The Thesis Revisited
You paper NEEDS a thesis.
If you forget everything else, don’t forget this!
Some characteristics of a good thesis
 Simple and clear
 Interesting and not obvious
 Debatable; not statements of fact
(IOW, if no sane person will disagree, and you don’t have to
convince the reader you are right, it’s not debatable)
In English papers, theses often present an interpretation of
some kind or attempt to explain the significance of some
element of the work.
Examples of weak theses
 There are many symbols in Hawthorne’s “Young
Goodman Brown”
 This paper will examine the symbols/images in Death
of Ivan Ilych.
 This paper will examine the setting of (X)
These are more like topics. They are uninteresting, and
are statements of fact. No one would argue about
these, and the reader will probably go “so? I knew
that”. Revised 
 In Tolstoy’s Death of Ivan Ilych, the imagery effectively
advances the theme of reversal.
 The setting of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is
symbolically significant, and helps develop the theme of
alienation.
 Although Conrad’s Heart of Darkness seems on the surface
to endorse colonialism, it is in fact profoundly anti-colonial.
These are far more interesting. You can see how the author
would have to use textual evidence to back up these claims.
 Can you do a comparison and contrast essay?
 Yes, but...
 You can’t simply compare two stories; you can compare and
contrast any two conceivable things (desks and chairs, cars
and sandwiches).
 You MUST have some sort of focus. For instance, if two
works are war narratives, or if both are love stories, or both
have ostensibly the same theme or moral.
 You still need a thesis, so an argument about how one
similarity or difference is significant.
Examples of comparison/contrast theses
 Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Coppola’s Apocalypse
Now are different and similar in many ways. [weak]
 Although Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now
undoubtedly share certain similarities, there are
significant differences between their treatment of
colonialism. [good]
 The adaptation of Bartleby the Scrivener, though based
on the story by the same name, contrasts significantly
with its treatment of alienation. [good]
Introducing Quotations
 You must always introduce quotations, whether from
the primary or secondary text
 Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. “As Gregor Samsa awoke one
morning ...”.
 You must never leave a quotation alone
 Introduce. Example:
 The first sentence of Kafka’s famous story sets up the
major theme of transformation: “as Gregor Samsa...” (1)
 Even if you introduce properly, tell the reader what the
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


passage you quoted is doing
In other words, don’t quote something and hope your
reader can figure out why you quoted it, or why it’s
there. Spell it out for the reader.
This is why you should never start a sentence, or end a
paragraph, with a quotation.
“As Gregor Samsa...” This passage does...
Make your reader do as little work as possible!
 Secondary Sources: you need two.
 Primary Text = the poem, story, etc, that you are
reading
 Secondary = what someone else (critic/scholar) has
said about a text, or anything you use to shed light on
that text not written by the author.
 So you have a story you like, and maybe even an idea or
provisional thesis.
 How do you find secondary sources? [shown in class]
 You can find journal articles, etc, using the MLA
Bibliography database, which you can access through our
library’s website
You must use academic/scholarly sources. In other words, it
must be something you found through the university
library catalogue.
Wikipedia, etc, doesn’t count, but feel free to follow the
sources in an article there.
 Incorporating Secondary Sources
 Let’s say your secondary text is Conrad’s Heart of
Darkness by Cedric Watts.
 Blab bla blab bla bla. As Watts has noted, “ssssssssss”
(47).
 OR, as one critic has noted, “sssssssss” (Watts 47)
 Cite it in Works Cited as you would any other text:
Watts, Cedric. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. New York...
A note on style
 Always sacrifice cleverness or flourishes for clarity.
 Having clear ideas is more important than being
rhetorically clever.
 So, avoid lack of clarity or awkwardness
Simplify, simplify, simplify
 Because of the fact that Gregor turns into a bug...
 Because of the fact that Gregor turns into a bug...
 The character of Gerasim represents...
 The character of Gerasim represents...
 For King Lear, because of the one fault he makes, he
pays for it dearly [Brainfreeze!]
 King Lear pays dearly for the one fault he commits