Advocacy Project Essay

1) Everyone loves pictures. Don't forget that this is a multimodal project. Thus, you must be using photographs, graphs, charts, visual representations of statistics, or anything else along these lines. The library course guide includes a link to helping you find these resources if you are stuck. Make sure that, when you use these resources, they are not just dropped into the paper but are also weaved into the text of the essay ("As shown in Figure 1..."). 2) Provide a map for your readers. Every essay you write in this course should come equipped with a sturdy thesis statement. Somewhere--generally at the end of your first paragraph or the first movement of your paper--you should make it clear to the readers what you are arguing (that doesn't mean you use the "In this paper, I will argue that..." construction; try not to do that). This thesis statement should not just make your central argument clear but should also outline the major pieces of evidence you will use to support this thesis statement.    3) Play with building blocks. Nearly every argumentative body paragraph in an essay should have a similar structure: 1) a very clear topic sentence that relates back to one of the pieces of evidence you directly mentioned in your thesis statement; 2) a quotation, multiple quotations, some statistic(s), etc. that provides an example for this piece of evidence that you are arguing; 3) contextualization of that quotation/statistic/other information so that the reader clearly knows why you included it in this paragraph; and 4) a clear explanation of how this information is proving your thesis. Never be obvious about this structure, though (such as saying that "this piece of evidence proves my thesis because..."). Of course, many writers will break this structure. Does Rooks follow this structure in every paragraph? Of course not. Sometimes you'll repeat this structure multiple times within a single paragraph. Sometimes some evidence is so dense that it will take an entire paragraph just to explain what it's saying. But if you're struggling with organization, this is definitely the place to start. Following this structure would be one of the single most helpful pieces of improvement that many of you could make to your papers. 4) How do I get out of here? Conclusions are really tough. You may be wondering, when writing them, "Haven't I already made my point? Haven't I already given the reader my evidence? What am I supposed to do here?" If you're struggling with how to end your paper, you can follow this general outline to help structure your conclusion: 1) a reiteration of your thesis and your main ideas and 2) a statement about a need for further research, a statement regarding a sense of urgency about your issues, or a statement explaining the need for a solution or solutions.   5) "Quotations, quotations, quotations."--Me. A general tip about quotations: there are many ways to use quotations (incorporating a full one, cutting it up and

sprinkling it throughout your own language, paraphrasing it), and you should use a variety of ways in your papers. Most importantly, however, you should use quotations and evidence that are specific. If what you're quoting is common knowledge or anybody could have said it, then you don't need to be using that quotation. You should mostly (not always, but for the most part) find researched examples (whether they be statistics, facts, anecdotes) that are unique and interesting.   6) See the cites. Make sure that all of your in-text citations adhere to the stylistic guidelines established in the Purdue Guide or The Anteater's Guide to Writing and Rhetoric. In MLA in-text citations, you do not include the year of publication, and you do include the page number if there are page numbers in the source. Thus, if I was citing Cutting School: The Segrenomics of American Education, it would look like this: (Rooks 12). There is no comma between the author's last name and the page number. 7) Use all of your resources. Did you make an appointment with the Writing Center? Did you read all the chapters in The Anteater's Guide to Writing and Rhetoric? Did you come to all of my office hours or email me? Did you read this entire post? 8) Pace yourself. Revising an essay can be even harder than writing it in the first place. "I have to do this again?" you might think. But that is, indeed, one of the major points of this class! All great writers write again and again and again. Many of your favorite books were written several or even dozens of times. No movie or TV show you have ever watched has not been seriously edited and spliced and stitched. It is, indeed, a major undertaking. This is why it's really important to take your time. Focus on one paragraph or one overarching concern a day. One day, make an outline or a reverse outline, then say "No more!" and avoid 39C stuff for the rest of the day. On another day, maybe just do more research; don't do any writing at all. On another day, just work on your thesis statement. It's important not to overwhelm yourself with everything that you have to do. Don't look at it as everything all at once but as a series of small tasks I need to complete, one each day. And there you have it--eight steps to success! If you have any questions, always feel free to reach out to me for help.