
The Monday & Wednesday group questions focused mainly on organization of the essay. As I read over your points of confusion from the Minute Papers you prepared in class on Monday, the vast majority of comments were about thesis, main idea and staying focused. I think that one of the best reference sections of A Writer's Reference on these points is in H3-a, b, and c. The important point here is to take a stand and then to support your viewpoint with text based evidence. A valuable too to help you see if you have remained focus on your topic is to use the Planning Guide handout that I have posted along with this blog. Download it and use the form to create a "reverse outline" of what you have already written. This is a really valuable organization tool. You can also use the outline function of your computer to turn what you have written into a formal outline. The key point is to determine if each idea in your essay is logically related to what came before and what follows.
Although some students in the Tuesday and Thursday section asked about organization, the vast majority asked about citation and I will delay this topic for now since that will be the focus of class on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Before class you should download the handouts on documenting sources (there are four), read them, read the sections in A Writer's Reference as indicated in the handouts and then bring your specific questions to class.
Finally, three or four of you on Tuesday/Thursday asked about thesis, and argument style. Your questions were best summarized by your classmate who asked, "Can we use our own opinion or do we have to use a generalized opinion."
I send you to H3-b in your text book to look at the section on Taking a Stand. Your thesis is your opinion and it should be as specific a claim as possible. On page H-23 you will clearly see the difference between a "generalized opinion" that does not take a stand and a revised version that does take a stand.
I'm glad that you are asking these kinds of questions because a strong thesis will naturally lead you toward writing a well-supported and interesting essay.