Time for a Thesis

FL 200

What is a thesis statement?
A thesis statement:

• tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
• is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
• makes a claim that others might dispute.
• is usually a single sentence somewhere in your first paragraph that 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.
• presuposses that you are going to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, thus you may need to convey that position or claim near the beginning of your draft.

How do I get 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.
• Start by focusing on what is NOT obvious. Look for instances where the text vacillates or equivocates. Focus on the cracks, fissures, interstices in the text through which you may glance hidden meanings. Tease meaning from the text. Make it yield data.
• Interrogate the text: Ask questions about the situations, events, or aspects that have excited your curiosity. Asking questions you stimulate yourself to provide answers and generate connections.
• Bounce off your ideas or plans aloud with a friend: It matters little if the person in question knows what you are writing on. Sometimes when you hear yourself telling what you are thinking it all becomes clear.
• Draw what you are thinking: Diagrams help you visualize your thoughts better and often lead to a tighter thesis.
• Once you think you have a arrived to a thesis, make sure that you follow the advice in the handout titled THESIS STATEMENT BASICS. Make sure that your thesis is an arguable idea or proposition the provides a smart answer to a "problem" you have previously identified. Make certain that your thesis is NOT a not a title or a fragment, a question, a command, a fact, an announcement, an obvious or evident statement, an unarguable personal opinion, a broad generalization, a simplistic proposition, an immature or tasteless proposal, or a wordy confusing mess. You want the opposite of that.
• Your thesis often evolves as you develop your argument. Make sure to revisit your thesis as you write. Tweak it as needed so that it continues to serve as a road map of the paper for your reader.

How do I know if my thesis is strong?
If there's time, run it by your instructor or make an appointment at the Writing Center to get some feedback. Even if you do not have time to get advice elsewhere, you can do some thesis evaluation of your own. When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following:

• 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.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough?
• 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.
• 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 o.k. 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.

The following handout: OVERVIEW OF THE ACADEMIC ESSAY from Harvard University's Writing Center provides one of the best explanations of critical argumentative writing that I have ever seen.