Three Ways to Explore a Topic
1. An OLDIE BUT GOODIE comes from the fourth century, when the Greek thinker Aristotle instructed public speakers how to present ideas in his The Rhetoric. He presented his "TOPICS" or means to think about and express a subject.
| Aristotle's "Topics" |
Example Ideas on the topic of Shakespeare’s play King Lear |
| Definition |
Shakespeare’s King Lear is a quintessential high tragedy.
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| Comparison/Contrast |
King Lear is a combination of twin plots–the dispospossession of Lear by his two evil daughters and the usurpation of Gloucester’s lands and power by his illegitimate son–that tell essentially the same tale; thus there are not two plots but one told twice.
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Relationships
(Cause & Effect) |
Shakespeare’s plot development in King Lear owes much to the influence of Sophocles and Greek tragedy.
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Evidence &
Testimony |
One can view King Lear in terms of the statement “The power of Shakespeare’s plays is that they present man simultaneously in all his aspects.” In Lear, Shakespeare creates a character who encompasses the human attributes of good and evil, power and weakness, greed and generosity within one personality and does so convincingly.
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2. A MODERN METHOD OF THINKING is called TAGMEMICS. It helps analyze a subject because it is simple and comprehensive. It offers several perspectives from which to view your topic.
| Tagmemics |
Example Ideas |
| Particle--see your topic as a thing itself |
King Lear’s world is inhabited with three character groups that through mitigating circumstances, which serve to bring out their good and bad behavior, show this to be a world of order not evil.
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| Wave--see your topic as a thing changing over time |
Lear’s consciousness is shaped by and throughout his life changes. This is due to cognitive evelopment, cultural constucts, and general phases of one's life, such as childhood, marriage, career, child rearing, and retirement.
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| Field--see your topic as a thing within a context |
A tragedy indeed, King Lear is history play alsoin context of Britain’s political past.
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3. Based in THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY, another way to generate ideas comes from the power of analogies. Cognitive scientists support the claim that humans think in metaphor. One way that helps a person understand a new problem or subject is to see an analogy between it and something that she already knows. As system that uses analogies to come up with offbeat and insightful ideas in this way is called SYNECTICS.
| Analogies of Synectics |
Example Ideas |
Personal Analogy
--imagine you areyour topic to develop ideas |
As a loving child, I am like Cordelia; loyal and honest to my parents, but in my frankness, frequently is understood. Is there an inherent block between children and parents in terms of communicating their love for one another? This block is present in King Lear.
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Direct Analogy
--compare it to a concrete |
Shakespeare’s audiences would have explained the results of King Lear’s actions in terms of the Elizabethan concept of the Great Chain of Being, which they held as natural law. Lear becomes the weakest link, breaks the chain, and everyone beneath him is thrown into chaos as the chain falls to floor in a muddle. This play was one of justice more than tragedy to the Elizabethan.
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Symbolic Analogy
--compare it to an abstract |
King Lear’s physical journey is both literal and metaphorical. As he is forced away from the artificial vestiges of monarchial power he explores the depths of his own psyche and reaches a destination beyond that which he could map out in his throne room–enlightenment.
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Fantasy Analogy
--anything goes |
Shakespeare’s King Lear inherently attempts to answer the question, “What is man?”
(Good more for initial exploration than for actual development of final thesis)
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Work Consulted
Flower, Linda. Problem-Solving Strategies for Writing. 4th ed. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1993.
Trigger Questions for Synectics
SUBTRACT ADD TRANSFER EMPATHIZE ANIMATE SUPERIMPOSE CHANGE SCALE SUBSTITUTE FRAGMENT ISOLATE DISTORT DISGUISE CONTRADICT PARODY PREVARICATE ANALOGIZE HYBRIDIZE METAMORPHOSE SYMBOLIZE MYTHOLOGIZE FANTASIZE REPEAT COMBINE
SUBTRACT
Remove certain parts or elements
Compress or make it smaller
What can be reduced or disposed of?
What rules can you break?
How to simplify?
How to abstract, stylise or abbreviate?
ADD
Extend or expand
Develop your reference subject
Augment, advance or annex it
Magnify, make it bigger
What else can be added to your idea, image, object, material?
TRANSFER
Move subject into a new situation
Adapt, transpose, relocate, dislocate
Adapt subject to a different frame of reference
Move subject out of its normal environment
Transpose to a different historical, social, geographical setting
Adapt a bird wing model to design a bridge
How subject can be converted, translated, transfigured?
EMPATHIZE
Sympathize with subject
Put yourself in its shoes
What if subject has human qualities?
Relate to subject emotionally, subjectively
ANIMATE
Mobilize the visual and psychological tensions
Control the pictorial movements and forces
Apply factors of repetition and progression
What human qualities subject has?
SUPERIMPOSE
Overlap, place over, cover, overlay
Superimpose dissimilar images or ideas
Overlay elements to produce new images, ideas, meanings
Superimpose elements from different perspectives, disciplines, time
Combine sensory perceptions such as sound and color
Superimpose several views to show different moments in time
CHANGE SCALE
Make subject bigger or smaller
Change time scale - seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years
Change proportion, relative size, ratios, dimensions
SUBSTITUTE
Exchange, switch or replace
What other idea, image, or material can you substitute?
What alternate or supplementary plan can be employed?
FRAGMENT
Separate, divide, split, dissect
Take your subject or idea apart
Chop up, disassemble it
What devices can divide it into smaller increments?
How to make it appear discontinuous?
ISOLATE
Separate, set apart, crop, detach
Take only part of your subject
"Crop" your ideas with a "mental" viewfinder
What element can you detach or focus on?
DISTORT
Twist subject out of its true shape, proportion or meaning
Make imagined or actual distortions
Misshape it, yet produce unique metaphoric/aesthetic quality
Make it longer, wider, fatter, narrower
Melt, crush, bury, crack, tear, torture, spill something on it
DISGUISE
Camouflage, conceal, deceive, encrypt
Hide, mask, "implant" subject into another frame of reference
Conceal by mimicry, like chameleons and moths
Create a latent image that communicate subconsciously
CONTRADICT
Contradict the subject's original function
Contradict visually and intellectually, yet remain structurally integrated
Contradict laws of nature such as gravity, time, human functions
Contradict normal procedures, social conventions, rituals
Contradict optical and perceptual harmony (eg. illusions)
Deny, reverse
PARODY
Ridicule, mimic, mock, burlesque or caricature
Make fun of your subject, roast it
Transform it into a joke, limerick or pun
Make zany, ludicrous or comic references
Make a humourous cartoon drawing of the problem
PREVARICATE
Fictionalise, "bend" the truth, falsify, fantasize
Use subject as a theme to present ersatz information
Interprete information differently to mislead or confuse
ANALOGIZE
Draw associations
Seek similarities between things that are different
Compare with elements from different domains, disciplines
What can I compare my subject to?
Make logical or illogical associations
HYBRIDIZE
Cross-fertilise - wed subject with an improbable mate
What would you get if you crossed a ______with a ______?
Cross-fertilise color, form and structure
Cross-fertilise organic and inorganic elements
Cross-fertilise ideas and perceptions
METAMORPHOSE
Transform, convert, transmutate
Depict your subject in a state of change
Change color, configuration
Make structural progressions
Make aging (cocoon-to-butterfly) transformation
Make "Jekyll and Hyde" transmutations
SYMBOLIZE
A visual symbol stands for something other than what it is
Design an icon for your idea
How can your subject be imbued with symbolic qualities?
Public symbols are cliche, well-known and understood
Private symbols are cryptic, have special meaning to its originator
Works of art are often integrations of both public and private symbols
Turn your subject into a symbol (public or private)
MYTHOLOGIZE
Build a myth around your subject
Transform your subject into an iconic object
FANTASIZE
Fantasize your subject
Trigger surreal, preposterous, outlandish, bizarre thoughts
Topple mental and sensory expectations
How far out can you extend your imagination?
What if automobiles were made of bricks?
What if alligators played pool?
What if insects grew larger than humans?
What if night and day occurred simultaneously?
REPEAT
Repeat a shape, color, form, image, or idea
Reiterate, echo, restate or duplicate your reference subject in some way
Control the factors of occurrence, repercussion, sequence and progression
COMBINE
Bring things together
Connect, arrange, link, unify, mix, merge, rearrange
Combine ideas, materials and techniques
Bring together dissimilar things to produce synergistic integrations
What else can you connect to your subject?
Connect different sensory modes, frames of reference, disciplines
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