Module 1: Define Your Topic, Develop a Thesis Statement (2 pages 1, 2) what's this?
| Consider the Rhetorical Situation | Generate and Refine Ideas | Define the Purpose | Consider the Audience | Develop a Tentative Thesis Statement |
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So,
(1) what exactly is a thesis statement? A
thesis statement is the controlling idea for your paper.
It may include the main idea you wish to communicate, your attitude
toward the idea, and your purpose. Your “attitude toward the idea” is
your opinion of the topic.
Your thesis cannot be a statement of fact (i.e. husbands and wives
assume marital roles), but rather your thesis statement has to be an
assertion about that fact. Let’s
look at an example.
|
Audience |
Psychology
students, especially those who plan to offer marriage counseling, |
|
Purpose |
need
to be informed |
|
Main
Idea and Your Attitude |
that
marital roles adopted by husbands and wives are determined as much
by their individual social networks as by family history or
personal values. |
In the example above, you can see that the writer identified the audience for her paper. You also may need to identify your audience, depending upon your instructor’s guidelines. But remember, even if you don’t have to directly state your audience, your audience will play a large role in what you’re writing about.
Another
way to think about the thesis statement is to think of it as a one or two
sentence summary of your paper. As
a “summary,” it serves as a preview of the paper for the reader.
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Copyright 2003 by the Academic Center, the University of Houston-Victoria, and
Summer Leibensperger.
Created 2003 by Summer Leibensperger.
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