PROCESS FOUR. Write a tentative thesis.

The best place to start is to understand what a thesis is. A thesis is defined as a central idea or single thread of thought. The entire body of your essay will come from this central idea, so, when formulating the thesis for your essay it is important to be clear and concise about the main point you are trying to present or prove. The reason you should keep it "tentative" is to allow room for change if you find that your research will not support your original thesis (ideas). This allows you to adjust the thesis as your ideas unfold and develop as you research and write.

PROCESS FIVE. Research.

Accurate, recordable research is vital in supporting the thesis you are presenting to your audience. Without research your essay is considered an opinion expressed by you and only you, and not supported by any other documentation or proof. Performing research is a time consuming task. It will be considerably less time consuming if your thesis or central idea is specific and clear. If your thesis is too broad, you will see this as you begin your research. If you are getting too much information, you probably need to narrow down your central theme. Think of research as an inverted pyramid process. Start with a wide range of opinions on your specific topic and then begin to narrow your reading down to those which are relevant to your thesis.

With researching the hardest part is often just getting started. So, where does this process begin? At the library! Whether it is a public, private, or school library, most of the documentation you will need can be found there. Other options for finding supporting documentation include the Internet, book stores, interviews with experts, and in business files. At this stage of the essay writing process you will be doing a lot of reading and note taking. You will read materials related to your thesis and then select those that are most relevant to supporting your point or points. You should, during this reading process, jot down the title, author name, page(s), verbiage and other information that is useful.

If there is a particular sentence or paragraph that you may decide to quote in your essay, you should make note of that passage. Although you probably won't use all of the information or materials you find, write down the information anyway. Later, during the drafting process, you can eliminate what is redundant or weak, keeping only the most relevant research for use in your essay.