Make the Most of Modes of Writing and Argumentation
This article was part of a series by the Board of Student Academic Support Services (SASS) that interviewed OHS course peer tutors about the courses they tutor. You can book an appointment with these peer tutors through the OHS Writing Center, which can be found on the OHS Gateway site.
SASS: What did you enjoy about MWA?
Abney Turner (‘19): My experience in MWA was equally an adventure as a developing writer as it was a journey as a thinker. Looking back at my collection of essays from sophomore year, the growth and change are apparent, not only in my use of language but also in my arguments and ideas themselves. This development was attributable to the careful and thoughtful feedback I received from my instructor, attentive suggestions from peers, and my own eagerness to grow. I enjoyed the supportive, engaging classroom environment, where we analyzed Chopin’s “The Kiss” to Erdrich’s “The Red Convertible,” and the fascinating essay prompts I had the pleasure to ponder.
Hannah Yang (‘20): Honestly, the essays! They are definitely challenging, but I thought that the MWA essay prompts were really interesting to work with because they made me think about aspects of the text that I normally would not have considered. By completing each essay, I felt that I gained a better understanding and appreciation of the choices the author made.
SASS: What challenged you the most in MWA? How did you overcome those challenges?
Abney: Much of MWA is dedicated to learning how to formulate and construct an effective argument. The most challenging part of MWA for me was doing just that. Specifically, creating concise yet persuasive introductory paragraphs took a great deal of practice. I had to learn the precise balance between advancing my own ideas and citing supporting evidence from the text. Moreover, I had to realize what constituted a successful thesis by asking questions and narrowing my ideas to be concise and specific while also explaining why a reader should care about my argument.
Hannah: In all of the English courses that come before MWA, you spend most of your time on textual analysis and looking at meaningful details in the text. In MWA, you have to get used to making arguments about the author’s choices, and asking: why does the author construct the text in this way? It can be difficult to adjust to this new kind of argumentation. However, I think that the weekly RQs are a wonderful and frequent “practice” for you to develop your ideas. Text Book is also a great resource that will help you to familiarize yourself with thinking in terms of the author’s choices!
SASS: What tips do you have that could be useful to students taking MWA?
Abney: As an MWA student, or a student of any English course, you should focus on arguments and ideas that genuinely interest you. Go through the text and grab onto something riveting: a part that confuses you, a statement that you don’t agree with, an ambiguous idea that the author doesn’t fully explain, an elusive character. This initial fascination with a specific aspect of the text will not only lead you to a creative and sufficiently specific argument but will allow you to delight in the process itself.
Hannah: Your teachers will say it again and again, but it really is helpful to think about: ask "So what?" When you’re constructing a thesis statement, one of the best ways to extend your argument is to ask: why is the topic you’ve chosen interesting? Why do you think the author’s choices matter? Not only will these questions help you to focus in on a specific, argumentative thesis, they can help you to choose your topic—because you should definitely find your own argument interesting! (Another writing tip that I really like is that you should be able to imagine yourself doing a mic drop after your conclusion.) Finally, please do use peer tutors! We’re here to help and it is always useful to hear a second opinion on your work.
SASS: About how much time did you spent a week working on assignments and preparing for discussion sessions in MWA?
Abney: The time spent per week varies widely depending on the time of semester. The workload inevitably increases during the paper-writing process, which is why planning ahead can be exceedingly helpful. Your weekly workload will also depend on how much you put into preparation. If you’re reading carefully and marking up your text as you go, it may take you longer initially, but you may find this effort greatly facilitates paper-writing down the road, as you retain more ideas with a closer reading. For this reason, I think careful and critical reading ultimately pays off. As for a precise number of hours, it’s hard for me to remember. One can certainly expect to invest a lot of time in the course, but it will greatly vary from student to student and through the course of the semester.
SASS: What was your favorite topic covered in MWA?
Abney: The intertextuality unit was fascinating to me. I especially enjoyed analyzing narrative breaks in Louise Erdrich’s “The Red Convertible” and arguing that these breaks invite a degree of interaction with the main character. It provided a chance to contemplate the connection the author intended between her readers and her fictitious character.
Hannah: MWA covers so many interesting topics but my two favorites were definitely intertextuality and metaphors. With intertextuality, you start to see so many connections between texts (not just in content, but also in how different authors choose to structure texts similarly for the same purpose, etc.) and I think that makes every new text you read an exciting addition to your intertextual network! Similarly, it was so fun to consider the different metaphors we use so casually that we don’t even recognize them as metaphors. It was also fascinating to carefully dissect how metaphors work—which properties are transferred to the object being referred to, and why the author chooses the metaphors they do. Although these two were my personal favorites, I think most of the ideas covered in MWA are super cool because they will enrich your experience of all of the texts you’ll encounter in the future!
SASS: What assignments did you enjoy doing in MWA?
Abney: My favorite assignment in MWA was the essay on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This was the first essay where I found the subject of my argument to be totally captivating, and this was tremendously exciting. I found a quote that presented a striking metaphor of the tension between good and evil, and I related these ideas to the development of Huck’s character. Twain’s text is rich with meaning, and the essay prompts invited questions and curiosity.
SASS: Did you have any experiences with MWA that could encourage those who are uncertain of the course to want to take it?
Hannah: English has always been my ‘strongest’ subject, so I expected MWA to be a breeze. It was definitely not. MWA is a challenging course, but it will really whip your writing into shape. It was so rewarding for me to read my first MWA essay and compare it to my last essay, and to see how much I grew as a writer and reader in just a year!
I specifically remember finishing my Pinocchio essay and feeling so excited because I had been able to come up with a really interesting (if I do say so myself!) argument about Collodi’s textual choices, which was something I don’t think I could have done at the start of the school year. It’s also exciting to revisit concepts we delved into in MWA in higher-level English courses! MWA is undoubtedly a tough course, but it really did give me the tools I needed to help me appreciate the texts I read, and I would highly recommend it to anyone.