English 101: The College Essay Continued

Summary

In this engaging session, James Boswell continues his exploration of the college essay, delving deeper into effective strategies for crafting compelling academic writing. The video cover topics like thesis formation, the structure of a five-paragraph essay, and the significance of using clear, organized transitions to engage the reader and clearly present an argument. Boswell emphasizes the importance of an attention-grabbing introduction, a well-supported body, and a thought-provoking conclusion. He also discusses the audience and the necessity of considering their perspective when crafting essays. Through examples and exercises, viewers are encouraged to apply these techniques to enhance their writing skills and produce sophisticated, persuasive essays.

Highlights

• James Boswell emphasizes the magic of the five-paragraph essay. 🧙‍♂️
• Learn how to captivate your readers with a compelling introduction. 💡
• Discover how to strengthen arguments with well-placed evidence and examples. 🔐
• Get tips on writing a conclusion that clinches your argument. 🎤
• Explore audience considerations and writing with a purpose. 👥

Key Takeaways

• Understanding the structure of a five-paragraph essay is crucial for clear and organized writing. 📚
• The thesis statement and plan of development are essential components of a strong introduction. 🎯
• It's important to engage your audience with transitions and clear arguments throughout your essay. 🔄
• Use evidence and examples to support your claims and strengthen your essay. 🔍
• Crafting an effective conclusion involves re-emphasizing your thesis and leaving a lasting impression. 🎬

Overview

James Boswell takes us on a journey through the art of crafting the perfect college essay. With his lively and engaging style, he breaks down the essential components of academic writing. From the first word to the final period, Boswell offers insight into how students can structure their essays for maximum impact.

Dive into the five-paragraph essay structure, where Boswell explains how to draw readers in with an attention-getting introduction. Learn the secrets of weaving a cohesive and persuasive narrative that keeps your argument strong and connected with clear, logical progression.

Boswell also highlights the importance of understanding your audience. He shares tips for crafting content that resonates with different readers and stands out in the academic crowd. By the end of the session, students are equipped with tools to elevate their writing and tackle any essay with confidence.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 03:00: Introduction and Topics Overview The chapter begins with the speaker intending to start recording earlier to capture the use of worksheets on-screen. They pick up where they left off previously, offering a selection of topics from a booklet that provide broader options than those discussed in the last session.
• 03:00 - 09:00: Rhetorical Strategies and Five Paragraph Essay Structure The chapter discusses rhetorical strategies and the structure of a five-paragraph essay. It references a previous meeting and emphasizes the importance of narrowing down broad topics, such as literacy, for effective writing. The importance of skills in writing is highlighted, and an example topic mentioned is the health benefits of physical exercise.
• 09:00 - 14:00: Thesis Statements and Body Paragraphs The chapter discusses key elements of writing effective thesis statements and body paragraphs. It emphasizes the importance of providing detailed support for arguments and presents various potential topics for practice, such as censorship, technological challenges, and economic prudence. The chapter encourages engaging with familiar subjects, like favorite movies, to hone writing skills and develop cohesive arguments.
• 14:00 - 23:00: Importance of Audience in Writing This chapter discusses the critical role of understanding and engaging audience in writing, illustrated through examples such as managing high school presentations and writing effectively on topics like time management and heart attack prevention. The transcript emphasizes that recognizing audience needs can lead to better writing outcomes.
• 23:00 - 29:00: Conclusion and Real-World Application of Writing The chapter emphasizes the importance of car maintenance, not merely outlining how to perform it but explaining why it is crucial for vehicle longevity and safety.
• 29:00 - 35:00: Sample Essay and Planning for Next Session The chapter discusses the importance of five-paragraph essays and provides three reasons why writing is important.
• 35:00 - 40:00: Q&A and Closing Remarks The chapter discusses the shortcomings of high schools in preparing students adequately in essential skills such as reading, writing, and critical thinking. It emphasizes three main points: the failure to teach students to read well, the inability to instruct students to write effectively, and the deficit in encouraging students to think critically. Additionally, it mentions the principal setup, possibly referring to the structure or organization of the educational institution, but the details are limited.

English 101: The College Essay Continued Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 to start recording which i should have started earlier but anyway because it would have been nice to see the worksheets on the on the screen here this is about where i left off last time and this is where i'd like to pick up these are some of the topics that are in the booklet that you might want to choose they're a little broader based than the ones i showed you um last time
• 00:30 - 01:00 we met on wednesday you know the last time we met um a little bit um shorter um some will repeat i see one uh there's a carryover from that uh particular um attachment that i said literacy you know that's very broad you'd have to narrow that down the importance of skills now this one's um a number of people choose this one physical exercise is good for one's health no doubt about it you know i mean you
• 01:00 - 01:30 can prove that one you just have to have to have lots of details um censorship was unacceptable uh the problems with technology which i think we're all probably experiencing at least i have you know in this remote environment every other day um the problems with technology reasons for spending money wisely that's been chosen you could write on what you believe to be the best movie of course you read on any movie and just say something about it three problems
• 01:30 - 02:00 with high schools that was a previous example that i've shown you importance of time management oh boy is that critical reasons for presenting preventing heart attacks no well i think couple of some very good reasons for prevention of a heart attack um being a good student is on there again you know you talk about some of the i guess you talk about the techniques or why being a good student is important again just expanded into five paragraphs
• 02:00 - 02:30 importance of car maintenance no don't tell me how tell me why it's important to maintain the automobile working mothers are good for the u.s that's an older topic people don't debate that anymore some still do buying a home is a wise investment for those who have actually done so college is expensive the importance of a positive attitude very essential for success in life reasons for a good diet
• 02:30 - 03:00 five paragraph essays now three reasons why writing is important not too many people choose that one i i wouldn't but anyway uh well maybe i would but being a writing teacher you have to be careful you want to choose something that you don't think the teacher knows a lot about my favorite book and reading is important because well now and when in reporting your topic all you
• 03:00 - 03:30 need to do is select from the improved lists high schools are failing and preparing students to read write and think well and then point one which i'm reviewing first of all high schools are failing to teach students to read well first point secondly high schools are failing to teach students right well second point by only high schools are failing to teach students a thing third point and you're principally set up
• 03:30 - 04:00 all you need to do is explore more in an outline now these are the rhetorical strategies uh three of which we've already done you know um because i combined it into one paper favorite number two which was four paragraphs paper number three is how many five a description narration example slash illustration i combined into one i didn't look at them
• 04:00 - 04:30 as separate papers some people do some courses this is a separate paper so my colleagues said hack you write a paper that says description you know i combined all three because it makes more sense to me to do that that way that's how i roll um process that's paper number four we'll teach that strategy probably starting next week cause effect that comes to near the end of the semester that's paper number six i used to do classification
• 04:30 - 05:00 i no longer do in fact there's another um strategy called definition that's not listed here i no longer do that either i used to do them all um but i do comparison contrast is paper number five in persuasion and argumentation uh i'm going to apply that to um this unit you know i'm not i don't call it a argumentation persuasion paper per se but we're going to use some of the principles
• 05:00 - 05:30 involved in argument and persuasion because when you're trying to support a thesis and i also call this thesis support the word thesis does mean argument so i just wanted to see how i'm going to deal now we want to uh sit onto this shot yeah um deals with the introduction uh the introduction piece in the paper
• 05:30 - 06:00 uh this is just an introduction general sentence we introduce a general topic i'll probably come back to this uh providing i've already thought some of this so let's review just apply it to this unit background information reason for the argument or the controversy uh what is the main topic you want to be specific in the introduction information based on the topic if if applicable if applicable excuse me um the thesis
• 06:00 - 06:30 is all in the introductory paragraph should include the question and key topics of your argument it must include your stance opinion if there's a question being asked you need to answer it you know to what extent you agree and outline that's another way of saying plan of development that would be in the introductory paragraph what is the general structure
• 06:30 - 07:00 and then it has suggestion i don't know if i need that but moving to the next item here five paragraph essay this might clarify a little bit more i was just only looking at the introductory uh paragraph and i'll look at that some more later uh and then there will be some focus on the thesis but this uh today uh just an overview of the five paragraph essay before we look at the individual parts uh like uh more uh um uh detail on the
• 07:00 - 07:30 introduction um and then the body paragraphs then how to write the conclusion and then we plan to look at a sample essay that's our plan anyway okay let me so thesis um point to prove support will be the evidence and there are three supporting paragraphs after the introduction and then a note of finality which would
• 07:30 - 08:00 be explored in paragraph five you know so thesis support support support support note a finality let me define now the thesis statement at this point and we don't want you to forget oh let me go back because i go back and forth on this one the five paragraph essay the introduction three body paragraphs in conclusion is
• 08:00 - 08:30 what i'm emphasizing now let's define the thesis the thesis is an idea yours opinion or conclusion about your topic it's proven you prove it by your research i could answer your research in other words what you already know too and is where is it where is it where is it the last sentence of your introduction yeah i'm
• 08:30 - 09:00 not the only person that teaches it this way i am not no i am not in any way shape or form so it is your id opinion or conclusion about your topic we'll look at some examples here's one and it might give you a paper topic you know i went online and found these various and sundry items you know i did and so and i chose
• 09:00 - 09:30 what i thought would be germane to my course bad thesis compared to the good thesis what do you want a good thesis what do i want a plan of development students really struggle with that plan of development because they don't seem to want to tell me what they're going to tell me i want you to tell me what you're going to tell me including the three points and here's an example of that uh well let's look at the bad thesis statement first amy tan shows her identity by writing
• 09:30 - 10:00 about his faith about her family english and being chinese amy tan's novel be specific that's what i'm trying to get you all to do see the novel's name the valley of amazement is a product of tan's familial relationships you know the relationships with the family not just family you know her love for the english language you know not just english
• 10:00 - 10:30 and this is much better it's good and her culturally diverse heritage yeah and so she talks about being chinese yeah in america um so um these statements now this little tidbit deals with body paragraphs i thought this image might help you i don't know but i hope it will um you
• 10:30 - 11:00 know see the pie crust top and bottom and the pie filling that's where the details come in you want the pie to be filled with juicy details see the cherries so the point the information and the explanation along with the point so forth and so on as we are dealing with body paragraphs i don't know if this helps you to understand the concept or not i i just simply don't know i'm looking
• 11:00 - 11:30 ahead to see what was coming up but anyway body paragraphs that's what that that piece of pie was supposed to deal with and so we mentioned introduction we mentioned the thesis we've shown you at least one planet development oh many more forthcoming as examples and the body paragraph is what we're dealing with now writing body paragraphs is always a
• 11:30 - 12:00 treat hence the pie what a treat that is and so t-r-e-a-t you know this is not me i'm borrowing this t stands for transition we'll be emphasizing that r stands for reason point from the thesis another word for this is claim you know hmm claim you want to prove it with evidence you can quote it could be a quote from
• 12:00 - 12:30 the text but evidence is the key word there answer a t-r-e-a answer why the reason or point and evidence is important and or relevant and or sufficient you know and t is where you tell me what you told me or some sort of concluding element tied back to thesis or claim you know that's very interesting how that has been presented but if you think treat think pie
• 12:30 - 13:00 think transition think topic sentence reason think of evidence and how you develop that's where the a comes in how you develop the evidence and then in some way tied back to the original thesis you're well on your way there's a lot more this is theory i know there's a lot more to writing a successful piece of writing than just throwing words on a piece of paper a lot more to it than that and the conclusion
• 13:00 - 13:30 you know the concluding peace to the essay you know the fifth paragraph now where you can there are some points here where you can make a statement about the elaboration strategy you used don't get hung up on the word choice for example the comparison revealed that you know you you're bringing it to a close is what that's trying to say the key point that i always emphasize is
• 13:30 - 14:00 number two restate the main idea which is the thesis statement or your position because you know when you're dealing with arguments you're dealing with your position on a topic for example your positional reading being important your position on literacy which goes far beyond just being able to read you know um you know your position on the college being expensive because you know folk that can write the check
• 14:00 - 14:30 don't think about the expense that much you know they just write the check you know and they may not have to write much of a check because a youngster or their or their child who's going off to college that they're paying their way may have gotten a number of scholarships because scholarships are not always based on need you know so make sure you have convinced your audience about your main idea or thesis in that conclusion and
• 14:30 - 15:00 close with a final statement that could be a clincher which brings closure to the text the same but not the topic but it brings closure i like to use the word um clincher for that you know this is just an overview now well it is important that you realize that what i'm teaching can be applied to
• 15:00 - 15:30 the workplace one does not scribble or a job may be lost it's important to present a good product on time the only reward one has now is a grade but later it will be a paycheck now there is some correlation between how well you do in your education and what you can earn out there there's a correlation
• 15:30 - 16:00 later will be a paycheck dr linton explains then one must be able to communicate or one salary will be limited one must communicate we're talking about in writing here but in an organized fashion the point must be made forcefully and well you say what needs to be said with tact you know you want to be diplomatic because people have gotten fired
• 16:00 - 16:30 from positions because of what somebody put on facebook for example you know that's very much in the news lately um you gotta be careful what you put out there for people to read you know because it could cost you down the line writing in the real world is done through expository writing that's what i'm teaching expository writing writing which explains something
• 16:30 - 17:00 this is a type of writing found in magazines and reports and in college classes and beyond we're going to be discussing how to write the college level essay consider 500 words to be a minimum to be a minimum you will learn um it's parts which i've already shown you some of them already
• 17:00 - 17:30 how to organize the material and the writing process is still very important now the purpose of the essay will be to explain a point it using interesting details two to four type written pages double space that would draw the reader to your argument the paper is to prove the thesis statement also known as a controlling idea
• 17:30 - 18:00 proving it through examples explanations illustrations quotes references to knowledgeable sources emphatic use of language you prove your point tell them what you're going to tell them tell them tell them what you told them now there was something i forgot to show you believe it or not um i got carried away
• 18:00 - 18:30 because i thought i had children to you but i always forget that these clumps together there's martin dr martin luther king juniors i have a dream speech which i do want you to read as part of this unit it is an argument one of the greatest arguments ever written how to say nothing in 500 words which i did reference and then i already showed you that item so i just wanted to make sure i just
• 18:30 - 19:00 showed you those other items that i did send now i want to go back to what i was doing with my powerpoint just giving you background information now what i want to show you next is how you can go from a one paragraph essay which we've sort of already done to a multi-paragraph essay and the way i wish to illustrate that is with a one paragraph
• 19:00 - 19:30 essay you know and so i have to go get it because i want you to see how it looks double spaced and so that necessitated me to rewrite it and it is some pretty decent advice uh i think um written by a student well i retyped it this is not the original um the student who wrote this was in my developmental english class and so and so i'm using something from that he was
• 19:30 - 20:00 he got pretty pretty good for all intents and purposes and i want you to see what um a double space document you know i have in the uh powerpoint slide a single space document that might confuse people so so i decided to retype it um as my way of showing you how um depending on the paragraph essay that was written how it can be expanded upon and made into a five paragraph essay it could save your life it's a title yes it can
• 20:00 - 20:30 there are several reasons why performing aerobic exercise on a regular basis is important you know they say that almost every day in the news and i did bold the transition words so you can see that they're there first of all aerobic um hmm i left the word out and just noticed that let's just say exercise he didn't do that i did that and i retyped it enables an individual to maintain a well-fit body by increasing muscle mass and at the
• 20:30 - 21:00 same time reducing the percentage of body fat becoming and then he explains [Music] becoming aerobically fit get a good vocabulary do also strengthens the heart and allows it to work more efficiently with fewer beats per minute this places less stress on the heart which in turn lowers the risk of a heart attack and also allows one to live a longer
• 21:00 - 21:30 healthier life so that's the first reason muscle mass and the like secondly a person's metabolic rate increases so that he or she can eat more without gaining weight eating more nutritional food second point provides additional energy for the body to feed from also by exercising daily a person's body remains strong and flexible as a result the body is less susceptible to injury
• 21:30 - 22:00 it enables one to age gracefully everything he's saying is accurate and has been proven by research to age gracefully exercise also creates an outlet for stress still on the second point it requires total concentration and effort when done properly which in turn notice the transition relieves all the day-to-day problems that we are faced with in today's society
• 22:00 - 22:30 finally working out feels great that's the third point this is very clear an individual actually feels better and looks better when he or she is in good physical condition turning the body also helps build self-confidence which is important when competing in sports or working in the office in conclusion i didn't bold that one it should be evident that aerobic exercise is truly important
• 22:30 - 23:00 for maintaining a healthier life in both mind and body now this is very well written for a developmental student a one paragraph essay there are many injuries that occur in one's lifetime which can be prevented with proper exercise and this is the clincher always remember to exercise regularly now see the semicolon there otherwise would be a run-on your body will be thankful karma needs to go there and it could
• 23:00 - 23:30 possibly save your life the title yeah and so everything was as it ought to have been in that paper extremely well written i have students that i've had in english called 102 don't write that well banana you know and they've had one-on-one you know he hadn't had it yet he was on his way you know he didn't start at that level but he rose
• 23:30 - 24:00 to that level now i want to get out of my share and show you how this can be broken down further and how it can be made into a i'm going to skip those two there into a thesis and plan development using his words only thing that would be different you would have twice the amount of material you double everything you know and indent the paragraphs uh
• 24:00 - 24:30 you would indent four more times now notice the thesis statement not much change there are several reasons why performing aerobic exercise is important that's word for word practically that's word for it helps an individual to remain fit that's what he talked about to increase the met uh to increase the metabolic rate this is what is known as a plan of development and i require it
• 24:30 - 25:00 and to feel great and then potential topic sentences using his words and then they would become topic sentences to body paragraphs and you would write a full paragraph rather than a few sentences on each one of these first of all aerobic exercise helps an individual to remain fit and you would write twice as much as what he said that's what i would expect you know more details expanding on that idea because he didn't exhaust
• 25:00 - 25:30 it in one paragraph essay secondly aerobic exercise helps one to increase the metabolism you know uh you can define the word you know give examples of aerobic exercise you know and how it can be helpful you know because that's been pretty much in the news lately you know how much exercise benefits not the body but also the mind finally as one becomes more fit with increased
• 25:30 - 26:00 metabolism transition word and that's a transitional topic sentence you know that can be made into that one feels great that particular paragraph it could be made into a paragraph instead of a few sentences could talk about the benefits you know like i said benefits the mind and it benefits the body you know and benefits the spirit you know but
• 26:00 - 26:30 anyway um note the transition words i'm trying to get you all not to forget them until you actually use them as organizing and connecting principle you know that's the whole point there so um let me see what i want to do next i look like that's what's coming next thing development um moving from the one paragraph essay
• 26:30 - 27:00 to the multi paragraph essay and i think i want to emphasize i don't have a slide on this particular item but before i get to that um i want to emphasize a few things before i move on to the next slide the topic sentence this is what i try to show you in this environment becomes the thesis and i directly use his word for work and the next sentence is the plan of development the supporting statements
• 27:00 - 27:30 and i tried to show you at least i tried to show you um become individual paragraphs and the um concluding sentence because that's all he has a concluding sentence and a clincher becomes a fifth paragraph a concluding paragraph so i'm telling what you're going to tell them tell them tell them what you told them in the introduction you have the
• 27:30 - 28:00 attention getter introductory paragraph i've already alluded to this in the last unit the thesis statement and the plan of development the three points will make up the plan and development then body paragraph one point one in the plan of development body paragraph number two or point two in the plan of development and body paragraph number three point three i mean yeah point three uh in the body paragraph number three from
• 28:00 - 28:30 the planet development and then the conclusion tell me what you told me one two three one two three one two three please remember um that um this type of writing can be found in many different areas college writing obviously that's kind of obvious there isn't it business writing technical writing technical scientific
• 28:30 - 29:00 writing and i already mentioned um well i haven't mentioned it yet magazine writing i guess i didn't mention that yeah now i'm ready for the next item here tell me what you're going to tell me that is what the introduction then you tell me um tell me what you're going to tell me
• 29:00 - 29:30 introduction thesis capture the reader's attention i need to say it all then you tell me those are in the body paragraphs 2 three and four and then tell me what you told me you restate your thesis plan of development clincher paragraph five i'm not being as clear as uh as mud but no i i hope i'm i hope i'm
• 29:30 - 30:00 being pretty clear here but i don't want you to forget important items you know because i'm breaking it down you know i'm breaking it down bit by bit piece by piece and this is just simply the overview then i'm going to look at the introductory paragraph more detail the body paragraph in more detail and hopefully get to a concluding paragraph um and then hopefully a sample essay notice in the
• 30:00 - 30:30 booklet there are at least two sample five paragraph essays you know one grade eight teachers the other no don't take the car anyway the thesis is uh the paper excuse me is basically a presentation of the major facts here's an example of a thesis statement and the plan of development and i didn't uh
• 30:30 - 31:00 add transition words for the topic sentences because in this uh item i want to emphasize points that's what i want to emphasize points so the paper is basically a present presentation excuse me of the major facts lectures are disgusting because they are boring teach nothing
• 31:00 - 31:30 and do not hold the student's attention oh why did i choose that but lectures are disgusting because they are boring point one teach nothing point two and do not hold the student's attention uh there's the plan of development which i have underlined because i require it as i said before so
• 31:30 - 32:00 you'd write a paragraph on the lectures i bet you could too because uh they say don't lecture anymore they they lecture should be banished and here i go lecturing um this will argue dealing with uh the the problems that lectures um pose you know um of course i used a harsh word disgusting but i just that was really to get your attention um so you write paragraph 1.1 a paragraph would need to be written on point two
• 32:00 - 32:30 the lectures teach nothing that point two the lectures um in point three are body paragraph number three the lectures do not hold the student's attention now what needs to be done is under each one of those items details examples facts they're quite important
• 32:30 - 33:00 okay now what do i want to do next i'm oh i'm not ready for that yet that's that's audience but i'm not quite ready for that just yet um the essay format is what i want to deal with now and i don't have that on a powerpoint slide or on a piece of paper that i can show you but i want to um go back up for i do have something i can reference here
• 33:00 - 33:30 okay let's look at the introductory paragraph again and this diagram will help us hopefully help us to do that in the introductory paragraph you have the attention getter it's a shame i don't have a a picture with uh that in it but well we're using that it's also known as the opening line also known as the attention grabber
• 33:30 - 34:00 which is designed to draw in your readers so you provide general background for the topic also known as the setup known as the setup and that precedes the thesis precedes the thesis statement which states the purpose of your essay and it outlines outlines what you plan
• 34:00 - 34:30 to explain to your readers about your subject it's the conclusion you have reached about the topic all in the introduction and you can ask yourself some strong uh some questions to have a strong thesis statement too for that introductory paragraph the thesis please what am i writing about you know if you don't know what you're writing about your thesis is not going to be very good how will i demonstrate my
• 34:30 - 35:00 purpose you know this is what you think and then you try to make sure that your sentences do this and to so what what is the main conclusion i've reached on the topic body paragraphs you know that's those things here and i could go to the pie filling to help me out here the topic sentence you know or the point there
• 35:00 - 35:30 is the main idea for the paragraph and the topic sentence develops a thesis and then of course you need to support symbolized by those cherries there and you already know this examples you need one or two examples to illustrate each idea and then of course details one or more of them to illustrate and explain each example the examples need to be explained and then your analysis
• 35:30 - 36:00 and commentary we've mentioned this before for each of the body paragraphs three of them analysis and commentary on the important on the importance of the supporting examples and details and how they what illustrate the topic sentence in a concluding sentence which we've already alluded to which sums up the main idea from the topic sentence and or provides ideas for further
• 36:00 - 36:30 thought or serves as a transition to the next paragraph we've illustrated that in the last unit actually these elements need to be in each of the three body paragraphs now the concluding paragraph let me go back up here again look at that triangle there for that it re-emphasizes
• 36:30 - 37:00 your thesis without restating it it reminds your reader of your thesis summing up your main points that's what the goes on in the concluding paragraph as i think you already know so it sums up your conclusions it ends with closing ideas for further thought now the one thing that you don't want to do is contradict yourself you know if
• 37:00 - 37:30 you're going to write a paper on i think one of the topics was smoking is bad for your health or something about that something like that that is a possibility even if it's on that not on that sheet um if you were to uh write on that you don't want to contradict yourself and say well i smoke five packs a day and i enjoy it after arguing that it's bad for your health you know that doesn't seem to fit now it doesn't even fit well at all um
• 37:30 - 38:00 let's see i'm not quite ready for that okay um i want to look at hagar the horrible's daughter you can't see her because you just can't see her but he has a daughter and i'm going to use this item which you cannot see because i couldn't find it um to teach thesis
• 38:00 - 38:30 another one more thing on this slide on this powerpoint slide i have another one coming up but i'm just not ready for it just yet where what she deals with is um her boyfriend i think for a minute there this is all in her head it's like an attention getter this first part i'm glad to get home she says sometimes my boyfriend makes me so angry i could cry well
• 38:30 - 39:00 that's a thesis it could be a thesis you know well she's angry and all she has to do is tell us why give us three reasons why well it goes on she slams the door this is hagar the horrible's daughter and her mother asks what's wrong darling you know it's like reader might ask that um then she rephrases her her thesis
• 39:00 - 39:30 sometimes i get so angry with luke she mentions his name i could scream then she gives a reason why she could scream there are three of them fellas you might want to listen up here because this is a perennial complaint that some young ladies have concerning their men he's always late he's sloppy that's reason number one
• 39:30 - 40:00 he's forgetful reason number two he spends too much time with his friends reason number three so that's a thesis on a planet development and a comet well i could stop there but it does go on and i want to share all of it with you there's only one thing that keeps me going she says the knowledge that i'll be able to change him once we're married
• 40:00 - 40:30 her grandmother is also there as well mom and grandma helga is the name of mama and grandma grandma's also there too you can't see her but she's there they laugh they can't stop laughing and so she asks did i say something funny well yeah i think you know what was funny you can't change him you know you can't change anybody yeah one has to
• 40:30 - 41:00 make that decision for him or herself can't change anybody if they wish not to be changed um well i want to say something about readers audience um i'm not writing myself a note here for next time perhaps um audience and position position which i did not have a chance to go over because i didn't even bring the item
• 41:00 - 41:30 with me this time i go look for it and i might even do that but your audience could be students that's a popular one when they write that on the outline form students your position student yeah i want you to think of a job title let's say you're writing a paper to young mothers the audience will obviously be young mothers because you're dealing with those tough issues children young children
• 41:30 - 42:00 perhaps your position would be successful parent you know that's what's on that handout i sort of haven't memorized for all intended purposes if you're writing about um technology your ideas your audience may be future technicians and you could be the teacher you know i do want you to fill that out the best papers understand that concept you know some good papers do too
• 42:00 - 42:30 and some good papers don't understand the concept but i'm going to be asking you to fill out on the outline for audience and position now this gives us an audience analysis checklist yes for you to think about the concept audience you know the audience are you readers by the way and there are 10 items how much from my readers already know about my topic
• 42:30 - 43:00 how much i say they don't know anything about your topic that's a good way of approaching it you know anything about it you know because when you're in the schoolhouse you're trying to prove your knowledge so uh how much will my readers know about my topic they wouldn't be reading it if they didn't if they weren't interested and didn't know much and you can see i have a an image of readers they respond emotionally to my topic depends on the topic
• 43:00 - 43:30 choose wisely choose carefully yeah well i need to be especially careful not to offend them absolutely how well by the words you choose by the words you use by being objective showing respect you know because the reader might want to agree with you if you put up a good argument you know you can change people can change their mind no and even if
• 43:30 - 44:00 they don't you still want to be respectful you know you're not seeing a lot of this in the outside world that's why this is a hard climate to teach you because i could there was a time i probably could it was the time i could have pointed to somebody and say you know there are still some people i can point to who are still who rise above they go high road in the uh in the public world but so many are trashing each other
• 44:00 - 44:30 and the response would be emotional will they be interested in my topic perhaps bored by it you don't want to bore your readers if they may be bored how can i get them interested very carefully word choice again you know that's why i say um build your vocabulary you know this bookmark here it's kind of backwards but it says read there's no shortcut
• 44:30 - 45:00 will there be an agreement with me well that's preaching to the choir opposed well they may be quite opposed but you can still communicate your position or neutral now i always assumed that um opposition was afoot you know that my readers would be opposed i was worked from that that premise even though they might not
• 45:00 - 45:30 be neutral i think is i i tend to think neutrals is the worst uh audience uh maybe i'm wrong there but um but i think because they don't care one way or the other because they're neutral they don't have an opinion you know of course that's an opportunity to get them maybe to agree so they may not be the worst but anyway um but you need to think in terms of they may be opposed or they may be neutral
• 45:30 - 46:00 don't assume they're going to agree with you how well educated in general are my readers how well educated in general are my readers i say assume high school diploma and beyond but at least high school diploma do they fall into any particular age group well probably not you know
• 46:00 - 46:30 assume that there's a diverse audience of diverse ages yeah the um um average age at uh hacc tends to be about 27 28. so there are people older than that and people younger the range could be from i'm going to take a wild guess 16 because some are during their high school year here you know and it might be 16 17 all the way up to 75
• 46:30 - 47:00 it's a wide range is the point you know is it important to consider the race yes depending on the subject matter i suppose sex marital status possible parenthood or religion again diversity's there too a diverse audience you want to reach as many as possible and it depends on the topic it always
• 47:00 - 47:30 depends on the topic do they identify with any political groups like republicans democrats libertarians socialists you know there are different uh um political hats that are worn you know and that again it depends on the topic you know this applies to writing but also applies to speech you know any type any
• 47:30 - 48:00 form of communication this can you can apply this checklist to that's why i'm sharing it are the members of any public interest group such as there are some the religious right common cause national organization for women you might have heard of some of these groups they're public interest groups american civil liberties union
• 48:00 - 48:30 that's the aclu the sierra club now getting back to religious right um you know um they used to be called the moral majority at one time um but now they're called the religious right some people throw the evangelicals into that group you know and i tend to get uh junk mail from all of them
• 48:30 - 49:00 usually stay in their position and asking for a donation but anyway um he had sarah club those are your environmentalists you know you may not be on any of these lists uh these mailing lists i hope you're not but because i i get bombarded with junk snail mail you know like and i feel that i need to deal with it and so i try to go through it before i pitch it sometimes i don't pitch it but
• 49:00 - 49:30 i won't go any further than what i just did how do they make their living and again it depends on the topic this deals with economics but i do think you need to think about this when you're dealing with your readers and when you're dealing with audience are they rich poor middle class you know and each group has different concerns
• 49:30 - 50:00 the rich they won't stay that way you know and so they don't want their taxes raised a middle class always seem to have to pay taxes you know and then the poor well they may depending on where they're at be exempt but still you know they've got to try to make ends meet and so when it comes to their children or going to college
• 50:00 - 50:30 the rich by definition will right to check you know they're going to go to harvard one way the other you know they can get them in and you know that some folk have tried to bribe to get their kids in some of them have had to pay fires and do a little jail time for that this is a as a criminal offense the poor may decide not to go to college at all you know because they feel they can't afford it even though with a nice scholarship they might be able to but one has to reach
• 50:30 - 51:00 out and then the middle class well sometimes they have to really struggle to pay too because of all the other expenses they may have they're trying to maintain their lifestyle which is not easy to maintain so there are different concerns if you were to talk about for example college is expensive it is but some folk have more resources than others in order to deal with college
• 51:00 - 51:30 now ooh time is really starting to run away f from me it usually takes me a little longer than i had anticipated to do that particular item i want to set us up begin to set us up for next time i thought it was going to get a little bit further than i did um i'm going to be looking at a sample essay sharing it with you i don't have it on a deep powerpoint slide but it's um this is the outline of it we're going to be studying rappertini's daughter
• 51:30 - 52:00 later uh in the course so i would strongly suggest that when i get to that particular essay you take some notes so you've got in the preview before you actually get the rapper cheney's daughter story which you won't get until probably sometime in november of course november is not that far off is it but anyway you'll get it at some point before the course is uh over but anyway um the title is hawthorne's beaches rabbit genie as
• 52:00 - 52:30 the exploited woman that's what i'm going to refer i wrote this as a student a number of years ago and then i have a picture there of an actress who played rapper chinese daughter in a film um the thesis beatrice rapper virginia lovely poisonous flower was exploited by three men her father her father's rival and her lover that is the plan of development there because that's who i talk about
• 52:30 - 53:00 talk about a father first dr rappercini his name professor baglione this is one of my favorite short stories i'll talk about him next that's her father's rival and her boyfriend you know uh giovanni's his name they're all italian the story takes place in italy um and then the conclusion which i will not be going over today is where i restate the thesis statement
• 53:00 - 53:30 you know so pretty much what i'm teaching you i did as a student you know to make certain that my points were clear now i have to get out of my share now just wanted to set this up i thought i would get uh to do it um but it didn't happen which is okay i'm not uh too far behind where i want to be anyway now um oh god i'm not as bad as i usually am
• 53:30 - 54:00 i want to ask a question and this is for anybody what is in the introductory paragraph what should be in the introductory paragraph in a five paragraph essay a thesis a thesis thank you ali and what else that i mentioned
• 54:00 - 54:30 today i'm leaving it open to the floor the plan of development plan of development thank you very much gwyneth blevins and one other thing in the opening lines topic sentence nope that's in the body paragraph each body paragraph has a topic sentence thanks for bringing it up but an
• 54:30 - 55:00 attention grabber attention grabber i just want to say that you know you know i'm hoping that y'all got that and it sounds like you did and so um next time what i'm going to be looking at is rabbitini's daughter i'm still in my overview part um into that next powerpoint the slides and um then i'll be breaking it down uh looking at hopefully getting to introduction paragraph um and i may not get to the body paragraphs in more detail till next week but i i'm
• 55:00 - 55:30 working on wrapping up the unit because i usually spend about three classes on each of the units um next week thank you for coming it's good to see all of you very good hanging in there wonderful any other questions or any questions before we before we leave and before i need to um i have a class immediately following this one
• 55:30 - 56:00 okay hearing none i'm going to bid you a good day all of you hang in there folks thank you see you lilly and miss barnes and mrs polsky hi miss valentin morrison soccer ever santos i see you and miss masood and mr bowers
• 56:00 - 56:30 have a good day all