English Advanced: Writing Thesis Statements

I'm going to be super honest here, I didn't know how to write a proper thesis statement until right before my actual English HSC paper. So, you're probably sitting there going "why is she even writing about it, she's not qualified" and you have every right to think that.

However, it wasn't until I got taught four weeks before my first HSC exam that boosted my (I'm about to embarrass myself here) trial English mark of 55 to a HSC English mark of 80. Now, before you start laughing at me, I have never been good at English. I despised English during high school, and it doesn't help that English is my second language. So, for me, I struggled. A lot. Of course, as always, I had really amazing teachers, who believed in me and didn't give up on me even when I couldn't grasp a simple concept and put it in writing.

You may be sitting there thinking "holy f*** that's actually me!" which is great, but you may also be sitting there thinking "Nah that ain't me, this chick is just dumb AF" which, again is also fine. Either way, this article's purpose is to give you some pointers on writing Thesis statements and helping you!

So, let's get into it...

What is a Thesis Statement?

The thesis statement is the sentence that states the main idea of a writing assignment and helps control the ideas of the paper. It often reflects a judgement or opinion that the writer has made.

In other words, its a sentence telling the reader what the main idea of the paper is. A thesis statement is always put at the beginning of the paper and paragraphs, within the first few lines. This ensures that the reader sees this and knows what the expect.

Thesis statements are the key to getting a band 6 in HSC English. You could write the best English essay known to mankind, but if you don't have a thesis statement, you won't get those top marks.

Writing a Thesis Statement

Writing a thesis statement can be tricky, but as with everything, comes with a lot of practice.

Here's a sample one I wrote for practise from Module A. The texts I've used are Mrs Dalloway and The Hours. This is the textual conversations module.

"Through Virginia Woolf’s characterisation, she explores the concept of Loss of identity and the human connection evident in the character of Clarissa Dalloway, mirrored through the character of Septimus Warren Smith. Woolf's innovative stream-of-conscious style challenges female oppression by allowing readers an insight into the restrictions women, such as Clarissa, faced."

This is the first paragraph of my essay, after my introduction. As you can see, I have clearly outlined exactly what this paragraph is about in the thesis - the loss of identity and female oppression.

I have also stated my technique and explained how the two texts mirror each other.

When writing a thesis statement, you want to incorporate words from the rubric into it, to demonstrate to the reader you know exactly what the text(s) are about. Whatever you do, don't repeat the question!! You waste precious writing time in an exam when doing this! Instead, define the question, unpack what each word or statement really means and answer the question.

Writing a Thesis statement comes with a lot of practice, so it's worthwhile finding lots of questions and answering just the introduction of those. Hand those into your teacher or tutor and get them to mark it, this allows you to see where you need to improve.

It is also okay to use more than once sentence when writing your thesis. It's much better to explain your argument cohesively instead of cramming.

Practise, Practise, Practise!

The most important thing you can do when learning to write thesis statements is to practise them. Here is a link to the Art of Smart website, where they have 20 general practise questions for Module A. B and C. Use these to practise writing thesis statements, or ask your teacher from some sample questions specific to your unit of study. When it comes to exam time, you will only have a couple of seconds to think of your thesis statement, so by practising it will help with coming up with thesis statements on the spot.

There is no harm in starting early, it's better to learn now than make the mistake I did and learn how to write a Thesis Statement four weeks before the first HSC exam!!

Don't be afraid to ask your teacher or tutor for help with writing thesis statements. It's nothing to be ashamed of if you don't know how to write one. You always have to start somewhere!

https://www.artofsmart.com.au/textual-conversations-questions/