2. AGENDA
S Magical Creatures Order
S Discussion
S New Yorker article
S Basic Features
S Ways to begin your concept essay.
S Focusing your Concept
S In-Class Writing:
S Preparing for the Library
S Review: The Works Cited Page
3. Discussion:
The Boggarts in the Classroom.
S Basic info:
S What is a boggart?
S What form do boggarts take?
S What spell is used against a
boggart? What does it do?
S (Think about Neville’s
encounter with the boggart.)
S Discussion: imagine that you are facing
a boggart.
S What form would the boggart take for
you? Explain why.
S What transformation of the boggart
would make you laugh? Describe it in
some detail.
S Think about your answers (jot them
down), then share with your House.
4. Get out your rankings of the supernatural beings from last class.
Remember that you ranked them from 1 (most plausible) to 20 (least
plausible).
In your House:
1. Try to reach consensus on
which creatures should
rank 1-5.
2. Try to reach consensus on
which creatures should
rank 16-20.
3. Discuss which creatures
were easiest to “place” on
the list. Why?
4. Which were most difficult to
“place”? Why?
5. S
Fantastic Beasts and How to Rank Them
By Kathryn Schulz
Schulz, Kathryn. “Fantastic Beasts and How to Rank Them.” The New Yorker,
November 6, 2017 Issue, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/06/is-bigfoot-
likelier-than-the-loch-ness-monster. Accessed 26 January 2018.
How do I cite an online magazine?
Provide the author name, article name in quotation
marks, title of the web magazine in italics, Issue, URL,
and the date of access.
6. Discussion: “Fantastic Beasts”:
talk in your houses.
S How does the author hook the reader in the first paragraph? How or why?
S What rhetorical strategy does the author use? Why does it work?
S How does the author use the strategy of counterargument?
S How does the author support the theories she investigates?
S What is the thesis? Where does the thesis appear?
S What is the “So What?” in this essay? Where do you see it?
S What is the reader left with in the conclusion?
7. How does the author hook the reader in
the first paragraph? How or why?
Consider the yeti. Reputed to live in the mountainous regions of Tibet,
Bhutan, and Nepal. Also known by the alias Abominable Snowman.
Overgrown, in both senses: eight or ten or twelve feet tall; shaggy.
Shy. Possibly a remnant of an otherwise extinct species. More
possibly an elaborate hoax, or an inextinguishable hope. Closely
related to the Australian Yowie, the Canadian Nuk-luk, the Missouri
Momo, the Louisiana Swamp Ape, and Bigfoot. O.K., then: on a scale
not of zero to ten but of, say, leprechaun to zombie, how likely do you
think it is that the yeti exists? (par. 1)
8. What rhetorical strategy does the author
use? Why does it work?
S What’s odd about this exercise is that everyone knows that “impossible” is an
absolute condition. “Possible versus impossible” is not like “tall versus short.”
Tall and short exist on a gradient, and when we adjudge the Empire State
Building taller than LeBron James and LeBron James taller than Meryl Streep,
we are reflecting facts about the world we live in. But possibility and
impossibility are binary, and when we adjudge the yeti more probable than the
leprechaun we aren’t reflecting facts about the world we live in; we aren’t
reflecting the world we live in at all. So how, exactly, are we drawing these
distinctions? And what does it say about our own wildly implausible,
unmistakably real selves that we are able to do so? (par. 3 second half)
9. How does the author use the strategy of
counterargument?
So much for biology as the basis of our unified theory. But we can resolve at least some of these
problems by modifying our hypothesis slightly. Perhaps we don’t care how much supernatural creatures
resemble the animal kingdom in general; perhaps we only care how much they resemble us. This mirror
theory of plausibility would still account for the high ranking of yetis, which, aside from not existing, are not
so different from Homo sapiens (para 17 end).
[L]ike the biological theory of plausibility, [the mirror theory] fails to account for some of our intuitions
about supernatural beings (par 18 beginning).
Given this tendency to situate unnatural beings in the natural world, it seems conceivable that our
judgments about their plausibility might reflect how well they conform to the constraints of modern
biology (par 11 end).
If you couldn’t make it through that paragraph without starting to formulate an objection, you
already know the first problem with this theory: it invites a lot of quibbling over what is and isn’t
biologically feasible (par 13 beginning).
10. How does the author support the theories
she investigates?
11. How does the author support the theories
she investigates?
S Refers to historical authority: But [Plato] did allow that, if forced to choose, writers
“should prefer a probable impossibility to an unconvincing possibility” (par. 4).
S Quotes popular contemporary authority: “We cannot do the fantastic things,
based on the real, unless we first know the real,” [Walt Disney] once wrote (par.
8).
S Cites studies:
S As it happens, intuitions like these are broadly shared—a fact we know because, speaking of
implausible things, two cognitive scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have
shown it (par. 22).
S Happily, two other cognitive scientists, Andrew Shtulman and Caitlin Morgan, of Occidental
College, have addressed that question (par 25).
12. What is the thesis? Where does the
thesis appear?
13. What is the thesis? Where does the thesis
appear?
Thesis questions:
So how, exactly, are we drawing these distinctions? And what does it say about our own
wildly implausible, unmistakably real selves that we are able to do so? (par 3).
Thesis statement:
Patterns of evidence, a grasp of biology, theories of physics: as it turns out, we need all of
these to account for our intuitions about supernatural beings. [. . .] the ability to think about
nonexistent things isn’t just handy for playing parlor games on Halloween. It is utterly
fundamental to who we are. Studying that ability helps us learn about ourselves; exercising it
helps us learn about the world (4 from the end).
14. What is the “So What?” in this essay?
Where do you see it?
15. What is the “So What?” in this essay?
Where do you see it?
[P]erhaps the most extraordinary thing about this ability [to think about
things that aren’t real all the time] is that we can use it to nudge the
impossible into the realm of the real. We stare at the sky, watch a seagull bob
on a thermal, build wax wings and then fixed wings and then Apollo XI. We dream
of black Presidents and female scientists; we dream, still, of self-driving cars, a
cure for cancer, peace in the Middle East. These last things are interestingly like
dragons and also interestingly unlike dragons, in ways that suggest that we may
be wise, after all, to treat impossibility as something other than an absolute
condition. Alone among all the creatures in the world, we can think about
fantastical things and, at least some of the time, bring them into being (3 pars.
from the bottom).
16. What is the reader left with in the
conclusion?
S That world, the one we inhabit every day of
our lives, is a yeti—a fantastical thing
constructed out of bits and pieces of reality
plus the magic wand of the mind. If we could
hand it over to some superior being for
consideration, it might not even rank very
high on the scale of plausibility. Then again,
plausibility itself might not rank very high on
the scale of qualities we prize. Better,
perhaps, to know that what we feel in our
happiest moments has some truth to it: life is
magical. ♦
18. The Basic Features of the Concept Essay
S A Focused Concept
S An Appeal to Readers’ Interests
S A Logical Plan
S Clear Definitions
S Appropriate Writing Strategies
S Classification
S Process Narration
S Comparison and Contrast
S Cause and Effect
S Careful Use of Sources
19. Remember, you started with the concept of magic; then you focused your concept by
using one of the classes from Hogwarts, listed below. Now, you must narrow your focus
again.
1. Defense Against the Dark Arts
2. Potions
3. Divination
4. Magical Creatures
5. Transfiguration
6. History of Magic
7. Herbology
8. Spellcasting
9. Animagi.
The First Basic Feature:
Focus your Concept
20. S
The Concept Assignment
Limiters
Once you have chosen a concept, you must narrow your focus further. Choose a
“limiter,” that is, a way to focus your concept into a more specific topic that interests you
and that you want to investigate further. For example, if your focused concept is “Magical
Creatures,” you could limit it to a specific kind of magical creature, for instance, dragons.
When you have a good understanding of the focused and limited concept you have
chosen, explain it to your readers, considering carefully what they might already know
about it and how your essay might add to what they know.
21. S First, consider a focus and limiter for your theme of Magic.
1. You wrote paragraphs for two limited concepts, sketching out what you already
know about that particular kind of magic. Now, draft another paragraph on both of
those concepts, adhering to your new limiter. Don’t be afraid to do a bit of quick, easy
research online.
Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions,
Divination, Magical Creatures, Transfiguration,
History of Magic, Herbology, Spellcasting,
Animagi
Theme, Magic; Focus,
Magical Creatures; limiter,
dragons
Theme, Magic; Focus,
Spellcasting; limiter, black
magic
23. Listing Types
S Next, you must break the categories down even further:
you need different types of those categories. Think back
to the cannibalism essay. Remember, Ngo listed two
categories: Exo cannibalism and Endo cannibalism.
Under those, he listed three types: survival, dietary, and
religious/ritual.
S Under “magical potions” and “physical health,” for
example, I might put acute illness, chronic illness, and
disease.
25. Adding Examples
S Finally, under “types,” you must
list the examples you are going
to use from Prisoner of Azkaban
(and other HP novels), or other
outside sources, which you will
find in the library. Our next
lecture will explain how.
26. Concept: Magic; Focus: Potions; Limiter: Healing
Categories: Types: Examples
Category 1:
Physical Health
Types
1. Acute Illness
a) Ex. Cold
b) **
2. Chronic Illness
a) Ex. Asthma
b) **
3. Disease
a) Ex. Cancer
b) **
Category 2:
Emotional Health
Types
1. Mood Disorders
a) Depression
b) **
2. Anxiety Disorders
a) Panic Attack
b) **
3. Eating Disorders
a) Anorexia
b) **
Category 3:
Spiritual Health
Types
1. Peace
a) Acceptance
b) **
2. Empowerment
a) Decision
Making
b) **
27. Is it focused enough? Or can I focus it again?
1. Mood Disorders
a) Depression
b) **
1. Anxiety
Disorders
a) Panic Attack
b) **
Potions limited to healing
Emotional/Mental
Health
1. Eating
Disorders
a) Anorexia
b) **
Now the concept is focused enough to write a 4-
6 page, interesting, essay. I imagine you could
narrow it even again if you really wanted to do
so.
28. S
Preparing for the Library
Make sure you have your focus (and maybe
your limiter) clear in your mind.
Consider how to frame any information you
already have, including categories, types, and
examples from Harry Potter.
Consider your needs concerning research of
categories. What do you need to look for?
Once you figure out your categories, you will
look for examples.
29. HOMEWORK
S Read HP POA Chapter 8
S Discussion #19: Finish and post your
in-class writing: Tentative limited
concept, a focus, categories, and types.
S Read "Behind the Leaf," a student
example of the concept essay.
S Remember, you have an alternate
assignment for tomorrow (Thursday)
and your regular Hybrid class for Friday.
S Our next face to face meeting is in the
library. Meet in the lobby five minutes
before class starts.
