Writing a Thesis Statement July 2, 2008
Posted by jhicks in : Essay Planning, Uncategorized , trackbackYou’ve probably heard time and again how important it is to have a thesis statement in your essay. But what exactly is a thesis statement, and where in your essay should you put your thesis once you’ve come up with it?
It’s helpful to think of your thesis as a one-sentence summary of your essay topic and an attitude or position related to your topic. In essence, your essay will explain, elaborate, and defend your thesis in much greater detail.
For example, let’s say you find yourself writing about the following topic
the Internet and its effect on college life
and you decide that in your first draft your thesis statement should be
“The Internet has an impact on college life.”
Writing an essay explaining the fact that the Internet does have an effect on college life would be defending a general observation. You wouldn’t be engaged in an analytical discussion about a topic because the thesis does not include how this topic is significant. Instead, as one of my old profs would say, you’d be writing a “duh” paper. It’s clear that the Internet has an impact on college life. So what?
In order to write an effective essay about the Internet and its effect on college life, you would have to include your take on this matter; that is, how this topic is significant in your eyes. Is the Internet beneficial for students? How so? Or do you feel that the Internet (and all the time spent on Facebook and Myspace) is too much of a distraction for college students? How so? You should also define what kind of Internet activity you are referring to–entertainment or access to research materials. Remember also that you should choose a side and stick with it. To say that the Internet has both positive and negative aspects would be “straddling the fence,” and you rarely want to do that. Instead, argue a particular side but acknowledge briefly the opposing viewpoint – what others believe, why they believe it, and what makes their belief wrong in your eyes.
Thus an effective thesis statement, which will be argued throughout the rest of the essay, will include a topic and an opinion or attitude to defend. But where in your essay should you insert the thesis statement? Many students place the thesis at the end of the introduction paragraph. This way the reader will know exactly what you’re arguing and will be able to follow along as you explain and prove your thesis.
Eric Gutierrez
Writing Center Consultant
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