Study Queen

It’s essay season! Gear up with the Recursive Paragraph model. lt is best used for persuasive essays and is especially useful in integrating research to support your claims. I will overview the six steps that will get you writing brilliant paragraphs for your next essay. Keep in mind, by the time you are using this paragraph model, you will probably have a thesis and an outline and your research ready.

Part One: The Controlling Idea

a.k.a. the “topic sentence”

Give your reader and idea of what this paragraph is going to be about.

This is usually one of the “points” that is supporting your thesis.

Part Two: Contextualize

This is where you introduce your quotation/citation that will support your argument.

How does it relate to your “controlling idea”?

How would you introduce it to a friend?

Assume your audience (your professor or teacher) is familiar with the material–no need to over-contextualize.

Part Three: Citation

This is where you integrate your citation, whether it be an in-text citation, block quote, or summary.

Make sure to use proper citation so as not to plagiarize!

Be sure to smoothly integrate the citation, using author names, for example: “Even Herbert Blau states that…” That is just one of thousands of possibilities.

Part Four: Analyze

This is where you break apart and close read your citation.

Thinking about how you would explain to a friend is helpful.

Try to break down the citation into smaller parts and analyze those.

Make sure your analysis is as close to the text as possible; in other words, don’t stray from the crux of your citation.

Part Five: Synthesis

This is by far the most important step!

This is the “so what?” of your point: why it matters.

How do these smaller parts relate to your controlling idea?

How does your interpretation/analysis develop your overall argument?

Part Six: Restate

You’re almost done with your brilliant paragraph!

All you need to do is restate your thesis in terms of your new synthesis.

In other words, recall back to your thesis statement.

The beginning of the next paragraph will call back to the end of this paragraph.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

THIS IS A TRUMPET

THIS IS A TROMBONE

THIS IS A TUBA

AND THIS IS A FRENCH HORN

Slidey Trumpet

Big ass trumpet

Drunk Trumpet

1.) They get to class early. Getting to class early gives you time to be prepared and ready to study. Review your notes from the day before, lay out all your supplies (notebook, water bottle, pens, etc). You can also ask the teacher any questions you had about the material.

2.) They get ahead. The second they get an assignment, no matter when it is due, they do it. This is so so helpful. Do NOT procrastinate. You just end up being exhausted and tired. It’s not worth it. You might as well finish once you get it. Life will be so easy, believe me.

3.) They have an organized schedule. They figure out a schedule that works for them. They make sure to include time for extracurriculars, breaks, meal times, etc. Try to map out EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of your day. 

4.) They prepare. They lay out their clothes for the next day, they finish their homework early, they even plan out what they will have for their meals for the next few weeks and what exercises theyt will be doing.

5.) They enjoy learning and want to learn. They aren’t just there because they have to be. They have a strong desire to learn. When you want to learn (even if you fake it) you usually do better on exams and papers.

6.) Everything is organized. Their desk has nothing on it but their Mac, their pens are neatly on the shelf in small cups, they make their beds the second they get out of bed. They have a filing system, so the second they get papers back they put them in the files. When everything of yours has a home it’s a lot easier to study and be productive.

7.) They treat school like their job. They may have other part-time jobs, but they know that school is their main focus, and it should therefore be treated as a job. Not wanting to be fired from your job corresponds with not wanting to fail your classes. They therefore work as hard as they can and try to “impress” the boss.

8.) They give it everything they have. They are dedicated, have goals, and know what they want. They don’t want to “just get through high school/college.” They want to learn, they want to become successful, and most are even aiming for goals such as valedictorian. They won’t accept B’s or C’s. (Please note that while it is very good to have high standards, getting a lower grade once in awhile isn’t that big of a deal!!!)

9.) They keep themselves happy and healthy. They take well deserved breaks (only when everything is done), they have “off” days, they get enough SLEEP and WATER, and they keep themselves fit doing yoga, running, cardio, etc.

10) They don’t mind helping other people. They don’t turn a blind eye to people who need help. Instead they use it as a teaching experience, and help the student through the problem or whatever they need help with. Teaching people is super helpful. I sometimes write on my whiteboard and pretend that I am teaching an imaginary (I’m such a loser but it helps;).

i thought this might be a good idea so here we go!

Writing an essay on one piece of literature is difficult enough, so when it comes to comparing two or more in the same essay, it’s easy to get bogged down and struggle to write anything meaningful. Here are a few ideas which can help the whole process and make writing these essays a little easier!

While reading the texts

Construct a table where you can note down ideas about the themes, stylistic devices, characterisation, or other important elements commonly found in most literature. Delegate a column for each piece of literature you’re studying and a separate row for each literary technique. This serves as an easy source of comparison and a starting point for your essays.

Copy important quotes which can demonstrate these techniques which you can later use in your essays as evidence.

Understand the context of the literature. This can provide useful information which can explain the similarities and differences you encounter between the texts.

Writing the essay

Select the elements of the text your essay will compare. This is likely to be dictated by the essay question. Supposing you’ve created a table as outlined in the above section, you will already have a vague comparison of the texts your essay will cover. Rereading the literature with these elements of comparison in mind can allow you to gain a better understanding of the texts and the techniques you will compare, and also supply you with further evidence to support your argument.

Create an outline which you can follow to write your essay. Outlines are critically important to writing essays which are coherent and clearly expressed. They can be as crude or as detailed as you like, just so long as you include the main ideas. I also like to include quotes  I will use as evidence in my outline so as not to forget them while writing the essay. With an outline, all that’s left to writing the essay is finding the right words to express your ideas!

The introduction is as you would write any essay introduction. Start with an opening sentence which encapsulates the overall ideas of the essay in an interesting way, outline the ideas your essay will cover, and outline the thesis to your reader. Be sure to define key terms relevant to your essay, and provide a grounds for comparison between the texts. 

The body of the essay can be structured in numerous ways, some of which I have outlined below. These only include 2 texts and are certainly not the only ways to structure comparative essays, so do not feel limited to these alone!

Text-by-text - This method outlines each text separately in the body section (i.e. discuss all of text A, then discuss all of text B) and leaves the comparative element until the end.

Point-by-point - This method deconstructs the texts down to the individual elements your essay will compare and you alternate between texts A and B for each element, comparing them as you go. I’ve found this to be a more sophisticated way of writing comparative essays, and it has generally scored higher grades in my experience, however the demands of the essay question, the marker, the texts themselves, and you as the writer ultimately determine which structure is most effective. 

The conclusion, like the introduction, is similar to any conclusion you write for an essay. I have a separate post which can help with writing conclusions should you need it!

Proof read and edit as necessary! A single typo or grammatical error can undermine any essay, no matter how persuasively it is written.

Miscellaneous tips

Comparative essays are less concerned with the ideas a novel presents than they are with the comparison of the ideas and techniques of the texts. This should be reflected in your essay, such that the bulk of its content is comparison. A brief outline of the ideas is necessary, but it is not the focus!

Always be clear which text you are discussing by referring to the title or author. 

Using the authors’ names and putting them in the foreground as the creator of the texts is an easy way to do this, and also serves as an excellent writing style.

e.g.: Fitzgerald creates a curiosity within the reader to understand her motives and to better comprehend her actions. 

e.g.: Atwood’s construction of The Handmaid’s Tale and the nature of Offred’s character creates unreliability such that we cannot entirely trust her story. 

Signpost your comparisons with easily identifiable linking/transition words

Differences e.g.: contrastingly, conversely, alternatively, however, unlike, whereas

Similarities e.g.: similarly, likewise, the same can be seen, this is mirrored in

Hopefully this can be of some help when you next need to tackle a comparative essay! My inbox is open if you ever need further help.