The EE Method – what is it? & why is it needed?
EE consists of three core modules (see the 'Book' page for detailed descriptions)
Module 1. Meaning Reconstruction, micro – analysis of ‘textual layer’ of language.
Module 2. Meaning Reconstruction, macro – creation of ‘first order’ knowledge.
Module 3. Meaning Pattern – creation of 'second order knowledge'.
The modules are explained fully in the EE Manual (forthcoming; see 'book' link above), and also in the 'Crash Course' video (forthcoming on home page). See also the 'video lesson one' for a discussion of 'meaning types', a central concept in EE. (The 'meaning reconstruction' is the input process; meaning patterns are the output.)
There are two additional modules for creating the final essay form.
Module 4. Topic Cohesion: intro & conclusion paragraphs
Module 5. Prose ‘flow’ & paragraph structure
EE results in a standard 'five-paragraph' essay to turn in – then why is the 'five-paragraph format' not a good way to write essays?
The EE Method results in a 'five-paragraph' format essay, which is perfectly suited for all English and History essays, and meets expectations and requirements of the standard high school and college curriculum.
However – the five paragraph format shows students the solution and what the final answer to the question should look like. It does not show students how to arrive at that answer. It does not give a series of intermediate steps between the question and answer.
The 'five-paragraph' format is the equivalent to mathematics instruction which gives an algebra formula and the solution (e.g. "5x + 10 = 20", and "x=2"), but does not explain the intermediate steps of solving the problem. The intermediate steps to arrive at the solution require the student to subtract 10 from both sides, and then divide both sides by five. The Five-Paragraph format tells students what the solution is, but not how to create the solution themselves. The same critique applies to the Point-Quotation-Explanation format.
The EE Method provides all intermediate steps required to 'solve the problem'.
Video Series:
Lesson One: i) reading style for better comprehension: speed, tone, punctuation – ii) the three major meaning types ("exterior", "interior", "theoretical") – iii) close reading: Wind in the Willows, first paragraph.
Lesson Two: i) close reading (continued) Wind in the Willows first paragraph – ii) theoretical meaning, in depth discussion & examples
Lessons Three, Four, Five coming soon.
What is the relation between Essay Engineering and Analytic Intelligence?
Essay Engineering is both a method for essay composition (discussed here) and the practice of Analytic Intelligence (see menu bar, "What is AQ?").
The EE Method of essay composition is defined by a 'work flow' process of student activity, which consists of a series of 'modules' (or steps). Each 'module' is defined by a task to complete and the resulting completed work. For each module the student learns and practices several 'tools', which are the specific skills required to complete the module task.
How easily can secondary school students (middle school, high school) learn the EE method?
The Essay Engineering material is sophisticated yet natural. The method is simply a codification of the instinctive way that skilled thinkers work with language. The EE method requires dedication and hard work in the beginning, and very easily becomes an unconscious and automatic way of working. After the initial effort, the method becomes an internalized and intuitive practice.
What are the benefits of a step-by-step process?
Students are taught a detailed 'work flow' process of evidence collection, topic organization, and reasoning construction.
Students know exactly what to do to produce a complete essay, at every step from beginning to end.
The systematic process creates clarity of the efficient task at each step, and removes uncertainty.
The method reconceptualizes the humanities curriculum with intellectual sophistication, practical relevance, and intuitive ease of learning.
The work flow of Essay Engineering is described in detail on the "EE Method" page. (See menu bar above.)
What is the scholarly background and academic context of Essay Engineering ?
I have experience with all major humanities subjects, and expertise in the following: English language and literature; European (Western) history; advanced level ESL (English as second language); German language, literature, philosophy; Ancient Greek literature and philosophy.
Essay Engineering continues the tradition of European intellectual history (e.g. Arthur O. Lovejoy, Isaiah Berlin, Donald H. Fleming), with its emphasis on rigorous textual analysis that grounds the interpretive thesis in close reading and logical reasoning.
The task of the scholar and student is plainly described by famed German historian Leopold von Ranke: "she or he merely shows, what actually happened." ("er will blos zeigen, wie es eigentlich gewesen.")
The work of the historian is never simplistic or reductive – rigorous thought must convey all intricacies, subtleties, complexities with the maximum possible clarity, precision, concision.
Essay Engineering rests on the premise that textual meaning is evidence-based and yields determinate propositions. This intellectual history methodology is distinct from recent fashions in literary theory, such as: Marxist politics and exegesis of symptomatic, incidental textual meaning; French post-structuralism and epistemology of radical scepticism.
Typical classroom methodologies are ipso facto New Criticism approaches which presuppose that every student possesses a pre-existing, innate, fully-developed capacity for close reading.
How can writing be taught ?
Many academics agree that writing is either not taught well or is simply not taught at all. Some even believe that writing cannot be taught. I have dedicated myself to a decades-long effort to overhaul the standard curriculum by focussing on the fundamentals of critical thinkin. The resulting system is unique, and substantially reinvents the teaching of humanities. The EE Method teaches essay composition for English and History, with a new approach to reading and writing at the middle school, high school, and introductory college level (i.e. secondary and tertiary education).
Who are the two old dudes in the statue? Who is the great of the two?
The statue depicts Johann Wolfgang Goethe (left) and Friedrich Schiller (right). It is located on the Theaterplatz in Weimar, Germany. The great of the two is, of course, Schiller.