What’s the point?
In this writing, Daniel Hengel shares his ways of developing a thesis. First, he tries to explain that a thesis of a writing is similar to an argument or a controlling idea. It is the one or two sentence clear and concise point that is proved throughout the essay. He also explains that the essay should ultimately answer a big question which is our argument. Next, he splits these questions into categories of macro-questions, which is the thesis question answered by the essay, and micro-questions, which are the little questions that help answer the big question. Hengel believes that its best to start simple before going big and when we are reading the text, we should ask ourselves, “What do you see? What do you make of it? Why does it matter?” These are steps we can take to find the macro-question we want to answer throughout the essay. There are more questions that we can ask ourselves, but these are just questions that help us filter the potential theses we may use. Even though we may have already decided on a thesis we wanted to write about, it can change, and Hengel encourages us to make those changes so our writing can evolve.
Responding – Really Responding – To Other Students’ Writing
Richard Straub explains that we should not attempt a sloppy job when we are editing the papers of others because it is our feedback that they can utilize to improve their writing. Throughout the reading, Straub lists several ways we can provide better feedback and suggestions. One of the initial questions he lists on the subheading is “How Do You Get Started?” He further explains the things we should look for, such as the assignment, the writer’s interests, and aims, their stage of drafting, and the how well it connects to the work we discussed in class. There are many other ways listed to help us give better feedback, but the main ones are to be ourselves when grading and be honest when there are spots where we see improvement.
Response
The following readings would prove to be useful to me because of my lack of confidence in writing. Starting my writing is probably the part I struggle most with, so I’m sure I can utilize the methods that Daniel Hengel uses to structure my writings. Also, feedback was something I also didn’t do well in, but I’m glad I was able to read this before giving responses to other students’ writing because I felt I should consider the feelings of the writer and write feedback that pleases them. However, that is not how feedback works and it is supposed to help us improve, not sugarcoat the mistakes in our writing.