Narration
What Stayed With You
Before we build an argument, we begin by noticing what lingers.
Tell back what you read in your own words. As you narrate, pay attention to any moment, image, phrase, character, or idea that continues to linger in your mind.
Need a nudge?
There are no wrong answers here. If you're not sure where to begin, try asking yourself —
- What scene keeps replaying in my mind?
- What surprised me?
- What confused me?
- What image feels important?
- What would I talk about if a friend asked me about this reading?
Claim
What do you want to argue?
Move gently from impression to claim. What is the author suggesting about one of the Great Questions? Say it as honestly as you can.
What makes a claim worth arguing?
Three quiet tests: could someone reasonably argue the opposite? Does it ask for evidence from the text? Is it specific rather than general?
Still finding its feet
"Wuthering Heights is about love and revenge."
Getting closer
"Heathcliff's obsessive love destroys everyone around him."
Worth arguing ✦
"Brontë suggests that when love becomes a person's highest good, it ceases to be love at all. Heathcliff does not love Catherine too much — he loves her wrongly."
Evidence
What's your first proof?
Find one moment where your claim feels most true. Read it slowly, the way you'd linger over a passage you love.
First proof
How do I read a passage closely?
Notice the context — what's happening, and what does the character want? Then look at the language itself: which words stand out, and how do they make the moment feel? Finally, reach for the larger idea — what truth is this moment quietly pointing toward?
Evidence
What else does the text show?
Your second proof should come from a different moment and add something new — not repeat the first, but deepen it.
Second proof
How do I find a second scene?
Good evidence builds. Ask whether this shows a different character, a later moment in time, or a complication of the idea. Your second proof shouldn't echo your first — it should carry it further.
Analysis
What does the ending reveal?
Your third proof often lives near the climax or resolution. What does this final moment show about your claim that nothing else could?
Third proof
Connections
Who else has wondered about this?
Your claim is part of a longer human conversation about how we should live. Which great thinker would have something to say to it?
A little extra help — the thinkers we've focused on
These are the great thinkers we've spent time with. Any one of them might have something to say to your claim.
Augustine — ordered vs. disordered loveRousseau — nature vs. civilization
Aristotle — virtue and habit
Machiavelli — power and appearance
So What?
So what?
You've noticed, followed, and framed. You've entered the Great Conversation. Now — what does this book ask us to consider about our own lives, and about the world we live in?
How do I find the so what?
You began with what stayed with you. You narrated faithfully, read closely, and entered the conversation of thinkers across time. Now ask quietly: what do I believe — about the text, about my own life, and about the world we live in?
In the Margin · The Writing Table
Revision
Ready to Write
Your arc — from what stayed with you to what it teaches. Everything here is already your essay.
Your writing saves automatically as you go.