Features of good thesis statement

A good thesis statement has the following features:

    it's debatable
    it's specific
    it tells us something we don't already know
    it can be proven.

1. Make It Debatable: Beginning writers often try for the opposite-they want to write papers that everyone will agree with, so that they'll feel more secure. But such papers turn out to be boring, because they don't challenge either the reader or the writer. Again, "debatable" doesn't necessarily mean that the thesis stirs strong emotions, although it can. In every case, though, you want to make sure that a reasonable person could disagree.

All of the "persuasive" topics listed previously are debatable:

    In developing nations, the Peace Corps has improved the image of the "ugly American." (But anti-American sentiment is on the rise; Peace Corps volunteers have behaved badly in some cases.)
    Affirmative action remains essential to create equal educational opportunities. (Many have argued that the policy is no longer necessary or effective, and that "reverse discrimination" is now a problem.)
    The Internet has improved communication between corporations and their customers. (But corporate employees now spend less time face-to-face with their clients; e-mail messages aren't read; the Web intimidates some clients.)
    The ghost in Beloved embodies the family's desire for revenge against the people who enslaved them. (The ghost may not embody the desire for revenge-you need to prove this.)

The following examples are not sufficiently debatable, and therefore would make poor thesis statements:

    Boxing is violent.
    Some people love abstract art, but others do not.
    The ghost in Beloved plays a significant role.
    The bombing of London in World War II caused tremendous damage.

2. Be Specific: You probably noticed that the non-debatable examples that you just read are also very general. That's no coincidence-you can't argue against something when you can't even define the terms. However, you could shape any of these statements into a workable thesis by grilling yourself, police-sergeant style, about each part of the sentence:

    Some people love abstract art, but others do not. (Who loves it? Why? What do you mean by love? What kind of abstract art? Who are these others? What are their objections? Are those objections valid?)

You could eventually end up with a workable thesis statement, like this:

    While the artist Francis Bacon once dismissed Jackson Pollock's paintings as pieces of "lace," they are anything but simple decoration. Pollock's 1948 "Composition," for example, shows how the texture of paint can be more meaningful than shape and structure.

Specifying your terms also helps you to narrow the scope of your argument, so that you can sufficiently cover the subject in the number of pages allowed. Some narrowing should naturally occur as you outline and write your drafts-but starting with something extremely general, like "Racism is harmful," will make it hard even to begin writing. Such a statement provides no guidance for either the reader or the writer.

3. Tell Us Something We Don't Know: You need to do more than make your thesis debatable, though; you also must tell your readers something they didn't know. This will help motivate them to read your work. You don't, however, need to uncover the origins of the universe in order to make a worthwhile contribution to your readers' knowledge.

As you would with any type of writing, consider the scope of your paper. For a 5-7 page high school English paper, for instance, it would be enough to show how examining a certain event in a short story can help us better understand one of its major themes. Or, say you choose a side in the affirmative action debate. Being either "pro" or "con" would not be a new position, but you could take the position for new reasons. This approach would, moreover, force you to narrow your topic to a manageable size. In well-covered territory like affirmative action, "new" reasons would be subtle ones-which you can only find by studying specific instances.

In other words, your thesis statement should implicitly answer the question, "Why should we care?"

4. Can You Prove It :- The flip side of finding a new and debatable thesis is that you still must be able to prove it. So while making outrageous claims in your thesis statement (like "The earth is flat") will certainly catch your readers' attention and spark debate, you'll be stuck after that.