How to Write a Thesis

For a Comparative/Analytical Essay

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis is a substantial generalization that can stand by itself as the basis of an essay's development. It is an assertion of what the writer believes is right or wrong and why, and it is a statement that can be either true or false.

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Why is there a thesis in an essay?

• A thesis clearly and concisely conveys the writer's main argument in an essay, and it allows readers to clearly grasp the focus of the essay, which will be developed in the body of the essay.

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How does a thesis achieve its purpose?

• A thesis needs to be unified--expressing one main idea--although it can, and often does, include secondary concepts as they relate to the main idea. The thesis statement should be broad enough and arguable enough to be worth defending in an essay.

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A Thesis for a Comparative Essay• In a comparative essay, you will be required

to formulate a thesis that encompasses two or more features that you will be comparing and analyzing. Therefore, you will be writing a thesis that looks at multiple perspectives, not necessarily leaning one way or the other, but bringing out a central comparative idea between or among the things, issues, authors, etc., that you deem worthy as the focus of your essay.

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A Thesis for a Comparative Essay• In Kate Chopin's book The Awakening and Charlotte Perkins

Gillman's novella The Yellow Wallpaper, the female protagonists veer from the collective mainstream of a patriarchal society because of their pronounced feelings of alienation, frustration, and emotional and creative repression within this social structure, marked by the subordination of women. Ultimately, both characters escape the narrow restraints of this early 20th century mentality either by suicide--as in The Awakening--or through insanity--as in The Yellow Wallpaper. However tragic this may appear on the surface, the implication of deliverance from their restricted environments is one of liberation and transgression from and of the dominant culture. In this way, the women's actions are equally heroic.

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A Thesis for a Multiple-Source Comparative Essay

• Remember, it is best to keep your thesis open while you are doing your research with the works at hand, and it is necessary to have a few possible narrow topics in mind before beginning intensive reading of the literary pieces. Also, the questions that you formulate in the first stage of the thesis are important, as they will guide you in your research and the writing of the essay.

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The Structure of a Comparison/Contrast Essay

A comparison-and-contrast essay has an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Within the body paragraphs, however, there are two basic comparison-and-contrast patterns you can follow: you can discuss one common element in each section, making your points about subject A and subject B in turn. As you might expect, both organizational patterns have advantages and disadvantages that you should consider before you use them.

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Subject-by-subject comparison

When you make a subject-by-subject comparison, you are discussing each subject separately, but in each case, you use the same basis of comparison to select your points, and you arrange these points in the same order. Usually you present points in order of increasing significance to hold your readers' interest.

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Subject-by-subject comparison

This form of comparison is often used for short papers. In longer papers, where many points are made about each subject, this organizational pattern can put too many demands upon your readers, requiring them to remember all your points throughout your paper. In addition, because of the size of each section, your paper may sound like two separate essays weakly connected by a transitional phrase. Instead, for longer or more complex papers, it is best to discuss each point of comparison for both subjects together, making your comparisons as you go along.

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Point-by-Point Comparison

When you use point-by-point comparison, your paper is organized differently. Paragraph by paragraph, you first make a point about one subject, then follow it with a comparable point about the other. This alternating pattern continues throughout the body of your essay, until all your comparisons or contrasts have been made.

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Point-by-Point Comparison

Point-by-point comparison works best for long papers because your readers can follow the comparisons and contrasts more easily as they go along. However, it is sometimes easy to fall into a pattern of monotonous, back-and-forth sentences when writing point-by-point comparison. To avoid this, try to vary the length and structure as you move from point to point.

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