How to write a Thesis Statement

1. How to write a Thesis Statement

2. What is it? Your thesis is the basic stand you take, the opinion you express, and the central point you wish to make.

3. What is it? • Your thesis is your controlling idea, tying together all of the separate elements and ideas in your paper.

4. Most Important!!!! Your thesis statement MUST contain two parts, a SUBJECT (the who or what your paper is about)

5. Most Important!!!! and an OPINION your assertion or observation about that subject. Must be arguable.

6. Let’s start Start by writing a one-sentence statement called a thesis statement. For example….

7. Let’s start • Mrs. G (subject) is an awesome English teacher (opinion about subject). 2. Mrs. G’s enthusiasm for British literature (subject) enthralls her students(opinion).

8. A Thesis is not… 1. A Thesis is not a Title “An Enlightening Experience”

9. Thesis Statement: My first day at Rockwall High School was an enlightening experience.

10. A Thesis is not… 2. A Thesis is not an Announcement of the Subject: This paper will attempt to explain why the Rockwall High School cafeteria is so crowded.

11. Thesis Statement: The growing student population of Rockwall High School crowds the cafeteria and makes having a relaxing lunch very difficult.

12. A Thesis is not… 3. A Thesis Statement is Not a Statement of Absolute Fact: * A thesis makes a judgment or interpretation. * There’s no way to spend a whole paper supporting a statement that needs no support.

13. A Thesis is not… Fact: Not Thesis 1. Mrs. G likes the Beatles. 2. Rockwall High School’s colors are orange and white.

14. What a Good Thesis Is A Good Thesis is Focused. It deals with focused, detailed issues rather than broad issues that would require a lifetime to discuss intelligently.

15. What a Good Thesis Is The more focused the thesis, the better the chances are for supporting it fully and the more interesting your essay will be.

16. Samples Poor Statement: The boys are either mean or savage. Better Statement: Roger’s actions represent the basic cruelty inherent in every human being.

17. Samples Poor Statement: People are too selfish. Better Statement: Selfishness is seen at its worst the day after Thanksgiving when people are desperate for holiday bargains.

18. Checklist for an effective thesis: __ The thesis statement presents an opinion that is sufficiently limited. __ The thesis statement answers “So What” by saying something meaningful.”

19. Checklist for an effective thesis: __ The thesis statement presents an arguable statement which can be supported and is worth exploring. __ The thesis statement answers all parts of the question or prompt.

20. Checklist for an effective thesis: __ The thesis statement asserts a single idea. (No more than one!) __ The thesis statement is located at the beginning of the paper.

21. A Good Thesis is Specific. • There is not enough time to be vague! “The new gym is impressive,” for example, could mean anything from impressively beautiful to impressively ugly.

22. A Good Thesis is Specific. • With a thesis statement like “Our principal is cool,” you would probably have to spend more words defining “cool” than discussing the principal.

23. A Good Thesis is Specific. Vague language is often unarguable and usually BORING!

24. TWO MAIN VALUES of the thesis statement. 1. It serves as a test of whether your main idea meets the requirements above; AND…

25. TWO MAIN VALUES of the thesis statement. 2. It constantly reminds you of the point your paper must make and is therefore an indispensable means of determining the relevancy or irrelevancy, the logic or lack of logic, of all the material that goes into the paper.