All thesis statements should broadly contain three elements in order to accurately signal to the reader what the topic of the essay or article will be. These elements are:
Data
The source(s) of information you used in crafting your argument. What is it, precisely, that you will be examining in the essay?
Method
How will you go about working with your source(s) of information. What analytical tool(s) will you use to generate insights into the phenomena that you are studying?
Conclusion (Hypothesis Statement)
What conclusion(s) about your source(s) of information will you be arguing for in the paper? This should be stated as explicitly as possible so that the reader is not left guessing about what you are attempting to do in the paper. To draw an analogy to the scientific method, this statement could be likened to the hypothesis whose truth you are going to demonstrate by the conclusion of the experiment (i.e., the essay).
Below is a thesis statement that I wrote for a paper that I presented at the 2011 Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Rhetoric in Bologna, Italy. I present it first whole and then divide it into the three elements listed above. As you can see, the reader doesn't have to guess at my subject matter, my approach, or what I am contending in the paper. When you are writing your thesis statements, see if you can divide them in the same way. If so, then it is likely that the data, method, and conclusion of your essay is clear and your thesis is on the way to becoming a strong one.
ORIGINAL THESIS STATEMENT
In the late thirteenth century, Humbert of Romans, the Fifth Master General of the Order of Preachers, wrote his De eruditione praedicatorum, a complete manual of preaching touching upon every duty in which a preacher engaged. In this essay, I offer an analysis of the rhetorical principles underlying Humbert’s theory of preaching using the classical rhetorical categories of Invention, Arrangement, Style, and Delivery. I contend that, following the example of Augustine in the fourth book of On Christian Doctrine, Humbert attempted in his treatise to create a rhetoric of preaching founded on biblical, rather than classical, precedents. However, in carrying out his project, Humbert incorporated, unacknowledged in most instances, rhetorical principles from the classical oratorical tradition (Pseudo-Cicero’s Rhetorica ad Herrenium); the classical poetical tradition (Horace’s Ars Poetica); the classical philosophical tradition (Seneca’s moral epistles); and from the contemporary ars dictaminis and ars poetica traditions, for which he sought biblical justification. Hence, Humbert’s rhetoric of preaching may be characterized as a scriptural adaptation of the classical and medieval arts of speaking, poetry, and letter-writing.
THESIS STATEMENT RESOLVED INTO ITS ELEMENTS
Data
In the late thirteenth century, Humbert of Romans, the Fifth Master General of the Order of Preachers, wrote his De eruditione praedicatorum, a complete manual of preaching touching upon every duty in which a preacher engaged.
Method
In this essay, I offer an analysis of the rhetorical principles underlying Humbert’s theory of preaching using the classical rhetorical categories of Invention, Arrangement, Style, and Delivery.
Conclusion/Hypothesis Statement
I contend that, following the example of Augustine in the fourth book of On Christian Doctrine, Humbert attempted in his treatise to create a rhetoric of preaching founded on biblical, rather than classical, precedents. However, in carrying out his project, Humbert incorporated, unacknowledged in most instances, rhetorical principles from the classical oratorical tradition (Pseudo-Cicero’s Rhetorica ad Herrenium); the classical poetical tradition (Horace’s Ars Poetica); the classical philosophical tradition (Seneca’s moral epistles); and from the contemporary ars dictaminis and ars poetica traditions, for which he sought biblical justification. Hence, Humbert’s rhetoric of preaching may be characterized as a scriptural adaptation of the classical and medieval arts of speaking, poetry, and letter-writing.