You’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?

Its helpful to think of your thesis as a one-sentence summary of your essay topic and your attitude or opinion of your topic. In essence your essay will explain and elaborate on 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 your thesis statement should be

“The Internet has an impact on college life.”

then writing an essay describing the fact that the Internet does have an effect on college life would be to make a general observation. You wouldn’t be engaged in an analytical discussion about a topic because you fail to explain 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? 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 never want to do that. Instead, argue a particular side but acknowledge briefly the opposing viewpoint – what they 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 your opinion of the topic . But where in your essay should you insert the thesis statement? Generally your thesis should be placed at the end of your introduction paragraph. Because the thesis lets your reader know exactly what the essay will cover, it should be placed in your intro after your attention-grabbing sentence(s). 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

 

 THE BLUE LIGHT show - A Reading From Genesis: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Introducing the Valparaiso University Writing Center’s first shot at having a podcast! We’re excited to explore all of the possibilities– from recorded rants about thesis statements to readings from CORE.

Our first podcast is a reading of Genesis, trying to bring to life the oral tradition from which it came. We *totally* took advantage of the sound effects and music to create a space for the story to come to life.

Listen, then give us a sentence or two about what you think of our first podcast. Do you have any ideas? What worked for you? What would you like to hear?

When you sit down to write your papers, you probably have a couple goals in mind:
1) getting the paper done by the deadline (which might be very soon),
2) answering the prompt in such a way as to obtain an “A” or at least a passing grade, and 3) providing evidence and support for that prompt from either the text that you’re discussing (CORE or CC) or from various bibliographic sources (for your history, economic, business classes). Thinking about how your writing style, word choice, thesis and argument affects the strength and personality of your writing voice…probably not on your radar, especially not at 3:00 am the day before your paper is due.

BUT I would like to argue that thinking about your writing voice is one of the most important things you can do to develop good writing (and good grades) both when you are taking some time to improve your writing skills and when you’re staring down the gauntlet at the paper due date.

A few reasons why:
–If you assert a weak thesis and argument in a strong manner, your paper still may be better than a paper with a strong thesis that is clouded by and unclear paper structure, poor word choice, and long, complicated sentences. And conversely even if you assert a strong thesis, if your voice is weak then your paper will be weak.
–A paper with a confident tone and clear ideas is more enjoyable to read from a professor’s (and writing consultant’s) standpoint.
–Writing is more fun when you feel confident in what you’re saying and you have the tools to know how to say what you want well.
–Being aware of your style and writing habits (both bad and good) can tell you what mistakes to look for in earlier drafts, what to focus on in your writing, and how much time and effort you’ll need to put into different aspects of your writing. [For example, if you’re great at using imagery and making your voice unique and accessible, you’ll probably have little problem writing narrative essays, but you might have more difficulty confining yourself to a thesis and a more formulaic writing prompt].

So, given these reasons what are a few things you can do to develop your writing voice?

–Save your first drafts and your early papers, wait a few weeks and then look for your own bad writing habits - are my sentences simple or complex? do I use a lot of prepositional phrases and extra clauses? do i focus on my thesis and refer back to it throughout my paper or do i find my thesis after writing a draft? (You could set up an appointment at the writing center and have a consultant go through these with you!)

–Name three ways that make your writing different from the writing of your peers (perhaps after you do a peer review). For example, perhaps you are most comfortable with short, clear sentences or maybe you’re great at using metaphors. In your next paper, focus on those strengths and begin to intentionally work on strengthening your writing gifts in those areas. When you’re confident in how you structure your ideas, your writing voice will take on a new tone of authority, and that’s the goal!

–Pick up one of your favorite authors or borrow a classmate’s paper (preferably someone who got an A!) and notice how they use their language. Why is it that you pay attention to what they are saying? Anything noticeable about the way they present their ideas? Interesting word choice? Sentence structure? Think about ways you can synthesize some of these ideas into your own voice and make it into your own.

Easy Tidbits for you last-minute writers (give yourself 20 minutes to work on voice stuff):
–Scratch all passive sentences and change them to active voice wherever possible.
–Use active verbs and descriptive adjectives.
–Scratch ALL COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE! Do not dumb down your prose! If it sounds like something you wouldn’t say when you’re dressed up in a suit and giving a formal presentation in front of the peers you respect the most…it shouldn’t be in your paper either.
–Look at your introduction and conclusion: make sure they are concise and not broad but focus on getting your reader to your thesis/subject of the paper and then provide a way of tying up loose ends in your conclusion and answering the question “why I read this.” If you structure your ideas well at the beginning and end it will at least structure and frame any madness that is in the body of your paper.

Good Luck! And come in and talk to me on Thursday and Friday afternoons if you’d like to really make your voice come through strong on paper!

Your friendly writing center consultant,

Hannah Cartwright

We’d love to talk about your first Text & Context class. Many writing consultants remember those Saturday morning papers! James, Brianne, Robbie, Claire, and Caitlin are anxious to help you meet your prof’s expectations. Stop by midweek to discuss the works or your thesis. Friday afternoons some of these CC upperclassemen will be here to help.