What is a Thesis?The thesis should focus on an interesting and significant issue that engages your energies and merits your consideration.

Your thesis determines what does and doesn’t belong in the essay

The thesis helps focus the reader on the central point and helps you achieve your writing purpose.

Writing an Effective ThesisAn effective thesis has two parts:– It presents your paper’s limited subject.– It presents your point of view or attitude about

that subject.

For example:

Education-- Computer programs in arithmetic can individualize instruction more effectively than the average elementary school teacher can.

Transportation-- Although Philadelphia’s transit system still has problems, it has become safer and more efficient in the last two years.

Work– The internship program has positive consequences for students.

• An effective thesis establishes a tone and point of view.

For example, you want to say that electronic technology can never replace a teacher in the classroom.

• “Ditch the screens and cutesy iPads and put the bucks where they count- in teachers.”

• “Education won’t be improved by purchasing more electronic teaching tools but by allocating more money to hire and develop good educators.”

Implied Patterns of Development• Computer programs in arithmetic can

individualize instruction more effectively than the average elementary school teacher can.

• compare contrast• Although Philadelphia’s transit system still has

problems, it has become safer and more efficient in the last two years.

• illustration• The internship program has positive

consequences for students.• Cause and effect

Include a plan of development• Baseball’s inflated salaries hurt the fans, the

sport, and most of all, the athletes.• Many parents have unrealistic expectations for

their children. These parents want their children to accept their values, follow their paths, and succeed where they have failed.

Note that the plan of development is expressed in grammatically parallel terms.

DON’T

• Don’t write a highly opinionated statement–“With characteristic clumsiness, the

state government bumbled their way through the recent budget crisis.”–“State legislators had trouble

managing the recent budget crisis effectively.”

• Don’t make an announcement My essay will discuss whether MCCS students

should be allowed to wear jeans to school.Mount Calvary Christian School students

should be allowed to wear jeans to school.I want to discuss cable television.Cable TV has not delivered on its promise to

provide an alternative to network programming.

• Don’t make a factual statementIf a fact is used as a thesis, you have no place to go; a fact doesn’t invite much discussion.

-Many businesses pollute the environment.-Tax penalties should be levied against

businesses that pollute the environment.America’s population is growing older.The aging of the American population will

eventually create a crisis in the delivery of health-care service.

• Don’t make a broad statementAvoid stating your thesis in vague, general, or

sweeping terms. Nowadays, high school education is often

meaningless.High school diplomas have been devalued by grade

inflation.Newspapers cater to the taste of the American

public.The success of USA Today indicates that people

want papers that are easy to read and entertaining.

Placing the thesis in the essay• The thesis is often located in the middle or at the

end of the introduction. • You may choose to delay the thesis if you feel the

background information needs to be provided before the reader can understand your key point- especially if the concept is complex.

• If you feel the reader appreciates the direct, forthright approach, the thesis may be early in the essay.

• Somewhere the thesis is reiterated, using fresh words, in the conclusion.

Finally

• Once you start writing your first draft, some feelings, thoughts, or examples may emerge that modify or even contradict your initial thesis. Don’t resist these ideas. Keep them in mind and process them to move toward a more valid and richer view of your subject.