One of my strengths in academic writing is that I can generally keep the paper focused around a central claim. While learning to write papers as a child, I was bothered by the need to have a thesis statement; my ideas seemed too varied and numerous to capture in one sentence. Now, having a central claim is immensely helpful to me. It influences every aspect of the work– each subclaim, piece of evidence, and quotation must ultimately act as support for the claim. Having a strong thesis gives me purpose and motivation as I write.
Before going on, I would like to say that I know how important it is for academic writing to be filled with reliable sources and evidence. With that said, I hate having to fill my papers with reliable sources and evidence. I am not good at research, despite hours of practice clicking on links to scholarly articles. In my freshman year biology class, the final project was a paper, and it was a stretch just to find the three required scholarly sources and apply them well.
I totally know how you feel when it comes to doing research. It is also one of the hardest parts in my writing process as well.
ReplyDeleteHaving a good central thesis is such a good strength to have! I often feel like some of my essays could be more organized and I recognize that having a strong claim that is maintained throughout my paper is something I need to work on.
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