What’s the Point?
Author Daniel Hengel begins his argument by simply stating what he believes is the legitimate way to analyze and interpret a text. The idea of “asking questions of the texts” and he stresses the importance of needing to have some sort of claim called the thesis. The questions he gives are very accurate pertaining to most people that are conducting a similar sort of analysis paper. The ideal question that everyone most likely has is “Where do You Start?”, in which he provides three steps to apply to this question in order to structure your essay. The thesis is arguably the most important part of the paper, basically because it states the claim that you are taking and will provide evidence for throughout the body of the essay. Hengel urges to ask yourself “What do you see?”, “What do you Make of It?”, and “Why does it Matter?” By completing this task, it will ultimately provide a simple, yet accurate foundation for you to develop a thesis.
Responding-Really Responding to Other Students’ Writing
According to Richard Straub, the idea of discussing ideas amongst peers and reading each others’ work can be very beneficial towards both yourself and the writer as well. The ultimate goal when reading someone else’s paper is to take ideas from their writing, give them tips on what they could possibly do better, and point out their strengths and weaknesses regarding structure of their essay. It is not always good to be “short and sweet” with your comments, sometimes the writer truly needs that criticism on their work in order to fully develop themselves to become an overall better writer and not simply for that specific paper.