Definition:
1) The main idea of an essay or report, sometimes written as a single declarative sentence. A thesis may be implied rather than stated directly.
2) In the progymnasmata, an exercise that requires a student to argue a case for one side or the other.
Etymology:
From the Greek, "to put"Examples:
- "My thesis is simple: in the next century mankind must harness the nuclear genie if our energy needs are to be met and our security preserved."
(John B. Ritch, "Nuclear Green," Prospect Magazine, March 1999) - "We watch baseball: it's what we have always imagined life should be like. We play softball. It's sloppy--the way life really is."
(introduction to Watching Baseball, Playing Softball) - "Through Mansfield's skillful handling of point of view, characterization, and plot development, Miss Brill comes across as a convincing character who evokes our sympathy."
(thesis in Miss Brill's Fragile Fantasy) - "Suppose there were no critics to tell us how to react to a picture, a play, or a new composition of music. Suppose we wandered innocent as the dawn into an art exhibition of unsigned paintings. By what standards, by what values would we decide whether they were good or bad, talented or untalented, success or failures? How can we ever know that what we think is right?"
(Marya Mannes, "How Do You Know It's Good?") - "I think people are disturbed by the discovery that no longer is a small town autonomous--it is a creature of the state and of the Federal Government. We have accepted money for our schools, our libraries, our hospitals, our winter roads. Now we face the inevitable consequence: the benefactor wants to call the turns."
(E.B. White, "Letter from the East") - "It is possible to stop most drug addiction in the United States within a very short time. Simply make all drugs available and sell them at cost."
(Gore Vidal, "Drugs")
Pronunciation: THEE-ses
Also Known As: thesis statement, thesis sentence, controlling idea
