For next week: brainstorming

Students,
For next week you should get started on your Moon Day holiday essay. All essays, stories, or reviews in this class will average 2 pages in length.
    You should also pick a title for your work. Titles help to focus your work. Besides, you should learn how to make up titles. (We'll discuss this in class. But for now just go on imdb and see the titles of famous movies or do other searches on books, articles, pop songs, etc. to see what makes a good title.) 
    For next week your main concern should be to present a brainstorming list and some thesis statement (in a single sentence). A thesis statement always helps to focus in on purpose:
    (1) "I will narrate how a Moon Day holiday ended happily despite many obstacles in the day."
    (2) "I will narrate how each member of the family contributed to create the best Moon Day holiday my family ever had."
    A thesis statement should not be too vague but have a controlling effect. Notice in the first thesis statement there's an element of control, from obstacles to pleasure. In the second, the control element is each member of the family. The following thesis statements would not have been too good:
    (1) "I will narrate a happy Moon Day holiday."
    (2) "I will narrate the best Moon Day holiday."
    Always we get to the issue of lower levels of generality, which is the only criterion for good writing.
    Brainstorming is not easy unless it's not done correctly. Real brainstorming brainstorms one's details to lower levels of generality.
    By the way, always bring your work with you and on disk too so we can study it in the laptop computer.
    To hear Frank Sinatra sing the pop standard, "Fly Me to the Moon," click on the image of Chang-E. You can find the lyrics yourselves!