Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Response to Classwork

In class we have been focusing on tearing apart a text, AKA close readings. We used Diction, Imagery, Details, Language and Syntax to find effects in texts. These effects are used as evidence to formulate a hypothesis(or meaning) for the piece. In essence, a close read is an experiment. A question is posed, the prompt, and you must use your observations, techniques, to formulate and thesis, hypothesis. Within each technique, there are specific subcategories. These subcategories are essentially how you go about analyzing a text. For instance in diction, you look at the elevation of speech, regionalism, and connotations of certain phrases. These sub categories are what you look through during your second read, when you mark up your text.

The introduction and thesis was another spot that we, as a class, spent a lot of time on. We looked at the three sentence intro format as well as the thesis statement. The thesis must include every aspect of the prompt in order to obtain a high score on the AP exam. The thesis statement is the end product of a string of arguments. These arguments are stated in the topic sentence of each body paragraph and thus elaborated on in the respective body paragraph. Together it forms a cohesive and high scoring essay.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Nishant,
    So I don't know how to comment on this...
    But ya, I think being able to right a good thesis is the most important thing of the essay, in fact you can't really start a essay without a thesis, and I like how you said "thesis is the end product of a string of arguments". It is very true.
    Well keep up the good work!

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  2. You did a great job hitting the major points we covered in class, especially in regard to close reading being an experiment. I feel more evidence to strengthen this analogy is that in an experiment you do multiple trials, and in close reading you read through the text multiple times and come up with many different types of thesis based on what you find.

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  3. Interesting comparison to a scientific experiment..I wouldn't have ever thought to make that connection. I feel like you hit the most importatnt things we've learned. The thesis is certainly very important to the essay. I would suggest some personal reflection as well..what you like, what you struggle with, and comparisons to what you've learned regarding essays in the past. That's about it. Good job!

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