ESSAY TIPS FROM VO!

 However different your assignments may be from one another, all of your essays will share one characteristic: in each, you will almost certainly be asked to make a point.  If asked what the point of their paper is, most students answer with something like, “Well, I am thinking of writing about Chavez.” But that kind of sentence names only your topic and an intention to write about it.  A topic becomes a point when you need to prove something about it:  “I want to prove that, although Chavez had humble beginnings as a migrant farm worker, he grew to become an icon of organized labor for the Latino community through grassroots organizing.” WHAT’S THE POINT?

 Many beginning writers think that writing an essay means thinking up a point or thesis and then finding evidence to support it.  However, most of us begin our research with a question, with a puzzle, something that we don't understand but want to, and maybe a vague sense of what an answer might look like.  A good point or claim typically has several key characteristics:  it says something significant about what you have read  it says something that is not obvious  it is at least mildly contestable,  it asserts something that you can plausibly support in five pages, not something that would require a book BUT WHAT’S A GOOD POINT?

 “Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a play that raises questions about the nature of kingship and responsibility." Sounds impressive, but who would contest it? Everyone who has read the play already knows that it raises such questions.  "Native Son is one of the most important stories about race relations ever written." Again, your readers probably already agree with this, and if so, why would they read an essay that supported it?  “In this paper, I discuss Ghandi’s philosophy of nonviolent protest." What significant thing does this point tell us about the ethics of protest? NOT GOOD POINTS

 Every body paragraph should have a:  Topic sentence that expresses the main point of the paragraph  Evidence that proves your point  Explanation of how and why your evidence proves your point  Smooth transitions that help link your sentences to each other as well as your body paragraphs BODY PARAGRAPHS

 Adding: First, second, third, in addition…  Cause & Effect: In consequence, because of…  Countering: On the contrary, however, nevertheless…  Linking: As discussed previously, having established that…  Introducing Details: In the case of, for example… STITCHING

 The passive voice is when you make the object of an action into the subject of a sentence.  Why was the road crossed by the chicken?  The more familiar phrasing (why did the chicken cross the road?) puts the actor in the subject position, the position of doing something—the chicken (the actor/doer) crosses the road (the object).  Here’s a sure-fire formula for identifying the passive voice:  form of “to be” + past participle = passive voice  “to be” = is, are, am, was, were, has been, have been, had been, will be, will have been, being…  For example:  The metropolis has been scorched by the dragon’s fiery breath.  When her house was invaded, Penelope had to think of ways to delay her remarriage. BEWARE THE PASSIVE VOICE

 Lack of clarity  When her house was invaded, Penelope had to think of ways to delay her remarriage. (Who invaded her house?)  After suitors invaded Penelope’s house, she had to think of ways to fend them off.  Another example:  (passive) A new system of drug control laws was set up. (By whom?)  (active) The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party set up a new system of drug control laws. WHY IS THE PASSIVE VOICE BAD?

 Lazy thinking due to lack of context  The working class was marginalized.  African Americans were discriminated against.  Women were not treated as equals.  The reader learns little about the systems, conditions, human decisions, and contradictions that produced these groups’ experiences of oppression. And so the reader—the instructor— questions the writer’s understanding of these things. WHY IS THE PASSIVE VOICE BAD?

 1) To emphasize an object.  100 votes are required to pass the bill.  2) To de-emphasize an unknown subject/actor.  Over 120 different contaminants have been dumped into the river.  3) If your readers don’t need to know who’s responsible for the action.  (passive) The baby was delivered at 3:30 a.m. yesterday.  (active) Dr. Susan Jones delivered the baby at 3:30 a.m. yesterday. IS THE PASSIVE EVER OKAY?

Since the end of the Cold War and the triumph of capitalism as the world’s dominant economic system globalisation has become a growing phenomenon. The term globalisation describes the increasing contact and interdependence among national economies and the increasingly international nature of markets, capital, labour and technology. Globalisation has brought with it a rapid increase in international social, cultural and technological exchange. Despite concerns about the detrimental effects of globalisation on developing nations and cultural identities, the interdependence of national economies and societies continues to increase. This paper will argue that the effects of globalisation on trade, manufacturing and international relations cannot really be avoided and can be viewed as both positive and negative depending on who is doing the viewing. Blue=Background info, Green=Definition, Red=Thesis Statement SAMPLE INTRODUCTION

Moreover, even within the developed world, not everyone benefits from globalisation. The ease of movement of manufacturing industries resulting from globalisation is leading to increased insecurity in the workplace in developed countries. There is an increasing trend for manufacturers to shift production overseas to low-cost economies such as China and India. As a result manual workers in developed countries are finding their jobs increasingly threatened as companies shift their production offshore. While shareholders benefit from this change in manufacturing practice the increased unemployment which results from moving manufacturing offshore places a cost on society as the workers who lose their jobs, their families often come to rely on social welfare services, which are paid for by all taxpayers. Therefore, in some cases, something that provides a benefit to a relatively small number of individuals also incurs a cost to society as a whole. SAMPLE PARAGRAPH Linking word, topic sentence, link to thesis statement, link to topic sentence, summary sentence