Idea Outlines

1
Idea Outlines

• Gathering and organizing ideas for writing
  critically about literature

2
The Idea Outline Form

• Most weeks you will have an Idea Outline due. 
  The main point behind an idea outline is to get
  you to think about the work you're looking at and
  make an argument about it.  The Idea Outline is
  set up in a form that you can download here. 
  (Its also linked on the Course Content page.)
• You can find a version of this that is
  printer-friendly here.
• (I suggest you save the file, and each time you
  do an outline, save it using "save as," and give
  it a new title, for example IdeaOulineFrost.rtf. 
  This way you can always go back to the original
  document and not have to erase what you write
  before.)

3
Critical Analysis Content and Structure

• First, we have to think about the general
  structure of writings about literature.
  Basically, most critical writings about
  literature a structured like this

4
Introduction

• Sets the context by sharing the general topic.
  Ie something specific about the human condition,
  character, or certain situations
• Provides the name of the author and title of the
  work, properly formatted. (Often this is in
  conjunction with the thesis.)
• Provides a clear thesis, that can be checked by
  answering the following questions
• Thesis checklist
• Does the thesis go beyond an apparent fact from
  the story?
• Is the thesis arguable?
• Is the thesis supportable with specific (direct
  quotes or very specific) examples from the story?
• Is the thesis related to an element of fiction?

5
Body

• The body of the essay should work to explain and
  illustrate the main point made in the thesis.
  With each point you make, you should
• Provide specific reasons for your belief in your
  thesis.
• Support those beliefs with evidence from the
  text direct quotes, paraphrases, or very
  specific examples.
• Interpret the evidence youve given explain how
  the evidence shows or illustrates the reason.
• Connect the evidence and interpretation to the
  thesis. Make sure to explain how this specific
  moment plays a role in or supports the thesis.
• Sometimes the last two points will be merged.

6
Conclusion

• The conclusion should bring the paper together.
  Options for this include
• Discussion of how the specific examples add up to
  illustrate something more about the general topic
  set up in the introduction.
• OR
• Discussion of how the work gives us a deeper
  understanding of the human condition, character
  or situations through the authors use of the
  particular element.

7
Where to start

• When you start to get ideas for an essay, the
  best place to start may not always be at the
  beginning.  Sometimes you may know exactly what
  you want to talk about (you may be blessed with a
  working thesis) if so, then you can start with
  developing your thesis.  For example, if you have
  been given a question to answer about a story,
  then the answer to that question is your thesis. 
  You can work through the outline beginning with
  your thesis, then go back and develop your
  introduction to round it out.

8

• However, it doesnt always happen that way.  If
  youre working with a wide open choice of what to
  write about, the first thing you want to
  familiarize yourself with are the basic elements
  of literature and how they work.  In your
  literature textbook there are chapters that deal
  with each element (plot, character, setting,
  etc.).  At the beginning of the chapter is a
  discussion of the basic workings of the element
  at the end of the chapter is a discussion of how
  to write about the element.  In this case, you
  should be using your literature book as a
  reference tool.  We will of course discuss these
  elements in our course, but each of you will
  select different things to write about so should
  review the specifics on your own.

9
Starting with Evidence

• If you find a specific element stands out for you
  in a story or a poem, think about what it is that
  makes it work or makes it unique in the story. 
  For example, you might decide that you want to
  look carefully at setting and how it relates to
  Mathildes character in The Necklace.  After
  reviewing the discussions of setting and
  character in fiction as discussed in your
  literature book, you are ready to go.  One of the
  easiest places to start is with evidence.  You
  can go through and find places in the story that
  the setting seems to play a role.  Here is a
  quote Ive found that might work

10

• She suffered because of her grim apartment with
  its drab walls, threadbare furniture, ugly
  curtains.  All such things, which most other
  women in her situation would not even have
  noticed, tortured her and filled her with
  despair. (5)
• The five in parenthesis is my in-text citation. 
  It shows the page number where I read the
  information. See pages 370-373 in you Writers
  Reference for instructions on how to do this.)

11

• However, I can't just throw the quote out there
  in between my sentences and think it's clearly
  related and that my point will be evident to my
  reader.  Instead I need to blend it with a
  sentence that places it in context, considering
  cutting out those details I won't need, or at
  least summarizing them.  I might do that like
  so 
•  
• There the narrator comments on her suffering
  because of the apartment's walls, furniture and
  curtains, but goes on to point out that other
  women in   her situation would "not even have
  noticed" these things yet they "tortured   her
  and filled her with despair" (5).
•  
• First I've summarized or paraphrased much of the
  quote I selected to use.  Use only the details
  that support your point.  Also, in the second
  half of the sentence, I've blended my words with
  the authors, but am careful to show where his
  begin with the use of quotation marks.  The
  general rule of thumb is if you use three or more
  words sequentially as they appear in the text you
  use quotation marks.
•  

12

• Integrating sources is discussed in The Writers
  Reference on pages 362-369. You should
  familiarize yourself with the discussion there,
  as this is one of the things that will make the
  biggest difference in your writing style.  (I
  believe its the key thing in making your writing
  sound like college level writing.  Of course, you
  have to have good ideas behind it.)

13
Discussion/Interpretation

• If you don't explain how that evidence shows or
  illustrates your points, then you've left your
  ideas out of the work.  So, I ask what this shows
  me about my Mathildes character as revealed
  through the setting.  I would answer that by
  saying 
•  
• Mathilde is not other women.  She is not
  satisfied with what they would realize as
  acceptable considering their husbands' incomes
  and positions.   Instead, her disdain of her
  apartment and home illustrate a clear pride,  
  showing that she doesn't feel as if these things
  are quite good enough.
•  
• In essence, I'm telling you what I read between
  the lines when I read this quote.  Now there's
  just one more step, then we'll take a look at how
  this process comes together.

14
Connecting

• As you work with each reason, your connection
  should show the role it plays in your thesis. If
  you dont have a thesis yet, think about how it
  illustrates some main idea. Heres an example of
  what I might say about the quote and my
  interpretation

15

• By providing readers with an insight into
  Mathilde's character at the beginning of the
  story we are able to see in her the
  characteristics that are sometimes found in
  people around us often people are dissatisfied
  with what they have and this dissatisfaction can
  be played out through an attitude that speaks of
  pride but lacks the responsibility to do
  something about it.  Mathilde is just such a
  character, so she suffers despite the fact she
  should be happy, vainly wishing for what she
  doesn't have and all the while cursing what she
  does have.
•  
• Here I've shown not only how Maupassant uses
  Mathilde's character at the beginning of the
  story, but how that character relates to the
  human condition.  While this one paragraph does
  not illustrate the whole of the thesis, and it
  shouldn't, it sets the stage for the readers.

16
Thesis

• To develop your thesisif youre working from
  evidence firsttake a look at your evidence and
  discussion/interpretation together.  What does it
  point out about that main topic, here character
  and setting?  To put this together for your
  reading pleasure, I had to go through The
  Necklace and look for other points about
  character and setting.  When I put those together
  with the one Ive shown you here, I came up with
  this thesis

17

• Through looking at Mathilde's growth as a
  character in relation to the settings she exists
  in, it's apparent that Maupassant uses her to
  show one aspect of the human condition and
  illustrate how vanity and pride can be changed
  into responsibility and practicality.

18

• While the single example Ive given you above,
  does not reveal all of the ideas in the thesis,
  other parts of the work do.  Ive made sure that
  my thesis fits the thesis criteria
•  
• its not a simple fact or basic conclusion from
  the reading,
• its arguable and supportable, and
• its linked to literary ideas.

19
Beyond The Idea Outline

• While your idea outlines are homework, you should
  also use them to develop your essays.  To do
  that, you put the parts together, filling in and
  smoothing out as necessary.  To give you a quick
  picture of that, heres how a body paragraph
  using the evidence and discussion/interpretation
  Ive shown you above might look in a final draft

20

• The first setting readers see Mathilde in is her
  small apartment, where she  is clearly proud and
  vain.  There the narrator comments on her
  suffering because of the apartment's walls,
  furniture and curtains, but goes on to point out
  that other women in her situation would "not even
  have noticed" these things yet they "tortured her
  and filled her with despair"(5).  Mathilde is not
  other women.  She is not satisfied with what they
  would realize as acceptable considering their
  husbands' incomes and positions.  Instead, her
  disdain of her apartment and home illustrate a
  clear pride, showing that she doesn't feel as if
  these things are quite good enough.  By
  providing   readers with an insight into
  Mathilde's character at the beginning of the
  story we are able to see in her the
  characteristics that are sometimes found in
  people around us often people are dissatisfied
  with what they have and this dissatisfaction can
  be played out through an attitude that speaks of
  pride but lacks the responsibility to do
  something about it.  Mathilde is just such a
  character, so she suffers despite the fact she
  should be happy, vainly wishing for what she
  doesn't have and all the while cursing what she 
  does have.

21
Dos and Donts

• Do quote the text and correctly cite it!
• Do use the correct convention for a writers
  name!
• Dont summarize the whole work!
• Dont use a quote or specific example unless it
  directly relates to your thesis or point.