Download A strong thesis

What does it mean to analyze?
Did you hear about the meteor that crashed through the roof of a
doctor’s office last year and landed on the examining table?
How would scientists set about analyzing this meteor, the largest one on
record to crash through the atmosphere?
What does a literary analysis prove?
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How the various elements of a literary work
relate to each other
How two separate literary works deal with
similar concepts or forms
How concepts and forms in literary works
relate to larger aesthetic, political, social,
economic, or religious contexts
Writing Your Thesis
A strong thesis
• Expresses topic + opinion
• Takes a stand and shows conviction.
• Expresses one main idea.
• Is specific.
• Uses parallel structure to clearly set up
supporting details to come in the body
paragraphs
What’s wrong with that THESIS?
Original: Little Red Riding Hood has some
negative and positive traits.
A. takes no stand, lacks conviction
B. scattered; expresses more than one idea
C. vague, lacks specific reasons
Revised: Innocent yet naive, Little Red Riding
Hood faces the world with untested bravery,
which leads her to danger in the forest.
What's wrong with this thesis?
Original: Little Red Riding Hood visits the
grandmother to care for her, and the wolf
threatens those that travel the forest road.
A. takes no stand, lacks conviction
B. scattered; expresses more than one idea
C. vague, lacks specific reasons
Revised: Despite the risk of hungry wolves on
the forest road, Little Red Riding Hood travels
the dangerous route to care for her sick
grandmother.
3.
What’s wrong with that THESIS?
Original: Fairy tales have many kinds of lessons.
A. takes no stand, lacks conviction
B. too broad to argue in a short essay
C. vague, lacks specific reasons
Revised: A tale of innocence and danger, the
story of Little Red Riding Hood teaches children
the risk of disobeying their parents.
Writing Commentary
Strong Commentary
•Follows each quotation in your body
paragraphs
•Gives a balance between quoted material
and your original interpretation of the work
•Proves how the quotation supports your thesis
• More than repeating what the quote shows,
good commentary interprets what the quote
means using the SPIES model
Writing Commentary
Significance:
• what does the quotation mean
in relation to your thesis?
• how does the context of the
quotation establish theme?
• what led to this line; how does
this line propel actions to come?
Purpose:
• for what reason does Miller
include this quotation and
scene?
Importance:
• how and why is this quotation
and scene important?
• why is this quotation a money
quote?
Effect:
• how does Miller use literary
devices to further theme in this
quote?
• how does this line show how the
character thinks or feels, or what
motivates the character, or
what the character wants?
Suggestion:
• what does Miller infer in this
quotation? What ideas do you
read between the lines?
Writing Commentary
Topic: Corruption of Power and Hypocrisy
Thesis: In The Crucible, Miller portrays a character whose hypocrisy
leads to injustice; Judge Danforth’s arrogance drives the court
towards duplicity and disaster.
Evidence: “postponement now speaks a floundering on my part… If
retaliation is [Hale and Parris’s] fear, know this – I should hang ten
thousand that dared to rise against the law, and an ocean of salt
tears could not melt the resolution of the statutes” (Miller 129).
Writing Commentary
Topic: Corruption of Power and Hypocrisy
Thesis: In The Crucible, Miller portrays a character whose hypocrisy
leads to injustice; Judge Danforth’s arrogance drives the court
towards duplicity and disaster.
Evidence: “postponement now speaks a floundering on my part… If
retaliation is [Hale and Parris’s] fear, know this – I should hang ten
thousand that dared to rise against the law, and an ocean of salt
tears could not melt the resolution of the statutes” (Miller 129).
Commentary: Danforth’s refusal to reconsider the death sentence
perpetuates the arrogance and short-sightedness that defined his
ruling of the case. Moreover, his resolute stance that nothing, not
even the hyperbolic metaphor, “an ocean of salt tears,” could alter
his stance shows the lengths he will go to protect his position of
authority. Nothing can cause him to recant his own hypocrisy.
Writing Commentary
Strong Verbs for Writing Commentary
Yield
Illustrate
Illuminate
Reveal
Suggest
Clarify
Organize
Detail
Prove
Imply
Assert
Infer
State
Define
Support
Construct
Argue
Reiterate
Invoke
Present
Underlie
Dominate
Encompass
Explain
Show
Demonstrate
Writing Lead-Ins
While quotes provide excellent support for your ideas, make sure your voice shines
through the paper, not a patchwork of the words of others. So you need lead-ins
to smoothly blend the quotes in with your own words.
VARY YOUR LEAD INS WITH THREE TYPES
SOMEBODY SAYS:
a verb indicates
someone is speaking
(says, notes,
exclaims); punctuate
with a comma.
BLENDED:
a portion of the quote is
blended into your sentence;
there is no punctuation
between lead-in and quote.
SENTENCE:
the lead-in is a complete
sentence, and the quote
that follows is also a
complete sentence;
punctuate with a colon.
Example: Dejected
yet triumphant,
Proctor cries, “I want
my name” (Miller
12xx).
Example: Proctor’s triumph
comes in the moment when
he realizes his honor is as
unconquerable as his name
because he “cannot have
another” (Miller 12xx).
Example: The
redemptive power of
forgiveness comes when
Elizabeth understands
Proctor’s sacrifice: “he
has his goodness now”
(Miller 12xx).