Page "Inventio" Paragraph 21

One of the most prolific techniques of arrangement is the use of topics.

Topics can be used to invent arguments and also to conceptualize and formulate the single-sentence declarative thesis.

Edward P. J.

Corbett, Robert Connors, Richard P. Hughes, and P. Albert Duhamel define topics as " ways of probing one's subject in order to find the means to develop that subject " ( Glenn and Goldthwaite 153 ).

They issued four common topics that are most useful to students: definition, analogy, consequence, and testimony.

Definition involves the creation of a thesis by taking a fact or an idea and explaining it by precisely identifying its nature ; it always asks the question " What is / was it?

" Analogy is concerned with discovering resemblances or differences between two or more things proceeding from known to unknown ; it is a useful tool for investigating comparisons and contrasts because it always asks the question " What is it like or unlike?

" Consequence investigates phenomena costs to effect-to-cause pattern, best established through probabilities from patterns that have previously occurred.

It always answers the question " What caused / causes / will cause it?

" Testimony relies on appeals to an authority, ( such as an expert opinion, statistics, or the law ), and it always answers the question " What does an authority say about it?

" " Ultimately a thesis or an argument must say something about the real world.

Teaching the topics requires using examples and good examples are to be had by applying each topic to a definite subject and coming up with several thesis statements " ( Glenn and Goldthwaite 156 ).