Thesis Writing Workshop
Ready... Aim... Write!From the famous film that followed the military career of Chris Kyle, American Sniper, the quote "Aim small, miss small" comes to mind when considering the importance of building strong a thesis statement.
Imagine you are Chris Kyle. Your goal, instead of a bullseye, is a well written final research paper. Instead of using a scope to guide your gun to the target, you are using a specific thesis statement to guide your essay to completion. Just like Chris Kyle, the better the aim and specific direction of the thesis statement, the better the rest of the paper will be. Although thesis statements can be complex and worked and reworked, I have broken them down into 3 simple categories. In order for you to have a good research paper, your thesis statement must hit all 3 of these requirements. 1. Must Be Specific Here, we want to "Aim small, miss small." There should be no question as to exactly what you are arguing. 2. Must Be Argumentative You MUST choose a side. This means that you are responsible to argue a specific point of view on your research topic. If you decide to research school start times, you must decide whether you want school start times to be earlier or later and then write a thesis statement based on that point of view. 3. Must be Debatable This may sound the same as being "argumentative," but it is possible to argue without being "debatable." Basically, HAVE A BACKBONE. Please don't tell me in your thesis statement that the sky is blue, or reading is good, or people have hair. Pick a thesis statement that someone else can argue with you about. Last time I checked, no one is arguing with the fact that the sky is blue. |
Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle is 2014's American Sniper.
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Samples of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
The Topic- Pollution
Thesis #1- The Ugly
"Pollution is detrimental for society." This violates rule #1. IT MUST BE SPECIFIC! This thesis statement is too broad. What kind of pollution? How is it detrimental? What society? How would this affect my paper? This thesis statement would be it difficult to keep your paper focused. Thesis #2- The Bad
¨Over the past several decades, there has been much debate about whether or not the depletion of the ozone layer is naturally caused or caused by humanity.¨ This Violates Rule #2 It MUST BE ARGUMENTATIVE This thesis statement is stating that some people somewhere have opinions on this topic. However, YOU are one of those people and YOU need to have one of these opinions. Pick a side, whose fault is it? How would this affect my paper? You would find yourself defending each side of the argument equally. You would be explaining rather than arguing. |
Thesis #3-The Bad
"Over the past several decades, there has been intensive research surrounding the depletion of the ozone layer and it is clear that pollution, in all forms, netatively contributes to nature.¨ This Violates Rule #3 IT MUST BE DEBATABLE! This statement is very specific, but it argues a point that no one will debate. It would be difficult to find anyone to disagrees that pollution is bad for the environment How would this affect my paper? This thesis statement would be hard to find current research and no counterarguments could be addressed. It is not a subject being researched anymore. Thesis #4- The Good
¨What some people refer to as global warming is actually nothing more than normal, long-term cycles of climate change.¨ This Satisfies All 3 Rules It is specific about its claim about what global warming is. It is argumentative because it argues that global warming is a natural cause and not created by humans. It is debatable because someone could argue that global warming is caused by humans. How would this affect my paper? Your paper would be easy to find research for, have a clear purpose, and stay focused throughout the paper. A great start! Remember, ¨Aim small, miss small.¨ |
More Good Thesis Statements |
Thesis Practice. Collected as HW. |