engl101 exegesis parper

13

CRACKING THE CODE

ENGL 101 Course pack

2020 – 2021

By Melinda Dewsbury

Trinity Western University

Module 1

Review of Scholarly Writing

Expectations of Academic Writing

· It is formal.

· It has accurate grammar and vocabulary. It uses complete sentences.

· It is not usually a 5 paragraph essay!

· It follows all of the rules of formatting, such as margins, font, indented paragraphs, and page numbers.

· It does not require long, complicated sentences.

· It demonstrates your level as a scholar.

· It includes a lot of citations and references.

· It requires your own voice and your own thinking.

· It presents your argument directly and provides clear evidence.

· Different kinds of essays (genres) have different expectations.

· Different kinds of essays require different cognitive tasks.

· Each discipline has its own style and expectations.

What to avoid:

First person (I/me/my) unless you are writing a personal response.

Second person (you/your)

Contractions (don’t/can’t/won’t, he’s, they’re…)

Slang and informal expressions

Passive voice (“The problem was started by activists.”)

Sample of academic writing

Non-indigenous environmental activists are recognizing the rightful place of First Nations at the forefront of environmental fights. As activist Dave Ages (Unist'ot'en Camp) has said, expressing why non-indigenous activists are rallying behind First Nations leadership, these environmental fights are happening in First Nations territories, but their fights are all of our fights (2014). While perhaps these allegiances were in the past partially instrumental, there is now a deep intertwining of First Nations' indigenous rights struggles and environmental fights in BC. This is partially due the decades of intimate sharing of struggle and growing incorporation of indigenous rights within the environmentalist agendas. It is also at least as much due to learned strategies of First Nations leaders for maintaining their leadership of these collaborations by requiring participating NGOs and individual activists to commit to indigenous leadership as a precondition for participation (Frost, 2018). These strategies are exemplified by Unist'ot'en Camp (Huson & Toghestiy (Wet'suwet'en), 2014), the Lelu Island occupation (Brown, (Tsim-shian), 2016), the Burnaby Mountain WatchHouse in southern BC (George, (Tsleil-waututh), 2018) as well as the stance held by the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition in relationship to their collaboration with various Gitxsan houses (McPhail, 2015). Progress has been made in both attitudes of environmentalists toward First Nations and institutional structures for indigenous leadership, but there still exist tensions in many instances between some environmentalists' and First Nations' objectives. These protocols of sovereignty recognition serve to both structurally maintain First Nations leadership and educate environmentalists on environmental justice and indigenous rights.

Excerpt from p. 138: Frost, K. (2019). First Nations sovereignty, environmental justice, and degrowth in Northwest BC, Canada. Ecological Economics, 162, 133-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.04.017

MODULE 2

WRITING THE ARTICLE REVIEW

What is an article review?

The Miriam Webster Dictionary defines review as “a critical evaluation.”

The Cambridge Dictionary says, “If critics review a book, play, film, etc. they write their opinion of it.”

Therefore, when you review an article (or anything else), you are offering your opinion, the positive and negative points about it.

In University

Your professor might assign you to write a review of an article or book from your class. If you are taking media courses, you may write a review of a film or album. In theatre classes, your professor might want you to review a play or performance. Reviews are common assignments. The principles we learn here can apply to any kind of review.

Writing the Article Review

Bibliographic information

You need to provide the full bibliography of the text or piece you are reviewing. This is often presented at the top of the page in regular APA format for a reference.

An alternative is to embed it in the text, like this:

In her article, “Why ‘domestic’ work is a global issue” (2011, March 1), Emily Rauhalla argues that…

Introduction

Your introductory paragraph should be short (3-4 sentences in total). Here is the information you should provide in the introduction:

· the author’s full name and his or her background/credentials

· the general topic of the article/book (A sentence like, “The article explores the lives of foreign domestic workers, such as nannies”).

· the author’s perspective, bias, and/or basic outlook on the topic (OR this might appear in the summary section. Do not put it in two times). An example is “The author provides an economic perspective on the topic.”

Thesis statement

At the end of the introductory paragraph, write your own thesis statement. This sentence basically states your opinion of the piece, your overall rating. The thesis statement for an article review is different from other kinds of thesis statements. Here are some features.

1. It should include an overall opinion

· not your opinion on the TOPIC (such as what you think about using foreign labour) but on the quality of the article or the author’s argument

· Do NOT say something like

“I agree with Rauhala when she says that domestic work is wrong.”

· Present your opinion of the relationship between the strengths and weaknesses of the article. Which is more significant?

· Use evaluative language (for example, adjectives such as well-argued, poorly-supported, fallacious, concrete, intriguing, provoking…)

· Use your sentence structure to represent how the positive and negative are connected.

[Although] + less important, SVO (more significant).

Although Rauhala uses specific countries as illustrations, her discussion is weak because…

Although Rauhala perpetuates a cultural bias, she presents a clear argument…

2. It should clarify the standards you have used for evaluation.

· Do NOT just say “some strengths and some weaknesses”

Although Rauhala has some good points, her argument is a little weak.

· Make sure your reader knows what you consider to be strong or weak so BE SPECIFIC

Although Rauhala writes persuasively about a very worthy topic, her argument is weakened by her absence of strong evidence and by perpetuating the myth that Asian women are domestic servants.

Summary of the article’s argument and evidence

· Type the heading Summary on the left hand side.

· Summarize the “gist” of the text only. First, tell the author’s thesis or main idea.

· Then, show your reader how the author/speaker unfolds the message. As you summarize, guide your reader. Remember that he/she may not have read the actual text before. You are responsible to recreate the meaning. Use the author’s name frequently along with reporting verbs such as begins, continues, asserts, explains, illustrates, suggests, concludes, compares, contrasts, adds to, expands… This helps to convey both WHAT the text says as well as HOW the author/speaker created it.

· Do not include examples or details of any kind.

· Usually, the summary should be no more than 1/3 the total paper length.

the review part (your critical thinking about the article)

Type the subheading on the left hand side of the page. What you call this part depends on what your professor wants you to do. The main part of your review can take several forms, depending on the assignment itself. If you are not sure what to do, ask your professor. Here are some common terms your professors might use.

Analysis/Evaluation/Critical Interaction/Discussion

· breaking the reading down to examine main ideas thoroughly

· judging and evaluating the ideas for their meaning, significance, relevance, bias, and logic

· examining the kinds of evidence and use of evidence

· discussing agreement or disagreement with the ideas

Application

· examining the article as it compares with theory/concepts learned in class

· often comparing and contrasting what you’ve read with a certain perspective (for example, a biblical view)

Personal Response

· drawing connections to your own experiences or making comparisons (such as cultural comparisons)

· explaining your own thoughts on the topic or your reactions to the article

Conclusion

Write a very short concluding paragraph. Sometimes the conclusion is a personal response. Sometimes the conclusion offers a recommendation or a statement of the usefulness of the article (such as “This article provides a basic starting point for understanding the topic of domestic work”).

Writing a Gist Summary

You might be nervous to write a summary. How can you take so many pages and complex ideas and condense them into one page or less?

Keep in mind that the reasons for a summary are 1) to show the professor that you read the article/book and 2) to give readers background to understand your evaluation. Therefore, you don’t have to try to include every idea.

Rather, your job is to capture the author’s argument – its shape, its logic, and its main assertions.

To do this, do not try to write a point by point summary. Have you heard the idiom, “you can’t see the forest for the trees?” You will find too many ideas that you might miss out on the actual argument. Your summary will sound more like a list.

Try to understand the argument by making an outline or a visual map.

1. What is the purpose? To argue, to give information, to express or entertain? In academic contexts, readings are usually to argue or give information.

2. What kind of argument is it? Cause and Effect? Problem and Solution? Compare and Contrast? Inductive or deductive? Process? If you figure out the kind of argument, you have figured out the basic organization and you are ready to make a map or diagram.

3. Instead of finding every main idea, figure out the main ideas that form the overall argument. If the article is problem-solution, identify the author’s ideas on the root of the problem, and the corresponding solutions. If the article is reporting inductive scientific research, find out the methodology and the kinds of information collected, and then summarize the conclusions.

Writing Concisely

You don’t have to list everything, such as every chapter or every part of a theory. However, it is a good idea to give a couple of examples just to create the “gist.”

· Use words like “such as” and “some” to indicate that you are not listing everything.

The author explains how problems such as superstition contribute to the orphan problem.

· Use the colon to introduce lists or details.

SVO: list or explanation

Smith presents several case studies: a family living in poverty, a single mother with AIDS, a father whose wife died in childbirth, and children orphaned by the earthquake.

· Use subordination rather than coordination to connect ideas. Avoid using and, and, and. Try using after, since, although.

After SVO, SVO.

After he explains the purpose of his book, Smith explains the concept of childhood.

· Use ING clauses:

ING + simple past + that + SVO, author name (S) VO.

Having argued that all children have the right to a family, Smith adds that…

Noun, ING + noun, VO.

This book, combining personal narratives with psychological studies, delivers a strong argument.

· Use with:

With + noun phrase, SVO.

With detailed narration, Smith paints a picture of childhood in Haiti.

Review Paragraph Pattern

Start with your assertion, which should include your basic evaluation and the key word for your topic or category. Explain in another sentence or two. Provide a “quotation from the article” or some specific information or details. Be sure to signal this by saying something like “In the article, [author’s name] states.” The quotation and/or details are your evidence to prove your point. Next, use a signal to show that you are evaluating. The signal should be an evaluative word or term, such as “strong” or “credible” or “unconvincing.” Then explain why you think this. If you need to give another example from the article, add that layer. Then signal and explain your evaluation of it. You may or may not need to add a conclusion sentence. Add one if you feel that your ideas need to be re-stated simply.

Personal Response Paragraph Pattern

Start by stating the key word/issue you want to respond to and a key word that shows your response. Give a quotation or specific details directly from the article. Then signal that you are going to respond by using I/me/my. An example is “In my own journey” or “This reminds me of …” Explain your response at a specific level. Your response could be emotional (to the situation), intellectual (to the idea), spiritual, or comparative (to something in your own life or to another situation, theory, or article). Be sure to refer to key words from the quotation. Add a concluding sentence if you feel that you need one.

VOCABULARY FOR WRITING A REVIEW

Consider whether you want to evaluate or just describe.

Description:

This book gives a lot of details. Is this good or bad? Do you like this?

Evaluation:

This book is provoking in its use of details. This tells your opinion of the details.

Adjectives

Creativity	Quality	Depth	Process	Wrtg Style	Status/Importance
Unusual	Useful	Simple	Careful	Elegant	Significant
Ambitious	Competent	Thorough	Exploratory	Verbose	Insignificant
Innovative	Remarkable	In-depth	Preliminary	Repetitive	Important
Intriguing	Impressive	Brief	Tentative	Redundant	Influential
Provoking	Well-written	Detailed	Conclusive	Logical	Notorious
Enlightening	Strong	Basic	Inconclusive	Interesting	Famous
Standard	Satisfactory	General		Traditional	Well-known
Original	Successful	Modest		Fluid	Little-known
Ordinary	Powerful			Descriptive
Traditional	Limited			Confusing
Out-dated	flawed			Clear
Refreshing	weak			Carefully-worded

Verbs

Success/Failure	Action/Change	Logic	Question
Succeeds	Urges	Forwards	Probes
Fails	Demands	Asserts	Questions
impresses	Calls for	Suggests	Wonders
empowers	Complains	Claims	Explores
Weakens	Laments	insists	hypothesizes
Strengthens	Warns	Contends
Hesitates	Deplores	Concedes
Confuses	Condemns	Concludes
Clarifies	criticizes	Generalizes
Misses the point	provokes	Overgeneralizes
Ignores		Simplifies
Struggles		Oversimplifies
enlightens

Tips for Writing a Strong Review

Guide your reader.

· Make it clear what ideas come from the book/article. To do this, use phrases like “Rauhala points out…”

· Make it clear what ideas are your own. Ask your professor for preference about tone. Can you use “I” or does the professor want you to be very formal?

· If you can use first person, you can write signals such as “I was confused about…” or “I found Rauhala’s discussion convincing.”

· If you cannot use first person, use phrases like “However, Rauhala

misses the point” or “The author’s point is well stated.” The evaluative words signal that you are offering your critique.

Use quotations and references to the book/article. Be very specific.

Weak: She uses examples from different countries.

Better:

Rauhala enriches her argument by illustrating the situation of domestic servants from different countries, such as Cambodia, Jordan, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Be careful that you do not just describe. Your job is to evaluate.

Description:

Rauhala refers to Human Rights Watch as evidence.

Evaluation:

Rauhala gives credibility to her argument by referring to well-known and respected organizations such as Human Rights Watch and the International Labor Organization.

Organize your points

These are all good options for organizing the review portion of your paper. Check the assignment to see if your professor asks for anything specific.

a. chronological (your points following the order of the book or article)

b. importance (choose greatest to least or least to greatest)

c. positive/negative (devote one section to positive analysis and the next to critique

Module 3

Research Writing

What is research and why do you need it?

The Merriam Webster Dictionary states that research is:

1: careful or diligent search

2 : studious inquiry or examination

especially : investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws

3 : the collecting of information about a particular subject

SO, when we research, we carefully and thoroughly look for information and examine it. We use the information to make a theory or to discover something or to apply it.

We need to research in order to DISCOVER new knowledge and PROVE what we think.

In scholarly work, our own ideas are valuable but ONLY if we explain, develop, explore, and prove them.

Steps:

1. Choose and examine a topic.

2. Identify a question about your topic that you want to answer.

3. Read everything you can find to get a thorough answer to your question.

4. Collect your findings together and look for patterns.

5. Organize your findings into categories and consider how these categories connect to one another.

6. In each category, what does your research show you? What does it mean?

7. Begin to write. Interact with the research findings to show your readers what you discovered. The writing should be a combination of your own voice and thoughts with the research that helped you find those ideas.

Topic Development

Always check your syllabus and any additional handouts from your professor. Follow the instructions carefully, and ask your professor questions if you are not sure. Do NOT rely on what your friends tell you!

If your professor has given you an open-ended topic, your next step is to spend time brainstorming, exploring, and analyzing a topic.

Here are some starting strategies:

1. Ask yourself, “What am I passionate about?”

2. Brainstorm how a topic could be addressed from any academic discipline or perspective (marketing, economic, socioeconomic, demographic, management, leadership, art, music, pop culture, media, historical, psychological, environmental…) This might help you narrow your interests and exclude categories as well.

3. Enter your basic topic idea into a Google Image search. Sometimes an overview of images will give you ideas and inspiration.

4. Enter your basic topic idea into a search on TedTalks. Browse the findings and listen to some of the speeches to help you think of new questions and ideas.

Once you have chosen a topic and have some ideas, begin to explore ways to narrow it. A research topic should not be too broad.

WHO: Do you want to narrow to a specific demographic group (gender, age, culture…)? Is there a specific group of people you are interested in?

WHAT: Do you want to narrow to a specific problem or event?

WHEN: Do you want to focus on a current issue? A historic situation? Or do you want to look at changes over time?

WHERE: It is essential to narrow to a specific context because problems differ greatly according to place. You should not try to look at women’s issues all around the world, for instance. What country do you want to examine? Do you want to narrow it further to a specific city or region?

WHY: Do you want to limit your research to investigating one particular cause or effect?

HOW: Do you want to look at solutions? Do you want to research a specific kind of solution (such as economic, policy-making, medical, or educational)?

Developing a research question

A research question guides you. It keeps you from being distracted or getting off-track. You start to read your research to find the answer to your question.

A research question needs to have enough depth to lead you in writing a whole essay. It should NOT ask about a specific fact, such as “How many people died in the wildfires in California?”

It should NOT ask something that is trivial, such as “What did Emma Stone wear to the Golden Globe Awards?”

It should NOT ask something too broad and idealistic, like, “What is the best way to have world peace?”

It should NOT ask something obvious, like, “Is nuclear war dangerous?”

Here are some good ways to begin a research question:

What is the correlation between ____ and _____?

What is the relationship between ____ and ____?

What are the effects of ____ on _____?

How does ____ impact _____?

What are the underlying causes of _____?

Become aware of your biases

Before you begin reading and looking for answers, what biases do you have that might interfere with your search? Try to challenge yourself to read all kinds of perspectives, even ones you disagree with.

What is evidence?

As you look for answers, you will begin to form conclusions and ideas. The research informs what you think and it also provides your EVIDENCE for why you say what you say.

Where do you go for answers?

· Experts – provide theories, knowledge, and interpretation

· Philosophers – provide ways of thinking

· Researchers – provide specific studies along with details of their methodology, sample group, findings, and data

· Data and Numbers – provide measurements so that you can provide evidence rather than just a perception or belief

· Maps – provide spatial information and comparisons over time

· Primary sources – provide records of the way of life and real experience of individuals at a specific time (includes court documents, historic documents, letters, diaries, business documents, emails, speeches, policy and government documents)

· Testimony – provide stories of experiences from people who actually lived the situation

· Images/photographs/video – provide physical documentation

· Interviews – provide direct answers to questions about a specific situation

· Scientific evidence – provide facts derived from inductive work (such as chemical analysis and biological processes)

Finding Research: information literacy

Before you search

· Do NOT type your whole research question into a search bar

· Do NOT type your whole thesis or detailed topic into a search bar

· Use a basic Google search or Wikipedia JUST to get an overview of the topic and write down important vocabulary to help you search

· Brainstorm KEY WORDS and continue to add to your list as you find more.

Consider general concepts

Consider synonyms

Consider different perspectives

Consider different word forms

Consider different combinations

Consider related words

USE the library!

· Ask the librarians for help. They will help you learn to use the databases, find useful key words, and even help you with your research.

· Request books and articles. If our library does not have it, they can find it for you. (There is a fee for this service and you must plan ahead).

· Use the Library Onesearch, which will search through books, articles, media, and ebooks. This should be your first place to look.

· You might need to find your research in pieces. For example, you might not find THE PERFECT article that says exactly what you want. You might find a little bit here and a little bit there. Remember that you are reading to DISCOVER so focus on learning new things.

· Follow subject headings and links to categories that fit your search. The categories that pop up may give you ideas for how to limit your topic.

· Remember to click on “full text” and “peer reviewed” to narrow your results

· Save or email the articles to yourself and include the citation format you need. This will provide the bibliography all ready for you. (Note: You may need to make small format changes as the auto-bibliographies are not perfect).

Use Google

· Do not rely on the internet. Use the library databases as your main search.

· Try different combinations of search words

· Access the internet via the TWU library. On the library homepage, look for “Additional Search Tools.” You will see links to Google Advanced and Google Scholar. By linking when you are logged into the TWU library, you will gain access to documents that will otherwise require payment.

· Look for major news publications such as The Economist, The Guardian, New York Times, Forbes, and Globe and Mail.

· Look for major research and statistical firms such as Ipsos, Gallup, Statistics Canada, any national statistics.

· Use university websites which often include published research and journals from their faculty or from university institutes and centres

· Do not use blogs and corporate articles unless they are relevant to your paper. For example, it you are talking about the impact of blogs, it would be relevant to quote from blogs. If you want to learn about the attitudes of youth towards a certain issue, you might want to read some social media discussions from youth to gain an understanding from their real dialogue).

Checklist for Evaluating Sources

Is the source scholarly or “popular?”

· Popular sources include magazines that you normally find in stores, such as

Woman’s Day, People, Chatelaine, Canadian Living. You don’t find scholarly journals at Superstore or Walmart. Scholarly articles are found in journals, not magazines.

· Popular sources are well-known in the general public. For example, although wikipedia is useful for your own personal interests, it is not a good site for your academic work.

· Popular sources are sometimes published weekly or daily. Check to see if the date includes day, not just month and year. Scholarly sources are usually published quarterly (four times per year) or sometimes monthly. They usually include a volume number (and sometimes an issue number).

· Popular sources are sometimes written by popular or famous people such as celebrities or television journalists. If you are not sure about the author, ask your professor. The most important information to check is the author’s background. Find out the author’s educational background, other books he/she has written, and associations he/she belongs to.

· Popular sources often use first person, second person, slang, idioms, humour, personal stories, and letters. They might include long descriptions. They might use a lot of questions and exclamations. Scholarly sources may use first person, but more often they use third person. They use formal vocabulary and grammar. They never use exclamation marks.

· Academic sources usually use references to studies and experts. There is usually a bibliography. If a website looks academic but does not include a bibliography, it is not a good one for your university research.

· Scholarly sources usually refer to studies, statistics, theory, and history, and they reference the authors and researchers who contributed this knowledge. Popular sources may use statistics, but they often do not tell you where the statistics come from. Beware of articles that say “Research shows…”

· If the source is from the internet, use your critical thinking skills to analyze .com sites. Use .edu or .gov or possibly .org

· If the source is from the internet, look at the visuals. If there are a lot of pictures, graphics, emoticons, cute visuals, and bright colours, it is likely not academic. Remember: academic sites usually look boring!!

· If the source is from the internet, follow links. Look at the homepage and the About Us links. Look at who sponsored the site (at the end in small print). Look at when the page was last updated. If it is not recently updated, it may not be a very good site. Look at what else the site is connected to. Do not use it if the website is promoting a product or service.

What are the author’s credentials?

This is usually found at the beginning of a book and at the end of an article, or at the front of a journal. Publishers’ websites often have bios or their writers. You can also find out by searching for the author’s name in the library, on databases like EBSCOHost, or on the internet. Look at what other things he/she has written to find out what topics and perspectives he/she usually discusses. Also look at the names of journals to find out any potential bias.

· What is his/her education?

· What is his/her experience?

· Is he/she associated with any organization, publication, university?

· What is his/her perspective?

· What is his/her bias? Does this bias affect the trustworthiness of his/her work?

Is the source current?

Try to use information published within the last 10 years, with the exception of classical works and “pioneers” in the field. Unless you are studying a topic historically, use only very recent statistics. For natural, applied, and social sciences, research should be very recent.

Is the source accessible for you?

It should not be so difficult that you cannot use it responsibly.

Credibility Ratings: Critical Thinking about Research

For each item you discover as you research, consider the level:

1 Popular source for self-help or entertainment

2 Personal story, testimonial, or narrative (blogs, magazines, pop culture books)

3 News article, magazine article, article from a professional organization; may include research but reported in journalistic or less formal style

4 Scholarly source but written for average reader; includes references and scholarly research such as studies, statistics, and reports.

5 Scholarly source written for advanced academic work; includes references and scholarly research; written in very formal style, with long sentences and difficult vocabulary. This level is written for experts in the field.

In most academic writing, only use levels 3-5. You might use level 2 in some kinds of essays, as people’s real life experiences and testimonies can provide valuable evidence and interesting examples. This is more common in journalistic writing than in academic writing.

Research Essays: Overview

Your essay should NOT be just a list of the information you found. It should not be a collection of information (like a Wikipedia page). Your essay should present your argument, which you developed as you looked for the answer to your research question. The parts of the essay should work together to reveal your argument.

Introductory paragraph

Your introduction should be approximately ½ page or a little more. The purpose is to warm up the reader and present your thesis statement. You should NOT provide background, history, or evidence in this paragraph. Your thesis should appear at the end of the introduction. Your thesis is a statement that summarizes your whole argument.

A=B paragraph (Context and Background)

The length of this paragraph will vary depending on what you need to define or how much background you need to provide. This paragraph includes research. NOTE: In some courses, you may be asked to write an “argumentative essay,” which requires you to provide “opposition points.” You can sometimes use the A=B paragraph for this purpose.

B=C paragraph (Connection to your topic)

The length of this paragraph will also vary. Here, provide background information on the specific issue/country/group of people that you are going to focus on. This paragraph includes research.

Body paragraphs

The body of your essay will require many paragraphs. Remember: this is NOT a 5 paragraph essay! Each paragraph needs to build connections to the thesis and show how the research proves what you have discovered. Each paragraph should include multiple citations and layers of research evidence.

Concluding paragraph

The concluding paragraph is usually fairly short, perhaps 5 sentences in length. Restate your argument in a fresh way. You do not need to repeat all of your points or sections. Do NOT offer solutions, suggestions, or recommendations in this kind of essay. Sometimes you can discuss some of the limitations of your research. You may wish to end with a strong sentence that leaves the reader thinking. However, do not use a “wonderful” sentence (such as “As the government pays more attention to this problem, the country will be a wonderful, happy place.”).

The Thesis Statement

When you are drafting your thesis statement for any kind of research paper, it is important to consider all of the following features. A strong thesis:

· Limits the topic – a specific topic, appropriate to the essay length, with necessary limitations

Consider: specific group of people, age, place, time, condition, situation, type

· Unifies the parts – take one side (avoid talking about both advantages and disadvantages) unless your question asks you to examine both

· Develops an opinion – may be strongly stated (such as “should”) or may be created simply by the connections you make.

To test for opinion, ask yourself, “would everyone agree?” If the answer is “No,” then you have opinion.

· Considers a specific perspective – generally, don’t look at multiple perspectives but rather limit to one

· Lists your roadmap – not essential but very helpful. The roadmap may be in a separate sentence following the thesis. It includes at least three categories, but depending on the length of the essay, could include more. The roadmap helps your reader predict your organization (how you will categorize your evidence). It’s kind of like an index to your essay.

Sample thesis statement structure

From a ___________ perspective, specific topic + your opinion + connection to another concept (BECAUSE)+ roadmap (THROUGH, IN, WITH, BY).

From an anthropological perspective,

orphan care in Haiti

must focus on nurturing

because complex cultural patterns continue to put children at risk

through

abandonment, desperation, imprisonment, and slavery.

1 2 3 4

A=B Section (context, background, and Definitions)

In a research essay, in a section immediately after your introduction, provide your A=B paragraph.

The A=B paragraph could provide:

· An overview of the history of your topic, such as the different perspectives and opinions on the issue. (This is sometimes called a Literature Review, or “Lit Review”).

· Key definitions

· A definition of your perspective, also called a premise. For example, “All children have a right to a family.” The paragraph would then explain or argue for family as a basic right and explain why family is so crucial for human development.

B=C Section (Background of your specific issue)

The next paragraph moves to a more specific level. It focuses on your actual topic. For example, “The orphans in Haiti need families.” The rest of the paragraph would then provide:

· Background facts, numbers, and other information of the situation you will analyze, such as the number of children who are orphaned, the different kinds of orphans, and the number of children who live on the streets.

· A summary of the situation, such as a story or chronology of the last two decades of the orphan situation in Haiti.

· The specific perspective or definition that you will follow, such as the value of nurturing in child development.

The Ladder of Abstraction

General/Abstract

All

Most

Many

Some

Few

One

Specific/Concrete

Using the Ladder:

· Most paragraphs move from general to specific, building onto each concept (most common academic pattern).

· Research follows the ladder from top to bottom – from general research earlier in the paragraph to more detailed evidence later in the paragraph

· Introductions move from the top down.

· Conclusions move from the middle up.

· Examples fall at the bottom of the ladder.

Research Paragraph Pattern

Begin with your assertion, which should include your thesis key words and your paragraph key word. Explain this assertion in further detail in another one to two sentences. Introduce general research support, “Give your quote or paraphrase or evidence” (Citation, Year). Transition. Give your discussion of the research and connect to your key words. Introduce more specific support, “Give your quote or statistics or factual details” (Citation, Year). Transition. Give your discussion and connect to your key words. Introduce your very specific support, “Give your quote or specific details of the case or story” (Citation, Year). Transition. Give your discussion and connect to your key words. At the end, you may or may not want to add a concluding statement in your own words.

Remember the ladder of abstraction for organizing your research support:

General: Expert comments, theoretical ideas.

Middle: Findings of a research study, statistics, factual information.

Bottom: One person’s experience or one specific event to illustrate.

You might organize each paragraph following this general guide, or you might have multiple paragraphs that organize your evidence in this way.

Integrating Research

1. Introduce the quote, summary, or paraphrase. You can do this in different ways:

· Give the source (name or title) and a verb such as:

writes illustrates

explains highlights

suggests reveals

describes argues

emphasizes asserts

**Vary the reporting verb throughout the paper and make sure that the verb you choose accurately reflects what the original author was doing and/or saying

· Use a transition word or expression to connect to your previous sentence.

· Put the quotation inside your own sentence. For example,

When parents are faced with the reality that they can only feed two of their five children, they “are forced by desperation to make a choice that might seem unacceptable to an outsider” (Smith, 2010, p. 71).

2. Don’t forget documentation! Remember that all research must have a reference, even if you are just using a general idea, a term, or an example. You do not need to document “common knowledge” such as well-known historical events, fairy tales, and widely-known facts. If in doubt, it is best to provide evidence and documentation.

3. Add a transition. Consider what you want to do with the research. Do you want to restate it, emphasize it, add to it, explain it, agree or disagree with it…? This transition shows the reader how YOU are interacting with what you found. This is what makes your essay an essay and not an encyclopedia.

This means/ shows/ reveals/ highlights /indicates/ clarifies

In other words

It is clear that

Clearly, then,

For this reason,

With this in mind,

4. Explain from your own perception and thought what you think of the research, why it is important, how it relates to other points, or how it relates to your main point. Use key words to make connections. Use a key word from the quote plus a key word from your paragraph to put the two pieces together.

In explaining and discussing, do NOT use first person (I, me, my) or second person (you, your) in research papers.

Module 4

WRITING THE exegesis PAPER

WHAT IS EXEGESIS?

According to the Oxford Dictionary, exegesis is:

“critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially of scripture”

Thus, it focuses on understanding a “text,” which means some kind of oral or written communication. It does not evaluate the quality of the text. It does not give personal response to the text. The focus is on explaining or interpreting the text. In other words, you should ask yourself, “What does it mean? What does it show me?”

You can use the patterns we learn in this paper to write papers in your RELS courses but also for analyzing things like poetry, novels, and speeches.

THE COGNITIVE TASK: ANALYZING BIBLICAL NARRATIVES

Here are some questions to guide you. In exegesis, there are no right or wrong answers. However, your ideas must have evidence in the text itself.

What is the genre?

What does the story tell you about the characters? For example, did they act like heroes? Did they make mistakes? Did they obey or disobey God?

What does the story tell you about humanity in general?

What does the story tell you about God?

What does the story tell you about the culture at the time?

What is the theme of the story?

How can we apply this story to our life today?

WRITING THE EXEGESIS ESSAY

INTRODUCTION

Provide a brief introductory paragraph (3-4 sentences). Catch the reader’s attention and narrow to your thesis. Focus on the biblical character or theme that you will analyze, or focus on the common topics of the biblical book. Do not make general statements like “I agree with what the Bible says” or “The Bible is important.” These are empty statements. In fact, avoid using first person in this essay.

THESIS

The thesis comes at the end of the introduction. Use this model:

Biblical passage shows/reveals/highlights + BIG IMPRESSION

through

________, ________, and ________.

(evidence from biblical passage)

Here’s an example:

Genesis 1 and 2 reveal God’s omnipotence (=big impression/thesis key word) through the act of creating, the systematic method of creating, and the goodness of all creation (=roadmap key words #1, 2 , 3).

A=B

Provide a paragraph to give background to your analysis. This might include what is known about the historical context (when the story takes place and/or when the book was written), who the author is and what his/her perspective is, the biblical genre, and what has been happening in the book before your text.

B=C

Transition to your BIG IMPRESSION. You can do this as one sentence at the end of your A=B paragraph or you can do this in a separate paragraph if you have more to say. Make sure you add your key word. Do NOT restate your thesis or roadmap (too repetitive).

ANALYSIS

Write three or more paragraphs to interpret the meaning of the text. Follow your roadmap from your thesis. Make sure you connect each paragraph to your BIG IMPRESSION. Your evidence all comes from the text itself, so direct quotes are essential.

Remember that an exegesis focuses on the direct meaning of a biblical text. It does not discuss the theme on its own. For instance, if you want to emphasize that Genesis 1 and 2 emphasize God’s omnipotence, your essay should prove this and stick to the text. You should not talk about God’s power in other situations, or what it means to be creative, or the importance of the natural world. Your essay is a textual analysis.

NOTE: Sometimes your professor will ask you to do a line-by-line analysis. This means that you explain each sentence of the passage step by step. If you write this kind of exegesis, your thesis will be only the first part of the pattern:

Biblical passage shows/reveals/highlights + BIG IMPRESSION.

CONCLUSION

Write a short conclusion (3 sentences). Your conclusion often explains how the meaning of the biblical passage is relevant today. Sometimes you give a personal response. Always check your professor’s instructions. You might end your essay with a phrase or key word from the biblical passage and your BIG IMPRESSION.

For example, I could end my essay on Genesis 1 and 2 like this:

God “said” and then he “saw” what He had made, and it was all good. His presence and His power of speaking creation into existence reveals His omnipotence.

SAMPLE EXEGESIS OUTLINE

THESIS:

Matthew 18:1-6 reveals the importance of humility through Jesus’ ironic answer to the disciples’ question, his calling of a child, and his emphasis on caring for children.

A=B

This is an eyewitness testimony of Matthew, one of Jesus’ disciples. It is set in the context of the ancient world, in which children did not hold a high place of importance. In fact, Jesus says that the child has a “lowly position” (Matthew 18:4 NIV). In various biblical descriptions of the life of Jesus, the men are counted, but the women and children are seen as extras.

B=C

However, Jesus’ view was different: he placed children at the top. This emphasizes the difference between earthly and heavenly values of power and humility.

BODY PARAGRAPH ONE:

In Jesus’ day and to much the same extent today, people wanted to know about power, but Jesus used irony to surprise the people, emphasizing how “greatness” comes from humility. In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ life, the disciples ask him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1). They want to know about how power would be organized in heaven. Ironically, Jesus responds that heaven is not about power but about humility. He says, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself and becomes like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4). The word “change” is significant. As people grow older, they inevitably lose the innocent faith of childhood and assimilate into their society’s levels, standards, and expectations of power and success. However, Jesus shows his disciples that the kind of “greatness” they expect, as adults, is not the same as the “greatness’ in heaven. His ironic answer highlights that becoming humble is most important.

THE EXEGESIS BODY PARAGRAPH

ASSERTION: Bring in your new key word for the paragraph and connect to your BIG IMPRESSION.

EXPLANATION of your idea in your own words

EVIDENCE: Introduce the context of the quote, then provide the biblical quotation and the citation (where it is found in the Bible). Quotations (rather than summary/paraphrase) are most important.

Add a transition word and DISCUSS the quote in your own words or with research. Pull out the key words from your quote and explain what they show you. Connect to your assertion.

If you wish, provide another layer of EVIDENCE (another quote to analyze).

CONCLUDE with a clear sentence if you need to. If your paragraph has naturally concluded from your discussion, avoid being repetitive.

SAMPLE PARAGRAPH

Isaiah’s prophecy reveals that sound leaders must learn to control their pride. In other words, this passage emphasizes that leaders must not get caught up in the greatness of their abilities so that they lose focus on the work that needs to be done. A prideful focus can lead to one’s fall from leadership. The prophet Isaiah discusses this consequence in reference to prideful kings in Israel:

You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God…I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. (Isaiah 14: 13-15)

Therefore, kings who believe they can be better and more powerful than God face consequences, and could end up being “brought down” as leaders. From Isaiah’s perspective, instead of focusing on their greatness, leaders should be humble and serve others. By replacing pride with humility, one can earn respect in a position of leadership.

© Melinda Dewsbury, 2019

© Melinda Dewsbury, 2019