Currently out of all three the papers I am putting into my portfolio, I am not confident to say one single paper shows my best work. I believe all my papers need a lot of editing because currently they are disorganized and they need to become clear of what the argument is.
In my close reading essay, I have a good example of closing reading an epigraph and providing an explanation of Krakauer's purpose of using this quote. I just need to elaborate on it more and do not leave the reader hanging. However, I do not close read every epigraph nor do I talk about the individuals who wrote each epigraph. I need to change that in this essay. In my introduction, I need to make an introduction that explains who McCandless instead of jumping right into my essay. Finally, I am too vague in the essay and need to focus on a specific argument about families.
In my McCandless essay, I need to make a clear argument about McCandless's journey in order to show how he over romanticized nature by isolating himself from society which resulted in his arrogance about the treacherous wilderness. I do provide good examples of this but really need to explain the quotes better. I also need to address the naysayer because I know there are a lot of people who disagree with my opinion. Finally, I also need to include scholarly sources. But mostly I need to organize my paper and be specific throughout my whole paper.
In my research essay, I believe I have a lot of strong points and quotes, but with these quotes I need to explain the meaning and how it connects to my main point. Currently my paper is filled with facts, but i need to analyze the meaning behind the quotes. Also, some of my facts are not necessary to my main point. But mostly I need to organize my paper. I use good explications of the movie to provide a deeper meaning of the movie and how it relates to American culture.
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I think after you explain the information about where the epigraphs are coming from, you really need to hone in on why those epigraphs are important. Obviously they were put there for a reason, so how to they relate to Chris. I know for me that was kind of a challenge because I always thought I was just repeating myself. Through editing though I really close read each epigraph and even though they are all arguing my point, they are all different. I think that is what will make both our essays strong if we can figure out ways to reiterate our argument without just repeating the same thing over and over by using our epigraphs. Also for your research paper, not having your own analysis was a similar problem of mine. I feel like I had a lot of facts and information about my television show I chose, but I really didn't know how to analyze. I went outside the box a little and tried to analyze how the audience was affected by a particular episode, that really seemed to help me. Maybe if you use sources and viewers who watched the movie you are writing about and analyze their viewpoints.
ReplyDeleteI think that really addressing the problem you say you have with organization and structure will really help to bring your papers together and fix other issues such as explaining further into quotes, and introducing sources. Organization is definitely something I am currently struggling with in my own papers, and I feel once I figure out the structure, the paper will fall together. Its hard for me to make sure I am not forcing the reader to read between the lines, or assuming that they understand my direction and purpose. I think this is something you also struggle with, so making sure your plans and purpose are spelled out can help clear this conception. As far as the research paper it seems all three of us have the same problem: a lot of facts and no analysis of our own argument. I am addressing this in revision by alternating between my own analysis and historical context. Perhaps this approach could help you with the same problem.
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