Your paper should analyze, explain, and evaluate the reading. It is a good idea to start your paper by considering what you have learned from the book you are writing about. This will allow you to conceive a proper thesis for your paper. The following is from the grading rubric for our papers. It explains one of the ‘A’ criteria, and will show what a proper thesis needs to be:
“The paper has a clear thesis, and the reader can recognize it by the end of the opening paragraph. “The thesis is arguable in two ways:
The thesis is a yes-or-no statement, succinctly expressed.
The thesis is not entirely obvious and hard to disbelieve, nor contradictory and very hard to
believe, but is the sort of thing that reasonable people disagree about.
“The thesis is an opinion of the author; reasonable interpretation can show that it is something the book considers important and argues about.
“The thesis is a matter of general importance. Even someone with no special interest in the book could see that it is a matter worth writing a short paper about.”
A good, workable thesis will be the key to a successful paper. It will keep you focused on the details of the book you are writing about. It will organize your argument. It will give you a clear conclusion.
Here are the basic instructions for the paper:
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It should explain the relevant parts of the book, so that your reader can see why you think that your thesis was something the author believed, and explained in his book.
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It should show the author’s development of the question, in order to reach the thesis as a conclusion.
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It should include your evaluation of the thesis. Why is it important? Does the author’s answer seem correct?