[Music]
Hi, everyone.
Welcome to Writing with Dave.
Today I have a very important question for you.
Here, it is “What the heck is a thesis statement?”
Statement.
That sounds vaguely criminal doesn't it?
Like a deposition to police or something and thesis is that scientific like a hypothesis?
Well, no matter what you call it, thesis statement, controlling idea, unifying concept.
You've got to have one for the same reason that a wheel has to have a hub
to which its spokes attach.
Because without that core concept in your essay around which everything revolves and
to which everything attaches, your essay could fall apart very, very quickly.
Let's review a simple formula for writing a thesis.
It goes like this.
Topic plus your opinion on that topic equals your thesis.
Here's an example.
Let's say your topic is prison overcrowding.
Okay, after thinking about and studying the topic, you've arrived at an opinion about it.
Prison overcrowding is a national shame.
Now, put those two together in one sentence and you have a thesis: Prison overcrowding
in America is a national shame.
It's as simple as that.
A thesis is simply your topic combined with the point you wish to make about that topic.
Whether you call that point your opinion, main idea, slant, belief, hypothesis, position,
or any of a number of synonyms for the same thing,
what you really want to say about that topic.
Well, that's a relief isn't it?
A thesis is neither a crime nor scientific experiment.
It's simply what you really want to say about a topic.
Now that you have this good thesis statement, you can use it to roadmap
what is to come in the essay.
One of the key characteristics of a thesis statement is that it blueprints, or predicts,
or roadmaps what has to come in the essay to follow.
Let's take a look at this characteristic and apply it to some common examples that you
will likely encounter in school.
Let's begin with the topic already presented, which was prison overcrowding, our opinion,
a national shame.
We combined those two into a sentence to create our thesis:
Prison overcrowding in America is a national shame.
Now that thesis clearly predicts what must follow in the essay.
The writer will have to talk about shameful fact number one, shameful fact number two,
and shameful fact number three in order to justify the thesis prison overcrowding is
a national shame.
You see, the writer really has very little choice.
There may be more than three shameful facts about prison overcrowding, maybe fewer.
That depends upon the length of the assignment.
Now here's another important point.
If you alter the thesis, the road map changes.
For example, let's change our thesis to this, the reasons for prison overcrowding in America
are shameful.
Again, the writer has very little choice.
In the essay must be, shameful reason number one for overcrowding, shameful reason number
two for overcrowding, and shameful reason number three for overcrowding
or however many are required.
So, once you have that thesis you have a very clear roadmap to what is going to follow
in the rest of your essay.
This thesis as a roadmap strategy can be used with a variety of topics that you encounter
in school.
Let's take a look at a few of these and some of the typical classes that you might find
yourself in where you have to write essays.
This first copy could come from a history, economics, or sociology course
and is also often encountered in the health care field.
Here it is, our topic is America's aging population, our opinion let's see could cause problems
in social security programs put those two together and we have our thesis, America's
aging population will soon cause problems in social security programs.
Now, what must come in this essay to prove, illustrate, or corroborate
that thesis you just read?
Clearly, there will have to be a discussion of Social Security problem - number one, that
will be caused by the aging population, social security problem - number two,
social security problem - number three, and so on.
Next, here's a possible topic from a business, biology, or even political science course:
industrial pollution the slant for your writing could be increased penalties for polluters.
Now, put those two together into a thesis statement, increased penalties are needed
for America's industrial polluters.
Clearly, this essay will have to present evidence to justify the call for increased penalties
in that thesis.
Justification number one: for increased penalties, justification number two: for increased penalties,
justification number: three for increased penalties.
So, as you see, whatever you want to call that thing, a thesis statement, thesis sentence,
controlling idea, unifying concept, core concept, slant, theme, whatever.
It is, the hub of your essay, if you get that thesis solid and precise you will roll right
through your writing.
That's a promise.
And that's also today's edition of Writing with Dave.
So long!