: Re: How can I write a thesis statement and stay on topic in a persuasive essay? Recently I was made to write a persuasive essay about whether or not this quote by W. H. Auden is true: Machines

It's impossible to know exactly why you got the scores you did, but what jumps out at me is that your thesis statement doesn't really match the prompt. The prompt is NOT to write an essay simply inspired by Auden's quote, but rather to write an essay taking a stance on whether or not his quote is true.

To recast Auden's argument in simpler language: Machines help humanity by reducing the need for labor, but hurt humanity by reducing the need for skill/skilled-labor. An on-topic thesis would be Auden is correct to say that humanity is helped by machines reducing the need for labor because of A, B and C, and correct to say that humanity is hurt by reducing the need for skilled labor because of X, Y and Z. It would be equally on topic to say Auden is incorrect to say humanity is helped by machines reducing the need for labor because of A, B, and C, or Auden is incorrect to say humanity is hurt by machines reducing the need for skill because of X, Y and Z. You could even write a good essay arguing Auden is right on one point and wrong on the other.

As far as the essay itself, it supports the idea that Auden is right that relying on machines leads to people losing skills, but it doesn't explain why that should be considered a bad thing. So you're basically agreeing with Auden, but you haven't even touched on the most substantive part of his claim --the value judgment.

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: Re: How can I write a thesis statement and stay on topic in a persuasive essay? Recently I was made to write a persuasive essay about whether or not this quote by W. H. Auden is true: Machines

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: Skip the rewrite. When you're done with the first draft, fix the spelling errors. Fix any other obvious errors. Then publish it. If it isn't readable, nobody will read it. No problem. But

: Person who invented "formula" for good poetry I remember hearing about this formula where it showed a graph of what makes a poem good. It had something to do with increasing length to increase

: Resource for someone better at editing than writing (I had a previous question, closed as too opinion-based, about being a better editor than writer. I wasn't able to rescue that one, but

: How do you get paid for getting your book published? I've heard that there are 2 ways to get paid: The writer will get (for example) 3 cents per word. Then, even if the book is a huge

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