For Friday, February 15

in assignments

Read Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 7th ed., Chapter 5 (pp. 48–61). (Note that it is a required resource for this course—see Syllabus—and if you did not purchase it, you should visit the bookstore or the library.) This chapter is on argument structure. Pay close attention to what the authors say go into a claim (or a thesis).

ENTRY TICKET: Come up with a viable claim about the theme of “Mondnacht.” (What is the central, unifying idea or emotion expressed in the poem?) Bring that theme, written down, to class.

Also, come prepared to discuss what makes a good claim, and to evaluate your colleagues’ claims according to the questions given on p. 61:

  • What are you claiming?
  • What are your reasons?
  • What evidence supports your reasons?
  • But what about other points of view?
  • How are your reasons relevant to your claim?

Though your claims about the theme of the poem may not eventually be the central claim, or thesis statement, of your paper, it will be an important stepping stone on the route to coming up with a solid thesis for the paper.