Thesis

PA Writing

What we worked on last class:

Differences between high school, college and university writing

Fundamentals of postsecondary writingRundown of the writing assignment

Today we’ll look at:Thesis:

What makes a thesis strongWhat role the thesis plays throughout the

paper structurallySome reasons why theses do or don’t work

**Through the session we’ll be drawing on content from the book ‘Writing Analytically’ by Rosenwasser, Stephen and Babington

“The Thesis-Builder’s Bottom Line”

Look for a thesis by focusing on an area of your subject that you feel should be opened to opposing viewpoints or multiple interpretations. Rather than attempting to locate a single right answer, search for something that raises questions.

Treat your thesis as a hypothesis to be tested rather than an obvious truth.

Evolve your thesis – move it forward – by seeing the questions that each new formulation of it prompts you to ask

“The Thesis-Builder’s Bottom Line” – cont.

Develop the implications of your evidence and of your observations as fully as you can by repeatedly asking “So what?”

When you encounter potentially conflicting evidence (or interpretations of that evidence), don’t simply abandon your thesis. Take advantage of the complications to expand, qualify, and refine your thesis until you arrive at the most accurate explanation of the evidence that you can manage.

How to fix a weak thesis:1. The thesis makes no claim

 Example:

“I’m going to write about Darwin’s concerns with evolution in The Origin of Species”

 There is nothing at stake, no issue to be resolved.Solution: Raise specific issues for the essay to explore, & propose specific opinions

Solution ex:

Darwin’s concern with survival of the fittest in The Origin of Species initially leads him to neglect a potentially conflicting aspect of his theory of evolution – survival as a matter of interdependence.

How to fix a weak thesis:2. The thesis is obviously true or is a statement or fact

Example: “The jeans industry targets its advertisements to appeal to young adults.”  There is no point in arguing something that few people would find doubt in – its not interesting, the vague follow-up cues us that there may be tension in exploration of the vaguenessSolution: find some avenue of inquiry – a question about the facts or an issue raised by them. Make an assertion with which it would be possible for readers to disagree.”

Solution ex:

By inventing new terms, such as “loose fit” and “relaxed fit,” the jeans industry has attempted to normalize, even glorify, its product for an older and fatter generation.

How to fix a weak thesis:3. The thesis restates conventional wisdom Example: “An important part of one’s college education is learning to better understand others’ points of view.”  These are clichés.Solution: Seek to complicate – see more than one point of view on – your subject. Avoid conventional wisdom unless you can qualify it or introduce a fresh perspective on it.

Solution ex:

While an important part of one’s college education is learning to better understand others’ points of view, a persistent danger is that the students will simply be required to substitute the teacher’s answers for the ones they grew up uncritically believing.

How to fix a weak thesis: 4. The thesis offers personal conviction as the basis for the claim

Example:

“Sir Thomas More’s Utopia proposes an unworkable set of solutions to society’s problems because, like communist Russia, it suppresses individualism.”

 Personal opinions are not self-evident truths. Check to see if the answer to the question is “because I think so”.Solution: Replace opinions (in the form of self-evident truths) with ideas – theories about the meaning and significance of the subjects that could be supported and qualified with evidence.

Solution ex: Sir Thomas More’s Utopia treats individualism as a serious but remediable social problem. His radical treatment of what we might now call “socialization” attempts to redefine the meaning and origin of individual identity.

How to fix a weak thesis:

5. The thesis makes an overly broad claim

Examples:

“Violent revolutions have had both positive and negative results for man.” Overly generalized theses avoid complexity, and make a thesis impossible to argue well, because there is too much to say and the argument lacks focus.Solution: Convert broad strategies and generic (fits anything) claims to more specific, more qualified assertions; find new ways to bring out the complexity of your subject.

Solution ex:

Although violent revolutions begin to redress long-standing social inequities, they often do so at the cost of long-term economic dysfunction and the suffering that attends it.

The Grammar of a Good Thesis

Don’t rely on nouns, but instead verbsBe specific with your word choice (especially

transitional ones), using active voice (verbs) when possible instead of passive

Move toward specificity in word choice, in sentence structure, and in idea.

Be conscious of what order things are expressed in your sentences. This affects emphasis in a big way and sometimes changes the meaning.

The Question of the Question

Can a thesis be a question?:This makes it difficult because there is no

overt “claim” Use these cautiously, include a follow-up

claim sentence if possible

**Exercise:

1. Read this thesis statement, and ask yourself “what does the thesis require the writer to do next?” – play with wording until the follow through structure seems interesting and intact

Thesis: Regarding the promotion of women into executive positions, they are continually losing the race because of a corporate view that women are too compassionate to keep up with the competitiveness of a powerful man.

**Exercise – cont:

2. Have a partner read your thesis statement, and give you feedback about what it means to them, and the ways its working or not, try to help each other polish your thesis statements

3. As a group we’ll read and discuss the thesis statements everyone arrived at, to get a sense of what we’ve learned and can apply when writing theses in the future

What role should the thesis play throughout the paper?