magic thesis statement

January 2007. Revised June 2011. Thesis statements—the presentation of a thesis in the introduction of a work—can take many forms, so long as they pose a question and offer an interpretive answer. [1] Though I do not want to confine my students to formulas, here is one that may help them remember the key elements: Why did [person/persons] [do/say/write something surprising]? [Plausible explanation], but in fact [better or more complete explanation]. For example: Why did Americans reject public housing except as an option of last resort? Given the popularity of homeownership today, one might think that Americans have always insisted on owning their own homes. But in fact, some Americans preferred quality public housing to home ownership, and only strong efforts by the housing industry and conservative politicians foreclosed this option. [2] Or, more loosely: What did Herman Melville mean when he wrote that “warriors/ Are now but operatives”? Official sources, newspaper accounts, and subsequent histories have presented the USS Monitor solely as a symbol of American technological success, but Melville understood machinery’s ability to dehumanize warfare. [3] Or: Why did Americans become more concerned about the environment in the decades after World War II? Though a growing concern about the loss of wilderness obviously contributed to the rise of environmentalism, the movement also was a response to environmental change at the edges of the nation”s cities. [4] I even found an essay that uses the form almost exactly as it appears here: How did Syria come to this pass? While some observers see in recent events a parallel with 1989, with the break-up of the East European–style system introduced by the Baathists in the 1960s, this is no velvet revolution, nor is Syria like Jaruzelski’s Poland. The regime’s violence is not ideological. It is far from being the result of an.
Below you will find five outstanding thesis statements for “A Midsummer Night's Dream” by William Shakespearethat can be used as essay starters or paper topics. All five incorporate at least one of the major themes in “A Midsummer Night's Dream” and are broad enough so that it will be easy to find textual support, yet narrow enough to provide a focused clear thesis statement. These thesis statements offer a short summary of “A Midsummer Night's Dream” by Shakespeare in terms of different elements that could be important in an essay. You are, of course, free to add your own analysis and understanding of the plot or themes to them for your essay. Using the essay topics below in conjunction with the list of important quotes from “A Midsummer Night's Dream” at the bottom of the page, you should have no trouble connecting with the text and writing an excellent essay. Thesis Statement / Essay Topic 1: The Role of Magic in A Midsummer Night’s DreamOne of the important elements of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the contrast that is established between the “real world and a world inhabited by fairies, sprites, and other magical beings and forces. In this essay on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, you should explore both the divide and the overlap between these two distinct realms and the appearances versus reality of the world these characters inhabit in the play. In doing so, the function of the magical world as a contrast to the “real world is identified and analyzed. For this argumentative essay on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the writer argues that the primary function of this magical world is to reinforce the idea that love—which is, after all, the subject of the play—is subject to forces that are often beyond the capacity of humans to understand them. Thesis Statement / Essay Topic 2: The Function of Dreams in A Midsummer Night’s DreamAs the title of Shakespeare’s.
A thesis says something a little strange. A: By telling the story of Westley and Buttercup's triumph over evil, The Princess Bride affirms the power of true love. B: Although the main plot of The Princess Bride rests on the natural power of true love, an examination of the way that fighting sticks (baseball bats, tree branches, and swords) link the frame story to the romance plot suggests that the grandson is being trained in true love, that it is not natural but socialized. Both of these statements, I would contend, are perfectly correct. Only the second one says something, well, weird. Weird is good. Sentence A encourages the paper to produce precisely the evidence that everybody always talks about in The Princess Bride; sentence B ensures that the paper will talk about something new. Women are oppressed in Maria. Frankenstein warns society against taking science too far. The creature starts out good and becomes bad because of society. Yup. How can you make those things unusual? Many good papers start by pointing out something that seems not to make sense and then making sense of it. A thesis creates an argument that builds from one point to the next. A: The Rules and Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey both tell women how to act. B: By looking at The Rules, a modern conduct book for women, we can see how Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey is itself like a conduct book, questioning the rules for social success in her society and offering a new model. This applies mostly to comparison/contrast papers. If the components of your argument can be rearranged without changing the thesis, your thesis has a problem. A thesis fits comfortably into the Magic Thesis Sentence (MTS). The MTS: By looking at _____, we can see _____, which most readers don't see; this is important because _____. Try it out with the above examples. I think it will please you. A thesis says something about.
  E. Guzik College Writing Resources How To Write a Good Thesis Statement I.  Thesis Statements:  What They Are and What They Do The thesis statement is the most important element of any paper. It’s kind of like duct tape.  It is the magic force that holds the universe, or at least your essay, together. The thesis statement is your argument in a nutshell.  Without a strong thesis, papers tend to wander off topic, transitions get to be hard to write, and you too often find yourself in the middle of page 4 wondering why on earth you’re writing about duckbilled platypi.  If you’re Kevin Smith, you can get away with such things.  Generally, in college essays you cannot. The first thing to keep in mind about a thesis statement is that it is never set in stone.  Most writers find that their arguments change between the time they begin writing a paper and the time that they finish it.  You only need a rough or working thesis to start drafting a paper so long as you are willing to look critically at that working thesis once you start writing and/or finish writing the paper. The function of a thesis statement in a college essay is much like a lawyer’s opening argument.  It ought to summarize your main argument in a neatly digestible nugget that gives the reader a clear summary of where the paper is going to go.  Expository writing is not like writing a mystery novel in which you do not want to reveal the outcome until the end.  The rhetorical style in the United States is a pretty unsubtle thing—subtle like a sledgehammer, in fact.  Other cultures do more interesting, subtle things with how arguments are made.  But not us.  The goal is to state your position succinctly and thoroughly at the outset of the paper and then to prove the strength of your position in the rest of the paper. II.  Rules for Thesis Statements (With Examples) In order to be the kind of thesis that leads.
You’ve glimpsed its name between the pages of (maybe) your tenth-grade English grammar book. Your teacher might have written it on the board several times. Most probable of all, it has appeared numerous times in glaring red letters in the margin of your essays, right next to that first paragraph. That’s right: the thesis statement. Most students shiver at the very name. But I want to prove to you that the thesis statement is not worth shivering over. It is certainly fundamental to every academic essay, and you will spend the rest of your time in school refining it as a skill. (Trust me; I’m about to graduate college and have only just figured it out!) Nonetheless, the thesis statement is quite simple conceptually. Starting to understand it now will make all of those future essays much, much easier. [Continue reading to learn about the thesis statement] So, what is a thesis?  The simplest definition of a thesis is as follows: the thesis statement is the main argument of your essay, the meat of your entrée, if you will. It should summarize concisely and crisply what you wish to prove to the reader, and should stress why this argument is important. The thesis statement at its bare bones should fit into this basic formula, what some have called The Magic Thesis Statement: By looking at _____, we can see _____, which most people don’t see; this is important because ______. Example: By looking at John Donne’s use of colonial language in To His Mistress Going to Bed, we can see that the poem is actually a discussion about New World expansion and its conflation with eroticism, which most people don’t see; this is important because it challenges the motives of imperialism. Note: This should never be the final form of your thesis in your polished, finished essay. This is merely the structure you should follow in gaining a clearer idea of what a thesis statement looks like.