Yet Another Post on How to Write a Thesis Statement
I feel like no one tells you how to write a university-level thesis statement once you’re out of high school. They lowkey just throw you into your first university/college class without actually explaining what it is—or if they do, they beat around the bush and say something like, “Make a good argument people can disagree with.” It’s a foundational piece of advice, but it should be explained further.
So, here’s how I wrote my thesis statements in university. What I found helpful was the order in which to formulate one.
1. Establish a basic argument. But how do you know it can be argued against? Pretend you’re the reader and brainstorm some counterpoints (more on this later).
Example: “X character’s lack of empathy results in their abandonment.”
2. Think of your evidence. You know how, in elementary or high school, they’d make you pick three pieces of evidence? Same thing, perhaps worded more eloquently. Here, I’m asking myself how or when does X character exhibit a lack of empathy? What is my proof they do this?
Example: “By not aiding those in need when they have the means to, X character demonstrates how their lack of empathy results in their abandonment.”
3. Answer the very important “So what?” question. Why should anyone care about the argument you’re making? Why is it worth reading?
Example: “By refusing to aid those in need when they have the means to, X character demonstrates how their lack of empathy results in their abandonment, suggesting that their social isolation is ultimately self-inflicted.”
Can another scholar argue against this thesis statement? Sure. They might say X character’s flaws are not what brought upon their supposed ostracization: rather, maybe X character’s upbringing is to blame (say, they grew up with certain values emphasizing selfishness), or they were undermined by others, which led them to their situation.
Your thesis should be specific but also leave room for deeper discussion in the middle of your essay (note how I didn’t go too in-depth with my evidence; I would give more detailed examples of how X character didn’t help others of their own free will in my body paragraphs).
One last thing I’ll mention is this thesis I created is intended for a literary analysis paper (I chose to analyze a character, albeit one I made up). The wording for other types of approaches/essays will differ depending on the goal you have in mind, but it comes with a lot of practice and exposure to other fields of research. The more classes you take, the more material you can pull from them and incorporate into your essays. For instance, interpreting a conflict from a disability lens (that is, considering how an issue would affect people with disabilities), is one way to look at it.
Long story short, experiment! Brainstorm and rearrange sentence fragments until something sticks. I hope this made sense and can help at least one of you with your writing. All the best :)
