Goal for the day:
· Finish drafting your outlines
This morning I started showing this Three Stooges clip—the famous “Slowly I turn…” sketch. This is prelude to this handout about the two ways you can come up with a thesis. Your thesis can just come to you like a bolt of lightning OR you discover your thesis by slowly putting together all the puzzle pieces and thinking about how they connect.
Inspiration, however, favors the prepared mind. You can’t sit around and wait for lightning to strike. You have to read deeply, dig for connections, and keep talking to people about your question and what you’re reading. To underscore this point, we had Emily model a tin foil hat and metal shovel. You have to keep working and hope that lightning will strike you. Your job then is to capture the lightning in a bottle (er…paper).
After this little demonstration, I released everyone to work on their project and followed up with everyone individually. Kudos to Tyler who became the first to get checked off on his outline and to enter the Land of Writing.
Homework due Friday, April 3rd
Keep digging. Try to bring in a draft outline tomorrow so you can spend tomorrow refining in class.
· Finish drafting your outlines
This morning I started showing this Three Stooges clip—the famous “Slowly I turn…” sketch. This is prelude to this handout about the two ways you can come up with a thesis. Your thesis can just come to you like a bolt of lightning OR you discover your thesis by slowly putting together all the puzzle pieces and thinking about how they connect.
Inspiration, however, favors the prepared mind. You can’t sit around and wait for lightning to strike. You have to read deeply, dig for connections, and keep talking to people about your question and what you’re reading. To underscore this point, we had Emily model a tin foil hat and metal shovel. You have to keep working and hope that lightning will strike you. Your job then is to capture the lightning in a bottle (er…paper).
After this little demonstration, I released everyone to work on their project and followed up with everyone individually. Kudos to Tyler who became the first to get checked off on his outline and to enter the Land of Writing.
Homework due Friday, April 3rd
Keep digging. Try to bring in a draft outline tomorrow so you can spend tomorrow refining in class.