Any suggestions or feedback would be wonderful! Thank you so much!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Topic Ideas for Discovery Essay
I'm not sure what I'm gung-ho interested in writing about for this essay, but I have come up with a few topics that seem moderately interesting. I wanted to stick with my theme of ballet, since it's something I love to do and is a beyond huge part of my life, but I'm not sure where to go with it to make it vibrant and unpredictable. As far as the Trends and Controversies categories from Ballenger's text, I am considering writing about the "go green" movement that is sweeping our society currently by asking, "Why go green? Are there really benefits for the environment? Humankind? How far must we take the movement to be successful?" I thought this would be a fascinating topic because the movement is something I've become a part of and would like to take farther. I even switched to the reusable grocery bags versus the paper/plastic options! I'd love to hear thoughts on this... I'm not sure my questions are open ended enough for this paper.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Reading Response #2
Immediately upon reading the title of Chapter 11, my brain ached and I suddenly tasted something nasty in my mouth. Since elementary school I’ve been required to write research papers, and since elementary school it has been like pulling teeth to make me write them. But when diving into Ballenger’s text I discovered that perhaps I could be successful, for once, at writing and studying about research pieces. What’s more is that the two essays we read were actually painless to read. I found that both Holmquist’s “An Experience in Acronyms” and Garrett-Brown’s “Why do People Tan” were insightful and inquisitive and presented ideas in a very different way than the typical boring research essay. Usually when reading a research paper it is similar to reading a textbook- an activity that I certainly do not enjoy. But with these essays, which presented factual evidence about a specific topic, I found that I really became part of the essay while reading.
To start, Ballenger explains that there is a huge difference between writing a research paper and writing a research essay. He offers that a research paper is intended to make a contention concerning a certain topic using extended research to back it up. Writing a research essay, however, is meant to uncover rather than to persuade and audience or prove a claim (Ballenger, 430). I feel that this concept was present in both of the required reading essays. The idea of simple curiosity was present in both compositions- Holmquist’s paper was clearly written because he was just curious about what the big deal was about illegal drugs, while Garrett-Brown’s essay was also not a long and drawn out contemplation but just something that happened to be in the author’s head one moment. Ballenger makes an interesting point when he says, “Not just any question will do. It has to be one that will drive the process for the few weeks it takes for you to learn about your topic and know enough to discover your own ideas about it” (Ballenger, 431). When thinking about this idea it absolutely made sense to me, because without the right motivation the writing becomes flat and more like a chore to do than interesting. I believe that as human beings every one of us has had a question or two in our lives that has really just stuck with us, like “What is really in mayonnaise?” or “Why can’t I put metal in the microwave?” You know the questions I’m talking about- the ones that sit with you and just make your brain ache until you know the answer. It seems that now is the right time to pull up those questions, because I wouldn’t doubt that the most bizarre of questions might turn out to be the best essays.
Another defining characteristic that Ballenger mentions in his text is that the research material utilized when writing the essay is presented in the benefit of what writers are attempting to convey about the topic they are dealing with (Ballenger, 433). This concept is consistent with both Holmquist’s and Garrett-Brown’s essays, because while some pieces of writing read like a page out of the encyclopedia, both of these papers read almost like a personal essay, but with tidbits of fact thrown in to show the discovery that the authors made. For example, in Garrett-Brown’s piece she writes, “In an article by Alexandra Greeley… she presents her case against spending time in the sun and especially tanning… but I couldn’t help but wonder if she ever has any fun after reading the closing lines to her article” (460). She then goes on to list the disputed lines for her audience, but I thought that Ballenger’s idea was well illustrated in this case. It proved that as a writer, you do not always have to agree with your source. In fact you are entitled to your own opinion. Garrett-Brown casually threw in her information without necessarily leading her audience into assuming there would be a cited section of evidence coming up. Also consistent of this idea, Holmquist, while writing paragraphs pertaining to why people do drugs, inserts his information only where it is needed, rather than boring his readers with citation after citation (B25). While it was a much more structured essay than Garrett-Brown’s, it maintained a casual flow throughout the piece that made it more inviting for the reader.
I think when approaching Essay 2, I will take Ballenger’s advice and really just choose a topic that not only is something that interests me, but something that I can both research and write about for the next few weeks. I will not necessarily dig deep into my brain to find a topic, but skim the service to find the most random of ideas to use. I will also approach this essay with a casual tone, rather than going into formal research mode. Since the paper will be about something that I like or am fascinated by, the quality should be informative and personal to me. While I cannot say that I am essentially eager or thrilled to write this next essay, my mind is more at ease after reading more about discovery essays.
To start, Ballenger explains that there is a huge difference between writing a research paper and writing a research essay. He offers that a research paper is intended to make a contention concerning a certain topic using extended research to back it up. Writing a research essay, however, is meant to uncover rather than to persuade and audience or prove a claim (Ballenger, 430). I feel that this concept was present in both of the required reading essays. The idea of simple curiosity was present in both compositions- Holmquist’s paper was clearly written because he was just curious about what the big deal was about illegal drugs, while Garrett-Brown’s essay was also not a long and drawn out contemplation but just something that happened to be in the author’s head one moment. Ballenger makes an interesting point when he says, “Not just any question will do. It has to be one that will drive the process for the few weeks it takes for you to learn about your topic and know enough to discover your own ideas about it” (Ballenger, 431). When thinking about this idea it absolutely made sense to me, because without the right motivation the writing becomes flat and more like a chore to do than interesting. I believe that as human beings every one of us has had a question or two in our lives that has really just stuck with us, like “What is really in mayonnaise?” or “Why can’t I put metal in the microwave?” You know the questions I’m talking about- the ones that sit with you and just make your brain ache until you know the answer. It seems that now is the right time to pull up those questions, because I wouldn’t doubt that the most bizarre of questions might turn out to be the best essays.
Another defining characteristic that Ballenger mentions in his text is that the research material utilized when writing the essay is presented in the benefit of what writers are attempting to convey about the topic they are dealing with (Ballenger, 433). This concept is consistent with both Holmquist’s and Garrett-Brown’s essays, because while some pieces of writing read like a page out of the encyclopedia, both of these papers read almost like a personal essay, but with tidbits of fact thrown in to show the discovery that the authors made. For example, in Garrett-Brown’s piece she writes, “In an article by Alexandra Greeley… she presents her case against spending time in the sun and especially tanning… but I couldn’t help but wonder if she ever has any fun after reading the closing lines to her article” (460). She then goes on to list the disputed lines for her audience, but I thought that Ballenger’s idea was well illustrated in this case. It proved that as a writer, you do not always have to agree with your source. In fact you are entitled to your own opinion. Garrett-Brown casually threw in her information without necessarily leading her audience into assuming there would be a cited section of evidence coming up. Also consistent of this idea, Holmquist, while writing paragraphs pertaining to why people do drugs, inserts his information only where it is needed, rather than boring his readers with citation after citation (B25). While it was a much more structured essay than Garrett-Brown’s, it maintained a casual flow throughout the piece that made it more inviting for the reader.
I think when approaching Essay 2, I will take Ballenger’s advice and really just choose a topic that not only is something that interests me, but something that I can both research and write about for the next few weeks. I will not necessarily dig deep into my brain to find a topic, but skim the service to find the most random of ideas to use. I will also approach this essay with a casual tone, rather than going into formal research mode. Since the paper will be about something that I like or am fascinated by, the quality should be informative and personal to me. While I cannot say that I am essentially eager or thrilled to write this next essay, my mind is more at ease after reading more about discovery essays.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Reading Response #1
I found both of these essays to be extremely easy to relate to. Not only was I comfortable and interested in each story that was presented, I had fun reading both memories almost as if they were my own. I felt I could relate more with Hogg’s “I’m a Believer” simply because I’ve had my own celebrity crush or two. After reading both essays as well as Ballenger’s lesson on the form of the personal essay, I concluded that both recollections were so effortless to relate to because they were written in the form he specified.
First of all, the essays were both written in first person which was understandable considering that these memories came straight from the minds of their writers (94). Not only were the essays written from a first person stand point, but they were both also commonplace (94). It is not unlikely for a teenage girl’s heart to beat wildly over a celebrity, especially one who sings. Near the beginning of Hogg’s essay she writes, “I believed this was some kind of privileged access I had, this private and offhand exchange between Davy and someone… that this brief moment before the music was cued was put on my album deliberately,” is something that you might catch any star struck teenager saying about their favorite superstar (B1). Nor is it improbable for an individual to find beauty in a place that had always been so familiar to them that it was monotonous. Both of these writers stuck with subjects that they could really give detail about, and it made the reader feel as if they were a part of each. This narrative style of writing was another point that Ballenger made about personal essays (94). By using their own thoughts, Hogg and Black were able to trigger the reader’s mind to paint a perfect picture of that memory. Even the simple thought that Black has, “I went home and I fell in love with a place I couldn’t claim for myself. This did what nothing else could until then: it humbled me,” really conveys how hard the scenery hit her and how deeply she could feel it (B14). Perhaps the most interesting tip from Ballenger that I picked up on while reading these passages was that in both the thesis came very late in the story (94). For Hogg, the thesis occurs only two lines before the story is over. It is her realization of her crush being only a crush. She writes, “As I watch him write ‘David’ not ‘Davy’, I accept, finally, that this person I know so well I don’t really know at all, and I, the daydream believer, am just a fan” (B10). While Black’s thesis did not occur as late, it too was not near the commencement of her narrative, and it also dealt with a point of realization. Black states, “I had always prided myself on being rootless, yet here I was experiencing rootedness in the most literal sense of the word, and loving it in spite of myself” (B13). I agree with Ballenger’s statement that, “…insight is usually earned later rather than at the beginning of the telling” (94). If Black’s or Hogg’s thesis’s were near the start of their recollections, the feelings I had while reading both stories would have been completely different, and neither would have been as exciting for me to read. Not to mention, if they listed their thesis’s early on there would have been absolutely no purpose in reading the rest of their narrative. By that point I would have already known the use of their essay. The last point that Ballenger makes is that the personal essay often transfers back and forth between the past and the present, showing the author coming to terms with whatever situation is being dealt with (94). In both Hogg’s essay and Black’s essay I felt that this strategy was utilized, but in a different way. Hogg’s remembrance began when she was only six years old and then jumped straight to when she was fifteen and anxious to attend Davy Jones’ concert. The last jump she makes is to when she is twenty seven and that is when her realization about Davy Jones sets in. To me, she made shifts in time, but chronologically. Black, however, stays in that memory and only pauses to make points about how she felt connecting with that setting. I think that this too was very effective in helping the reader to understand how she feels now.
Both Black and Hogg used strategies that Ballenger discussed to write powerful, thought provoking personal essays.
First of all, the essays were both written in first person which was understandable considering that these memories came straight from the minds of their writers (94). Not only were the essays written from a first person stand point, but they were both also commonplace (94). It is not unlikely for a teenage girl’s heart to beat wildly over a celebrity, especially one who sings. Near the beginning of Hogg’s essay she writes, “I believed this was some kind of privileged access I had, this private and offhand exchange between Davy and someone… that this brief moment before the music was cued was put on my album deliberately,” is something that you might catch any star struck teenager saying about their favorite superstar (B1). Nor is it improbable for an individual to find beauty in a place that had always been so familiar to them that it was monotonous. Both of these writers stuck with subjects that they could really give detail about, and it made the reader feel as if they were a part of each. This narrative style of writing was another point that Ballenger made about personal essays (94). By using their own thoughts, Hogg and Black were able to trigger the reader’s mind to paint a perfect picture of that memory. Even the simple thought that Black has, “I went home and I fell in love with a place I couldn’t claim for myself. This did what nothing else could until then: it humbled me,” really conveys how hard the scenery hit her and how deeply she could feel it (B14). Perhaps the most interesting tip from Ballenger that I picked up on while reading these passages was that in both the thesis came very late in the story (94). For Hogg, the thesis occurs only two lines before the story is over. It is her realization of her crush being only a crush. She writes, “As I watch him write ‘David’ not ‘Davy’, I accept, finally, that this person I know so well I don’t really know at all, and I, the daydream believer, am just a fan” (B10). While Black’s thesis did not occur as late, it too was not near the commencement of her narrative, and it also dealt with a point of realization. Black states, “I had always prided myself on being rootless, yet here I was experiencing rootedness in the most literal sense of the word, and loving it in spite of myself” (B13). I agree with Ballenger’s statement that, “…insight is usually earned later rather than at the beginning of the telling” (94). If Black’s or Hogg’s thesis’s were near the start of their recollections, the feelings I had while reading both stories would have been completely different, and neither would have been as exciting for me to read. Not to mention, if they listed their thesis’s early on there would have been absolutely no purpose in reading the rest of their narrative. By that point I would have already known the use of their essay. The last point that Ballenger makes is that the personal essay often transfers back and forth between the past and the present, showing the author coming to terms with whatever situation is being dealt with (94). In both Hogg’s essay and Black’s essay I felt that this strategy was utilized, but in a different way. Hogg’s remembrance began when she was only six years old and then jumped straight to when she was fifteen and anxious to attend Davy Jones’ concert. The last jump she makes is to when she is twenty seven and that is when her realization about Davy Jones sets in. To me, she made shifts in time, but chronologically. Black, however, stays in that memory and only pauses to make points about how she felt connecting with that setting. I think that this too was very effective in helping the reader to understand how she feels now.
Both Black and Hogg used strategies that Ballenger discussed to write powerful, thought provoking personal essays.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Hi, I'm Caitlin!
My name is Caitlin Mayes and I'm a sophomore here at TCU. I grew up in Flower Mound, Texas (yes, it's just as intimidating as it sounds) which is about forty five minutes to an hour away from here. I'm a ballet major so dancing takes up most of my time on campus, but I also love to have a good time with friends, cook, listen to music, and be outside as much as I can. As far as what I'm going to do with a degree in ballet, I'm keeping my options open. I would love to dance with a ballet company when I graduate, but teaching is another path I'm interested in taking. I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone as best as I can. Have a great day!
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