Thesis Statement Construction: Ingredients for an Effective Statement of Purpose

Characteristics of a good thesis statement: 1. A good thesis is specific and clear. A good thesis deals with restricted, “bite-size” issues. Restrict the thesis so that you may explore it fully in your paper.

2. A good thesis statement proves something or takes a stand on an issue. A good thesis proves something, and the rest of the paper is a defense of that thesis. Therefore, be sure there is another side to the thesis that someone else could prove.

Examples: Better: Poor: To please a varied Elizabethan audience, William Shakespeare included many forms of the supernatural in his play Macbeth. Poor: William Shakespeare wrote many great plays and poems during the Elizabethean Era.

Mark Twain wrote many plays and short stories. Good or Bad? The life of Samuel Clemens greatly impacted his short stories and novels, especially Huckleberry Finn and “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calvaras County.” Mark Twain wrote many plays and short stories.

3. A good writer states his or her thesis in one carefully worded sentence.

4. A good thesis statement contains a present or past, simple tense main verb that is an action, not a linking verb. Use “literary present” tense to discuss literature. The tense of the thesis indicates the primary tense chosen for the rest of the paper. Choose a strong verb.

Examples: Robert Browning was a significant Victorian poet who authored “My Last Duchess,” a dramatic monologue. Victorian writer Robert Browning immortalizes the dramatic monologue and captures the essence of the Renaissance in his poem, “My Last Duchess.”

A good thesis statement contains “so whatness.” Read your thesis. Ask yourself, “So what?” Your thesis should answer that question.

6. Check your thesis for the following components: Name of the author Name of the primary source Genre of the primary source Action verb “So whatness” Sense of “proving” something

Sample Thesis Statement In her short story “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin uses setting and the characterization of Mrs. Mallard to criticize marriage, asserting that women lose their freedom, their power, and their personal identities when they marry.

Topic Sentences Topic sentences should state the literary element and how it contributes to the theme EX. Chopin’s characterization of the protagonist, Louise Mallard, represents the repression of women by marriage. EX. Chopin uses symbolism in her setting to criticize the effects of marriage on women.