Study Guide
Thesis Statements
This is crucial to your term paper. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's all but impossible to write a good paper without a clear thesis statement.
Formulating a thesis statement is therefore one of the most important things you will do. This isn't something you do once and you're finished. Rather, your thesis will be like a painting that you return to over and over, to adjust, revise, and sometimes even throw away to begin again.
Characteristics of a Thesis Statement
It is brief: one sentence; no more than two. The thesis statement is a statement. It is not an explanation, a theory, or a description.
It answers a question. History is inquiry. If your thesis statement is not in some way answering an inquiry, then in a profound sense it is not a history paper. One excellent way to get started with a thesis statement is, therefore, to begin with a question. Once you have an answer to the question, you are well on your way to writing your thesis statement.
A thesis statement is a promise. It's your promise to the reader that the paper that follows is indeed going to be about this statement. Your paper will prove, demonstrate, illuminate, expand upon that statement, but it will not wander away from it and start talking about other things. No matter how interesting they may be.
A Topic is not a Thesis
Many students think that when they have chosen the topic on which they intend to write, the next step is to begin research and writing. It's not quite that simple.
The Thesis Drives the Paper
Once you have a thesis statement, everything else in your paper should flow from that. Your first paragraph (or your second; there's room here for stylistic variations), for example, should set forth the three or four major arguments you will make in support of your thesis.
The body of your paper will unfold these arguments, bringing forward specific evidence, dealing with counter-arguments, and so on. And your conclusion will remind the reader of the thesis and how you have proven it.
When in Doubt, Throw it Out
In the course of your research, you will find many interesting facts. Your natural instinct will be to include these in your paper.
In every case, information goes into your paper according to one standard: does it relate to your thesis? That's the test. If the information doesn't relate to the thesis, then it doesn't go into the paper, no matter how interesting it is.
Similarly, if you have what you think is a good argument, but you can't find any evidence to support it, then you'll have to let the argument go.
Edgar Allan Poe said that a short story should deliver a single emotion. That's what distinguishes a short story from other forms of literature. Well, an essay should make a single statement: an observation, an interpretation, a finding. But a single thing. An essay is most emphatically not a collection of everything you could find about a topic.
Revise, Revise
As you do your research and start writing your paper, you will very likely find that you have to revise your thesis statement. That's okay; it's normal and usual. In fact, once your paper is finished, you should review to make sure your paper and your thesis still go together!
So, expect to revise. Revise as you go along.