CONTENT AND ORGANIZATION: The well-written literature response thesis paper follows these structural guidelines:

Transcription

1 Thesis Paper Guide DEFINITION: A thesis paper is a paper in the expository mode (a paper to expose, to tell something new, or to explain in a new way), which utilizes a thesis or controlling idea. This type of paper is most often used when the writer wants (a) to respond to a piece of literature or poetry; (b) to use outside material to support his/her opinion; or (c) to persuade in a formal tone. All expository papers follow the traditional format of a beginning, middle, and end (introduction, body, and conclusion). The difference between a regular expository paper and a thesis paper that responds to literature is that a response thesis relies on the actual details of the literature source for its support. CONTENT AND ORGANIZATION: The well-written literature response thesis paper follows these structural guidelines: No expository paper begins without first arousing the reader s interest. This brings us to step number one: the lead, hook, or sucker. Use a lead, hook, or sucker to make the reader WANT to read your paper. (No, I do not really count because I have to read your paper, but I also would like to really want to read it. Besides, you will not always be writing for me. It will only seem like it.) There are many ways to lead your paper, but the following are some of the most common: 1. Facts, Figures, or Statistics Sample: She married her husband at an extremely young age. When he was drafted, she was still a teenager, left alone in a large, strange household with her in-laws and a baby boy. In these surroundings, she raised her child and developed enviable skills in needlework and weaving, but remained terribly alone. For twenty years, she was tormented by dozens of men who pursued her relentlessly, yet she managed to ward them off with her wit and cunning. 2. An Example (well-known, personal, or hypothetical) or Relevant Story/Joke/ Anecdote Sample: Throughout literature, authors write of journeys, adventures, and experiences that test the heart and spirit of a character to succeed and to become a hero. These long journeys are present not only in great literature, but also in the 1

2 lives of everyday citizens who strive to complete a goal or quest. Take, for example, the life work of Mother Teresa: she faced numerous challenges and overcame many obstacles in her work with India s poor that parallel the deeds of the great heroes from mythology. 3. A Paradoxical or Interesting Statement Sample: The question of why bad things happen to good people has perplexed and angered humans throughout history. Why, for example, does Zeus chain Prometheus to a rock, then send an eagle to eat his liver, which is replenished each evening, torturing him day after day for eternity? 4. Rhetorical Questions Sample: Can a person be both smart and foolish? Prideful and humble? (Note: Because it is the easiest, the rhetorical question is the most overused and runs the strong risk of being trite and not as effective as other leads. Also note that these questions are paradoxical in nature; therefore, this lead-in is both rhetorical and paradoxical, which, in turn, makes it less trite. ) 5. Imagery/Sensory Details Sample: The chamber appears to be a great banquet hall, where men come to eat and drink their fill and participate in numerous sporting contests that involve brute strength. Why then, at this moment, does it seem to pulse with the heat and confusion of mounting tension? And why does this chamber resound with the shrill shrieks of men being shot and bludgeoned to death? This chamber has now become a place of serious business. (Note: Though this lead incorporates rhetorical questions, its main impact comes through the sensory images.) 6. A Quotation or Literary Allusion Sample: A monstrous thing and fashioned marvelously. Nor was he like to any man that lives by bread, but like a wooded peak of the towering hills. (Note: this quotation about the Cyclops is especially powerful because it also incorporates a paradox i.e. how can a creature be both monstrous and marvelous?) Note: Avoid the following lead-ins at all costs: In this paper, I will discuss and Webster s Dictionary defines as 2

3 After you have written a lead, the next step is a clear thesis statement. The clear thesis statement tells your reader exactly what you are going to prove in the paper. (If the paper does not do this, it is not an expository paper and will not work for the assignment. Creative writing where you make up a story from your imagination is also an important form of writing; however, when you are asked to respond to something you have read or learned, the teacher is asking for an expository paper.) A clear thesis statement should be placed near the end of the introductory paragraph and should be either controversial or provocative. What this means is that you cannot use any type of fact or obvious observation for your thesis statement. Controversial implies it can make people take opposing sides (like a pro or con welfare paper); provocative means it can produce thought, as in a different way of looking at something. 1. Sample to go with lead #1: Because she exhibits many characteristics that are also associated with Athena, Penelope emerges as the human version of the goddess. (This is a provocative thesis because it asks the reader to see the similarities that Penelope and Athena share, and, most likely, the reader was not consciously aware of this comparison until reading this statement.) 2. Sample to go with lead #2: Mother Teresa and Odysseus are both heroes. (This is NOT a thesis. It is neither controversial nor provocative. It states a fact about a literary character and a historical figure; therefore, it provides you nothing of substance to write an entire paper about. It can only sit there on the page, causing you to try to ramble on for several paragraphs about nothing. DO NOT write a thesis statement of this type.) 3. Sample to go with lead #4: Not only do the heroes in Edith Hamilton s Mythology exhibit the most invincible and foolish aspects of human nature, but also they are representative of the wise, yet inane politicians who exist in our government today. (This is both a controversial and a provocative thesis because not only does it imply new thinking about the literature, but also it connects it to contemporary politics.) 3

4 4. Sample to go with lead #5: Homer s epic poem supports the prevailing theme that good usually triumphs over evil because his virtuous characters are rewarded while his wicked characters are punished. (This is controversial because a paper from the opposing viewpoint could make a case for the reverse: that the wicked characters are rewarded, while the virtuous characters are punished.) Since you never want to use someone else s words without giving credit, you need to include accreditation in the introduction of the thesis paper. Accreditation is a way to give credit for anything you might quote from another author. You do this by giving the title of the book, poem, play, or novel and the name of the author in the middle of your thesis paragraph. Your next step is optional. It is called the essay map/specific points. The essay map/specific points will help chart or outline what you are going to prove about your thesis statement. The number of points will vary. The general guideline is at least three to fully develop a five-paragraph thesis paper (more for a longer paper). An example to go with Sample #1: During the course of the epic poem, Penelope, like Athena, demonstrates a natural aptitude for weaving, a wisdom beyond her years, and a resolute chastity in the face of temptation. These three points become a map for the three sections of the paper s body, which will prove the thesis. The combination of lead, thesis statement, accreditation, and (often) essay map is your thesis paragraph or introduction. A finished sample from #1 above would read: She married her husband at an extremely young age. When he was drafted, she was still a teenager, left alone in a large, strange household with her in-laws and a baby boy. In these surroundings, she raised her child and developed enviable skills in needlework and weaving, but remained terribly alone. For twenty years, she was tormented by dozens of men who pursued her relentlessly, yet she managed to ward them off with her wit and cunning. ( lead) Such is the plight of Penelope in Homer s Odyssey. ( accreditation) Because she exhibits many characteristics that are also associated with Athena, Penelope emerges as the human version of the goddess. ( thesis) During the course of the epic poem, Penelope, like Athena, demonstrates a natural aptitude for weaving, a wisdom beyond her years, and a resolute chastity in the face of temptation. ( essay map/ specific points) 4

5 Having written a strong thesis paragraph, your next step is to make sure you can prove what you have expressed. Go back to your source and double check that you can find actual detailed material to support each of your specific points. If you can find specific details from your sources, you will be okay. If not, you ll have to adjust your thesis statement and/or specific points so that they can be proven. (Trust me! It is much easier to make an adjustment at this point than to try to go back and work with ideas that you cannot find clear, specific support for in the text.) After you have assured yourself that you can prove your thesis, your next step is to write a power paragraph for your first point. A power paragraph consists of a minimum of eight sentences and adheres to the following model: 1. Topic Sentence/Lead-in: This is like the lead to your paper because its purpose is to introduce the first point you want to deal with in this paragraph. It will often include key words and transitions from the preceding paragraph, and it will always tell your reader what idea you will be discussing. In this lead you want to express the first point of proof of your overall thesis, to tell what part of the text it comes from, and/or to introduce an idea that pulls the reader into this first thesis subtopic. 2. Support/Concrete Details (i.e. specific facts and quotations): Your support will include specific details and direct quotations* from your source(s), complete with quotation marks to indicate that you are using someone else s words. This does not mean you have to find a piece of character dialogue. You may use a piece of description, narration, or discussion as well. The quotations you choose should prove your specific points, which, in turn, prove your overall thesis. *A couple of notes about incorporating quotations into your body paragraphs: (1) Try to avoid quoting entire sentences. Instead, pluck out the poignant parts of the quotations and use only those. (2) Lead into your quotations with a few words of your own, rather than allowing a quotation to float between sentences. Examples: Incorrect: He who strings the bow and shoots an arrow straight through twelve rings in a line, I will take as my husband (998). 5

6 Correct: She proclaims that the suitor who strings the bow and shoots an arrow straight through twelve rings in a line (998) will become her next husband. 3. Your Commentary/Analysis/Interpretation: THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR PAPER. It will contain analysis in your own words about how the details/quotations you included relate to your thesis statement and topic sentence. It is absolutely your job as the thesis paper writer to SHOW your reader HOW the details you have chosen support your thesis. You must make the connections through your own explanation. You cannot leave your details/quotations just hanging there by themselves. SHOW HOW and/or WHY they prove what you say they do. (Can you tell this is really important, or what??) 4. Your Commentary/Analysis/Interpretation 5. Support/Concrete Details (i.e. specific facts and quotations) 6. Your Commentary/Analysis/Interpretation 7. Your Commentary/Analysis/Interpretation 8. Concluding Sentence/Lead-out The following is an example of one developmental paragraph to go with our ongoing Sample: Like Athena, Penelope is incredibly cunning and wise. ( topic sentence/lead-in) She outclasses and outthinks the suitors on every possible occasion. ( support/concrete details) In order to win her hand in marriage, for example, she presents the suitors with a strenuous task. She proclaims that the suitor who strings the bow and shoots an arrow straight through twelve rings in a line (998) will become her next husband. ( support/concrete details) This demonstrates her cunning because she knows that the task she has assigned is one only Odysseus himself could accomplish. ( your commentary/analysis/interpretation) Additionally, because this is a prudent ruse, it aligns her with Athena, who herself is the goddess of wisdom, thus adept at tricking many a human. ( your commentary/analysis/ interpretation) At the end of the poem, in the trial of the bed, Penelope tests even Odysseus. ( support/concrete details) In order to confirm that the stranger who claims to be Odysseus is indeed her long-lost husband, she instructs her faithful nurse Eurycleia to drag his bed outside his room. When Odysseus reveals that it would be impossible to move the bed since the base is fashioned around a tree stump, only then does she allow herself to [fly] weeping to his side, [fling] her arms around him and [kiss] him (1034). ( support/ concrete details) 6

7 Wisely, she will not allow herself to submit to Odysseus until she is convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that this stranger is, indeed, her husband. ( your commentary/ analysis/interpretation) This final test displays her wiliness to the very end, placing her, again, on par with Athena. ( your commentary/analysis/interpretation) Without a doubt, Penelope is consistently teeming with wisdom throughout the entire epic. ( concluding sentence/lead-out) (Note that the actual quotation support used is minor compared to the use of my own words to analyze/interpret the importance of the quotation.) Repeat the above steps for each body paragraph of your paper. After you have completed this process, you are ready to complete your paper with a conclusion. A conclusion tells your reader that your paper is finished. This is the paragraph where you will re-present your major thesis as well as review your points. In addition, you should present any major conclusions, opinions, and/or thoughtprovoking ideas that have been prompted by your paper; however, be careful not to introduce a brand new idea or change your stance. A satisfying conclusion gives a sense of closure to your paper. A helpful technique is to refer back to your original lead-in, which is effective in indicating to the reader that the essay has come full circle. An example of a concluding paragraph for the ongoing sample might look something like this: In the course of Homer s Odyssey, Penelope is Athena incarnate. She possesses many of Athena s most admirable traits: wisdom, chastity, and the talent of weaving. She overcomes the adversity and the loneliness brought on by the departure of her husband for Troy and remains chaste, despite the temptations of the suitors. Not too bad for a girl who married in her teens! HAPPY WRITING!! SEE THE BACKSIDE OF THIS PAGE FOR A BRIEF VISUAL OVERVIEW OF THIS STUNNINGLY INFORMATIVE AND HELPFUL WRITING GUIDE. 7

8 THESIS PAPER: A VISUAL INTRO- DUCTION } INTRO PARAGRAPH 1. Lead, hook, sucker 2. Accreditation 3. Thesis Statement 4. Essay Map (optional) B DEVELOPMENTAL PARAGRAPHS (a.k.a. Power Paragraphs minimum 8 sentences): 1. Topic Sentence 2. Support/Details 3. Commentary 4. Support/Details 5. Commentary 6. Concluding Sentence O D TRANSITIONS Be sure to include key words from the thesis statement and/or topic sentences. Y CON- CLUSION } CONCL. PARAGRAPH 1. Re-present thesis st. 2. Review major points 3. Though-provoking remark to bring paper full circle. 8