Essays: from #1 to #2

Hmmmm, I don't know if anyone has read what I have previously posted, since no one has posted a comment. I guess if I want comments I will have to assign them!

I have been trying to wrap my brain around the concept for Essay 2 for some time now, and you have all heard me thinking about it out loud; you can also read my thoughts if you read the longer post I wrote about it.

Now I have to pin something down. As I read through Essay 1 final drafts, I am becoming acutely aware that I want you to focus on...FOCUS. Developing a working thesis--a statement that maps out the direction in which your essay might go--is an important tool, I think, for those of you whose essays were very general this first time around (e.g., "Advertising is everywhere") as well as for those who mainly repeated what one of the Signs of Life authors had to say (e.g., "Men's women are available, attractive and impressed by the man in the ad.") A working thesis needs to have something of your original thinking in it in order to guide your essay process.

I happen to believe that when I get a lot of essays with the same types of problems that, besides reflecting where people are with their essay writing skills and confidence, that there is probably a fatal flaw either in the assignment or in how I led you up to the assignment. So obviously I want to avoid making the same mistake in presenting Essay 2. Of course, having original thinking about a topic is directly related to how interested you are in it, so perhaps the shift in topic will be enough for some of you. As for creating focus, I will try to build it into the essay assignment.

Roughly what I'm thinking (Remember that this is an assignment in progress!):

1. Include in your essay analytical summaries of at least two sources which give a perspective of American involvement in Iraq. The summaries can be based on films (Iraq in Fragments, Gunner Palace, Voices of War, Iraq for Sale), on websites, on current news and "views" articles, or on any combination of sources. Possibly, choose one source that reflects or informs your current perspective on the situation.
2. Include also in your essay an examination of your own perspective on Iraq (perhaps both before and after being exposed to others' views) as well as reflection on your perspective and on what informs (and formed) that perspective.

Your Working Thesis:
Once you have chosen your sources to analyze, you should be able to write a working thesis that can guide your essay. This working thesis (and hence, your essay) might contrast two ways of thinking; it might explain in a nutshell one prominent view; it might highlight your own view and how it has been shaped or influenced.

Organization:
1. One choice in organizing this essay would be to give an overall introduction, present your two analytical summaries, and end with the reflective part of your essay. If you choose to do this, remember that you will still need to provide transitional sentences in between the different parts of your essay.
2. For those of you more comfortable with your essay writing, you can blend analysis of your sources with your reflection throughout your essay--basically, using them as your sources, remembering to not just "say what they say," but also to "say what they mean."

We'll talk more about this in class, and of course I will come up with a document that spells out the requirements, but I think that this is the direction I'm leading you for Essay 2.