I was "blessed" with the opportunity to write many essays in my AP Literature class last year. I developed a process for writing that was effective, and allowed me to showcase my strengths. Due to the nature of my classes this semester, believe it or not, but this is actually my first assigned college paper. Consequently, I struggled to get moving.
I realized that I knew very little useful information about my topic that I could make an argument about. I spent some good time perusing the books I had collected as sources, and eventually came up with this loose concept for an argument...
"The economic dominance of the bookseller in early British book trade is responsible for the preservation of many important works, copyright laws, and the legitimacy of authorship."
After consulting Professor Burton, and his helpful thesis website, I revised it into this concrete thesis that an educated reader could argue for or against.
"Factors influencing the scope and significance of the British book trade were many; yet, no factor was as important as the role of the early British bookseller. The economic dominance of the bookseller was responsible for preserving many important works, lending legitimacy to authorship, and necessitating copyright laws."
I feel as though this thesis provides a solid base that will keep me on track for the remainder of the paper. Any thoughts and/or suggestions?
First, I just have to say that I find it completely unimaginable to only have one paper a semester (largely because I'm an English major).
ReplyDeleteI think your thesis has good content but that you could clarify it more. For example, you say that the bookseller had "economic dominance." Does this mean that they were wealthy, they played an influential role in the economy, they formed monopolies, all of the above, or something completely different? I realize you probably explain what you mean in your paper, but sometimes it's advantageous to aim for simplicity of terms in a thesis. (Of course, if you explained what you meant by this in your introduction before you presented your thesis, it would already be clear to your reader.)
good point. I just finished my draft, and that sounds like some good editing advice. I think I'll try and work a clarification into my intro.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the controversial thesis suggestion. I'll update my thesis with that point in mind. Great work on revising your thesis. i imagine you will go into detail in your paper, thus, I think it is great the way that it is.
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