WRITING A GREAT THESIS How to craft a thesis that is specific, arguable, relevant, & insightful

The Basics: To come up with a thesis topic, try this process: 1. Observation: The WHAT What you’ve noticed in the text—a specific strategy, tone, type of content, structure, pattern, seeming contradiction, etc. 2. Complication: The HOW How that observation works, is used, and/or changes. In other words, what does that strategy, device, or pattern DO in the text? 3. Significance: The WHY, or SO WHAT? What does your observation reveal about the author’s meaning or intentions? What does the observation suggest, disprove, complicate etc.?

SAMPLE THESIS The WHAT: Throughout The Country Wife, Sparkish focuses on other characters’ words rather than their actions… The HOW: …which suggests that he privileges appearance over substance. The WHY or SO WHAT: Yet because Sparkish is continually duped and mocked by the other, wittier characters, Wycherley thus implies that reality lies beneath frequently deceptive surfaces—and that true wit involves a healthy skepticism of words.

THE FINISHED THESIS: Throughout The Country Wife, Sparkish focuses on other characters’ words rather than their actions, which indicates that he privileges appearance over substance. Yet because Sparkish is continually duped and mocked by the other, wittier characters, Wycherley thus implies that reality lies beneath frequently deceptive surfaces—and that true wit involves a healthy skepticism of words.

Specific, Arguable, Relevant, & Insightful The best theses are: Specific, Arguable, Relevant, & Insightful SPECIFIC: Avoid generalizations or grand claims. Your thesis needs to be grounded in specific details of the text, and you must be able to prove it convincingly within the assigned page range. ARGUABLE: Your thesis should make a claim that a reasonable person could disagree with; statements of fact are neither arguable nor compelling. RELEVANT Whatever you’re arguing, you need to explain why the author is doing what you claim he/she is doing, to what end, to what purpose. You also need to think about why YOU are arguing what you’re arguing: what is your end or purpose (other than that you have to write a paper to pass this class)? INSIGHTFUL: Take the time to come up with something that you think is not obvious, that will require the length of the paper for you to prove it. The best papers are ones where you feel like if you don’t explain it—or show the analysis that got you to your claim—your reader will not be convinced. These essays are also the most fun to write!

Problematic thesis #1: In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare grapples with the complexity of human bonds. NOT SPECIFIC: This statement is general and its claim is vague— so your reader is probably unable to see which types of arguments you’re likely to produce. What does “grapple” mean, specifically? What does “complexity” entail? What types of human bonds? Overly broad theses frequently lead to disorganized body paragraphs.

Problematic thesis #2: In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock demands justice, whereas Portia encourages him to have mercy. NOT ARGUABLE: The thesis is essentially a statement of fact, not an argument; it merely restates the actions of each character. No one could disagree with this claim. Non-arguable theses lead to body paragraphs which summarize the plot rather than provide close reading or analysis.

Problematic thesis #3: Wycherley portrays most of the gentlemen in The Country Wife as witty and cultured, whereas the businessmen—the “cits”—are unimaginative drudges. NOT RELEVANT: What is the writer’s point in making this claim? How does it relate to Wycherley’s purpose? Because irrelevant theses lack a strong controlling argument, they tend to have disorganized body paragraphs and weaker analysis.

Problematic thesis #4: In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare suggests that Shylock is disgraced because of his inflexibility and greed—which is contrasted with the generous Antonio, who is spared punishment. This thesis is not bad—but it is not particularly insightful, either.

Problematic thesis #4: BETTER: Although Shakespeare does suggest that “Christian” generosity is better than Shylock’s greed, the author still implies that liberality itself can be a vice if taken too far; throughout the play, Shakespeare suggests that Bassanio—and, more surprisingly, Jessica—are guilty of the opposite vice: prodigality. This thesis makes a much more insightful argument; it goes beyond the surface level of the play, and will need to justify this claim with strong analysis.

The best thesis ideas are often founded in parts of the text that you find intriguing, unexpected, or even problematic.