Week 5

 Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than from the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.   – Mark Twain

Good day!  Hope you are well.

Today we will pick up where we left off last week, reviewing the autobiographical narrative assigned. 

         In the first half of the class we also will address the summary assignment #3, the report/article you were to read and summarize for homework.

  This piece will serve in the next forthcoming assignment as the initial ground or source of an essay that explores in greater detail one or another topics addressed therein.  Thus we will begin writing essays that involve researching and documenting the literature and/or artifacts that inform our understanding of a given subject.  

Due today (#3) is a short summary of the article posted above, "Oregon Father's Memorial Trek Across Country Ends in a Family's Second Tragedy,"   published in the New York Times.  I will review the article with you all and give some time for final editing of the piece before its submission.

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*Field Report:  The field report must be done on your own, and requires you report from an eye witness perspective on some event, natural feature, business and so on that is part of our local community–Monroe, Dade, Collier, Broward, or Palm Beach County.  We will discuss it further and I'll provide examples.

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 Homework (essay 4):  Pull together an essay that focuses on one or more of the issues raised in the article you summarize today.  You are to use the New York Times piece and at least two others in developing this essay.  Google search the topic for related pieces:  i.e. you might google creative individuals or new works and findings to cull  insights on the subject of creativity, find example stories or cases, and then discuss the matter of how individuals and groups or authorities tap their creativity. The materials you find in your research may all be written sources, but may include as well mulitmedia, photo,  film, or music pieces that address in some way the topic of your piece. You should identify all sources used clearly, and in the context of their specific use or appearance in your text. Direct quotation is also a requirement.  Observe the 20 percent rule:  no more than 20 percent of the length of the essay should appear as direct quotation.  You must have a ruling point, a thesis, which is the conclusion that you have come to about the matter, and one which others might reasonalby disgree with. A thesis is a matter of considered judgment and opinion.

This is to be a 450-500 word essay, titled and double-spaced.  Bring it to class next week.


Writing the short report/essay with source references:  Research begins with a subject focus and proceeds by study of the sources that shed light on the subject. Research sources are typically categorized as primary or secondary.  The following URL provides a description of the distinctions made between the two:  http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/primarysources/primarysources.html

  Those sources that help the writer to "prove" or advance the thesis point are essential.  You as author must become something of an expert in your particular line of inquiry by studying your sources. Whatever the purpose and scope of your essay or report, you will draw upon the "truths" of your sources to help you make your point(s).

Turn to Healy's piece about Joe Bell.  Why was it written?  In what context(s) must it be understood?  To what issues does it speak, what human interests and concerns?  What further research might Healy's report invite?   We will discuss in class the context of the report's publication and its topical links.  Essay assignment #4 is to be a short essay that synthesizes material from several different source articles or artifacts that are topically linked to the Healy piece.

In research reports, each source must be clearly referenced in text by title and author or publication site if no author is named.  The Modern Language Association publishes guidelines for writing in the humanities which we will follow. These include what are called in-text citations and a Works Cited list.  We will look at the format further in weeks to come, but for now let me make a few points about the business of gathering information, which, naturally, is how we become informed.

Whatever the topic– literary, political, environmental, economic–our first understandings often arise through personal experience and/or casual exposure.   We may have learned something of WWII from our grandparents, who lived through it and have told us stories, for example.  We may have served in the military and thus have direct insight into the impact of war on individuals and society.  We may have read novels, histories, watched documentary films, or listened to the testimonials of those who have born witness to war.  We may read the daily news reports of wars near and far.  We may have visited the great battlefields of Gettysburg or elsewhere.  And we may have formed certain conclusions, however tentative, about the nature of war and its historical use by governments in pursuit of whatever aims. So we may have a store of experience and information that informs our attitudes.  Yet we may never have put together an essay that provides the telling examples, personal voices, eye witness accounts, and expert opinions that provide the persuasive account of why we feel as we do. In fact we may never have gathered it all together for synthesis and analysis.  But that's what we do when we research a matter or issue.

We may use dictionaries to help us define words and terms that may be unfamiliar, encyclopedias to get  concise facts and history, and the news media to learn of events large and small and the range of popular and expert opinion on a given matter.   We may include the artists whose works give us imaginative insight, and the personal stories that come to us by so many means.  What have the many who have weighed in on any subject had to say?   Expository essays are built on writing that is informative, based on the most credible and recent information, with the express purpose of conveying  to readers a clear understanding of the issue or matter. There may be a personal story or basis to the writing, but reference to the work or ideas of others is necessary, in the form of description, summary,  paraphrase and direct quotation, synthesis, and logical analysis. You as author control the material and remain the dominant voice throughout.  It is your thesis idea, your conclusion that unifies and drives the development and choice of sources used in support.

        An essay on some aspect of culture and society today, for example, would necessarily be informed by the writer's particular knowledge of the subject, which comes from familiarity with the literature and artifacts of that aspect of culture and society.  You might, for example, watch a film ( a primary source), and then record your responses, questions that arise, evaluations of the actors, the plot, script, cinematography, etcetera.  You read everything you can find about the making of this film.   You review what has been written or broadcast by others about the film (secondary sources).  Finally, you write a piece that incorporates important aspects of the film's creation, aspects of its cultural importance, the critical responses of film experts or credible reviewers, and of course your own thoughts and conclusions on whatever you have deemed the most important focus in writing about the film. 

    Addressing current events and topics in the media allows you to tap the interest of readers who want to stay current and well-informed, and allows you to enter and shape the discussion as one who is well-informed and has something to add to the discussion, be it only your opinion. It is critical that you identify the various sources you have used for content by author and/or title of work and that the source information be tied to the content borrowed. 

-------------- Essay work should always advance a point, that is, a thesis, always an arguable claim, and one that tries to convince readers of the truth or soundness of some position,  or perhaps to do something, take a stand, too.  Essayists may explore a topic so that readers are in a position to make an informed decision, without themselves insisting on a single position or interpretation of events. The thesis may address an issue that has no ready or absolute answer, nor one readily verified by resort to factual report, but one that must be grappled with and that challenges readers to define their values and beliefs.

Argument or fact?  Facts do not stand alone.  They are put to use, interpreted, sometimes misinterpreted.  Which of the following statements convey matters of fact?  Which are claims, opinions?

     *Recent severe weather events have been caused by climate change.

     *Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

     *Van Gogh’s work is that of a madman.

     *Plastic bags are polluting the seas.

     *Consumers must reduce their carbon footprint.

     *The average temperature of the earth has risen over the last century.

     *Glaciers are melting at a rate unprecedented in modern times.

     *Climate change is a dire threat to the existence of life as we know it.

     *The existence of God is a myth.

 The argument is to be built around an arguable claim, that is one about which reasonable people could reasonably disagree.  It should be supported with reference to your readings, expert or authoritative findings, factual support and logical analysis.  First-person experience and appeals to common sense and human values count, too. 

Consider the following thesis:  The use of plastics worldwide must come under closer scrutiny and regulation.

   Readers may now want to know why, and how the issue affects them and, indeed, if there is anything they might do to help resolve the issue. Your sources provide background information, demonstrate your knowledge of the topic, provide authoritative support and perspective, and show the range of perspectives possible, in fairness to differing opinions.

  Our ideas, whether commonly held or no, are rooted in traditional areas of study reflecting the history of human thought, values, attitudes, and tastes, and conduct.  These study areas include philosophy, religion, nature, aesthetics, science, ethics, education, etcetera.  Our most closely held beliefs and attitudes reflect very often our unexamined ideas about the nature of love, faith, trust, loss, betrayal, goodness and evil, freedom, sanctity, the very meaning of life.  Whether we focus on Washington and the shenanigans that make the nightly news, bioengineering, Facebook, legal injustices, or the most recent individual or "hero" making  a positive difference in the world, our beliefs, associated ideas, and feelings define us as human beings.  In choosing a research topic you will tap into some subject about which you feel strongly and have clear enough knowledge to put across a cogent argument or position, as supported also by fact and opinion gathered from your reading of available literature.  

*Select material for quotation on the following bases:

1)        -the wording is particularly memorable, to the point, and not easily paraphrased

2)        -it expresses an author’s or expert’s direct opinion that you want to emphasize

3)        -it provides example of the range of perspective

4)        -it provides a constrasting or opposing view

*See http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/675/1/ for MLA formatting rules and examples of direct quotation.   The OWL site offers fairly comprehensive discussion and examples of presenting and documentaing primary and secondary source material.

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Citing Sources in MLA Style

To document your research sources, whether from an article in print or online, an encyclopedia or dictionary item, an interview source, a film, photograph, illustration or other visual material– there is a standard means.  The primary reference is the author of the source, whose last name provides the key or first word to the source item as it is entered on the Works Cited page.  This page contains an alphabetical list of all the sources cited in the report. Any directly quoted, paraphrased or summarized information should be referenced or cited in text and then included on the Works Cited page.   Thus, on this page one finds the full bibliographic or publication information of each source cited in the report/essay.  The author’s name and the title of the piece should be included in the essay text along with whatever information item you have borrowed or used.  This in-text reference may appear as a parenthetical citation (i.e. a set of parentheses like the one I am using now) containing the author's last name and perhaps a page number or text title.  Sometimes an article or source being used may have no author credit; in such instances, use the text title as the key term.  

The following URL displays the MLA guidelines and illustrations for integrating sources:

   http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/

Checklist:

*Double-check to that you have acknowledged all material from a source.

*Identify the author of each source in text or in parentheses following the information item.

*Use the title as a source reference for works without identified authors.

*Follow the basic pattern for creating entries on the Works Cited page, and be sure to alphabetize them.

The Works Cited format is here illustrated for some commonly used sources:

Individual Author of a Book

Hazzard, Shirley.  The Great Fire.  New York.  Farrar, 2003. Print.

Article from a Printed Magazine

Jenkins, Lee.  “He’s Gotta Play Hurt.”  Sports Illustrated. 26 Oct. 2009:  42-3. Print.

Article from an Online Magazine

Bowden, Mark.  “Jihadists in Paradise.”  The Atlantic.com.  Atlantic Monthly Group, Mar. 2007.  Web. 8 Mar. 2007.

Article from an Online Newspaper

Richmond, Riva.  “Five Ways to Keep Online Criminals at Bay.”  New York Times.  New York Times, 19 May 2010.  Web.  29 May 2010.

Selection from an Online Book

Webster, Augusta.  “Not Love.”  A Book of Rhyme.  London, 1881.  Victorian Women Wrtiers Project. Web. 8 Mar. 2007.

  

Organization Web Page

“Library Statistics.”  American Library Association.  Amer. Lib. Assn.  2010 Web. 26 Feb. 2010.

Film

Lord of the Rings:  The Return of the King.  Dir. Peter Jackson.  New Line Cinema, 2003. Film.

Program on Television or Radio

“The Wounded Platoon.”  Frontline.  PBS.  WGBH, Boston, 18 May 2010.  Television.

Online Video Clip

Murphy, Beth.  "Tips for a Good Profile Piece."  Project:  Report. YouTube, 7 Sept. 2008. Web. 19 Sept. 2008.

Advertisement

Feeding America.  Advertisement.  Time.  21 Dec. 2009:  59.  Print.

Comic or Cartoon

Adams, Scott.  “Dilbert.”  Comic Strip.  Denver Post 1 Mar. 2010:  8C. Print.

Personal, Telephone, or E-mail Interview

Boyd, Dierdra.  Personal Interview. 5 Feb. 2012.

Week 4

    Good morning.  Hope your week is going well.

 Today we will review the autobiographical essay (#2) and get to the summary work slated for this week. I'll return the practice sentence work from last week, and we'll review some material from last week's page, for example, essay lead-ins.

Note, during readings please give each writer your undivided attention and constructive feedback.   We'll look at the soundness of the narrative structure in terms of the plot (clear conflict, development, crisis/climax) and rendering of setting, scene, and character specifics (autobiographical self-portrait);  at the use of descriptive imagery to reveal place, incident, character, feeling drama; and at the overall unity and development of  the piece (clearly implied or stated thesis idea); lead-ins and conclusions, and the fluency of the sentence elements.

Remember,  a composition of even a single paragraph must organize itself around an idea, stated or implied, which is the thesis or topic idea.

What is a thesis? A thesis is a single sentence statement of the point you intend to describe, explain, illustrate, argue or prove. Where is the thesis to be found? Typically, by convention, teachers ask that it appear by the last line of the opening paragraph. It thus provides a focus and a clear direction and means of selection, for whatever does not in some way help to advance the thesis idea, may not belong in the essay at all. When you and your readers know what your point is, you and they can follow the logic of your development, the order and arrangement of supporting topics and personal commentary. It is a good idea to have a draft statement of your thesis in view so that you stay on point as you draft the essay. Build key words into the thesis statement to provide you and readers references to what lies ahead. A thesis controls to some extent what will appear in the essay and creates an obligation on your part to follow through on its promise, for it creates an expectation.

Five Types of Conclusions:

• Summary
• Callback
• Thematic
• Encouraging
• Quotation

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With today's summary work (#3) we practice one aspect of what is called "critical reading" which is one component of research, and which includes correctly identifying the key information, arguments or claims and crucial topical support of a given report, article, or essay source.  When researching a subject, one must determine a source's relevance and reliability and its effective contribution to the particular research objective.  We must ask, is the report based on reliable and relevant evidence?  Does it derive from a reporter's first-person experience or eye-witness observation and include telling facts, examples, arguments or expert testimonials ?  Is the piece compelling, strong, complete, unbiased, up to date?  Sources that present little in the way of evidence or insight or little that is convincing or those that are no longer timely and relevant may be of little use.  So we search for material that contributes to our understanding in key ways and that may contribute to whatever larger purpose in our research work.

The summary work today does not require you have a thesis or provide any sort of response or evaluation.  It does require you articulate the thesis of the piece summarized.  I will be looking for your accurate capture of the key idea and its means of development and support, including several direct quotations.  You must be careful not to plagiarize (see note below).  

The article you read and summarize today will be one you use as a stepping stone or launch to an essay on a related topic that makes use of three sources or more.

In this subsequent assignment (#5), you will use the Internet to pull together sources for an essay piece   that builds from its sources.  In the course of composing, you will have to summarize or paraphrase source ideas, which means putting the ideas into your own words in brief or in about the same number of words as the original.  You will also quote directly, which means using the exact wording of the original passage and using quotation marks around the material.  

Summary Exercise (#3):   summarize briefly the essay referenced below ( in 250-300 words) using third person point of view. Incorporate two or three direct quotations to illustrate key elements of the original.   Follow the format guidelines discussed and illustrated in the handout passed out in class.    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/us/oregon-fathers-memorial-trek-across-country-ends-in-a-familys-second-tragedy.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB  

Select material for quotation on the following bases:

   * the wording is particularly memorable, to the point, and not    easily paraphrased

   * the passage expresses an author’s or expert’s direct opinion that  you want to emphasize

   * the passage provides example of the range of perspective

   * the passage provides a constrasting or opposing view

Format quotations according to the following guidelines:

       Brief quotations of no more than three lines should be worked into the text within the usual margins from left to right, and enclosed by quotation marks. Use a signal phrase or tagline to introduce them, followed by a colon or comma. 

       Longer passages, four lines and more, should be set off in block format, indented and aligned 10 spaces from the left margin, with no quotation marks but those that may be internal to the passage itself.

Examples of Summary with Supporting Quotations:  

        "In the Arcadian Woods," by George Makari, a psychoanalyst, he reveals that it is no easy matter to diagnose the specific cause or source of an individual's anxiety, for it is a "quintessential mind-body phenomenon" with complex roots scientists have yet to unravel.  Since the 17th century, when the first modern medical descriptions of anxiety were recorded, the mystery has only deepened:

Anxiety disorders are now associated with complex epigenetic models, the transgenerational transmission of trauma, a neuroscience for fear conditioning, and even a pediatric infectious illness that triggers auto-immune mechanisms and results in obsessive compulsive disorder.  

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 from “An Ocean of Plastic” (full text available on the web):

       In the article “An Ocean of Plastic,” Kitt Doucette describes the threat of plastic to all marine life and, perhaps, human life, too: “Even small organisms like jellyfish, lanternfish and zooplankton have started to ingest tiny bits of plastic. These species, the very foundation of the oceanic food web, are becoming saturated with plastic, which may be passed further up the food chain.”  The fish we eat, he emphasizes, may contain the residues of these ingested plastic particles, and thus may pose health risks. He explains in more detail below, citing also the authority of a leading marine biologist:

[. . .] the chemical toxins concentrated in the [plastic] waste lodge themselves in the animals’ fatty tissues, accumulating at ever increasing levels the higher you go up the food chain. It isn’t clear yet if these chemicals are reaching humans, but PCB’s and DDT are know to disrupt reproduction in marine mammals. In humans they have been linked to liver damage, skin lesions, and cancer. “The possibility of more and more creatures ingesting plastics that contain concentrated pollutants is real and quite disturbing,” says Richard Thompson, a British marine biologist who has been studying microplastics for 20 years.

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The source title and author, be it an article or essay in a magazine or newspaper or that of a website from which you summarize or borrow material, should be identified at the outset in your introduction or first use of the material. The year or date of such information should be recent, or otherwise noted.  Use brackets [ ] around any material you add for the sake of clarity or any necessary change to the original, such as a verb tense, a pronoun, or an ellipsis (to abbreviate the length of the passage). 

Reference to the particular source material by title and author and the purposeful use of direct quotation where warranted are requirements.  We will practice referencing and quoting from various textual sources as needed.  The following list gives examples of suitable taglines to introduce quotations:

Deani writes, . . .

As Dean says,

According to another authority, author of . . .

Makari, the author of "In the Arcadian Woods," suggests a different view, claiming . . .

*Note:  Plagiarism is theft of another's work, whether inadvertent or not.  The following is one textbook example of plagiarism (The Brief Bedford Reader, 9th ed.) :

Original passage:  If we are collectively judged by how we treat immigrants–those who appear to be 'other' but will in a generation be 'us'–we are not in very good shape.

Paraphrase (plagiarised):  The author argues that if we are judged as a group by how we treat immigrants–those who seem to different but eventually will be the same–we are in bad shape.

A paraphrase or summary must express the original freshly; it is not enough to make superficial changes to the wording here and there.  Moreover, the syntax–sentence structure– should not mirror the original.

The following URL illustrates the ways that quotations are presented and punctuated, along with whatever citations may be required:  http://www.writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_quoting.html

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Week 3

  If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is. 

― Charles Bukowski, Factotum

Good morning, class.  Today we'll spend the period reviewing the stuff of essay 2, sentence work, and summary conventions, including quotation and paraphrase.

Assignment Review #2:  Narration is the primary organizational mode to be used in assignment #2.  The essay is due at the start of class next week:  5oo words, titled, autobiographical, descriptive imagery (memory list required),  organized around a conflict (personal story/theme) that extends from the present back into the past and back again to the present and to you today.  Some key reference (like the teapot in "The Dime-Store Teapot") ought to appear, as a symbol, a memento, a correlate of the theme(s) your story brings to life.  

Narrative mode pulls together the basic elements of story:  character, with whatever history and personality traits and motivation allow for insight into the action and experience at the heart of the various characters' thoughts and actions; plot, the arranged action/events/scenes that trigger and show he development of a certain conflict ; setting, which brings a clear sense of time and place and the force the two exert;  narrative point of view, the perspective of the storyteller or narrator; and theme, the idea(s) put into play by all the elements together, whether of innocence, experience, youth, age, promise, loss, death . . .  The narrative should be essentially true, for a narrative essay is a non-fiction genre.

The element of suspense, a question(s) hanging over all, tends to make readers stay tuned, so try to build that element in; make the reader want to know what happens next, and why, but don't give it all away too quickly.

The reporter's basic questions are a shorthand means of remembering to get the essentials:

What happened?

Who was involved?

When?

Where?

Why did this happen?

How did it happen?

Short narratives may be structured chronologically,  they may begin in the middle of things, or they work from the end back toward the beginnings of the events in focus; they may even of course move back and forth, as if showing how memory itself refuses to play in strict chronology.  However you decide to structure your piece, it is a good idea to build into the fabric strong images in fairly simple, specific, concrete terms rather than with overly complicated, too general or abstract terms.  You want to pull the reader through the window of the letters and words on the page into the sensuous, three-dimensional world of life as we see, hear, smell, touch, feel, and  think about it.  Figurative language–metaphor, simile, personification–can be charming.  

Example:

    Once on a Wednesday excursion when I was a little girl, my father bought me a beaded wire ball that I loved.  At a touch, I could collapse the toy into a flat coil between my palms, or pop it open to make a hollow sphere.  Rounded out, it resembled a tiny Earth, because its hinged wires traced the same pattern of intersecting circles that I had seen on the globe in my schoolroom–the thin black lines of latitude and longitude.  The few colored beads slid along the wire paths haphazardly, like ships on the high seas.

 --Longitude, David Sobel

Here is another example, of the sight of a mustache (a bit overdone perhaps!): 

 A truly terrifying sight, a thick orange hedge that sprouted and flourished between his nose and his upper lip and ran clear across his face from the middle of one cheek to the middle of the other. . . . [It] was curled most splendidly upwards all the way along as though it had had a permanent wave put into it or possible curling tongs in the mornings over a tiny flame. . . . The only other way he could have achieved this effect, we boys decided, was by prolonged upward brushing with a hard toothbrush in front of the mirror every morning.

Special Effects:  Heighten the effect of seeing by making familiar ground or territory unfamiliar or interesting by shifting perspective–the extreme close up, the distance shot, the fragmentary but evocative particular that puts the whole, be it a place, person, or thing, in a strong light.  Use distinctive language in so far as possible, without making the whole too rich.

Names:  Be mindful of the power of names to particularize and connote ideas and images.  Huckleberry Finn, Scarlett O'Hara, Venus Williams, Miss Bee ; Kissimmee, Florida; Bountiful, Utah, Itta Bena, Mississippi.  The names of people, places, and things can be intriguing and interesting sources of irony and word play.

Dialogue:  dialogue may help to advance the action, set a tone, illustrate character and key ideas or points, and advance the action.    It is a dramatic device and pulls readers into a virtual present.

Exercise:  Review Lewis Nordan's essay.  Discuss in a paragraph the first four paragraphs, his opening.  What is his strategy?  How many lists can you find worked into the paragraphs?  Identify what changes between paragraph 4 and 5.  What does the teapot represent for Nordan?   What is the central conflict of his story?
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Refining the Draft Idea:  Writing teachers and textbooks often refer to the angle or hook or slant as a way of luring readers to the subject article or book.  Readers have different needs and tastes, of course, but there's nothing wrong with familiarizing yourself with the common types of bait that show up in titles or headlines and lead paragraphs of various kinds of essays.  So here are a few:

*Adrenaline                          *Numbers

*Amazement                         *Promises

*Brand-New                         *Secrets

*Detailed                               *Sexy

*Funny                                  *Superlative

*Location                              *Combination

*Money

*Newsy

Workshop:   identify any slants used in the course of reading through today's New York Times or other source.  Actually, you might enjoy what is now a regular feature at the NYTimes- Modern Love-which features short personal narratives on romantic love. (http://nytimes.com/)

Ways of Beginning:

*Anecdotal or case history (to create a human interest appeal)

*Direct Address

*Factual

*Journalistic

*Mythic/Poetic

*Quotation

 *Thematic

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Review:  A composition of even a single paragraph must organize itself around an idea, stated or implied, which is the thesis or topic idea.  The common modes of organization include description, narration, illustration, cause/effect, definition, comparison/contrast, classification, and argument. We will look at the means by which Lewis Nordan organizes "The Dime-Store Teapot," an essay about "solitude and remembering."  If there's time, too, we'll look at Gloria Naylor's "The Uses of a Word," on how she first heard the infamous "N" word.

-----------------------------What is a thesis?  A thesis is a single sentence statement of the point you intend to describe, explain, illustrate, argue or prove.  In narrative work, however,  the thesis is not necessarily explicitly stated. It is implied or hinted at strongly, represented indirectly.  So where is the thesis otherwise to be found?  Typically, by convention, teachers ask that it appear by the last line of the opening paragraph.  It thus provides a focus and a clear direction and means of selection, for whatever does not in some way help to advance the thesis idea, may not belong in the essay at all.  When you and your readers know what your point is, you and they can follow the logic of your development, the order and arrangement of supporting topics and personal commentary.  It is a good idea to have a draft statement of your thesis in view so that you stay on point as you draft an 
essay.  Build key words into the thesis statement to provide you and readers references to what lies ahead.  A thesis controls to some extent what will appear in the essay and creates an obligation on your part to follow through on its promise, for it creates an expectation.  

Samples:  

Religion is no longer the uncontested center and ruler of human life because Protestantism, science, and capitalism have fundamentally altered our view of the world.

In their attempt to understand human nature, many novelists become excellent psychologists.

A good university education is one that is useful, fulfilling, and challenging.

Being a reporter means conducting interviews at odd hours and in strange places.

Trust is the foundation of all lasting relationships.

............

Practice Work:  For practice and development of the narrative piece, we will  compose a sentence list in class (in this case, of memories or associations, and how to integrate and punctuate the various elements.)  See the handouts for examples.  Here's another, by Charles Bukowski:

      Nothing was ever in tune. People just blindly grabbed at whatever there was: communism, health foods, zen, surfing, ballet, hypnotism, group encounters, orgies, biking, herbs, Catholicism, weight-lifting, travel, withdrawal, vegetarianism, India, painting, writing, sculpting, composing, conducting, backpacking, yoga, copulating, gambling, drinking, hanging around, frozen yogurt, Beethoven, Bach, Buddha, Christ, TM, H, carrot juice, suicide, handmade suits, jet travel, New York City, and then it all evaporated and fell apart. People had to find things to do while waiting to die. I guess it was nice to have a choice. 

― from  Women

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Syntax

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Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogroves, 

And the mome raths outgrabe.

                                     –Lewis Carroll's opening lines in "The Jabberwocky"

Sentence practice is good.  Practice the sentence.  Last week we looked at the basic structure–noun subject-verb predicate-noun object-indirect object.  We looked at the additive or cumulative structure, in which the main clause appears up front, followed by additional modifiers.
                  English syntax consists fundamentally of a grammatical subject and verb, and the object and indirect object of the verb.  The subject is typically a noun or noun phrase or a verbal functioning as a noun.  The verb is the base of the predicate and operates as a linking mechanism (no action:  I am a teacher) or designates the action put in play by the subject, which we can think of as an actor or agent.                                                                                                                     
            The direct object is usually a noun or noun phrase following the verb and that receives or takes the action of the verb.  We do well to keep subjects and verbs at the head of a sentence, and together (uninterrupted by modifiers), with the subordinate elements following after (naturally, there are exceptions).

Bill struck the match.  I lit the cigarette.  We shared a smoke one warm summer night.

Here is a poem that expresses the relationship (sort of) between syntax elements:

     One day the Nouns were clustered in the street.

     An adjective walked by, with her dark beauty

     The nouns were struck, moved, changed.

     The next day a Verb drove up, and created the Sentence.

           – Kenneth Koch, "Permanently" (referenced in Stanley Fish's How to Write a Sentence)

Words exist in logical relationships with each other, and discovering those relationships will help you understand syntax better, and the sentences you create.

Not all verbs take an object, but for now we will play with the basic structure and build ever more layered sentences by adding predicate elements, modifying words, phrases, and clauses to the first simple sentence (independent clause), as in the following examples, in which the main clause is italicized:  

A customer shot me a dirty look, long and low, as if I had in some way offended her deeply, though I could not but think myself innocent, and unjustly vilified. 

In the following example, the main clause and the subordinate elements are laid out in outline:

1.The women whispered late into the night,

     2.  their voices rising and falling softly,

           3.  while I,

                4.  a mere six years old,

                     5.  dreamed of a time when I, too, would have a world as rich as theirs seemed to  

                           me then.

We punctuate for two reasons:  one, to order the pace of reading; two, to separate words, phrases, and clause into groups for the sake of clarity and readability and emphasis.

  The period has been described as a stop sign; the comma a speed bump; the semi-colon a "rolling stop"; the parenthetical a detour; the colon a flashing yellow light indicating something's up ahead; and the dash as "a tree branch in the road"(Writing Tools, Roy Peters Clark).  Punctuation rules have been standardized, but options and play remain.  We'll review today beginning with the comma, a mark that indicates where one reading aloud would likely pause, and which sets off modifying words and phrases and clauses by asking one to slow down and see the constituent units.   The semi-colon works well to set off large blocks of text, particularly where commas are already at work; and to show the contrast between cause elements on either side in balanced and parallel sentence constructions.

Punctuation Homework:

*The following URL leads to an excellent article on the common errors of comma placement:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/the-most-comma-mistakes/

  

I have created a practice set of sentences to illustrate comma placement in additive structures where some information is essential and some non-essential, as discussed in the article above.  I will distribute it in class.

Complete also the set of exercises on using possessive constructions and the apostrophe to show possession:  http://bartelby.com/141/

For Review:  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/02/   (comma use rules)

                http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/04/    (sentence fragments)

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In-class work next week:  Summary Exercise (#3):   summarize briefly the essay at the following URL ( in 250-300 words) :   http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/us/oregon-fathers-memorial-trek-across-country-ends-in-a-familys-second-tragedy.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB   Incorporate two or three direct quotations to support and illustrate.   Follow the format guidelines set forth and illustrated on the handout passed out in class.  

Select material for quotation on the following bases:

1        *the wording is particularly memorable, to the point, and not easily paraphrased

2       * the passage expresses an author’s or expert’s direct opinion that you want to emphasize

3        *the passage provides example of the range of perspective

4        *the passage provides a constrasting or opposing view

Format quotations in the following manner:

       Brief quotations of no more than three lines should be worked into the text within the usual margins from left to right, and enclosed by quotation marks. Use a signal phrase or tagline to introduce them, followed by a colon or comma. 

       Longer passages, four lines and more, should be set off in block format, indented and aligned 10 spaces from the left margin, with no quotation marks but those that may be internal to the passage itself.

Examples of Summary with Supporting Quotations:  

"In the Arcadian Woods," by George Makari, a psychoanalyst, he reveals that it is no easy matter to diagnose the specific cause or source of an individual's anxiety, for it is a "quintessential mind-body phenomenon" with complex roots scientists have yet to unravel.  Since the 17th century, when the first modern medical descriptions of anxiety were recorded, the mystery has only deepened:

Anxiety disorders are now associated with complex epigenetic models, the transgenerational transmission of trauma, a neuroscience for fear conditioning, and even a pediatric infectious illness that triggers auto-immune mechanisms and results in obsessive compulsive disorder.  

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In a poem by Tony Hoagland called “The Best Moment of the Night,” he writes about an informal dinner party.  The human guests are gathered around a table and beneath it is a dog whose eager affection strikes a chord in the poet and creates a “moment” (line 1).  The dog, “down near the base of the butcher-block table/ just as the party was getting started” (lines 2-3) makes him understand something about his own isolation.  He seems lovelorn, and when that dog offers up its belly to be petted–“the vulnerable belly” (line 18)– he momentarily admires it, and is warmed by it, for the dog is still “panting, and alive, and seeking love”(line 19) in a way that he, as a human, can’t readily do in front of the gathered guests. 

 from “An Ocean of Plastic” (full text available on the web):

       In the article “An Ocean of Plastic,” Kitt Doucette describes the threat of plastic to all marine life, and perhaps human life, too: “Even small organisms like jellyfish, lanternfish and zooplankton have started to ingest tiny bits of plastic. These species, the very foundation of the oceanic food web, are becoming saturated with plastic, which may be passed further up the food chain.”  The fish we eat may contain the residues of these ingested plastic particles, and thus may pose health risks. He explains in more detail below, citing also the authority of a leading marine biologist:

[. . .] the chemical toxins concentrated in the [plastic] waste lodge themselves in the animals’ fatty tissues, accumulating at ever increasing levels the higher you go up the food chain. It isn’t clear yet if these chemicals are reaching humans, but PCB’s and DDT are know to disrupt reproduction in marine mammals. In humans they have been linked to liver damage, skin lesions, and cancer. “The possibility of more and more creatures ingesting plastics that contain concentrated pollutants is real and quite disturbing,” says Richard Thompson, a British marine biologist who has been studying microplastics for 20 years.

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Use brackets [ ] around any material you add or for the sake of clarity or any necessary

change to the original , such as a verb tense, a pronoun, or an ellipsis (to abbreviate the length of the passage). The source title, be it an article title in a magazine or newspaper or that of a website from which you have borrowed material, should be identified at the outset in your introduction or first use of the material. The year or date of such information should be recent, or otherwise noted.

*MLA citations and works cited will not be necessary for initial assignments.