Abstract
Some common trends observed in the temperature variation of the thermoelectric power (TEP) of high-Tc materials are theoretically analysed. In the first part of the analysis, we calculate the dominant effect of superconducting fluctuations on TEP, assuming that the conduction process occurs in two dimensions. In the second part of the analysis, we show that, by including the self-energy proposed in the marginal Fermi-liquid hypothesis along with that arising from superconducting fluctuations, one can understand the main features of the temperature variation of TEP. The magnitude of TEP given by the formula derived here is also of the right order.