How to craft a thesis that is specific arguable relevant amp insightful The Basics To come up with a thesis topic try this process 1 Observation The WHAT What youve noticed in the ID: 444498
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Slide1
Writing a Great Thesis
How to craft a thesis that is specific, arguable, relevant, & insightfulSlide2
The Basics:
To come up with a thesis topic, try this process:
1. Observation
: The WHAT
What you’ve noticed in the
text—a
specific strategy,
tone, type of content, structure,
pattern, seeming contradiction, etc.
2. Complication
: The HOW
How that observation
works, is used, and/or changes. In other words, what does that
strategy, device, or pattern
DO
in the
text?
3. Significance
: The WHY, or SO WHAT?
What
does your observation
reveal about
the author’s meaning or intentions
? W
hat
does the observation
suggest, disprove, complicate etc.? Slide3
SAMPLE THESIS
The WHAT:
Throughout
The Country Wife
,
Sparkish
focuses on other characters’ words
rather than their actions
…
The HOW:
…which suggests
that he privileges appearance over substance.
The WHY or SO WHAT:
Yet because
Sparkish
is continually duped and mocked by the other, wittier characters, Wycherley
thus implies that reality lies beneath frequently deceptive surfaces—and that true wit involves a healthy skepticism of words.Slide4
THE FINISHED THESIS:
Throughout
The Country Wife
,
Sparkish
focuses on other characters’ words rather than their
actions, which indicates
that he privileges appearance over
substance.
Yet
because
Sparkish
is continually
duped
and mocked by the other, wittier characters, Wycherley thus implies that reality lies beneath frequently deceptive surfaces—and that true wit involves a healthy skepticism of words.Slide5
The best theses are:
Specific, Arguable, Relevant, & Insightful
SPECIFIC:
Avoid
generalizations or grand claims. Your thesis needs to be grounded in specific details of the
text, and you must be able to prove it convincingly
within the assigned page range
.
ARGUABLE:
Your thesis should make a
claim that a reasonable person could disagree with; statements of fact are neither arguable nor compelling.
RELEVANT
Whatever
you’re arguing, you need to explain why the author is doing what you claim he/she is doing, to what end, to what purpose. You also need to think about why YOU are arguing what you’re arguing: what is
your
end or purpose (other than that you have to write a paper to pass this class)?
INSIGHTFUL
: Take
the time to
come up with
something that you think is not obvious, that will require the length of the paper for you to prove it. The best papers are ones where you feel like if you don’t explain
it—or
show the analysis that got you to your
claim—your
reader will not
be convinced. These essays
are also the most fun to
write! Slide6
Problematic thesis #1:
In
The Merchant of Venice
, Shakespeare grapples with
the complexity of
human
bonds
.
NOT
SPECIFIC:
This statement is
general and
its claim is
vague—so your reader is probably unable to see which types of arguments you’re likely to produce.
What does “grapple” mean, specifically? What
does “complexity” entail? What types
of human
bonds
?
Overly
broad theses frequently lead to disorganized body
paragraphs.Slide7
Problematic thesis #2:
In
The Merchant of Venice
, Shylock demands justice, whereas Portia encourages him to have mercy.
NOT
ARGUABLE: The thesis is essentially a statement of fact, not an argument; it merely
restates
the actions of each character
.
No one could disagree with this claim.
Non-arguable
theses lead to body paragraphs which summarize the
plot
rather than provide close reading or analysis
. Slide8
Problematic thesis #3:
Wycherley portrays most of the gentlemen in
The Country Wife
as witty and cultured, whereas the businessmen—the “
cits
”—are unimaginative drudges
.
NOT RELEVANT: What
is
the writer’s
point in making this claim
? How does it relate to
Wycherley
’s
purpose?
Because irrelevant theses lack a strong controlling argument, they tend to have disorganized body paragraphs and weaker analysis. Slide9
Problematic thesis #4:
In
The Merchant of Venice
, Shakespeare suggests that Shylock is disgraced because of his inflexibility and greed—which is contrasted with the generous Antonio, who is spared punishment.
This thesis is not bad—but it is not particularly insightful, either.
Slide10
Problematic thesis
#4:
BETTER:
Although Shakespeare does suggest that “Christian” generosity is better than Shylock’s greed, the author still implies that liberality itself can be a vice if taken too far; throughout the play, Shakespeare suggests that
Bassanio
—and, more surprisingly, Jessica—are guilty of the opposite vice: prodigality.
This thesis makes a much more insightful argument; it goes beyond the surface level of
the play,
and will need to justify this claim with strong
analysis
.Slide11
The best thesis ideas are often founded in parts of the text that you find intriguing, unexpected, or even problematic.