Thesis Statements

A thesis statement or controlling idea is the overriding point that your essay seeks to explain and/or defend.

Thesis statements can be clearly stated or implied, but in either case the reader must feel as if he/she understands clearly what that controlling idea is and how each word, phrase, sentence, and paragraph serves to support that idea. In addition, the reader needs to feel as if the idea being explained or defended is worth reading about--that is, the idea must have substance and not be something obvious or trivial. There's no point in writing an essay that says "Exercise is good for your heart." It's been said too many times to warrant another essay. Nor does a reader want to be dragged through three to five pages of text only to find out that the point was "Playing pool can be fun."

A thesis is a substantial, precise topic with a definite attitude or opinion attached to it. Here are some examples:

• The Chisos Mountains are terrifyingly beautiful. (Precise subject: Chisos Mountains. Opinion: Terrifyingly beautiful.)
• Wine is a more healthful drink than beer.
• The U.S. government should draft women.
• The abortion issue in our time has been likened to the slavery issue in the 1800s: emotions run high, and the citizenry is deeply divided over what is universally acknowledged to be more than a superficial issue. In fact, there is a more fundamental similarity: in both cases an important underlying issue is, "What is a human being?" (Robert Bissel, "A Calm Look at Abortion Arguments")
• Nothing is more detrimental to the health of the American mind than television. This medium, unlike all others, encourages conformity, mindlessness, and sloth.
• Television is a vast, phosphorescent Mississippi of the senses, on the banks of which one can soon lose one's judgement and eventually lose one's mind. The medium itself is depressing. The shuddering flouresent jelly of which it's made seems to corrode the eye of the spectator and soften his brain.
  (J. Miller, "Medium")
• To accept passively an unjust system is to cooperate with that system; thereby the oppressed become as evil as the oppressor.
  (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)