I. The Title: Provide a title for your essay that reflects the content of the essay and tells the reader explicitly what to expect. Include the title and author/director of the work(s) you will discuss.
II. The Introduction: Make sure your introduction provides the reader with the following information:
1. An interesting quote or fact that will catch the reader's attention.
2. Who? What? Where? When? Why?
3. A topic sentence or sentences that state(s) clearly what you will discuss, argue, and/or
analyze in your paper.
III. Topic Sentences:
1. Your topic sentence must not only state what you will be writing about, but also how and why you are writing on this particular topic.
2. Acceptable purposes (the "why") for writing any academic paper are:
A. To interpret a text or event (i.e. the meaning of symbols, metaphors, etc.)
B. To argue for one (or more) side(s) of an issue
C. To explain why an author wrote a particular text or why a particular event
occurred the way it did; what effects a text/event had on a group of people
D. To apply an existing theory to a text or event and thereby analyze/interpret it.
E. To create your own, new theory and/or apply this new theory to a text or event.
Examples of bad/vague topic sentences: "In this essay I will emphasize the particular attitude that was
applied to the German population in general."
"In this essay, I will write about the atrocity of the air raid crewmembers' reactions and the importance
of Sebald's descriptions and quotes."
Examples of good topic sentences:
"In this essay I will discuss the play The Man Outside by Wolfgang
Borchert as a reaction to the Second World War and analyze the ways in which the main character
exemplifies the Freudian concepts of trauma and repression."
"In the 1999 essay 'Air War and Literature' W. G. Sebald evaluates the reasons for the lack of public information in the postwar period about the German experience of their country's destruction during the Second World War. In this essay I discuss Sebald's analyses of the German reaction to the war and argue that such scholarship is necessary to provide a complete picture of the historical events."
OR "… and argue that how the war was conducted and ended contributed to an ironic silencing ofthe Germans in the immediate postwar period."
Examples of strong verbs: analyze, demonstrate, argue, assess, explain, show, illustrate, conclude
IV. Organization: In a short, 3-4 page paper you should have an introduction, three to six main (body) paragraphs, and a conclusion. Make sure all of your paragraphs fit the topic you have selected, i.e. do not stray from your central thesis (topic sentence).
V. Conclusion: Do not simply summarize the body of your paper in your conclusion. Try to push your argument/thesis a step further and discuss the greater ramifications of the paper you have just written. How does your paper contribute to a better understanding of the topic? What else could be important when writing about this topic?
This is an image that helps you in determining points in the research process. The assignment you have been given is well-structured, in that Dr. Twark has given you scaffolded stages of the assignment, which closely follow the research process. This is a wonderful introduction to doing research, and will serve you well in other classes.
Choosing a Topic
Dr. Twark has provided you with a list of research topics, or you may decide on your own and speak with her.
The tutorial on this page fits in to the following step:
Narrow to research question
Dr. Twark and I recommend that this take the form of a thesis statement. You may also wish to start with a question and reformulate your question in to a thesis statement as you work along.
An important part of the research process is writing a thesis statement. I recommend starting with a thesis statement or research question (as is noted in the graphic above) before you even start looking at any sources. This will help you focus your efforts and you will be able to come up with key search phrases when you access library resources. You may change your thesis statement many times over the course of the process of writing your research paper. This is normal! Here are some tools for you to write an effective thesis statement:
Purdue Online Writing Lab: Tips and Examples for Writing Thesis Statements
Here is a quick (less than 1.5 minutes) tutorial on how to create a thesis statement from WikiHow. I love the tip about writing many different versions of the thesis statement. Try this in your own work!