A thesis is a concise statement of your
argument, usually written in one sentence.
It must be more than simply a restatement of the topic you are addressing—it should let
the reader know about the conclusions you have reached in the process of your reading
and research. As Mary Lynn Rampolla writes, “A thesis is not a statement of fact, a
question, or an opinion, although it is sometimes confused with all these things. Neither
is a thesis the same as the topic…. A thesis informs the reader about the conclusions
you have reached…. As a result, the thesis is the central point to which all the
information in the paper relates.”1
For that reason, it should always be written before the rest of the paper because
it will set the tone for the rest of the work. Write your working thesis sentence (a
working thesis is subject to some tweaking) and put it in bold italics in the header of
your paper drafts. This way you can easily refer back to it without toggling through
several pages (of course, change the formatting back to normal before you submit it to
your professor).
For a writer in the drafting
stages, the thesis establishes
the focus of the paper. This
helps you decide which information to include and which information to exclude.
Essentially, a thesis “is a road map for the paper.”2 For the reader, the thesis anticipates
the author’s discussion, sets the tone of the paper, and illustrates exactly what you are
trying to prove. Thesis statements are central to argumentative and persuasive essays.
First, you must figure out the goal of the
assignment and if there is a particular question
your professor expects you to address in your
essay. Knowing the goal of the assignment is essential. Then, “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.”3 A large part of this preparation
involved taking notes on the source(s) you are using in your essay and brainstorming.
1
Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 4th ed. (Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2004), 27.
UNC Writing Center, “Thesis Statements,” University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill,
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/thesis.html (accessed January 2, 2010).
3
UNC Writing Center, “Thesis Statements,” accessed January 2, 2010.
2
This is a
compelling thesis
statement from a
first-year student whose paper was a detailed primary source analysis. One of the
strengths of this thesis is that she did more than say, “This paper will discuss Richard
Ligon’s account of slavery in Barbados.” That sentence simply explains what her topic
is—not what she thinks about it. The paper title should provide the subject of your
paper, while your thesis sentence should summarize what you think about this
particular primary document or secondary source. Also, in history papers you should
not use first person pronouns (e.g. I, me, my, etc.) in your thesis (or elsewhere in the
essay for that matter). This is her introduction, with her thesis in italics (her wording has
not been altered):
In 1673, Richard Ligon wrote a description of his experiences in Barbados and his
assumptions of what he thought Africans were like and the African slave trade.
This account was titled “A West Indian Planter Reflects Slavery in Barbados.”
Ligon’s narrative was significant because it demonstrated how the white
population of Barbados viewed slaves, and it also gave a personal view of what
the Africans went through on the slave trade and the Middle Passage.
Here is another example. This student’s paper was on several primary
documents giving first-hand accounts of the Boston Massacre, which took place in 1770.
He joined two full clauses with a semicolon, which kept his thesis to one sentence (his
thesis has not been altered):
Although it was wrong for British troops to shoot into the mob, the rioters’
raucous behavior was partly to blame for the five deaths that occurred; thus the
Boston Massacre was the inevitable result of tension and conflict building up
between British troops and colonists.
As you can see, he took a position on who was to blame for the massacre, and he gives a
reason for why the massacre happened in the first place. Most importantly, he does
more than just tell me the paper topic! Hopefully these two examples have
demonstrated the distinctions between a good thesis and a weak one.
Scholarly works generally
do not have the thesis at
the end of the first
paragraph, but for students
this is the best place to put it. It is very important to give your thesis at the end of your
introduction; otherwise the reader (namely me!) has to search for your argument,
wondering which sentence it is, instead of having it jump right off the page.
Part of the challenge
of writing a thesis is
trying to condense
your argument into one sentence. This is the preferred format for undergraduate
papers. Try to keep your thesis to one, longer sentence joined by a semicolon.
However, sometimes it is necessary to use two sentences to avoid writing one, very
long, convoluted thesis sentence. When in doubt, check with your professor.
The goal of a
conclusion is
to restate your
argument (i.e. your thesis), summarize the main points of your paper, and most
importantly, draw larger conclusions and discuss historical significances. Your
conclusion, therefore, serves a different purpose than an introduction, since it ties up
any loose ends. However, part of tying up loose ends will involve bringing the reader
full circle by re-emphasizing your argument. So, simply put, you need to restate your
thesis. But do not repeat it word for word; rephrase it!
© 2006 Kristen Epps