Module Two

 

Phase Two: Narrowing and Defining Your Topic

This phase of the essay builds on your foundational work of generating a collection of preliminary ideas and sources. Now you will be guided through a process of narrowing down a focused and well defined main claim or research question. You’ll be asked to revisit your earlier work to extract a clear and cohesive narrative.

 

 

Task 1: 

Concept map. Write one of your research questions or claims in the center, then jot down related ideas, sub-questions, supporting claims et

 

Task 2.

 

Draw connections between relevant points that construct a narrowly defined and cohesive narrative. In other words, you cannot possibly include EVERYTHING in this essay, so make choices about what you will focus on based on what ideas go together.

 

Task 3.

 

Transform map into essay outline. Based on your choices, order your ideas according to a logical development of your argumentation. Think about what you want to say first, second, third etc.

Write your text here.

 

Tips and Hacks

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Once you’ve defined your main claim or research question, you will be able to pick and choose how you will support that claim or answer that question by choosing points, sources and evidence that best addresses these.

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Use the concept map to visual the relationships between your initial ideas. Don’t be afraid of eliminating ideas that seem related to the larger concept but don’t fit well with the rest of the ideas. Note that you are writing about one aspect of this topic and you cannot include everything. 

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Make an outline based on the choices you have made so far. This outline will be the skeleton of the paper. It must be well thought out, and must always refer back to the main point.