Paper Writing: Generating a Thesis Statement
The author has addressed organizing thinking to create a focused topic statement and to generate three main points about a topic in previous articles. For the example essay paper assignment used in those articles, the general topic statement developed is "A review of a current newspaper article that discusses black officers in the U.S.military" and the three main points developed related to that topic are:
• challenges facing black officers in U.S.military
• programs in U.S.military to promote officer candidates from black military personnel
• performance examples of black officers in the U.S.military.
These three points to be made about the assignment topic are listed in order from "strongest point" to "least strong point" (because all are regarded as "strong" points). How these points were developed from an example assignment and why exactly three points are desirable is described in another article, but using these three points to develop an effective thesis statement is the focus of this article.
With thinking about the essay topic organized in a focused topic statement and three main points related to the topic, then all the data for generating a thesis statement are available -- but why have a thesis statement? With a succinct statement of a thesis (an author's focused thinking about a topic), an author can communicate clearly and effectively to a reader exactly what points are to be made about the topic and in what order these points are to be made in the paper.
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The following are the author's criteria for an effective thesis statement:
communicates what is the general topic of the paper
presents the three main points to be made in the paper, listing them in the order they will be addressed in the paper
uses action verbs to indicate how the author will present each point
in one sentence and is the last sentence in the first paragraph of the paper
In general, a paper is structured in three parts -- an introduction, the body, the conclusion. Think of the introduction as a single paragraph that is designed to introduce the thesis statement. Since the introductory paragraph is intended to introduce the thesis statement, then the thesis statement is expected to be developed prior to the development of the introductory paragraph. Often persons build an introductory paragraph before having developed an effective thesis statement indicating less than effective organizing of thinking about the paper!
With the general topic and three main points presented previously, what thesis statement might be developed? Start the thesis statement with a phrase that communicates the general topic of the paper. For example, for the general topic "A review of a current newspaper article that discusses black officers in the U.S. military," a phrase communicating that might be "Regarding black officers in the U.S. military,...." After this phrase communicating the general topic, use an action verb to introduce the first main point which will be the "least strong" of the strongest points generated.
Why address the least strong point first in a paper? In general, a reader is more likely to remember the last point addressed in a paper -- so make the last point addressed in the paper the strongest point! Previously the three points being used as an example in this article are listed and ordered from "most strong" to "least strong," so "performance examples of black officers in U.S. military" is the least strong point and will be the first main point addressed in the paper. Now the thesis statement is "Regarding black officers in the U.S.military, the author presents performance examples of these officers, then...."
In this example, notice the use of the action verb "presents" to describe to the reader what will be done with the first point -- and the use of such an action verb signals the reader a main point follows. Notice the use of "then" -- this signals the reader that something different follows, so reader may more easily recognize what follows as a different point to be addressed in the paper.
To complete this example thesis statement, the other two main points will be added with the "most strong" point listed last in the thesis statement -- like ""Regarding black officers in the U.S. military, the author presents performance examples of these officers, then describes programs in the U.S. military to promote black officer candidates, and then explores challenges still facing black officers in the U.S. military." Notice the use of the action verbs "describes" and "explores" and notice the use of "and then," effectively communicating to the reader what will be done with each point in the paper and signaling the reader that a new point is being listed, with the strongest point being listed last because it will be addressed last in the paper.
Side note: Notice the parallel structure of the action verbs - presents, describes, explores.
Notice how this thesis statement clearly communicates to the reader what is the general topic, what are the three main points to be made about this topic, and in what order the points will be addressed in the paper. This provides the reader an opportunity to develop an initial pattern of thinking in his or her brain that he or she may then use to build a structured, organized, pattern of thinking about the topic being presented, increasing the probability the reader will develop the desired understanding and more easily recall the topic and main points.
With this well-structured thesis statement developed, then a person has completed the process of organizing thinking about a paper and is ready to use the thesis statement as a guide for developing the paragraphs in the paper starting with the development of the introductory paragraph -- but the process of using the thesis statement to develop these paragraphs is a topic for another article.
Paper Writing: Building An Introductory Paragraph
In general, an essay is structured in three parts -- an introduction, the body, the conclusion. Think of the introduction as a single paragraph designed to introduce the thesis statement. Often persons build an introductory paragraph before having developed an effective thesis statement indicating less than the most effective organization of thinking about the topic of a paper! In this article, using an example thesis statement, the development of an introductory paragraph for an actual essay assignment is described.
In a cultural diversity class the author had an assignment to write an essay to "...review a current article that discusses or illustrates the portrayal of some aspect of cultural diversity in U.S.society." One current article which appeared to meet the assignment directions concerned black officers in the U.S. military -- it illustrated an aspect of cultural diversity in U.S. society. So the general topic of the proposed essay became "A review of a current newspaper article that discusses black officers in the U.S. military illustrating an aspect of cultural diversity in the U.S." This statement of the general topic of the proposed essay serves as the basis for the first sentence in the introductory paragraph. The first sentence of the example introductory paragraph might be something like "The media addressing some aspect of cultural diversity that was selected for this paper is a newspaper article discussing black officers in the U.S. military." Notice how this sentence clearly states what is the general topic of the essay which IS the main point of the introductory paragraph. Also notice how words from the assignment directions are used in this sentence -- communicating to the essay evaluator that the writer is paying attention to the assignment directions.
For the example essay paper assignment, one thesis statement developed was "Regarding black officers in the U.S. military, the author in this essay presents performance examples of these officers, then describes programs in the U.S. military to promote black officer candidates, and then explores challenges still facing black officers in the U.S. military." Notice how this statement begins with communicating the general topic of the paper followed by the presentation of three main points to be addressed in the essay using action verbs (presents, describes, explores) to identify what the author intends to do with each main point in the essay. For the most effective organization of thinking for an essay, stick with focusing on three and only three main points. This thesis statement becomes the last sentence in the introductory paragraph. So the statement of the general topic is the basis for the first sentence and the thesis statement is the last sentence in an introductory paragraph -- what's between these two sentences?
Although there are many resources available via the Internet describing how to build paragraphs, this author uses a simple four-sentence method for constructing a basic paragraph. In a basic paragraph, first sentence, often labeled the "topic sentence," states what is the main point of the paragraph. Second sentence provides some evidence that demonstrates or supports the main point. Third sentence describes for the reader how the writer understands the information provided in the second sentence DOES demonstrate or support the main point stated in the first sentence. Since the first three sentences DO communicate the main point of the paragraph, provide evidence to support or make that point, and explain how the evidence provided DOES support the main point according to the writer's understanding, then by the end of the third sentence, the point of the paragraph HAS BEEN MADE. Therefore, sentence four is designed to communicate to the reader that the point of the paragraph has now been made AND introduce the reader to the main point of the next paragraph. This four-sentence structure may be used to develop the three main paragraphs in an essay (and any subparagraphs for the main paragraphs) as well as developing the introductory paragraph.
Using this four-sentence structure to build the introductory paragraph, start the paragraph with a statement that clearly communicates the general topic of the paper. The topic statement developed for this example assignment as indicated previously is "A review of a current newspaper article that discusses black officers in the U.S. military," so a possible first sentence might be "The media addressing some aspect of cultural diversity that was selected for this paper is a newspaper article discussing black officers in the U.S.military." Notice how this sentence clearly communicates up-front to the reader what is the general topic of the essay and it clearly communicates to the essay evaluator the author's understanding of the assignment!
Following the four-sentence process for paragraph development, the second sentence is expected to provide some information that illustrates or supports the point stated in the first sentence. For this example essay assignment, the located newspaper article that discusses black officers in the U.S. military IS the support or evidence to present in the second sentence -- and the article located, via some online research is titled "After 60 years, black officers rare" by L.C. Baldor, published in The Times Herald, 7/28/08. So the second sentence of the example introductory paragraph might be something like "In the newspaper article 'After 60 years, black officers rare,' the author of the article indicates that although 'Blacks have made great strides in the military since it was integrated 60 years ago, but they still struggle to gain a foothold in the higher ranks [in the military]'." Of course, at the end of this sentence is expected a "citation" to show the source of the information presented in the second sentence -- like (Baldor, 2008, ¶ 1). Please note the role of a citation is to point the reader to the related reference that is expected on the "References" page at the end of the essay -- and note the citation consists of last name of the author, year of publication of the article, and, in this case, a number indicating the specific paragraph in the article where the cited information may be located (because this online article did not provide page numbers). What to notice in this second sentence is how the information presented in the sentence directly supports or MAKES the point stated in the first sentence, BUT, don't leave it up to the reader to make that connection on his or her own -- in the third sentence, communicate explicitly to the reader how YOU, the writer, understands the information in the second sentence demonstrates the point stated in the first sentence.
So the third sentence in the example introductory paragraph is expected to clearly communicate to the reader how the information in the second sentence does support the main point of the paragraph as stated in the first sentence. For this example, a third sentence might be something like "This information clearly indicates the selected newspaper article presents some aspect of cultural diversity, that aspect being blacks in the U.S. military still struggling to achieve higher ranks." Notice how this sentence communicates explicitly to the reader the writer's understanding of exactly how the information presented in the second sentence supports the main point stated in the first sentence. At this point, the main point of this paragraph HAS BEEN MADE.
All that remains to be added to complete this example introductory paragraph is the fourth sentence, and for the "introductory" paragraph, the fourth sentence IS the thesis statement, which has been developed already! So the completed example introductory paragraph is:
The media addressing some aspect of cultural diversity that was selected for this paper is a newspaper article discussing black officers in the U.S.military. In the newspaper article "After 60 years, black officers rare," the author of the article indicates that although "Blacks have made great strides in the military since it was integrated 60 years ago, but they still struggle to gain a foothold in the higher ranks [in the military]" (Baldor, 2008, ¶ 1). This information clearly indicates the selected newspaper article presents some aspect of cultural diversity, that aspect being blacks in the U.S.military still struggling to achieve higher ranks. Regarding black officers in the U.S.military, the author in this essay presents performance examples of these officers, then describes programs in the U.S.military to promote black officer candidates, and then explores challenges still facing black officers in the U.S.military.
Notice the four-sentence structure of this introductory paragraph. Notice how the general topic of the essay is clearly stated in the first sentence and notice how the supporting evidence in the second sentence and the explanation of how that evidence does support the general topic of the essay leads the reader to the statement of the thesis -- the last sentence in the introductory paragraph. Notice how the last sentence in this introductory paragraph (the thesis statement) communicates to the reader a clear outline of what the reader may expect in the essay, thus providing the reader an opportunity to develop an initial structure of thinking in his or her own brain to use to build an effective understanding of the main points the author of the essay intends to communicate to the reader.
This same four-sentence paragraph structure may be used to develop the expected three "main" paragraphs in the example essay (one main paragraph for each of the three main points in the thesis statement) as well as any subparagraphs for each main paragraph. Using the example introductory paragraph developed in this article, might the reader have developed an effective understanding of the four-sentence basic paragraph structure illustrated to create the expected three main paragraphs for this essay example? Try it!
