Dr. A. Waller Hastings
Northern State University
Aberdeen, SD  57401
 
 

 Writing Your Paper

1. Introductions
2. The Thesis
3. The Body of the Paper
4. Transitions
5. The Conclusion

Introductions:

A good introduction establishes both the topic of your paper - what it is about - and the thesis - what you want to say about the topic.  It is specific, not general.  Here is an example of a good introduction which poses a question that the paper will answer.  (Note, however, that it is often not a good idea to begin your paper by asking a question; in this particular instance, it did work.):

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, author of the book Emile, states in his preface,
• They are always looking for the man in the child without considering what he is before he becomes a man (Rousseau, 1993, p. 2).
Maybe this is the goal of all education, to allow children to gain a sense of self as children, and then to build on that sense of self to help them become well rounded adults.  Can teachers teach a sense of self, or can they only provide the tools for children to learn on their own?  If the latter is so, how does the learning take place?

Note that the paragraph establishes the writer's topic: education to develop a sense of the self.  The use of a question prevents a thesis from being stated here; the thesis would be the answer to the questions posed.  For instance: "Teachers cannot teach a sense of the self, only provide an environment and tools for children to develop that sense on their own."  It is because a question may be answered in a variety of ways that questioning introductions often do not work; they may leave the reader as much in the dark about the writer's intended argument as s/he was before reading the introduction.  Still, a questioning introduction may pique readers' curiosity in going further, so it may be useful in selected cases.

Here are some common patterns for introductory paragraphs:

• Inverted pyramid -- (most common).  Here the progression of ideas is from the general principle to the specific case.  Don't start with the origin of the universe as your general idea, but begin somewhat closer to your own subject; then narrow the idea down as you develop it through the paragraph.  Here the thesis comes at the end of the paragraph.
• Begin with the thesis.  This may be an effective way to start your paper, especially if the position you are arguing is likely in itself to grap the reader's attention.  But don't state the thesis in a single-sentence paragraph!  After you have stated the point you wish to make, expand upon it, giving the main points of your argument in a brief form.
• Anecdotal introduction.  An anecdote, or brief story, may illustrate the point that you wish to make.  Beginning the paper with an anecdote may draw your reader in by offering a vivid image of its subject.  A related way to begin a paper is with a brief passage from a relevant text.  In either case, you should move from the specific example to your general topic, then on to the thesis itself.
• "Straw-man" arguments.  Begin by stating the position opposite to the one that you wish to argue for, then use an appropriate transition to present your position, in an explicit thesis statement.  It is particularly important to make the thesis explicit in this case, because the "straw man" will otherwise mislead the reader.

The Thesis:

Since we've already introduced the term, we should perhaps define it. A thesis is a succinct statement of what you wish to argue.  A good thesis should be as specific as possible, to tell the reader what to expect.  It has two halves: a very limited subject, and a very specific statement about that subject.  It may seem exciting to write about the entire universe, but it is likely to be more satisfying to focus on one tiny corner of things.  With a narrower focus, you can do a better job of sticking to the point and saying something interesting.
 
 

Quick quote for wise writers:

"A small garden, well manicured and easily tended, is far more attractive than a large garden that shows signs of having gotten out of hand.  So, too, with essays."  - John R. Trimble   Writing with Style

Sample theses for a paper in literature:

1. In this paper, I will talk about some themes in Pride and Prejudice.
2. The dances in Pride and Prejudice serve many functions.
3. Dance has an important symbolic function in the structure of Pride and Prejudice.
4. In Pride and Prejudice, dance provides an indication of the changing social relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy.
5. Darcy's increasing willingness to dance demonstrates that he is falling in love with Elizabeth.

Note that these theses get increasingly more specific.  The first one is not very specific either as to the subject of the paper not what it wants to say about that subject; it provides the reader with no guidance, and is a very poor model for a thesis.  The second one has narrowed the subject to the dances (there are several dance scenes in this novel), but doesn't tell us anything about what the writer has to say about the dances.  The third thesis is beginning to look like something we can use; we know that the subject of the paper will be the dances, and the writer will talk about the symbolism of the dance and how it will relate to the novel's structure.  You should try to have a thesis with at least this degree of specificity.

However, the fourth thesis is even better: it not only indicates that the dance is symbolically important, it tells us what specific importance the dance has - it is a guide to the developing relationship of the two main characters.  The fifth thesis is even more specific, but now is probably too narrow to allow for a useful exploration in the paper; the fourth thesis, then, is the one we should probably use.
 

The Body of the Paper:

The body of the paper is where you develop the points that will support the thesis, and eventually help you to convince the reader of the validity of your position.  There are a wide variety of ways to structure the body.  Most important, however, you should follow certain important principles:

• Always keep the thesis in mind.  Nothing should be included in the body of the paper that does not advance the thesis in some way, no matter how brilliantly written the tangential material may be.
• Keep related subject matter together.  It is rarely a good idea to start talking about one subject, switch to something else, and then come back to the first subject.  This leads to needless repetition and a profound sense of disorganization.
• Avoid the one-paragraph paper.  That is, don't try to express everything you want to say in one continuous stream of sentences.  Paragraphing is not just an arbitrary feature of written language, but a fundamental means of organizing thoughts around sets of related ideas.
• Avoid the single-sentence paragraph.  This is the opposite extreme, but equally damaging.  A paragraph is a set of related ideas; a sentence is a statement of a single idea.  Once in a great while, a single-sentence paragraph may provide needed emphasis on an important point, but usually one should develop the main idea of each paragraph through several subsidiary paragraphs.
• Connect ideas to each other.  That is, make sure that there are appropriate transitions between major sections of your argument; don't switch topics abruptly.

Transitions:

The most effective way to make a transition from one idea to another is by linking phrases that repeat certain key terms of the first idea, then elaborate upon them in a new direction.  A somewhat weaker but still effective way is to use transitional terms such as "also," "furthermore," etc.; however, these transitional terms do help in appropriate circumstances, such as when one is presenting an alternative position; it's just that the first method ties the ideas more closely one to another.  The weakest way to make a transition is just to switch topic without anything to prepare the reader.

Here is an example of transition problems from a student paper:

Wordsworth says that nature could be referred to as a teacher.  Nature is Cedric's teacher.  He is learning from his environment about the world around him.
    Rousseau also sees society to be somewhat corrupting. . .

The problem here is with the second transition.  The move from "Wordsworth" to "Cedric" is natural; the language of the second sentence picks up enough of the language of the first to tell us that we are still talking about the same topic, even though the specific text we are focusing on has changed.  But how do we get to Rousseau and the corrupting influence of society?

The word "also" can be used to make transitions - but what is being added on?  If we had just said that Rousseau believed that nature could be a teacher, the "also" would indicate that this is another one of Rousseau's beliefs; if we had just said that Wordsworth (or Burnett - the author whose work Cedric appears in) thought that society was corrupting, "also" would indicate that Rousseau shared the idea.  But neither the idea nor the holder of the idea has remained the same - this is a complete change in topic.  "Also" doesn't work as a transition; something more is needed.  For instance:

. . . about the world around him.
    The perception of nature as a positive force can result in a view of society (nature's opposite) as a negative.  Rousseau, for instance, sees society to be somewhat corrupting. . .

Conclusions:

The conclusion is your last chance to drive your point home with the reader.  Most people remember best the beginning and the ending of a piece of writing, so the introduction and conclusion are important strategic sections of the paper; they deserve particularly close attention both in the original writing and in your final editing.

Conclusions should do as their name suggests: they should conclude (end) the discussion.  As long as you recognize this fact, you can avoid the most common problems with conclusions:

• Introducing new material.  It is never a good idea to bring in a new idea or a new argument in the concluding paragraphs of an essay; you do not have the time to fully develop the idea, and it leaves your reader with the impression that the whole paper has been poorly thought out.  If you come up with a neat new idea late in the writing process, insert it earlier in the paper, where you have a chance to develop it adequately, and edit the entire paper to make it work logically into the flow of the argument.
• Simply stopping.  This is a paper that lays out certain arguments and then seems to run out of steam.  It is always best to sum up the entire argument of the paper, either by repeating the key points you have covered or by presenting an anecdote that drives home the thesis.  In some ways, the conclusion is a repetition of the introduction, but it should have enough variation in the way that it is phrased that it does not make the reader think, "I've heard this before"; furthermore, it should reflect the argument that has been made, by assuming that the reader now has absorbed the information provided in the paper.  Therefore, the conclusion can be somewhat more sophisticated in its handling of the basic points than the introduction may have been.




Last updated June 26, 2001

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