28. Create Working Definitions

28. Create Working Definitions:

in order for keywords used throughout your thesis to have meaning, they must be defined in the beginning of the essay. Or if you choose to wait to use key words in your analysis paragraphs, you may define them in the analysis paragraph.

For example: in the introductory paragraph below, the writer employed working definition starters to define native intelligence- a concept that will be repeatedly referenced throughout the paper. (working definition starters are in bold)

“Native”: related to one as in connection with, the place of one’s birth or origin; Occurring in a pure state in nature and not refined, adorned, or altered by man. (Webster 902)

“Intelligence”: the ability to learn or understand from experience; ability to acquire and retain knowledge- any degree of keenness of mind, cleverness, shrewdness, etc. (Webster 702)

“Native Intelligence”: “develops through an unspoken or soft- spoken relationship with theses interwoven things; it evolves as the native involves himself in his region.” (Duncan 53)

David James Duncan’s novel The River Why develops the idea of being a native, of being intelligent, and of possessing native intelligence. Duncan argues that “the ability to acquire or retain knowledge” cannot be achieved unless one is “present in a place of one’s origin, unaltered by man.” This develops my belief that Gus’s journey toward adulthood involves his honing of intelligence as he involves himself in the natural and social environments of his world. According to the author native intelligence combines academic, emotional, spiritual, and environmental acumen. Although Gus, the protagonist, begins the novel as a naive fisherman, he continues to develop into a native throughout the novel. Gus shows his progress to becoming a native through developing an understanding of spirituality, love, and death.

If you do not employ words that need to be defined in your thesis, then you may want to wait to define and employ key words in analysis paragraphs.

For example: in the analysis paragraph below, the writer employed working definition starters to define Divine Providence - a concept that will be repeatedly referenced throughout the paper. (working definition starters are in bold)

Because the Romantic age was so vastly different from the Neoclassical time period, it is important to first understand the ideas from this era. The Neoclassical world was ordered; it was full of equations and scientific explanations for everything. Alexander Pope’s “Essay on Man,” embodies the very essence of neoclassic ideas. As he attempts to “vindicate the ways of God to man,” Pope explains how evil serves a larger good, and warns the reader not to question the ways of God. He writes:

Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree

Of blindness, weakness, Heav’n bestows on thee.

Submit.—In this, or any other sphere,

Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear:

Safe in the hand of one disposing pow’r,

Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.

All nature is but art, unknown to thee:

All chance, direction, which thou canst not see:

All discord, harmony, not understood:

All partial evil, universal good:

And, spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,

One truth is clear, whatever is is right.

(lines 283-294).

This passage is the end of Pope’s long didactic poem “Essay on Man” in which he explains why man has great powers and does not have others. In this particular excerpt Pope surmises that God created the world in a state of perfection. Pope believes in the concept of Divine Providence and needs to be defined. This is the belief that God’s will in the world is dominant and balances good and evil and creation and destruction. Pope urges the reader to “submit,” and not to question what is “unknown” and “not understood.” In Tom Stoppard’s play Arcadia, the character Septimus Hodge, a tutor to the young genius Thomasina Cloverly, has a similar idea as Pope. Responding to Thomasina’s statement that everything in nature has a mathematical equation, Septimus states, “(h)e has mastery of equations which lead into infinities where we cannot follow.” (Stoppard 37). Septimus, like Pope, believes that one should not question God. He thinks that nature can be mathematically defined, but that man should not try to explain what is unknown to him. Both Septimus and Pope believe that God did not mean for man to observe, study, or even question the ways of the world. As Pope says, “(w)hatever is is right.”

“WORKING DEFINITION” STARTERS TO USE:

-According to the author. ___________ is __________________.

-In order to better understand the meaning of this text ___________ needs to be defined. _______________ is ______________________.

-Throughout his paper the word ________________ will be repeatedly used. __________________ is ______________________________.