My essay is on the meaning of life, and my three topics are, that man has an inherent fear of death, fear of afterlife and that the fear causes individuals to desire leaving their mark within the world while they live.
Hey, I like that. You have good ideas...
I read an explanation by C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity that said we have a fear of NUMENON (the unknown)...and that incudes ghosts, death, people who are different from us, etc.
Well, here is my most useful idea about it: You are having trouble because you are sending yourself searching for articles to perfectly illustrate your idea. Forget your idea for now. Read great articles and receive that main idea the author is trying to convey. Then, go back and rewrite your thesis to include compounded wisdom from your idea and all the others.
Start by writing a paragraph topic sentence about each article's main idea.
:-)