Thesis Development

FACET CHECK - Thesis Development for Beginners

Love is stupid

Making Sure Readers Know Your Argument

A thesis in the humanities is not that much different than a science-based hypothesis: something needs to be proven. A thesis is a clear and concise statement. The image to the right is a thesis:

“Love is the stupidest thing ever.”

The biggest mistake students make with thesis development within the humanities is to overthink it. This is why this page is here, to help you realize how simple and easy it is to turn your thoughts, your argument, your observations into a simple two-part thesis.

Part I - Be Definitive

"Love is the stupidest thing ever." Now that is a definitive statement.

But I could say things like, "Baseball is better than football," or "The Beatles are overrated," or, "The South really won America's Civil War." All four of these statements are clear, concise, authoritative sentences. They are also only partial elements of what a good thesis is. There is a need to further develop these declarative ideas. If you wrote, "Love is the stupidest thing ever," bravo! ( *I think* ) However strong this statement may appear, we still don’t know why love is stupid.

Part II - Be More Precise

If you had left "Love is the stupidest thing ever," as your thesis, the statement may be powerful but let me ask: how are you going to defend it? This is where the second part of your argument comes in, precision. And in the case of "love," absolutely necessary.   

"Love is the stupidest thing ever. Throughout my dating history, I invested my time, my money, and myself in people and have gained nothing but emotional scars."

Or 

"Baseball is better than football. Really, the number of athletes that suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a rarity in baseball whereas football’s numbers are just downright inhumane."

Or

"The Beatles are overrated. Seriously, numerous artists have outsold the Fab Four in terms of record sales from Michael Jackson to Beyoncé, the Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin, and many others."

Or

"The South really won America's Civil War, especially when we look at America in the twenty-first century and realize the great number of cultural similarities." 

What happened by inserting the second part of a thesis statement, you not only added a portion that can now be defended, but also added clarity and precision. 

Put another way: Love can be stupid in a myriad of ways, perhaps even infinite. But in the second part of the thesis statement, we now know that the author is going to pinpoint the stupidness of love by way of personal experience. 

  • In the thesis on baseball, the argument comes down to CTE head injuries.

  • In the thesis on the Beatles, the argument solely focused on record sales.

  • In the thesis on who won the Civil War, the argument is twenty-first-century cultural similarities.

Precision helps you to choose the evidence to support your thesis. Being precise means saving yourself a whole lot of time.

Thesis Development and Connections Papers

Road to the Civil War Documents

In a typical week, I ask you to read a few primary documents and perhaps a secondary. After reading, taking notes, trying to make sense of them, I then ask that you form your own observation (write a thesis).

A student might write:

"Between 1828 and 1855, Texas and Mexico loomed large in American politics." 

Now that's a fine declarative statement, but the thesis remains too broad. How did Texas and Mexico affect American politics? A precision sentence will assist. 

"Between 1828 and 1855, Texas and Mexico loomed large in American politics. The United States failed to merge two stalwart elements: Manifest Destiny to the institution of slavery, and the result was increased political tensions."

Now we have a thesis. This student will use the documents assigned for that week to defend this argument.  

If you need further guidance, I am a Zoom session away!