The Thesis Statement: This One Sentence Can Make or Break Your Essay

Below is another of my posts on college writing. This post originally ran on the Grantham Blog in 2015.

Here’s a quick quiz.

Let’s say you are writing a paper for one of your college courses on whether or not colleges and universities should change their grading systems.

Which of the following would make the best thesis statement?

A. This essay will discuss whether or not colleges and universities should abolish grades. 

B. In my opinion, colleges and universities should do away with grades altogether. 

C. The traditional grading system of A-F does not adequately measure student achievement inside and outside of the classroom. 

D. Should colleges and universities change their grading systems?

Before you select an answer, let’s get a clear understanding of what a thesis statement is and what it is not.

Get to the Point

A thesis statement is the most important part of an essay. It is the central idea of the paper—the “thing” you most want to get across. In a persuasive essay, it is the idea you want your readers to accept.

In other words, it is the point of your paper distilled down to one sentence or two—at most.

A thesis statement must be specific. It does not leave room for readers to guess what you mean or for you to weasel out of a position by saying, “Well, it’s just my opinion.”

This can be a challenge because, in writing an essay,  you commit yourself to a position. A position in writing is like a position in baseball: you must be standing in the right place (or on the right base) to get home. If you are in the wrong place or too slow in getting to the next base, you will be “out.”

Unlike baseball, there are rarely winners and losers in writing. Writers try to express some universal truth that their readers can agree on. If you can get your readers to agree, we are all “winners.”

But in order to find that truth, you have to take a position.

Don’t Argue with Me (Well, Yes You Can)

A thesis statement must also be arguable, which means someone can, in fact, disagree with you. This, too, is a challenge because most people feel uncomfortable when others disagree with them. Who wants to be told we’re wrong?

However, a good writer prepares to take that risk. He/she does this by showing confidence in the position and welcomes the opportunity to address others who hold different views.

Don’t Just Lie There. Get Up and Move!

A thesis statement should propel the reader forward. It should make the reader curious about how the writer arrived at this conclusion.

These statements are active, not passive (“This paper will discuss …”). They engage the reader in dialogue, making the reader feel he or she has a stake in the issue.

Last, a thesis statement is never a question. It is by definition a statement. It ends in a period. Think of a thesis statement as the answer to a question.

Drumroll, please!

It should be obvious that the correct answer is C. It is the only answer that meets all of the above criteria: It is specific and arguable. It propels the reader forward, and it is not a question.

Does this mean that the thesis statement has all the answers? Absolutely not.

One can easily argue the opposite position—that grades provide students with easily identifiable goals and employers with a quick measure of an applicant’s academic record, for example.

Because this counterargument exists, the writer now has a clear job: to convince the reader(s) to take his/her side.

And the best part of a thesis statement? If you distill your entire paper down to one sentence, you now know where you're going and so does your reader.

The Blacklist: Topics to AVOID for your college paper

Last week, we talked about how to pick a topic for your college essay. This week, we talk about topics to AVOID. 

This article originally appeared on the Grantham Blog in 2014.

One of the challenges students face in college writing is topic selection.

Some instructors determine in advance what topics their students are allowed to write about; others give students a more or less free rein.

The good thing about such a course is that you may get to write about a topic that already interests you. The bad thing? You have to choose your topic wisely.

The Blacklist of Topics

Some instructors allow students to write about anything they wish; others discourage certain topics or ban them outright. Often called “the Blacklist,” these topics rarely result in good college essays. Although the Blacklist varies from professor to professor, it commonly includes the following topics:

• abortion
• stem cell research
• same-sex marriage
• legalization of marijuana or other drugs
• gun control/gun issues in general
• any sports-related topic
• death penalty

Topics like these should be avoided for three reasons:

1. "Not This Topic Again!"

Students often select these topics because they aren’t sure what else to write about and they can easily find information about the topics via a quick search of the Internet.

However, students with nothing new to say about abortion or the legalization of marijuana often lapse into summary, merely repeating what their sources have already said instead of making an original argument. Professors cringe when they get such papers. Some want to tear out what little hair they have left.

Other times, students are so dead set on their position that they make questionable claims. If you support the legalization of marijuana because you tried it and turned out just fine, you might want to consider whether or not it is advisable to admit to engaging in an activity that is still illegal in some states.

And it’s tough to make an original argument about divisive issues, which leads us to Reason No. 2:

2. "You're Wrong, and I'll Prove It!"

“Hot button” topics polarize readers who already have strong opinions about them. You can turn on the television and watch most any debate on gun control turn into a shouting match.

Some instructors also have strong opinions about certain issues. Your argument to the contrary is not likely to change their minds, which defeats the purpose of writing the argument. But aren’t professors supposed to be objective?  Yes and no. Professors are human beings, too. The last thing any writer wants to do is bore or antagonize the audience.

Besides, if you have strong feelings on a topic and aren't willing to change your mind, what makes you think your readers will change theirs?

3. Preaching to the Choir

Some topics matter only to readers who already have a strong interest in them.  For example, if you want to argue that so-and-so should be considered the greatest baseball player ever, your audience is already limited to fans of baseball.  

Even so, only fans of that particular player or those who believe someone else should be considered the greatest are likely to care.  (And, in the latter case, you are unlikely to convince them otherwise — see No. 2, above). For other readers, it simply won’t matter who the “greatest player” is.

So, if you can’t write about these topics, what should you write about?  

Begin with your own life and your community. What interests you enough that you want to know more about it? What problems do you see need that need to be addressed? Browse your college databases to get a sense of what topics are relevant to your field of study.

If you have any concerns about whether or not your topic is on the Blacklist, ask your instructor before you proceed. 

How to Choose a Winning College Essay Topic

Sorry it's been a while since this blog was active. There are some big changes afoot in Greg Gildersleeve Land, including a new Power Club website. Meanwhile, I'm returning to this blog and expanding the focus. Since all writing is connected (at least in my mind), and good writers should be able to do a variety of things, I'm including some non-superhero and non-how-to-be-a-writer topics. 

This first offering addresses something that vexes college students everywhere. It originally appeared on the Grantham Blog. Enjoy.

Writing a persuasive paper or a researched argument can be a daunting task for online students, particularly when you’re given the freedom to choose your own topic.  What topic should you pick when the sky is the limit?

So, you pick a hot subject of the day. You go online, find sources both for and against the topic, write your paper, make sure everything is cited properly, and sit back in anticipation of the A that is surely yours.

Then the paper comes back.

“I got a C!”  What’s up with that?

You did everything the instructor wanted, didn’t you?

Well, yes and no.                     

From someone who has graded hundreds of papers, here are three factors to consider when choosing an essay topic.

Hot Topics are Lukewarm

The problem with selecting a “hot” topic is that you must have something new to say about it.  When instructors ask for an argument, they are not looking for a summary of what other sources say or a rehash of others’ arguments.  They want you to bring something new to the academic conversation.

No “Safe” Topics

To write well, you must take risks.  Writing means exposing some aspect of your soul, your thinking, or your inner world to an audience who is going to react to it. 

For example: When I was in college... I was (and still am) a huge fan of Star Trek.  However, I grew up with the notion that a science fiction television and movie series was not worthy of “serious” discussion in school.  Then, during my freshman year, I took an upper-level course called Transformations of Myth through Time.

One of the required readings was Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces.  In this influential scholarly work, Campbell identifies the paradigm of the hero—a universal pattern that occurs in the heroic literature and mythologies of diverse cultures throughout history.  To me, this paradigm sounded eerily familiar: It reminded me of the back story of Star Trek’s iconic Vulcan character, Mr. Spock.  

So, I wrote a paper showing how Spock’s fictional history could easily be plugged into Campbell’s paradigm. Comparing and contrasting a popular modern character to ancient and universal themes increased my own understanding and appreciation of Star Trek.  It also held significant implications for readers.

Guess what?  I got an A.

When you write a college-level essay, you must look beyond your immediate audience (your professor) and consider who, in a larger context, should read your words.

“Safe” topics won’t take you there.  They ask nothing of the reader because they ask nothing of you, the writer.

Dare to Be Original

Select a topic in which you have a deep, personal interest.   Better yet: draw a topic from your own life—something that excites or annoys you.  A topic you care about is one you will invest the time and effort to research.  It is one you probably already know a great deal about.  It also has significant consequences for your audience, should they accept your viewpoint.

That isn’t to say your topic must be earth shaking.  In fact, the smaller, “quieter,” and off-the-wall topics sometimes work best.

Look for connections between your own life and interests and the material you are studying.  Write something original. Write something you would want to read.

Apprehensive about whether or not the topic will go over well with the professor?

Ask first.  Professors don’t bite. They love it when students save themselves (and the professor) time by troubleshooting a topic first.

Keep in mind that your professor has probably read hundreds or thousands of papers on those hot topics that have been covered to death.  Dare to be different.

Never Been Kissed?! What to Write About When You Have Nothing to Write About

Sooner or later, every writer faces that topic she knows nothing about.  

For a student writer, it may come when you’re in class and the professor puts on the board a writing prompt that makes you go “Huh?”  

For fiction writers, it may be that moment in your story where your character comes across an artifact from the Ming Dynasty, and you know nothing about Chinese history, let alone the Ming Dynasty. 

The most common way of dealing with this problem (other than research, of course) is to fake it. You’re a creative writer, after all—so create. And, if you’re writing your own book, you may be able to transfer the artifact from the Ming Dynasty to one from, say, the U.S. Civil War.  

But if you’re writing for a professor or an editor, fudging may lead to disaster.

So what do you do?

Answer: Write about what you do know.

You may be surprised at what you know, or how you can turn a writing situation to your advantage.

When I was in college, one of my professors tried to get the class to relate to a particular story by making us write about our first kiss. The problem was, even as a strapping college freshman, I still had not had a first kiss.

The worst part, of course, was being a college freshman and admitting I hadn't kissed a girl. Guys are supposed to get around to that stuff by age 15, or so our culture tells us. If you’re shy around girls, you don’t admit it.  If dating isn’t a priority for you, you keep quiet so your peers don’t think less of you.

And here was a college professor asking me to describe a deeply personal experience I hadn’t had yet.

Well, admitting that I'd never kissed a girl wouldn't do. And I didn't have it in me to make up an experience. But, as I sat there and studied the prompt, I realized there was a way to fulfill the assignment and preserve my dignity.

It turned out that I had, in fact, had a first kiss.

When I was five, a neighbor girl pressed me against her parents’ garage and started kissing me. This apparently continued until her mother glanced out from the house and yelled for her stop.

In college, I barely remembered the incident, but I did remember my mother telling me about it—and teasing me over it—for years after.  That embarrassing experience—being kissed is always embarrassing to five-year-old boys—remained vivid enough that I was able to recreate it for the assignment.

The professor even loved my novel approach so much she shared my essay with the class.

The lessons I learned from this?

• Play politician—if you can’t write to the spirit of the assignment, write to the letter.  (“It depends, your honor, on what kiss means.”)

• Go for the emotion—even if it’s something which embarrasses you or makes you feel sad, chances are your reader will feel the same way (or at least see the humor in you feeling that way)—and that’s what you want: for the reader to feel something.

• Recreate as many details as you can, fudge the rest—you can actually get away with this in a personal essay. No one’s going to track down that former five-year-old girl to see if she remembers things the way you do. At the same time, don’t fudge everything—too much fakery reveals itself.

•  Look upon writing assignments as writing challenges—you’re in this to grow as a writer, not to play it safe.

• Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable—audiences like vulnerability because they’re vulnerable, too.  Showing that you’re comfortable with your human side gives them permission to be comfortable with theirs.

The bottom line in fiction as well as personal writing is to tell an entertaining story. If you can get that kind of mileage out of being kissed or not being kissed, it’s all good.

If you like this post, you may also like: 

• Ideas are Worthless! (Storytelling Tips from Comp Class)

• Should You Plan Your Writing or Be Spontaneous?

• The Dirty D-Word of Writing