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| Raccuglia, Julie. "Butterfly and Chrysalises." 7/10/2011 via flickr. Attribution- ShareAlike 2.0 Generic. |
- Drafting a Thesis Statement
- Writing paragraphs in PIE format
- Writing introductions
- Organizing information
- Writing conclusion.
I will be talking about how the different parts to a normal essay writeup are either incorporated or not into quick reference guides.
1) What parts of the book’s advice on the above bulleted topics are helpful for writing in this genre?
The Drafting a thesis statement is useful for writing the quick reference guide's introduction. In the introduction, the author must clearly state what the intensions are for the quick reference guide and a general overview of what they will be discussing. This is the purpose of a thesis statement, but it does not have to be written this exact way in a QRG. The author has more freedom to organize the introduction.
The writing introductions part was very helpful for me in figuring out how to start my QRG. Oftentimes, the beginning is the hardest part to come up with and the book gave some good ideas about how to draw the reader in. Some of these examples include putting startling facts in the beginning to get the reader curious, or pose an overall question or rhetorical question to the reader.
The organization information was also helpful because it tells you the relative order of importance and how to structure the ideas in your QRG. It makes you question why you organized the QRG how you did. You have to think about the information like a pyramid. You start with the foundation of the story and build up, including more of the information and detail and adds to the original idea.
The information about conclusions is also helpful in finishing up my QRG. It makes you think about all the information you have included and what is the main idea of the topic. It helps you get to the root of the controversy. For example, it helps me get to the main controversy of my idea being that is it more important to save a life or follow protocol and keep order in the system.
2) What parts of the book’s advice on these topics might not be so helpful, considering the genre you’re writing in?
The thesis statement is a part of an essay that should not exactly be included in a QRG verbatim.You can include the major points you will get across within the QRG within the first couple introduction paragraphs, but you do not have to make one long sentence that includes your point and your 3 or 4 points you will be getting to. There is a specific format in how to write a thesis statement that is not necessary in a QRG
The paragraphs do not have to be written in PIE format. The paragraphs have to be shorter and understandable while PIE paragraphs can become long and extensive. You want to make sure the point, illustration and explanation get across to the reader, but do not have to be written in one long paragraph. You don't want your reader to be intimidated by the amount they have to read in your guide, but make it easier on the eyes so that it doesn't seem as long.
This also means that you have to write in a language that the general reader will understand. Often essays bring in more academic language that might pertain well to the topic but might not be well understood by the general reader.
**Reflection:
After reading through Hallye's blog post, it made me think that even though the paragraphs in a QRG have to be much more concise, they can still have an organization method to them. I still feel using the complete PIEIE formatting can get a bit extensive, maybe keeping the order the same but breaking up the paragraph can be a good idea.
Cloe's blog reminded me of how I need to focus more on the introduction of my QRG and make a clearer point about what issue I will really be talking about in my QRG. This information is also something I can tie into a conclusion so that the reader sees how the guide went full circle and explained the topic that I originally stated would be explained.
Three things I now need to work on in my own QRG are:
1) hyperlinking my quotes properly and providing an explanation after them as well, not just before.
2) Making my introduction more clear as to my intension of the QRG and the using the conclusion to tie into the introduction and bring the audience back to the main argument.
3) Work on making my controversy centered around a more specific idea, such as an individual story rather than the entire issue. My topic is quite extensive but having too many aspects involved in my QRG can make it more confusing than it needs to be.
**Reflection:
After reading through Hallye's blog post, it made me think that even though the paragraphs in a QRG have to be much more concise, they can still have an organization method to them. I still feel using the complete PIEIE formatting can get a bit extensive, maybe keeping the order the same but breaking up the paragraph can be a good idea.
Cloe's blog reminded me of how I need to focus more on the introduction of my QRG and make a clearer point about what issue I will really be talking about in my QRG. This information is also something I can tie into a conclusion so that the reader sees how the guide went full circle and explained the topic that I originally stated would be explained.
Three things I now need to work on in my own QRG are:
1) hyperlinking my quotes properly and providing an explanation after them as well, not just before.
2) Making my introduction more clear as to my intension of the QRG and the using the conclusion to tie into the introduction and bring the audience back to the main argument.
3) Work on making my controversy centered around a more specific idea, such as an individual story rather than the entire issue. My topic is quite extensive but having too many aspects involved in my QRG can make it more confusing than it needs to be.
The advice for the thesis statement was useful but I put it under question two because I thought it would be so different for a QRG. I don't disagree with you though because you justify why it is useful. I agree that the readings provide good advise but leave out a lot as well like the hyperlinking which is very important.
ReplyDeleteTo me I thought that the thesis statement was not helpful at all because it seems like more of an interpretation claim instead of just stating the facts. Like you I thought that the introduction is one of the most important parts in this reading because of the contextualization it provides. The advice given by the reading like you've indicated has pros and cons.
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