1) What is the most important idea/thesis I want to communicate to my readers about the text?
2) How am I going to communicate and prove this thesis?
For this assignment, your response is on a book that relates to the coming of age theme. For your thesis, you might consider focusing on one of these topics:
- What is the main character's internal and external conflicts? What problems does he/she face as he/she is growing up?
- What realizations and lessons does this text show about different aspects of coming of age?
- What connections can I make between the text and my self, other texts, and/or the world?
* Make sure you choose a thesis that you care about and can deeply elaborate on.
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To come up with a topic and thesis, I would suggest referring back to your notes on the text. If you don't have notes yet, answer the above questions.
Once you've decided on a topic, let's say: how Gordie's family life affects his growing up, then start drafting a thesis.
What exactly is a thesis? It's a 1-2 sentence statement that expresses the main idea of an essay. It should be specific, concise, and thought-provoking; also, it should be a statement that can be proven in a 5-paragraph essay.
Possible thesis statements for Stand By Me:
The death of Gordie's brother Denny and their parents' neglect of Gordie have forced him to become more independent and mature.
As Gordie grows up, he discovers and learns to embrace an important aspect of his life, writing.
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Based on your last reading responses, I saw that many of you have strong thesis statements; here are some examples:
1) Here is a more implicit, subtle thesis:
I think Sylvia Plath [in "Admonition"] does a very good job of creating something that's not created to be beautiful or meaningful or deep - it's created to be.
-Sammie Jo Concillo
2) Here are explicit, very specific thesis statements:
I can relate to Percy Jackson for three main reasons. The first is the fact that our mothers are very alike. Another is that we have similar relationships with our friends. The third is I can relate to Percy because he has powers that I envy.
-Casey Gallagher
What I noticed about [Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban] is how the issues this book deals with like conformity, bullying and self esteem are the same as issues I deal with and a lot of people in the world deal with.
-Gabriel Eng
[In "My Papa's Waltz"], the son may be getting hurt, but he calls [the drunken stumbling] a waltz because it is hard for people to see the bad in their parents.
-Tulah Fuchs
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After you have written your thesis statement, plan out the rest of your essay.
Refer to the following post for an outline format: http://msgalangenglish.blogspot.com/2011/03/process-for-writing-rad-reading.html
Questions to consider while planning your essay:
- What are the most important supporting ideas/reasons that I need to explain to prove my thesis?
- What is the main idea of each body paragraph? What quotes support each main idea?
- What is the best way to order/organize my body paragraphs?
- What is an interesting way to write my introduction? Conclusion?
Finally, please review these past posts:
See Basic Elements of a Reading Response: http://msgalangenglish.blogspot.com/2011/03/revisiting-reading-responses.html
To review how to incorporate quotations, see: http://msgalangenglish.blogspot.com/2011/04/all-you-need-to-know-about-quotations.html
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