Sunday, September 25, 2011

Brian Walborn Blog #7

The first major element of writing an exploratory essay that I came across was: "The essential movie for exploratory thinking and writing is to keep a problem alive through consideration of multiple solutions or points of view" (Pearson 107). The reason I believe this is one of the most important elements to creating an exploratory essay is because you have to keep the oppositions point of view in mind to keep the reader interested. It's very easy to write an essay with a bias, but it gets more difficult when you take into account the opposition. This is always a great way to compose a much better essay.
The second element, to me, that is crucial to take into account when you're composing an exploratory essay is underneath the section entitled "Revising" in this chapter. "Often drafts need to be pruned to remove extraneous details and keep the pace moving" (Pearson 115). I personally believe revising may be the most important element in creating a successful and enticing essay. The revision of an essay can remove worthless things or even add more important facts that are critical to the essay as a whole.
The third and final element that I came across was the "Questions for Peer Review" section in this chapter. The question I found particularly important was: "In the introduction, how has the writer tried to show that the problem is interesting, significant, and problematic?" (Pearson 115). The reason I think this is the most important question is because the introduction isn't attention grabbing, the rest of the essay doesn't mean anything. A lot of times people will stop reading on account of a bad introduction.

3 comments:

  1. I agree, essays are always more interesting when a bias isn't taken and both sides are explored.

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  2. I definitely think it can be hard to look at the opposing side, especially if it's a topic you feel strongly about (and so are a bit biased), but it can sometimes strengthen your argument, and make for a much better essay. :)

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  3. I used the exact same quote about keeping the problem alive but i like how you explain how easy it is to write with a bias. I never thought of it that way.

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