Chapter 3: Finding a Main Idea and Making a Plan

What You Will Make

By the end of this lesson, you will have a focused question, a working thesis, and a short plan connecting your main points to evidence. Use paper or the Essay planner: assignment and argument page in the printable worksheet packet or fillable worksheet packet.

The example below practises an analytical essay: it explains a meaning in a text. Your teacher may ask for a different kind of essay or a particular planning format. Follow that task first.

Begin with a Question You Can Investigate

A topic names a subject; a question gives you something to investigate. A working thesis is your provisional answer. For an analytical essay, it should offer an interpretation that you can support with evidence. The Harvard College Writing Center explains that a thesis develops through examining evidence and needs a scope the essay can support. (Harvard College Writing Center)

Start by reading the assignment and your source. Notice a detail that puzzles you, a change, or a tension between what someone says and does. Ask a question about that detail. Avoid settling on a conclusion before you have examined what the source actually contains.

Follow a Worked Example

Fictional teaching passage: “The Empty Chair.” This passage was created for this lesson. It is not an extract from a published story or a report of real events. Paragraph numbers are provided for practice.

1. Every lunch hour, Mina put her backpack on the chair beside her. When a new student stopped at the table, she pointed towards the crowded benches by the window. After he left, she moved her bag to the floor.

2. On Friday, the new student arrived carrying a chessboard. Mina watched him unpack the pieces at another table. She opened her notebook, drew a small black square in the margin, and closed it again.

3. On Monday, Mina left the chair empty. When the student passed, she asked whether he needed a second player. She kept one hand on the chair until he sat down.

Practice assignment: Explain how the writer uses the chair to show a change in Mina. Support your reading with details from the passage.

Move from topic to question

“Friendship” is a topic, but it could lead to an essay about almost anything. “Why do people need friends?” moves beyond what this short passage can establish. A more focused question is: How does Mina’s use of the chair reveal her changing willingness to connect with someone? This question addresses the assignment and points you towards details you can examine.

Test a first answer

First attempt: “Mina changes during the story.”

This names a change without explaining it. A reader still needs to know what changes and how the chair helps show it.

Working thesis: “The chair changes from a barrier into an invitation, showing Mina becoming willing to connect even though she still seems hesitant.”

This answer gives the essay a direction. The backpack, the empty seat, and Mina’s hand on the chair become relevant evidence. “Seems hesitant” identifies an interpretation: the passage does not tell us exactly what she feels.

Check what might challenge your answer

Could Mina simply want to play chess? Yes. The chessboard appears before her invitation, so that possibility deserves attention. It does not erase the change in how she treats the student. It does mean that a claim such as “Mina has overcome all her fears” goes beyond the passage. Keep the thesis close to what you can explain.

Build a Plan That Shows Your Reasoning

For this short exercise, try two main points. Each needs an exact detail and an explanation of its relevance. A longer assignment may need more points; a fixed paragraph count is not the purpose of the plan.

Main point 1: Mina initially keeps the student at a distance

Evidence: In paragraph 1, she blocks the adjacent seat with her backpack and redirects the student. She removes the bag after he leaves.

Explanation: The timing suggests that the bag serves as a barrier to company. This detail supports a reading of deliberate distance, although it does not establish why she wants that distance.

Main point 2: Mina makes room for contact without becoming entirely at ease

Evidence: In paragraph 3, the chair is empty, she invites the student to play, and her hand remains on the chair until he sits down.

Explanation: Compare this available seat with the blocked seat in paragraph 1. Her invitation establishes a change in behaviour. The hand on the chair can suggest lingering hesitation; acknowledge that this gesture allows more than one reading.

The order lets a reader follow the change. When drafting the second point, consider the chessboard in paragraph 2 as a possible reason for the invitation. Your plan now contains a question to address, as well as evidence supporting your answer.

Try It Yourself

Before using your own assignment, practise revising this claim: “The story proves that Mina is now confident.”

1. Find a detail that supports part of the claim.
2. Find a detail that makes “confident” uncertain.
3. Rewrite the claim so it explains both details.

One possible revision: “Mina becomes more willing to approach the student, but her hand on the chair suggests that the invitation still takes effort.” Her question supports willingness; the gesture supports a cautious interpretation of her feelings. A different answer can work if it explains the passage fairly.

Now use your assigned text or research material. Write your question, a provisional answer, and two main points in the planner. For each point, record a passage or other source detail, its location, and what you infer from it. Mark missing evidence as evidence needed. Return to the source or narrow the claim before treating that part of the plan as ready to draft.

Check Your Plan Before Drafting

• Task: Does my question address what the assignment asks? If it drifts, rewrite the question using the assigned task.
• Answer: Does my thesis answer that question with a specific idea? If it only names a topic, state what I want to explain about it.
• Support: Can I connect each main point to an exact source detail? If I cannot, find evidence or revise the point.
• Reasoning: Have I explained the connection in my own words? If I have only copied a passage, add what I think it shows and why.
• Limits: Have I considered a detail that complicates my answer? If it changes the meaning, qualify the thesis.

You are ready for the next drafting step when you can explain how your planned points support your answer. Keep the plan provisional: discovering a better interpretation is a reason to revise it.