Composing an Essay

 

The Thesis Statement

A thesis statement notifies your reader of your original idea regarding a topic. While your general argument may be something like “Slavery didn’t cause the Civil War,” your thesis statement gives your original, specific idea about a subject. A thesis statement should be neither obvious nor vague. A thesis must be controversial and arguable; it should be possible for someone to come up with a reasonable argument contradicting your own.

Example of a good thesis statement:

Disagreement between the North and South over tariffs and states’ rights was a more significant cause of the Civil War than were opposing views about slavery.

• This thesis statement is strong. It makes a controversial claim against which people could argue and clearly identifies specific economic and political factors.

 

Thesis Paragraph

The first paragraph of the paper describes the focus of your argument and your reason for making it. In the paragraph, you should:

1. Give background material and context. Assume that your reader is well educated and can understand an argument about a book or event with which he or she is unfamiliar. Give only the most relevant background information in your first paragraph.

2. State your motive and thesis. Your introductory paragraph should tell your reader why your paper is relevant. Typically, you’ll want to make your thesis statement in the final sentences of the introductory paragraph.

Example of a good thesis paragraph:

Almost as soon as the Civil War ended, Americans began to search for a way to understand the reasons for the bitter conflict. Even today, strong feelings and personal bias influence debate over the causes of the war. Because the years leading up to the war were characterized by growing conflicts over a series of political and economic disagreements between the Northern and Southern states, isolating individual causes of the war is difficult. It is easy to assume that the main cause of the war was disagreement over slavery simply because the outcome of the war had such dramatic effects on the institution of slavery. In fact, disagreement between the North and South over tariffs and states’ rights was a more significant cause of the Civil War than were opposing views about slavery.

 

Body Paragraphs

1. Topic sentences begin every paragraph. They should introduce new information that confirms or complicates your thesis statement.

2. Evidence and analysis. Within the paragraph, use specific evidence to support the idea stated in your topic sentence. Use analysis sentences to explain why this evidence supports your argument.

3. Transitions within paragraphs. The ideas in a body paragraph should come in a logical sequence that explains, complicates, or develops the idea put forth in the paragraph’s topic sentence.

   • Transitional words (“furthermore,” “in contrast,” “for example,” “as a result”) help your reader understand the way that you are developing your main idea.

4. Transitions between paragraphs. Each paragraph should explicitly relate to the preceding and following paragraph.

   • Phrases like “also important,” “in addition,” or “we should also note that” are weak because they don’t explain the relationship between ideas in consecutive paragraphs.

Example of a body paragraph:

Disagreements between the North and South regarding cotton tariffs created a divisive political atmosphere that was instrumental in states’ decisions to secede from the Union. Vice President John Calhoun proposed that individual states had the right to nullify specific acts of Congress in order to protect the welfare of the states against the federal government. When Calhoun proposed this doctrine of nullification, it became clear that the South worried that the North was wielding power in order to damage the South’s economy. This worry influenced the Southern states to consider separation from the North. In short, the economic issue of cotton export, separate from moral concerns over slavery, marked the initial split between North and South.

• This body paragraph is effective because it states an argument and then uses evidence persuasively. A strong topic sentence is supported by a specific incident, which is then explained. The paragraph does not simply retell the events surrounding cotton exportation. Rather, it shows how economic concern about cotton relates to the division between North and South.

 

Concluding Paragraph

A conclusion should explain the significance of your thesis statement in a larger context. Although a conclusion should provide a sense of closure, it should not make broad, unwarranted generalizations or claims.

Techniques for concluding:

1. One of the most effective ways to provide a sense of closure is to cite a relevant quotation from the text you are working with and explain how to interpret that quotation using your argument.

2. Another technique is to explain a term that you bring up in your thesis statement.

3. Ending your paper by showing that your argument can be applied to a related topic reiterates the relevance of your ideas.

Example of a strong concluding paragraph:

In 1876, after the end of the Civil War, Confederate General Robert Hunter asked, “Had the South permitted her property, her constitutional rights and her liberties to be surreptitiously taken from her without resistance and made no moan, would she not have lost her honor with them?” Understanding that the South feared not only a loss of slave labor, but also a loss of honor, can make the root causes of the Civil War a bit clearer. In referring to “her constitutional rights and her liberties,” Hunter does refer to the institution of slavery. However, he also refers to the pride of economic productivity, which the South feared would wither and die under the economic policies of the North. Although an absolute understanding of the causes of the Civil War is unattainable, identifying the interactions among various causes is an ongoing project.

For a more in-depth look at composing an essay, see the Essays & Term Papers SparkChart.™