Hello all,
Sorry but I am out sick today.
In place of class, I would like to guide you through the
work we would have done today which involves preparing for a draft thesis by Thursday. Our overall goal is to have a rough draft by
next Monday.
After reading this, any questions you have I can answer
via email or during my office hour tomorrow, Tuesday, from 9:30-10:30 AM. I'm adding some time tomorrow as well from 1:45
till around 2:15 -- longer if students are waiting.
2.
Reread
Writing Assignment: go to page 18-19 of I&C and reread the Writing
Assignment. This will get you focused on
what you need to do to write the essay.
3.
Find
Connections: Last class we started
with three theories of the purpose of college from Menand -- Theory 1 (separate
students), Theory 2 (intellectual and
personal growth), Theory 3 (job preparation).
From Delbanco and "It Takes" we added two additional Theories --
democracy, and multiculturalism.
Now it's time to look through your
notes from all of the readings to find patterns and connections that will help
you narrow down to a particular theory/topic you'd like to focus on for your own
essay.
You may need to recategorize
your notes -- or add categories -- to help find the patterns. This is also when some students say "Hey, I
need to get more quotes from the sources."
4.
Work
Towards a Thesis: First, you need to understand what a thesis and divisions
are. For this we'll go to two places in
I&C: definitions - Thesis (16) and Division
(14); and examples - page 24. Review these for a while until you're
comfortable with the ideas.
5.
Decision
Time: Choose a theory of the purpose of college for your thesis, and then
use the reasons the authors believe that theory is valid as your
divisions. Note that sometimes, the
theories can blur into reasons/divisions.
Following the pattern/suggestions in I&C (24) or something similar
(and you can go with a theory that's not listed in the examples), write out a
draft thesis and divisions. I should
take you a few drafts until your satisfied.
Copy and paste this into an email
to me with the course and section number in the subject line sometime before
Thursday's class.
6.
Just Get
It Done: You will have time to make changes to your thesis on Thursday and
over the weekend. The goal now is to
begin to get your thinking on paper so you can work it into something you'll
use for your essay. This class focuses
on the joy of revision: starting with lead and turning it into gold. Lead is okay for Thursday.