8/13/2019 Essays - Thesis Statement

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Essays: The Thesis Statement

Since the thesis statement should tell your reader exactly what the mainargument of your essay is, the strength of your essay largely depends upon howwell your thesis statement is written. Below are the characteristics of a goodthesis statement:

A good thesis statement is argumentative.

Bad: In this paper, I will discuss the effect that exposure toviolence on television has on the behaviour of youngchildren.

his is a statement describing what the author will discuss in his or herpaper! it is not an argument.

Better: "hildren who are exposed to violence on television do notexhibit more violent behaviour than children who are notexposed to such programs.

his is an argument because it answers the #uestion: $does violence ontelevision promote violent behaviour in young children%& he author haschosen to argue that television violence does not promote violentbehaviour in young children.

A good thesis statement is controversial.

Bad: 'ven though he is the protagonist of (. ). Barrie&s novel,*eter *an is not an entirely good person.

+ell, duh Anyone who lures innocent children away from their homes isusually not considered to be an entirely good person. his thesisstatement is not controversial because the reader, no matter how much heor she li-es *eter *an, will not have much difficulty agreeing with it.

Better: An examination of the narrator&s attitude in Peter Panreveals that it is "aptain oo-, not *eter, who is the trulyheroic figure in (. ). Barrie&s novel.

8/13/2019 Essays - Thesis Statement

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his thesis statement is controversial because it contradicts the reader&spre/conceived notions of who the villain and the hero are in Barrie&s novel.he reader is less li-ely to agree with this statement initially.

A good thesis statement is specific

Bad: *eter the 0reat attempted to moderni1e 2ussia.

his statement is too general. 3ne could write a boo- about how *eter the0reat tried to moderni1e his country.

Better: *eter the 0reat&s foreign and domestic policies reflected hisdetermination to westerni1e 2ussia by means of changeimposed from above.

his statement is more specific because it defines what moderni1ationmeant to *eter the 0reat 4westerni1ation5, and it states the methods heused in his attempt to westerni1e 2ussia 4change imposed from above viaforeign and domestic policies5.

A good thesis statement is analytical.

Bad: *lato&s assertion that poetry is an imitative art isunconvincing.

his thesis statement expresses the author&s position, but it does notexpress whythe author finds *lato&s assertion about poetry unconvincing.6or all the reader -nows, the author could be a poet who does not wish tofind anything convincing about *lato&s position on poetry.

Better: he arguments that *lato presents to prove his claims aboutpoetry are unsound because they rely on faulty analogies,and ignore contradictory evidence.

his thesis statement tells the reader that the author has analy1ed *lato&sarguments, and has subse#uently found them to be unsound.