WRW-Crafting the Thesis Lesson

Crafting the Thesis

What is a Thesis Statement?

Writing a thesis can be a difficult part of starting an essay because the thesis statement is the main focus of the paper. Therefore, the thesis statement is also the most important part of writing an essay. The thesis statement should always include the title of the text and the author of the primary source that serves as the subject of the essay.  

The thesis statement reveals what the entire paper will be about, so this particular part of the essay serves as an anchor. Make sure that the thesis statement appears as the last sentence in the introduction paragraph. Without a properly written thesis statement, the essay will not have a clear topic, and cohesion, or organization, will not appear.

Creating a Thesis Statement

The best way to write a proper thesis statement is to turn an essay prompt into a statement. A prompt is simply a question regarding the text or topic a student might write about. A prompt for an essay about Romeo and Juliet might be: "How are Romeo and Juliet similar and different?"

In order to create a thesis statement from the above prompt, change the question into a statement and add a little bit of information regarding the topic. For example: In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet have many similarities and differences regarding their choices in love. If the essay is not about a work of literature, a writer can still change the prompt, or question, into a statement for a clear thesis. For example: Should students be required to wear uniforms to school? The thesis statement for the above prompt might read: Students should not be required to wear uniforms to school because a uniform rule violates student rights.

Taking the essay question and changing the prompt into a statement allows the writer to create a clear thesis statement for the reader. With a clear thesis, the writer can align the rest of the ideas and the essay to the main topic.

When writing a thesis statement about a book, play, or other work of literature, make sure to include the author's name and the title of the text. If writing about the characters in a certain novel, the thesis statement might appear like this: In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, many character foils appear throughout the novel. Then, the reader has the title of the text, the author of the text, and the topic of the essay.

Thesis Errors

Many people learn to write a thesis statement with three points. These types of thesis statements are called the three-point thesis statements. A three-point thesis statement might look like this:

Ex: In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet are similar in how they disobey their parents, leave their families, and end their own lives.

In certain subject, like speech, three-point thesis statements serve the listeners by outlining the topics. However, in writing, the three-point thesis creates an essay that is too formulaic and does not show higher-level thinking. Therefore, as higher-level thinkers, writers need to stay away from crafting a three-point thesis. Instead, try to follow the concepts in creating a broad thesis where body paragraphs can align to the topic.

Now, practice determining if the following thesis statements are written correctly or incorrectly by placing the statements in the appropriate category.

Practice

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