How to write a thesis fast:
Use formula: thesis = topic + assertion
Students can learn how to write a thesis statement before they
understand the meaning of the term. In fact, if you want students
to understand the concept, you must have them use it in their writing.
The definition of thesis is a summary of the main idea
of an entire essay, article, or book.
Writing a thesis statement is not hard, as you'll see in a few
moments. However, knowing how to write a thesis within the process
of writing an essay can be difficult even for bright students.
In fact, I sometimes feel the bright kids struggle more than the
average kids who just go through the motions. To a large extent,
going through the motions enough times is what learning writing
is about.
A thesis is a whole idea
One of my students once posted a message to a class forum pleading,
“Can somebody please give me an idea? There’s no way I
can write an essay without an idea.”
The poor girl didn’t know how right she was.
Most students don’t have whole ideas. If you ask them to jot
down things they could write about, they’ll give you fragments
of sentences, usually nouns and noun phrases.
No one can write a unified, coherent essay about an
idea fragment.
Thesis = topic + assertion
To create something that can serve as the main idea of a paper,
writers have to expand the topic from a fragment to a complete idea.
They do that by adding an assertion about the topic, and
combining the two into a single declarative sentence that I call
a working thesis. The topic becomes the subject
of the statement, the assertion becomes the predicate.
The assertion is usually the writer's opinion or perspective
on the topic. The assertion doesn’t need to be earth-shaking
or original. Great writing can be developed even from platitudes.
Writers’ initial statements are usually rather ungainly, but
that awkwardness doesn't matter. The purpose of the working thesis
is to help writers gather and sort ideas. For that reason, you
need to teach students to begin
the writing process by developing a thesis statement.
Knowing how to write a thesis
is no use unless students use that knowledge to help them write
efficiently.
Later, if the thesis statements pan out, writers polish them. Polishing
transforms initial statements into formal thesis statements that
look and sound good and fit smoothly into the finished essays.
Use what is given you
Nearly every real-world writing assignment, both in school and
on the job, gives writers a topic to write about. In a great
many cases, assignments even limit
writers to a few potential assertions. Initially writers might
not know which assertion is best, but they rarely are in doubt about
what their options are.
Many classroom writing assignments allow students to write a thesis
without having to come up with either a topic or an assertion. They
don't even have to know which part is the topic and which part the
assertion.
Sometimes students can simply copy the thesis statement given in
the writing prompt. They need to know nothing — zero, nada,
zip — about how to write a thesis. I call these no-brainer
theses. They often are the work of very brainy teachers.
Other assignments give students a topic plus a choice of assertions
about that topic. Typically, such prompts give students a choice
of two assertions about a topic.
By far, the most common type of
writing prompt is one that gives students a topic while restricting
the range of potential assertions they can use. Having to come
up with an assertion presents a greater challenge than using one
that's given, especially for beginning writers. It takes more time,
more creativity, and more self-confidence.
You can help beginning writers develop confidence by using prompts
that allow them to learn how to write a thesis without having to
come up with their own assertions.
created 11-Feb-2008; updated: 12-Sep-2008
|
