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FORMULATING A THESIS
You need a good thesis statement for your essay but are having trouble getting started. You may have heard that your thesis needs to be specific and arguable, but still wonder what this really means.
Let’s look at some examples. Imagine you’re writing about John Hughes’s film Sixteen Candles (1984). You take a first pass at writing a thesis:
Sixteen Candles is a romantic comedy about high school cliques.
Is this a strong thesis statement? Not yet, but it’s a good start. You’ve focused on a topic–high school cliques–which is a smart move because you’ve settled on one of many possible angles. But the claim is weak because it’s not yet arguable. Intelligent people would generally agree with this statement—so there’s no real “news” for your reader. You want your thesis to say something surprising and debatable. If your thesis doesn’t go beyond summarizing your source, it’s descriptive and not yet argumentative.
The key words in the thesis statement are “romantic comedy” and “high school cliques.” One way to sharpen the claim is to start asking questions.
For example, how does the film represent high school cliques in a surprising or complex way? How does the film reinforce stereotypes about high school groups and how does it undermine them? Or why does the film challenge our expectations about romantic comedies by focusing on high school cliques? If you can answer one of those questions (or others of your own), you’ll have a strong thesis.
Tip : Asking “how” or “why” questions will help you refine your thesis, making it more arguable and interesting to your readers.
Take 2. You revise the thesis. Is it strong now?
Sixteen Candles is a romantic comedy criticizing the divisiveness created by high school cliques.
You’re getting closer. You’re starting to take a stance by arguing that the film identifies “divisiveness” as a problem and criticizes it, but your readers will want to know how this plays out and why it’s important. Right now, the thesis still sounds bland – not risky enough to be genuinely contentious.
Tip: Keep raising questions that test your ideas. And ask yourself the “so what” question. Why is your thesis interesting or important?
Take 3. Let’s try again. How about this version?
Although the film Sixteen Candles appears to reinforce stereotypes about high school cliques, it undermines them in
important ways, questioning its viewers’ assumptions about what’s normal.
Bingo! This thesis statement is pretty strong. It challenges an obvious interpretation of the movie (that is just reinforces stereotypes), offering a new and more complex reading in its place. We also have a sense of why this argument is important. The film’s larger goal, we learn, is to question what we think we understand about normalcy.
What’s a Strong Thesis?
As we’ve just seen, a strong thesis statement crystallizes your paper’s argument and, most importantly, it’s arguable.
This means two things. It goes beyond merely summarizing or describing to stake out an interpretation or position that’s not obvious, and others could challenge for good reasons. It’s also arguable in the literal sense that it can be argued, or supported through a thoughtful analysis of your sources. If your argument lacks evidence, readers will think your thesis statement is an opinion or belief as opposed to an argument.
Exercises for Drafting an Arguable Thesis
A good thesis will be focused on your object of study (as opposed to making a big claim about the world) and will introduce the key words guiding your analysis.
To get started, you might experiment with some of these “mad libs.” They’re thinking exercises that will help propel you toward an arguable thesis.
By examining [topic/approach], we can see [thesis—the claim that’s surprising], which is important because .[1]
Example:
“By examining Sixteen Candles through the lens of Georg Simmel’s writings on fashion, we can seethat the protagonist’s interest in fashion as an expression of her conflicted desire to be seen as both unique and accepted by the group. This is important because the film offers its viewers a glimpse into the ambivalent yearnings of middle class youth in the 1980s.
Although readers might assume [the commonplace idea you’re challenging], it can be argued that [your surprising claim].
Example:
Although viewers might assume the romantic comedy Sixteen Candles is merely entertaining, I believe its message is political. The film uses the romance between Samantha, a middle class sophomore, and Jake, an affluent senior, to reinforce the fantasy that anyone can become wealthy and successful with enough cunning and persistence.
Still Having Trouble? Let’s Back Up…
It helps to understand why readers value the arguable thesis. What larger purpose does it serve? Your readers will bring a set of expectations to your essay. The better you can anticipate the expectations of your readers, the better you’ll be able to persuade them to entertain seeing things your way.
Academic readers (and readers more generally) read to learn something new. They want to see the writer challenge commonplaces—either everyday assumptions about your object of study or truisms in the scholarly literature. In other words, academic readers want to be surprised so that their thinking shifts or at least becomes more complex by the time they finish reading your essay. Good essays problematize what we think we know and offer an alternative explanation in its place. They leave their reader with a fresh perspective on a problem.
We all bring important past experiences and beliefs to our interpretations of texts, objects, and problems. You can harness these observational powers to engage critically with what you are studying. The key is to be alert to what strikes you as strange, problematic, paradoxical, or puzzling about your object of study. If you can articulate this and a claim in response, you’re well on your way to formulating an arguable thesis in your introduction.
How do I set up a “problem” and an arguable thesis in response?
All good writing has a purpose or motive for existing. Your thesis is your surprising response to this problem or motive. This is why it seldom makes sense to start a writing project by articulating the thesis. The first step is to articulate the question or problem your paper addresses.
Here are some possible ways to introduce a conceptual problem in your paper’s introduction.
- Challenge a commonplace interpretation (or your own first impressions).
How are readers likely to interpret this source or issue? What might intelligent readers think at first glance? (Or, if you’ve been given secondary sources or have been asked to conduct research to locate secondary sources, what do other writers or scholars assume is true or important about your primary source or issue?)
What does this commonplace interpretation leave out, overlook, or under-emphasize?
Help your reader see the complexity of your topic.
Identify and describe for your reader a paradox, puzzle, or contradiction in your primary source(s).
What larger questions does this paradox or contradiction raise for you and your readers?
If your assignment asks you to do research, piggyback off another scholar’s research.
Summarize for your reader another scholar’s argument about your topic, primary source, or case study and tell your reader why this claim is interesting.
Now explain how you will extend this scholar’s argument to explore an issue or case study that the scholar doesn’t address fully.
If your assignment asks you to do research, identify a gap in another scholar’s or a group of scholars’ research.
Summarize for your reader another scholar’s argument about your topic, primary source, or case study and tell your reader why this claim is interesting. Or, summarize how scholars in the field tend to approach your topic.
Next, explain what important aspect this scholarly representation misses or distorts. Introduce your particular approach to your topic and its value
If your assignment asks you to do research, bring in a new lens for investigating your case study or problem.
Summarize for your reader how a scholar or group of scholars has approached your topic.
Introduce a theoretical source (possibly from another discipline) and explain how it helps you address this issue from a new and productive angle.
Tip: your introductory paragraph will probably look like this:
Testing Your Thesis
You can test your thesis statement’s arguability by asking the following questions:
Does my thesis only or mostly summarize my source?
If so, try some of the exercises above to articulate your paper’s conceptual problem or question.
Is my thesis arguable –can it be supported by evidence in my source, and is it surprising and contentious?
If not, return to your sources and practice the exercises above.
Is my thesis about my primary source or case study, or is it about the world?
If it’s about the world, revise it so that it focuses on your primary source or case study. Remember you need solid evidence to support your thesis.
“Formulating a Thesis” was written by Andrea Scott, Princeton University
I’d like to thank my current and former colleagues in the Princeton Writing Program for helping me think through and test ways of teaching the arguable thesis. Special thanks go to Kerry Walk, Amanda Irwin Wilkins, Judy Swan, and Keith Shaw. A shout-out to Mark Gaipa as well, whose cartoons on teaching source use remain a program favorite.
[1] Adapted from Erik Simpson’s “Five Ways of Looking at a Thesis” athttp://www.math.grinnell.edu/~simpsone/ Teaching/fiveways.html
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5 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A THESIS
A thesis says something a little strange.
Consider the following examples:
A: By telling the story of Westley and Buttercup’s triumph over evil, The Princess Bride affirms the power of true love.
B: Although the main plot of The Princess Bride rests on the natural power of true love, an examination of the way that fighting sticks—baseball bats, tree branches, and swords—link the frame story to the romance plot suggests that the grandson is being trained in true love, that love is not natural but socialized.
I would argue that both of these statements are perfectly correct, but they are not both strange. Only the second one says something, well, weird. Weird is good. Sentence A encourages the paper to produce precisely the evidence that The Princess Bride presents explicitly; sentence B ensures that the paper will talk about something new.
Romeo and Juliet concerns the dangers of family pride, Frankenstein the dangers of taking science too far. Yup. How can you make those things unusual? Good papers go out on a limb. They avoid ugly falls by reinforcing the limb with carefully chosen evidence and rigorous argumentation.
A thesis creates an argument that builds from one point to the next, giving the paper a direction that your reader can follow as the paper develops.
This point often separates the best theses from the pack. A good thesis can prevent the two weakest ways of organizing a critical paper: the pile of information and the plot summary with comments. A paper that presents a pile of information will frequently introduce new paragraphs with transitions that simply indicate the addition of more stuff. (“Another character who exhibits these traits is X,” for instance.)
Consider these examples:
A: The Rules and Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey both tell women how to act.
B: By looking at The Rules, a modern conduct book for women, we can see how Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is itself like a conduct book, questioning the rules for social success in her society and offering a new model.
Example A would almost inevitably lead to a paper organized as a pile of information. A plot summary with comments follows the chronological development of a text while picking out the same element of every segment; a transition in such a paper might read, “In the next scene, the color blue also figures prominently.” Both of these approaches constitute too much of a good thing. Papers must compile evidence, of course, and following the chronology of a text can sometimes help a reader keep track of a paper’s argument. The best papers, however, will develop according to a more complex logic articulated in a strong thesis. Example B above would lead a paper to organize its evidence according to the paper’s own logic.
A thesis fits comfortably into the Magic Thesis Sentence (MTS).
The MTS: By looking at , we can see , which most readers don’t see; it is important to look at this aspect of the text because .
Try it out with the examples from the first point:
A: By telling the story of Westley and Buttercup’s triumph over evil, The Princess Bride affirms the power of true love.
B: Although the main plot of The Princess Bride rests on the natural power of true love, an examination of the way that fighting sticks–baseball bats, tree branches, and swords–link the frame story to the romance plot suggests that the grandson is being trained in true love, that love is not natural but socialized.
Notice that the MTS adds a new dimension to point number one above. The first part of the MTS asks you to find something strange (“which most readers don’t see”), and the second part asks you to think about the importance of the strangeness. Thesis A would not work at all in the MTS; one could not reasonably state that “most readers [or viewers] don’t see” that film’s affirmation of true love, and the statement does not even attempt to explain the importance of its claim. Thesis B, on the other hand, gives us a way to complete the MTS, as in “By looking at the way fighting sticks link the plot and frame of The Princess Bride, we can see the way the grandson is trained in true love, which most people don’t see; it is important to look at this aspect of the text because unlike the rest of the film, the fighting sticks suggest that love is not natural but socialized.” One does not need to write out the MTS in such a neat one-sentence form, of course, but thinking through the structure of the MTS can help refine thesis ideas.
A thesis says something about the text(s) you discuss exclusively.
If your thesis could describe many works equally well, it needs to be more specific. Let’s return to our examples from above:
A: By telling the story of Westley and Buttercup’s triumph over evil, The Princess Bride affirms the power of true love.
B: Although the main plot of The Princess Bride rests on the natural power of true love, an examination of the way that fighting sticks–baseball bats, tree branches, and swords–link the frame story to the romance plot suggests that the grandson is being trained in true love, that love is not natural but socialized.
Try substituting other works:
A: By telling the story of Darcy and Elizabeth’s triumph over evil, Pride and Prejudice affirms the power of true love.
Sure, that makes sense. Bad sign.
B: Although the main plot of Pride and Prejudice rests on the natural power of true love, an examination of the way that fighting sticks–baseball bats, tree branches, and swords–link the frame story to the romance plot suggests that the grandson is being trained in true love, that it is not natural but socialized.
Um, nope. Even if you have never read Pride and Prejudice, you can probably guess that such a precise thesis could hardly apply to other works. Good sign.
A thesis makes a lot of information irrelevant.
If your thesis is specific enough, it will make a point that focuses on only a small part of the text you are analyzing. You can and should ultimately apply that point to the work as a whole, but a thesis will call attention to specific parts of it. Let’s look at those examples again. (This is the last time, I promise.)
A: By telling the story of Westley and Buttercup’s triumph over evil, The Princess Bride affirms the power of true love.
B: Although the main plot of The Princess Bride rests on the natural power of true love, an examination of the way that fighting sticks–baseball bats, tree branches, and swords–link the frame story to the romance plot suggests that the grandson is being trained in true love, that love is not natural but socialized.
One way of spotting the problem with example A is to note that a simple plot summary would support its point. That is not of true example B, which tells the reader exactly what moments the paper will discuss and why.
If you find that your paper leads you to mark relevant passages on virtually every page of a long work, you need to find a thesis that helps you focus on a smaller portion of the text. As the MTS reminds us, the paper should still strive to show the reader something new about the text as a whole, but a specific area of concentration will help, not hinder, that effort.
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PROCESS: WRITING A THESIS STATEMENT
Thesis statements are easy to construct if you: 1. can condense your secondary sources—that you’ve read and understood—into a “main idea and argument” grid (explained below); and 2. answer a framework of
organizational questions (also below). These two steps can help to ensure that your thesis simultaneously situates an idea within a particular “conversation” and specifies a unique perspective/makes a new argument/ contribution to the conversation.
- Condensing secondary sources:
- Include some brief information each of your secondary sources (books, journal articles, etc.) on a grid so that you can organize the authors’ main ideas and perspectives in one space. For instance,
|
Author |
Main Idea |
Argument |
|
Jones |
Climate change policy |
Climate change policy is at a standstill because the government is concerned about economic growth |
|
Smith |
Climate change policy |
Climate change policy ought to be communicated as an ethical imperative because that will motivate the public to respond |
|
Taylor |
Climate change policy |
Climate change policy needs to be communicated to the public by interdisciplinary teams of academics and politicians |
Once you’ve created an organizational table, you’ll want to examine it for commonalities/linkages among the authors’ ideas and arguments. In the example above, all authors have written about climate change policy, so now you know that you’ll need to include something like this phrase, “climate change policy,” in your thesis statement. Regarding the authors’ arguments, Jones argues about how climate change policy is affected by the government’s concern with economic growth; Smith argues that it needs to be communicated as an ethical imperative; and Taylor argues that it needs to be communicated by interdisciplinary teams.
Given this information, the first half of your thesis – which explains the specific topic – needs to explain to the audience/reader that you are writing specifically about climate change policy. The second half of your thesis – which contextualizes the argument – needs to explain to the audience/reader your interpretation of these authors’ arguments. For instance, you may choose to argue that:
- climate change policy regarding the effect of government policies about economic growth is the greater imperative for accomplishing more effective climate change policies in the U.S.
- ethical imperatives are the motivating factor for encouraging the public to respond – causing academic institutions to work with government officials/decision-makers in responding to the public’s opinion/support of climate change policy as an ethical concern
The examples above are hypothetical; and only two of the many, creative possibilities for interpreting an argument out of a specific topic. Whereas an argument seeks to persuade an audience/reader about a way of interpreting others’ information, a topic simply describes how to categorize/identify where the argument “fits” (i.e. which generalized group of people would be concerned with reading your writing)
Hint: oftentimes, the authors of academic journal articles conclude their arguments by suggesting potential research questions that they believe ought to be addressed in future scholarship. These suggestions can potentially provide some really excellent information about how to begin articulating a unique argument about a specific topic.
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ASSESSMENT: TOPIC AND WORKING THESIS
Time to commit! By now you’ve explored several ideas, and probably ruled out a few easily. Now, though, I’m asking you to pick one particular topic to use for the final research essay project. You can change your mind later, if you’d like–but will have to get permission from me to do so.
For this assignment, I’d like you to do the following:
- Identify which particular topic you’ve decided on
- Describe a specific controversy that exists within this topic. Identify what the sides are (and there may be more than just 2 sides), and why each believes what it does.
- Define what side you agree with, and why.
- State the overall claim that you want your essay to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt. (This will be your working thesis, and it’s welcome to change as you progress in later weeks. It’s okay to start simple, for now, and build in more complexity later. I suggest looking at the Thesis statement websites in this module to get started).
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A (Silly) Sample: I have decided to focus on Cheezits for my research project. There are a number of serious controversies when the matter of cheese-flavored snack crackers is discussed, but I’d like to focus specifically on how they compare with their primary rival, Cheese Nips. Supporters of Cheese Nips believe their product to be superior because of the flavor, nutritional value, and cost; supporters of Cheezits use the same criteria to claim the better product. I personally find Cheezits to be preferable in every way, but primarily when it comes to taste. Cheese Nips taste oily to me, and leave a bad taste on my tongue, while the taste and texture of Cheezits is a perfect consistency. Cheezits are a better food product than Cheese Nips. |
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