Crafting a Strong Thesis Statement

creative writing expository writing
By Kannan

thesisThere are few concepts in essay-writing more important—and confusing, to the uninitiated—than the thesis statement. Let's start out with what it's not:

-It's not your personal reaction to the text.

-It's not a summary, synopsis, or main idea, of the text.

The good news is, both of these things—your personal reaction, and the main idea of the text—are great starting-points on the road to crafting a strong thesis.

So, now that we're clear on what a thesis isn't, let's come up with a simple working definition of what it is. Here's my best stab: It an argument stating how the text does what it does.

We know that novels, stories, poems do a lot of things, in a lot of ways—the point of a thesis is not to cover all the bases. The narrower your focus, the better. If you look closely, our definition implies two halves to a thesis: the how half, and the what half.

How?

Remember when we said that your personal reaction can help you think your way to a strong thesis? Here's where to pay close attention to how some aspect (think narrow—one scene, a few lines) of the text made you feel. Confused? Amused? Bored? Chances are, all these reader reactions can be accounted for by techniques the author has used. Let's look at the famous last lines of Katherine Mansfield's story, The Garden Party.

Isn't life,” she stammered, “isn't life—” But what life was she couldn't explain. No matter. He quite understood.

Isn't it, darling?” said Laurie.

The End. Feel lost, like you're missing something? What is life? Why won't Mansfield tell us? And why does Laurie seem to know exactly what she is talking about, when we don't? Let's translate our befuddlement into authorial technique. How about: Mansfield leaves things out in order to... More specific: Mansfield uses omission within dialogue in order to... Or, with regard to Laurie: Mansfield privileges character comprehension above reader comprehension in order to...

What?

In order to what? Now we come to the second half of the thesis: what is our chosen technique accomplishing in the text? Here's where your main idea skills come in handy. What is the text about? For The Garden Party we might say: It's about a young girl's first exposure to death. How can we link the how half to the what half? How about: Mansfield uses omission within dialogue to depict a young girl's first exposure to death. Now check your claim: does it make sense? Is that really what omission is doing here? Or is it doing something more specific? How about: Mansfield uses omission within dialogue in order to depict the mystery of death for a young girl. Notice how much narrower this claim is than the previous one. But it also seems to make more sense: omission does create mystery. The next question is: can you find more textual evidence to support your claim? If so, great! If not, try another statement. Thesis-making is a trial-and-error process. But eventually, crafting one hypothetical statement after another, testing it for logic, searching the text for supporting evidence, you'll come up with a convincing, narrow argument about how the text does what it does.

Writing is one of the primary skills required of high school and college students, yet rarely is it taught well. That’s why our writing tutors are published authors, MFA graduates, and Ph.D candidates in the humanities who have devoted years to learning how to teach their craft.

Our goal is to help our students become confident and independent academic writers. We teach students how to perform systematic research, create outlines, revise effectively, and appropriately cite sources. Moreover, we work hard to teach students why these things are important, and how to enjoy doing them.  We work with students in the context of formal courses, but we are also happy to create bespoke writing tutorials for students who need outside assistance or would like to practice during vacations from school. We also support students preparing to sit for the Writing section of the SAT, GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, or any other standardized exam.

In addition to helping students learn how to structure and communicate their thoughts in writing, our expository writing tutors will help you craft exciting, successful admissions essays, and beat standardized exams that test verbal skills. We have helped countless students shape their application narratives and transform their stories into compelling pieces of writing.

Contact us!

Want to learn more about expository writing? Check out our previous posts below.

Five strategies to improve your writing

Breaking Down the Writing Process: 5 Tips

What’s a Thesis Statement?

Comments

topicTopics
academics study skills MCAT medical school admissions SAT expository writing college admissions English MD/PhD admissions strategy writing LSAT GMAT GRE physics chemistry math biology graduate admissions academic advice ACT interview prep law school admissions test anxiety language learning premed MBA admissions career advice personal statements homework help AP exams creative writing MD study schedules test prep computer science Common Application summer activities history mathematics philosophy organic chemistry secondary applications economics supplements research 1L PSAT admissions coaching grammar law psychology statistics & probability legal studies ESL CARS SSAT covid-19 dental admissions logic games reading comprehension engineering USMLE calculus PhD admissions Spanish mentorship parents Latin biochemistry case coaching verbal reasoning DAT English literature STEM excel medical school political science skills AMCAS French Linguistics MBA coursework Tutoring Approaches academic integrity chinese letters of recommendation Anki DO Social Advocacy admissions advice algebra art history artificial intelligence astrophysics business cell biology classics diversity statement gap year genetics geometry kinematics linear algebra mechanical engineering mental health presentations quantitative reasoning study abroad technical interviews time management work and activities 2L DMD IB exams ISEE MD/PhD programs Sentence Correction adjusting to college algorithms amino acids analysis essay athletics business skills careers cold emails data science dental school finance first generation student functions graphing information sessions international students internships logic networking poetry resume revising science social sciences software engineering tech industry trigonometry writer's block 3L AAMC Academic Interest EMT FlexMed Fourier Series Greek Health Professional Shortage Area Italian Lagrange multipliers London MD vs PhD MMI Montessori National Health Service Corps Pythagorean Theorem Python Shakespeare Step 2 TMDSAS Taylor Series Truss Analysis Zoom acids and bases active learning architecture argumentative writing art art and design schools art portfolios bacteriology bibliographies biomedicine brain teaser campus visits cantonese capacitors capital markets central limit theorem centrifugal force chemical engineering chess chromatography class participation climate change clinical experience community service constitutional law consulting cover letters curriculum dementia demonstrated interest dimensional analysis distance learning econometrics electric engineering electricity and magnetism escape velocity evolution executive function freewriting genomics harmonics health policy history of medicine history of science hybrid vehicles hydrophobic effect ideal gas law immunology induction infinite institutional actions integrated reasoning intermolecular forces intern investing investment banking lab reports linear maps mandarin chinese matrices mba medical physics meiosis microeconomics mitosis mnemonics music music theory nervous system neurology neuroscience object-oriented programming office hours operating systems