Lesson Topic 2: Taming the Thesis

What is the Thesis Statement?

An illustrated pencil writes a question mark. If you enjoy the historical background of the novel, you might choose to focus on the similarities between the novel and history. However, maybe the characters interest you. If you would like to write about the characters, you could use a compare and contrast model to write your thesis. If the bigger picture of the novel interests you, you might focus on the theme of the novel, and how the theme continuously appears throughout the novel. Remember that the theme is the main idea of a novel. For example, the theme of friendship appears throughout the novel Bridge to Terabithia. Whatever topic you choose, make sure that you can find information from secondary sources to support your claims.

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. Your thesis statement should always include the title of the text and the author of your primary source. Also, you want your thesis statement to be broad enough to write about many different pieces of information.

The thesis statement reveals what the entire paper will be about, so this particular part of the essay serves as an anchor, and the thesis statement always appears at the end of the introduction paragraph. Without a properly written thesis statement, the reader will not have a clear understanding of the topic of the essay.

How Do I Construct a Thesis Statement?

The best way to write a proper thesis statement is to turn an essay prompt into a statement. A prompt is just an essay question. A prompt for an essay about spiders might be: Why are certain spiders venomous?

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 your topic. For example, "Certain spiders are venomous because they have to survive in difficult habitats." Use the words from the essay prompt in order to write your thesis statement.

When you write 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 you choose to write about. If you are writing about the characters in Bridge to Terabithia, your thesis statement might appear like this: In Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, many character foils appear throughout the novel. Then, the reader has the title of the text, the author of the text, and what you are writing about in your essay.

Practice

Now, you will have the chance to determine if certain thesis statements are written correctly. Remember that if the thesis statement is about a book, play, or other work of literature, you must include the title and author of the text.

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