This (2-4 pg) essay describes your field of inquiry. It delineates the area(s) within which your thesis resides. The importance of Topical Essays centers on how your thesis creates a certain meaning, and only that one. (Theses have many contexts.) Without context, the thesis is “lost at sea.” With context, the thesis makes sense in relation to influences, changes, reactions, revolution, evolution, devolution, progress, regress, causes, course, results, goals, comparisons, contrasts, explanations,etc.

           To Re-iterate: for example, seeing a person opposite you with sharp knife pointed your way connotes threat, danger, death and destruction. But, seeing that same scenario along with the context of forks, napkins and steaming dinner connotes a very different meaning. You can see the ' point' of context and how it can 'sharply' channel, delineate and create meaning. If you ignore context, it forces your reader create meaning, and that meaning is almost sure to be alien to your intention.

           Since this essay is short, spend words like Silas Marner spends money: Make every word count, and count every word. Re-read repeatedly, but write laconically. (You can always ‘scrub-up’ your prose afterwards, as appropriate.) Describe the topic, show limits but with few words, and keep only that part of the topic in focus which relates to your thesis.

           Please follow the usual FORM, especially with citations. While you may or may not have endnotes, you should have entries in a bibliography which have provided you with topical familiarity. In other words, have some of the main secondary sources under your thumb and in your bibliography (and in perfect form, please). This paper is due at our next class.