SO WHATS

The So What....

is the payoff to all the data collations and applications

is the answer to an analytical question (or, its answer helps you realize the question you're asking)

English 1050 Paper 1 Thesis

Templates

Some Templates for So Whats

So: if you can't argue about facts, and you can't argue about opinions — what's left? Matters of interpretation, things that (at least in principle) can be right or wrong, but aren't obvious on first glance.

We Americans aren't really accustomed to this kind of argument. On the one hand we're taught that it's impolite to question someone's beliefs — “Everyone's entitled to an opinion” is a modern mantra. On the other, crappy daytime television shows suggest that “argument” is the same as shouting at one another. Even our so-called presidential “debates” are just joint press conferences: there's no real engagement in anything substantive. But one of the purposes of an English class is to teach you to make arguments about things that, at least in principle, can be settled.

Here's a tip, and one of the best I've got in my entire guide: write on something you don't understand on the first reading. It sounds odd, doesn't it? — we want good grades, and of course we're drawn to the things we get right away. I mean, if you have a choice of problems on a math exam, you don't pick the question you understand the least, do you?

But it's paradoxically good advice on an English paper, because it almost forces you to come up with a controversial thesis. Now, by “don't understand” I'm not talking about “don't understand the words” — I assume you've made at least a minimal effort to get the literal meaning. What I mean is that you should find things that puzzle you, that don't seem to fit into your understanding of the book, because the best theses are always lurking there.

Once you've got a puzzle, something that bothers or confuses you, you're on the trail of a good, controversial thesis. Try to answer it to your own satisfaction, probably by resorting to close reading. Why does the author start using big, complicated words here when he used simple ones everywhere else? — what's the point of concealing the heroine's name until the very last page? — why does the narrator keep mentioning his dead wife? Once you answer it to your own satisfaction, you've got a good, controversial thesis, and you're on your way to a good grade.

(http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/EngPaper/)

Five Ways of Looking At a Thesis

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~esrabkin/thesis5ways.htm

The basic template, which will work for anything:

Noticing [X (“X” generally equals the “more precise definition” in the collation you have identified and specified. It may also be a restatement of your own or another thinker’s So What, which is a claim about a data pattern)] changes

[PRACTICE? ANALYSIS? ASSUMPTIONS? CAUSATION (SOME REVERSAL OF THE INITIAL BELIEF OF RELATION OF TWO THINGS)? ORDER (CHANGE IN THE INITIAL UNDERSTANDING OF WHEN THINGS HAPPEN)?]

by

[HERE YOU EXPLAIN THE CHANGE].

The below templates (adapted from They Say, I Say: The Academic Moves That Matter) are variation on the same idea: they identify a pattern, say what it changes, and how. Feel free to try out different ones!

• __X__ matters/is important because __________.

• If _X _ holds true, then we need to reassess the popular assumption that __________ because______________.

• __X__ is extremely useful because it sheds insight on the difficult problem of __________ by emphasizing __________________.

• _X_ challenges the common assumptions held by __[identify the group making the assumption]___ that _[assumption]___ because _____________.

• Although _X_ may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern over __________ because __________.

• Ultimately, what is at stake here is __________, because __X__ makes it clear that _____________.

• __X__ has important consequences for the broader domain of __________because _______________.

• My discussion of __X__ is in fact addressing the larger matter of __________ by ___________________.

• Although __X __may seem of concern to only the small group of __________, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about __________because ____________.

Yes BUT situations:

• Whereas__ X__ provides ample evidence that __________, __Y__ convinces me that __________ instead, due to ____________________.

• Although I grant that _X_ suggests __________, I still maintain that __________, due to ___Y___.

• Proponents of __X __are right to argue that __________. But they exaggerate when they claim that __________, due to __Y__, which shows___________.

• While it is true that __________ as seen in __X__, it does not necessarily follow that __________, as __Y__ demonstrates, since it shows _________.

• Whereas __X __provides ample evidence that __________, __Y__ convinces me that __________ instead due to ________________.

A: By telling a powerful story of failed love, Romeo and Juliet demonstrates the destructive effects of family pride.

B: Although we are told from the beginning that it is a tale of "star-crossed lovers," Romeo and Juliet produces its tragedy by calling attention to a series of near-misses, places where the protagonists' downfall could be avoided.

C. Mercutio might seem like a minor character in Romeo and Juliet, but his language actually tells us something important about how the play works.

A thesis says something a little strange.

Weird is good. When you start to construct a thesis, think about what an easy one-sentence summary of the text would look like. Then try to come up with something more specific than that, something with a specific twist on the standard interpretation.

A thesis creates an argument that builds from one point to the next, giving the paper a direction that your reader can follow as it develops. This point often separates the best theses from the pack. If your thesis leads to a paper that simply follows the plot of a text as it goes along, it probably needs to provide a stronger statement of the paper's logic. Example A, for example, invites a plot summary of the play. Examples B and C say something more interesting and specific, but you could revise them to indicate more strongly how each paper will build its case.

A thesis fits comfortably into the Magic Thesis Sentence (MTS). The MTS: By looking at _____, we can see _____, which most readers don't see; this is important because _____.

A thesis says something about the text(s) you discuss exclusively. If your thesis could describe many works equally well, it needs to be more specific. Let's return to our examples from above:

A thesis makes a lot of information irrelevant. If your thesis is specific enough, it will make a point that focuses on only a small part of the text you are analyzing. You can and should ultimately apply that point to the work as a whole, but a thesis will call attention to specific parts of it.

Thesis Starting Points

Pro Tip

Type 1: No Claim

Problem: there is nothing at stake, no issue to be resolved; the thesis leads to listing rather than analysis

"Ghostbusters is a movie that has a lot of phallic details"

Solution: turn to specific details and ask “why” or “how”

"Why does Ghostbusters employ so many phallic images?" (the answer to this would be your thesis/so what"): "By focusing on phallic images, Ghostbusters changes our understanding of the film by suggesting it is primarily concerned with how men can reassert power in a world with increasing female power."

Type 2: Obviously True Claim

Problem: the statement does not require proof, so there’s no point in writing about it

"The men in Ghostbusters band together to defeat the demon"

Solution: Turn your statement into a question and make an assertion that readers might disagree with

"How do the men defeat the demon?" "The men use displays of heterosexual power to defeat the demon which changes our understanding of male sexuality by connecting it to power over women "

Type 3: Conventional Wisdom

Problem: because almost everyone agrees with the statement, there is no room for analysis or development

"Ghostbusters show that people are not comfortable with women gaining power"

Solution: look to complicate the subject by taking multiple points of view

"The pattern of anti-female images in Ghostbusters changes our analysis of the order in which male fears about female power surface by suggesting that when women gain power men primarily fear the loss of male camaraderie."

Type 4: Personal Conviction

Problem: like conventional wisdom, these statements tend to be reaction rather than analysis; they prevent exploration of an idea

"I think it's great that women got more respect during the time period in which Ghostbusters was filmed"

Solution: try to replace opinions with ideas, which question and complicate claims rather than repeating them

Are women being shown as having actual power here? "The fact that the demon can only exercise power through proxies such as the dogs and the stay puft marshmallow man changes our analysis of feminism in this film by suggesting that women can only have power through manipulating men."

Type 5: Overly Broad

Problem: the thesis avoids complexity and could be said about almost any topic. Watch out for phrases such as “advantages and disadvantages” or “pros and cons”

"Ghostbusters shows the pros and cons of women gaining power"

Solution: Rephrase your ideas by replacing broad nouns with specific ones, weak verbs with strong ones and vague adjectives with specific ones. If you are talking about two ideas or sides, try to subordinate them: does one (newly specified) idea outweigh the other?

What kind of power do women have? "The pattern of yonic symbols changes our analysis of female power by insisting that women still, ultimately, can be reduced to their sexual and reproductive functions"

What are pros and cons? which ends up having more power? why?

You can turn a template into an analytical question. That is, "X’s theory of __________ is extremely useful because it sheds insight on the

difficult problem of __________. " Can be asked as " In what ways does the theory of ______ shed light on the difficult problem of ______?"

The A to Z Method

for Thinking, Reading, and Writing

NEXT LEVEL SO WHATS