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DEVELOPING A THESIS AND SUPPORTING ARGUMENTS: TIP Sheet
There's something you should know: Your college
instructors have a hidden agenda. You may be alarmed to hear this-yet your
achievement of their "other" purpose may very well be the most
important part of your education. For every writing assignment has, at the
least, these two other purposes:
· To
teach you to state your case and prove it in a clear, appropriate,
and lively manner
· To
teach you to structure your thinking.
Consequently, all academic writing, in which you
formulate a thesis and attempt to prove it, is an opportunity to practice
rigorous, focused thinking habits that can result not only in better papers but
in sharper analytical skills across the board.
This TIP Sheet addresses the following steps common to
any kind of non-fiction writing:
1. Choosing a subject.
2. Limiting your subject.
3. Crafting a thesis statement.
4. Identifying supporting
arguments.
5. Revising your thesis.
6. Writing strong topic
sentences that support the thesis.
It is during these early stages of writing,
particularly in the identification of supporting arguments, that students are
most likely to flounder and procrastinate, and when the strength of a paper's
thesis is frequently diluted for lack of rigorous thinking. Here we will adapt
Aristotle's method of "discovering arguments" to help identify and
develop a strong thesis. You may adapt this method to any nonfiction writing,
including essays, research papers, book reports, or critical reviews.
1. Choosing a Subject
Suppose your instructor asks you to write an essay about a holiday experience.
Within this general subject area, you choose a subject that holds your interest
and about which you can readily get information: you were in downtown Chico on
the morning of St. Patrick's Day and witnessed some unusual behavior–a melee
broke out, resulting in injuries to bystanders and property damage to nearby
cars. You wish to write about this.
2. Limiting Your Subject
What will you name your topic? Clearly, "student behavior" is too
broad; student behavior would necessarily include behavior by every kind of
student, everywhere, at all times, and this could very well fill a book and
require a master's degree in psychology. Simply calling your subject "St.
Patrick's Day" would be misleading. You decide to limit the subject to
"student behavior on St. Patrick's Day." After some thought, you
decide that a better, more specific subject might be "unruly college
student behavior such as that witnessed in front of La Salle's in downtown
Chico last St. Patrick's Day." (Be aware that this is not
the title of your essay. You will title it much later.) You have
now limited your subject and are ready to craft a thesis.
3. Crafting a thesis statement
While your subject may be a noun phrase such as the one above, your thesis must
be a complete sentence that declares where you stand on the subject. A thesis
statement should always be in the form of a declarative sentence. Suppose you
believe that some of the student behavior in front of La Salle's on St.
Patrick's Day was very bad; your thesis statement may be, "Student
behavior such as demonstrated in front of La Salle's last St. Patrick's Day is
an embarrassment to the college community." Or, conversely, perhaps you
think the behavior of the students was just a little high-spirited, but not
really so bad as the newspaper made it out to be. Your thesis might be, "A
college town has to expect a certain amount of student glee on holidays such as
St. Patrick's Day; cracked auto glass and a couple of bruises are a small price
to pay for all the commerce college students bring to downtown."
4. Identifying supporting arguments
Now you must gather material, or find arguments to support your
thesis statement. Aristotle taught his students to examine any claim by
"discovering arguments." You will use some of his techniques to
formulate support for your claim. Brainstorm, adapting the questions
below as a guide, and writing down even the ideas that don't appear to you very
promising–you can sort through them later. [Do not include these
questions in your writing, nor should you ask these questions of your
reader. You need to present content to your reader with supporting
evidence. You will not ask the reader for his/her views.]
· Definition:
What is good behavior? What is bad behavior? What is appropriate behavior on
St. Patrick's Day? What is appropriate behavior in other settings?
· Comparison/Similarity:
How was behavior last St. Patrick's Day similar to behavior in years past? How
was behavior in front of La Salle's similar to behavior in other parts of
downtown that day? How was this behavior similar to behavior in other college
towns on that day?
· Comparison/Dissimilarity:
How did behavior last St. Patrick's Day differ from behavior in years past? How
did behavior in front of La Salle's differ from behavior in other parts of
downtown that day? How did this behavior differ from student behavior in other
college towns on that day?
· Comparison/Degree:
To what degree was student behavior worse than in years past? To what degree
was this behavior worse than in other parts of downtown? To what degree was
this behavior worse than student behavior in other college towns?
· Relationship
(cause and effect): What causes good behavior? What are the results of good
behavior? What causes bad behavior? What are the results of bad behavior? What
were the specific results of the behavior on St. Patrick's Day? What were the
specific causes of the behavior on St. Patrick's Day?
· Circumstance:
Has this kind of behavior occurred in the past? Should this behavior be
permitted in the future? What is possible–that is, in this case, is it possible
for students to behave appropriately even if bored, drunk, or provoked? Is it
possible for downtown merchants and bystanders to absorb the costs of property
damage?
· Testimony:
What are the opinions of others about student behavior in front of La Salle's
on St. Patrick's Day (for example, students who participated, students who
observed, students who were injured, students who avoided downtown Chico
altogether on St. Patrick's Day, city council members, the police chief, the
proprietor of La Salle's, the owner of the damaged car, nearby business
owners)?
· The
Good: Would the results of enforced good conduct be "good"? Would the
results of enforced good conduct cause unintended or unforeseen problems? What
is fair to whom?
· The
Expedient: Is it desirable to require better conduct next St. Patrick's Day?
Should authorities force better conduct next year? Should St. Patrick's Day
celebrations be cancelled? Should everyone just relax about this incident and
let students celebrate? Should students be asked to improve their conduct
voluntarily next year? Should Associated Students provide an education campaign
about respect for others, provide alternative activities, or additional
patrols?
After brainstorming, you should have lots of material
to support a thesis statement.
5. Revising your thesis
Notice that in the sentence above we used the phrase "a thesis
statement" rather than "your thesis statement." This is because,
as you examine your thesis statement through the Aristotelian method, you may
discover that you were wrong. At this point, you should either revise your
thesis or choose another subject and begin again. Revising your opinion in
light of convincing evidence is the beginning of wisdom. Besides, even if it is
possible to proceed with the essay as you first envisioned it, you will find it
more difficult to defend a thesis you have previously discredited in your
notes.
6. Crafting topic sentences that support the
thesis
Using ideas you gathered using Aristotle's method, construct three to five
topic sentences that support your claim. These topic sentences will become the
framework for the rest of your paper. You will further support each with
examples and citations from personal interviews, newspaper articles, or other
appropriate references.
The melee was not caused by the students themselves;
rather, an elderly homeless man spat on someone's shoe, causing her to move
away suddenly, and a chain reaction occurred in the line waiting to go into La
Salle's. (Example from an examination of Aristotle's Relationship and
Testimony)
Additional policemen would only increase tension in the
downtown area, making altercations more likely. (Example from examination of
Aristotle's The Good and The Expedient)
Trying to keep college students away from downtown on
holidays like this would cause lost revenues for downtown merchants. (Example
from an examination of Aristotle's The Expedient)
As you continue to draft your paper you will, of
course, revise these sentences as necessary to more precisely reflect your
ideas and the support you gather for them. By this time you should have a good
knowledge of your subject and know where you want to go with it. It will now be
possible for you to find enough additional supporting material to complete your
essay.
