In a Tortoiseshell: In this passage, Kellen Heniford builds a strong introduction to South Africa’s origins and particularities — with a structure that manages at once to be straightforward and engaging. We finish intrigued, and also knowing exactly what we need to know in order to understand the rest of the paper. Continue reading
In a Tortoiseshell: This summary of a WWS policy paper is incredibly coherent and well-written, an example of effective structure. Jean begins the summary with a brief introduction on the increasing presence of U.S.-based hybrid centers in China, then addresses the unique benefits and advantages of these institutions in promoting legal reform, and ending with recommendations to further improve their efficiency. Continue reading
A paper’s line of reasoning, from beginning to end and also within and between paragraphs.
Continue readingIn a Tortoiseshell: In this excerpt, Sewheat demonstrates a clear command of motive, addressing the existing scholarly commentary on Ralph Steiner’s Saratoga Billboard (1929), which only provide literal interpretations of the work’s subject matter, and then moving beyond the scope of current scholarship to analyze the piece from an artistic perspective.
In a Tortoiseshell: In this excerpt, Jessica explores the motivation behind Augustine’s identification of Chanani with Chananaei when referring to North African congregants in Roman Africa during the late fourth century CE. She challenges the historical argument that this identification reveals the internal ethnic identification of Punic-speakers because it fails to consider the Latin-speaking perspective and the theological context, which is a strong motive.
In a Tortoiseshell: This essay argues that Florine Stettheimer’s 1933 painting Family Portrait II is a critique of the elitist society of 1920s New York and thus an extension of her Cathedrals series. In this excerpt, Cara beautifully introduces both her internal motive, which is the stark contrast she noticed between Family Portrait I and this painting, and her scholarly motive, which is the oversight in the art community of this painting’s social significance.
The “intellectual context” that’s established at the beginning of a paper to suggest why the thesis is original or worthwhile.
Continue readingIn a Tortoiseshell: This essay analyses the character of Meursault in Albert Camus’ L’Etranger (The Stranger), contextualizing him in the space of the novel as well as in a larger scholarly conversation. The author analyses a set of critical reviews, and motivates his argument by suggesting that there is something the critics are missing — a clear understanding of Sartre’s existentialism. The author posits the term “post-reflective” consciousness, and develops a thesis with this term to refine the scholarly criticism and propose his own interpretation of Meursault.
The thesis (and paper as a whole) involves complicated and philosophical literary criticism, and succeeds in clearly orienting the reader to the text, scholarship, and a very sophisticated argument. What is excerpted here are the first three pages of a twenty-page paper. Continue reading
In a Tortoiseshell: In this series of excerpts, the author’s process of developing a thesis is foregrounded. Excerpts 1 and 2 are taken from the introduction and conclusion of the original essay submitted to us, and Excerpt 3 is a revised introduction. Each excerpt includes the essay’s thesis, and as the author reiterates it his argument becomes more and more refined, improving significantly over the course of writing and revision. Continue reading
A thesis is the paper’s central claim or promise.
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