Stasis Theory in Writing: Usage, Research, and Examples

Being a writer is not an easy task. Everything you write should sound professional and be readable and understandable to your users. For any essay writer, it is crucial to be well aware of the topic and understand everything you write about. It is also important to make sure all the information is reliable and accurate. 

So, as you can understand, conducting thorough research is crucial. Lots of students struggle with this stage of their writing. However, you should also realize this gives you a great chance to learn something new, as well as improve different skills, for example, problem-solving. 

Even if you are good at researching and gathering facts, you may struggle with working in a team. If this task is pretty confusing for you, stasis theory is here to help you. This is a great tool that helps conduct research and solve problems. In this post, you will find out what stasis theory is and how to use it properly. 

What Is Stasis Theory?

Necessary to admit that we are speaking about stasis theory in terms of writing. Thus, the stasis theory is a process consisting of 4 questions aimed to ease the acquisition of knowledge for your research, writing, or teamwork. It is very helpful in critical analysis. 

Stasis theory originated from ancient Greek and was applied to the legal field. Thanks to it, writers can determine and investigate the following four constituents:

• Facts conjecture;
• Definition of the issue;
• Quality of matter;
• Policy or call to action. 

These constituents are not the final ones and can be divided into other questions and subcategories. It will help the writer to enhance knowledge, gather information, and make the necessary conclusions. 

Teamwork is also much easier when using stasis theory, while it helps all the members come to a mutual conclusion. Keep in mind that the order of stasis questions is to be strictly followed, while the outcome of every question depends on the answer to the previous question. 

Since the questions should be followed strictly, below, you will learn what kind of subcategories you can use to divide each of the categories. It all will make the research process much more efficient.

Facts conjecture

• Whether something occurred;
• Why did it occur;
• Can the occurrence be changed?

Definition of the issue

• The issue’s nature;
• What kind of problem it is;
• Different elements of the issue and connection between them.

Quality of matter

• A positive or a negative matter;
• The level of the issue’s severity;
• The consequences of the issue if any;
• What if the issue cannot be solved?

Policy or call to action

• Whether corrective actions should be taken;
• The participants of the problem-solving process;
• What is it necessary to do or what has to happen? 

How to Use Stasis Theory in Teamwork

Finding common ground and a mutual conclusion is crucial for every team working together. Stasis theory helps to reach this consensus. There are so many controversial topics even scientists cannot agree upon, such as global warming, for example.

Some people believe that global warming has a human origin; others don’t. In that case, the stasis theory will help both these groups find common ground. In any issue or situation, there is something everyone would agree upon. So thanks to stasis theory, this something can be found.

Let’s consider the issue of global warming. No matter what reasons you believe it is caused by, the fact is that it affects the entire planet, and all parties would agree about that. No matter what you believe is the reason for global warming, you would agree that this issue is more than serious for everyone on Earth, and this is the quality of that matter. 

Thus, in at least two out of four categories, the members of the team would agree upon. But the members disagree about the definition and policy, i.e., what caused the issue and what can be done to solve it. 

There are a lot of different opinions, but stasis theory is something that will make you start a dialogue and write good work. Without it, the members would argue, and no one could show good problem-solving skills. 

How stasis theory helps reaching consensus

You should keep in mind that even if someone disagrees about some aspects when working in a team, using arguments to create the concept that would be accepted by everyone is crucial. It is important to provide such arguments so the reader could decide what side he or she should take. For example, provide different reasons for which they blame humans for global warming and why not.

You can use stasis theory as guidelines in your research. Questions determining every category help find out more about your topic, create your viewpoint, and write a really good paper. Thanks to the theory, your paper will be written based on reliable information only regardless of different team members having different opinions. 

In case there are more than two different opinions in your team, stasis theory will help you reach consensus and agree at least upon some of the points. But keep in mind the questions should be asked in the order mentioned above. The replies you get to those questions should also be saved or wrote down. Always think logically and explore the topic carefully!

Facilitating your research

Using stasis theory is one of the best ways to learn as much information about a certain subject as possible. This way, you won’t get stuck and will do your work successfully. When working on a specific topic, using stasis theory will facilitate your research while it will help you ask analytical questions and college accurate information on the topic.

You will ask and answer your questions. But to give answers, you will explore various sources, such as literature reviews, interviews, different databases, polls, etc. This way, you collect information from credible sources only and do not just express your opinion. It facilitates not only gathering precise information but also create your thesis or argument after exploring the problem thoroughly.

For example, when you need to show your argument regarding a certain subject when being assigned a complicated topic, you can use stasis theory and investigate this topic. It all will help you develop your strong viewpoint. And if there are some gaps in your knowledge on the topic, stasis theory will help you determine them. 

But what if you cannot answer some of the questions? It also happens, so don’t worry, you just will need to do some more research on the topic, gather more facts, and get more knowledge. 

Some Historical Facts

Stasis theory came from Greece, and the word means “stance, placing, position.” At first, stasis theory was applied to the legal sphere in ancient Greece, and if we speak about rhetoric, it was about identifying the core problems in disputes and finding the arguments that relate to those issues. Stasis or stasis theory is often called the stasis system.

Four major categories of stasis we were talking about above – facts, definition, quality, and policy – were invented by the Greek rhetorician Hermagoras of Temnos. The term stasis was mentioned by George A. Kennedy in his book A New History of Classical Rhetoric. Princeton University. Press, 1994. In this book, he relates the term to the position of a boxer towards his opponent. 

Although Hermagoras was the first to invent and mostly contribute to stasis theory before the second century AD, we can also find the fragments of this theory in Cicero’s De Inventione. He also applied it to the legal sphere and used it to analyze a case and divide it into different issues of conflict. The development of Western law was highly affected by the stasis theory. 

Using Stasis Theory May Be Controversial

Stasis theory is great to explore various controversial problems and conclude about them. It also is a very popular method of exploration. And, of course, it used to be the most applicable in the legal field. When you explore an anticipated crime, consider the way the specific questions might be used.

If you want to argue effectively, it is crucial to reach stasis to know what the problem at hand exactly is. These questions have been remade with time and became more generalized. When using stasis questions in writing, you will be able to explore your subject much deeper. They give a huge among of valuable information. However, each of the questions leads to a specific and separate thesis statement. 

Some Writing Tips and Final Points

If you struggle with how to build your argument and thesis statement, you should use the stasis theory and come up with the best structure for your argument and thesis. Please remember that all fact questions result in claims and then in the analysis. All definition questions result in claims and definitions of arguments. Quality questions result in claims of value and evaluation of arguments, and policy questions result in policy claims and proposals of arguments.

If you want to propose a top-quality solution, it is necessary to define the actual facts and the right definitions. It will be necessary to evaluate things properly.

Professional Writing Help in Stasis Theory and More

Stasis theory is a wonderful helper for students that facilitates the process of research and analysis a lot. It is a great tool and personal assistant in your studies, especially in written assignments. However, working with stasis theory also requires some practice and skills, so if you struggle with it, you may always rely on professional help.

Our experts will write for your papers of any type from scratch regardless of the level of complexity and academic degree. So if you want to save your time, money, and lack certain writing skills, do not hesitate to use expert help and get your best grade.