How to Ace that Essay pt.2

How to Ace that Essay pt.2

So let us summarize where we are as of right now.

1) Make sure to get that first step done early so that you got some time to really think about it.

2) Know the steps in making an essay. Breaking down an essay in to parts makes it that much easier and creates a far better finished product in the end.

Today we are going to talk about the thesis statement.

The goal of an essay is to state an opinion, if you are not doing that than you are not doing an essay. The thesis statement is you stating your opinion directly in writing in your essay.

To help you create this statement it is best that you imply at least one opposing thought on the matter.  

Because of this thesis statement often start with either: Despite or Although.  (Don’t take this as word of law though, these are just easy guides, don’t take them as IN STONE, MUST BE THIS WAY OR I FAIL!)

A quick example:

Although the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”  portrays lobotomies as a common practice for the era, in reality lobotomies were mostly abandoned in favor of drug based therapies during the era that the movie took place. Despite this discrepancy the movie characterized lobotomies in a realistic manner in some instances such as the common patients to receive lobotomies and the most negative outcome possible in a lobotomy. All in all the movie characterized lobotomies well, but did not accurately reflect the context in which they were given.

Now the core topic of this essay was a compare and contrast, so unlike other essay there were some issues that the movie did do well while others were far from reality, thus leading to a split point in opinion that is seen in this thesis statement. In a normal essay you would keep all your points on topics with central argument. Here is another example:

Although most people characterize schizophrenia as strictly a condition one is born with, there are many cues and possible contributing factors that come from the external world as well…

The beauty of using the although/despite clause method is that it states a difference in opinion right off the bat so the reader knows what the essay is about and how well your argument is tied to the essay.

The topic of the essay must also be addressed in the thesis but thesis is not a re-hashing of the topic. The thesis must directly answer the questions asked in the topic. I cannot stress this enough that this is key in a good essay.  Despite this an essay must not state finality about the topic, but rather it must explain the relationship, the: “how, why and wherefores” to the thinking that led to the conclusion you have stated. 

Dont forget, if you feel like you still need more help come to the Student Success Centre on campus (SUB 2-300 here at the University of Alberta) and we can offer assistance in the forms of: a better writing workshops or individual consultations where we will personally have your essay reviewed by our professional staff.