Common Problems:
Thesis is too narrow/ too fact oriented - nice for a book report, an annual report, a police report, but it won't get you very far with most other forms of writing. Ex. Rose windows were one of the most common features of Gothic architecture. Alternative: Rose windows are emblematic of the turning toward light that characterized the new Gothic architecture.
Too broad / too subjective - words such as "good" and "bad" are prime indicators of a purely subjective approach to your topic. Having too broad a thesis leaves you with a largely unworkable thesis. At the very least you will be in the position of having to define your terms. Ex. The Gothic novel flourished in the late 18th Century. Alternative: The Gothic novel flourished, in part, as a response to the political upheaval that characterized the late 18th Century.
Questions to ask:
Sample Paper:
A. Thesis - Coleridge (among others) seems to be arguing against the Gothic genre in general, and Lewis' novel in particular, in his review of 17-citing its almost radical use of sex and violence as being potentially dangerous to its readers.
B. Development - He argues that mothers should quake to see this novel in the hands of their daughters. (Interestingly leaving their sons out of the equation and perhaps actually aligning himself with Lewis in his general attitude toward women?)
C. Support - Provide the textual support here - plus analysis of those points.
D. Conclusions - However, with his insistence on "weak minds" and "vulgar tastes", it may perhaps be concluded that what he is more afraid of is not that the uneducated will be misled, but that they might just pick up on the tacit argument of the novel that the uneducated are more dangerous to themselves or others when they remain ignorant. Both Ambrosio and Antonia, do/experience more damage through having been sheltered, than if they were more cognizant of the world.
E. More development.
F. More support.
G. Therefore the really radical thing about The Monk might not be that it exposes people to scenes of unnatural sex and violence, but that it argues for better education of youth in order to counteract the very scenes of sex and violence that it presents.