Create a Thesis

 


Create a Thesis Statement

If you’ve worked through the prewriting and are ready to create a thesis (see page 383-384), you want to make sure that you write one sentence--that when read by itself--makes sense to the audience as to what the issue is and your proposed solutions to that issue.  You will want to create a thesis with an essay map.  It will look something like this:

Because of X, one must work to A, B, and C to fix this issue.


Present the issue (X) and list (briefly) the proposed solutions (A, B, and C) for the problem.


Writers sometimes seek out problems that are simply too big: hunger, racism, sexism, political deceit, and so on. But such giant problems have too many causes and too many forms. When this happens the paper’s thesis statement is too broad and there are too many solution steps to solve the issue. 

Writers are more apt to create a focused argument and offer an important insight if they take on a specific problem—one that can be located in a particular place and time. Before moving on, make certain that your problem is as narrow as possible.

A thesis for this paper should offer a specific strategy for addressing a specific problem. Thesis statements tend to go off track for a few reasons. Before committing to a thesis statement (to something that may impact everything hereafter!), see the “Common Thesis Problems” on page 254 in Chapter 8: Making Arguments.

Since this is a solutions paper, the thesis must clearly assert your solution to the issue.  Is there a solution to the issue?  Create a thesis statement that asserts this.


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