The reading went well on Thursday. Six of my students showed up. Yesterday I walked in to class without a lesson plan. We just talked about the assignment and about what makes good writing. I had them come up with a list as the class. I thought I’d post it here and share with everyone. (I told them to be a little wacky and this is what they came up with.)
What makes a great essay according to Adri’s Seminar in Composition students.
Group 1:
- Humor
- “it just is”(a great essay)
- relevance
- readability
- clarity
- flow
- grammar/spelling
- uncensored
- makes you think
- If you like the author, it helps
- Topic concerns you/ you care about it
- well-thought, not last minute
- makes you want to read more
- ending provokes thought
- memorable
- controversy
- passion
- political satire
- good title
- ranting!
Group 2:
- pictures
- Humor
- not long drawn out examples or ranting
- make you think
- can be related to others
- structure that flows together
- word choice (not repetitive) -> word variation
- quotes that help explain the writer’s points
- entertaining and fun to read (never boring)
Group 3:
- something different
- a sweet quote
- revolutionary ideas
- compelling argument
- new words
- lies
- despair… despairé
- mental illness
- reader should feel exhausted when the finish reading
Group 4:
- words, usually constructed in sentence form with capital letters
- punctuation
- opinions
- focus
- transitions
- when done reading you think “damn, that was a good essay.”
- open to interpretation
- arguments
- a hook, to grab the reader
- imagery
- take the reader away
- flaws- nothing is perfect
- writer’s voice
- allusions
Group 5:
- quote with the word “penis”
- humor (see above)
- creates a picture
- no passive
- makes a point
- anticipate questions and give answers, gives it a WTF element
- good titles
- sarcasm
- unconventional
- offend/attack the reader at least once
- entertaining and keep interest
- gets you rowdy!
- have fun with It!!
[ed: the eyes of smiley are supposed to be the dots from the exclamation points]
There you have it. A complicated, contradictory list of what makes a great essay. I think my students are super smart. I think they came up with some bad-ass ideas. I can’t wait to see what they do with this.
