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QUESTIONING THE AUTHOR 25conditioned to care more about what other people thought of me than what Ithought of myself.It was only after the fact that I felt angry, that I wanted to goback and ask if she was even paying attention to what I was reading about asituation of hurt humans expressing their feelings.I wanted to say, you haveevery right to your opinions and thoughts but that doesn t make you right.IT.Is cursing the onlywanted to say fuck you, and even knowing it would have been completely outway to express one sindividuality? of character for me to do so, I like knowing that I could have.By limiting or denying freedom of speech and expression, we take away a 17lot of potential.We take away thoughts and ideas before they even have the op-U.What s the effectof all the negativeportunity to hatch.We build a world around negatives you can t say, think, orwords in the first partdo this or that.We teach that if you are safely camouflaged in what is acceptableof this paragraph?and walk that narrow road benign or neutral words, membership in institu-tions where we are told what to think and believe then you can get away withV.Contrast society sidea of a good a lot of things.You can deny who you are and all that came before you and stillperson andbe thought of as a good person.And what can be positive in that? In fact, whatMcCorkle s.is more positive than a child with an individual mind full of thoughts andW.What balance, ifany, does McCorkle sounds and the need to express them who has the freedom to discover underfind between free-safe and accommodating conditions the best way to communicate something?dom and necessaryIn other words, you old son of a bitch, I say Let freedom ring!restraint?Questioning the AuthorAsking questions about a text helps you to understand the meaning ofwords, sentences, and paragraphs.Still, having done so, you may not yet fullyunderstand the meaning of the text itself: the author s reason for writing it, thevalidity and persuasiveness of the ideas.Has the author s point been made? Wasit worth making?To analyze these issues of intention, you need to use some standard vocab-ulary: thesis, bias, and tone.Thesis vs.TopicA topic means a subject: what is being discussed or written about.It isoften a question to answer.A thesis means a statement of intention and purpose, expressing the cen-tral idea of an essay.Once committed to a thesis, the author undertakes to support and validatethis central idea thoroughly and convincingly.The thesis should be a substantialgeneralization that can stand by itself.It should not be confused with a topic. 26 1 / READING FOR UNDERSTANDINGWhat Is a Thesis?A thesis will be a broad statement, worth defending, that defines thescope and limits of the essay.1.The thesis will be a substantial generalization that can stand by it-self.It should answer, not ask, a question.2.The thesis will be broad enough and arguable enough to be worth de-fending.It will not be an obvious truth.3.The thesis will define the scope and limits of the essay.The authorshould stay within the boundaries of the thesis and not digress intoother topics. % The thesis should be a statement, not a question.The author is not justraising a question for exploration but attempting to answer that question.Topic: Who should go to college?These are topics,not theses.Topic: How can students succeed in college?Thesis: Only students who will make the fullest use oftheir education should go to college. % The thesis should be broad enough and arguable enough to be worth de-fending.It should not be an obvious truth.Who wouldToo obvious: Poorly prepared students can find collegedisagree? It s hardlywork difficult.worth arguing.Too narrow: Some of the students in my history courseToo specific to sustainan essay.found the second assignment too difficult.Solves the problemThesis: To help unprepared students succeed, collegesof how can studentsshould provide a full range of support services.succeed in college.Answers the question Thesis: Since college can be difficult for poorly preparedwho should go tostudents, admission should depend on the applicant scollege? by definingmeeting certain standards of achievement.that group. % The thesis should define the scope and limits of the essay.The authorshould stay within the boundaries of the thesis and not digress intoother topics.Which of the following statements correctly corresponds tothe scope of A Question of Degree ?Too narrow: Employment discrimination arises from anoveremphasis on college degrees. QUESTIONING THE AUTHOR 27Too broad: College is wasted on the young.Thesis: Regarding the college degree as a prerequisiteA good thesis, which isfor a good job and a better life can only discourage a fairoften complex, cannotalways be expressed inand efficient system of employment and subvert the truea short sentence.purpose of higher education.IntentionThe author s general purpose in writing is to present a thesis clearly andsupport it convincingly.The thesis will vary according to the nature of the topicand what the author intends to do with it.If thesis denotes what the essay is about, intention suggests how it will bedeveloped.Take, for example, the topic of college drinking.In this group offour theses, notice how the author s intention changes with each one.1.Students have ample opportunity to drink to excess on our campus.The author s intention is to explain why it s easy to get drunk at her col-lege probably by citing facts and statistics such as the number of barsnear campus and the rules on liquor in dormitories, as well as anecdotesand examples.With a thesis like this one, the reader can t easily tellwhether the author approves of, disapproves of, or is indifferent towardthe drinking.2.The behavior of students who drink to excess can represent a cry for help.Here, the author has made an interesting observation and undertakes toanalyze or interpret it.Developing a theory about the habits of collegedrinkers and what they signify requires a more complex level of inquiryand speculation than does exploring how easy it is to get access to alco-holic beverages.Such a theory might also be supported by anecdotes andexamples, as well as by the hard evidence of facts and statistics, but thatevidence will have to be correctly interpreted if the reader is to be con-vinced.While the thesis might be controversial you can disagree withit the author intends to do something other than merely defend oneside of the issue.3.Students who drink to excess should be expelled.No question here that the author will be engaged in persuasion, defend-ing a thesis that represents a particular point of view.Doing so may ormay not include the explanation and analysis mentioned above, but itwill certainly require presenting a line of reasoning for the reader to follow. 28 1 / READING FOR UNDERSTANDING4
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