Hot Spots Writing Log 2A

CHAPTER ONE

The first hot spot I chose was on page 13. It talks about how historian Rodney Kilcup says that writers should begin with a “good interesting question” to help develop a thesis. For Kilcup, a good question sets the writer on a path of inquiry, critical thinking, analysis, and argument. I chose this statement because I really liked how it explained the importance of a thesis statement. For me, thesis statements are the hardest things to come up with and they are also the most important part of your paper. As Kilcup simply puts a “good interesting question” is all you need to start off with and to help make your paper flow and to help you go in a direction for your paper that is good and clear.

The next hotspot I chose was on page 23. It says, “To appreciate the importance of audience, consider how a change in audience can affect the content of a piece.” This helps you think about not only how to reach people your mainly aiming for, but how to also help grab the attention of a minority in the situation. This idea can be very helpful when trying to write a persuasive paper or article to reach a vast majority of people.

CHAPTER 2

My first hotspot was on page 42. It talks about the idea on tension in surprising a reader in your thesis statement. What is meant by “tension” is the reader’s sensation of being pulled away from familiar ideas towards a new, unfamiliar one. You can do this by stating a fact believed by many, and then stating what you are trying to show. This helps to get the readers attention. I believe that this is a great concept to know because it not only grabs the readers attention, but it gets them interested in your paper. It helps give depth to your thesis. This also gives them a reason to read on because they might be interested in a different idea then what they originally thought.

My next hotspot was on page 45 and has a sentence that states, “A strong thesis, then, must both surprise the reader and be supported by convincing particulars.” This idea made me think about how not only do you need to have a good “eye-catching” sentence, but it must also make the reader believe that it is supported by ideas and facts. A tabloid is an example of something that catches your eye, but once you read further and realize it has no credibility, you no longer take the idea seriously. In writing a paper you need to show that not only what your writing is interesting, but that it can also be backed up. This helps the overall persuasion of the paper.

CHAPTER 3

My first hotspot was on page 50 and the sentence states, “There is always more then one way to tell the same story, and no single way of telling it constitutes the whole truth.” I liked this because it made me think. People tend to chose the way they tell a story based on the audience and on how they want to have an audience see their particular point of view better than another one. This idea helped me to think about when I read certain writings that I should be more critical and try and see how what there saying might be bias towards what they want me to think about. It makes me think about how to do this is in a good way in my writing as well.

My next hotspot was on page 61 where a simple sentence that said, “The way you dress communicates where you fit.” This is something that I completely agree with. You select the clothes you wear based on how you want to be perceived. This in turn serves as your identity and where you fit-in in life. This whole idea goes back to the idea of how visual images have rhetorical power as well. Relating these two ideas of visual images having rhetorical power with our consumer choices helps us to analyze the importance of visual images and the power they have over us.

Megan Vaccarella