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Chapter 03: Thesis Statements
To write a good thesis statement, you must know what a good thesis statement is. And the most effective way of learning to identify a good thesis statement, recent research tells us, is to practice discriminating between real thesis statements and non-thesis statements—and, even more importantly, between real thesis statements and near-misses, which can look good at first glance but on further inspection fall short.
“Discrimination training” is essential because all composition is a process of writing and revising, and writing and revising again, until you are satisfied with the results. If you cannot readily tell the difference between a good thesis statement and even a close approximation, you will stop too soon.
Discrimination training
Goal: The purpose of these exercises is to develop your ability to “discriminate” a genuine thesis statement from a non-thesis statement (or a stronger thesis from a weaker one) in your own work—to know whether you have arrived at a good thesis statement or whether you need to keep going. Some examples follow.
Example 1
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Non-thesis |
In the 17th century, the Scientific Revolution overturned Aristotelian philosophy. [This is a statement of fact with no analysis suggested or advanced. There is no effort to answer the all-important “so-what” question—that is, to explain why it is important to know that the Scientific Revolution overturned Aristotelian philosophy and the historical implications of this development.]
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Near miss |
The scientific revolution represented an advance over Aristotelian philosophy. [The statement makes a claim but fails to answer the “so-what” question.]
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Thesis statement |
The Scientific Revolution represented an advance over Aristotelian philosophy because it no longer attributed human qualities to inanimate objects, and thus gave better explanations of natural phenomena. [Here there is an argument about why the Scientific Revolution represented an advance, and this statement also suggests an answer to the “so-what” question about why the Scientific Revolution was important.] |
Example 2
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Near miss |
During the Enlightenment, Catholic philosophers tended to oppose religion whereas Protestant ones supported it. [The statement makes a claim but fails to answer the “so-what” question.]
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Thesis statement |
Because the Scottish Enlightenment generally did not reject religion and the French Enlightenment generally did, the latter was more radical than the former. [Here there is an evaluative claim that advances an argument about the implications of religion in the two enlightenments. This is a relatively sophisticated kind of thesis statement, and not all professors will want their students to attempt ones like these.]
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Near miss |
During the Enlightenment, most philosophers in Protestant countries did not reject religion, while philosophers in Catholic countries generally did. [The statement makes a claim but fails to answer the “so-what” question. Some professors may, with good reason, find this an acceptable thesis statement, because it makes a claim and requires comparative analysis.]
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Non-thesis |
During the Enlightenment, some philosophers rejected religion and others did not. [This is a statement of fact with no analysis suggested or advanced. There is no effort to answer the all-important “so-what” question—that is, to explain why it mattered historically that some philosophers rejected religion and others did not.]
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