What Are We Talking About? 

About Thesis Statements, What Else?

Brought to you by the critical writing genius Irene Graham. She last upadated this page 12/15/2007

 Do you feel sometimes like your papers are unorganized?

Do people reading your essays get lost?

Do your essays ramble on without talking about a main point or subject?

If you  answered yes to any of these questions, you may suffer from the lack of a good thesis statement.  Thousands of students accross the nation currently suffer from this deadly disease, some have even been hospitalized. But don't lose hope, you can be helped.

Thesis statements can help you organize and focus your essays.    A thesis statement is a sentence or two in your paper (or even in an argument or a speech) that summarizes your analysis of the subject and explicates your opinion or stance about the subject.  Basically a thesis statement is a claim that you can later on support with evidence.

 A lack of one can be very serious indeed.  People reading your essay might suffer confusion, frustration, annoyance, and in some very bad cases drowsiness, a sudden loss of consciousness, and even a severe headache.     

But how can you avoid these rough consequences?   

 Most English teachers  prescribe that your thesis statement  should have at least these two important attributes:

1.  It should be clear.  The person reading your essay should be able to understand the topic.  If a statement is not clear, it would be like speaking to someone who is talking in a different language.  There are actually two parts to being clear. The first part is that the thesis statement has to be specific and the second part is that the statement has to have some sort of stance, opinion, or claim to it.

2. Thesis statements also should  be concise, like this. 

Let's talk about being clear, here is an example of a clear thesis staement that is specific and claims something about the subject:

Thesis statements are beneficial for English teachers' physical and mental health.

This Thesis Statement is clear because it shows exactly what the subject is (thesis statements), it clearly states what the author's opinion is (the key word here is "beneficial") and it is very specific about what exactly thesis statements are benificial for (English teachers' physical and mental health)

An unclear Thesis Statement would look more like this:

 

 (Warning, because the following statement is so unclear, it has been known to cause headaches, and in some cases slight disorientation.  Proceed with caution):  

 

Those things that English teachers like might be good, but then again, they probably could be very bad.

 

  Notice how the subject is not identified,the opinion is not clearly stated, and it is not very specific.  In general, when writing a thesis statement  you want to avoid words like "probably" or "could be" or "might" because those words will just confuse people.  You want people to know exactly what you think, so you use words that are definite, not nebulous words like "maybe".

 If you value the health of anyone who might read your essay, please do not ever write something like the statement above, unless you want that person to look like this:

click here if you want more practice identifying clear thesis statements

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Before we go on, take a look at this:

 

You're probably thinking, "AAAaaaaawww, what a cute widdle baby".  You are right, this baby is cute.  However, this baby is also an example oa a victim of an over-long thesis statement.  There is no way around it, long thesis statements tend to put your audience to sleep like this "widdle" baby right here.  If the person reading your essay has a strong enough will to stay awake, they'll still be really annoyed, someting that will hinder them from being persuaded by your opinion.  Usually, you want to keep your thesis statements down to one or two sentences, maybe even three but that is pushing the envelope.  If your thesis is longer than that, you  should think about taking the superfluous material out if you can.

If you want practice looking at concise thesis statements, click here

So, the moral is,  keep your thesis clear and concise, it's better for your health, and for the health of your audience.  Medical studies show that a good thesis will make someone look wide awake and amazed when they are done reading it.  Kinda like this:

or something close to that.

Need other medical help related to English Ailments? Go check out these related topics!

 Resources (without them, this project would not have been possible)

  • The Owl At Perdue-a website that is easy to navigate and that provides useful information related to writing, not just formal essays but other types of writing aswell, like creative or narrative writing.  This website provides many examples about the topics that it discusses and comes recomended by mulitple English teachers.  It is a very reliable resource. (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/)
  • The Writing Center-a website that is usually a resource for students at the University of North Carolina, but it can be easily used by any english student seeking help with his or her essay writing.  This website includes many handouts and aranges them in such a way so that they are easy to find, and easy to read.  It's even in alphabetical order.  This website is run by Englsih professors at the University of North Carolina. (http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/thesis.html)
  • Indiana Writing Services-this is another website run by a college, Indiana University.  This website is a tutorial service for the students of Indiana.  While it is not as easy to navigate as the other resources, it does have a lot of specific information about writing theses, and has sections like "How to tell a strong thesis from a weak thesis" which provide information that can greatly improve someone's writing ability.  This website is also run by college professors. (http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/thesis_statement.shtml )
  •  Harvard University Writing Tutorial-This website is not very easy to navigate and the graphics are not very pleasing to the eye (there were no graphics from what I saw) however, it is Harvard, and since they even have their own dictionary, I'm pretty sure they are reliable enough to know what makes a good thesis statement.  I must admit, it is very dreary and boring, but they do know what they are talking about. (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/documents/Thesis.html)
  • Dartmouth's Developing a Thesis-This website is a step up from the Harvard website.  Although like the Harvad website, it does not have that many colors, it does a very good job at describing the topic and informing students how to write well.  For example, in the thesis section it tells the student exactly what a good thesis is, and it even has a section that's all about whether the thesis statement make or break your grade.  This is another college website, and it is easy to navigate and well organized. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/ac_paper/develop.shtml)
  •  Youtube-this is a somewhat long (if you think 8 minutes is long) presentaion about thesis statements and conclusions presented by a professor of english and communications.  It is clear, it is somewhat goofy and funny, and it is a big help for both audio and visual learners. The professor gives specific examples of well written thesis statements, and identifies the main points of a thesis statement.  He even comes up with an equation about how to write a thesis statement for a specific topic.  I liked this video a lot.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaRI2hsmztA)

 

Works Cited

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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