Writing is hard. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. People will try to encourage you. You might see others with an ability to miraculously multiply words on paper. But don’t let them fool you--writing is hard. No matter how you frame it, you have to sit down and write. Oftentimes, writing actually means re-writing, and revising, and re-writing again.
With a few tools you can make it manageable. The outline is important, but probably more crucial and more basic is the thesis statement. If the outline is the map of your paper, the thesis is the compass. The needle is always pointing north. Getting a bead on this bearing is the most critical part of writing a solid paper. Giving due diligence to the sentence early in the project can make the entire project unfold faster and hold together tighter. This in turn will make the reader (most likely your professor or grader) happy. When people are generally happy, they will assess work in a more positive light. In sum, writing a strong thesis first and tweaking it along the way will help you score a better grade. It takes a little more mental work up front, but its cheaper than a bribe, or hoping that your prof’s favorite sports team is winning when he happens to be reading your paper.
A good thesis will have a subject and a predicate. The subject generally identifies the topic of your paper. The predicate will generally identify what you think about the subject, or what you plan to argue throughout your paper. For example: “First century Jewish tax collectors were considered sinners.” “Tax collectors” is the subject; they fact that they “were considered sinners” is the predicate. The rest of the work is just displaying the evidence that supports your thesis, or showing why evidence that doesn’t support is weak, misinterpreted, or on closer inspection really does help your case.
Here are some things to consider:
1. Ask the research questions. When you don’t have a thesis, raise the question about the subject. Generally, in seminary, your professor will give you a list of topics. Choose one and begin asking questions about that area: Why is it important? Is it important? What’s related to it? Sifting through these answers can help you come up with a good thesis statement.
2. Use a good action verb. The most vital member of the thesis statement is the verb. It controls the action. The verb of my thesis statement is “consider.” This is fine. It gets into first century thinking, but a better verb might be: “criticized,” “avoided,” “ridiculed.” Try this: “First century Jewish tax collectors were ridiculed as sinners,” or “...avoided as sinners.” This tells me more about the life of a tax collector than “consider,” and definitely how they were treated in light of what others thought about them.
3. Use the active voice. The active voice forces the writer to show who is doing the acting. Our example thesis statement is passive; we don’t know who considered first century Jewish tax collectors as sinners. Do the Romans? Jesus? A better thesis would be: “Pharisees avoided Jewish tax collectors as sinners.” If Jesus is the subject, then the phrase changes to “Jesus reached out to tax collectors as sinners.” Including the actor will help your thesis sentence out a lot. I find that students use the passive voice more. Left to my own devices, I would use the passive voice. Pinpointing the actor is difficult, and I’m lazy.
When you have a good thesis print it out and tape it on your computer monitor. Think about it when you write your outline. Work it over when you are waiting in line at Starbucks. When you have a strong thesis statement it will help you land your paper.
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