Thesis Blog

Brandy Bigler

October 29, 2010

Thesis Blog

1. A

This thesis statement is weak because the author stated exactly what he or she would be talking about, and makes no claim.

2. A

This thesis is weak because it could possibly be considered an opinion and it stating a board statement.

3. B

This thesis statement is weak because it is restating a statement that most people know and consider to be true.

4. A

This thesis statement is weak because it is making no claim, it simply just states what the play is about, and there is no argument.

5. A

This thesis statement is weak because the author has stated his or her opinion.

Thesis:

            After reading The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and knowing that he served in the Vietnam War, this could complicate his discussion of truth v. fiction in the text.

Questions:

I believe that my thesis statement is a strong thesis statement because it is an arguable statement. I know I will have evidence to prove my thesis correct from the text and my research but it is a statement I have to prove because anyone could agree or disagree with it. It is also a strong thesis statement because it is specific; it identifies exactly what my argument is for the paper. My thesis statement raises questions and is, as I said before, an arguable topic.  

Source Evaluation Blog

Brandy Bigler

October 24, 2010

Source Evaluation Blog

 

Naparsteck, Martin. "An Interview with Tim O'Brien." Contemporary Literature. VOL.32.          

         University of Wisconsin Press, 1991. 1-11. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1208335

            The source is an interview with Tim O’Brien. He is asked a serious of questions about the books he has written and talks a little bit about each of them and the meaning behind them. He goes into detail about the book The Things They Carried and talks about a story two from the book in detail. I think that this interview will be helpful to my writing in the 3^rd essay because I am going to do it from a biography stand point of Tim O’Brien and I think this interview is a good way to find out what he was really thinking and how he felt when he wrote The Things They Carry.  I can use this source in my paper because it will help me to know if the stories are actually about what O’Brien experienced or exactly how he got to the inspiration for certain stories.

 

(Naparsteck), Tina Chen. ""Unraveling the Deeper Meaning": Exile and the Embodied Poetics of                Displacement in Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"." Contemporary Literature.      

        VOL 39. University of Wisconsin Press, 1998. 77-98   http://www.jstor.org/stable/1208922

            This source is specifically talking about Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried. It goes into great detail about the meaning behind his writing. I think that this source will be good to have for the paper as well as the other one. It lets me into Tim O’Brien’s world and why he wrote what he did. Both of these sources will work well together to give me the information that I need. I think that this source is credible because it is from a creditable site. It is a good source for me to have. It is not totally current but it doesn’t really need to be for my writing stand point.

Mid-Session Check In

October 13, 2010

Dear Mrs. Darrow:

            In English 102 I felt that my biggest challenge was the essay on poetry. Poetry is not one of my strong suits nor do I really care for it. So I found it really hard to give it more full effort and attention. On the other hand my biggest success so far has been the readings. I can really get into them and understand them. I feel like I can grasp the concept of what the author is saying and give a detailed response to what our assignment is.

           I have found the readings to be very interesting so far. They are easy to follow and you can get into the story fairly easy. Reading The Sand Storm by Sean Huze and The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien has opened my eyes to what really happens in war. I felt that both authors did a good job of letting the reader into what a soldier goes through. However, when reading the poems I found myself having to concentrate harder but the poems opened my eyes to realize that I actually enjoy different types of literature.

            Literary analysis is something that I have never done before until this class. I found it to be very challenging for me. I think it is different because it seems like it takes more concentration. You actually have to think about what you read and how you are writing about it. Unlike other writing styles where you write your opinion and your paper is strictly about how you interpreted the story and your feelings on it. In English 101 I concentrated on persuasive, narrative, and research essays, literary analysis is totally different from all of those. In literary analysis there is a lot less of your opinion, it is more of your interpretation which has to be backed up with facts.    

            For the second part of this class I hope to improve my writing skills even more. My goal is to do my best and try to understand what I’ am reading and writing the best I can. I have already learned so much from this class in terms of writing. I can only hope that during the second part I will learn more and be able to apply my abilities to my assignments in and outside of this class as I have done so far.

Thank you

Sincerely,

Brandy Bigler