Read to develop a tentative thesis statement and outline

Luo Yuqing

BUPT-SH

Evaluating sources – what you need to know

• Overall purpose of the book

• The author’s background

• Main points

• Ideas or issues referred to

Evaluating sources – how can you find them

• Title

• Front and back covers

• Introduction

• Table of contents

• Index

Evaluating sources – during reading

• Subject treated objectively

• Sufficient support

• Opinions on an all-encompassing basis

• Current and authoritative documentation

Reading purpose at this stage

• Evaluate the sources

• Help shape your thinking

• Think while reading for ideas

How to read at this stage

• Keep a critical eye

• Read quickly and selectively

• Reflect on what you have read

• Do not take in everything without questioning

Should you take notes now

• Note-taking need to be guided by a clearly shaped central purpose and a step by step outline

• Premature notes will likely be difficult to fit in your later paper

• It distracts you from developing a well-informed controlling idea and a logical organization scheme

What should you write down now

• Important ideas from reading

• Your new insights

• Your constructive ideas

• Any information which helps develop a better sense of your subject as a whole; not minor details

Tentative thesis statement

• Based on a better understanding of your topic in consideration of various facts and views from your sources

• Develop a balanced overall opinion of your own

• Serve as a central focus for the organization of your paper

Possible problem at this stage – TS as broad as the paper

topic• e.g. Paper topic “local colorism and colloq

uial style in Mark Twain’s Huck Finn”

• Improper TS “Mark Twain’s contribution to the development of realism and to American literature as a whole was partly through his theories of localism in American fiction and partly through his colloquial style.”

• Revised TS “The success of Huck Finn largely depends upon its local color and colloquial style which mark its author’s breakaway from the romantic literary tradition, bringing American literature into a new era.”

Preliminary outline – purpose

• To lay out the framework of your discussion

• To give you guidance as to what kind of supporting details to look for

• To fit your further reading into the context

Preliminary outline – function

• Show major division of your paper

• Establish logical and coherent relation between parts

• Indicate main supporting ideas

• Provide clear and easy-to-follow directions for your research