We are going to learn from students’ successes and weaknesses from past Essay 1 assignments. Let’s not copy them but build on their approaches.
Read the page before this one titled “Tips for Intros…” and the introduction paragraphs from real student papers below. Choose one essay to post about ( I chose Student Essay 1)
Do you clearly understand the theory this author is applying to the chosen texts? Is there enough insight about meaning and some evidence proving it (the heart of literary analysis)?
How well does the thesis lay out a theory that is arguable (someone could disagree with it)?
What should be changed to improve it?
Don’t worry about being too polite–these students took the class a long time ago and won’t have their feelings hurt. Be as constructive as possible.
Student Essay 1
Suicide is a very serious topic that is common in our modern society because it is happening more and more. In the poem Suicide Note by Janice Mirikitani and the short story Patriotism by Yukio Mishima, we read about two different ideas of suicide that are presented within the writing. The cause of a person’s suicide can be due to depression from bullying, self depression, or a feeling of their life not being important. Many people suffer from depression and they think that if they want to end it all, they should take the easy way out and kill themselves. What they do not know is the effect they cause from killing themselves, their friends and family will be all upset and blame it on themselves for not knowing how that person was feeling. Suicide is not just one sided, it is a cause and effect action, the victim is the cause and the effect is the people they left behind having emotions towards that person’s actions.