I need help with writing a really good thesis statement regarding the stories Popular Mechanics by Raymond Carver and The Judgement of Solomon and their parenting styles. It's supposed to be compare and contrast but I'm stuck. Please help me.
5 tips on how to write a strong thesis statement
Whether you like it or not, the quality of your academic research paper rests entirely on whether you can uphold your thesis statement. You can be an amazingly eloquent writer with intelligent analysis and good ideas, but if your thesis is weak, the rest of your paper falls flat, too. A thesis statement is the single most important aspect of any research paper — everything else exists solely to uphold and support it. It’s no surprise, then, that for serious students, the act of devising a thesis is stress inducing, nerve wracking, and dreaded. Here are 5 tips on how to make the pressure of coming up with a good thesis a little easier, and a lot less stressful.
5. Be relevant
Strong thesis statements are relevant to the coursework at hand. If you are taking a seminar on the importance of metaphor in the tragedies of Shakespeare, it goes without saying that you should not, therefore, write your thesis on the importance of simile in his comedies. The more you structure your thesis after the relevant coursework, the happier your teachers will be, and the more they will think you actually paid attention in their class, as opposed to secretly reading magazines on your Kindle under the desk.
4. Take a firm position
Strong theses are strong, literally. A good thesis takes a firm argument and shies away from wishy-washy statements with little weight or value. An example of a weak thesis: “There are some drawbacks to a Verizon cellular plan, but also some advantages as well.” This thesis tries to argue both sides of an issue, the way an expository essay would. Since research papers are not expository, but rather argument-based, they need to focus on a specific argument.
3. Be contestable
“A fern is a plant” is not a thesis. This is a fact. Thesis statements are not facts. They are statements inviting argumentation that can be supported by facts, but cannot stand alone as factual statements in and of themselves. A good way to gauge whether your thesis invites argument is to ask if it is contestable. “Malcolm X was a man who changed the face of race relations in America” is not a strong thesis, because it’s obvious that Malcolm X was a man who did just that. “Malcolm X was a man who irrevocably changed the rhetoric of protest in America, and his notions of violence within revolutionary dissent sheds light on the more recent event of the Los Angeles riots” is a stronger, and more arguable, stance.
2. Be specific
The more specific and ‘imbued with the nitty-gritty’ you can make your thesis, the better off your paper will be. By structuring your thesis around a specific point, the more structured your paper will be, and the easier it will be to organize your ideas within the framework of your paper. I like to write thesis statements with multiple prongs. For example, “Poet (insert poet’s name here) writes against the patriarchy in the poem (insert poem here), and her dissent is apparent in her repeated use of the images of rotten fruit, serpents, and fallow fields as metaphors for the oppressiveness of feminine space, as well as the poet’s perceived discomfort in her own female body in a society dictated by men” is an extremely specific sentence that invites many points of analysis and contention and outlines what each and every point of contention is, before the paper even begins.
1. Invite analysis
A good thesis gets you thinking, and not just thinking, but talking about the paper even after it is read. A good thesis also opens up the door for further analysis. If your thesis was arguable in 5,000 words, and your paper presented it and proved it and leaves it as a done deal once the paper concludes, then perhaps you could have written a better thesis. Think of your thesis as a gateway, not just into the discussions you will present in your own paper, but for further discussions down the road.
http://blog.eduify.com/index.php/2009/06/21/5-tips-on-how-to-write-a-strong-thesis-statement/
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This website will show you several bad-turned-into-good thesis statements:
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/thesistatement.html
Whenever you are writing a comparison/contrast paper (paragraph, essay, research paper), you need to plan it out very carefully on paper first.
Try this:
1. Brainstorm about one of your topics on one page.
2. Brainstorm about the other topic on a separate page.
3. Then read over your brainstorming. Indicate all things that are similar with one symbol (maybe stars), and indicate all things that are differences (or maybe opposites) with a different symbol.
4. Then put them together in this order:
1. Intro
2. All about topic A
~~~2A. detail 1
~~~2B. detail 2
~~~2C. detail 3
~~~2D. detail 4
~~~2E. detail 5
3. All about topic B
~~~3A. detail 1
~~~3B. detail 2
~~~3C. detail 3
~~~3D. detail 4
~~~3E. detail 5
4. Concl.
The number of details for each topic will vary depending on your main points. I would include comparisons (how they are similar) in the introduction and conclusion, but sections 2 and 3 and all those details will be stating and explaining how they are different.
There are two recognized patterns for writing comparison/contrast papers. One is casually referred to as "zig-zag,” but can be very confusing for the reader if you don’t use transitions effectively. The other is topic-by-topic (which is what I've outlined above) and is much easier for the reader to follow.
See http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/comparcontrast.html for further help with comparison/contrast writing.
Once you have organized your information, please re-post if you’d like feedback from someone here.
A strong thesis statement comparing and contrasting the parenting styles in "Popular Mechanics" by Raymond Carver and "The Judgment of Solomon" can be developed by analyzing the similarities and differences in how the parents in both stories handle conflict and make decisions. To create this thesis statement, follow these steps:
1. Understand the stories: Read and analyze both "Popular Mechanics" and "The Judgment of Solomon" to identify the parenting styles portrayed by the characters.
2. Identify the similarities: Look for any shared characteristics between the parents in terms of their decision-making process, approach to conflict, or emotional connection with their children.
3. Identify the differences: Examine how the parents in each story differ in their handling of conflict, decision-making strategies, or their attitude toward their children.
4. Formulate the thesis statement: Combining the similarities and differences identified, develop a clear and concise thesis statement. For example:
"Although the parents in 'Popular Mechanics' and 'The Judgment of Solomon' both face conflicts related to their children, their parenting styles differ significantly in terms of decision-making strategies, emotional connection, and the impact on the children."
This thesis statement provides an overview of the essay structure by highlighting the key aspects of comparison and contrast that will be explored in the subsequent paragraphs.
Remember, a strong thesis statement should be specific, arguable, and provide a roadmap for the rest of the essay. It sets the stage for the comparative analysis and enables the reader to anticipate the main points discussed in the essay.