Gentlemen,
As I told many of your parents Friday -- in a sickened voice straight from a MASH unit -- the second semester will be a little different. We'll still be working on some technical skill-development, starting with emphasis and subordination -- but we're going to be doing more work on actual essay construction.
We're going to start this week with an Introduction to Literary Essay Writing, focusing on the poem, "On Death, Without Exaggeration" by the Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska. Specifically this week, we're going to talk about thesis writing versus summary writing and how to support a thesis using textual citation. (Don't worry, those big words are pretty simple, actually: basically, we're talking about how to use facts to prove a point you're making.) I'll hand out the poem in class today, and it's also posted in the "Note Bene" section to the left.
That is all.
Mr. C.
