Thesis Statement

Role

Characteristics

Role of Thesis Statement

• States IN A SINGLE SENTENCE what the argument of the essay will be

• Every paragraph must support some aspect of it (it defines the structure to follow)

• Therefore, Provides STRUCTURE for the Essay

• Helps the Writer and Helps the reader

A Good Thesis Statement must be

• UNIFIED: since the thesis statement provides the structure and argument for the essay, it must have only one main clause, or you will have a divided paper

• FOCUSED: the thesis statement must provide a focus for the analysis that will follow since all analysis will point back to some aspect of it.

• ASSERTIVE: must provide a point for the essay

AVOID

• Use of “to be” verbs in thesis statement especially if the predicate merely renames the subject (Predicate Nominative or Predicate Adjective)

• e/.g. “Okonkwo is an ideal Ibo warrior.”

• Vague predicates– Interesting

– Great

– Important

– Really good

Sample problems

• “Okonkwo is an ideal warrior among the Ibo.”

• “Okonkwo exhibits many Ibo ideals, but the Ibo have an imbalanced view of gender, like Creon.

• “Okonkwo fails to grow.”

Does this Work?

• Although Okonkwo exhibits many masculine ideals of the Ibo people,

• he fails to learn the deeper foundation of these values in the feminine

• because fear and rigidity prevent him from fully growing up.

Does this Work?

• Okonkwo’s rigidity, motivated by a fear of being like his father, helps him achieve great things, but

• ironically leads to his downfall, due to his inability to adapt to change.