SOCC Writing Center

Thesis and Essay Map

The following explanations, descriptions of structures, and exercises are not meant to be prescriptions for composing effective essays, but are, rather, suggestions to help guide you when writing.

Part I. Generating a Thesis Statement

Definition: A thesis statement contains your topic and what you want to write/say about it. A thesis is always debatable. It is not solely a statement of fact.

Instructions: Address in writing the following prompts/questions:

1. My topic is _________________________________________________.

2. What question(s) or problem(s) about the topic do you or others have?

3. I want to argue or explain that . . .

4. Write your topic and argument: ______________________ is/are ___________________.

5. Now add the above statement to the following structure and complete:

_______________________ is/are __________ because the topic is ______________________,

the topic is _________________________, and the topic is __________________________.

In this structure you offer three distinctions (or categories) to develop further in the essay in order to support your claim.

Consider, for example, the following thesis statement:

Dogs are great pets because they’re social animals, they’re hard workers, and they are affectionate.

Note: Not all thesis sentences contain three points to develop. Some offer four or more. Others offer only one. The points you add to your thesis statement will provide you a map for composing and organizing your essay.

6. Rewrite your thesis statement, making any necessary changes. You will probably want to use a more active, descriptive verb, and you may need to modify the structure.

over

Part II. The Elements of an Introductory Paragraph

In an expository essay (to expose, explain, analyze, evaluate, or argue), the introductory paragraph often contains one or two background sentences (facts, statistics, definitions, explanations, etc.), a statement of a question or problem that the author will use as a hook, a thesis statement, and the three or four points she or he wants to develop to support her or his thesis.

Consider, for example, the following introductory paragraph:

Statistics gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that households in the United States

support 716 million dogs, 613 million cats, and 732,000 birds. Considering these figures, one

can see that Americans are mightily fond of pets and that we favor the dog in our households.

But why do we hold dogs in such high regard? Dogs, it may be argued, make the best pets

because they are social animals, they work hard for us, and they offer affection and

companionship.

Notice that the points which need developing elsewhere in the essay can be numbered and provide a sort of essay map to help organize the rest of the essay.

Exercise Instructions:

1. Return to the introductory paragraph above and write a number on each of the points that need developing further in the essay.
2. Using the above introductory paragraph as a model, compose your own introductory paragraph.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Label the parts of your introductory paragraph. Then number the points that you will develop to support your claim.

Part III. Essay Map

______________________________________________________________________

Title

Introduction: Statistics gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that households in the United States support 716 million dogs, 613 million cats, and 732,000 birds. Considering these figures, one can see that Americans are mightily fond of pets and that we favor the dog in our households. But why do we hold dogs in such high regards? Dogs, it may be argued, make the best pets because they are social animals, they work hard for us, and they offer affection and companionship.

Paragraph 2. Write a topic sentence advancing point #1: Not only are dogs pack animals, but they are also the ancestors of the wolves who were the first animals to be domesticated by human beings. For this reason dogs and people easily socialize.

Support: ______________________________________________________________________.

Support: ____________________________________________________________________.

Support: ____________________________________________________________________.

Transition: Not only are dogs good company, they also serve us in the work place.

Paragraph 3. Topic sentence containing point #2: Each year the number of jobs for which dogs are best suited increases.

Support: ____________________________________________________________________.

Support: ____________________________________________________________________.

Support: ____________________________________________________________________.

Transition: One might even argue that the most important duty a dog performs is offering affection to its people.

Paragraph 4: Topic sentence on point #3: Researchers in the medical field report that simply petting a dog will lower a person’s blood pressure, and daily the companionship dogs offer helps heal and enrich our lives.

Support: ____________________________________________________________________.

Support: ____________________________________________________________________.

Support: ____________________________________________________________________.

Transition: From the evidence it becomes obvious that a happy family owns a dog.

Concluding Paragraph: ________________________________________________________.