The Foundation

Your thesis statement is the foundation to your paper.

So how do you develop an independent thesis statement?

We can detail the technical parts of a thesis statement.  But in order to make your thesis statement independent, it has to be something you are truly excited about.  Does something from our readings resonate with you emotionally?  Do you feel passionate about something?  Are you intellectually intrigued or fascinated by something from our readings?  All of the above?   In my opinion, that is the best place to begin when devising an independent thesis statement.

1. Identify your emotional or intellectual impulsive response to the readings.

2. Explore how this relates to the assignment question.

3. Begin writing out your statement ideas.

• Keep reconstructing your statement until you have a sentence which makes sense to an outside reader.
• It’s not unusual to draft many versions (3, 5, 10 or more!) to find one that really works.  Some folks find it easy to do this on a computer.  Others get their thoughts flowing when they write by hand.

Remember, writing is re-writing.