The Thesis Statement

What is a thesis statement? A thesis statement is the most important sentence in your paper. A thesis statement tells your readers what your essay will be about. In other words, a thesis statement provides a forecast for the entire essay. The thesis statement comes at the end of your introduction.

One way to think about it: The thesis statement is to your whole essay what your topic sentence, or “point,” is to your body paragraphs. If something is in your thesis, it must be illustrated and explained somewhere in your essay.

One kind of thesis… … is the analytical thesis. An analytical thesis statement usually answers the question “How?”

“How? This refers to how the author chooses to write, or which rhetorical strategies s/he uses. How does he get our attention? How does she make us think?

What does this mean? The “How” question refers to how the author of a text goes about presenting information or stylistic choices to his readers. S/he specifically makes these decisions in order to fulfill the purpose of the essay. When you analyze your text, you choose one or two rhetorical strategies within the text to write about. There will be many strategies within an essay, but you will choose the examples that best illustrate your point.

Example thesis: This is the example from your assignment sheet: In Joe Smith’s “Education Should Be Free for Everyone,” he effectively uses pathos by including real-life examples and references to the values of his audience. How? = Which appeal is mentioned here? Which strategies are pointed out?

Rhetoric to be analyzed In Joe Smith’s “Education Should Be Free for Everyone,” he effectively uses pathos by including real- life examples and references to the values of his audience. Appeal: pathos Strategies: real life examples and references

One more addition: Your analysis essay will also tell how successfully (or not) the author uses your chosen strategies and fulfills his/her purpose in writing.

Some of the rhetorical strategies include: Using a specific tone or style (ethos) Using specific vocabulary choices (pathos) Organizing or structuring the text in a certain way (logos) Writing for a specific audience (ethos) Orchestrating a connection between the beginning and ending (logos – structure/organization) Using figurative language (pathos - emotion)

Look at a student example: She efficiently provides concrete evidence to describe the harmful effects of chemicals in our environment. In addition, her figurative language highlights the dangers these chemicals pose. Which strategies will this paper analyze?

Rhetoric to be analyzed She efficiently provides concrete evidence to describe the harmful effects of chemicals in our environment. In addition, her figurative language highlights the dangers these chemicals pose. Evidence (logos) Figurative language (pathos)

For this essay you also need… Evaluation How well did the author use the strategies you mention? Was the author successful in fulfilling her purpose?

… so you add one more piece to the thesis. Because the thesis is pretty long, you could do this simply: try for an adverb. In Joe Smith’s “Education Should Be Free for Everyone,” he effectively uses pathos by including real-life examples and references to the values of his audience. Where’s the adverb? Is it positive or negative?

Our other example: She efficiently provides concrete evidence to describe the harmful effects of chemicals in our environment. In addition, her figurative language highlights the dangers these chemicals pose. Where’s the adverb? Is it positive or negative?

Additionally, your thesis statement should meet the following requirements: 1. It should be interesting to your readers. Your brain works differently than anyone else’s in this room. Show us a point of view or a perspective we might not have considered before.

… and … 2. It should have precise and specific wording. Try not to use the same words everyone else will use (good, well, bad, etc.).

… and … 3. It should be manageable. Don’t try to cover every bit of your paper. Make it broad enough that it covers the whole paper. Simplify! Note: If you’ve mentioned the author’s full name in the introduction, you can use her/his last name only in the thesis statement. This might help you simplify.

Last but not least Understand that your thesis statement might, and probably will, change as you draft and revise. Oftentimes when we are writing, our ideas becomes clearer or sometimes even shift to a slightly different interpretation. THIS IS OKAY.

The “Working Thesis” Sometimes writers wait until they have drafted an entire paper before truly shaping their thesis statement. They begin with a rough statement, almost a sketch, of what they want their thesis to be, then they write the essay, then they go back and refine the thesis. The rough draft of a thesis statement is called a “working thesis.”

Start here: Title Author How? ( = Strategies!) Does it work? The necessary ingredients to your thesis for this paper: Title Author How? ( = Strategies!) Does it work?