1. #1 - How to Formulate a Strong Thesis Statement
Learning how to Write a Short Literary Analysis about Something We’ve Read
#1 - How to Formulate
a Strong Thesis Statement

2. TDEC – a way of thinking through your written analysis of a text
Thesis
Details (evidence from text)
Elaboration
Commentary
These parts are factual—not up for debate. How did the writer do it?
Here is where you provide your insights and ideas, explaining why the details you chose from the text support your thesis/argument

3. SIX Ingredients for a Strong Thesis
Answer the question you were asked. Make sure you answer the prompt directly and accurately.
Commit to a specific focus. Don’t give two or three answers. (Although a specific thesis may also be complex and have multiple parts)
BUT…don’t be too specific; you want to be able to write about the whole text, not just one paragraph. Don’t include specific quotes from the text. Save those details for support.
Take a position that could possibly be challenged or opposed. You should not just provide facts and/or a summary. (A thesis should be interesting for a reader!)
It must be defendable! Ask yourself: Can I prove this? Is there enough evidence in the story to support my argument?
Help your reader. Use wording from the prompt so a reader could guess the prompt you were given. Will a reader understand what you mean? Include the author’s name, the work’s title, and its genre.

4. Your Thesis is your answer to the prompt, the argument you are going to make
In this unit we are often going to write thesis sentences that answer the question…What is a central theme of ________________?
A thematic statement that answers that prompt is simply one kind of thesis statement.
We can write a thesis statement, craft an argument, for any kind of prompt:
Ex. - In _____’s novel_______, how does the narrator change as a result of the events of the story?
Ex. – How does the setting in ______’s short story _______ represent the main character’s internal conflict?

5. An example for “Three Soldiers”
Prompt: What is a central theme of Bruce Holland Rogers’s short story “Three Soldiers”?
Possible ideas/brainstorming for a thesis that answers this prompt:
Subject Areas:
- war, witnessing death, tragedy, being haunted by a memory?
I’m going to pick war. What does Rogers have to say about this topic? Brainstorm details from the text:
- the soldier feels frustrated when he doesn’t know how to help a dying soldier in his troop
- he mocks Calder’s observation that they’ll “never get back” home but then doesn’t feel emotionally or mentally home when he returns—thinking about the “kid in pieces”
- Holiday dinner with family, he feels like he should be with his soldiers, can’t communicate with his family, contrast of the significant war questions with the “white meat or dark” choice

6. An example for “Three Soldiers”
Prompt: What is a central theme of Bruce Holland Rogers’s short story “Three Soldiers”?
The theme is that war is a really difficult thing.
What is weak about this thesis?

7. An example for “Three Soldiers”
Prompt: What is a central theme of Bruce Holland Rogers’s short story “Three Soldiers”?
A central theme of Bruce Holland Roger’s short story “Three Soldiers” is that war is a really difficult thing.
While, it still needs improving, what is better about this thesis?
This is very vague. We need to be more specific. What about war is difficult in this story? “THING” is a noun we want to try and ban from our writing. 95% of the time there is more specific noun.

8. An example for “Three Soldiers”
Prompt: What is a central theme of Bruce Holland Rogers’s short story “Three Soldiers”?
A central theme of Bruce Holland Roger’s short story “Three Soldiers” is the idea that what soldiers experience during war can remain with them long after they return home from service.
Can we improve this?
- What did the soldier “experience” in “Three Soldiers”?
- What “remains” with the soldier?

9. An example for “Three Soldiers”
Prompt: What is a central theme of Bruce Holland Rogers’s short story “Three Soldiers”?
A central theme of Bruce Holland Roger’s short story “Three Soldiers” is the idea that a soldier’s inability to prevent or forget tragic death during war can emotionally damage him or her, even after returning home from service.

10. An example for “Sleeping”
Prompt: Why is “Sleeping” a symbolic title for Katherine Weber’s short story?
Possible ideas for a thesis:
The baby is supposedly sleeping the whole time.
The baby is dead, so, in a way, it is eternally “sleeping”.
The mother is sleeping because she is not awake to the reality that her baby has died…or that she couldn’t have a baby
Harriet is sleeping because she doesn’t realize what’s going on.

11. An example for “Sleeping”
Prompt: Why is “Sleeping” a symbolic title for Katherine Weber’s short story?
Bad thesis: It works as a title because Charles is supposedly asleep the whole time, but in actuality he has died.
A little better thesis: “Sleeping” is a symbolic title for Katherine Weber’s short story because Harriet doesn’t have the experience to know what’s happening, Charles is eternally “sleeping”, and because Mrs. Winter is asleep to reality.
Notice that in the set-up of the second thesis, the reader is given much more information. You can guess what kind of prompt the writer was given. Also, the writer provides the author’s name , the work’s title, as well as its genre.

12. An example for “Sleeping”
Prompt: Why is “Sleeping” a symbolic title for Katherine Weber’s short story?
Strong thesis: “Sleeping” is a symbolic title for Katherine Weber’s short story because the word represents the emotional state of Mrs. Winter, a woman who is unable to awaken and face a painful reality.

13. Your HW “Us and Them” Prompts
As a result of the events of the story, what realization does David Sedaris make about his own behavior?
What’s one central theme Sedaris addresses in his autobiographical essay “Us and Them”?
Look over the 6 ingredients of a strong thesis (on the next slide) and revise both of your thesis sentences you wrote for HW to make them stronger.

14. SIX Ingredients for a Strong Thesis
Answer the question you were asked. Make sure you answer the prompt directly and accurately.
Commit to a specific focus. Don’t give two or three answers. (Although a specific thesis may also be complex and have multiple parts)
BUT…don’t be too specific; you want to be able to write about the whole text, not just one paragraph. Don’t include specific quotes from the text. Save those details for support.
Take a position that could possibly be challenged or opposed. You should not just provide facts and/or a summary. (A thesis should be interesting for a reader!)
It must be defendable! Ask yourself: Can I prove this? Is there enough evidence in the story to support my argument?
Help your reader. Use wording from the prompt so a reader could guess the prompt you were given. Will a reader understand what you mean? Include the author’s name, the work’s title, and its genre.