E12 Thesis statement work

Writing an Effective Thesis Statement

A thesis statement helps unify an essay. It should summarize the main point and guide the essay's development. A thesis statement can be expressed in one or two sentences.

Five General Rules

1. A thesis statement makes an assertion; it is not a simple statement or observation.


Fact or observation: More people are attending community colleges.


Thesis: Community colleges are attracting more students because they offer job training programs as well as academic courses of study.

2. A thesis takes a stand; it does not make an announcement.


 Announcement: The thesis of this paper is the difficulty of solving the environmental problems of the Indian River Lagoon.


Thesis: Solving the environmental problems of the Indian River Lagoon will prove more difficult than many people believe.

3. A thesis is a main idea, not a title.


Title: The effect of the Internet on society.


Thesis: Continuing advances in the Internet are having a great impact upon communication in modern society.

4. A thesis statement narrows the topic. 


Too Broad: The American automobile industry has many problems.


Thesis: The primary problem facing the American automobile industry is competition from foreign auto makers.

5. A thesis statement is specific.


Too Vague: John D. MacDonald’s stories are very good.


Thesis: John D. MacDonald’s stories advanced the thriller genre by employing intelligent dialogue, introducing environmental and economic concerns, and delving into moral issues.

Here are some examples we will try together:

Write a thesis statement for an essay for the following three topics:

1.    Gender roles in “Boys and Girls”.

Gender roles in the story “Boys and Girls” are well-defined/ clearly-defined.

Alice Munro, in the story “Boys and Girls”, uses clearly-defined gender roles to highlight stereotypes about women’s and men’s roles in society.

Alice Munro, in the story “Boys and Girls”, uses clearly-defined gender roles to show XXX sexism in our society.

Alice Munro, in the story “Boys and Girls”, uses clearly-defined gender roles to challenge our assumptions about the validity of traditional gender roles in our modern society.

2.    Contrast two characters in “Boys and Girls”.

3.    Discuss conflict in “Boys and Girls”.

person vs person, Laird and the narrator

person vs society,

person vs herself,

person vs nature, nature vs nurture?