Through out high school we are
engraved with the idea of how to write an essay. Think of a thesis than write
an essay that does not drift from your topic. In Let's End Thesis Tyranny by Bruce Ballenger he talks about how the
thesis has always been the reason for why students write more encyclopedic
reports, something colleges normally are not looking for. He suggest we should
teach students what makes a good question, rather than a thesis.
From
my experiences in high school and college what Ballenger talks about with the
struggle of a thesis is something I have always encountered. Back in high
school whenever it came to essays, I despised them for the main reason I would
always get stuck halfway through due to my thesis. The thesis always made it so
I couldn't expand more my general topic since it would go off from what my
thesis was. Which is why majority of my essays sounded like something you would
grab out of an encyclopedia. It was all knowledge people already knew, there
was no room for expanding the topic. It wasn't until college where I was able
to start to expand my horizon. Once I came to college I went from writing dry,
factual papers to actually writing beginner scholarly papers. Main reason why
was I was taught to focus more on what makes a good question than just picking
a thesis statement, because with a good question a thesis statement will be
developed in time. As Ballenger addressed in his paper, "The essay in its
original form may have a thesis, but it was often a delayed one, and even then,
it wasn't really a thesis but a tentative judgment." [1].
From
reading Let's End Thesis Tyranny, Ballenger
was trying to get across the idea of teaching students and writers to not focus
so hard on a thesis, but rather focus on the question. Ballenger didn't address
we should get rid of the thesis all together, but instead allow the writer to
"take on any topic, even when they don't know what they think about
it." [1]. He gets to this point by making sure to set up his paper with
first addressing what we have already engraved in students' heads about writing
a thesis, then moving into how we can get students to step away from
encyclopedic research papers to open ended research papers, and why that would
be a good thing. Ballenger does get his argument across to the audience, which
would be focused on teachers and writers, by addressing what the problem is and
showing how we can improve it. Though it may have worked better in his favor if
he did use more sources and examples for
why students should focus on a hypothesis and a question rather than a thesis
so the support for his argument would be stronger. Ballenger does come off more
opinionated than factual when he does address the thesis by many different
derogatory names and meanings which some may argue helped get his point across
or more lessoned his cause.
1. Ballenger, Bruce. "Let's End Thesis
Tyranny." (2013): 1-17. The
Chronicle of Higher Education. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.
From the readings what they are
trying to get across is the beginning steps to writing a research paper. In the
DK Handbook and Davis
and Shadle's essay it talks about how writing does come from your ideas,
thoughts and opinions but when you write you need to write for other people.
The reader doesn't understand what is going on in your head, so you must make
it clear to the reader if you want to get your opinion across to them. But when
writing a research paper, you need to pick a topic that interest you, not one
that may seem easy or interesting. Once you have a general idea of your
research topic, gather and examine articles and resources that support your
idea. After some time of researching you will start to develop a thesis, than a
statement of purpose.
My
experiences with the research process has had it's ups and downs. I've always
understood how the process goes, but my one struggle has always been finding a
topic I can write multiple pages about and creating a good thesis statement.
I've taken English 102 before and my problem before was I became stuck halfway
through my research paper last time due to my thesis. I felt I wasn't able to
broaden my view for my paper and I hit a dead end with my research. I'm hoping
that this time around to pick a topic that does interest me and is a well known
topic so I can do lots of research without hitting a dead end like last time.
For my research paper I am looking
at researching the online entertainment business boom and whether this boom is
going to effect the future for the good or for the bad.
I
my focus would specifically be on youtubers and streamers, focusing on how
popular it has become over the past couple of years and how many people now
make videos and stream online as a full time job. How working from home and
online is now becoming more of a popular career choice now. One example of a
successful youtuber who has made it big through this online entertainment business
would be PewDiePie, one of the richest youtubers. With a total of 34.4 million
subscribers (and rising), 7.8 billion views, Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (PewDiePie) makes an estimated
$825k-$8.47 million yearly (after Youtube's 45% cut).
One of the
topics I'd like to focus on is how this YouTube boom will effect the future.
Will more television networks and shows start to go to YouTube due to the large
audience? Will YouTube die down in the future or just grow bigger? Will it
become harder for new Youtubers to get big due to the massive amount of users
and videos?
Null, C.
(2012, 08). Let YouTube build your business. PC
World, 30, 25-26. Retrieved
from
https://ezproxy.lib.uwm.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1025766869?accountid=15078
The future
of YouTube stars. (2013). PR
Newswire Europe Including UK Disclose, Retrieved
from
https://ezproxy.lib.uwm.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1496171951?accountid=15078
When
trying to find these two sources for my assignment the things I kept searching
for was Youtube AND ________. The blank being filled in with many things such
as business, entrepreneur, paid, and entertainment. It did take some time
before I could find a scholarly source that did related to my topic. The two
articles that I found, one being Let
YouTube build your business,
and the other being The future of YouTube stars. My paper is trying to
focus on the entertainment part of Youtube and how it is going to change the
future of the entertainment business.
Let
YouTube build your business talks about tips and tricks to making a good
Youtube video and how small businesses can make a profit from Youtube if
following basic tips to making a successful Youtube video. Reason why I chose
this text was to show what all goes into making a Youtube video and how simple
it can be and how complex it can be to the audience.
The
future of YouTube talks about if these famous Youtubers can keep there die
hard fan base over time and if this is a career that could last forever. It
goes in deeper later in the article about how some Youtubers get talent
managers to help keep this celebrity like status for longer, helping with
branding, their career online and offline, getting sponsored, and keeping a
friendly face to the public. Reason for choosing this article was to help
support my argument of the work that goes into being a Youtuber and that this
is a new career opportunity, how similar it is to real life celebrities and the
amount of work that does go into it.
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