EEI - CLASS 5

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September 28th, 2016.

EXPRESSÃO ESCRITA EM INGLÊS CLASS 5: THE THESIS STATEMENT Profa. Dra. Fabiana Valeria da Silva Tavares

The thesis statement Most important component of an essay.

Function: showing what the paper aims at, as to convince the audience to read it and accept the author’s point of view. All ideas are organized around this central statement. It is NEVER neutral.

Functions of a thesis statement  Sets the way the audience will read the paper and the meaning of the discussed subject matter. Works as a road map for the paper; as to prepare the reader for what comes next and expect what to read by the end of it.  Narrows down the author’s opinion to a limited set of arguments that altogether make their interpretation. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. Example: a topic might be the USA 2016 elections; and the author’s thesis will thus offer to the reader his view on the subject as to understand the matter.

Functions of a thesis statement Since it is an interpretation about a topic, it is a claim that others might discuss about, going for or against it. As a central view that will introduce and prepare the text for your argumentation, it is usually set in the first paragraph of the essay. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

Before it becomes a thesis statement It is not the first impression that the author has about the subject.

It is the result of a well-thought process about the topic. It involves •Reading several materials (sometimes of varied types); •Organizing evidence and points of view; •Relating facts and opinions about the subject; and •Thinking about the things the author has then read.

Parts of a thesis statement 1. Limited Subject: one must keep close to the chosen (or required) topic. 2. Precise Opinion: the precise opinion will provide an answer to the author’s question regarding the subject. A precise opinion is vital to the reader’s comprehension of the goal of the essay. 3. Blueprint of Reasons: A blueprint is a plan; the outcome of one’s process of brainstorming, gathering, selecting, narrowing down, relating, and contrasting/ comparing ideas, opinions and information about the topic. These are the ones that will be developed in the essay.

The blueprint “The blueprint, typically found in the thesis paragraph, is a list of the topics you plan to cover in order to prove your thesis. Your reasoning blueprint should preview the relationship between all subpoints, in the order they will appear in the body of your paper, before you launch into details about the first sub-point.

Including a good blueprint will not only help your reader follow your argument, it will help your writing. It’s easier to add a room, move a hallway, or redesign a whole wing at the blueprinting stage, rather than tearing down sections of a partially-built house.”

http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/academic1/blueprinting-using-the-thesis-paragraph-to-plan-your-essay/

The process of creating a thesis statement Analyze your primary sources: are they good enough for your purposes? Reliable? Contrastive? Can you extract good reasoning from them? Can you innovate if needed from your reading experience? Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction: put it on the top, so that you make it central. Once you have a working thesis, write it down, so that you do not lose sight of good ideas that might come along the process. Anticipate the counterarguments: once do you do it, it might be easier to prevent gaps and weak arguments, as you strengthen it.

Starting points  Begin from the topic. Check what you know about it, collect material, and read it.  Define your point of view about the topic. What is your opinion about it? Make it precise.  As you state your argument, do it through a blueprint. It will help you write the rest of the essay. Keep your thesis statement flexible throughout your writing process. You might make it even sharper by narrowing it down or changing its aspect, for instance.

What a thesis must NOT be A thesis is never a question. A question is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead from the start. A thesis is never a list. Do not build obvious and numbered reasons for your thesis. Such type of sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational. Avoid being moralistic or judgmental, as it usually happens when you try to state like this. Try to keep rational and thoughtful. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

What a thesis statement SHOULD be An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim. An effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs" the author’s point of view allows the reader to expect the essay to develop the ideas previously preannounced.

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible. Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. Be as specific and yet concise as possible.

What is the problem with these? The thesis makes no claim. Bad thesis: I’m going to write about Darwin’s concerns with evolution in The Origin of Species. Good thesis: Darwin’s concern with survival of the fittest in The Origin of Species leads him to neglect a potentially conflicting aspect of his theory of evolution—survival as a matter of interdependence. Bad thesis: This paper will address the characteristics of a good corporate manager. Good thesis: The very trait that makes for an effective corporate manager—the drive to succeed—can also make the leader domineering and therefore ineffective.

The overly broad thesis A thesis should be as specific as possible, and it should be tailored to reflect the scope of the paper. It is not possible, for instance, to write about the history of English literature in a 5 page paper. In addition to choosing simply a smaller topic, strategies to narrow a thesis include specifying a method or perspective or delineating certain limits. Bad thesis: The government has the right to limit free speech. Good thesis: The government has the right to limit free speech in cases of overtly racist or sexist language because our failure to address such abuses would effectively suggest that our society condones such ignorant and hateful views.

The thesis is obviously true or is a statement of fact Find some avenue of INQUIRY — a question about the facts or an issue raised by them. Make an assertion with which it would be possible for readers to disagree. Bad thesis: The jeans industry targets its advertisements to appeal to young adults. Good thesis: By inventing new terms, such as “loose fit” and “relaxed fit”, the jean industry has attempted to normalize, even glorify, its product for an older and fatter generation. Bad thesis: The flight from teaching to research and publishing in higher education is a controversial issue in the academic world. I will show different views and aspects concerning this problem. Good thesis: The “flight from teaching” to research and publishing in higher education is a controversial issue in the academic world. As I will attempt to show, the controversy is based to a significant degree on a false assumption, that doing research necessarily leads teachers away from the classroom.

The uncontestable thesis

A thesis must be arguable. And in order for it to be arguable, it must present a view that someone might reasonably contest. Sometimes a thesis ultimately says, "we should be good," or "bad things are bad." Such thesis statements are tautological or so universally accepted that there is no need to prove the point.

Bad thesis: Although we have the right to say what we want, we should avoid hurting other people's feelings.

Good thesis: If we can accept that emotional injuries can be just as painful as physical ones we should limit speech that may hurt people's feelings in ways similar to the way we limit speech that may lead directly to bodily harm.

Bad thesis: There are always alternatives to using racist speech. Good thesis: The "fighting words" exception to free speech is not legitimate because it wrongly considers speech as an action.

The thesis restates conventional wisdom (Conventional wisdom is a polite term for clichés.) Most clichés were fresh ideas once, but over time they have become trite, prefabricated forms of non-thinking. There is some truth in all of the problem examples above, but none of them complicates its position. Try to challenge the reader (i.e. see more than one point of view on your subject). Avoid conventional wisdom unless you can qualify it or introduce a fresh perspective on it.

Bad thesis: An important part of one’s college education is learning to better understand others’ points of view. Good thesis: Although an important part of one’s college education is learning to better understand others’ points of view, a persistent danger is that the students will simply be required to substitute the teacher’s answers for the ones they grew up uncritically believing. Bad thesis: From cartoons in the morning to adventure shows at night, there is too much violence on television. Good thesis: Although some might argue that the presence of rock and roll soundtracks in TV commercials has corrupted rock’s spirit, this point of view not only falsifies the history of rock but also blinds us to the ways that the music has improved the quality of television advertising.

Test for a thesis statement 1. Is this a complete sentence (and not a question)?

2. Does it have an opposing argument? 3. Is every word clear and unambiguous in meaning? 4. Is the sentence a dead end, or does it call for additional information and explanation? 5. Does the statement make such a large claim that you believe the writer has no hope of proving it to be true in the space of 4 to 6 pages?

6. What evidence will you need to see before you will believe that the thesis is true?

The result of an effective thesis statement is a convincing text The most common argumentative structure in English prose is deductive: starting off with a generalization or assertion, and then providing support for it. This pattern can be used to order a paragraph as well as an entire essay. Another possible structure is inductive: facts, instances or observations can be reviewed, and the conclusion to be drawn from them follows. There is no blueprint for a successful essay; the best ones show us a focused mind making sense of some manageable aspect of the world, a mind where insightfulness, reason, and clarity are joined. (DUFFIN, 1998, Writing Center at Harvard University)

Homework exercise 1 Statement thesis on “Marriage”:

•Download the PDF files from the Google Drive about the topic and read them. Try to position yourself about the topic. •Open your “Brainstorming” collective list of ideas, information, and opinions about the topic and narrow it down. • Choose an angle (point of view) from where you are going to ennunciate to your audience. • By following the steps of the process explained in this presentation, elaborate a thesis statement about marriage. Be ready to share it with youre classmates.

Homework exercise 2 For each of the theses statements below, answer the following: • Does the thesis take a stand? • Does it propose a solution for the problem? • Does it evaluate something? • Does it state its position in

a clear, precise, and convincing way?

1)

Cutting classes in the Brazilian new educational system for high school is like a disease.

2)

Older people do not know how to use new technologies.

3)

In today’s society, paedophelia is spread all over the places.

4)

Smoking can kill you.

5)

Start-up initiatives are awesome and innovative ways to profit in the new market.

 Now try to improve and re-write each of these statements as to make them convincing and as argumentative as they must be. Do it on your copybook/ computer.

References Rosenwasser, D. and Stephen, J. (2006). Writing Analytically. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth. Available on: http://create.arizona.edu/content/weak-thesisstatements-recognizing-and-fixing-them  Maxine Rodburg and The Tutors of the Writing Center at Harvard University, 1999. Available on: http://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/developing-thesis Jerz, Dennis. Thesis statement. Available http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/academic1/thesis-statement-writing-academicessays/

on:

Martyn Shuttleworth (Oct 23, 2009). What is a Thesis Statement?. Available on: https://explorable.com/what-is-a-thesis-statement Thesis Statement. The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill College of Arts and Sciences. 2014. Available on: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/thesisstatements/