Four Fibs and a Lie
|A Guide to Writing a Good Thesis Statement |
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|In most cases the essay or paper you will write for a college level course will require a thesis statement. In fact the |
|thesis statement is the foundation of a quality essay and a necessary component for receiving the best grade possible. |
|Definition: |
|A thesis statement condenses the central theme or argument that you are presenting in your essay into one or (sometimes) |
|two sentences. The Thesis Statement serves two purposes: |
|It provides you, the writer, with the controlling idea of your essay and the boundaries of your argument. |
|It provides your readers with the main thrust of your argument. enabling them to focus on it as they read. |
|Where Does the Thesis Statement Go? |
|The Thesis Statement belongs in the opening paragraph of your essay. It is usually the last sentence in that opening |
|paragraph. |
|Content of the Thesis Statement: |
|It may be helpful to think of the thesis statement as being a sentence containing a question and the answer: |
|The Question is Your Topic - either your assigned topic or the topic you have chosen to write about. (What material am I |
|going to cover in this essay?) |
|The Answer is the point or points you are making about the topic. This can be your analysis of the topic, your explanation |
|of the topic or your argument about the topic, seeking to persuade your readers of the validity of your opinion. In shorter|
|essays, only one of these three forms is used. |
|Thesis Statements for Essays Doing an Analysis of the Topic: |
|Tell your readers what you are analyzing. |
|Give the parts of your analysis. |
|Give the order in which these parts are presented. |
|Thesis Statements for Essays Giving an Explanation of the Topic: |
|Tell your readers what you are going to explain. |
|Give the categories you are going to use in your explanation. |
|Give the order in which these categories are presented. |
|Thesis Statements for Essays Giving an Argument About the Topic: |
|Tell your readers your conclusions on the topic. |
|Give the reasons you have for coming to your conclusion. |
|Give the order in which these reasons are presented. |
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|Qualities of Good Thesis Statements: |
|A good Thesis Statement will do the following: |
|Take a firm position on the topic. You've done the research necessary to produce the essay. Let your readers know you are |
|sure of your conclusions about the topic. |
|Promote discussion or a response from your readers. The thesis statement sets their minds thinking about the topic. |
|Cover one main idea. If there are several ideas expressed in your essay, the thesis statement will show the relationship |
|between these ideas. |
|Narrow the focus of your essay to a specific topic. |
|It's Not Impossible: |
|Almost every argument or analysis can be distilled into a central idea if examined carefully. If you can't come up with a |
|good thesis statement to fit the essay you are writing, the chances are good that your proposed essay itself is too broad |
|or goes off into too many different directions and needs to be more tightly focused. |
|Does Every Essay Need a Thesis Statement? |
|No. It is less important to have a thesis statement in a paper that is basically descriptive (such as an essay for an art |
|class describing a painting) or narrative (such as a paper for a history class about the life of a person). However it is |
|still a good idea to set up the essay for the reader by including at least a modified thesis statement. |
|In Conclusion: |
|As you write and revise your essay, you might find that you need to change your Thesis Statement. This is a normal part of |
|the writing process. It's not at all unusual to not know what your conclusions are about the topic until you think them |
|through by writing about them. Just make sure that your final Thesis Statement matches your final draft. |
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|Also see: Directives and Terms Used in Writing and Test Taking, Writing a Paper |
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