Developing Content and Elaborating Ambiguity: From Open Essay to Hypertext

One of the purposes of the Exploration Project (Step 4) is to open up a subject, in much the same way that Montaigne manipulated his subject matter in his famous Essais.

In the open essay, you exploit the ways in which your subject is connected to other subjects. The "open" essay expands a subject into a general meditation, and reveals the ways in which ideas and information can be connected. When we "essay," we practice deliberative associative thinking.

According to philosopher David Hume, we can connect ideas in three ways, through resemblance, or contiguity (connectedness) in time or place, or cause and effect. Montaigne uses each of these methods in "Of Coaches." First, he builds most of the first part of the essay on the causes and consequences of sickness and fear (cause and effect). Second, he recalls "a chariot drawn by four oxen," then describes chariots drawn by other animals (resemblance). Third, he considers the role of coaches in a variety of cultures and ages (contiguity). These three ways of connecting ideas help us make associations among ideas that the conventional, formalistic essay may not allow.

The hypertext format is especially useful for composing open essays. Links from key concepts and actions in individual paragraphs help establish threads that can branch off in interesting ways. This assignment is adapted from William A. Covino’s Forms of Wondering.

Steps in the Process

Here's a four-step approach to composing an open essay or hypertext.

STEP ONE : Write a short, “closed theme” or five-paragraph essay that states a problem or thesis, offers three examples, explanations, or solutions, and closes with a recommendation. (See the sample in the attachment listed below.)

STEP TWO: The deliberate associative thinking that expands a closed theme into an open, hypertext essay is an intellectual tour whose "itinerary" includes the past, present, and future; personal and public; particular and general; native and foreign; causes and consequences.

To create this itinerary, pick a concept (a general or "abstract" word) in at least five paragraphs of your original essay. Plug each of these concept words into one of the following sentences, then write five expansion paragraphs. Keep these expansion paragraphs separate from your original essay.

1. Past uses of _________.
2. The role of ________ in a personal experience of yours.
3. The social, ethical, educational, psychological, or political consequences of _________.
4. What others who have written about _________ have said (quotations), with your own brief comments.
5. Another concept that is broader and more important than ________.
6. A particular instance of ________ occurring in public life.
7. How ________ is defined or understood in an other culture.
8. A variation of any of the above.

STEP THREE (Five paragraphs): Pick an action in at least five paragraphs of your original theme or Step Two paragraphs and write another paragraph that discusses each term in ways suggested by the topics listed below:

1. Past uses of _________.
2. The role of ________ in a personal experience of yours.
3. The social, ethical, educational, psychological, or political consequences of _________.
4. What others who have written about _________ have said (quotations), with your own brief comments.
5. Another concept that is broader and more important than ________.
6. A particular instance of ________ occurring in public life.
7. How ________ is defined or understood in an other culture.
8. A variation of any of the above.
9. An analogy to _________

STEP FOUR : Compose your open essay or hypertext by creating relevant and interesting links and transitions among the paragraphs you’ve written. If you create a hypertext, you’re likely to have each paragraph on its own node.

A good open essay or hypertext essay has a feeling of expansiveness to it, meaning that the author has let the reader “join in” as he or she ponders the ways in which ideas are connected to each other.

Some Samples

These directions and then some sample paragraphs from William A. Covino's Forms of Wondering are attached. You'll see at the end a whole essay built from the paragraphs.