Great Expectations

Unit 1 is the most difficult and exhausting unit of the semester. First there are just the logistical issues--When is this due? What’s the difference between our prelims and the conference draft? What’s a conference? Where’s your office? When is the final draft due again? And why is Plato so worked up about writing anyway???

Somewhere, in all of this, I am supposed to answer this question:  What exactly, is an academic essay?

If I seem breathless in class, it’s only because I’m trying to preview an entire semester’s worth of ideas about expository writing.  Now’s the time to take a bit of a breather, let some of this settle down and focus in on the two key aspects of writing an academic essay that are most important for essay 1--and, I would argue, probably the most fundamental elements of academic essays in general.  They are your argument and your use of sources.** Get these right, and (almost) everything else follows.

Use of sources.  The academic essay starts with the assumption that there are ideas in the world outside of your head. Your sources are not just providing “quotes to back up your ideas”; rather, they should help you to develop new ideas and new ways of thinking about problems. Generally speaking, if someone does research with an "answer" or argument in mind, we would probably suggest that that person is a bit close-minded, maybe even biased. So, when working with sources keep an open mind, learn from them, and let them teach you something. At the most basic level, this involves being able to neutrally summarize.

Your argument.  But thinking should never stop with thoroughly understanding a source--rather it only starts there. Moreover, argument goes well beyond simply agreeing or disagreeing. As you build an argument in conversation with your sources, think about how ideas are useful, or how perspectives might be limited or qualified. Think about how an idea might be right, but only in some cases, or up to a certain point. For this first unit, I ask you to consider what you, as a person living in 2011, can add to Plato’s concerns about writing.  We live in a culture that places enormous significance on writing and yet many of Plato’s concerns and warning ring true.  So how do YOU add to our knowledge about the world by building on and extending his ideas? 

So, to sum up, here’s the bottom line for unit 1:

Argument/ project.  Do you know what you are arguing? Does your essay follow through on that? Strong claims throughout help--that’s why we’ve focused on them so much. Do you state your argument (thesis statement) early on? Does the opening move (a paragraph or two) of your essay help set up your argument and what’s at stake in your argument? Are there places along the way where it is echoed in your claims? Why should we care about your argument? Do you suggest an answer to the “So What” question? Does your essay take a position that moves beyond summary and even beyond simply agreeing or disagreeing to work in conversation with your source?

Sources: Do you explain your source/s to your reader? Do you show how your thinking builds on, develops from, or works in conversation with sources? Do you show how your thinking is different from your source? All of the work with context, orienting (or framing quotations) and explaining and analyzing passages is part of this process of moving from the source to your own ideas.

To reiterate, here’s the list:

Strong opener that sets up argument and suggests why your argument matters.

Thesis statement.

Strong claims in most paragraphs that echo the thesis statement.

Framed, or contextualized citations (set up the source for your reader).

Explanation or analysis of the source (show how you interpret the source and how it relates your argument).

* They Say/ I say is a deceptively simple book, but you should notice that these two elements are the ones represented by the title of the book.