Writing a Thesis Statement
[Adapted from the following sources: LEO, Literacy Education Online, created by St. Cloud State University The Writing Center, created by the University of Wisconsin at Madison
OWL, Online Writing Lab, created by Rice University The Writing Center, created by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute]
A thesis statement in an essay is a sentence that explicitly identifies the purpose of the paper or previews its main ideas. 1. A thesis statement is an assertion, not a statement of fact or an observation.
• Fact or observation: People use many lawn chemicals.
• Thesis: People are poisoning the environment with chemicals merely to keep their lawns clean.
2. A thesis takes a stand rather than announcing a subject.
• Announcement: The thesis of this paper is the difficulty of solving our environmental problems. • Thesis: Solving our environmental problems is more difficult than many environmentalists believe.
3. A thesis is the main idea, not the title. It must be a complete sentence that explains in some detail what you expect to write about.
• Title: Social Security and Old Age.
• Thesis: Continuing changes in the Social Security System makes it almost impossible to plan intelligently for one's retirement.
4. A thesis statement is narrow, rather than broad. If the thesis statement is sufficiently narrow, it can be fully supported.
• Broad: The American steel industry has many problems.
• Narrow: The primary problem if the American steel industry is the lack of funds to renovate outdated plants and equipment.
5. A thesis statement is specific rather than vague or general.
• Vague: Hemingway's war stories are very good.
• Specific: Hemingway's stories helped create a new prose style by employing extensive dialogue, shorter sentences, and strong Anglo-Saxon words.
6. A thesis statement has one main point rather than several main points. More than one point may be too difficult for the reader to understand and the writer to support.
• More than one main point: Stephen Hawking's physical disability has not prevented him from becoming a world-renowned physicist, and his book is the subject of a movie.
• One Main point: Stephen Hawking's physical disability has not prevented him from becoming a world-renowned physicist.
You can revise your thesis statement whenever you want to while you are writing your essay. Writers often discover what their real purpose and point is in the process of putting their thoughts into words and then reading what they've written. However, you must seek approval from your teacher prior to turning in a paper with a thesis different from your original, approved thesis.
How do I develop a thesis statement?
1. Identify a topic
2. Derive main point from topic 3. Compose a draft thesis statement 4. Refine and polish draft thesis statement 5. Complete the final thesis statement
1. Identify a topic
Your topic is the subject about which you will write. Your assignment may suggest several ways of looking at a topic; or it may name a fairly general concept that you will explore or analyze in your paper.
• Consider what your assignment asks you to do (In the case of the TKAM essay, you are focusing on a theme, character change, or a concept, but these ideas can be used to help you with writing for other essays and other classes.)
• Inform yourself about your topic (gather evidence!)
• Focus on one aspect of your topic
• Ask yourself whether your topic is worthy of your efforts
Consult the table below for suggestions on how to generate a topic from assignments.
Sample Assignment Identified Topic Reason
Analyze the role of women in the novel, To Kill a
Mockingbird.
Miss Maudie has a unique role as a respected, Southern woman and as a trusted, open-minded ally.
This topic avoids generalities such as "Women" and "Miss Maudie," addressing instead Miss Maudie’s role (a specific aspect of "Women") and the balance between her traditional and modern characteristics (a specific aspect of women in the novel).
Analyze the speech patterns of characters from differing backgrounds in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.
There is a relationship between wealth, race, and patterns of speech.
This topic focuses on a literary element and relates it to a single aspect of the To Kill a Mockingbird
(discrimination being a major theme in that work).
2. Derive main point from topic
Once you have a topic, you will have to decide what the main point of your paper will be. This point, the "controlling idea," becomes the core of your argument (thesis statement) and it is the unifying idea to which you will relate all your sub-theses. You can then turn this "controlling idea" into a purpose statement about what you intend to do in your paper.
• Look for patterns in your evidence • Compose a purpose statement
Topic Evidence Purpose Statement Miss Maudie has a unique role as a respected, Southern woman and as a trusted, open-minded ally.
• Miss Maudie dresses and talks in a genteel, “lady like” manner.
• Miss Maudie is a tolerant and patient friend to the children, rather than fussing at them about the inappropriateness of some of their behavior.
• Miss Maudie finds occasion to dress in overalls and dig in her garden.
• Miss Maudie is a trusted and reliable character.
Possible conclusion:
Miss Maudie’s somewhat paradoxical behavior is purposeful: the author indicates her stance on the role of women through Miss Maudie.
This paper will analyze Miss Maudie’s behavior in the novel, To Kill a
Mockingbird, to determine how it displays the
author’s tone regarding the role of women.
There is a relationship between wealth, race, and patterns of speech.
• Characters from impoverished backgrounds have a limited vocabulary and almost exclusively speak in incomplete sentences; when characters of this
background want to be believed or impress others, they (somewhat unsuccessfully) shift their dialect to attempt to model the dialect of more wealthy, well-educated whites.
• African American characters speak almost exclusively in a unique dialect, and this dialect is named (mentioned) by black and white characters on multiple occasions.
• More wealthy, well educated, white characters more often speak in complete sentences, and some belittle the speech of characters not belonging to this group.
Possible conclusion:
At first, the dialect seems to only demonstrate the skill of the writer at putting the reader in the time and setting, but the comments the characters make regarding the language highlight the discriminatory role that language can play.
This paper will analyze the way language and dialect in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, highlights the discriminatory
behaviors of many characters.
As you work on your thesis, remember to keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Sometimes your thesis needs to evolve as you develop new insights, find new evidence, or take a different approach to your topic.
3. Compose a draft thesis statement
If you are writing a paper that will have an argumentative thesis and are having trouble getting started, the techniques in the table below may help you develop a temporary or "working" thesis statement.
1. Purpose
statement Begin with a purpose statement that you will later turn into a thesis statement.
Assignment:Discuss the issue of racism as it is portrayed in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.
Purpose Statement:This paper briefly sketches the nature of racist behavior in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird and analyzes how it influences relationships of characters in their community.
2.
Question-to-Assertion If your assignment asks a specific question(s), turn the question(s) into an assertion and give reasons why it is true or reasons for your opinion.
Assignment:What do Jem and Scout learn in the course of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird? Why are they more
receptive to this learning than other members of their community? How does pride play a role in determining whether characters have the ability to learn or change as Jem and Scout do?
Beginning thesis statement:In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scout are able to learn to be accepting of all types of people when others cannot because these the Finch children have been taught to not compare themselves pridefully to those who are different from them.
3. Main idea Write a sentence that summarizes the main idea of the essay you plan to write.
Main idea: The character of Atticus Finch is presented as a model for a good father in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.
4. List ideas Make a list of the ideas that you want to include; consider the ideas and try to group them.
A. racism = hurtful, destructive
B. tolerance = harmony (competes with A?)
C. racism is a learned behavior
D. economic disparity antagonizes racial differences
5. Formula Use a formula to arrive at a working thesis statement (you will revise this later).
A. Although most readers of _______ have argued that _______, closer examination shows that _______.
B. _______ uses _______ and _____ to prove that ________.
C. Phenomenon X is a result of the combination of __________, __________, and _________.
As you work on your thesis, remember to keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Sometimes your thesis needs to evolve as you develop new insights, find new evidence, or take a different approach to your topic.
4. Refine and polish the thesis statement
To get to your final thesis, you'll need to refine your draft thesis so that it's specific and arguable.
• Ask if your draft thesis addresses the assignment (if a particular assignment is specified)
• Question each part of your draft thesis • Clarify vague phrases and assertions
• Investigate alternatives to your draft thesis
Consult the table below for suggestions on how to refine your draft thesis statement.
Sample Assignment:
1. Choose an event from the novel that seems unrelated to racism and define it as a metaphor for racism. Your essay should cause the reader to think critically about the event and the relationship between the fictional event and similar real-life interactions.
2. Choose an activity and define it as a symbol of American culture. Your essay should cause the reader to think critically about the society which produces and enjoys that activity.
Refining
Steps Thesis-in-transition Explanation
1. Ask 1 - Miss Caroline’s actions could be seen as a metaphor for racism.
2 -The phenomenon of drive in facilities is an interesting symbol of American culture, and these facilities demonstrate significant characteristics of our society.
1 - This statement does not fulfill the assignment because it does not show the possible connection to racist behavior, nor does it require the reader to think critically about similar real-life events.
2 - This statement does not fulfill the assignment because it does not require the reader to think critically about society.
2. Question 1 - Miss Caroline treats her students in ways that indicate her prejudicial ideas about the community and her prideful assurance that she is right in all her ideas.
2 - Drive-ins are an interesting symbol of American culture because they represent Americans' significant creativity and business ingenuity.
1 - This statement is more precise in that it links the event to some type of prejudicial behavior, but it is an argument that few readers would argue with.
2 - This statement is more precise in that it identifies two American characteristics that drive-ins appear to symbolize: creativity and ingenuity. But this assertion also seems to be one that few would argue with.
3. Clarify 1 - The activities that take place on Scout’s first day of school demonstrate both adults’ and children’s willingness to act based on a prejudicial or cursory understanding of new acquaintances. 2 - Among the types of drive-in facilities familiar during the twentieth century, drive-in movie theaters best represent American creativity, not merely because they were the forerunner of later drive-ins and drive-throughs, but because of their impact on our culture: they changed our relationship to the automobile, changed the way people experienced movies, and changed movie-going into a family activity.
1 - This statement introduces the idea that the
children, also, behave in a prejudicial manner – a more arguable statement. The assertion is less vague in relating the applicability of this event to real-life events, but the specific tie to racism has not been made.
2 - This statement introduces a new idea, and it is the first statement that is arguable to some extent. The new information is that drive-in movies were
forerunners of later developments and that they had an impact on our culture.
4a.
Investigate 1 - Both the actions which could be seen as positive and helpful as well as those which could be seen as narrow-minded or prejudicial serve to show that Miss Caroline and her students act based on their preconceived ideas of one another, as most people so often treat others of a particular race based on their
preconceived ideas.
2 - While drive-in facilities such as those at fast-food establishments, banks, pharmacies, and dry cleaners symbolize America's economic ingenuity, they also have affected our personal standards.
1 - The structure of this sentence indicates the possible parallel structure of the event as it relates to the concept of racism. Also, the assertion is stronger as it now includes even positive or seemingly acceptable behavior from Scout or others as an additional example of prejudicial behavior, offering more of a substantial statement to prove.
2 - Notice that this sentence is different in structure from the one you started with ("Drive-ins represent Americans' creativity and business ingenuity"). The "factual" information in the earlier statement has been incorporated into a dependent clause ("While drive-ins . . . ingenuity"). The contestable part of your idea then appears in the independent clause ("they also have affected our personal standards"). In other words, you are no longer focusing on a claim that most people would agree with; instead you are using the obvious as a point of departure for an idea you will need to "prove."
4b. 2 - While drive-in facilities such as those at fast- food restaurants, banks,
pharmacies, and dry cleaners symbolize (1) Americans' business ingenuity, they also have contributed (2) to an
increasing homogenization of our culture, (3) a willingness to
depersonalize relationships with others, and (4) a tendency to sacrifice quality for convenience.
2 - This statement is now specific and fulfills all parts of the assignment. This version, like any good thesis, is not self-evident; its points, 1-4, will have to be proven with evidence in the body of the paper. The numbers in this statement indicate the order in which the points will be presented. Depending on the length of the paper, there could be one paragraph for each
numbered item or there could be blocks of paragraph for even pages for each one.
5. Complete the final thesis statement
The Bottom Line
As you move through the process of crafting a thesis, you'll need to remember four things:
1)Context matters! Think about your course materials and lectures. Try to relate your thesis to the ideas your instructor is discussing.
2) As you go through the process described in this section, always keep your assignment in mind. You will be more successful when your thesis (and paper) responds to the assignment than if it argues a semi-related idea.
3) Your thesis statement should be precise,focused, and contestable; it should predict the sub-theses or blocks of information that you will use to prove your argument.
4) Make sure that you keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Change your thesis as your paper evolves, because you do not want your thesis to promise more than your paper actually delivers.
In the beginning, the thesis statement was a tool to help you sharpen your focus, limit material and establish the paper's purpose. When your paper is finished, however, the thesis statement becomes a tool for your reader. It tells the reader what you have learned about your topic and what evidence led you to your conclusion. It keeps the reader on track--well able to understand and appreciate your argument.
Introduction
As far as I know, there's no etymological connection between
thesis
and
Theseus
, but there is a
metaphoric one. Theseus, mythical hero of ancient Greece, found his way through the Cretan
Labyrinth by following a thread. Likewise, a thesis allows both reader and writer to find their ways
through a labyrinth of ideas by following a thread of thought. That is, a thesis crystallizes the
controlling idea of an essay and, thus, helps us to keep track of that idea as it develops through the
body of the text. If we were not able to formulate theses and to understand and evaluate the theses
of others, we would be hopelessly lost amidst a maze of chaotic impressions, for there is no structure
to experience exclend that imposed by the human mind.
When we formulate theses, we make experience comprehensible: we organize the chaos. As
researchers, we begin to pick up facts and experiences that are relevant to our theses--just as
magnets pick up iron filings--and we leave what is irrelevant behind. Thus, for both reader and
writer, a thesis cuts through immense confusion to make one point perfectly clear. A good thesis,
then, is essential to a well-written analytical essay, and at least four things are essential to a good
thesis: it must be clearly defined, adequately focused, well supported, and relatively high in the
orders of knowledge.
Defining Your Thesis
Like topic sentences, theses can be simple (stated explicitly, either in one sentence or in several
consecutive sentences), delayed-completion (begun in one sentence and completed at some point
later in the essay), assembled (scattered in bits and pieces throughout the essay), or inferred (never
explicitly stated--left for the reader to surmise) (Braddock, 310-323). But however the thesis is
presented, it should be clearly defined, or, in the case of an inferred thesis, clearly definable. Even if
you have chosen to use a delayed-completion, assembled, or inferred thesis, you should be able to
articulate that thesis in a simple, explicit statement.
Two things happen when you fail to define your thesis clearly:
1. First, you don't know what you have committed yourself to--in fact, you may not have
committed yourself to anything. As a result, your paper lacks unity. A unified essay is one in
which all of your arguments, directly or indirectly, support your thesis. (Although good writers
do
acknowledge opposing points of view and may even concede a point here or there, they
usually do so for rhetorical purposes--to enhance their own credibility by indicating that they
are aware of and capable of responding to opposing views.) If you have not defined your
thesis clearly, you will not know what your arguments should support. Consequently, you will
ramble: some of your arguments will be irrelevant to any thesis your readers might infer;
others will be contradictory. Whatever unity you achieve will be largely accidental.
2. The second consequence of an inadequately defined thesis stems directly from the first: when
you don't know what you have committed yourself to, your essay lacks unity, and your readers
have no thread to help them find their way through your thoughts. As you ramble, your
readers grope.
Focusing Your Thesis
A thesis can be clearly defined and still lead to a rambling essay if it is not adequately focused. A
good thesis narrows your topic to an idea that you can successfully develop within the framework of
your essay. From the general topic of health hazards, you might propose a thesis such as, "The
average American is exposed to many health hazards." This thesis, though clearly defined, is so
broad that you would never be able to cover it adequately in a short essay. You would wind up either
jumping from one health hazard to another, discussing each only superficially, or zeroing in on one or
two health hazards and, thus, failing to demonstrate your own thesis. A more narrowly focused
thesis, such as "The Constitution of the United States should be amended to prohibit the production
and sale of cigarettes," commits you to an idea that you can carefully analyze and defend in four or
five pages.
Supporting Your Thesis
The third requirement of a good thesis, that it be well supported, might more properly be considered
a requirement of the essay as a whole. In any case, if the essay is to be effective--if it is to persuade
readers of your thesis, or at least of your credibility--you must provide arguments that are cogent
and numerous enough to satisfy the critical reader, and you must go on to support these arguments
with facts and examples.
Orders of Knowledge
The fourth requirement of a good thesis is that it be relatively high in the orders of knowledge.
Benjamin Bloom divides cognitive skills into five basic categories and arranges those categories (in
ascending order of complexity) into the following hierarchy: comprehension, application, analysis,
synthesis, and evaluation (Bloom, 204-207). In a similar hierarchy, Mortimer Adler divides knowledge
into three classes: statements of facts, statements about facts, and statements about statements
(Adler, 222-224). If your thesis falls at the lowest level of either of these hierarchies, your paper will
be nothing more than a report or a survey. This is fine if that's all you intend your paper to be. But if
you intend your paper to be more than a report, you must develop a thesis that is more than a
statement of fact.
For example, if your "thesis" is that "In experiments conducted by the American Cancer Institue, 70
percent of the rats subjected to cigarette smoke over a two-year period died of lung cancer," your
paper can hardly develop into anything more than a report about the experiments and their results.
However, if you draw some conclusion from this statement of fact and make that your thesis, you
advance to Adler's second order of knowledge: statements about facts. At this level, your thesis
might be "Scientific experiments suggest a close link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer," or
a less cautious assertion, "Cigarette smoking is the major cause of lung cancer." With either of these
theses, you have an argument on your hands. You have made a statement that is not entirely
self-evident, one that will not be universally agreed with, one that you will have to defend. But if you risk
one step further and make a statement about this statement, you generate the spark of a potentially
informative, provocative, and animated essay. For example, building on the proposition that cigarette
smoking causes lung cancer, you might propose that the Constitution of the United States be
amended to prohibit the production and sale of cigarettes.
Adler would classify theses of this order as statements about statements. As such, they not only
encourage more stimulating essays, they also allow you to develop your essay logically by referring
back to statements at the two lower levels: you present arguments (statements about facts) to
support your thesis, and facts and examples (statements of fact) to support your arguments. For
example, to support the thesis that the Constitution should be amended to prohibit the production
and sale of cigarettes, you can draw upon the argument that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer;
and to support this argument, you can draw upon the fact that in ACI experiments, 70 percent of the
rats subjected to cigarette smoke died of lung cancer. Thus, theses that are statements about
Tentative and Definitive Theses
Finally, there is an important distinction between a tentative and a definitive thesis. A tentative or
working thesis is often valuable in the early stages of the writing process in that it guides your inquiry
into your subject, suggesting questions, problems, and strategies. The best definitive theses,
however, generally come late in the writing process. Hence, the writing process is not simply a
means of codifying what you already know; it is a means of pushing beyond the commonplace, of
exhausting the obvious, and of discovering what it is you ultimately want to say.
A good thesis, though essential to a good analytical essay, is not a panacea for sloppy
exposition--there are scores of other things you must consider as you compose (such as style, syntax,
organization, originality, punctuation, and diction). However, developing a thesis that is clearly
expressed, adequately focused, well supported, and high in the orders of knowledge goes a long way
toward ensuring the success of your essay.
REFERENCES
•
Adler, Mortimer.
Dialectic
. London: Kegan Paul, 1927.
•
Bloom, Benjamin, ed.
Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Handbook I.
New York: David
McKay, 1956.
•
Braddock, Richard. "The Frequency and Placement of Topic Sentences in Expository Prose."
The Writing Teacher's Sourcebook.
Ed. Gary Tate and Edward P. J. Corbett. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1981.
•
A thesis statement generally consists of two parts: your topic, and then the analysis,
explanation(s), or assertion(s) that you're making about the topic. The kind of thesis
statement you write will depend on what kind of paper you're writing.
•
In some kinds of writing, such as narratives or descriptions, a thesis statement is less
important, but you may still want to provide some kind of statement in your first paragraph
that helps to guide your reader through your paper.
•
A thesis statement is a very
specific
statement -- it should cover only what you want to
discuss in your paper, and be supported with specific evidence. The scope of your paper will
be determined by the length of your paper and any other requirements that might be in place.
•
Generally, a thesis statement appears at the end of the first paragraph of an essay, so that
readers will have a clear idea of what to expect as they read.
•
You can think of your thesis as a map or a guide both for yourself and your audience, so it
might be helpful to draw a chart or picture of your ideas and how they're connected to help
you get started.
• Makes an argumentative assertion about a topic; it states the conclusions that you have reached
about your topic.
• Makes a promise to the reader about the scope,purpose, and direction of your paper.
• Is focused and specific enough to be "proven" within the boundaries of your paper.
• Is generally located near the end of the introduction; sometimes, in a long paper, the thesis will be expressed in several sentences or in an entire paragraph.
• Identifies the relationships between the pieces of evidence that you are using to support your argument.