Workshop Exercise Week 5 Developing a Thesis Stat Essays - Writing

Workshop Exercise Week 5: Developing a Thesis Statement in Response to An Essay Topic For the mid-term essay, you have been given a list of topics to write about in relation to either Great Expectations or Jane Eyre. In university essays (unlike Leaving Cert essays, which are more like summaries or checklists of everything you know about a text or subject), you are expected to to formulate an argument in response to your chosen topic which is articulated in a thesis statement in your introductory paragraph. Furthermore, you are expected to analyze both the "content" and the "form" of the text and base your argument on evidence (citation and analysis) from the primary text and from secondary sources of scholarly criticism. Complete the exercise on pages 3-5 (section II of this handout) and bring it to your Workshop in Week 5. This exercise is designed to help you develop a thesis statement which expresses the argument you will make about your chosen topic and which includes of analysis of both the "content" and the "form" of the text. Note: you may decide to change your thesis statement, topic, or chosen text after this workshop. The exercise is designed to help start you thinking what you might write about, which might change as you work through it. Be prepared to peer-review your thesis statement in class. After the exercise is a list of peer-review questions (section III), followed by an appendix of materials (section IV) that can give you further guidance in developing a thesis statement. I What is a Thesis Statement? If your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. When an assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively. A thesis statement... . Tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion. . Is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper. . Directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a topic or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be 19th-century gender roles or Alice in Wonderland; a thesis must then offer a way to understand gender roles or the novel. . Makes a claim-an argument- that others might dispute. . Is usually a single sentence near the end of your first paragraph that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation. The conclusion usually reiterates the thesis statement and summarizes how you have demonstrated its truth. Some Caveats and Examples: . An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?) . A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue-that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay. . A thesis is never a question. Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water. . A thesis is never a list. "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay-a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social