Chapter 7 The Essay How Rhetoric Works at SHU Please turn to P. 117, WR. Most of the writing you produce in college will be in the format of an essay, regardless of its being English or Chinese. The writing of an essay is an attempt at developing a main idea in a number of paragraphs. An essay can be five or six paragraphs long, as you have written for your Freshman or Sophomore English composition, or it can be as long as an academic thesis, professional paper, or an entire book. (Revised by C.C. Li from WR, 2006.) From Paragraph to Essay (P. 118, Writer’s Resources) Paragraph Topic sentence (Main idea) Support sentences/ideas (Main Body) Conclusion (sentence) Essay Thesis (Main idea) (One or two sentences at the end of the introduction) Support paragraphs (Main Body) Conclusion paragraphs (Conclusion) To help you understand the structure of the English essay, I will cite “I Have a Dream” of Martin Luther King, Jr. for reference in my lecture. Be sure to read it thoroughly. In the meantime, exercises (WR PP. 119 – 140) will be discussed in class.

Turn to Page Read All about It 2.Our Daily Tutor Thesis The Daily newspaper provides a valuable source of information. Further Review: For the structure of a good essay, or your English assigned to write either in-class or off-class, pay attention to the following points: The attention-getter and background information (P. 121) Appeal to audience (P. 123) Thesis (P. 125) Body paragraphs (P. 126) Conclusion (P. 128) Transition (P. 129) “I Have a Dream” (MLK)

Theme and topic sentence

S NP VP the article N Amazon Rain Forest Tense Verb is beingendangered Reviewing Chapter 27: Sentence Types – PP The Amazon Rain Forest is being endangered. Life is short. (Sentence)

S NP VP the article N Amazon Rain Forest Tense Verb is being endangered Reviewing Chapter 27: Sentence Types – PP NP S that we have cherished The Amazon Rain Forest that we have cherished is being endangered. Sentence vs. Clause (Lower sentence)

The Gettysburg Address Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Abraham Lincoln - November 19, 1863 (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. (A. Lincoln, 1863) 1. Eighty-seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation. 2. The new nation was conceived in liberty. 3. The new nation was dedicated to a proposition. 4. The proposition was “that all man are created equal.” Deep (Underlying) Structure  Surface Structure Syntactic Transformation

The Gettysburg Address Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Abraham Lincoln - November 19, 1863 (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 1. Now we are engaged in a great civil war This (The) great civil war tests whether that nation, or any nation can long endure. The nation, or any nation is so conceived and so dedicated. 4. We are met on a great battlefield of that war We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those (brave men). Those brave men here gave their lives so that that nation might live. 7. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. Syntactic Transformation

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared (burned) in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. (Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963)

“China, the World‘s Capital” “From Kaifeng to New York” Kaifeng on the Hudson” Nicholas D. Kristof ( 紀思道 ) The New York Times May 22, 2005 As this millennium dawns, New York City is the most important city in the world, the unofficial capital of planet Earth. But before we New Yorkers become too full of ourselves, it might be worthwhile to glance at dilapidated Kaifeng in central China. Kaifeng, an ancient city along the mud-clogged Yellow River, was by far the most important place in the world in And if you've never heard of it, that's a useful warning for Americans - as the Chinese headline above puts it, in a language of the future that many more Americans should start learning, "glory is as ephemeral as smoke and clouds."

Thinking of Kaifeng should stimulate us to struggle to improve our high-tech edge, educational strengths and pro-growth policies. For if we rest on our laurels, even a city as great as New York may end up as Kaifeng-on-the-Hudson. Nicholas D. Kristof ( 紀思道 ) The New York Times May 22, 2005 Turn to Chapter 25, P. 327 Then turn to P. 333 for ex.

Your Tentative Topics to be presented in the class – Sep. 29, CLIMATE CHANGE and GLOBAL WARMING: Why are they critical issues to us human being in the 21st century? 2. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (against deterioration) for global sustainable development ( 永續發展 ). 3. The quality of higher education in Taiwan: Why is our best university (NTU) ranked 124 instead of 24? What does this fact imply? 4. How should we brace for the global financial crisis? What’s the solution? 5. Is international education is essential to college students and national development? Why? How should we enhance its quality? 6. “It’s glorious to be rich.” What should we learn from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG? How to avoid the global financial crisis? 7. Thomas L. Friedman wrote: The World Is Flat (2005). Now he has written again: The World Is Hot, Flat, and Crowded ( 2008). Explain. 8. How can college students improve their English? President Drew Faust Harvard Univ Ethics. What can we learn from the scandal of “dairy products contaminated with melamine ( 三聚氰胺 )” ?