Topical Invention

Asking questions to develop thesis sentences 09/14/07

Often writing students are stymied when asked to write a thesis statement which is the single most important aspect of the writing process. It guides the entire process since every aspect of the composition is tied to it: topic sentences, proofs, introductory remarks, and the essay’s conclusion. When I learned of topical invention as a strategy I was drawn to it, perhaps for the dialectic aspect, the questioning. I like asking questions, particularly good questions. I don’t even care if I don’t know the answer because in the spirit of the essay, the journey is what’s important not necessarily having a conclusion that puts a bow on the problem. There can still be problems when we conclude; however, the essay helps us design the search most effectively. Often students look to have a research question when beginning the writing process. The thesis is often the flip side of this: make a guess. Answer your own question. Often this isn’t easy until one knows something about the topic, after the initial research.

Planning
If the planning stages of the essay writing process ask: What is your topic? What is your purpose for writing about this topic? And what question do you want your essay to answer? Then the thesis is one’s angle on this topic.

What do you hope to prove? If we are looking at mother son relationships, and Tupac and Afeni are our case study or example then a question one could ask is: What are the effects of addiction on the relationship between a parent and her child, when the parent is an addict?

The answer from what we know so far could be: Although Tupac Shakur’s love and affection towards his mother Afeni Shakur is unquestioned, as a child and even an adult it took him a long while to completely trust her because of the suffering her chemical dependency had on the lives of him and his sister for most of their lives.

Since this is a class where we look at art, then how is this volatile relationship between mother and child explored artistically in Tupac’s poetry and music?

If we look at Dear Mama, then we could point to the dualities and the emotional, psychological, maybe even philosophical split evident in Tupac’s relationship with his mother in lines where he characterizes his mother as both a “queen and a dope fiend,” or in lines where he forgives her, also when he speaks about her honesty and her presence, even if it was flawed. Perhaps it’s better to have a flawed parent than none at all?

His forgiveness is also evident in the letter Dyson mentions he wrote his mother when she had a year clean. He didn’t completely trust her, but Tupac, the adult, was willing to love her even if he was skeptical.

Addiction is a mare on one’s credibility, and one’s ability to parent, yet Tupac in Dear Mama says, he holds no one above his mama. (This is a thesis, answering the question: What was their relationship?)

Let’s look for examples in Tupac’s creative work, as Dyson has, for examples to support our claims. You could take a poem from Rose or a song or even a film Tupac stars in—what types of characters does he play, to reflect on a theme raised in Holler.

Another example:
When a parent makes mistakes like Afeni Shakur’s regarding the lives of her two children, it is often hard for said parent to correct or repair the damage, yet she did.

Can you find evidence of her recovery’s effect on the lives of her children, specifically Tupac in his music or poetry? Tupac’s problems were no isolated ones, if you know of other artists or writers who had to live through similar dilemmas you could bring their work in as other examples to support your claim.

Asking questions to develop thesis sentences 09/14/07

Often writing students are stymied when asked to write a thesis statement which is the single most important aspect of the writing process. It guides the entire process since every aspect of the composition is tied to it: topic sentences, proofs, introductory remarks, and the essay’s conclusion. When I learned of topical invention as a strategy I was drawn to it, perhaps for the dialectic aspect, the questioning. I like asking questions, particularly good questions. I don’t even care if I don’t know the answer because in the spirit of the essay, the journey is what’s important not necessarily having a conclusion that puts a bow on the problem. There can still be problems when we conclude; however, the essay helps us design the search most effectively. Often students look to have a research question when beginning the writing process. The thesis is often the flip side of this: make a guess. Answer your own question. Often this isn’t easy until one knows something about the topic, after the initial research.

If the planning stages of the essay writing process ask: What is your topic? What is your purpose for writing about this topic? And what question do you want your essay to answer? Then the thesis is one’s angle on this topic.

What do you hope to prove? If we are looking at mother son relationships, and Tupac and Afeni are our case study or example then a question one could ask is: What are the effects of addiction on the relationship between a parent and her child, when the parent is an addict?

The answer from what we know so far could be: Although Tupac Shakur’s love and affection towards his mother Afeni Shakur is unquestioned, as a child and even an adult it took him a long while to completely trust her because of the suffering her chemical dependency had on the lives of him and his sister for most of their lives.

Since this is a class where we look at art, then how is this volatile relationship between mother and child explored artistically in Tupac’s poetry and music?

If we look at Dear Mama, then we could point to the dualities and the emotional, psychological, even philosophical split evident in Tupac’s relationship with his mother in lines like “queen and dope fiend,” or in lines where he forgives her, also when he speaks about her honesty and her presence, even if it was flawed. Perhaps it’s better to have a flawed parent than none at all? His forgiveness is also evident in the letter Dyson mentions he wrote his mother when she had a year clean. He didn’t completely trust her, but Tupac, the adult, was willing to love her even if he was skeptical.

Addiction is a mare on one’s credibility, and one’s ability to parent yet, Tupac in Dear Mama says, he holds no one above his mama. (This is a thesis statement that answers the question "what was their relationship").

Let’s look for examples in Tupac’s creative work, as Dyson has, for examples to support our claims. You could take a poem from Concrete or a song or even a film Tupac stars in—what types of characters does he play, to reflect on a theme raised in Holler.

Another example:
When a parent makes mistakes like Afeni Shakur’s regarding the lives of her two children, it is often hard for said parent to correct or repair the damage, yet she did.

Can you find evidence of her recovery’s effect on the lives of her children, specifically Tupac in his music or poetry? Tupac’s problems were no isolated ones, if you know of other artists or writers who had to live through similar dilemmas you could bring their work in as other examples to support your claim.

More commentary
What follows are my notes on a strategy one can use to develop thesis sentences. After choosing a topic the writer then asks a variety of questions about it to develop sentences, declarative sentences that respond to the questions posed below: What is it or what was it? What caused it or what did it cause? What is it like or unlike? What does an authority say about it?

In the reverse, one can scan published writing and ask the same question to get examples of sentences that answer these questions.

As in most invention exercises, one can start with a clustering or mapping or listing freewrite before developing sentences.

Let’s say once again the topic is Tupac Shakur’s relationship to his mother. An example of a definition would be “Afeni says Tupac’s birth signified a new stage in her life” (30). Another is when she says, “’I had never been able to carry a child past three month of pregnancy, but in the midst of [the incarceration and trial], this child stayed” (30).

A consequence is when Afeni’s male co-defendants skipped town, she had to “get a court order so that I could have egg and a glass of milk every morning” (30).

Another consequence/definition is Dyson’s sentence: The Panther 21 had fired off a missive to the Oakland headquarters accusing the West Coast branch of ‘tripping out, pseudo-machoism, arrogance, myrmidonism, dogmatism, regionalism, regimentation, and fear” (30).

Sometimes one can see a consequential relationship between sentences even though in form, they are more definition.

The homework was to look at the themes in Chapter 3 and develop thesis sentences around one theme. Try to use the topical invention strategies for this exercise.

I hope this helps. Just remember that the homework is your opportunity to practice the concepts before your performance date. So don't be afraid to get it wrong, we will catch you before you fall off the stage.


More general notes (given to my English 1A and 201 students)
What follows are my notes on a strategy one can use to develop thesis sentences. After choosing a topic the writer then asks a variety of questions about it to develop sentences, declarative sentences that respond to the questions posed below: What is it or what was it? What caused it or what did it cause? What is it like or unlike? What does an authority say about it?

In the reverse, one can scan published writing and ask the same question to get examples of sentences that answer these questions.

As in most invention exercises, one can start with a clustering or mapping or listing freewrite before developing sentences.

Let’s say once again the topic is Tupac Shakur’s relationship to his mother. An example of a definition would be “Afeni says Tupac’s birth signified a new stage in her life” (30). Another is when she says, “’I had never been able to carry a child past three month of pregnancy, but in the midst of [the incarceration and trial], this child stayed” (30).

A consequence is when Afeni’s male co-defendants skipped town, she had to “get a court order so that I could have egg and a glass of milk every morning” (30).

Another consequence/definition is Dyson’s sentence: The Panther 21 had fired off a missive to the Oakland headquarters accusing the West Coast branch of ‘tripping out, pseudo-machoism, arrogance, myrmidonism, dogmatism, regionalism, regimentation, and fear” (30).

Sometimes one can see a consequential relationship between sentences even though in form, they are more definition.

The homework was to look at the themes in Chapter 3 and develop thesis sentences around one theme. Try to use the topical invention strategies for this exercise.

Now here are my original notes:
Topical Invention Strategies – notes * 050300 Sabir


“Invention” is a term that describes the processes writers use to generate topics or subjects to write about. There are many ways to do this: brainstorming, clustering, listing, outlines and a heuristic or questioning strategy where writers probe their “topics” as a means to further develop the subject. Four common topics or “mental places” writers would go philosophically to find argument are definition, analogy, consequence, and testimony.

Definition: “The topic of definition involves the creation of a thesis by taking a fact or idea and expanding on it by precisely identifying its nature. The subject can be referred to its class, or genus, and the argument made that whatever is true of the genus is true of the species: “A single-payer national health plan is a socialist policy – and should therefore be classed with other socialist policies.” Another form of definition is “the argument from the word” – the use of dictionary or etymological meanings to define things or ideas” (143).

“Definition always answers the question, “What is/was it?” asked in a variety of contexts. The subject can be defined in its immediate context, a larger context, in different settings, in space, in time, or in a moral continuum” (144).

Analogy: “The topic of analogy is concerned with discovering resemblances or differences between two or more things, proceeding from known to unknown. It should be noted that no analogy is perfect and that all deal in probabilities. Nonetheless, analogy is a useful tool fore investigating comparisons and contrasts: “the first week of college is like the first week of boot camp.” Another type of analogical reasoning is the argument from contraries, or negative analogy: “The marijuana laws are unlike Prohibition.” Although analogy is often thought of only as a figure of speech, it is an important demonstration as well” (143).

“Analogy always answers the question “what is it like or unlike?” and the topic of the analogy usually answers the question by explaining a lesser known element in the context of a better known element. Because of its explanatory nature, at least one side of the analogical topic statement is often historical or general” (144).

Consequence: “The topic of consequence investigates phenomena in a cause-to-effect or effect-to-cause pattern. The best use of consequence is in the prediction of probabilities from patterns that have previously occurred: “Inability to prevent clan warfare led to the failure of the United Nations peacekeeping effort in Somalia.” The topic of consequence is prone to two fallacies. The first is the fallacy of post hoc, ergo propter hoc,” after this, therefore because of this.” Just because one element precedes another element does not mean that the former is the cause of the latter. An extreme example of this fallacy might be “the first human-powered flight led to the failure of the United Nations peacekeeping effort in Somalia.” The second fallacy, a priori, claims but does not demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between two phenomena” (145).

“Consequence always answers the question, “What caused/causes/will cause it?” or “What did it cause/is it causing/will it cause?” It is not a topic to be taken lightly because, even in a thesis statement, it demands that the writer trace the chains of consequence to the end. Consequence can be either explanatory or predictive” (145).

Testimony: “The topic of testimony relies on appeals to an authority, some external source of argumentation. For example, the authority could be an expert opinion, statistics, or the law. This topic is not as useful today as it once may have been: our controversial age produced so many authorities whose views are in conflict with one another that all too often they cancel one another out, and celebrities often give paid – and therefore untrustworthy – testimony in the form of advertising. Still, testimony can be a good starting place for an argument, especially when students have a familiarity with, and an understanding of, the source of the testimony” (145).

“Testimony always answers the question “What does an authority say about it?” Authorities can range from experts and statistics to eyewitnesses and accepted wisdom” (145).



* Notes: Chapter 7, “Classical Topical Invention (142 – 146).” The St. Martin’s Guide to Teaching Writing, Third Edition by Robert Connors, Cheryl Glenn.