Developing a Thesis Statement

I enjoyed Chapter Four quite a bit. It made me realize that preparing a speech is pretty much the exact same thing as preparing an essay. And in a way I kind of like essays. It feels really good to deliver a well-articulated point and give the reader something to think about. Language is an art form after all, and the ability to transpose your thoughts into either the written or spoken word coherently is truly a thing of beauty.

Central to any good speech or essay is a well-developed thesis statement. The book defines a "thesis" as "a single declarative sentence that captures the essence or central idea of a speech." Basically, the theses is a concise statement that tells the audience the point of the speech. Having a clear thesis statement is just as critical to speech as it is to an essay; without a good thesis, your topic can easily turn into a seemingly endless quagmire that you are desperately trying to navigate. A strong thesis will help to keep your thoughts organized as well as provide a consistent flow to your work.

I find that a great way to build an essay, or speech for that matter, is to start with a stream of consciousness brainstorm session. I just write out everything that comes into my head about a given topic. After a while I go through everything I have written down and I try to see how it all relates to each other. That's usually when I develop a rough thesis. After I have an idea of what my thesis is going to be, I decide what my main points will be and think about how I will relate them back to the thesis statement. Always, ALWAYS be able to relate your points back to your thesis. If any of the supporting evidence for your main points cannot be related back to your thesis statement then you are wandering off topic, which simply will not do! My thesis statements will usually undergo several revisions as I work on my essay. I will al;so bust out the thesaurus to determine whether there is a better way of saying what it is that I am trying to say. A good thesaurus can be your best friend.

Speech preparation got a lot less daunting once I made the association with essay formating. I am a reasonable wordsmith when I get down to it, and now that I realize that I can use my essay skills in speech preparation I am feeling a lot more confident. Hooray!!!