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This exercise is part of the quarter-long effort to learn how to find meaningful topics. Again, we are striving for the "So What" to your thesis. That happens when you can poke holes and find anomalies in your observations, and categorize and recategorize and refine them. Remember, a college level essay goes beyond making a claim and demonstrating that it is "true." You want to examine the nuances and problems of that claim to arrive at a more sophisticated understanding, the "this is a more detailed nuanced examination of the issue."

 

 
1. 
Try This: Making the Thesis Evolve

Brainstorm five claims (statements of your ideas ) you have in connection with the essay question you've chosen for your paper. Select one of these claims and consider the complications to it, listing them. In doing so, write about  the following questions: Under what conditions might this claim not hold?  What evidence in the texts complicates your claim? Why? Using these complications, refine the original claim so that it is more carefully qualified and accurate.
 

2. 
Try This: The Evolving Thesis and Common Thought Patterns: Deduction and Induction

Analyze the stories in this section (And of Clay..., The Lemon, A Report to the Academy, Amy Foster) using the following steps:.

First, use inductive reasoning: using selected sections (at least four) of the story(ies)  list the significant details and patterns of language, characterization, imagery, action. Then, construct a general claim based upon these details.

Second, apply this general claim (i.e., the inductive principle from the first part of this exercise) to four more sections of text. Consider how you would evolve your general claim based upon these new readings. How might you refine your claim to make it fit these four additional passages?