#thesis statements

So! You may have noticed that I've been less active on tumblr lately. This is due to a bunch of things, school being one of them. And given that, I've been focusing on writing more essays. I have also been realizing that my previous How To Write Essays post (linked) has some details that I no longer stand by.

Hence - an assorted list of essay tips in direct response to that!

1) Starting with the biggest one: In the original post, I said to open the essay with some big lofty statement so that you can narrow down from there. I'm not saying don't start big and narrow down, but I am saying you gotta be a lot more careful with it than I originally said.

Everything in your essay needs to have some kind of backing or else you ruin its credibility. If you start with statements like "Since the dawn of time..." or "Humanity has always..." or "Everyone knows that..." you gotta be prepared to solidly support these claims (which is damn near impossible and you will be writing a book on the thing). Since I don't have that kind of time and neither do you, go with something smaller.

i mean no criticism of anyone who’s made comments in this vein, truly, but—i’m having such stupidly enormous trouble with the thing where a bunch of people have taken to playfully(?) insulting joey batey in an effort to, i guess, be Humorously Self-Deprecating about their own taste, because the sneer of choice is generally something about how he’s nothing special, boys like him are a dime a dozen, and i just… of course on some level that’s true, of course there are people more remarkable than he on any axis you choose; but on another level isn’t the whole point of loving someone, even in this pale parasocial fashion, that they do become special to you, that the petit garçon tout semblable à cent mille petits garçons becomes pour toi unique au monde, and your whole life is lit up by that, comme ensoleillée?

and i know that’s, like, hideously painful sincerity, i too can’t believe i’m drawing on le petit goddamn prince in a plea for us all to be more unashamedly tender in our discussion of this, like, C-list celeb, but—ultimately really this is a plea for us all to be more unashamedly tender with our own hearts: to choose and cultivate the soil of vulnerability, which is our common ground and the only place anything real can grow from. (and of course the parasocial isn’t precisely real, but we can let it teach us to soften, and that softening can be; or we can let it teach us to sneer, and that sneering can be.)

because really, it seems to me, what’s happening with this ‘nothing special’ angle of attack is that we can’t bear the vulnerability in ourselves of open fondness, and so we turn preemptively to sneering: ‘what if people judge my taste? i’d better make it painfully clear that i know better, i’m just momentarily slumming.’ but what is it that we’re so eager to show we know? that we’re not too foolishly generous; that we can flatten people into types, and cut them down to size; that a sweet storyteller with a smile like sunshine isn’t enough for us, because we know all the ways society and our own history of disappointment say he can’t be: aren’t we clever?

How I Write My Essays

1. Know Your Topic

If it is an essay that required prior reading, I would get that done first. While reading, I usually annotate and leave sticky flags on quotes that I that I think I can use in my essay. After finishing the book, I usually do some research on the Internet or on databases about my book, and see if there are any links relating to what I may want my essay to focus on. I always find it important to read about the author’s backstory, because it usually helps me figure out why the author wrote the book and its purpose. Next, just to brainstorm, I write out all my ideas for my essay. Even if they don’t originally connect, they usually do once you begin writing.

2. Outline

After knowing my topic, I begin to write out what I want each of my paragraphs to focus on. Then, I expand upon those ideas and outline my essay. This is also where I find all of my evidence and write it in my outline, so that it’ll be easier for me to easily look back in this doc, instead of in the book again. If you are using research from a site, I usually leave a Google comment or hyperlink the source to the quote, just in case you need to refer back to it.

3. Thesis Statements and Topic Sentences

This step I dread the most, but I’ve gotten better at writing these sentences over the years. You can do this step before you outline as well, but I prefer to do it afterwards so that I am exactly sure of what I want my essay to consist of.

For writing a thesis statement, it’s important to include why you think the author wrote the book and the ideas that you will include in your essay. For example, for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, my thesis focused about the author’s importance towards being yourself and that I was going to prove this point using symbolism and analogies. It’s okay if your thesis isn’t that great originally, but try to keep improving it. And once you begin writing your essay and really understanding your topic, you can edit it more easily then.  

Next, I write my topic sentences for each paragraph. These don’t have to be as complex, but be sure to give an overview of what your paragraph will consist of.

4. Start Writing!

After planning your essay out, you can begin writing it. For my introductions, I love beginning with an anecdote, or to relate back to a scene from the book. But, you can use varieties of hooks, like a rhetorical question, quote or even a statistic. Next, I include a sentence that kind of previews/expands my thesis, before I write my actual statement in as the last sentence.

For writing bodies, I follow the steps:

 Topic sentence

Claim

Evidence

Relate back to the claim with a new idea

Repeat steps 3-5 as needed

Your last sentence should relate back to your topic sentence, as well as briefly introduce your next body paragraph idea

Lastly, conclusions have always seemed simple to me. I simply restate my thesis (phrased differently), the ideas listed in my bodies and then a sentence to explain the purpose of my essay/to leave the audience with something to remember.

5. Congrats You’ve Written an Essay!

Those were the steps to how I write my essays. Obviously, I’m no expert, but I’ve found that having a method can really help ease the stress that comes to writing. Be sure to continue editing your essay until you're completely satisfied with it, and cite your sources correctly. I suggest Owl Purdue for tips on citation.

Kudos to all of those who’ve read this! Feel free to leave my ask box with any questions, or just a hello! I’d love to talk to all of you!

Check out my other posts:

My Goals for the School Year

We all know how writing a paper starts- you end up holed up in your student apartment banging your head against your desk and staring at a black page.  No worries- we’ve all been there. Here are some tips on getting started on your thesis statement and how to make it stronger. 

Avoid burying it in the paragraph. Declare it as soon as you can- just make sure it makes the most sense

Be as clear and specific as you can. Avoid vague declarations that look like you’re trying to know what you’re talking about.

Tell people what your point is, but don’t say, “The point of my thesis is…” This will make your teacher’s skin crawl.

Avoid abstract words like “culture” and “society.”

Does your thesis have a comment about your position in the argument? If the reader doesn’t know where you stand on it, there’s really no point in reading the rest.

Avoid generic arguments.

Make sure your statement is original. Think about this long and hard