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may need to do some preliminary research to gather ideas. You might find articles and books about American literature and skim through them to find possible topics.

2. Do the first part of your research. Read about your topic. Find multiple sources, and, if possible, look at both books and articles in scholarly journals. If your topic is time sensitive, like the current economy, make sure your sources are suitably current. When you find a particularly good source, pay attention to the sources that article or book cites, as this will help you find other resources. I call this "piggyback" research, and it often turns up a much better mix of sources than database searching alone. Read until you think you have a good handle on the major aspects of your topic.

3. Choose your point of view. What do you want to say about the topic? What do you hope to prove? Many writers who get stuck in the middle of an essay do so because they don't really know what they want to say about the topic, so they can't be sure when they've said it. Additionally, without a point of view, it can be hard to organize your research or know when you have enough information. Keep in mind that point of view isn't always just being for or against something. Sometimes, it's a specific idea that you want to get across. So, for example, if your topic is how Jack Kerouac's On the Road influenced America, your point of view might be that the book's depiction of drug use contributed to the 1970s drug culture. In addition to helping give your essay direction, a clear point of view will help focus your research so that you can easily identify what is relevant and what isn't.

4. Combine your topic and your point of view into a single thesis statement. It doesn't have to be polished and ready to drop into your introductory paragraph, but it needs to clearly summarize the main idea of your paper in a single sentence (If you "need" to use two sentences, this is a clue that your idea isn't fully crystallized yet.). Using the Kerouac example, your thesis might be: Depictions of marijuana and Benzedrine use in Jack Kerouac's On the Road contributed to increased acceptance of casual drug use in the 1970s. Once you have a thesis statement, refer back to your assignment instructions to be sure that the thesis meets the requirements of your essay.

5. Using your thesis, complete your research, filling in any gaps in your knowledge that may have presented themselves now that you know exactly what you plan to write about.

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