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COSHE.COM
Part One of the Coshe Guide to Essay Writing
continue to Part Two: Writing the Intro
Pre-writing and the Thesis
Emiliano Figueroa
2003 BA English, Stanford University
Posted April 20th 2003
These days, it's
easier than ever to write a good paper, by simple virtue of the fact
that there are so many horrible papers out there. If you can
write merely a capable paper, it will stand out among the rest.
Consequently, this tutorial will deal with how to write a strong
paper, with a cohesive and solid argument.
Why not teach how to write a stellar paper? Well, you
have to learn to crawl before you can walk. Many novice writers
will try to write (or think they have to write) the next great
manifesto. Unfortunately, since they lack a sound grasp of writing
fundamentals, ultimately the paper falls on its face and
accomplishes nothing. Secondly, I believe that the only differences
between good and great papers are stylistic eloquence and ingenuity
of thought, two things that are largely self taught. Fundamentals
can be taught; natural talent, and vocabulary are for the most part
individually formed.
None of this means you can't be a good writer, I'm just
saying that I'm going to focus on fundamentals. In fact, if you've
ever been able to tell anyone a story, the odds are that you can be
a solid writer.
Pre-writing and the
Thesis
Believe it or
not, most bad papers are crippled before the first word is ever
written. A good paper is made or broken in the pre-writing.
Pre-writing consists of two things: choosing a thesis, and idea
organization.
Typically, you should, before anything else, decide on a
thesis. Simply put, a thesis is 'the point' of your paper. It's
the main idea, what you're trying to prove, the argument, what the
paper is about. As a writing tutor, I've read papers that fall
apart because they lack even this. They have no point. The essays
just meander.
So before you even start writing, THINK about what your
paper is about. Come up with a specific point. If you don't have a
thesis, your paper will end up sounding like a bad story. How many
times have you heard a story start 'one time, at band camp '' until
the story ends and you wonder, 'what the hell did she just say?'
An essay is the same way. That's why if you can tell a
story, one that has a beginning, middle, and an end, you can write a
good paper. An essay has a beginning middle and an end, and the
thesis sums all these up in one sentence.
Depending on what level of school you're in, your
teacher may or may not give you a thesis. For example (and for
simplicity's sake), in high school, your teacher might say, 'Write a
paper explaining which is smarter, a dog or a cat.'
Your thesis here would be either 'A dog is smarter than
a cat,' or 'A cat is smarter than dog.' That's it. Step one is
done. The rest of your paper flows from this idea. What remains is
to make sure that the body (the middle) of the paper follows this
opinion.
This is obviously a simplistic example, and if you're in
college, most likely you'll have to come up with your own thesis.
This is harder than it seems. For example, let's say that the only
guidelines your professor has set are the following: write a paper
on Hamlet.
Many times, in a similar situation, when I've asked
other students what they're writing about, they'll respond with 'I'm
writing about madness in Hamlet.' THIS IS NOT A THESIS!!!!! That's
an idea; it's not an argument. It's not specific.
A good thesis can be proven or disproved. In short, it
is contentious. It provides a basis for argument. So 'madness in
Hamlet' is an idea, not a thesis. 'The character Hamlet is a
barbarous madman' is a thesis.
So how to pick a thesis? And how do you pick a thesis
if you don't really care? Let's be honest. If you're a 20 year old
guy taking a class called 'Post-modern Feminism in Eastern European
Medieval Literature,' you most likely are taking the class for
units, or because it's a requirement. You probably don't care about
Slavic representations of knightly women.
So how do you pick a thesis then? Find a specific
topic. This accomplishes two things. One, it severely limits the
amount of fluff you need to deal with. Less material is often a
good thing (especially if you haven't done all the class reading).
It eliminates from the beginning what is unnecessary. Second, it
helps you focus. It's easier to deal with one
character of Eastern European womanly axe wielders than with the
whole cannon of their respective literature.
Or better yet, find something you DO care about! Think
'Post-modern Feminism in Eastern European Medieval Literature' is a
crock? Excellent! Write an essay on that! But be specific. For
example, choose one character, and argue that the character is
actually not a feminist representation. Or something to that
effect. But again, be narrow in your focus. Use the character to
signify the whole genre.
Lastly, avoid grand sweeping statements. For example,
don't write 'In the whole of Shakespearean literature, Hamlet is the
most humanistic.' Theses like these lose credibility in the
hyperbole, because most likely, the writer (you) hasn't read every
play by Shakespeare.
The important point in the end is: choose a thesis.
Don't even write before you pick one. Then when you choose a
thesis, write it down. Stare at it. Repeat it like a mantra.
Learn it. Love it. Live it. If you can do just that, you've
already written a capable paper before you've even put pen to paper.
Where do you go from the thesis? Now that you have a
thesis, everything must flow from it. From here, pre-writing is
even more crucial. If it seems like most of the writing takes place
before the actual physical act of writing, then you're right (try
saying that five times fast!).
Pre-writing is at least half the battle. People
pre-write in many different ways, but the general idea is the same.
Pre-writing is where you generate the topical points that support
your argument. It's where you come up with the topics that will be
the main ideas of your body paragraphs in your essay.
For example, lets say that your thesis is 'Cats are
smarter than dogs.' Let's pre-write with this thesis. Some people
may scrawl random thoughts on paper that relate to this opinion.
You can even draw lines between related ideas, clustering related
points. Or maybe someone makes a list of reasons. Like I said,
pre-writing is very individual. I, for example, make a very rough
outline. I list the thesis, then under it I write my topics that
relate to it.
In any case, we need to come up with reasons for our
assertion that cats are smarter than dogs. For example, cats bathe
themselves. Second, cats bury their feces. Lastly, cats never get
lost. And so forth. You can think of as many or as few reasons as
the length of your paper demands. These reasons will be the topics
of our body paragraphs, kind of like "mini-theses." These
'mini-theses,' which your paper will expand on individually, must
each relate directly back to your main thesis. You may (and
probably should) prewrite facts or opinions that support even these
'mini-theses.' Before you know it, you'll have a skeleton outline
of your whole paper that's cogent. All that remains is write the
paper and fill in the blanks with prose.
continue
to Part Two: Writing the Intro |