The Preliminary Thesis

Scoring Check List for Preliminary Thesis - _______/10 points Assessment Scoring Check List for Preliminary Thesis - _______/10 points Don’t be fooled by the point value; this is very important! MLA Heading, Typed in size 12, Times New Roman Font Demonstrates an understanding of the grammatical construction of a complete sentence as well as other essential conventions of usage and style Demonstrates forethought Demonstrates understanding of the dual nature of a thesis:  topic (A) and focus (B) exploring what the author does and why he does it. Demonstrates understanding of the nature of a literary thesis: analytical vs. evaluative

Moving Forward Keep track of your thesis development on a single word document; every new version should be added to this document. This document will be due with each of the following: Your insightful revisions of your thesis Your notecards Your thesis Your rough draft(s)

The novel’s protagonist, Herzog himself, has his body exist in one world, while his mind sojourns in another. Bellow uses the dichotomy between these parts of the character to illustrate that they must fuse for a character to develop into a complete, functioning person.

A Good Thesis is… Argumentative   Argumentative It makes a case. That’s the biggest difference between a thesis and a topic―a topic is something like “The American Dream in The Great Gatsby” That’s not a case, only a general area. A thesis, on the other hand, makes a specific case; it tries to prove something. One way to tell a thesis from a topic: if it doesn’t have an active verb—words like “uses, employs, creates, evince, convey”—it is almost certainly still a topic.

Controversial That doesn’t mean something like “People who do not watch television should be shot” or “The Constitution should be ripped up and thrown away”—it means that it has to be possible for an intelligent person to disagree with your thesis. If everyone agrees on first sight, your thesis is too obvious, and not worth writing about. Analytical, not evaluative A critical analysis of a literary work is not the place to praise or blame works of literature: theses like “Paradise Lost is an enduring expression of the human spirit” or “The Sound and the Fury isn’t successful in its choice of narrative techniques” aren’t appropriate. That’s the business of book reviewers. No need to give thumbs-up or thumbs-down; analyze what the author has done and why she does it.

Specific It’s not enough to deal in vague generalities. Some students want to write their paper on man and God, or on the black experience in the twentieth century. Both are far too nebulous to produce a truly analytical essay good paper. Get your hands dirty with the text. Using the A (what the author does) ensures that you are returning to the text often in support of your argument. Using the B (why she does it) ensures that you are creating an argument that has purpose

How’s this? Ernest Hemingway wrote many short stories, some of which are as famous as his novels. Hemingway's short stories achieve through compression and understatement emotional effects as powerful as any he achieved in his novels.

How About This? Through his symbolic writing in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald conveys an important message about the inequality that occurs during the pursuit of the American Dream. Through his use of symbolic color imagery in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald reinforces that the American Dream has become an American Nightmare where those on either side of success find themselves discontent or discounted.

Brainstorming Already have some ideas rattling around? Start by jotting them down; after you have your ideas on paper, you can go back and evaluate and/or revise for thesis worthiness. Reviewing Look back through your annotated novel and/or your initial responses. What patterns, motifs, themes, images, etc. are used consistently and for what purpose? Collaborating with College Minds Take some time to review the literary criticism you have already perused or the literary criticism that you have on hand. Does anything jump out at you as particular intriguing/useful? Read more.