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ADVANCING YOUR WRITING:
From Clear and Present to Creative and Concise: Writing a Great Thesis Statement
Writing a thesis statement can be one of the most important and challenging parts of writing an essay. It is important because it provides an overall focus for the paper, and it is challenging because it can be difficult to create a clear main idea or argument in simply a few sentences.
Give these ten steps a try for the formulation of your initial thesis, and remember that no thesis statement should go unrevised. You should ALWAYS look it over when you are finishing your paper and see if it is clearly connected to your paragraphs and conclusion.
GETTING STARTED:
You begin with a topic and you need to develop a thesis.
1. Remember, a thesis is NOT a summary or a plain statement of fact. It is a point of view regarding your topic that must be explained in your essay. Each paragraph should be connected to and serve to “prove” this point of view.
2. Brainstorm a thesis. Free write ANY of your ideas or responses about your topic and even if your thesis is too long or unfocused, you have generated ideas for it. Next, read it over and see what you need to take out and what sentences stand out as a final thesis.
3. Ask yourself a question about your topic and answer it simply (a thesis should always be in the form of a statement, not a question.) For example, you may ask what a particular character in a book represents. Answer that question in a few sentences, making sure you have an idea that can be expanded on in the body of the essay.
4. Try writing your thesis in a way that would be similar to the way you would explain to a good friend what your essay is about. Explain it simply, so that your friend understands what the point of your essay is. Next, put it into the proper wording for a paper, taking out any slang or extra words. Sometimes when you put aside the idea that you are writing a paper for a class and an instructor, your words and ideas flow more naturally.
5. Try developing the main points of the paragraphs of your essay. Start writing your paragraphs and when you are done look at them to see if a central theme begins to come to mind. If you have a thesis in mind, try to gear your paragraphs to that idea and then afterwards the exact wording of it may come to you more clearly. It can be difficult to know what the thesis of your paper is if you haven’t written a rough draft of it, so look at what you have written first and develop a thesis out of it after.
FINALIZING YOUR THESIS:
Now that you have a rough or ‘working’ thesis, you will want to clarify and focus it.
1. Writing in a very concise way can be the route to stating your thesis clearly and strongly and in just a few important sentences. Eliminate any words or phrases that are not completely necessary. Start with excess adjectives or adverbs. Check to see if the idea of each sentence connects to the idea of the following sentence. Take out any sentence where your ideas stray.
2. When the body of your essay is written, check your thesis statement to make sure you have covered it thoroughly, and that there is no sentence of it left unexplained. If you have a stray sentence that is not connected to the body of the essay, take it out.
3. Once you have a fairly finalized thesis, check it again for any clichés or commonly heard phrases. Rephrase them in a more unique way, but keep your words simple. Doing this allows for your original voice and ideas to come through.
4. A thesis statement should be fairly general. Take out anything that is too specific. For example, avoid using quotes or data at this point in the paper, unless you are using it very clearly to grab the reader’s attention and it relates directly to your thesis. Otherwise, your thesis statement can sound rambling.
5. Rethink your thesis one more time to see if it is truly connected to and explained by each paragraph of the paper. Ask yourself if it really controls each part of your essay. Add a phrase or sentence if you need to in order to sew the whole piece together and really have your thesis direct your essay.
A thesis really is important to writing an organized, coherent paper that a reader can understand. It is something that instructors quickly look for and it creates a first impression of the essay you are writing. And remember, a thesis is only as good as the rest of the essay that supports it, so be just as conscientious about your whole paper. Good Luck!
GETTING STARTED:
You begin with a topic and you need to develop a thesis.
1. Remember, a thesis is NOT a summary or a plain statement of fact. It is a point of view regarding your topic that must be explained in your essay. Each paragraph should be connected to and serve to “prove” this point of view.
2. Brainstorm a thesis. Free write ANY of your ideas or responses about your topic and even if your thesis is too long or unfocused, you have generated ideas for it. Next, read it over and see what you need to take out and what sentences stand out as a final thesis.
3. Ask yourself a question about your topic and answer it simply (a thesis should always be in the form of a statement, not a question.) For example, you may ask what a particular character in a book represents. Answer that question in a few sentences, making sure you have an idea that can be expanded on in the body of the essay.
4. Try writing your thesis in a way that would be similar to the way you would explain to a good friend what your essay is about. Explain it simply, so that your friend understands what the point of your essay is. Next, put it into the proper wording for a paper, taking out any slang or extra words. Sometimes when you put aside the idea that you are writing a paper for a class and an instructor, your words and ideas flow more naturally.
5. Try developing the main points of the paragraphs of your essay. Start writing your paragraphs and when you are done look at them to see if a central theme begins to come to mind. If you have a thesis in mind, try to gear your paragraphs to that idea and then afterwards the exact wording of it may come to you more clearly. It can be difficult to know what the thesis of your paper is if you haven’t written a rough draft of it, so look at what you have written first and develop a thesis out of it after.
FINALIZING YOUR THESIS:
Now that you have a rough or ‘working’ thesis, you will want to clarify and focus it.
1. Writing in a very concise way can be the route to stating your thesis clearly and strongly and in just a few important sentences. Eliminate any words or phrases that are not completely necessary. Start with excess adjectives or adverbs. Check to see if the idea of each sentence connects to the idea of the following sentence. Take out any sentence where your ideas stray.
2. When the body of your essay is written, check your thesis statement to make sure you have covered it thoroughly, and that there is no sentence of it left unexplained. If you have a stray sentence that is not connected to the body of the essay, take it out.
3. Once you have a fairly finalized thesis, check it again for any clichés or commonly heard phrases. Rephrase them in a more unique way, but keep your words simple. Doing this allows for your original voice and ideas to come through.
4. A thesis statement should be fairly general. Take out anything that is too specific. For example, avoid using quotes or data at this point in the paper, unless you are using it very clearly to grab the reader’s attention and it relates directly to your thesis. Otherwise, your thesis statement can sound rambling.
5. Rethink your thesis one more time to see if it is truly connected to and explained by each paragraph of the paper. Ask yourself if it really controls each part of your essay. Add a phrase or sentence if you need to in order to sew the whole piece together and really have your thesis direct your essay.
A thesis really is important to writing an organized, coherent paper that a reader can understand. It is something that instructors quickly look for and it creates a first impression of the essay you are writing. And remember, a thesis is only as good as the rest of the essay that supports it, so be just as conscientious about your whole paper. Good Luck!
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