Part I  Differences

Argument: a key feature of college writing

To Analyze, claim (state a thesis means almost the same thing), to support your claim with good reasons, all in four or five pages that are organized to present an argument: that's all an argument is--not wrangling, but a serious and focused conversation among people who are intensely interested in getting to the bottom of things cooperatively.

• A claim that would encourage them to say, "That's interesting. I'd like to know more."

• Evidence, reasons for your claim, evidence that would encourage them to agree with your claim, or at least to think it plausible.

• You've thought about limits and objections to your claim. Almost by definition, an interesting claim is one that can be reasonably challenged. Readers look for answers to questions like "But what about . . . ?" and "Have you considered . . . ?"

Interpreting professors’ expectation

Three kinds of assignments:

A. Key words “Agree or disagree”, ”Discuss whether”, “Was……or not”

• "Agree or disagree: 'Freud misunderstood the feminine mind when he wrote . . . .'"

• "Was Lear justified in castigating Cordelia when she refused to . . . ?"

• "Discuss whether Socrates adequately answered the charge that he corrupted the youth of Athens."

Interpretion: Considering two opposing claims: Freud understood the feminine mind or did not , Lear was or was not justified, Socrates did or did not answer the charges against him. Look at passages from the reading and consider how they would support one of the claims. (Remember: this is only a start.)

B. Key words "illustrate," "explain," "analyze," "evaluate," "compare and contrast,"

       • "Discuss the role that the honor plays in The Odyssey. "

       • "Show how Molière exploits comic patterns in a scene from Tartuffe."

Interpretion: Explain the results of an analysis, Not summarize a reading. Show how the reading is put together, how it works. Identify parts of things--parts of an argument, parts of a narrative, parts of a poem; then show how those parts fit together (or work against one another) to create some larger effect. You're still being asked to make an argument. Shape and focus that discussion or analysis so that it supports a claim that you discovered and formulated and that all of your discussion and explanation develops and supports.

C. These assignments leave it up to you to decide not only what you will claim but what you will write about and even what kind of analysis you will do.

• "Analyze the role of a character in The Odyssey."

Interpretion: Read with your mind open to things that puzzle you, that make you wish you understood something better.

What’s a good point?

Key characteristics: it says something significant about what you have read, something that helps you and your readers understand it better; it says something that is not obvious, something that your reader didn't already know; it is at least mildly contestable, something that no one would agree with just by reading it; it asserts something that you can plausibly support in five pages, not something that would require a book.

Measured by those criteria, these are not good points or claims:

• "1 Henry IV by William Shakespeare is a play that raises questions about the nature of kingship and responsibility." (Sounds impressive, but who would contest it? Everyone who has read the play already knows that it raises such questions.)

• "Native Son is one of the most important stories about race relations ever written." (Again, your readers probably already agree with this, and if so, why would they read an essay that supported it? Further, are you prepared to compare the effect of Native Son with the effects of other books about race relations?)

• "Socrates' argument in The Apology is very interesting." (Right. So?)

• "In this paper I discuss Thucydides' account of the Corcyrean-Corinthian debate in Book I." (First, what significant thing does this point tell us about the book? Second, who would argue that you are not going to discuss Thucydides' account?).

What does qualify as a good claim? These might:

• “The three most prominent women in Heart of Darkness play key roles in a complex system of parallels: literally as gatekeepers of Africa, representatively as gatekeepers of darkness, and metaphorically as gatekeepers of brutality. ”

• “While Freud argues that followers obey because each has a part of themselves invested in the leader, Blau claims that followers obey in order to avoid punishment. Both neglect the effects of external power.”

Much more often, you discover good points at the end of the process of drafting. So do not feel that you should begin to write only when you have a fully articulated point in mind. Instead, write to discover and to refine it.

What convinces readers that a point is important is not the word "important," but the words that tell us the substance of the point. If, during your first draft, you find yourself using words like "important," you should make a note to yourself to come back during your revisions to replace "important" with more substantive language. Then don't forget to do it.