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ENG 102 - English Composition II - Poetry: Develop Your Thesis

Focus Your Topic

After some investigation of the poem, it is time to focus on some aspects. 

Choose the aspects of the poem that you think will be most helpful to support your ideas.

Brainstorm a working thesis that states the viewpoint you are going to argue/support in your paper. 

As you start to work on your thesis and supporting examples, you will want to brainstorm keywords that might help you find secondary sources. You may decide to adjust your topic or thesis as you search for sources. This is a natural part of the research process.  

What Are Keywords, and Why Do I Need Them?

Library databases use keyword searches, and they allow you to be more precise than the regular Google search you might be accustomed to using for every day information. As you think about what concepts you want to write about, consider what particular words might be found in a good article about that topic. Consider the following when searching databases and e-books:

  • Enter the name of the poem with the word "and" and the concept you are looking for. Example: "The Raven and Death"
  • Keywords work best by trial-and-error
  • Never do only one search
  • Some keywords will work better than others.​ Consider synonyms or words that may bring up articles that include your topic:

Happiness --- Joy -- Pleasure

Revenge --- Vengeance

Death --- Mortality --- Murder

Gender --- Feminism --- Sex

  • Remember to also use "Search Within Results" option to search further into your results.

  • Use "Ctrl F" to search for specific words within a particular article.
  • If you need assistance with keywords or looking for sources, ask your instructor or a librarian. 

Watch & Learn

Lehman Library. (2018, March 22). Searching Databases with Keywords [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/c4WZoFSglEI