When you are writing a paper about literary works, it is important to identify a

ppropriate evidence, or examples, to support your thesis. Some evidence might be

stated directly, but others may be less clear. This lesson will show how to sel
ect and organize information from a text.
Explicit information is written out clearly, whereas implicit information is
not. Compare the two examples:
Explicit: It was raining when the man left the building.
Implicit: The man sighed and opened his umbrella when he left the building.
In the second example, you can get the idea that it was raining because the
man was not happy (he sighed) and used his umbrella. You know this without the e
xact words being written.
When you are writing a paper, it is important to choose evidence that suppor
ts your thesis. Both explicit and implicit ideas are acceptable, as long as they
relate to the topic. You can use the information either as a quote, which is di
rectly copying the text, or by paraphrasing, which is giving the meaning using y
our own words.
Quote: The narrator begins Harper Lee s To Kill a Mockingbird by saying, When h
e was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.
Paraphrasing: The narrator begins Harper Lee s To Kill a Mockingbird with a s
tory about the brother s arm being badly broken.
You must be careful to identify information that supports your thesis, and n
ot just use random ideas. Some quotes might be very interesting, but not be rela
ted to your topic. So be careful in what you choose. You should, if possible, to
use both explicit and implicit examples. That shows your understanding of the t
ext at many levels, both clear and not. Also, you should keep the sections of te
xt that you quote or paraphrase as short as possible. Longer is not necessarily
better; it can be harder to understand your meaning if you use too much.
When organizing your ideas, it is often easiest to start by picking out the
explicit information. Write down facts about the characters, setting, and plot t
hat supports your thesis. Then look for implicit information. This is harder bec
ause it is not written out clearly. You can search for more details to check tha
t your guess about the meanings is accurate. To continue the above example with
the man and his umbrella, you can look for other clues in the text, such as pudd
les of water or dark clouds. Or maybe the man takes off his wet coat when he goe
s home. These things support your guess that it was raining, so you can more con
fidently use that material as evidence for your thesis.
There can be a lot of information in a text, so it is important to select an
d organize it well. Search for both explicit and implicit examples to use as evi
dence to support your thesis, and you have a good start for writing a solid pape
r.