Essay Writing GuideTuesday, April 19th, 2011
Essay Writing Guide: Inventing Ideas for a Breakthrough Essay
The pre writing or invention stage is a fertile ground where many of the essay writing ideas originate and take form. It is the knowledge building platform where information is accumulated, interlinked and processed; these elements being essential for research, dissertation writing and content development. Thus, it is important to ask the right kind of questions so that the answers lead an essay directly to the main thesis.
The manner in which information leads to idea generation can be traced to a systematic approach of reasoning. Most of the essay writing guides suggest taking up Stasis theory of content development and idea generation.
Stasis theory, developed by ancient Greek and Roman orators and philosophers, is a four question theory that helps in building information. It is the way of probing a subject with an aim of developing the topic. Here is a quick insight into it:
The Four Methods of Invention and Probing
To delve deeper into an essay topic and explore related aspects for content development, we can begin by asking the following questions. These questions help clarify the main thesis, provide related arguments, and offer a well grounded reasoning.
The Question of Fact:
Asking critical questions to interrogate whether or not such a thing exists is the first part of the invention process. The kind of questions that should be asked are:
- Did it really happen, does a thing exist?
- How can we say it happened?
- What are the basis of our belief?
- How do we say our sources are credible?
The Question Defintion
Understanding the nature of the problem is the next step. Once we have the answers to the first part, we can further analyze its nature.
- What is the nature of the problem? What are the factors that influence our definition and perspective of the issue? Why/how these factors influence our perspective?
- How does it relate to the larger picture?
- How is it relevant?
Question of Quality:
Once we have interrogated what the problem is, how it can be defined, and what are the factors that influence our perspective, we need to delve into the next set of questions. The questions of quality are meant to determine the practical aspects of the issues.
- What Is the impact of the problem? Is it serious?
- Is it beneficial or hazardous?
- Whom can it affect? Will it affect the stakeholders positively or negatively?
- What can be done about it? What happens if we do it or don not do it?
- What are the finances required to carry it forward?
The Question of Jurisdiction:
Once the issue is understood from all the aspects, we need to find out how it can be imp0lemented.
- Should something be done about solving the issue? What can be done?
- Who should be involved in resolving the issue? Why should they be involved?
Statis theory can be successfully employed in argumentative essay writing to achieve a stasis or consensus on debate. If you are still not sure about carrying it out successfully, get in touch with our essay writing guides or order custom essays!