Structuring Information

How will you structure your "Lost & Found" essay?

Gathering Ideas

The next posts will have two distinct purposes and will focus on answering two specific questions: "What should I write about?" and "How should I structure this information?"

First, we'll discuss what you "should" write about.  The general essay topic is "Lost and Found," which is a broad category that could be approached in any number of ways, so you will want to brainstorm to decide on your angle, your specific approach to the general topic.

As with one of the earlier posts, consider which rhetorical modes you may use: argument, narration, description, definition, exemplification, compare/contrast, cause/effect, division and classification, and process analysis.

Read pages 55-91 in Telling True Stories; these sections will help you sharpen your thoughts and prepare you for the essay itself.

For this entry, answer the following questions:

1.  Which rhetorical modes will you use?  How will you use them?  For example, if you plan on using narration, what story will you tell?

2.  Pages 66-74 in Telling True Stories focus on profiles.  Who could you profile as part of your essay?

3.  Pages 74-85 in Telling True Stories focus on using first-person introspection.  How could you incorporate your own experiences into your essay?

4.  Pages 86-88 in Telling True Stories focus on using history.  How could you incoporate historical events and people into your essay?

5.  Finally, and most importantly, what will be the "angle" for your essay?  In other words, what will be the unique perspective and approach you will bring to the general (and ambiguous) category/theme of "Lost and Found"?

Brainstorming: Interviews & Multiple Perspectives

One mark of insightful writing is the ability to examine a subject from multiple perspectives and points-of-view, which --understandably-- can be difficult, since we are so used to seeing the world through our own eyes (with our own biases, prejudices, and ways of "seeing"). 

This post will consist of two parts.

First, post a question that relates to the idea of "lost and found."  This question should be specific enough to lead to interesting responses, but not so specific that someone may not be able to answer it.  For example, you could ask, "When have you felt physically lost and not known where you were, literally?"

Second, you will respond to one of your fellow classmates' questions.  For example, if I were to answer the above question, I might write a short paragraph on the time I tried to take a shortcut when I was driving home at 3:00 in the morning and got lost in the middle of an orange grove.  

Complete your questions by Tuesday, and answer the questions by Thursday.

Finding Good Topics

Your photography essay functioned as an objective, academic analysis.  Your last essay will be much different; this one will be a subjective, personal essay in which you explore the general category of "lost and found."  How you approach this theme will be completely up to you.  Do you want to bring in personal experience?  Do you want to avoid personal experience and instead focus on historical examples?  Do you want to bring in psychology, criminal justice, or literature?  These are all possibilities.

To get you started, read "Finding Good Topics" on pages 20-24 in our text "Telling True Stories."  Then read the story "Aftershocks" about the recent earthquake in Nepal.  For this blog post, answer one of those questions from the text.

For example, you could answer "Where is there ambiguity in a big story?" and then explain how and why Michael Edison Hayden uses ambiguity in his story.

Brainstorming: Rhetorical Modes

The rhetorical modes are nine ways of presenting and structuring information.  These are useful for providing new information about a topic without repeating yourself.

For your Academic Analysis, you need to explore the significance of photography for society and/or individuals.

As such, you should begin with the rhetorical mode of Argument, which entails constructing a thesis statement that you would support with reasons and evidence.  For this essay, you should choose the topic (such as photography and time, photography and identity, photography and reality/authenticity), and then construct a thesis statement that presents an argument about that topic.  To support your thesis statement, you will provide reasons and explanations, and then you'll use evidence (the photographs you choose) as illustrations of your claim.

The other rhetorical modes will help you in your exploration.

Use Definition to specify and explain important ideas when you want to focus on essential elements/components of the idea.

Use Description when you want to focus on sensory details (sights, sounds, textures, tastes, smells) or use figurative language (metaphors and similes) to bring an idea or object to life.

Use Narration when you want to use a story to help explain an idea.

Use Exemplification when you want to use examples to explain an idea.

Use Compare and Contrast when you want to explore the similarities and differences between two or more objects or ideas.

Use Cause and Effect when you want to explore causal relationships between objects or ideas.

Use Division and Classification when you want to break an idea into separate categories or types.  For example, you could break the concept of "Music" into the genres of rock, classical, rap, and so on.

Use Process Analysis when you want to explore how something can be done (or how it was done in the past or should be done in the future); this mode emphasizes order and a progression of steps.

For this post, you have four tasks:

1.  Write your thesis statement for this essay.
2.  List the other rhetorical modes besides Argument that you plan to use.
3.  List the photograph from a fellow classmate you plan to use as evidence in your essay.
4.  List the photograph from the Getty Exhibit that you plan to use as evidence in your essay (click on the photographer's names to see the different photographs).

Post #4: Using Quotes

One hallmark of advanced writing is the effectiveness with which one uses another person's words and ideas.  There are three ways to accomplish this: summary, paraphrase, and direct quote.  To summarize or paraphrase means to keep the author's ideas but to reconstruct them in your own language, syntax, and voice (while giving attribution to the original author, of course).  To directly quote a source is to keep the author's ideas and words (if the language is vivid enough to be worth keeping).  However, when using a direct quote, writers should avoid free-standing quotes (also known as dropped, floating, or cut-and-pasted quotes).  A free-standing quote is a quote that a writer uses without introduction or integration, and it will disrupt the writer's own tone and flow.

There are three ways of introducing quotes to prevent them from being free-standing.

1.  Use a simple introductory phrase, like "According to" or "So-and-so argues."  This method emphasizes the author, so a writer would use this when he or she wants to emphasize the person as an expert or someone offering testimony.

Here's an example.

According to Siegfried Kracauer, "While time is not part of the photograph like the smile or the chignon, the photograph itself, so it seems to them, is a representation of time" (424).

2.  Write your own sentence, then use a quote (introduced with a colon) that functions as evidence or demonstration of your sentence's ideas.  Be sure your sentence is a complete sentence; otherwise, the sentence becomes a fragment.  This method works most effectively for using source material as evidence for the writer's own claims.

Here's an example.

In certain ways, a photograph functions as a more reliable witness than our own memory: "Memory encompasses neither the entire spatial appearance nor the entire temporal course of an event. Compared to photography memory's records are full of gaps" (Kracauer 425).

3.  Instead of introducing the entire quote, integrate pieces (words, phrases, or clauses) into the context of the writer's own syntax.  This method works best to synthesize ideas and to create a smooth flow.

Here's an example.

When we reduce our experience of the world to collecting photographs, we become guilty of the "warehousing of nature" (Kracauer 435) and loved ones in dusty albums as forgotten souvenirs.

Your assignment:

A. Read either (your choice) Roland Barthes’s “Rhetoric of the Image” or Andre Bazin’s “The Ontology of the Photographic Image.”

B.  Find three interesting quotes.

C.  Introduce those three quotes using the above methods.

The Image World

For this entry, read Susan Sontag's "The Image World" (the first attachment on Blackboard under the "Academic Analysis" tab).

Then, apply her idea of photography's powers of acquisition and control to your analysis of one photograph from our blog.  In your analysis (which should be a paragraph of 4-10 sentences), use one quote from Sontag's essay.

Your Photographs

E. Tobias's "Family Spring Break, 2015"

J. Leon's "The Art of Food"

C. Hernandez's "Fluffy, Jr., 2015"

C. Bidwell's "Vacation Exhaustion"

J. Phangrath's "Vans Off the Wall"

M. Tobias's "Summer in Hawaii"

S. Momi's "Joy Caught Off-Guard"

C. Dawson's "Electric Feel"

S. Ice's "My Parents Hate Me"

M. Martinez's "Jar of Expressions"

T. Stewart's "Best Christmas Gift EVER"

L. Hutton's "San Diego Safari Surprise"

M. Woodman's "Stranger Things Have Happened"

S. Jackson's "Nails"

C. Blunt's "Ooh, Aah"

A Patel's "The Broken Light"

N. Solorio's "Basket of Sunshine"

A. Solorio's "Infinite Blue"

C. Marcos's "Happiest Girl in the World"

C. Juban's "Disneyland, 2014"

O. Mohammadi's "Watchdogs"

S. Adamson's "Santa Cruz Island"

V. Peralta's "Flamingos, San Diego Zoo, 2015"

J. Maltos's "Down in the Valley"

R. Cha's "Babies!"

J. Thompson's "Life's a Beach"

J. Torres's "Gettysburg Museum"

K. Barrios's "Las cataratas de Guatemala" or "Guatemalan Waterfalls" 

Post #2

For this entry, read Siegfried Kracauer’s “Photography," post one quote (with page number), and explain why you found that quote meaningful.

Spring 2015, Post #1

Hello All,

For this first post, read the syllabus, and ask one question you have about the class.

Post #13: Brainstorming, Generating, and Structuring Content

Your final essay will be more varied and idiosyncratic than our academic analysis.  In other words, instead of following a rigid structure of introduction (with hook, context, and thesis), body paragraphs (with topic sentences and integration of research), and conclusion, you will be freer to follow your own path.  This can be both exhilarating and a bit frightening.  Where should I begin?  What should I write about?  How am I going to write four pages on the topic of getting/being lost? 

One way of brainstorming and structuring information is to use the rhetorical modes, which are methods for presenting information.  The nine rhetorical modes are as follows: definition, description, exemplification, narration, cause/effect, compare/contrast, division/classification, process analysis, and argument. 

Definition refers to the essential qualities or details that comprise a thing or idea.  For this essay, you may choose to define "loss" or "lost."  This definition alone could comprise anywhere from one sentence to a few pages.  Most students immediately turn to a dictionary for definitions and then just quote from Webster's; however, the most effective definitions are the ones you come up with on your own.  Feel free to use a dictionary to help you shape your definition (and even quote from one if you'd like), but be sure that the heart of your definition (and its explanation) comes from you.

Description refers to details associated with the object or idea.  These details can be literal, sensory details (how a thing looks, sounds, feels, smells, and tastes) or can be rhetorical, figurative comparisons (using a metaphor or simile).  For this essay, you could describe what being lost feels like (using the first-person "I" or second-person "you") or what a person who is lost looks like (using the third-person "he" or "she").

Exemplification refers to giving examples that illustrate your idea or claim.  For this essay, you could give examples of times you've been lost or historical examples of famous people who have been lost (such as Amelia Earnhardt or Christopher Columbus).

Narration refers to using a story to illustrate an idea or claim.  All stories require three components: characters, setting, and plot.  For this essay, you could narrate a time you were lost (or found), a time you lost something, or a time you were lost in a moment.  For narrative to be effective, remember, there must be a clearly developed plot, setting, and characters.

Cause/Effect refers to an explanation or exploration of causal relationships.  For this essay, you could explore what leads a person to become lost (or found), or you could discuss the effects of being lost (or found).

Compare/Contrast refers to an explanation or exploration of the similarities and/or differences between objects or ideas.  For this essay, you could compare/contrast different times you were lost, or you could compare/contrast different ways of being lost.

Division/Classification refers to an explanation or exploration of the various types or categories of an object or idea.  For this essay, you could divide and classify the different types of being lost, the different methods of being found, or the various types of loss.

Process Analysis refers to an explanation or exploration of the steps involved in a process.  For this essay, you could analyze the steps involved in getting lost (or found).

Argument refers to presenting a claim that you then develop through logical reasoning and evidence.  For this essay, you could argue that being lost is an essential component of being human.

These examples are but a few of the possible ideas you could explore with these rhetorical modes; for example, there are many more arguments you could make regarding the idea of being lost.  A successful essay does not have to use each and every one of these rhetorical modes, but a successful essay will develop the rhetorical modes it does use with specific detail and effective exploration.  

For this blog post, list which rhetorical modes you plan on using for your essay (and you can always change your mind later), and provide a brief explanation of how you will use those modes.

Post #12: How to Find Yourself

Now that you've transcribed directions to lose yourself, it's time to get found . . .

Read "Four Ways to Find Yourself," and post one original method you use to find yourself when you get lost.

Post #11: How to Get Lost

The Flaneur Society's Guide to Getting Lost provides three options on how to lose oneself in San Francisco.  For this entry, provide a 10-step set of instructions to help someone "get lost" (interpret that phrase however you'd like) in Bakersfield, starting at CSUB.

The only qualifier is that you can't repeat a step someone else has already written.  Have fun!

E.B. White's Loss of a Pig

The author of both Charlotte's Web and The Elements of Style, E.B. White's writing exemplifies clear, concise, well-written prose.

For this entry, read his essay "Death of a Pig," and find one sentence you feel is especially well-written.  Then write a short explanation of your choice.

For example, I enjoy his sentence "I went back up to the house and to bed, and cried internally - deep hemorrhagic intears" (from the second paragraph of the fourth section) because of the irony of crying "internally," as though he were ashamed to show his tears, and because the phrase "deep hemorrhagic intears" is an effective echo of the pig's own affliction, from the "deep hemorrhagic infarcts."  Thus, this sentence uses humor to distance himself from the pig's death while at the same time using parallel language to illustrate a similarity between himself and the pig.

Post # 9: Using Sources in a Personal Essay

The academic research paper is not the only form of writing that uses research.  Personal essays also use research to set a tone or provide background information.

For an effective example of this, read Molly Minturn's "Knight of the Swan," and notice how she incorporates material from conversations/interviews along with an article from Discover Magazine, a fairy tale, and song out of pop culture. 

For your blog post, explain (in a few sentences) how one of these references/sources contributes to the overall theme of Minturn's essay.

Post #8: Formal Introductions

The rough draft of your academic analysis is due this coming weekend.  To help you get started, this post will focus on the introduction to that essay.

Traditional introductions are comprised of three parts: the hook, the background/context, and the thesis.

The hook functions as an interesting opening to the essay designed to "grab" the reader's attention and provide a stylistic lead.  To be effective, a hook should be original, interesting, and consistent with the essay's topic and tone.  Some forms effective hooks may take could be a question (either rhetorical or literal), definition, description, anecdote, fact/statistic, or an example.

The second part of the introduction introduces all of the necessary background information to provide context for your analysis and argument.  Here is where you need to introduce (define and explain) your key terms and ideas.  In the case of this essay, you would need to introduce the idea of photography and then whatever concept you are focusing on to make your argument.

The third and final part of your introduction is where you present your specific argument about the topic.  The thesis statement will vary; an effective method to craft a strong thesis would be to return to the questions you posed in the last blog post.  Find the one question that seems to be the most important or significant.  Then, write an answer to your question; that will be your thesis.  As you are writing your thesis, do not reduce your argument to opinion by writing "I think" or "In my opinion."  Instead, just present your argument objectively.

For this entry, post your introduction to this blog.  These introductions should be a solid paragraph that would entail somewhere between half-a-page and a full page if you were to type it in a double-spaced essay.

Post #7

For your Academic Analysis, you will need to analyze at least two different photographs, one from a fellow student and one from the J. Paul Getty exhibit titled "Where We Live Now."  Your essay can discuss more photographs if you'd like, but you need to focus on at least two.

As for your essay, the general topic is photograph and what it means, and each of the authors you've read (Barthes, Sontag, and Kracauer) take a different approach to that topic.  Likewise, I expect each of you will take a slightly different approach in your essays.

To get started, you should ask yourself what it is about this topic that interests you.  Is it the relationship between photography and time?  Photography and memory?  Photography and art?  Photography and commemoration?  Photography and identity?  Photography as documentation or evidence?  Photography and attention?

Once you've found your "angle," you'll want to turn that focus into an analytical thesis statement.  For example, if you wanted to focus on the topic of photography and time, you should ask yourself a series of questions to get yourself started: how does photography capture a moment in time?  Why is that useful?  What are the limitations of such a captured moment?  How can such a moment be used (by us as individuals, by historians, by corporations)?

For this post, choose the angle you'll take for your essay, and come up with a list of at least five questions you plan on answering in your essay (and you can always change your mind later).

Feel free to borrow and steal good questions from your fellow classmates.  The purpose of this blog is to enable you to use your group-mind to help each of your single-minds.

Post #6

This post will be brainstorming for your essay.

First, read Roland Barthes's "Rhetoric of the Image."

Second, choose one photograph from a fellow classmate (on Post #4) and one photograph from The J. Paul Getty exhibit titled "Where We Live Now" (click on a photographer's name on the webpage).

Finally, answer this question: What is the message this photograph is trying to convey?

As Barthes describes, these messages can operate on a number of different levels and linguistic frequencies, so if you feel as though the photograph has more than one message, go ahead and list those possible messages.

Post #5

For this post, read Kracauer's "On Photography" (available on Blackboard). 

Then watch this video by Feist.

Finally, find one quote from Kracauer's essay that helps answer one of the questions from the Post #4. Provide the quote, and write a brief explanation as to its significance/meaning. Be sure to give the page number of the quote as well.

Post #4

Hello All,

For this post, read Susan Sontag's "The Image World," which you can find on the class Blackboard page.  Then find one quote that provides an answer to one of the questions from below.  Finally, provide a brief explanation (a couple of sentences) of why you found that quote meaningful.

Note: Do not repeat a quote someone has already posted; you must find a new quote to discuss if "your" quote is taken.

What is Art?  What are the qualities that would elevate a given object to the status of "art"?

Why do people create art?
Why do audiences want to experience art?
Does art require context?  In other words, does an artwork lose anything out of context?  Is a Picasso painting the same in person as it is as an image we might use as the screensaver on our desktop computer?

Can photography be art?
How is photography different from other forms of art (like literature and painting)?
How is it similar?
What qualities would a photograph need to possess to be elevated to the status of art?

Why do people take photographs?
What function/purpose/utility do photographs serve for us as individuals?  For us as members of a family or community?  For anonymous/unknown audiences?

Finally, if anyone is interested, the Bakersfield Museum of Art is hosting an exhibit titled "Photography in Mexico," with some fantastic photographs, including my all-time favorite: "Mujer Angel" by Graciela Iturbide.

Post #3

I will post your photographs here as I receive them.

C. Orozco's "Capture the Moments of Today"

A Davis's "Walking with Giants"

M. Hernandez's "North Lake Tahoe 1/1/2015"

T. Dunn's "Priorities"

A. Martinez's "Party Like a Rock Star"

E. Herrera's "A Promise"

L. Castro's "Up on Top of the Rock"

J. Campos's "Life of a Student"

J. Soto's "Penny"

M. Zamarripa's "Rusty the Cat"

S. Smith's "Hindsight"

D. Maciel-Gonzalez's "Mechanical Love Affair"

M. Ortiz's "Paws of Love"

A. Perez's "Family"

I. Mireles's "Setting the Example"

A. Rendon's "A Girl's Best Friend"

F. Gurrola's "Got to Save Gas"

V. Rojas's "The Life of a Flower"

E. Chum's "For All Ages"

K. Zakhary's "A New Love"

D. Montoya's "Afternoon at Red Rock"

B. Castro's "Four-ever Grateful"

J. Vega's "Baby"

M. Woodman's "The Magician"

S. Subia's "The Graveyard"

L. Gudino's "My Heart Lives Here"