The Thesis Statement The main idea of an essay or report

written as a single declarative sentence.

Scribners Handbook for Writers

The thesis, then, is the main point of your essay summed up in a single sentence. In it, you tell the reader where you stand on the issue, what subtopics you intend to cover and in what order.

Readings for Writers (97)

What a Thesis should not be or do. . .• It is not a rhetorical question.

– Are there elements of Racism in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings?

• It is not a statement of purpose.

– This paper will show that the moral content of children’s

cartoons are too ambiguous to present acceptable behavior

models.

• It should not summarize known facts.

– AIDS is a usually fatal disease in which the body’s immune

system fails to resist infection..

• It should not be too general.

– The drug problem is something we need to solve.

Devising a Thesis Statement

• Claim about facts, argue that something exists, causes something else, or is defined in a particular way.

• Claims about value: make subjective statements about the worth of something.

• Claims about policy: state an action which must be taken.

“The Thesis” by Sheridan Baker• “Bad Essays come from Bad Beginnings.”

• If you do not find a thesis, your essay will be a tour the the miscellaneous.

• The “aboutness” puts an argumentative edge on an essay.

• The best kind of thesis is the kind that is an affront to someone.

• The more generally unpopular an idea the more unpopular the viewpoint, the stronger the thesis.

Should Christians be Confrontive?• Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without

which no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

• And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, `My house shall be called the house of prayer;’ but ye have made it a den of thieves (Mat. 21:12-13).

Helpful Sites

• “Creating Thesis Statements.” A PDF file which covers what one text describes as a thesis: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5288042/Creating-Thesis-Statements

• “Creating a Strong Thesis.” UWC (Undergrad Writing Center Handouts) http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/handouts/?q=node/45

• A PDF file with the same info: http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/handouts/files/Strong%20Thesis.pdf

• “Paper Writing” Evangel University http://www.evangel.edu/Academics/PaperWriting/index.as

• Baker Sheridan “The Keyhole.” http://www.evangel.edu/Academics/PaperWriting/images/keyhole.gif