Help with essays - The Thesis

The thesis is the point that you are trying to make with your paper. It says to the reader "Here's the conclusion of the paper, now get ready for a bunch of facts to support it."

1. Where do I get my thesis?

Let's say you were given the following topic: "Napoleon and Nelson used innovative tactics in their battle at Waterloo but the ultimate outcome of the battle was inevitable due to cultural influences."

So you know that your thesis should have something to do with the differences between English and French culture. The professor probably prefers English culture to French since the English won the battle, but the thesis is still up to you. Your thesis could be: "The discipline imposed by the English public school system gave Horatio Nelson an advantage over the Jesuit educated Napoleon Bonaparte." Now your essay will consist of research showing a) that Nelson was educated in an English public school and b) that the teaching methodology in that school was disciplined and finally c) the tactics used by Nelson reflected that discipline. On the other hand, you might want to support the French and your thesis could be: "Having defeated the English in 1066 at Hastings, the French forces at Waterloo did not feel the need to again demonstrate their superiority and they let Nelson have the day." This might be a little harder to prove, but your research might show a) the French reaction to victory in Hastings and b) how the French incorporated this into their cultural outlook and c) how this outlook affected battle performance in the battle. The point of this paragraph is: Even when they give you the topic, they did not necessarily give you the thesis. The thesis is the theory which explains the relationship between the facts in your essay. It's really the evidence that you are thinking about the topic and can be worth up to 40% of your grade.

Often you are left to come up with your own topic. This can be difficult if you don't like the course at all. Try to find an aspect of the course which interests you and use that to point you toward your thesis. Remember, a thesis is just a way of explaining some bunch of facts.

You might do some background reading to try to come up with a thesis, but beware of piling up a lot of facts and then thinking you can infer a thesis from them. Your thesis will give you direction in your research, otherwise you are probably wasting your time.

2. How do I work my thesis statement into the essay?

OK, it's a little high school to write "It is the purpose of this essay to..." What you need to do is lay down some basic facts and arguments which relate to the thesis. Your thesis statement is a bold statement which is not footnoted but would ordinarily require backing up.

Fill in the blank for your thesis statement:
"The reason for..."
"An important implication of..."
"In this context ____ can be seen as..."

Your essay is the back up for the thesis statement. The thesis statement usually comes about 1/10 of the way into the essay. After your thesis statement, you plunge into the body of the essay, lining up your arguments to support your thesis.

3. How does my thesis statement impact on the body of the essay?

Don't lose sight of your thesis statement. You should be able to look at your final essay and see how every paragraph helps to support your thesis. Often you will have more facts available than you can use. Your thesis helps you discriminate between which facts you will find most useful.

Next: Essay Structure