transcript
- Slide 1
- The central focus of any essay Thesis Statements
- Slide 2
- What is a Thesis Statement? A single, focused sentence that
reveals the argument or subject of your essay. Is usually somewhere
in your first paragraph, and presents your argument to the reader.
The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes
evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your
interpretation. Your thesis statement should be specificit should
cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be
supported with specific evidence. Directly answers the question
asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or
subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay
might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way
to understand the war or the novel. Makes a claim that others might
dispute.
- Slide 3
- What is a Thesis Statement? A thesis acts as a rudder for your
essay. If the thesis is not clearly developed or constantly
monitored, your essay will wander off course. The thesis is as
helpful to you (the author) as it is to your audience. If you have
a clearly developed thesis, your essay wont get away from you.
- Slide 4
- How do I create a thesis? A thesis is the result of a lengthy
thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you
do after reading an essay assignment. Before you develop an
argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence,
look for possible relationships between known facts (such as
surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the
significance of these relationships. Once you do this thinking, you
will probably have a "working thesis," a basic or main idea, an
argument that you think you can support with evidence but that may
need adjustment along the way.
- Slide 5
- Steps toward Generating a Thesis Research, read, and think.
Examine the essay prompt or assignment and begin formulating
thoughts based on that. Gather information from a variety of
resources. Talk to others about your subject. Simply begin the
thinking process and try to come to conclusions.
- Slide 6
- Steps toward Generating a Thesis Determine what kind of paper
you are writing: An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an
idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and
presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience. An
expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience.
An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies
this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a
policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an
interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince
the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence
provided.
- Slide 7
- Analytical Essays: Break down an issue or an idea into its
component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents this
breakdown and evaluation to the audience. Example of an analytical
thesis statement: The paper that follows should: An analysis of the
college admission process reveals one challenge facing counselors:
accepting students with high test scores or students with strong
extracurricular backgrounds. Explain and evaluate the college
admission process Discuss the challenge facing admissions
counselors
- Slide 8
- Expository Essays: Explains something to the audience. Example
of an expository (explanatory) thesis statement: The paper that
follows should: The life of the typical college student is
characterized by time spent studying, attending class, and
socializing with peers. explain how students spend their time
studying, attending class, and socializing with peers
- Slide 9
- Argumentative Essays: makes a claim about a topic and justifies
this claim with specific evidence. The goal is to convince the
audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided.
Example of an argumentative thesis statement: The paper that
follows should: High school graduates should be required to take a
year off to pursue community service projects before entering
college in order to increase their maturity and global awareness.
Present an argument and give evidence to support the claim that
students should pursue community projects before entering
college
- Slide 10
- Other Tips for Creating A Thesis If the essay topic is
assigned, try this: Almost all assignments, no matter how
complicated, can be reduced to a single question. Your first step,
then, is to distill the assignment into a specific question. For
example, if your assignment is, Write a report to the local school
board explaining the potential benefits of using computers in a
fourth-grade class, turn the request into a question like, What are
the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?
After youve chosen the question your essay will answer, compose one
or two complete sentences answering that question. Q: What are the
potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class? A:
The potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class
are... OR A: Using computers in a fourth-grade class promises to
improve... The answer to the question is the thesis statement for
the essay.
- Slide 11
- Other Tips for Creating A Thesis Or try this: Write out the
main idea from your paper (the point you want the reader to get) in
25 or fewer words: Now answer these questions: 1. What question is
my assignment asking? How can I answer that question AND focus on a
small area of investigation? 2. Can I sum up the main idea of my
paper in a nutshell? Reduce to a sentence or two the main idea that
you wrote in 25 words. 3. What "code words" (such as "relative
freedom" or "lifestyles") does the draft of my thesis statement
contain? Are these words adequately explained? Sharpen your
language. After writing a draft, ask yourself: Have I supported the
thesis, or digressed? Where? How?
- Slide 12
- How do I know if my thesis is strong? When reviewing your first
draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following: Do I
answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after
constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that
misses the focus of the question. Does my thesis pass the "how and
why?" test? If a reader's first response is "how?" or "why?" your
thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. See
what you can add to give the reader a better take on your position
right from the beginning. Do I anticipate counter-arguments and
prepare for them?
- Slide 13
- How do I know if my thesis is strong? Does my essay support my
thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the
body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to
change. It's okay to change your working thesis to reflect things
you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember,
always reassess and revise your writing as necessary. 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.
- Slide 14
- How do I know if my thesis is strong? Does my thesis take a
definitive stand on an issue? The idea here is that your thesis
must clearly promote your conclusions about something, and it
should be debatable. 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.
- Slide 15
- How do I know if my thesis is strong? Have I taken a position
that others might challenge or oppose? If your thesis simply states
facts that no one would, or even could, disagree with, it's
possible that you are simply providing a summary, rather than
making an argument. 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.
- Slide 16
- How do I know if my thesis is strong? Is my thesis statement
specific enough? Specificity will allow you to corral your ideas
into a framework. It will help you hone your topics to very clear
parameters, rather than trying to tackle a very large or vague
topic. 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.
- Slide 17
- How do I know if my thesis is strong? Have I clarified my topic
into measurable terms? Thesis statements that are too vague often
do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains words like
"good" or "successful," see if you could be more specific: why is
something "good"; what specifically makes something "successful"?
Does my thesis pass the "So what?" test? If a reader's first
response is, "So what?" then you need to clarify, to forge a
relationship, or to connect to a larger issue. 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.
- Slide 18
- Some sample thesis statements Recognizing strong thesis
statements will help you as you write essays.
- Slide 19
- Sample Thesis #1 Suppose you are taking a course on
19th-century America, and the instructor hands out the following
essay assignment: Compare and contrast the reasons why the North
and South fought the Civil War. You turn on the computer and type
out the following: The North and South fought the Civil War for
many reasons, some of which were the same and some different.
Discuss the above thesis statement. What works? What doesnt?
- Slide 20
- Sample Thesis #1 The North and South fought the Civil War for
many reasons, some of which were the same and some different. The
above thesis restates the question without providing any additional
information, making it a pretty weak statement. You will expand on
this new information in the body of the essay, but it is important
that the reader know where you are heading. A reader of this weak
thesis might think, "What reasons? How are they the same? How are
they different?" Ask yourself these same questions and begin to
compare Northern and Southern attitudes (perhaps you first think,
"The South believed slavery was right, and the North thought
slavery was wrong"). Now, push your comparison toward an
interpretationwhy did one side think slavery was right and the
other side think it was wrong? You look again at the evidence, and
you decide that you are going to argue that the North believed
slavery was immoral while the South believed it upheld the Southern
way of life. You write: While both sides fought the Civil War over
the issue of slavery, the North fought for moral reasons while the
South fought to preserve its own institutions. Discuss this new
thesis. What makes it stronger than the previous one?
- Slide 21
- Sample Thesis #1 While both sides fought the Civil War over the
issue of slavery, the North fought for moral reasons while the
South fought to preserve its own institutions. Now you have a
working thesis! Included in this working thesis is a reason for the
war and some idea of how the two sides disagreed over this reason.
As you write the essay, you will probably begin to characterize
these differences more precisely, and your working thesis may start
to seem too vague. Maybe you decide that both sides fought for
moral reasons, and that they just focused on different moral
issues. You end up revising the working thesis into a final thesis
that really captures the argument in your paper: While both
Northerners and Southerners believed they fought against tyranny
and oppression, Northerners focused on the oppression of slaves
while Southerners defended their own right to self-government.
Compare this to the original weak thesis. This final thesis
presents a way of interpreting evidence that illuminates the
significance of the question. Discuss this final thesis. What makes
it stronger than the previous one?
- Slide 22
- Sample Thesis #2 Suppose your literature professor hands out
the following assignment in a class on the American novel: Write an
analysis of some aspect of Mark Twain's novel Huckleberry Finn.
"This will be easy," you think. "I loved Huckleberry Finn!" You
grab a pad of paper and write: Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is a
great American novel. Discuss this first thesis. What can be done
to improve it?
- Slide 23
- Sample Thesis #2 Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is a great
American novel. Why is this thesis weak? Think about what the
reader would expect from the essay that follows: you will most
likely provide a general, appreciative summary of Twain's novel.
The question did not ask you to summarize; it asked you to analyze.
Your professor is probably not interested in your opinion of the
novel; instead, she wants you to think about why it's such a great
novelwhat do Huck's adventures tell us about life, about America,
about coming of age, about race relations, etc.? First, the
question asks you to pick an aspect of the novel that you think is
important to its structure or meaningfor example, the role of
storytelling, the contrasting scenes between the shore and the
river, or the relationships between adults and children. Now you
write: In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between
life on the river and life on the shore. Discuss this newer thesis.
What makes it better than the first one?
- Slide 24
- Sample Thesis #2 In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a
contrast between life on the river and life on the shore. Here's a
working thesis with potential: you have highlighted an important
aspect of the novel for investigation; however, it's still not
clear what your analysis will reveal. Your reader is intrigued, but
is still thinking, "So what? What's the point of this contrast?
What does it signify?" Perhaps you are not sure yet, either. That's
finebegin to work on comparing scenes from the book and see what
you discover. Free write, make lists, jot down Huck's actions and
reactions. Eventually you will be able to clarify for yourself, and
then for the reader, why this contrast matters. After examining the
evidence and considering your own insights, you write: Through its
contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain's Huckleberry Finn
suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic
ideals, one must leave "civilized" society and go back to nature.
This final thesis statement presents an interpretation of a
literary work based on an analysis of its content. Of course, for
the essay itself to be successful, you must now present evidence
from the novel that will convince the reader of your
interpretation. Discuss this newer thesis. What makes it better
than the first one?
- Slide 25
- Sample Thesis #3 A thesis statement should show exactly what
your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a
manageable topic. For example, if you're writing a seven-to-ten
page paper on hunger, you might say: World hunger has many causes
and effects. Discuss this thesis. How can it be improved?
- Slide 26
- Sample Thesis #3 World hunger has many causes and effects. This
is a weak thesis statement for two major reasons. First, world
hunger cant be discussed thoroughly in seven to ten pages. Second,
many causes and effects is vague. You should be able to identify
specific causes and effects. A revised thesis might look like this:
Hunger persists in Glandelinia because jobs are scarce and farming
in the infertile soil is rarely profitable. Discuss this thesis.
What makes it stronger than the first draft?
- Slide 27
- Sample Thesis #3 Hunger persists in Glandelinia because jobs
are scarce and farming in the infertile soil is rarely profitable.
Hunger persists in Glandelinia because jobs are scarce and farming
in the infertile soil is rarely profitable. This is a strong thesis
statement because it narrows the subject to a more specific and
manageable topic, and it also identifies the specific causes for
the existence of hunger. It gives you something to discuss, argue,
and support.
- Slide 28
- Just for Kicks: Try an Online Thesis Building Program 1. Thesis
Builder: http://www.ozline.com/electraguide/ While they arent
foolproof, they will help you see the process of generating a
working thesis, which you can hone and shape into something that is
quite effective.