Blog #7

    After reading chapters three and five of the Pearson Reader, I discovered many important factors that go into writing an exploratory essay. The first element that struck me as interesting was that "The essential move for exploratory thinking and writing is to keep a problem alive through consideration of multiple solutions or points of view" (Rammage, Bean, Johnson 107). This is something that I think improves an essay by making it flow more like a recollection of the knowledge and experiences of the writer instead of just revealing the facts on an issue in short sentences that don't have much feeling behind them. It's also something that I feel like I struggle with. It's so easy to establish a thesis and then present examples to support it that I often find it difficult to explore different solutions to a thesis.
    Another element of the exploratory essay that I liked was that open-form and closed-form prose are both used. "Because your exploratory paper is a narrative, it follows an unfolding, open-form structure… at the same time, your summaries of your sources and your strong responses to them should be framed within closed-form structures," (Rammage, Bean, Johnson 113). This is kind of neat because you are able to create an essay filled with expression, personality, and informalities while still maintaining an organized structure that follows a definite pattern of topic sentences and transitions and remains formal to an extent.
    The annotated bibliographies also proved to be an interesting element in exploratory essays. While I have seen annotated bibliographies in readings, I've never had the opportunity to use them myself. I think that using this will be extremely helpful in writing my own exploratory essay it's provides the reader with the source of information so that I don't have to write out every detail in order for the reader to comprehend the topic.