My thesis for the research essay is that fairy tales are harmful for children because they teach old ideas about beauty, gender roles, and what is right or wrong. These stories often make kids think that how they look is the most important thing, especially for girls, who are shown that being beautiful is the key to being valued. From List A, the article I picked is Liz Grauerholz’s “The Pervasiveness and Persistence of the Feminine Beauty Ideal in Children’s Fairy Tales.” This stood out to me because it shows how fairy tales focus too much on women’s looks. I agree with her idea that these stories teach girls they need to be pretty to matter, which can make them feel bad about themselves if they don’t fit those beauty standards. From List B, I chose “Why Fairy Tales Matter: The Performative and the Transformative” by Maria Tatar. This caught my attention because it explains how fairy tales shape the way people think and act. I liked how she points out that these stories pass down old ideas about how boys and girls are supposed to behave, which don’t work in today’s world. Both articles explain how fairy tales can hurt kids by keeping old ideas about beauty and gender alive. I think these stories are more harmful than helpful because they teach kids to follow unfair rules instead of being true to themselves.
Diana Gomez
In the Essay 1 assignment, I struggled with balancing analysis and summary. I often ended up summarizing the text instead of focusing on deeper analysis and connecting it to my thesis, which weakened my argument. Pre-writing helped me organize my thoughts and create a draft, but I became too focused on following the outline perfectly. While the outline made it easier to structure my ideas, I was trying so hard to stick to it that I left out some important points I wanted to present. Additionally, I needed help to keep my thesis clear and consistent throughout the essay. Sometimes, I wasn’t sure if my points fully supported my main argument or simply restated information. However, I learned the value of making strong connections between my ideas and the main argument that I was presenting the importance of clarity in my writing, and the need to ensure that every point I make contributes to my overall message.
As a psychology student, I would analyze The Lesson by focusing on Sylvia’s development and the emotional relationship between the kids rather than the big social issues. I think Sylvia’s sarcastic and tough personality is just a mechanism to protect herself from feeling vulnerable. She feels like Miss Moore is trying to make her feel less than her, which might be the reason she doesn’t like her. In reality, Miss Moore doesn’t force the kids to agree with her. She shows and teaches them things and lets them think for themselves. However, by the end of the story, we see Sylvia starting to think about things differently, even if she doesn’t want to admit it. I would present this in my essay to support my argument on Sylvia’s personal growth. Additionally, Sylvia’s conflict with Sugar would also play an important part in my essay. They’re close, but as Sugar starts to understand what Miss Moore is teaching, Sylvia feels betrayed. This tension shows how growing up can sometimes mean growing apart from people you’re close to. We can tell that Sylvia doesn’t want to be left behind, but she’s not ready to change yet, either. The essay title could be The Journey to Self-Discovery, focusing on how Sylvia’s internal conflict is a key part of the story. It’s less about money and more about how she’s learning, even when she doesn’t want to.
The prewriting assignment is mainly for us to use the provided tools properly to improve the quality and organization of our essays. Starting with Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s and ‘The Handsomest Drowned Man’ and Dean Rader’s scholarly article, we have examples of a primary source and a secondary source, respectively. These readings will serve as foundational support for our thesis statement in the essay. However, when presenting our thesis statement, we need to be mindful of the key principles for structuring it correctly and avoiding common mistakes. As presented in the first PowerPoint, a thesis statement is a single sentence that clearly articulates the main idea of your essay. It should neither be a question, a simple fact, nor a simple announcement of the topic. Additionally, there is another PowerPoint that explains how to effectively use quotations to support your arguments in the essay. It’s important to keep in mind that it’s not only about inserting quotes without relevance or coherence. The quotes should align with the overall topic of your essay. Finally, we have a student sample as supplementary material to help us identify whether the prewriting assignment guidelines were followed. By referring to the format video and illustration, we can easily identify mistakes in the sample, such as incorrect font usage, no indentation at the beginning of paragraphs, and extra spaces between paragraphs. These observations will help us ensure that our own essay follows the proper formatting requirements. I definitely believe that the prewriting assignment is really important. Analyzing, reviewing, and following the prewriting assignment is crucial for meeting the requirements and consistently achieving our goals for this course.
