Essay Writing: Structure Guidelines: Thesis Presentation and Lessons

Thesis Presentation and Lessons

Automated Thesis Presentation

There is no sound to the presentation. The slides move on, automatically, after 10 seconds. However, you can scroll along the time display bar to see a slide again, or you can use the pause button to hold the slide in place until you are finished reading it.

When you get to the question section of the presentation--where I show you two sentences and you choose which one is REALLY a thesis--you will want to use the pause button to have plenty of time to read the sentences and choose which one is the correct answer.

Click the video to begin the presentation.

Additional THESIS Lessons

Chapter Quick Reviews: Just in Time

Quick Reviews Developing a Strong Thesis Statement
Book Title: The Well-Crafted Argument: A Guide and Reader
© 2018 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

Developing a Strong Thesis Statement

A strong thesis statement expresses a clear point of view about a topic. As the controlling statement of your paper, it should be general enough to encompass everything you want to discuss but specific enough to provide a focus for your writing. It can present a single idea or a set of points that indicate what you will discuss.

Examples

Women developed many creative ways to save money and stretch limited resources during the Great Depression. (single idea)

During the Great Depression, women contributed to household budgets in several ways: they worked outside the home, grew and preserved food, and recycled. (set of points)

Developing an Opinion

Once you have a narrowed topic, you want to develop a critical opinion about it that you can support with facts and other evidence. Think about a question you want to answer. For example, suppose your communications instructor asks you to write about social media. Based on your experiences, you decide you want to answer the question, “Are the negative aspects of Facebook outweighed by the positives?” After doing some research you develop this thesis statement, which provides an answer to your question:

Example

Although Facebook can be addictive, distracting, and gossipy, these disadvantages are outweighed by the benefits: it provides a way for friends and family in faraway places to stay in touch, enables the shy and homebound to find friends and communicate, and allows old friends to reconnect.

This is an opinion you can support with a variety of evidence, and it outlines for your reader what you will discuss in your essay.

Another way to develop a thesis statement is to group ideas. Revisit the brainstorming or freewriting you did when you were narrowing your topic and highlight or underline related ideas. Look for the ways they connect to develop an opinion about your topic. For example, maybe you have brainstormed about Mussolini and Hitler for a history paper. By identifying the ideas that indicate the similarities and differences between them, you could come up with a thesis that compares and contrast them:

Example

Mussolini and Hitler shared many characteristics, but Hitler was focused on obtaining personal power while Mussolini was more concerned with enhancing the power and standing of Italy.

You can also categorize your ideas into causes and effects, advantages and disadvantages, and so on to discover a critical opinion.

As you work on your thesis statement, take time to try different approaches to the same topic. Look for fresh and original perspectives. Avoid announcements such as, “In this essay I will discuss the similarities and differences between Mussolini and Hitler.” Also, keep in mind that as you conduct more research, think about your topic, and complete a first draft of your essay, your views might change, and you might need to revisit and rewrite your thesis statement.

What is a Thesis Statement? - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com