Chapter 5 Where Can We Find A Compelling Thesis
* Scholarly inquiry builds new knowledge or understanding by posing questions, gathering information, and processing that information to draw conclusions
Ask the Right Questions
- Controversies About Existence of Fact (Is it true? Did it happen?)
- Controversies About Definition or Interpretation
- Controversies About Cause, Consequence, or Circumstance
- Controversies About Evaluation (Is it right or wrong? Is it serious enough to warrant our attention?)
- Controversies About Jurisdiction, Procedure, Policy, or Action To Be Taken (What, if anything, should we do about it?)
What's a Good Question? (dig narrow and deep, rather than broad and shallow)
- Challenging
- Compelling
- Controversial
Strongest Thesis Questions
- Investigating a controversy thoroughly to identify the best questions that people haven't answered fully yet
- Selecting challenging, compelling, and controversial questions
- Focusing on the later controversy categories
Changing My Thesis
- Thesis ultimately evolves
- Settling on a thesis before writing closes off opportunities to learn
Advantages of Evolving Your Thesis
- To shows readers your evolving thoughts
- To build a complicated argument
- To develop a controversial argument
- To keep the reader interested or surprised
Thesis Statements to Stay Away From
- Cliched Arguments: restate common wisdom or rely on an overused idea
- "Interesting" Arguments: state that a problem of concept is interesting; relies solely on personal opinion
Thesis with Style
- Aim for thesis statements that are both provocative and clear (vivid in their expression and evident in their meaning)
- Use "Although" statements to position your idea against an opposing idea
- Select a purpose, audience, or genre that your reader may not expect
