Thisis Statment

What is a Thesis Statement?

One of the most important components of most scientific papers, whether essay or research paper, is the thesis statement.

by  Miah Md. Abu Musa

So what is a thesis statement? It is a sentence that states what you want your paper to show, what you want to convince your readers after having read your thesis.

This is the foundation of the entire work and informs the reader exactly what you wish to achieve with the paper, what you wish to prove or disprove.

Unless you are documenting research or writing a purely descriptive essay, you will be basing the paper around this thesis statement, so it needs to be well thought out and described.

WHAT IS A THESIS STATEMENT GOOD FOR?

If an assignment asks you analyze, argue, compare and contrast, establish a cause or otherwise interpret, the chances are that you will need to base it around a clearly defined thesis statement.

This sets out your position, and every part of the paper will need to refer to back to it in some way.

THE FOUR STEP PLAN TO WRITING A GOOD THESIS STATEMENT

1. Assertive: Your thesis statement must state exactly what you intend to prove with the paper.
2. Singular: The thesis statement, in most cases, should contain only one idea, keeping the paper focused.
3. Specificity: The thesis statement should be as specific as possible, whilst making your stance clear. One sentence is enough for shorter papers.
4. Position: It should be in the introduction, in most cases at the very end.

1. ASSERTIVE

TELL THE READER WHAT YOU INTEND TO PROVE

Knowing what you are trying to achieve, and committing it to paper, can often be the difficult part, and writing the actual statement can be one of the most daunting aspects of the essay. You are trying to make sure that it informs the reader of exactly what you are proposing.

A thesis is not the subject of the paper but an interpretation or point of view.

For example, you may be writing a paper about the effects of adding omega-3 fatty acid supplements to the diet. That is the subject of the paper.

The thesis would set out what you believe, for example, you may decide to argue the case that you believe that Omega 3 fatty acids supplements are beneficial to health. You could equally argue that they have no effect, or that they are harmful.

2. SINGULAR

ONE PAPER = ONE CONCEPT

For most papers, you want to discuss one concept and elaborate upon that, otherwise the paper quickly loses direction, never answering a point and thoroughly confusing the reader.

For example, you may have decided to write a paper about gambling addiction. Trying to write a paper stating that both Pavlovian and Skinner’s conditioning influence behavior is difficult.

It is better to pick one of the two types and base an essay around that. You could argue that operant conditioning is the major factor underlying the addiction, and set out to prove it. Pavlov would still crop up in the paper, but as part of the background.

3. SPECIFIC

DRAWING THINGS TOGETHER

Your thesis statement should draw together all of the background contained in your introduction and turn it into a single statement. It is not a short rerun of the introduction, but a position.

4. POSITION

WHERE DOES THE THESIS STATEMENT BELONG?

A thesis statement should be in the introduction of the paper, taking up a sentence or so. It is generally in the first paragraph, although some writers prefer to discuss the background and build up to the thesis at the end of the introduction.

This is generally perfectly acceptable, although you should check with your supervisor.

THE THESIS STATEMENT – CHANGEABLE

In a research paper, it is a little easier to write the thesis statement, because you already know your hypothesis, and will be basing it around that.

For an essay, you will need to establish your aim, and the overall direction of the paper. Just because the thesis statement is the foundation of the experiment does not mean that you need to do it first.

It is usually best to do some background information and skim through the sources before trying to fashion a statement. This will become your ‘working’ thesis and, unlike a hypothesis, it can change and adapt as you write and modify the paper.

A thesis statement is not set in stone, and can be modified and refined as you develop the essay. As you uncover more information, you may change your view slightly.

In an argumentative essay, for example, where you have to try to rebut arguments, it is not unknown for the writer to convince themselves that the opposite is true, and completely change the thesis. This is not a problem, and is all part of the scientific process.

Once you have written your essay, and are ready to proof-read, it is important to check your work and ensure that it addresses the thesis. Every single paragraph should be related to this initial statement in some way, or it risks drifting off into irrelevance.

The love song of j Alfred Prufrock

                                                           The Love song of J Alfred Prufrock                                                                    By T S Eliot
S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse  A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,  Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.  Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo  Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,  Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.  Let us go then, you and I,  When the evening is spread out against the sky  Like a patient etherised upon a table;  Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,  The muttering retreats  Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels  And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:  Streets that follow like a tedious argument  Of insidious intent  To lead you to an overwhelming question…  Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”  Let us go and make our visit.
In the room the women come and go  Talking of Michelangelo.
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,  The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes  Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,  Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,  Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,  Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,  And seeing that it was a soft October night,  Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time  For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,  Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;  There will be time, there will be time  To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;  There will be time to murder and create,  And time for all the works and days of hands  That lift and drop a question on your plate;  Time for you and time for me,  And time yet for a hundred indecisions,  And for a hundred visions and revisions,  Before the taking of a toast and tea.
In the room the women come and go  Talking of Michelangelo.
And indeed there will be time  To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”  Time to turn back and descend the stair,  With a bald spot in the middle of my hair  [They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”]  My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,  My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin  [They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”]  Do I dare  Disturb the universe?  In a minute there is time  For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all:  Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,  I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;  I know the voices dying with a dying fall  Beneath the music from a farther room.  So how should I presume?
And I have known the eyes already, known them all  The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,  And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,  When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,  Then how should I begin  To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?  And how should I presume?
And I have known the arms already, known them all  Arms that are braceleted and white and bare  [But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]  It is perfume from a dress  That makes me so digress?  Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.  And should I then presume?  And how should I begin?
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets  And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes  Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?…
I should have been a pair of ragged claws  Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!  Smoothed by long fingers,  Asleep… tired… or it malingers,  Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.  Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,  Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?  But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,  Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,  I am no prophet and here’s no great matter;  I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,  And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,  And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it, after all,  After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,  Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,  Would it have been worth while,  To have bitten off the matter with a smile,  To have squeezed the universe into a ball  To roll it toward some overwhelming question,  To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead,  Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”  If one, settling a pillow by her head,  Should say: “That is not what I meant at all.  That is not it, at all.”
And would it have been worth it, after all,  Would it have been worth while,  After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,  After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor  And this, and so much more?  It is impossible to say just what I mean!  But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:  Would it have been worth while  If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,  And turning toward the window, should say:  “That is not it at all,  That is not what I meant, at all.”
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;  Am an attendant lord, one that will do  To swell a progress, start a scene or two,  Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,  Deferential, glad to be of use,  Politic, cautious, and meticulous;  Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;  At times, indeed, almost ridiculous  Almost, at times, the Fool.
I grow old… I grow old…  I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?  I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.  I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves  Combing the white hair of the waves blown back  When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea  By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown  Till human voices wake us, and we drown. 
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T S Eliot
                                 Complied By :-Miah Md. Abu Musa
                                           Islamic University,Kushtia,Dept of English
                                               Session:-2009-2010 Roll:-0910005
                                                   Email:-realmusa05@gmail.com