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PowerThinking: Organizing Your Essay Effectively

Learn how to structure essays effectively from Dr. Ray Jones' research, emphasizing the hierarchical nature of information organization and useful terminology for crafting compelling essays from standard formats to complex thesis works.

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PowerThinking: Organizing Your Essay Effectively

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  1. PowerThinking Based on research composed by Dr. Ray Jones

  2. How do we organize an essay? • PowerThinking • Hierarchal in nature. Ways to organize information • Useful terminology for writing essays • Works for standard 5 paragraph essay to longer thesis/dissertation work

  3. How it works • P1 = THESIS • Every bit of writing in the paper should function to support your overall argument, or thesis • P2 = subtopic, category of P1, detail of a P1 • These should be the specific, qualified elements of your thesis. • A reader should be able to identify how your P2 supports your P1 • P3 = detail or subtopic of a P2 • These are further details that support your P2 (which in turn supports P1). • For shorter essays, these are often pieces of textual evidence. • The explanation of how a P3 supports/connects to a P2 must be explicit! • P4 = detail or subtopic of a P3 … and so on ALWAYS be able to connect a subP to the P above it. (P2 to P1, P3 to P2, etc.)

  4. What does this look like? • PROMPT: Read the following poem carefully, paying particular attention to the physical intensity of the language. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain how the poet conveys not just a literal description of picking blackberries but a deeper understanding of the whole experience. You may wish to include analysis of such elements as diction, imagery, metaphor, rhyme, rhythm, and form. • P1 ANSWERS THE PROMPT • I should be able to disagree with your thesis! • P1: The speaker of Heaney’s poem “Blackberry Picking” conveys a deeper appreciation of this pivotal event in which he articulates the belief that hope persists in the face of hopelessness through the use of naturalistic imagery, nostalgic diction, and consistent rhyme scheme. • P2: NATURALISTIC IMAGERY • Naturalistic imagery employed in order to represent the cyclical patterns of life • P2: NOSTALGIC DICTION • Nostalgic diction incorporated throughout the poem to suggest the timelessness of growth and decay • P2: CONSISTENT RHYME SCHEME • Consistent rhyme scheme is mimetic of a children’s poem/song, connecting past experience with transcendental truth

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