WHAT MAKES A STRONG, DEBATABLE THESIS STATEMENT?

 

This “argument” of your paper is summed up in your thesis statement.  This is comprised of one to three sentences in your essay that contain the focus of your essay and tell your reader what the essay is going to be about.

 

A strong, debatable thesis statement has three components:

  1. WHAT –your claim about the text; the topic to be examined
  2. HOW – the means by which the topic will be examined; such as: themes, literary devices, concepts, key images, etc. – you use these to prove your claim.
  3. SO WHAT – the significance of your idea in terms of understanding the text as a whole. This must be debatable, i.e. somebody could potentially try to gather evidence to argue the opposite side to your thesis. 

 

EXAMPLE: Although the novel seems to celebrate the potential for interracial understanding through the friendship of Huck and Jim, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ultimately suggests that racial hierarchies are unalterable.  The novel’s emphasis on the “adventures” that Tom Sawyer concocts to “free” Jim emblematizes the unwillingness of Americans to veer away from the script of racial oppression.  

 

Please note:

1.      The part of the thesis in plain text (Although the novel seems to celebrate….”) is a potential contradiction to your argument; a strong thesis usually addresses a potential opposing viewpoint.

2.      A good thesis should address these three questions in some way. Most students have trouble answering the “so what?” question for their thesis; always be sure your thesis includes within it an answer to that question. Important: the answer to the “so what?” should not be a generalization “about the world we live in, or life in general”; it should be SPECIFIC and justify why and how your argument is significant to the novel.

 

REMEMBER—A STRONG, DEBATABLE THESIS IS:
(These four points are from Jack Lynch’s “Getting an A on an English Paper”: http://newark.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/EngPaper/index.html)

Argumentative. It makes a case. That's the biggest difference between a thesis and a topic -- a topic is something like "Slavery in Huck Finn." That's not a case, only a general area. A thesis, on the other hand, makes a specific case, it tries to prove something. One way to tell a thesis from a topic: if it doesn't have an active verb, it's almost certainly still a topic.

Controversial. That doesn't mean something like "Abortionists should be shot" or "George W. Bush's election was illegitimate" -- it means that it has to be possible for an intelligent person to disagree with your thesis. If everyone agrees on first sight, your thesis is too obvious, and not worth writing about.

Analytical, not evaluative. A college English paper isn't the place to praise or blame works of literature: theses like "Paradise Lost is an enduring expression of the human spirit" or "The Sound and the Fury isn't successful in its choice of narrative techniques" aren't appropriate. That's the business of book reviewers. No need to give thumbs-up or thumbs-down; evaluate the work on its own terms.

Specific. It's not enough to deal in vague generalities. Some students want to write their paper on man and God, or on the black experience in the twentieth century. Both are far too nebulous to produce a good paper. Get your hands dirty with the text. [Note that if you can plug another book into your thesis, it’s probably too general.]

Well supported. That's the key to the rest of the paper after those first few paragraphs.

 

THINGS TO AVOID WHEN CRAFTING A STRONG, DEBATABLE THESIS:

 

Avoid a thesis that strays from the text at hand and focuses on tangential issues.

 

Bad Example: "The same racism found in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn underlies current day events such the Los Angeles Riots." Note that this sentence is interesting and might come into a conclusion but cannot be the central focus for a paragraph, let alone an entire paper.

 

Avoid a thesis that is overly general--be specific.

 

Bad Examples: "In The Awakening, Kate Chopin shows how Edna is unhappy with her life."

 

A slightly more specific, but ultimately weak, thesis would be "In The Awakening, Kate Chopin critiques the social limitations placed women."

 

Yes, this is true but SO WHAT? What is the reason Chopin does this? What gender/power constructs is she specifically critiquing? 

 

Avoid a thesis that lists.

 

Bad Example: "Twain shows Huck's fallibility through irony, symbolism, and plot constructs."

 

Often, being this specific merely creates a facade of organization.  Defining specific areas to examine is a good thing, however, these points need to be interconnected and ideas should develop from previous points.  Lists tend to sever ideas from one another. In addition, the body of your paper will develop such points, so you don't need a complete table of contents here.

 

Avoid moralizing in your thesis. Don't judge the text; discuss how the text judges its characters, situations and ideas.

 

Example: "Edna was too selfish when she committed suicide, and thus is not an admirable heroine."  Another example: "Because she couldn't make up her mind, Eliza deserved what she got."

 

You are making value judgments here--you can argue these points, but not without showing how the text critiques its characters’ behaviors. Be aware at all times of your tone. When writing a literary analysis, your role is to interpret, to suggest, and to argue – not to condemn based on personal experience, nor to suggest that the author of the text is flawed in his/her thinking.