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Defining The Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is the central idea of an essay that guides its content and reflects the writer's purpose. It should be clear, debatable, and focused on a specific issue, while an outline serves as a blueprint for organizing the essay's main ideas and supporting details. Effective thesis statements avoid overly opinionated stands, announcements, and mere facts, ensuring they provide a meaningful argument to support throughout the essay.

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25 views3 pages

Defining The Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is the central idea of an essay that guides its content and reflects the writer's purpose. It should be clear, debatable, and focused on a specific issue, while an outline serves as a blueprint for organizing the essay's main ideas and supporting details. Effective thesis statements avoid overly opinionated stands, announcements, and mere facts, ensuring they provide a meaningful argument to support throughout the essay.

Uploaded by

sergiobacamante26
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Defining the Thesis Statement

A Thesis statement is the central idea of an essay, around which all other ideas revolve. It is not just the
most important idea; it also controls the essay by determining what should you include in your work. In
one sentence, it reveals and summarizes the argument you intend to develop and defend.

The thesis statement reflects your purpose for writing. It is a constant reminder of your main point and
your stand, directing the entire flow of your writing. It should be clear that the thesis statement is not
the subject or topic itself, but an interpretation of the topic. A strong thesis statement usually contains
an element of uncertainty, risk, or challenge (Ramage, Bean and Johnson 2006:34). This means that your
thesis statement should offer a debatable claim that you can prove or disprove in your essay.

Formulating a Thesis Statement

The thesis statement comes as a result of pre – writing. It is the product of thinking about your ideas,
seeking evidence, and looking for relationships between these.

Example: “High school seniors who join the Reserve Officers Training Corps program develop better
leadership skills because of the discipline instilled in them by the program.”

Characteristics of an Effective Thesis Statement

How will you know if your thesis statement is strong? Below are the characteristics of an effective thesis
statement:

1. Responds to the assignment by following instructions


Going back to the instructions can assure you that your thesis statement is relevant and
addresses what your teacher has prescribed.
2. Expresses the main idea in one to two sentences
A thesis statement should be comprehensive yet concise because you will be spending the rest
of the paper proving your point.
3. Focuses on a specific issue
Your thesis statement should only discuss one or a few related issues.

4. States a stand on the topic It must reveal your attitude toward the topic.

5. Says something meaningful by answering the questions:” So what?” “ How?” “ why?”


Your thesis statement should be able to substantiate your claims by providing the reader
evidence, or an idea of how you intend to support your stand.

6. Previews the rest of the essay by being placed in the introduction.

7. Reflects a tone and point- of –view appropriate to the identified purpose and audience.

More guidelines on Writing Thesis Statements

1. Avoid making an overly–opinionated stands.


While a thesis statement needs to reveal your attitude toward the topic, be careful not to go to
the extremes and write a thesis statement with an exaggerated claim. This is because you need to
prove your thesis statement first, and avoid imposing your opinion on the reader. Ex. The officers of
the Reserve Officers Training Corps are merciless slave drivers who abuse their fellow students.
(Opinionated) The officers of the Reserve Officers Training Corps should exercise more responsibility
toward their authority by being sensitive to how they lead their fellow students. (correct)

2. Avoid making announcements.


Sometimes, it is just easier to tell your reader what they intend to write about. You might say, “In
this essay, I will be discussing the benefits of joining the Reserve Officers Training Corps.” The
problem with this statement is that it does not specify what those benefits are or what your attitude
toward the subject is.

3. Avoid stating only facts.


Do not rely on facts in your thesis statements because you will not have much room for
discussion. Remember that facts are generally not debatable as opinions. It must contain a position
that your readers can oppose.

Defining an Outline

The word “outline” can be intimidating, especially to the students. But if you know that a writer uses an
outline for an essay the way an architect uses a blueprint for a building, then you will have an easier time
understanding its purpose in the writing process.

Let us familiarize the concept of an outline.

An outline reveals the coherence and complexity of an essay. It requires the ability to locate the main
ideas of the text. In the same manner, it involves knowing how to distinguish ideas according to their
level of importance in the text. It is a summary that gives the essential features of a text. It shows how
the parts of a text are related to one another as parts that are of equal importance or sections that are
subordinate to a main idea. It is usually done before you write the first draft of your essay. However, you
can only outline something if you understand it.

Below are the steps that you can follow in creating a reading outline.

1. Read the entire text first. Skim the text afterwards.


Having an overview of reading’s content will help you follow its structure better.
2. Locate the main idea or thesis of the whole essay.
• Look at the title of the text.
• Look for heading, if any.
• Look for information that answers the question, “What is the text talking about?”
3. Look for key phrases in each paragraph of the essay.
4. Locate the topic sentence of the paragraph.
5. Depending on the length of the text, look at the topic sentences and group them with related ideas
together. See if they describe a process or are examples.
6. To logically organize information, the contents of the reading are arranged according to levels. A level
refers to the number of ranks in the hierarchy of information in the reading. Provide a general group
name for each group of topic sentences. These will be the main divisions of your outline, or the first
level. Label these with a Roman numeral. The topic sentences will be the subtopics, or the second level.
Label these with capital letters.
7. Evaluate the supporting details provided. 8. Go back to the text after you have finished your outline.

Example:
Antigone and Her Morality

Thesis: Antigone is a tragic heroine who believes in her moral duty to the gods over her duty to the state
and is willing to suffer the consequences in order to do what is morally right.

I. Antigone's justification of action


A. Her defiant speech against law of man
B. Her argument through Divine Law
II. Hamartia Theory
A. Antigone's tragic flaws
B. Human responsibility for action
C. Chorus points out character flaws
III. Divine injustice and the moral problem
A. Action involves suffering
B. Acknowledging moral order of the gods
IV. Divinity in man is morality

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