2023年4月浙江自考英语写作复习笔记：The Thesis and Outline

A. Arriving at the thesis

Anayze the information contained in your to determine whether your hypothesis was correct. If the hypothesis was not fuy supported by the evidence you gathered, write a thesis statement that refects the fu picture discovered through your research. By definition, a thesis is a statement that summarizes the centra idea of the paper.

The thesis serves at east three functions:

◇It estabishes a boundary around the subject that discourages the writer wandering aimessy.

◇It can chart an ordery course for the essay, making it easier to write.

◇It gives the reader an idea of what to expect, making the paper consequenty easier to read.

B. Constructing a iminary outine

A ook through your note cards wi probaby suggest many ways to focus and organize your materia. Before you begin writing, you shoud decide on a hypothesis and construct a iminary outine or you wi founder among the possibiities. Remain fexibe, however, because you may need to revise your approach ater. Writing about a subject is a way of earning about it; as you write, your understanding of the subject wi deepen.

Remember, a good outine wi hep both the writer and the reader. The writer who writes from an outine is ess ikey to stray from the point, or to commit a structura error such as overdeveoping one topic whie skimping on anther. The reader, on the other hand, benefits from the outine as a compete and detaied tabe of contents.

1.Focusing on a hypothesis

A thesis is a sentence asserting the main point of your essay. If you are writing on a ceary argumentative topic, such as some aspect of the probem of domestic garbage, your thesis shoud state your informed opinion: that it is immorta to use some deveoping countries as dumping grounds for domestic garbage. You shoud avoid writing a paper that ony reports information for no apparent purpose. You need to take a stand and use sufficient evidence and anayze to support your position.

Even if your subject is not so obviousy controversia as the above, you can sti assert a thesis. Neary a subjects worth writing about contain some eement of controversy. Part of your job in writing the paper is to focus on a particuar eement of controversy that is both meaningfu and famiiar enough for you to hande.

2.Constructing a iminary outine

Before formay setting down with your detaied outine, try some different aternatives. Look through your note cards and other sources to get a feeing for the various possibiities. With your hypothesis in mind, pan a way to arrange your materia in stages through a convincing argument. Instead of spaniding your subject into fixed subspanisions, take the main body of your paper as a whoe to see a ine of thought that moves step by step. Ask yoursef the foowing questions: what shoud be sented and anayzed first? and what is the most important evidence to save for the ast?

Keep your iminary outine as simpe as possibe, and construct it one step at a time. Put the thesis at the top and ist your major points, eaving penty of space between each one so that you can add minor points ater. You might have more than two major points supporting your thesis, but you shoud rarey have more than five. If your ist grows too ong, you are probaby not making enough connections among the ideas.

Once you decided on the thesis and the major points supporting the thesis, fi in the second eve of organization by isting ideas supporting the major points. This is probaby as much as you shoud attempt in a iminary outine, for a simpe pan wi be easier to adduct ater as you gain new insights about your topic whie writing the paper。