By Emily Long Olsen
When students are demonstrably confused by the notion of a thesis-driven essay, one of my favorite things to do has been to show them how the structure of the essay reflects the way we communicate naturally. My goal is to help them view writing as just one way to communicate ideas. The purpose of writing is not simply to write, I sometimes remind students. The purpose is to say something. The writing is just the medium. In this way, rather than viewing structure as random guidelines specific to their paper, they can see the structure of their papers in the big picture: as purposeful and goal-oriented, and a useful method of communication.
One way I have found to be successful is to illustrate the correlation between the structure of an everyday conversation and the structure of their essay, by asking students to tell me about a movie they’ve seen recently.
I might say, Oh, I haven’t heard of that movie. What is it? The student usually says something like, It’s a movie about a kid who finds out he’s a wizard and gets accepted to a special school for child witches and wizards. That’s the introduction: some background and summary that can provide context for me to understand what you want to tell me.
I’ll then ask the student: Was it a well-made movie or not? The student might say,Yes, it was well made. That’s the thesis: your analysis of the movie based on your observations.
Well, what if I disagree? I ask them: Can you explain to me why you believe it was well made, even though we both saw the same movie? What are three elements of the movie that led to your conclusion? Usually the student comes up with something like this:
- The actors are skilled and convincing.
- The soundtrack is well written.
- The special effects were exciting.
These are topic sentences: the subclaims for your paragraphs.
By illustrating that ultimately, the purpose of writing is communication and the goal is to explain something to a reader, we can help the student see for herself what strategies and methods lend themselves to that purpose. Reflecting on the types of communication that students use in their everyday life can help draw out those methods: analysis and argument, and support and evidence.
I sometimes worry that this approach risks coming across as condescending, by oversimplifying the complex task of developing a thesis and creating an evidence-based structure to support it. It’s not always this easy, I know.
But I believe that through this very simplified example, students have the opportunity to focus on the purpose of structure and why it works, rather than to view it as an arbitrary set of rules to blindly follow, divorced from purpose and utility. And ultimately, this understanding empowers them to use clear, articulate writing as a tool for their own communicative goals.
Published May 19, 2017
