the elusive thesis

My entire life, as both a teacher and student, I have learned about thesis statements. When I was in high school, the thesis statement was pretty formulaic. It was one sentence that went at the end of your introductory paragraph. A lot of times, there might be an outline given for a paper, amd there was a fill in the blank thing for your thesis statement. I knew that these thesis statements were supposed to be, like the biggest frickin' deal in your whole paper. I also learned that you were supposed to repeat it, in different words, at the end of the paper.

When I went to college, people talked less about the thesis statement. Paper were supposed to have a point...they were supposed to mean something. I think that's what the thesis statement was in college for me, but we didn't use that terminology as often. I was an education major, and maybe writing in that discipline was a little different???

In graduate school, the thesis, for me, is all about making an argument. And an argument that builds on existing research. Also, my argument can evolve and go in different directions in my paper. My thesis statement doesn't have to encompass it all. But it should still be there--and I should still get to it early.

As a teacher, thesis statements are more important to me than ever. But I've become less rigid about what makes a thesis statement and where it should go. I'm more open minded about. Yes, I think you need one. But I think it can look a lot of different ways.

WA confirms a lot of what I already know. But it also articulates it in a new way for me. I love the idea of an evolving thesis, and I like that, even in a final paper, my thesis might still change. I also appreciate that I don't need to throw out evidence that doesn't conform to my original thinking. A good thesis expands and morphs to account for this evidence. I like that WA seems to embrace a complex thesis--it doesn't let it be one simple sentence at the end of the intro paragraph. I also enjoy the way WA breaks down the thesis statements that don't work so well--like ones that are too broad, or don't actually say anything, or perhaps just fall back on cliches. I do this a lot in my own writing, and I see it happen to students, too. It's awesome the WA offers us language to talk about that.

I still fear that WA might want to be a little too formulaic aboutt the thesis statement--like with their six-step process for developing it. So I'm less in love with that part, though I see how it might be helpful to some folks.