The Essay
This is what you have been writing since high school and probably (hopefully) before. Think of an essay as a conversation that you have with a reader about a certain subject wherein you share your opinion on that subject and either ask for the reader to adopt your understanding or act on the facts you present.
Thesis: This is the main idea or the "point" of your essay and it answers the question, "Why should I read this essay?" If you want to think of it in terms of a formula - something you can use only until you get the hang of things - think of a thesis this way:
Subject + Opinion + Reason(s) for that opinion
For example, let's say you are writing about ice cream. The subject "ice cream" is too broad, so you decide "vanilla ice cream" is your subject. Then you say, "My opinion is that vanilla ice cream is the best flavor of ice cream around." Finally, you ponder why do you feel this way and maybe you say, "Because it goes well with almost every dessert, it is simple, and it emphasizes the flavor of the cream rather than additions like nuts and fruits and swirls." Then you put that all into one sentence:
When it comes to ice cream flavors, vanilla continues to be a favorite because it is simple, which means that it really lets the flavor of the cream shine, and it goes well with almost any dessert it is paired with.
Title: A title lets the reader know what is coming, what to expect. It is not too detailed, but it is also not too simple. If you are writing about, say, President Obama, some bad titles would be "The President," "Obama," or "Barack Obama." Better titles might be, "The Nation's First Black President," "A Leader Who Leans Left," or "Barack Obama: The Chosen One?" These latter examples give the reader a clue as to what your essay will be about and which way your essay will lean.
Introduction: This can be the first paragraph or even the first several paragraphs of your essay. It can take the form of a simple "framing story" or it can be a piece of dialogue or an example event. You want to avoid statistics unless you can give the reader context to the numbers you provide. You also want to make sure that your introduction does its job, which is to present the argument of the essay and any useful information that a reader would need to know before getting into the meat of the essay.
Topic Sentence: Introduces the subject of the paragraph. Going back to that vanilla ice cream thesis, there are three major sub-subjects suggested in the thesis: the simplicity of vanilla, the emphasis on cream flavor, and the pairing with other desserts. In an essay, your topic sentences might address each of these like so:
Vanilla's sweet simplicity is what ice cream lovers have gone back to generation after generation.
The cream flavor is really the star in vanilla ice cream, so it emphasizes good ingredients.
Vanilla, of course, goes well with a multitude of desserts.
Transition: A transition creates a link from one idea to the next and it happens between paragraphs. This can happen at the end of a paragraph. However, in this class, you will create transitions in your topic sentences - it kills two birds with one stone and it shows a sort of finesse to your writing. Let me show you how this is done with the topic sentences above:
One of the reasons vanilla continues to be a favorite is thanks to vanilla's sweet simplicity, which is what ice cream lovers have gone back to generation after generation.
Because vanilla ice cream is so simple, the cream flavor is really the star, so it emphasizes good ingredients.
That wonderful cream flavor, like a nice cold glass of milk, goes well with a multitude of desserts.
Conclusion: I want you to think of your conclusion to really be a "love note to the reader." You have probably heard many people say that you "restate the thesis" here, but that is ridiculous - if I am reading your essay and I have somehow forgotten the thesis, I need only turn the page back and read it again myself. No, you should think of this as your final message to your reader - what do you want them to do with the information you have provided? Should they take action? Should they ponder the implications of the story in their own life? Should they learn some moral lesson? Tell your reader why they spent the last 15 minutes to hour reading your paper.
Literacy
How we "read" a "text" and how we "interpret" it
Read: To observe a "text" and attempt to figure it out based on our understanding, experience, and intellect.
Text: A physical entity (such as a book or a person), a circumstance (such as a crime scene or a date), or any other thing/moment that is open to being read and interpretted. A text is not "everything." That is, it is difficult to prove that "the air is a text" but the way that a farmer reads the winds to determine if rain is coming, that is a text; he is reading and interpretting.
Interpret: This is the internal work of the reader to create meaning from his or her observation of a text. For example, death is a text that will be interpretted in myriad ways depending on one's belief system, experience with it, and connection to the being(s) who have died.
Literacy Event: Moment when a "literacy" is needed and applied - for example, when you are driving to the store - you must be literate about the way to get there, how to operate your car, and where you will park, of course, but there are also other literacies involved in this moment - the understanding of "status" established in the vehicles people are driving or "modd" determined by the speed a person is driving at, so the entire moment is a "literacy event"
Ethnography: a study of a culture. In here, we mostly talk about "literacy" cultures - how people in a culture communicate with one another, how they create meaning, etc. When we are part of the culture we are studying, we call ourselves a "participant observer"
Code: another way to understand a literacy is to think of it as a "code language" in a culture, just something that participants in that culture understand. For example, anyone who has used a cell phone to text over the last decade would probably know what LOL means or =), but think about those who are unfamiliar with text messaging - these would have no meaning to them. Each culture, then, creates a set of codes - some literal (like the texting) some not so literal... for example, some men will stand up when a lady enters the room. This is an old custom, but in some areas it is still understood that this is proper behavior.
Code Switching: We do this when we move from one culture to another - we have a different code language with our grandparents and teachers than we might with our siblings or close friends, and our relationships with our partners/lovers/whatever also maintain a different code language. Code Switching is easily seen when an authority figure enters a room - like a king or president walking into a room, everyone goes silent, there is a new mood - they have all collectively "switched"
Sentence Structure
The basics of how we construct a sentence.
SVO ("Missionary"): This is the most common way we construct a sentence - Subject Verb (Direct/Indirect) Object.
Example: The cat (Subject) licks (Verb) its paw (Direct Object).
We can also think of this in terms of "acting" and "action":
Example: The cat (Actor) licks (Action) its paw (Acted Upon).
Independent Clause: A sentence that may stand on its own, has both a subject and a verb (either of which might be impliedi but not stated, as in the sentence "Stop!")
Dependent Clause: Any sentence that cannot stand on its own - it is an incomplete thought. These are very useful in "bulking up" sentences.
Fun with Dependent clauses: Remember, as we worked these out in class, that a dependent clause can be thrown almost anywhere in a sentence:
Example: After taking a long nap, the cat licked its paw. (Dependent Clause at the front)
Example: The cat licked its paw after taking a long nap. (Dependent Clause at the end)
Example: The cat, after taking a long nap, licked its paw. (Dependent Clause in the middle)
Note the placement of commas when you are having fun with dependent clauses.
Prepositions: These can be used to represent "positioning" (see, it is even in the word) in time, place, and situation (as in "looking at a mirror"). Prepositional phrases can often take the place of dependent clauses or simply be a dependent clause:
Example: Under the coffee table, the cat licks its paw.
Example: Last week at the same time, the cat licked its paw.
Remember: I am not so much concerned that you "remember the rules" of sentence structure as I am that you get the point - every paper needs sentence variety. That's why I call SVO (or "the simple sentence") the missionary style. It's fine and serves its purpose, but it can get old and you need to spruce things up every now and then to keep your audience interested.
Cultural Literacy
The term comes to us from Professor E.D. Hirsch Jr. who wrote the book Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know in the late 80s and the premise was that if folks would just know the right things they would be able to negotiate all of American Literacies (or at least those that "mattered"). So the "right things" consisted of the right books (classic literature), the right music (opera, classical, maybe Jazz), the right movies (usually "artsy" stuff and documentaries). The idea, as you may remember from our video "The Dumbest Generation," has stuck for a long time and many people still believe this.
We take a look at it in here not to prove whether it is right or wrong (it's a battle as deeply entrenched as abortion and gay marriage, so we won't even go there), but to decide what problems might arise from either accepting the idea of cultural literacy or rejecting its possible relevance altogether.
Literacy Sponsor: Any group (or even a single person), institution, or corporation that enables, regulates, or withholds literacy learning for individuals (term comes from Prof. Deborah Brandt)
Examples:
One of the movies I asked you to watch is The Color Purple (if you didn't choose it, you should still watch it because it kicks ass). In the movie, we have an individual, Celie, who is both "enabled" by characters like Shug Avery and Sophia (both encourage her to stand up for herself), and "held back" mostly by her husband, Albert Johnson, or "Mister."
If you chose Forest Gump, you can see that he has "enabling sponsors" like Mama and Lt. Dan, and those who hold him back like the local boys, and one who does both, Jenny.
Literacy Metaphors: Psychologist Sylvia Scribner uses three metaphors which are helpful for us to think about as we try to "define" the broad term literacy.
Literacy as Adaptation: literacy is necessary for economic and social well-being
Example: We understand that we must know how to read road signs to successfully drive, we have to know a little about the economy to be successful with our finances, we have to be "literate" in college writing norms in order to be successful in college
Problems: Many folks drive drunk all the time and most get home "successfully" not killing anyone (I'm in no means promoting this, I'm just pointing out that it happens), many people recently lost all they had in bad loans, bad mortgage investments, or just plain bad banks - and they knew a lot about the economy, many great writers, artists, politicians, etc. succeed without doing well in college (some didn't even go to college.. remember our "Failures" video at the beginning of the semester)
Literacy as Power: Literacy will help to advance a community or its interests
Example: In Malcolm X's famous piece "Learning to Read" he talks about the power of being able to write and speak "well" and the respect that comes along with that power. We hear it all the time - if you can just figure out how to "talk like them" ("them" being those whom you would like to be like or control), then you would have some power. And we see this is successful with world leaders, activists, and folks like Oprah Winfrey. E.D. Hirsch and Paulo Freire both promote this idea of "literacy as power."
Problems: We all know people who are incredibly "literate" in any number of things from finances to sports, from cooking to medicine, yet, because of any number social factors (they are women, black, gay, immigrants) or economic factors (they are poor, they do not have "the right" clothing, house, car, etc.) or even political factors (people don't like them) or other factors (they are drug addicts, drunks, depressed), they do not succeed. So "literacy, " in these cases, does not equal success.
Literacy as a State of Grace: Literacy grants the literate a spiritual, emotional, and/or intellectual well-being
Example: As I so often point out, I honestly believe that exposure to certain literacies - texts of all sorts (arts, music, literature of course), practices of all sorts (cooking, yoga, etc.), and cultures of all sorts (country, city, etc.) - simply "makes you a better, more well-rounded person." I could point to anyone I admire - Walt Disney, Benjamin Franklin, Jack Kerouac, Ella Fitzgerald - and say that part of what makes them great is their willingness to "be more literate."
Problems: Of course, when folks become "more literate" (which is a problematic term anyway), they can become snobs and see themselves as better than those who do not know the things they know. But imagine having some annoying guy continue to interrupt and correct you while you are trying to have a conversation - perhaps he is more literate in whatever it is you are talking about, but, if you are like me, I doubt his literacy comes in handy when you punch him in the face to shut him up. See, he could read a book, but he could not read the situation - both are important.
