When you have generated a working thesis
statement from your narrowed topic, you now need to develop ideas and specific
details to support what .you discuss. This can be a difficult task. Often,
there are many potential details to include and it is hard to decide which to
use. Other times, it is challenging to come up with any ideas to discuss,
whatsoever. Keep in mind some of the information you gathered during your
preliminary search. Using these mental notes as a starting point, there are several
different techniques you can employ to get through the idea‑generating
process:
1.
Webbing/Clustering:
Begin
by writing your topic in the center of a piece of paper.
Then write related ideas and key words you came up with when brainstorming
around the page, and connect them to the central topic with branches. You can
then continue to branch out from the subtopics with any further ideas you have.
This method is useful for visually‑oriented planners who need to see
their topic broken down. Here is an example web with the narrow topic,
"The philosopher Rene Descartes' view of the human self':
2. Free Writing: Set a timer
for five minutes and write or type continuously for the entire duration. Pay no
attention to grammar, spelling, or forming complete sentences. You are not
allowed to read what you have produced until the timer stops. This is a good
technique because you may produce ideas that would be blocked from your mind if
your concentration were on grammar and punctuation.
3.
Brainstorming:
This
is similar to freewriting. Set a timer for five
minutes, but instead of writing or typing out whole ideas, simply list key
words and short phrases that you associate with your topic. This can help you
come up with subtopics for the next technique.
4.
Heuristics: Heuristics is
a sort of "self‑interview." Ask yourself questions about your
topic, beginning with, "Who, what, when, where, and how?" Write down
the answers to your questions. This can help you figure out what point you are
trying to make in your research paper. Here is an example of this technique,
continuing with the same sample narrow topic used in the brainstorming example:
|
Question |
Answer |
|
1.
What was Rene Descartes' view of the human self? |
The
body is material and the mind is immaterial, and the two are separate. |
|
2.
How did Descartes come to this conclusion? |
One
can conceive of themselves as having no body, but cannot conceive of having
no mind. |
|
3.
What is one problem with Descartes' |
How
can anything "immaterial" exist? |
|
conclusion? |
|
Having
developed ideas and specific details to support your working thesis, you are
ready to outline your research paper. Your working thesis statement will appear
at the end of your opening paragraph. The specific details you choose to substantiate
your point will be worked into the topic sentence for each supporting
paragraph.
Information adapted
from: Hamid, Sarah. Writing a
Research Paper. OWL at