What’s the Point- Summary
What is really misunderstood about a thesis statement is that it is considered as the “answer” to one’s question. While, on the contrary, it really is the question that is answered by one’s essay, which is “so what?” David Hengel describes the thesis as the “macro-question” and the small little questions that help in answering the macro-question as the “micro-question” (also called the “controlling ideas” of the body paragraphs). Certain things to keep in mind is that this macro-question should not be a straightforward yes or no question or too extensive to answer. Also, it shouldn’t be focusing primarily on speculations. Lastly, a thesis statement should be flexible to change and shouldn’t be written in stone which is why one should thoroughly think of it before proposing his/her thesis.
Responding—Really Responding—To Other Students’ Writing– Summary
When offering a response to a peer’s paper, it is essential that you know who you are and never cross the line of being a peer editor. What you see is what you can suggest. It is neither good nor wise to force your ideas on your friend. All you can do is make suggestions and comments to his writing in a very respectful, encouraging and friendly manner that doesn’t make him doubt himself as a writer and leave the freedom of listening to your advice to him. But at the same time, this doesn’t mean at all that you should just sugar coat your opinion to not make him feel bad about the weaknesses of his writing. A good peer editor would not only praise and encourage the good parts of his friends writing while pointing out the bad ones, but he will also push his friend in exploring and widening the boundaries of his analysis.
Response
These two readings are extremely important considering our upcoming analysis paper. The first reading helped me in understanding the requirements that should be met to develop a clear and concise thesis statement. Not only will this make me write my paper more smoothly and coherently, but also help me map my thoughts in a more systematic manner. The second reading focused on responding to others papers rather than your own. I learned many different things about peer editing that I was a bit naive about previously such as being honest and pointing out the mistakes of your friend can save his grade instead of being nice to him and not telling him where his inaccuracies lie.