ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

How a Thesis Statement Fits With the Rest of the Essay 2140 Views


Share It!


Description:

The London Bridge may be falling down, falling down, falling down....but your essay will be one stalwart structure that stands the tests of time.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

Thank you We sneak in how a thesis statement fits

00:05

with the rest of the essay Allah shmoop and s

00:08

a is like a bridge from one place to another

00:11

Hopefully a better one Your reader is fleeing their horrible

00:14

homeland a place of ignorance fear and misinformation You're leading

00:19

them to enlightenment Aren't you just the best you say

00:24

You don't know anything about building bridges Well here's a

00:29

quick architecture lesson A bridge needs a keystone this thing

00:34

or it'll fall apart An essay needs a keystone to

00:38

in an essay that would be your thesis Let's Talk

00:40

about where to place your keystone so that your bridge

00:43

doesn't collapse crushing your readers under the weight of some

00:46

truly painful writing Your thesis is probably the first sentence

00:50

you write or at least it's up there after all

00:54

it's The whole reason you're writing this thing in the

00:56

first place however the first time you write it it's

01:01

going to be a little lumpy but it's also going

01:03

to be the last sentence You right you'll need to

01:05

return to your thesis after writing your paper and chisel

01:08

it to fit perfectly like this guy If your essay

01:12

goes way off topic you may need to change your

01:14

thesis entirely Well let's say you initially thought you were

01:17

going to write about how bridges bring people together But

01:23

you end up focusing on how bridges just cause horrible

01:26

traffic jams Guess what it's totally okay to change your

01:29

thesis What You want to refine your thesis shape its

01:37

edges make it a specific as possible Ask yourself questions

01:45

about your essay then answer Why do bridges cause horrible

01:48

traffic jams Because they have few lanes because people are

01:51

scared to drive on them and go slow Include all

01:54

that in your thesis No pressure but your thesis needs

01:59

to be perfect Okay that's A lot of pressure we

02:02

admitted but pressure makes diamonds Once you shaped your thesis

02:10

where does it go A keystone for bridge usually goes

02:13

in the middle of the structure but that's a bad

02:15

place for a thesis statement You also don't want to

02:18

put it at the very beginning of your essay or

02:20

at the end that's How things fall apart No not

02:24

the book The best place for your thesis is the

02:28

last line of your introductory paragraph or thereabout It sounds

02:33

tough but crafting and fitting your faces is simple It

02:35

needs to be concise specific On on topic On it

02:48

should go with the end of your introductory paragraph Following

02:51

these rules will keep your readers from being crushed to

02:53

death Or at least save them from a nasty paper

02:55

cut as they rapidly flip through the pages racing to 00:02:58.818 --> [endTime] get to the end Oh oh oh

Up Next

What is a Primary Source?
43696 Views

This video defines a primary source and what makes it different from a secondary source. What counts as original material? And where can we find th...

Related Videos

Wordiness
15168 Views

Want even more deets on wordiness? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

Tenses
4974 Views

Want even more deets on tenses? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

Semicolons
10246 Views

Want even more deets on semicolons? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

Ratio of Asking Questions Versus Giving Answers
718 Views

Asking questions can help spice up an essay. Just make sure you don't get too spicy and forget to answer those questions. You don't want to leave y...