“CHOOSING A TOPIC AND DEVELOPING A THESIS

 “What is an appropriate topic?  First, it must be a topic that you can work up some interest in or your writing will be mechanical and dull.  (We say ‘work up some interest’ because interest is commonly the result of some effort.)  Second, an appropriate topic is compassable—that is, it is something you can cover with reasonable attention to detail in the few pages (and few days) you have to devote to it.  If a work is fairly long, almost surely you will write an analysis of some part.

 “…To find an appropriate topic, ask yourself such questions as the following:

“1. What purpose does this serve?  For instance, why is this scene in the novel or play?  Why is there a comic gravedigger in Hamlet?  Why are these lines unrhymed?  Why did the author call the work by this title?

“2. Why do I have this response?  Why do I feel that this work is more profound (or amusing, or puzzling) than that work?  How did the author make this character funny or dignified or pathetic?  How did the author communicate the idea that this character is a bore without boring me?
     “The first of these questions, ‘What purpose does this serve?’ requires that you identify yourself with the author, wondering, for example, whether this opening scene is the best possible for this story.  The second question, ‘Why do I have this response?’ requires that you trust your feelings.  If you are amused or puzzled or annoyed, assume that these responses are appropriate and follow them up, at least until a rereading of the work provides other responses.  If you jot down notes reporting your responses and later think about them, you will probably find that you can select a topic.
     “Given an appropriate topic, you will find your essay easier to write and the finished version of it clearer and more persuasive if, at some point in your preparation, in note taking or in writing a first draft, you have converted your topic into a thesis (a proposition, a point, an argument) and constructed a thesis statement (a sentence stating your overall point).
     “Let’s dwell a moment on the distinction between a topic and a thesis.  It may be useful to think of it this way:  A topic is a subject (for example, ‘The Role of Providence in Hamlet’); to arrive at a thesis, you have to make an arguable assertion (for example, ‘The role of Providence in Hamlet is not obvious, but it is crucial’).
     “Of course some theses are more promising than others.  Consider this thesis:
                                                              The role of Providence in Hamlet is interesting.
This sentence indeed asserts a thesis, but it is vague and provides little direction, little help in generating ideas and in shaping your essay.  Let’s try again.  It’s almost always necessary to try again and again, for the process of writing is in large part a process of trial and error, of generating better and better ideas by evaluating—selecting or rejecting—ideas and options.
                                                            The role of Providence is evident in the Ghost.
This is much better, and it could stimulate ideas for an interesting essay.  Let’s assume the writer rereads the play, looking for further evidence, and comes to believe that the Ghost is only one of several manifestations of Providence.  The writer may stay with the Ghost or may (especially if the paper is long enough to allow for such a thesis to be developed) alter the thesis thus:
                                           The role of Providence is not confined to the Ghost
                                           but is found also in the killing of Polonius, in the surprising
                                           appearance of the pirate ship, and in the presence of the poisoned chalice.
Strictly speaking, the thesis here is given in the first part of the sentence…; the rest of the sentence provides an indication of how the argument will be supported.
     “Every literary work suggests its own topics for analysis to an active reader, and all essayists must set forth their own theses, but if you begin by seeking to examine one of your responses, you probably will soon be able to stakeout a topice and to formulate a thesis.”

(Barnet, Sylvan; Berman, Morton; Burto, William; and Stubbs, Marcia.  Literature for Composition:  Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama.  3rd Ed.  NY:  HarperCollins, 1992.  41-42.)

     “Don’t be afraid to state a conviction, though it seems obvious.  Does it matter that you may be repeating something that, once upon a time or even just the other day, has been said before?  There are excellent old ideas as well as new.

 “BEGINNING

    “Offered a choice of literary works to write about, you probably will do best if, instead of choosing what you think will impress your instructor, you choose what appeals to you.  And how to find out what appeals?  …[T]he first stage of your project is reading—and note taking.  To concentrate your attention, one time-honored method is to read with a pencil, marking (if the book is yours) passages that stand out in importance, jotting brief notes in a margin.…In a long story or poem or play, some students asterisk passages that cry for comparison; for instance, all the places in which they find the same theme or symbol.  Later, at a glance, they can review the highlights of a work and, when writing a paper about it, quickly refer to evidence.  This method shoots holes in a book’s resale value, but many find the sacrifice worthwhile.  Patient souls who dislike butchering a book prefer to take notes on looseleaf notebook paper, holding one sheet beside a page in the book and giving it the book’s page number.  Later, in writing a paper, they can place book page and companion note page together again.  This method has the advantage of affording a lot of room for note taking; it is a good one for short poems closely packed with complexities.

     “But by far the most popular method of taking notes (besides writing on the pages of books) is to write on index cards—the 3 x 5 kind, for brief notes and titles; 5 x 8 cards for longer notes.  Write on one side only; notes on the back of the card usually get overlooked later.  Cards are easy to shuffle and, in organizing your material, to deal.  To save work, instead of copying out on a card the title and author of a book you’re taking a note from, just keep a numbered list of the books you’re using.  Then, when making a note, you need write only the book’s identifying number on the card in order to identify your source.  (Later, when writing footnotes, you can translate the number into title, author, and other information.)

     “…Chances are…that even in discussing a relatively uncomplicated work you wil want to seek the aid of the finest critics.  If you quote them, quote them exactly, in quotation marks, and give them credit.  When employed in any but the most superlative student paper, a brilliant phrase (or even a not-so-brilliant sentence) from a renowned critic is likely to stand out like a golf ball in a garter snake’s midriff, and most English instructors are likely to recognize it.  If you rip off the critic’s words, then go ahead and steal the whole essay, for good critics write in seamless unities.  Then, when apprehended, you can exclaim—like the student whose term paper was found to be the work of a well-known scholar—‘I’ve been robbed!  That paper cost me twenty dollars!’  But of course the worst rip-off is the one the student inflicted on himself, having got nothing for his money out of a college course but a little practice in touch typing.  Giving proper acknowledgment to words and ideas not your own is both a moral and legal obligation.  Take it seriously.

     “Taking notes on your readings, you will want to jot down the title of every book you might refer to in your paper, and the page number of any passage you might wish to quote.  Even if you summarize a critic’s idea in your own words, rather than quote, you have to give credit to your source.  Nothing is cheaper to give than proper credit.  Certainly it’s easier to take notes while you read than to have to run back to the library during the final typing.
 Choose a topic appropriate to the assigned length of your paper.  How do you know the probable length of your discussion until you write it?  When in doubt, you are better off to define your topic narrowly.  Your paper will be stronger if you go deeper into your subject than if you choose some gigantic subject and then find yourself able to touch on it only superficially.…

“DISCOVERING AND PLANNING

    “Writing is not likely to proceed in a straight line.  Like thought, it often goes by fits and starts, by charges and retreats and mopping-up operations.  All the while you take notes, you discover material to write about; all the while you tool over your topic in your mind, you plan.  It is the nature of ideas, those headstrong things, to happen in any order they desire.  While you continue to plan, while you write a draft, and while you revise, expect to keep discovering new thoughts—perhaps the best thoughts of all.  If you do, be sure to let them in.…

“DRAFTING AND REVISING

    “Seated at last, or striking some other businesslike stance, you prepare to write, only to find yourself besieged with petty distractions.  All of a sudden you remember a friend you had promised to call, some dry cleaning you were supposed to pick up, a neglected Coke (in another room) growing warmer and flatter by the minute.  If your paper is to be written, you have one course of action: to collar these thoughts and for the moment banish them.

     “…One…word of Dutch-uncle warning.…[C]ritical terminology—especially if unfamiliar—can tempt a beginning critic to sling it about.  Nothing can be less sophisticated, or more misleading, than a technical term grandly misapplied: ‘The myth-symbolism of this rime scheme leaves one aghast.’  Far better to choose plain words you’re already at ease with.  Your instructor, no doubt, has met many a critical term and is not likely to be impressed by the mere sight of another one.  Knowingly selected and placed, a critical term can help sharpen a thought and make it easier to handle.  Clearly it is less cumbersome to refer to the tone of a story than to have to say, ‘the way the author makes you feel that she feels about what she is talking about.’  But the paper-writer who declares, ‘The tone of this poem is full of ironic imagery,’ fries words to a hash—mixed up and indigestible.”

(Kennedy, X. J., and Gioia, Dana.   Literature:  An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama.  6th Ed.  NY:  HarperCollins, 1995.  1735-1741.)

2. Do I identify the subject of my essay (author and title) early?

3. What is my thesis?  Do I state it soon enough (perhaps even in the title) and keep it in view?

4. Is the organization reasonable?  Does each point lead into the next without irrelevancies and without anticlimaxes?

5. Is each paragraph unified by a topic sentence or a topic idea?  Are there adequate transitions from one paragraph to the next?

6. Are generalizations supported by appropriate concrete details, especially by brief quotations from the text?

7. Is the opening paragraph interesting and, by its end, focused on the topic?  Is the final paragraph conclusive without being repetitive?

8. Is the tone appropriate?  No sarcasm, no apologies, no condescension?

9. If there is a summary, is it as brief as possible, given its purpose?

10. Are the quotations accurate?  Do they serve a purpose other than to add words to the essay?

11. Is documentation provided where necessary?

12. Are the spelling and punctuation correct?  Are other mechanical matters (such as margins, spacing, and citations) in correct form?  Have I proofread carefully?

13. Is the paper properly identified—author’s name, instructor’s name, course number, and date?