When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.
Length: A thesis statement can be short or long, depending on how many points it mentions. Typically, however, it is only one concise sentence. It does contain at least two clauses, usually an independent clause the opinion and a dependent clause the reasons. You probably should aim for a single sentence that is at least two lines, or about 30 to 40 words long.
Position: A thesis statement always belongs at the beginning of an essay. This is because it is a sentence that tells the reader what the writer is going to discuss. Teachers will have different preferences for the precise location of the thesis, but a good rule of thumb is in the introduction paragraph, within the last two or three sentences.
Strength: Finally, for a persuasive thesis to be strong, it needs to be arguable. This means that the statement is not obvious, and it is not something that everyone agrees is true. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are easy to make because it just takes three ingredients. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are fun to eat because they always slide around. Composing a thesis statement does take a bit more thought than many other parts of an essay.
However, because a thesis statement can contain an entire argument in just a few words, it is worth taking the extra time to compose this sentence.
It can direct your research and your argument so that your essay is tight, focused, and makes readers think. Claims of fact or definition: These claims argue about what the definition of something is or whether something is a settled fact. Claims of cause and effect: These claims argue that one person, thing, or event caused another thing or event to occur.
Claims about value: These are claims made of what something is worth, whether we value it or not, how we would rate or categorize something. Claims about solutions or policies: These are claims that argue for or against a certain solution or policy approach to a problem.
Which type of claim is right for your argument? Which type of thesis or claim you use for your argument will depend on your position and knowledge of the topic, your audience, and the context of your paper. You might want to think about where you imagine your audience to be on this topic and pinpoint where you think the biggest difference in viewpoints might be. Even if you start with one type of claim you probably will be using several within the paper.
Regardless of the type of claim you choose to utilize it is key to identify the controversy or debate you are addressing and to define your position early on in the paper. At least 25 percent of the federal budget should be spent on limiting pollution. At least 25 percent of the federal budget should be spent on helping upgrade business to clean technologies, researching renewable energy sources, and planting more trees in order to control or eliminate pollution.
America's anti-pollution efforts should focus on privately owned cars because it would allow most citizens to contribute to national efforts and care about the outcome. While some pundits have framed a four-year college education as something necessary for adult success, this notion should not be treated as a given.
If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading. An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim.
This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim.
A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible. Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent. Skip to main content. Main Menu Utility Menu Search. Contact Us.
Steps in Constructing a Thesis First, analyze your primary sources. Michael Dukakis lost the presidential election because he failed to campaign vigorously after the Democratic National Convention. While Dukakis' "soft-on-crime" image hurt his chances in the election, his failure to campaign vigorously after the Democratic National Convention bore a greater responsibility for his defeat.
Some Caveats and Some Examples A thesis is never a question.
0コメント