The Thesis Statement
What is a thesis statement?
• A thesis statement is the most important
sentence in your paper.
• A thesis statement tells your readers what your
essay will be about.
• In other words, a thesis statement provides a
forecast for the entire essay.
• Usually, in college writing the thesis statement
comes at the end of your introduction.
One way to think about it:
• The thesis statement gives your reader the
topic of your paper and what you will say
about that topic.
• If something is in your thesis, it must be
illustrated and explained somewhere in
your essay.
One kind of thesis…
… Is the analytical
thesis. An analytical
thesis statement
usually answers the
questions
• “How?”
and
• “Why?”
What does this mean?
• The “How” question refers to how the
author of a text goes about presenting
information or stylistic choices to his
readers.
• S/he specifically makes these decisions in
order to fulfill the purpose of the essay.
• When you analyze your text, you choose
one aspect of the text to write about.
This aspect is the “how” part
of your thesis.
• Your author might fulfill his purpose by using
one or more of these aspects:




Using a specific tone or style
Using specific vocabulary choices
Organizing or structuring the text in a certain way
Orchestrating a connection between the beginning
and ending
 Using figurative language
Look at an example from the
text…
• He [George Orwell] artfully employs simile
and metaphor, personification, and
dialogue to indicate people’s humanity
toward other people regardless of
nationality and to prompt readers’
sympathy and self-examination.
• What aspects will this paper analyze?
Aspects to be analyzed
• He [George Orwell] artfully employs simile
and metaphor, personification, and
dialogue…
 Simile
 Metaphor
 Personification
 Dialogue
Examples from our essays might
be…
• “In “Simplicity,”
William Zinsser
employs a very
specific structure ….”
Or
• “In “On Being 17,
Bright, and Unable to
Read” David
Raymond’s tone of
sincerity…”
• Each of the previous examples is an
acceptable beginning of a thesis statement
because each names an author, a text,
and what your paper will discuss.
• They tell your readers which aspect you
will be writing about.
But there’s more…
• You still need to
tell your readers
“why”…
• Why, according to the
student in the model
essay, does Orwell
use these aspects?
Look at the rest of the thesis
• … to indicate people’s
humanity toward
other people
regardless of
nationality and to
prompt readers’
sympathy and selfexamination.
• Three reasons!
Thinking about our
assignment…
• Why, according to your interpretation,
does Zinsser use this structure?
So, you add another part to the
thesis statement:
• “In “Simplicity,” William Zinsser employs a
very specific structure so that the reader’s
first and final impressions are about the art
of writing. ”
Another example:
• Why does Raymond want to convey
sincerity?
• In “On Being 17, Bright, and Unable to
Read,” David Raymond’s tone of sincerity
serves to lessen the audience’s potential
fears of those who are disabled.”
For this essay you also
need…
• How well did the
author meet his goal?
• Evaluation
• Was the author
successful in fulfilling
her purpose?
… so you add one more piece
to the thesis.
• Because the thesis is pretty long, you could do
this simply: try for an adverb.
• “In “Simplicity,” William Zinsser successfully
employs a very specific structure so that the
reader’s first and final impressions are about the
art of writing. ”
…or…
… you might need to make some changes:
• “In On Being 17, Bright, and Unable to
Read,” David Raymond’s tone of sincerity
fulfills his purpose of lessening the
audience’s potential fears of those who
are disabled.”
(Changed from: “serves to lessen”)
Additionally, your thesis statement should meet
the following requirements:
• 1. It should be interesting to your readers.
Your brain works differently than anyone
else’s in this room. Show us a point of
view or a perspective we might not have
considered before.
… and …
• 2. It should have precise and specific
wording. Try not to use the same words
everyone else will use (good, well, bad,
etc.).
… and …
• 3. It should be manageable. Don’t try to
cover every bit of your paper. Make it
broad enough that it covers the whole
paper! Simplify!
• Note: If you’ve mentioned the author’s full name in the
introduction, you can use her/his last name only in the
thesis statement. This might help you simplify.
Last but not least
• Understand that your thesis statement
might, and probably will, change as you
draft and revise. Oftentimes when we are
writing, our ideas becomes clearer or
sometimes even shift to a slightly different
interpretation. THIS IS OKAY.
The “Working Thesis”
• Sometimes writers wait until they have drafted
an entire paper before truly shaping their thesis
statement.
• They begin with a rough statement, almost a
sketch, of what they want their thesis to be, then
they write the essay, then they go back and
refine the thesis. The rough draft of a thesis
statement is called a “working thesis.”
Start here:
• The necessary ingredients to your thesis
for this paper:
 Title
 Author
 How?
 Why?