For Thursday's class, please read
- Chapter 8: Organizing and Drafting an Essay (351 - 379)
- King Curtis's Echo by Max Thayer (191 - 194)
Also, come to class prepared to begin working on your research paper outline and introduction. (You might want to bring some of your source material with you.)
Discussion BoardAnalyze the way in which ideas are organized in the essay by Max Thayer. How would you describe the structure? Is it effective? If the ideas were ordered differently, could the overall impact be stronger? How? Be sure to read Chapter 8, as well as King Kurtis's Echo, before attempting to answer this question.
Max Thayer chose an dramatic arrangement scheme which I thought was very effective because he told step by step everything that led up to the incident and made it real vivid. I think if he would have done the order differently, it would of just been a boring story.
ReplyDeleteIn King Kurtis's echo, I think he used the sandwich, or some aspects of it by appealing to the audience, except he used himself instead of quotations. Also, I think he has a "missing" thesis, because it is not explicitly stated because he wanted his audience, who is reading the material to find out as he went along with his story- A combination of both the ideal, or forecasting. he went on step by step making it more dramatic.. Which was very effective. I don't think he would need to have a strong thesis, because it would give away the suspense and the drama of the story and a expressively stated thesis wouldn't work well.
ReplyDeleteI think Max Thayer uses dramatic/emphatic organization in his essay. He saves what was more relevant and more informative supporting details of the thesis at the end. I think that overall impact would have been stronger if he wrote line 18(That's when I lost it, spewing every unprintable phrase that welled up in my febrile brain. I questioned his courage, his sexual proclivities, his family, his-you know the drill.) in his introduction. Readers will be interested and would want to read more about why the author starts cussing out at someone.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, for me, the structure that Max Thayer presents in his essay is a bit complex and confusing. I think it could be a better way to state the experience that he lived and the moral issue he wants to teach. I believe its structure is effective because it allows us to understand clearly the message he wants to provide to the public, BUT, I also believe that the structure is not efficient because it took a long time to reveal the main message. Indeed, if I were not assigned to read this essay, I would not have full read. I think he gave a lot of laps and mentioned many irrelevant details. Maybe if Max developed his paper in a slightly different way, the readers might have gotten to understand his message more clearly and more quickly. In truth, when I started reading the essay I thought it was some story related to his activities as an actor. With regard to the example of King Curtis at first I did not catch the purpose of mentioning. I would recommend that he reconfigure his essay, first, he should develop a thesis statement like "A moment of reflection can often prevent a person to land in jail, to land in an emergency room or the morgue " then, he could present his experience and King's one, as supporting material.
ReplyDeleteMax Thayers essay was structured in a unusual way, it was very dramatic. He does start from the beginning of the story and than connects it to something that happened before, and shows the connection, between the two. It was difficult to find the main idea without reading the whole essay. The overall impact would've been stronger if he had, probably started his essay differently.
ReplyDeleteI would describe the structure as being suspenseful. He keeps the reader interested and wondering whets going to happen. He gives the reader all the information at the end of the essay and by doing so keeps the reader interested. I think this type of structure is very effective. It sort of has a hook to catch the reader and delivers at the end. Maybe if the ideas where ordered differently it could have been stronger. Maybe by beginning at the end of his story and working backwards. I believe that the way it is structured is sufficient as well. I am also like kamar. I had a little trouble trying to figure out the thesis in this essay. Overall it was good.
ReplyDeleteI would say that the way is structured this essay unusual but interesting which still keeps the reader interested but little bit complicate structured too. Dramatic story with the life lesson giving end. Connects the present, past time happened story
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