Thesis Statements - A Road Map for Your Paper

Thesis

Statements

- The thesis statement is the one sentence that tells your readers what your paper will be about.

- Thesis statements change slightly depending on the mode of writing you have chosen.

- I view it as the "heart" of the essay. All ideas circle back to support the thesis statement.

• Closed Thesis Statement – main points are stated and each point represents the main idea for each body paragraph (essays with this type of thesis are typically five paragraph essays)

• Greece is a wonderful place to visit because of its rich history, beautiful location, and language.

Closed Thesis Statements

Open Thesis Statements

• Open Thesis Statement – without the main points (allows for flexibility to speak on various main ideas within the body of the essay…as long as there is unity and it all circles back to and supports the thesis).

• Greece is a wonderful place to visit because of its long-living vibrant culture..

One other thing...

• Either format is correct. The open thesis statement allows for flexibility – particularly helpful when one is in college since essays can be of any length. One of the down sides is that a writer might lose his/her direction, so it’s important to stay on track and to always reiterate the thesis throughout your essay. 

Examples

• Learning to write outside the box, while maintaining unity and direction, is a challenging and rewarding experience.

• My Big Fat Greek Wedding is an entertaining movie because of the humorous collision that takes place between two cultures.

• Due to the financial burdens a couple might face, an expensive wedding may not be a wise decision.

• Home economic and personal finance classes are important for high school students because these courses help prepare them for the future.

Another look at the examples...

• Learning to write outside the box is a challenging and rewarding experience.

• My Big Fat Greek Wedding is and entertaining movie.

• An expensive wedding may not be a wise decision.

• Home economic and personal finance classes are important for high school students.

* These examples do not answer the “so what” question and are weak thesis statements.

Activity

• For our activity, scan the QR Code below or type in the URL. When you access the document below, please make a copy or copy and paste onto another document and share it with me.

https://bit.ly/42ecPRP

- One very important aspect in writing is the realization of your audience.

- Having a strong thesis statement helps build trust with your audience, thus boosting your ethos!

- Consider the questions below:

1) Who are my readers?

2) What do they believe?

3) What common ground do we share?

4) What do I want my readers to believe?

5) What do they need to know?

6) Why should they care?

(Barnet et al 236)

Things to keep in mind...

Works Cited

Barnet, Sylvan, et al. Critical Thinking, Reading

and Writing: A Brief Guide to Argument. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2017.

Chang, T. “Assignment Writing for Sociology

Students,”Language and Learning. Monash University, 1992.. 

Works Cited