Week 5: Types of Thesis Statements

Research and Information LiteracyProfessor Susan Acampora

Different types of Thesis Statements

Argumentative Cause and Effect Compare and Contrast **Literary Research - We will cover

developing thesis statements for literary research later in the semester.

Argumentative Statement is debatable and specific State your argument clearly and be

specific Too Broad: Drug Use is Detrimental for

Society

Narrower, more specific: Illegal drug use is detrimental because it encourages gang violence.

Cause and EffectThe principle of causationThe principle of relationship

“A cause-effect relationship is a relationship in which one event (the cause) makes another event happen (the effect).” 

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/cause-and-effect-relationship-definition-examples-

quiz.html#lesson

If: Then:

IF a certain conditions are in place

THEN a certain outcomes are to be expected

Another Example IF Then

Example of Cause and Effect Thesis StatementIf the human race continues

to pollute our rivers, the earth and all inhabitants will face tragic consequences such as illness, death and the ultimate destruction of the planet.

Comparison and Contrast Is this any different….

Than this? How so?

Example of Compare and Contrast Thesis Statement Women in ancient China often suffered

deformities due to footbinding in the quest to adhere to an ideal of beauty. Modern American women, are no longer pressured to adhere to such unreasonable expectations. Or are they?

I contend that just like the woman in ancient times who bound her feet, today’s woman, for all her liberation, is still bound by a need to possess the current ideal of beauty even when it is unrealistic and downright harmful.

Another Example: How are the lives of these women similar, different?

Shrouded in ContradictionBy Gelareh Asayesh

“I grew up wearing the miniskirt to school, the veil to the mosque. In the Tehran of my childhood, women in bright sundresses shared the sidewalk with women swathed in black. The tension between the two ways of life was palpable. As a schoolgirl, I often cringed when my bare legs got leering or contemptuous glances. Yet, at times, I long for the days when I could walk the streets of my country with the wind in my hair. When clothes were clothes. In today's Iran, whatever I wear sends a message. If it's a chador, it embarrasses my Westernized relatives. If it's a skimpy scarf, I risk being accused of stepping on the blood of the martyrs who died in the war with Iraq. Each time I return to Tehran, I wait until the last possible moment, when my plane lands on the tarmac, to don the scarf and long jacket that many Iranian women wear in lieu of a veil. To wear hijab -- Islamic covering -- is to invite contradiction. Sometimes I hate it. Sometimes I value it. “

Published: November 25, 2001 NY Times

LITERARY ANALYSIS THESIS Georgia Perimeter College Writing Lab

http://depts.gpc.edu/~gpcltc/handouts/communications/literarythesis.pdf

OWL at Purdue Literary Thesis: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resour

ce/616/02/

Lab ExerciseYou have already created an argumentative thesis

statement:Now: Students work in 2 groups. Group 1: Will create a “cause and effect” thesis

statement for a topic related to media and self image. Group 2: Will create a “compare and contrast” thesis

statement about a topic related to religion and science.Each group has:

a facilitator to guide the processa recorder to keep a record of the thesis statementa presenter to report their findings to the class