Quintana’s thesis is moderately strong since it provides a clear description of what he wishes to narrate in his paper, but it is not perfect because his supporting points do not match up with his paper’s contents. Specifically, Quintana’s thesis mentions 4 things: reading more, stopping smoking, making friends, and doing all the things he postponed until he reached college. Stating these 4 specific goals was a good tactic and gave the thesis strength as it provided a definitive focus for the papers progression. However, he only discussed the 2 points “reading more” and “making friends” in highly descriptive and understandable detail, whereas he did not include the other two points.
If I were to look at his thesis as a stand-alone item I would probably increase its rating to “strong” because it provides a narrowed down focus for the paper. Incidentally, since the last point of his thesis is still incredibly vague, I would still be unable to rate it as being “very strong”. Overall, his thesis is strong but it does not properly describe his papers goals.
Question 2: Details
Even though his paper accurately described the feelings and reactions of other people and his own, it would be nice if he could have provided more information on the setting of the narration. …show more content…
In the beginning of his paper he stated his fear of being unable to effectively communicate even though he spoke English well. This fear was realized when he desperately struggled in his classes and failed to confidently verbalize his thoughts in English to the people he met. He was also afraid that “the Americans” would not accept him because he was from Mexico. This foreshadowing event turned out to be unfounded since he was quickly accepted by those around him. Regardless, in both cases the use of foreshadowing highlighted Quintana’s fear of being accepted and achieving success in his