Dr.

Will Kurlinkus
Writing Tips: Straight Forward is Better
1. Remember point, evidence, analysis: Your essay should progress through claims,
giving examples that prove the claims, and then analyzing those examples for how
they perpetuate your larger argument:
• Point: OU administrator’s back to school plan in response to COVID-19 privileged developing student nostalgia and maintaining back-to-school traditions over
the safety of faculty, staff, and students.
• Evidence/example that illustrates your claim (often starting with for instance/for example): For example, despite banning large gatherings on campus
and repeatedly claiming that such gatherings were dangerous, OU president Joe Harroz still excitedly held the traditional freshmen welcome ceremony in Gaylord
Stadium. At the event, though the over 5,000 student attendees were asked to wear masks, none of the administrators did. Harroz said of the ceremony, “It’s
important to get back to some sense of normalcy and the Freshman welcome ceremony has been a tradition for over 50 years. The kids deserve this
• Analyze your claim and how it relates to your larger topic/other scholars research: In essence, Harroz uses the stability of nostalgia (the known completed
past as opposed to the uncertain future) both to calm fears of the pandemic but also to create what John Balmer calls a “heritage brand” “a dimension of a brand’s
identity found in its track record, longevity, core values, use of symbols and particularly in an organizational belief that its history is important” that connects
workers and companies across multiple generations (Urde et al. 4).” Then I might go on to describe how this was a new kind of heritage brand because the
ceremony did something other writers hadn’t considered.

2. Your reader should always know why you’re talking about something and how it
connects back to your topic, thesis, or research question. It’s your job to explain
(that’s what the point, evidence, analysis structure does).
3. Connect your paragraphs with transition sentences and words. There is no such thing
as too many therefore, however, thus, then, etc. (If you don’t already use a lot of
transition and comparative words-–in your final read through add them). Similarly, use
flashback and flash forward gestures.
• Flash forward: Later in this essay I’ll analyze an example of a person rejecting literacy, but for now we’ll consider
literacy rejection as guided by terrible people.
• Flash back: Earlier I described….however, there are other reasons why people might reject literacy.

4. Your primary source examples (interviews, site observations, etc. that you’ve
discovered) are always going to be the most interesting things. Start from those and
develop paragraphs around them. This means start with evidence/example, then move
backwards to the point/claim/topic sentence and then use your analysis and secondary
research to analyze the example. This also means that you should spend the most time
in description of your examples.
Introductions
• By the end of your intro I should have a Common Errors
thesis, questions, know your lens • Get to your thesis, argument, or
(though not have it explained), know research question faster.
your cases, and know your structure.
• Show me your problem/topic, • Illustrate your thesis, topic, or research
demonstrate it. question faster.
• Pose your research question or puzzle • TLDR: 1-2 pages.
in relation to that demonstration • Starting too broad—start with a specific
• Clearly signpost. example and specific claim that makes
us wonder about your topic and shows
• Introduce me to the things/people you its impact and importance.
are going to be looking at. Don’t make
we wait for after your lit review.
What does your thesis and
research question commit you
to doing?
What literature does it presume that you’ll engage?

In this article we offer a rhetoric of nostalgia: a route to probing what people are nostalgic for, why, and
to which ends, without being condescending to citizens who feel the emotion or excising nostalgics
from definitions of a critical citizenry. To do so, we first lay out our rhetoric and then complicate it
through studies of (1) nostalgia’s historical role in preparing Appalachia for industrial paternalism and
(2) how the psychology of nostalgic self-sacrifice is rhetorically primed by industry advocates to keep
longing for coal fresh today. We’ve chosen Appalachia, and specifically West Virginian coal fields, as
the site of our study because of how often the rest of the nation has concurrently longed for the
simplicity of the region, dismissed it as backward, and attempted to capitalize on, distort, and sell
back a nostalgic ideal to its citizens. But within our analysis, we also consider how critical nostalgia
can uncover gaps in yearning, seek divergent traditional identities, and build emancipatory futures.
That is, we’ll argue that though theorists like Jenny Rice suggest “critical regionalism obviously risks
confusion or an unfortunate conflation with nostalgia,” critical regional movements are often powered
by the emotion (2).
Sample Student Intro
Introduction
“I like watching you sleep,” one-hundred-and-seven year old vampire Edward Cullen iconically reveals to seventeen year old Bella Swan in the first Twilight
movie. These characters come from a world where every obstacle is life or death, romance is fated, and supernatural creatures allow a place in their world for
an extremely average junior in high school. Hopelessly, and many times ridiculously, devoted to one another, Edward and Bella’s story made it to screens
across the world in 2008. The film is widely regarded as one of the cringiest of all time, with fans and critics alike quoting its bafflingly overdramatic lines, citing
its blue filter over every shot, and commenting on its notorious although self-indulgent indie-rock soundtrack. The wardrobe as well was remarkably 2008-
esque, with Bella’s bowling shirt on the first day of school and Edward’s impeccably disheveled hair, or the lesser known snakeskin cowboy boots Jasper dons.
Despite the disparagement, Twilight was a global phenomenon, an outstanding pop culture moment of 2008. Although widely critiqued as unfeminist, the film
made it clear to Hollywood that there was a space for films marketed towards women, a genre previously thought to be nonexistent. Kristin Stewart’s vapid
character as well as her own acting abilities were mocked relentlessly for years, and yet without a Bella Swan there may never have been a Katniss Everdeen, a
Wonder Woman, a Hazel Grace Landcaster. Whether one looks at the box office record-breaking movie of Twilight as just a chick-flick, a quintessential indie
melodrama, “abstinence porn,” or the first installment of the budding YA movie genre, Twilight’s significance in the film industry cannot be contested (Seifert).
Still, 12 years later a resurgence of Twilight has begun. An entire community of now grown-up fans connect on social media platforms that did not exist when
the series first began. This phenomenon labeled “The Twilight Renaissance” has grown so large that author Stephanie Meyer even released a new book in
August 2020, something she said she would never do. The renewed popularity of the series also led to Hulu nabbing the streaming rights to the film. These
instances showcase the power a memory community can have. How is it possible that the creators responsible for bringing this story to life are making a profit
again years after the age of Team Edward and Team Jacob t-shirts? A series that, despite its fan base and box office history, is now outdated in addition to
being cringey? Why now? Although commonly mocked and criticized, the Twilight series has experienced a notable rejuvenated interest through old fans
connecting on social media in the age of COVID-19, filled with uncertainty and nostalgia for simpler times. In order to study this, the following must be
examined: (1) nostalgia’s traditional re-emergence during precarious times, (2) what emotional ties brought this community together, and (3) how
commutative memory can lead to connections on social media.
How are you going
to make me ask the
question or wonder
or get angry or care
before you actually
say these things?
What I Expect of Your
Introduction

• Interesting/complex introductory example that

provokes a question or concern
• Clear exigence: why is this important?
• Clear set of research questions your essay aims
to answer
• Clear thesis statement (essentially, the answer
to your biggest research question: In this essay, I
argue that…)
• Clear signposting statement: to make this
argument, first we will look at x, then y, finally we
will examine z.
 We’ve Got Several Public • Who wants whom to remember
what, why, and how?
Memory & Public Learning
Reflect in Examples (Onates foot,
monument lab national
• What does this piece teach us
about the nature of collective
memory?
Groups monument audit, OU
memories, OKC memorial • What is at stake here?
museum). Discuss them in • What does it mean to celebrate
your groups for 5 minutes heritage if that heritage is at
then I want everyone to post once marginalized and terrible?
a thought. • About the act of
memorialization?
• What do monuments do?
• What solutions are there?
Do Monuments
Matter? Especially if
you don’t pay
attention to them?
Acoma Pueblo:
Sky City
Onate’s Foot
• Who wants whom to remember what, why, and
how?
• What does this piece teach us about the nature of
collective memory?
• How was this memory of Onate forgotten (his
murderousness and banishment)?
• What is at stake here?
• What does it mean to celebrate heritage if that
heritage is at once marginalized and terrible?
• About the act of memorialization?
• What do monuments do?
• What solutions are there?
• counter-memory is an individual act of resistance,
to relentlessly question the veracity of "history as
true knowledge” (Pritika Chowdhry).
Numbe Whageh:
Albuquerque’s
Cuarto
Centenario
Memorial
Oñate’s Foot
• Oñate: A conquistador treated as a founding
father of New Mexico (celebrated at a time
when non-white history was excluded) but
also known for sentencing men in Acoma
Pueblo to having one foot chopped off.
• Who wants whom to
remember what, why, and
how?
• How is public literacy
occurring here? Who is
controlling the flow of literacy
and public information?
Monument Lab:
National
Monument Audit 1.
2.
3.
4.
How do monuments
serve as points of public
education? As
something else? Do
they really matter?
 • The name of a former OU professor and KKK leader was struck from the chemistry building almost 30 years ago
in 1988. Just across the street, his name remains. Edwin DeBarr, a prominent national Ku Klux Klan leader of his
time and one of OU’s first four professors. he was the grand dragon of Oklahoma in the KKK until 1923. anti-
Catholic commencement speech at a high school.
• property owners have raised concerns about not getting their mail or business owners having to change
brochures and websites. Others around the community have pondered if the name change would be “erasing
history”
• For Henderson, arguments of “erasing history” simply can’t be reasoned — especially when many students
don’t even know DeBarr’s history, he said.
• When OU’s “Soonerthon” changed its name to OU Dance Marathon, it was met with backlash from members of
the OU community.

Troubled •

•
one community member expressed her opinion on the matter saying that anyone offended by the phrase
“boomer sooner” should transfer schools
“(The) removal of Native people is where the terms ‘boomer’ and ‘sooner’ come from,” South said. “When those

Memories at •
terms are referenced without acknowledging the proper historical context, that brings up the historical trauma
that's present for a lot of Indigenous people.”
after the U.S. government forcibly moved Native tribes off of their land and to Oklahoma, some white Americans

OU began to advocate for settling the land. The people who campaigned for opening Oklahoma land to white
settlers — before the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 was passed — were known as “boomers.” Those who
illegally entered the land early to claim plots during the Land Run were known as “sooners.”
• Gibbs said he received an influx of “hate mail” from fans of the phrase “boomer sooner” when he pushed to
change the Crimson Leadership Association's name, but he believes the change is necessary. In 2015, after
members of Indigenize OU called for the removal of the words “boomer” and “sooner” from the university’s
identity, Boren said he would only consider doing so if almost 245,000 alumni agreed to it.
• “I think the words in their modern context are no longer tied to the history of the Oklahoma land settlement.
They have taken on a meaning of their own, which stands mainly for strong support for our state and university,”
Boren said in the statement.
• A member of the Norman 89er Day Parade committee said the parade was called off this year in order to
reorganize, and the committee intends to put on the parade next year. The parade last year received criticism for
its connection to the 1889 Land Run. “If we forget history, we’re bound to repeat it. We don’t ever want a group
treated like that again. We want to be sensitive to everyone’s feelings. If Native Americans wanted to promote
their heritage, we’d love to have them in the parade, because they have so much to offer.”
• “Actually I am sick to death of people bowing down to these cry babies that have nothing better to do with their
time than try and rewrite history,”
What should we do with the
sooner? Write a one
paragraph statement to the
University that guides
action in someway. Either
pro, con, of in between. Use
our readings this semester
and your knowledge of
memory studies as a guide.