How to generate a thesis—turn the topic into a question that the thesis answers
Weak versus strong thesis statements
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/thesis_statement.shtml
Developing A Thesis
This is what Harvard offers about thesis statements:
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/documents/Thesis.html
Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an
opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the
accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of
academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know
what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After
reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to
convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might
be."
An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a
topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic.
"Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall
of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion.
(Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every
"thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be
"the best thing"?)
A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should
"telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is
going where in your essay.
Steps in Constructing a Thesis
First, analyze your primary sources. Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy,
and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and
later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out
the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the
path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up
with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-andsuch a poem—which is not a thesis.)
Once you have a working thesis, write it down. There is nothing as frustrating as
hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by
writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely.
You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first
time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.
Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction. A good, standard place for your
thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15
page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more
attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not
required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.
Some Caveats
A thesis is never a question. Readers of academic essays expect to have questions
discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in
Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the
water.
A thesis is never a list. "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism
collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect
in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a
section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political,
economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why
communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an
argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.
The following information is compiled from:
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/thesis.htmlWhat is a thesis statement?
A thesis statement:
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
Example
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.
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 novel—what 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 meaning—for 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.
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 fine—begin 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.
Five Ways of Looking At a Thesis
Erik Simpson
1. A thesis says something a little strange.
When you start to construct a thesis, think about what an easy one-sentence
summary of the text would look like. Then try to come up with something more
specific than that, something with a specific twist on the standard interpretation.
2. A thesis creates an argument that builds from one point to the next, giving
the paper a direction that your reader can follow as it develops.
This point often separates the best theses from the pack. If your thesis leads to a
paper that simply follows the plot of a text as it goes along, it probably needs to
provide a stronger statement of the paper's logic.
3. A thesis fits comfortably into the Magic Thesis Sentence (MTS).
The MTS: By looking at _____, we can see _____, which most readers don't see;
this is important because _____.
The first part of the MTS asks you to find something strange ("which most
readers don't see"), and the second part asks you to think about the importance of
the strangeness.
Try it out with these examples:
A: By telling the story of Westley and Buttercup's triumph over evil, The Princess
Bride affirms the power of true love.
B: Although the main plot of The Princess Bride rests on the natural power of true
love, an examination of the way that fighting sticks--baseball bats, tree branches,
and swords--link the frame story to the romance plot suggests that the grandson
is being trained in true love, that love is not natural but socialized.
Notice that the MTS adds a new dimension to point number one above. The first
part of the MTS asks you to find something strange ("which most readers don't
see"), and the second part asks you to think about the importance of the
strangeness. Thesis A would not work at all in the MTS; one could not
reasonably state that "most readers [or viewers] don't see" that film's affirmation
of true love, and the statement does not even attempt to explain the importance
of its claim. Thesis B, on the other hand, gives us a way to complete the MTS, as
in "By looking at the way fighting sticks link the plot and frame of The Princess
Bride, we can see the way the grandson is trained in true love, which most people
don't see; it is important to look at this aspect of the text because unlike the rest
of the film, the fighting sticks suggest that love is not natural but socialized." One
does not need to write out the MTS in such a neat one-sentence form, of course,
but thinking through the structure of the MTS can help refine thesis ideas.
4. A thesis says something about the text(s) you discuss exclusively.
If your thesis could describe many works equally well, it needs to be more
specific. The worst offender by this standard would be a thesis such as "Romeo
and Juliet is a powerful story of failed love." There are thousands of stories of
failed love in print or on screen, and you can probably think of a number of
examples quickly.
5. A thesis makes a lot of information irrelevant.
If your thesis is specific enough, it will make a point that focuses on only a small
part of the text you are analyzing. You can and should ultimately apply that point
to the work as a whole, but a thesis will call attention to specific parts of it.
Samples: (Choose the best one)
Morality is not the issue in Lolita; artistry is.
Nabokov's Lolita is a novel about America.
Lolita is a novel about the corruption of America.
In Lolita, the corruption of America merely provides a convenient cover-up for Humbert
Humbert's personal perversion.
Lolita is an interesting novel, although the narrator, Humbert Humbert, is evil.
Love is dead in the twentieth century novel.
Simple equations for a thesis might look something like this:
Specific topic + Attitude/Angle/Argument = Thesis
What you plan to argue + How you plan to argue it = Thesis
Thesis frames for text-based writing:
1) (The author) uses
X
2) Through the use of
.
3) The development of
X
Key thesis “so what?” words:
expose
demonstrates
reveals
indicates
establishes
because
to expose
Y
.
(the author) demonstrates (how)
X
in the text reveals
Y
Y
.