Deadline: Monday (2/28), start of class. Posts before midnight on Saturday (2/26) will count towards Week 6; posts after midnight will count towards Week 7.
Friday, February 25, 2011
For Credit: Writing Process, First Paper, Part II
Deadline: Monday (2/28), start of class. Posts before midnight on Saturday (2/26) will count towards Week 6; posts after midnight will count towards Week 7.
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I was not able to be at class today and I'm very sorry I missed the discussion. Would people be willing to share the most helpful points made about writing our papers?
We didn't really get to discuss a whole lot about the paper on Friday, but Ms. Wilcox did make a point about content summarizing in the papers. She handed out that one paper with examples of 6 peoples' thesis paragraphs again, and a lot of people summarized the story, rather than getting to the point.
She also talked about how it may seem difficult/ridiculous for us to be writing a paper about two different stories and comparing "apples to oranges." However, we should look at it more like...what kind of interesting interpretations can we make on one text that we didn't see before because we compared the other text to it?
Oh and don't be afraid to not go in chronological order because it should be your interpretative claims that drive your paper, not the sequence of events! (that's what she told me when I visited her office)
Hope that helps! Good luck to everyone on the paper!
She also talked about the set-up of the paper, saying the weaker papers do all their analysis of the first text, then analyze the second text, and then end with the comparison. So it's better to set up your paper with Point A in the first and second text, Point B in the first and second text, Point C in the first and second text,etc. So I think she means we should try to keep our comparison alive throughout the whole work. Luck!
Thanks to you, too, Katiebug5.
When writing this paper, I find it difficult to stick with my initial theme that I chose for the first part of this paper. I am finding more differences than similarities between the two texts. I would have liked the option to completely change the theme to one that relates more closely to both texts.
Also, I like that we have more direction with the second part of the paper. I feel like after discussing in class the importance of using quotations properly and in a more effective manner that I am more prepared to write a better version of the paper. I am more aware of if I am summarizing the material or making interpretations about it.
I agree with all the statement made in regards to the paper. I find looking back over my paper the mistakes in the lack of my interpretation of the text. Also, looking back over part 1, it is a bit tougher because we only discussed one text. Im still not sure during the rewrite if we should incorporate the second text into the first portion of the paper. The second part of the paper is easier to compare the two text with different points. It has more room for interpretation in my opinion.
Just like Celeste, I have been having lots of trouble keeping my original theme and tying two texts together. I have literally rewritten my paper about three times now- it's really frusterating. I eventually changed the second story from The Story of the Stone to Love Suicides, and the theme has worked better I think.
I am hoping that I am going about incorporating quotes more correctly and not summarizing as much, as those were two things I needed to work on after getting my original paper back.
I find it easiest if I first create an extremely detailed out line by hand and then tackle it on Word. The outline helps me brainstorm and get my ideas out as well as organizing it coherently so that it's easier when I start typing.
When I wrote my paper I found myself summarizing a lot at first. I had to go back and change the structure of my paper to prevent it. Instead of having a paragraph about Fantomina and then a paragraph on The Love Suicides of Amijima I combined them. I found it a lot easier to analyze the story and the play without summarizing to much.
I also looked at the part one paper to see what errors I made and how I could prevent them in this paper.
I feel that like most people I'm having a bit of a problem of sticking with my original theme. Looking at the examples for using quotes effectively, really helps since it showed me what I need to do. In the second part I find the love suicide to work better than the story of the stone. I think that this might be due to the fact that not only is the love suicide story shorter, so that you can find themes and quotes more easily. Also the fact that the story of the stone is not only about love, it has various subplots. So you only get to see one of the relations. Though I am having a hard time coming up with a really good conclusion
For what it's worth, if you find that your chosen theme does not play out as effectively in one text as the other, well...that can be an interesting point of difference between the two texts to write about.
Between my chosen theme of despair and my political theory analysis paper for another class on the way Marx and Weil view capitalistic society as a source of social repression this is one downer of a paper-writing weekend. Grumble!
I feel like so many of the possible choices of themes to write about fit together so closely. It's hard not to talk too much about one of the other themes when relating an idea to your own theme.
I thought comparing the two stories was fun and interesting. It helped me understand The Story of the Stone a little better as well. Emotions of other people area hard thing to grasp, but when you've talked so much about characters in class and then compare them to other characters we've talked about it brings your understanding to a whole new level in my opinion.
While I was able to draw many parallels between the two stories I chose, I found that the biggest task was working with the original draft that I had constructed. Not only did I have to improve that draft, but I also had to shape it so that the themes present in the first text also became apparent in the second. Ultimately, it became useful as a guide for my writing.
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