Crafting an argument Writing a thesis statement February 25, 2016
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Process: Choosing a Topic
Ask yourself: – – –
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Does the topic interest you? Is this idea generally accepted? Have you considered both sides?
Considering the Audience What are the interests and values of your audience? Has your audience already established a position? What evidence or reasons will they find compelling? What is the temperament of your audience?
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Establish tone Establish common ground with your audience State positions that you have in common Designate areas of mutual agreement/possible compromise
Organization
Introduction: – – –
Body Paragraphs – – –
Each paragraph should be limited to the discussion of one general idea Must have some logical connection to the thesis statement Explain how and why the evidence supports the thesis
Conclusion – –
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Set the context by reviewing the topic in a general way. Explain why the topic is important or why readers should care about the issue. Present a clear, concise, and defined thesis statement.
Restate why the topic is important, review the main points, and review your thesis. Offer a suggestion for future research and/or implications
What is a Thesis Statement?
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Almost all of us—even if we don’t do it consciously—look early in an essay for a one- or two-sentence “condensation” of the argument or analysis that is to follow.
We refer to that condensation as a thesis statement.
Why Should Your Essay Contain a Thesis Statement?
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To test your ideas by distilling them into a sentence or two To successfully organize and develop your argument To provide your reader with a “guide” to your argument In general, your thesis statement will accomplish these goals if you think of the thesis as the answer to the question your paper explores.
How do I come up with a thesis?
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Formulating a thesis is not the first step you take 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.
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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 still need some adjustment along the way.
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A good thesis usually relies on a strong introduction, “sharing” the work.
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As your writing becomes more sophisticated, you will find that often a one-sentence thesis statement cannot bear the burden of your entire argument. Therefore, you will find yourself relying increasingly on your introduction to lay the groundwork. Use your introduction to explain some of your argument's points and/or to define its terms. Save the "punch" for your thesis.
What is more...
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When structuring your thesis sentence, it's helpful to start by considering how it was that you came to your argument in the first place.
You arrived at your point of view by way of certain observations and a particular logic.
You will expect your reader to arrive at the same conclusion, via the same observations and logic that you yourself used.
Determine what kind of paper you are writing:
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An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience. An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience. If you are writing a narrative, a thesis statement somewhere in the first paragraph could still be helpful to your reader.
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An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided.
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Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence.
Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.
Example of an analytical thesis statement:
An analysis of the college admission process reveals one challenge facing counselors: accepting students with high test scores or students with strong extracurricular backgrounds. ď Ź
The paper that follows should: – –
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Explain the analysis of the college admission process Explain the challenge facing admissions counselors
Example of an expository (explanatory) thesis statement: The life of the typical college student is characterized by time spent studying, attending class, and socializing with peers. ď Ź
The paper that follows should: –
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Explain how students spend their time studying, attending class, and socializing with peers
Example of an argumentative thesis statement: High school graduates should be required to take a year off to pursue community service projects before entering college in order to increase their maturity and global awareness. ď Ź
The paper that follows should: –
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Present an argument and give evidence to support the claim that students should pursue community projects before entering college
How to tell a strong thesis statement from a weak one 1. A strong thesis statement takes a stand. – –
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Remember that your thesis needs to show your conclusions about a subject. For example, if you are writing a paper for a class on fitness, you might be asked to choose a popular weight-loss product to evaluate. Here are two thesis statements:
There are some negative and positive aspects to the Banana Herb Tea Supplement. ď Ź
This is a weak thesis statement. First, it fails to take a stand. Second, the phrase negative and positive aspects is vague. Because Banana Herb Tea Supplement promotes rapid weight loss that results in the loss of muscle and lean body mass, it poses a potential danger to customers.
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This is a strong thesis because it takes a stand, and because it's specific.
2. A strong thesis statement expresses one main idea.
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Readers need to be able to see that your paper has one main point. If your thesis statement expresses more than one idea, you might confuse your readers about the subject of your paper. For example:
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Companies need to exploit the marketing potential of the Internet, and Web pages can provide both advertising and customer support. This is a weak thesis statement because the reader can’t decide whether the paper is about marketing on the Internet or Web pages. To revise the thesis, the relationship between the two ideas needs to become clearer. One way to revise the thesis would be to write: Because the Internet is filled with tremendous marketing potential, companies should exploit this potential by using Web pages that offer both advertising and customer support. This is a strong thesis because it shows that the two ideas are related. Hint: a great many clear and engaging thesis statements contain words like because, since, so, although, unless, and however.
3. A strong thesis statement is specific. ď Ź
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A thesis statement should show exactly what your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a manageable topic. For example, if you're writing a seven-to-ten page paper on hunger, you might say:
World hunger has many causes and effects. ď Ź
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This is a weak thesis statement for two major reasons. First, world hunger can’t be discussed thoroughly in seven to ten pages. Second, many causes and effects is vague. You should be able to identify specific causes and effects. A revised thesis might look like this: Hunger persists in Africa because jobs are scarce and farming in the infertile soil is rarely profitable. This is a strong thesis statement because it narrows the subject to a more specific and manageable topic, and it also identifies the specific causes for the existence of hunger.
When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following: –
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Do I answer the question? Re-reading the question promptly after constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the question. 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?
Language
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Thesis statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains bland words like “good” or “successful,” see if you could be more specific: why is something “good”; what specifically makes something “successful”?
Tests&tricks
Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? If a reader’s first response is, “So what?” then you need to clarify, 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 OK to change your working thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? If a reader’s first response is “how?” or “why?” your thesis may be too openended 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.
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ALTERNATIVES TO THE THESIS SENTENCE
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Sometimes, the purpose of a piece of writing is not to make a claim but to raise questions.
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Other times, a writer wants to leave a matter unresolved, inspiring the reader to create his or her own position. In these cases, the thesis sentence might take other forms: the thesis question or the implied thesis.
The Thesis Question
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As we've said, not every piece of writing sets out to make a claim. If your purpose as a writer is to explore, for instance, the reasons for the 9/11 attacks (a topic for which you are not prepared to make a claim), your thesis might read: "What forces conspired to bring these men to crash four jetliners into American soil?"
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You'll note that this question, while provocative, does not offer a sense of the argument's structure. It permits the writer to pursue all ideas, without committing to any. While this freedom might seem appealing, in fact you will find that the lack of a declarative thesis statement requires more work: you need to tighten your internal structure and your transitions from paragraph to paragraph so that the essay is clear and the reader can easily follow your line of inquiry.
The Implied Thesis
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One of the most interesting facts about a thesis sentence is that it is the most important sentence in a paper - even when it's not there. Writers sometimes choose not to explicitly declare their thesis. In some essays, you'll find it difficult to point to a single sentence that declares the argument. Still, the essay is coherent and makes a point. In these cases, the writers have used an implied thesis.
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Writers use an implied thesis when they want the reader to come to his or her own conclusions about the matter at hand. However, just because the writer doesn't declare the thesis doesn't mean that he was working without one. They may elect not to put the thesis in the paper, but every paragraph, every sentence that they write is controlled by the thesis all the same.
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If you decide to write a paper with an implied thesis, be sure that you have a strong grasp of your argument and its structure.
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Also be sure that you supply adequate transitions, so that the reader can follow your argument with ease.
To sum up
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Does my thesis sentence attempt to answer (or at least to explore) a challenging intellectual question? Is the point I'm making one that would generate discussion and argument, or is it one that would leave people asking, "So what?" Is my thesis too vague? Too general? Should I focus on some more specific aspect of my topic? Does my thesis deal directly with the topic at hand, or is it a declaration of my personal feelings?
Information structure issues
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Does my introductory paragraph define terms important to my thesis? Is the language in my thesis vivid and clear? Have I structured my sentences so that the important information is in the main clause? Have I used subordinate clauses to house less important information? Have I used parallelism to show the relationship between parts of my thesis? In short, is this thesis the very best sentence that it can be?
Practice Think of thesis statements as a response to the following essay topics:
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Human beings draw close to one another by their common nature, but habits and customs keep them apart.
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Reality shows are modern age documentaries.