I decided in early August that I would drive to attend the Cultural Rhetorics Conference at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, from September 30 to October 2, 2016.

Yes, I did. I hate to fly. When I told my daughter, Sarah, who is 38, she said, “I want to go. I’ve never been to Michigan!” She rented a Toyota 4×4 in Raleigh, NC, spent the night at my house, and on Thursday September 29 about 9:30 am off we went. The first part of the trip from west of Lexington, Virginia through West Virginia was great. It was a sunny day, traffic wasn’t bad, and we were enjoying each other’s company. We stopped often for snack and bathroom breaks. According to Google directions it was supposed to be a 9 hour drive…manageable with two drivers. What Google did not take into account was the drizzling rain and the highway construction from the Ohio River all the way to East Lansing, Michigan. It was the kind of highway construction where the road narrows to one lane for miles with those annoying concrete barriers hemming in the vehicles on both sides. We finally arrived at 10:15 pm in East Lansing, bedraggled, exhausted, and punchy to check into the Kellogg Conference Center. Needless to say we headed for the bar.

The hotel room was not as nice as the Hampton Inn, where I usually like to stay. It was cold, the king size bed was a bit springy, and the bathroom had the undesirable feature of a shower that was just part of the tile room. Sarah, who tends to be cold natured called the desk for an extra blanket and one arrived about 30 minutes later. It was an Army blanket! Nevertheless, she spread it out over the bedspread, crawled under, and conked out.

We slept late on Friday morning and then spent the rest of the day exploring East Lansing and grumbling about the drizzling rain.

Saturday  morning, unlike my normal routine, I rolled out of bed at 7:30 and bumbled down to the conference. The atmosphere was thick with youthful angst, outlandish outfits, and technical workers bustling up and down the hallways. I grabbed a cup of coffee and a very sticky muffin, planning to attend a session titled “Encountering Cultural Rhetorics: A Comparative and Feminist Approach to the Everyday”. Three young women Angela Glotfelter, Yuanyuan Li, and Chulin Zhang were the presenter. They are all grad students in various stages of their Master’s work at Miami University of Ohio and Michigan State University  respectively. The presentations covered teaching composition, Chinese American rhetoric , and exploring non-western  ideas of culture.

Next I attended a session titled, “Our Story Continues: How a Cultural Rhetorics Orientation Works in Student Publications, Writing Centers, and First-Year Composition Programs” with Daisy Levy, Marilee Brooks-Gillies, and Michelle Deal.

Rather than making this post a mile long I will write it in the next post.

See you there!

Students come to the writing center and tell me, “I have to write about slavery in the constitution or I have to write about the technical language used in the tennis community”.

Their draft thesis statements tend to look like this:

“Slavery is inferred rather than explicitly condoned in the US Constitution”.

or

“Tennis has a complicated technical language aside from the techniques and rules of the game.”

Both statements are facts, that could be illustrated by consulting a textbook, the Constitution itself, or a rule book about tennis. There is nothing clear to argue.

• A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should communicate how you plan to argue. That can be done in one sentence.
• No one writes the perfect thesis statement the first time. Write a draft or working thesis down after you have read your collected source materials.
• You should Anticipate the counterarguments. Once you have drafted a working thesis, think about what might be said to counter it. This will help you to refine your thesis. If your thesis statement doesn’t present an argument, then it’s not a well-developed thesis statement.
• A Thesis statement is an essay’s central claim. A thesis should not be confused with a topic, which represents only the subject area of an essay. A strong thesis statement must be debatable and there must be intelligent ways to disagree with it.
• A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible. 

Examples:

Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example,

“Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite’s inability to address the economic concerns of the people”

is more powerful than

“Communism collapsed due to societal discontent.”

“The United States has a serious problem with gangs.”

Too general! It would require a book to prove. A better thesis for a short paper would be: 

“In Chicago, gang activity has hindered the educational effectiveness of the public high schools.”

The words Chicago, educational effectiveness, and high schools all serve to narrow the focus of the thesis, and therefore make the paper more manageable to write. 

This one looks like a well-developed thesis statement.

“Gang-related murders have increased significantly in the past fifteen years, and new gang member initiates are younger each year, making the job of

controlling gangs even more difficult for police.”

It actually covers three different topics. To narrow the topic and make the essay more focused this would be better:

“Chicago’s mayor needs to work harder to curb gang violence by increasing the number of police patrols in gang-infiltrated neighborhoods, pressing the

courts for stiffer sentences for gang offenders, and establishing an educational campaign to teach children how to resist gang involvement.”

In this one, the coordinated parts focus on what the mayor of Chicago could and should do to solve the gang problem in the city, providing a narrower focus for the essay.

(Adapted from http://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/developing-thesis)

• A precise thesis can have only one interpretation.

“Gang life, which resembles family life, is fascinating.”

  First, the word fascinating is subjective. The answer is either yes it is or no it isn’t. A statement such as the one above is likely to lead to a rambling essay.

A more precise statement might be,

“Members of a gang generally interact in a manner that resembles a family, and the parallels between the two social groups are strikingly similar.”

Using precise language helps create a better argument.

Adapted from http://www.wheaton.edu/Academics/Services/Writing-Center/Writing-Resources/Thesis-Statement

The URL for the Wheaton College Writing Center is http://www.wheaton.edu/Academics/Services/Writing-Center

The resources at the Hamilton College Writing Center share these examples:

A thesis sentence that is too broad: The Catholic Church’s influence on the formation of labor unions in the nineteenth century was extremely significant. A more focused thesis sentence: The Catholic Church, by means of the pulpit and the purse, greatly influenced the labor movement in the United States during the final decades of the nineteenth century.

Note that the second sentence concisely summarizes a specific argument that can be managed in a short paper. It also sets up the pattern for discussion; the writer will focus first on the Church’s direct instruction and then on its financial influence. Also note the effect of using the stronger verb “influenced” in the second sentence rather than “was” in the first sentence.

In The Craft of Argument, Joseph Williams and Gregory Colomb suggest the following ways of deepening the thesis:

• To add a reason, include a reason-clause beginning with because, or if, or a phrase beginning with by or in order to (84). Because of their emphasis on the broad impact of individual decisions, environmentalists exhibit values consistent with the American tradition of civic mindedness.

• To acknowledge an alternative point-of-view or reason, or to limit the scope of your claim, add a concession-clause beginning with although, while, or even though, or a phrase beginning with despite or regardless of (85). Although Emma and Levin define spirituality differently, their self-centered perspectives confine them to a state of permanent disillusionment.

http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/centers/writing/writing resources/introductions-and-thesis-statements

The URL for the Hamilton College Writing Center is http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/centers/writing

The URL for the Harvard College writing Center is http://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/

From Writing Center at Harvard  College http://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/

Handout http://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/files/hwp/files/bg_writing_history.pdf

As you compose or revise your history paper, consider these guidelines:

Write in the past tense. Some students have been taught to enliven their prose by writing in the “literary present” tense. Such prose, while acceptable in other disciplines, represents poor historical thinking. Since all historical events (including the composition of primary and secondary sources) took place at some point in the past, write about them in the past tense.

Avoid vague generalizations. Historians value specificity, not equivocal phrases like “once upon a time” or “people always say that….”

Avoid presentism or anachronisms. Resist the temptation to relate all historical arguments or concerns back to the present. Rather, investigate the past on its

own terms. Take care not to jumble the chronological order of events.

Treat your historical subject with respect. Aspire to understand, rather than judge, the past. Remember that historical actors were not privy to contemporary values or assumptions and that no historical generation (including our own) is perfect.

Paraphrase if you can, quote if you must.

Many students rely on quotations as a crutch, missing an opportunity to develop their skills of historical analysis. Instead, quote sparingly. When you do quote, introduce the source and context of every remark for the benefit of an unfamiliar reader. (See Integrating Source Material using Signal Phrases)

Provide necessary context. Good historical writing involves active commentary and rigorous engagement with the material. As a historian, you are responsible for

interrogating sources, interpreting evidence, and reporting your findings about the interplay of text and context.

Employ a responsible and consistent citation style.

Historians generally use footnotes or endnotes (in keeping with the Chicago humanities style) to provide references or supplemental information, though some assignments might allow parenthetical citations. Remember that your credibility and integrity as a scholar is at stake. See Gordon Harvey’s Writing with Sources and Kate L. Turabian’s Manual for detailed instruction.

Write in a formal, academic voice. Avoid using the first or second person (e.g., “I” and “you”), and shy away from passive sentence constructions. Phrases such as “I think” or “in my opinion” are redundant in expository writing.

Proofread, proofread, proofread. Your readers will thank you.

The Resources section of the Harvard College Writing Center provides guides on the following topics.

• How to Read an Assignment
• Moving from Assignment to Topic
• How to Do a Close Reading
• Overview of the Academic Essay
• Essay Structure
• Developing a Thesis
• Beginning the Academic Essay
• Outlining
• Counterargument
• Summary
• Topic Sentences and Signposting
• Transitioning
• How to Write a Comparative Analysis
• Conclusions
• Revising the Draft
• Editing the Essay, Part 1
• Editing the Essay, Part 2
• Tips on Grammar, Punctuation, and Style