Developing and Writing the Central

Idea and Thesis Statement for Your Researched Essay

Adapted from Edgar V. Robert’s Writing About

Literature, 10th ed.

Definition of an Essay

An essay is an organized, connected, and fully developed set of paragraphs

An Essay Expands upon a Central Idea

This set of paragraphs expands upon a central idea or central argument.

The Central Idea

The central idea is the point that you want to make about the topic.

It controls the kinds of details and other support you will include in the body.

It may convey an attitude, an opinion, a value statement, or a fact. To be effective, your thesis should be something you really believe.

All parts of the essay should add to the

understandingof the central idea.

All parts of an essay should contribute to the reader's full comprehension of the central idea.

Each Paragraph Refersto the Central Idea

To achieve unity and completeness, each paragraph refers to the central idea/argument

Each body paragraph demonstrates how selected details from the works relate to and support the central idea.

The Central Idea Controls the Essay

The central idea helps you control and shape your essay

It also provides guidance for your reader.

Focus on Your Central Idea

Focus on your central idea or argument.

Decide which of your observations and insights about the works can be developed further.

Thesis Statement

Your goal is to establish a number of major points to support your argument and to express them in a thesis statement.

Thesis Statement - an organizing sentence that contains the major points you plan to make in your essay.

Goal - Compare and Contrast Ideas in Different Works In this researched essay, the

goal is to compare and contrast the theme of the American Dream in different works.

Similarities are brought out by comparison

Differences are brought out by contrast.

Comparison-Contrast

You can enhance your understanding of what a thing is by using comparison-contrast to determine what it is not.

Steps

1. Decide on your goal. What works are you comparing and contrasting?

Find common ground for comparison—a common denominator.

How is the theme of the American Dream reflected in each work?

Steps

1. Once you find an idea you think you can work with, write it as a complete sentence that is essential to the argument of your essay.

This sentence is your central idea.

Remember:

The central idea is the glue of the essay.

The central idea is the main argument that you are making.

Ask yourself: What am I trying to prove?

Researched Essay TopicThe American Dreamin American Literature

The theme of the American Dream

Sample - negative view

Works that Possibly Reflectthe American Dream

in a Negative Light

Adventures of Huckleberry FinnThe Great GatsbyOf Mice and Men“Two Kinds” from The Joy Luck

Club

Sample Negative Works

The Great Gatsby - 1925Of Mice and Men - 1937“Harlem” - 1951“In the Suburbs” - 1963

Harlem - Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry upLike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore—And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over—Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sagsLike a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

In the Suburbs – Louis Simpson

There’s no way out.You were born to waste your life.You were born to this

middleclass lifeAs others before youWere born to walk in processionTo the temple, singing.

Sample Negative Works

The Great Gatsby - 1925Of Mice and Men - 1937“Harlem” - 1951“In the Suburbs” - 1963

Central Idea

Many American literary works from 1925 through the 1960s include a variation of the theme of the American Dream—the inversion of the American Dream.

invert in⋅vert –verb (used with object)1. to turn upside down.2. to reverse in position, order,

direction, or relationship.3. to turn or change to the opposite or

contrary4. to turn inward or back upon itself.5. to turn inside out.

inversion

–noun an act or instance of inverting. the state of being inverted. turning upside down; setting on end the act of turning inside out 

Central Idea

Many American literary works from 1925 through the 1960s include a variation of the theme of the American Dream—the inversion of the American Dream.

What is this central ideatrying to prove?

American literary works from 1925 through the 1960s include a variation of the theme of the American Dream—the inversion of the American Dream.

In many works, the American Dream seems “upside down” or “inside out.”

Central Idea

Many American literary works from 1925 through the 1960s include a variation of the theme of the American Dream—the inversion of the American Dream.

Prepare to Writethe Thesis Statement

1. Decide which of your observations and insights about the works can be developed further.

– Your goal is to establish a number of major points to support your argument and to express them in a thesis statement—an organizing sentence that contains the major points you plan to write about in your essay.

Sample Works and Labels

The Great Gatsby

FitzgeraldOf Mice and Men

Steinbeck“Harlem”

Hughes“In the Suburbs”

Simpson

Negative Descriptors

corruption denial disillusionmen

t deferral deformation degeneration degradation

disfigurement manipulation distortion deterioration downfall skew twist

Sample Works and Labels

The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald

corruption

Of Mice and Men

Steinbeck

denial

“Harlem”

Hughes

deferral

“In the Suburbs”

Simpson

futility

Central IdeaMany American literary works from 1925 through the 1960s include a variation of the theme of the American Dream—the inversion of the American Dream.

ThesisIn these works, the inversion of the American Dream is demonstrated through corruption, denial, deferral, and futility.

Remember

The central idea is the glue of the essay.

The thesis sentence lists the parts to be fastened together—that is the topics in which the central idea is to be demonstrated and argued.

A researched essay uses the results of research to make or prove a point.

To be credible in a researched essay,you must show that you have followed certain academic conventions.

To be credible, you must do the following:

1. Perform serious research

2. Understand what you have discovered

3. Integrate research data into a paper that is clearly your own

To be credible, you must do the following:

1. Draw accurately on the work of others

2. Honor academic conventions for citing such work

How can I make sure that I follow the correct academic conventions?

Keep an Organized List of Sources

Accurately list all source information

Use an organized method for labeling your sources

Accurately identify each source on every note card

Use a new note card for each note

Source # Source Information

A  Steinbeck, John. Of Mice

  and Men. New York: Penguin,

  1993.

A1 Nelson, Gayla. 27 Apr. 2009.

Characters in Quest of the

American Dream. Connors

State College.

<http://www.gaylasgarden.com/

writing/charcterquest.htm

Sample List of Sources

Take Notes with Accuracy

1. Use note cards. 2. Label each note card with

– The source number– A key word or phrase– The page number(s)

when applicable

Take Notes with Accuracy

1. Quote accurately.2. Enclose every quoted

passage in quotation marks.

3. Copy all the words exactly.

4. Copy all the punctuation correctly.

KEYWORD: denial SOURCE # A PAGE # 74  “Nobody never gets to heaven and nobody  ever gets no land. It’s just in their head.”

Crooks is a very cynical man because of the way that he has been treated during his life. Because he is a black man, he is forced to live in a separate room on the ranch away from the other men. He has no real relationships with the other men who work on the ranch. His cynicism has made both his belief in God and in dreams disappear. When Lennie first tells him about the dream he and George have of a farm, Crooks simply doesn't believe it can happen.

Sample Note Card