ExampleAnalysis Essays An Introduction Purpose Show HOW an

Example/Analysis Essays An Introduction

Purpose • Show HOW an event (or set of events) is part of some larger behavior or trend • What’s the deal with that? • What is this an example of? • What does this show about this topic?

In other words…

In other words…

Example Analysis • Person/event represents a group, abstract concept (ex. freedom), or quality (rudeness) • THIS is an EXAMPLE of THAT • Steven Spielberg -> group of movie directors • Beyonce -> divas • People talking at movies -> general rudeness of people

Topics Trends • Ex. Why are young people no longer using Facebook? .

Topics Events • Ex. Prom, • Super Bowl halftime shows, etc.

Topics Institutions • Ex. Country clubs, neighborhoods, cliques, etc

More Topics • Behaviors • Ex. Why middle schoolers walk in large groups

Topics Rituals • Ex. Why wearing body paint to HS sports events is a big deal

Thesis • The usual • Opinion boiled down to arguable statement • Usually 1 -2 sentences • Beginning & end of essay (elaborates at end) • Attempts to explain WHAT is going on, WHY it is happening, or HOW topic is part of trend/behavior/group/event/etc.

Possible Theses “The cell phone has changed the way friends relate to one another. ” “Some members of the audience at The Rocky Horror Picture Show are stranger than anything in the movie. ” “The personalities of parents are sometimes projected onto their children” “Young males in the spotlight are encouraged to be weird in order to be considered mysterious or complex. ” (Yes, Beiber, I’m talking to you)

Evidence/Concrete Details • Multiple examples throughout essay • Kinds of evidence: • Quotes • References to “texts” (books, movies, magazines , blogs, etc. ) • Personal anecdotes • Yep, they’re totally acceptable here! • Scientific studies

Organization • Introduction • Start wide[hook] -> topic -> question/problem (hint at thesis) • Ex. essay on young males in media -> Justin Beiber bringing snake to VMAs) -> trend of child stars doing weird stuff -> what is wrong with them? • Body • Paragraphs about different elements of topic • Arrange in order of increasing importance or timeline • Conclusion

Quiz! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. What are 3 different kinds of topics Example/Analysis essays explore? Example/Analysis essays try to explain how ______ is an _______ of _______. What are 3 kinds of evidence you can use in an E/A essay? Where do thesis statements usually appear in an E/A essay? T/F: Thesis statements in E/A essays are not the usual opinion-boiled-down-to-an-arguablestatement. Explain one way in which an E/A essay is different from the usual persuasive essay

ESSAY THOUGHTS “The essay does not rely on narrative arc (though it can). It does not rely on lyric motion (though it can. It can potentially incorporate anything, draw from anything, in search of the range of motion of human thought that it attempts to present. ” -Ander Monson

More ESSAY THOUGHTS “Each essay we read is as close as we can get to another mind. This is not to suggest that every essay is good, revelatory, successful, fruitful, interesting. But stepping into an essay is stepping into the writer’s mind. ” -Ander Monson

More ESSAY THOUGHTS “. . . [W]hat the essay does. It thinks. It plays. It discusses. It cuffs at ideas as if they were a ball. [. . . ] It cures nothing. It might occasionally curse. Naturally, it is subjective, but it owns that subjectivity and strives to comprehend and transcend. ” -Ander Monson

More ESSAY THOUGHTS “As the argument shifts, cuts back, or redoubles, uncovering something the essay did not know it knew (for that is every essay’s purpose, to wend, explore, to sidetrack as it must). ” -Ander Monson

More ESSAY THOUGHTS “The second time through an essay in revision we are not the same combination of brain and body; the network has shifted and what we thought is no longer what we think. And by thinking we erase or redouble thought, confirming or denying it. ” -Ander Monson