Thesis Statement Role Characteristics

Role of Thesis Statement States IN A SINGLE SENTENCE what the argument of the essay will be Every paragraph must support some aspect of it (it defines the structure to follow) Therefore, Provides STRUCTURE for the Essay Helps the Writer and Helps the reader

A Good Thesis Statement must be UNIFIED: since the thesis statement provides the structure and argument for the essay, it must have only one main clause, or you will have a divided paper FOCUSED: the thesis statement must provide a focus for the analysis that will follow since all analysis will point back to some aspect of it. ASSERTIVE: must provide a point for the essay

AVOID Use of “to be” verbs in thesis statement especially if the predicate merely renames the subject (Predicate Nominative or Predicate Adjective) e/.g. “Okonkwo is an ideal Ibo warrior.” Vague predicates –Interesting –Great –Important –Really good

Sample problems “Okonkwo is an ideal warrior among the Ibo.” “Okonkwo exhibits many Ibo ideals, but the Ibo have an imbalanced view of gender, like Creon. “Okonkwo fails to grow.”

Does this Work? Although Okonkwo exhibits many masculine ideals of the Ibo people, he fails to learn the deeper foundation of these values in the feminine because fear and rigidity prevent him from fully growing up.

Does this Work? Okonkwo’s rigidity, motivated by a fear of being like his father, helps him achieve great things, but ironically leads to his downfall, due to his inability to adapt to change.