Concept Paper

A few ideas from your

text
Choosing a Topic

 Advice from the text:

– Modify and classify your term
– Identify a term that people must define in order to
present arguments, make decisions or solve
problems
– Examples: the kind of democracy that works in a
country with a history of despotism, the kind of
love that a parent might have for an adult child,
the best television set to buy for your living room,
a good tree to plant in a small yard
Choosing a Topic -- Redux

 Look for concepts that have broad

implications in people’s lives, concepts that
are central to how people see themselves
and their future.
 Examples: creative expression, enlightened
free choice, authentic person, critical thinker,
socially responsible, fulfillment, achieving
potential . . . .
More on Generating Topics

 Sometimes you want to write about something less

serious, so you might think about things you do that
are central to your life, but that are more
lighthearted.
 For example, television comedies, parties, thriller
movies, sports you like to watch or play.
 Or, what is a satisfying relationship? What does it
mean to be a good athlete? A good student?
Maps for building an essay

1. Look at the essay on religion, paragraph #9.

Design your essay around the difference between
the descriptive and evaluative definitions of your
term. Think of terms like poverty, love, democracy,
globalization.
2. Follow this outline:
a. Identify necessary properties
b. Classify by describing what category your concept
belongs to
c. Develop a couple of examples
d. Differentiate it from other similar terms
More possibilities for organizing

 Check out the guidelines on p. 290 of your text. Make sure you
address each of these guidelines in your essay.
 Organize by comparing two very similar terms: affection and
love, depression and despair, dating and being in a relationship
 Organize by telling a story like Norman, Erdrich, Cohen,
Kincaid and Travis do.
 Organize by setting up an older definition or classification
against a newer one: 1950’s teen vs. 2000 teen, racism in the
60’s vs. racism in 2000, baseball in the 1920’s vs. baseball
today.
For now:

1. Make a list of two or three concepts you might be

interested in writing about.
2. Write about why each of these terms needs to be
defined or redefined. What makes your task
significant?
3. Make a concept map: Properties, Sign, Referents.
4. Free write for at least 5 minutes about why the
concept is important in your life, why it needs to be
defined, and what information needs to be in your
definition.