Freshmen Academic English
Expository Essay- The Thesis Statement
A thesis statement, in an essay, is a sentence that explicitly identifies the purpose of the paper or previews its main ideas.
A thesis statement is an assertion, not a statement of fact or an observation.
* Fact or observation: People use many lawn chemicals.
* Thesis: People are poisoning the environment with chemicals merely to
keep their lawns clean.
A thesis takes a stand rather than announcing a subject.
* Announcement: The thesis of this paper is the difficulty of solving our environmental problems.
* Thesis: Solving our environmental problems is more difficult than many environmentalists believe.
A thesis is the main idea, not the title. It must be a complete sentence that explains in some detail what you expect to write about.
* Title: Social Security and Old Age.
* Thesis: Continuing changes in the Social Security System makes it almost impossible to plan intelligently for one’s retirement.
A thesis statement is narrow, rather than broad. If the thesis statement is sufficiently narrow, it can be fully supported.
* Broad: The American steel industry has many problems.
* Narrow: The primary problem of the American steel industry is the lack of funds to renovate outdated plants and equipment.
A thesis statement is specific rather than vague or general.
* Vague: Hemingway’s war stories are very good.
* Specific: Hemingway’s stories helped create a new prose style by employing extensive dialogue, shorter sentences, and strong Anglo-Saxon words.
A thesis statement has one main point rather than several main points. More than one point may be too difficult for the reader to understand and the writer to support.
* More than one main point: Stephen Hawking’s physical disability has not prevented him from becoming a world-renowned physicist, and his book is the subject of a movie.
* One Main point: Stephen Hawking’s physical disability has not prevented him from becoming a world renowned physicist.
You can revise your thesis statement whenever you want to while you are writing your essay. Writers often discover what their real purpose and point is in the process of putting their thoughts into words and then reading what they’ve written.
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YOUR ASSIGNMENT: From your hero introduction select a statement about heroes that expresses the importance of your expressed point.
For Example:
People that come to mind when I consider heroes are not characters that I remember from the shows I watched as a child, but the people that I think of inspire the same type of respect that superman and the Hulk do. They protect and look out for the less fortunate. They sacrifice for the common good. They resist temptation and they have courage against anything that threatens their mission. Heroes are people who step up and do the right thing. To me Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank is a hero because he spent the rest of his life speaking out against racism after his entire family was killed in concentration camps during World War II. The courage to remember such suffering in order to help others is inspiring.
Statement of Purpose from the Introduction: Heroes are people who step up and do the right thing
You have completed the first step of the three-step thesis required of you.
Now that you have a statement, express three reasons that support your statement from your introduction paragraph.
For Example: They protect and look out for the less fortunate. They sacrifice for the common good. They resist temptation.
Add the three reasons to your statement of purpose.
For Example: Heroes are people who step up and do the right thing as they look out for the less fortunate, they sacrifice for the common good, and they resist temptation.
You have now completed the second step of the three-step thesis required of you.
The final step requires that you acknowledge your critical reader’s opposing point. This declaration begins your thesis statement for a persuasive essay and is most often left out by young writers.
For example:
Even though it is uncommon for people to do heroic acts.
The thesis is complete, you have three parts to the sentence and you express three points to defend your discussion. All you need to do for next class is to put the three parts together to form one lucid thesis statement.
For example: Even though it is uncommon for people to do heroic deeds heroes are people who step up and do the right thing as they look out for the less fortunate, they sacrifice for the common good, and they resist temptation.
The sentences will be assessed as a quiz score. You must use MLA standards on all writing assignments. Include the proper heading in the left corner of your paper:
Name
Class
Assignment
Due date
After your heading, skip a space and write a title for your thesis.
Make sure that each sentence has three parts to it: the acknowledgement, the opinion, and the three supporting reasons.
Finally, do not write “I believe” or “In my opinion” as these attempts to draw attention to yourself softens the impact of your expressed point-of-view.