The Dismissal Thesis
What is the dismissal thesis?
This is a kind of thesis statement that allows the writer to “dismiss,” or choose to not
develop in the essay’s body paragraphs, one aspect of the subject (or the relationship
between two subjects) in order to privilege, or choose to fully develop, another aspect of
the subject (or the relationship between two subjects) in the essay’s body paragraphs.
What is the purpose of a dismissal thesis?
Especially when there is limited space available, a dismissal thesis allows the writer to
signal to her reader that she is fully aware of the larger scope of the subject or the
relationship between two subjects, but she has decided to focus on one particular aspect
of that subject or the relationship between two subjects in order to provide an in depth
analysis.
What kind of essay does it set up?
Any kind of essay can benefit from a dismissal thesis since it helps limit or narrow the
scope of the essay right out the gate; however, certain kinds of academic essays work
extremely well with this kind of thesis. For example, in a Comparison or Contrast essay,
the dismissal thesis may dismiss the comparisons between two items in order to allow the
writer to fully explore the contrasts between those two items in the body paragraphs. A
Cause or Effect essay also works well with this kind of thesis statement.
How is it constructed?
Words like despite, though, although, even though, however and but are used in the thesis
itself to show that one part is dismissed; the thesis may be simple or very complex,
depending on the level of the writing class and assignment. Take, for instance, the
following examples for each of the respective writing levels:
51: Assignment—Comparison/Contrast
Poor thesis: Paris and New York have differences and similarities.
Better thesis: As international metropolises, Paris and New York have a lot in
common.
Dismissal Thesis: Despite the fact that Paris and New York are both international
metropolises, Paris appeals more to younger people while New York appeals
more to older people.
In the dismissal thesis above, the italicized part of the thesis (the comparison) is
what is dismissed—therefore, it is not developed in the body of the essay; instead,
in bold, we find the focus of the essay (the contrast). From this point forward, the
reader will expect the writer only to develop ways in which Paris appeals to
younger people and New York appeals to older people.
*****
101: Assignment—Cause/Effect
Poor thesis: Hillary Clinton would make an effective president for many reasons.
Better thesis: Hillary Clinton has the right experience to make her an effective
president.
Dismissal thesis: Despite her recent blunder involving Benghazi, Hillary
Clinton’s experience as Secretary of State would make her an effective
president.
In the dismissal thesis above, the writer has acknowledged that some aspect of
Clinton’s political past may be problematic, but this is dismissed so that the body
paragraphs may develop only positive examples of Clinton’s time in office. There
is no expectation, based on the dismissal thesis, that the writer must provide
information about Clinton’s role in the Libya debacle. For an essay like this, the
writer may introduce the topic by writing about Benghazi itself, and Clinton’s role
in it—but then smoothly move to dismiss her role in Benghazi in order to show in
great detail (body) the effectiveness of Clinton in the role of Secretary of State.
*****
301: Assignment—Formal elements in poetry—one poem
Poor thesis: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 uses many formal aspects of poetry in
order to show that the speaker loves his lady.
Better thesis: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 uses diction and imagery in order to show
that the speaker loves his lady.
Dismissal Thesis: Even though the speaker of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 loves his
lady unconditionally, the diction and imagery employed suggest that
Shakespeare wanted the Renaissance reader to consider the possibility of
enduring commitment between people of different races.
Anyone can identify the ways in which Sonnet 130 professes unconditional love,
so that part of the essay is unnecessary to develop; however, how intriguing is that
second part? The dismissal thesis above tells the reader that the essay will use a
focused analysis of diction and imagery in order to suggest something rather
radical; from here, I would imagine that the conclusion of such an essay would
either work to promote Shakespeare’s radicalism—or not—depending on how
much you know about him as a person and a writer!
301: Assignment—Two Short Stories
Poor thesis: The main characters in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and
Kate Chopin’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” both seem insane.
Better thesis: Faulkner’s Emily and Chopin’s Jane kill in order to surive.
Dismissal thesis: Although both Emily and Jane commit acts that empower
themselves in their respective texts, Emily’s empowerment comes to her from
the way she is perceived by others whereas Jane’s empowerment comes to
her from the way she perceives herself.
In the dismissal thesis above, the writer clearly wants to posit the outside/inside
contrast—the fact that both characters commit heinous acts is, well, just not
important; but to an untrained or unfocused writer (or to one who does not start
with a dismissal thesis like this one), it would be easy to spend too much body
space developing the plot around the characters or the situation of the heinous acts
in each story rather than get quickly and directly to the contrast at hand. In short, a
dismissal thesis employed in this fashion helps the writer tell her reader that she
knows some of the compelling, wider aspects of the story but she chooses to focus
on something either less obvious or more specific—as a result, then, the scope of
the essay (and the reader’s expectations of the scope of the essay) is automatically
limited/narrowed by the dismissal thesis.
I hope this document helps you to understand better the dismissal thesis and its
various uses at different stages in writing. Please feel free to email me anytime
with questions or concerns—and try out a dismissal thesis when you have the next
opportunity; it never disappoints!
-- Doc Cirrone