Thesis

A thesis is the main point of a written document. It can often be found written out in a text in a statement or group of statements asserting an argument, claim, or idea that is the essential premise of the entire text. A thesis is not the same as a topic. A topic is the general subject of a paper. For instance, there are papers written about marine biology, papers written about musicology, and papers written about George Washington. All of these are topics. A thesis presents a point about that topic, typically incorporating a WHAT and a HOW. The WHAT is the paper’s point or argument and the HOW is the way that point or argument is going to be explained and developed.

Theses must be very specific. A thesis should not state, for instance, that “George Washington was a good president.” First, the word “good” is very vague—it could mean many different things. Second, this thesis does not give reasons explaining how Washington was a good president. A better thesis would develop the idea of “good” to be very specific—for instance, it might say that “George Washington’s excellent negotiating and strategy skills regarding both domestic planning and foreign relations developed his reputation as a wise leader and a popular president.” This thesis explains why Washington was a good president—because he was an excellent negotiator and strategist—and will explain how he was an excellent negotiator and strategist by pointing to his domestic planning success as well as his foreign relations skills.

When composing theses, it is helpful to perform a process of multiple revisions in order to truly narrow the thesis down to a specific argument . This often begins by starting with general statements such as “George Washington was a good president.” Like most aspects of writing, it is helpful to get basic ideas down first, and then to revise and refine. Revising the thesis requires carefully considering each word and phrase in the thesis. It may help to constantly ask “because…?.” “George Washington was a good president because…” Then, reply with a variety of thoughts: “George Washington was a good president because he helped develop the nation and because he was good at negotiating.” This is far more specific than “George Washington was a good president,” but in this thesis statement, the terms “helped develop the nation” and “good at negotiating” are not specific enough. Helped develop the nation how? Was good at negotiating in what way? Constantly asking these types of questions eventually leads to the final, specific thesis statement: “George Washington’s excellent negotiating and strategy skills regarding both domestic planning and foreign relations developed his reputation as a wise leader and a popular president.”

Writing good theses takes this type of constant revision and investigation. However, once a solid thesis is discovered, the most difficult aspect of paper writing is over. The rest simply requires explaining and defending the ideas and arguments put forth in the thesis by sticking closely to the thesis subject.

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