Developing a Thesis/Focus

Reading Responses Revisited: The Focus (A.K.A. Thesis, Main Idea)

When planning your reading response (or most other types of writing), there are two main questions to consider:

1) What is the most important idea/thesis I want to focus on and communicate to my readers? What do I want my readers to think, feel, and know?

2) How am I going to communicate and prove this focus?

For your reading response, choose and develop 1 specific focus, one that you care about and can deeply elaborate on.


What exactly is a thesis? It's a 1-2 sentence statement that expresses the main idea of an essay. It should be specific, concise (short and to the point), and thought-provoking.


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To develop a focus/thesis,look back at the text and your notes, then think.

1) Start with a thought-provoking question about your text.
Ex. Why is the title of the book Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles significant?

2) Answer one of the Guiding Questions on character, setting, writing style, or theme.

3) Develop a statement that expresses an important inference or interpretation of your text.
Ex. The title of the book Freedom Summer is significant because it refers to an important point in the Civil Rights Movement and shows the hopeful possibility that Joe and John Henry can find freedom this summer.

4) Revise and refine. It is a good idea to start out with a rough draft of a thesis; as you continue thinking and writing, let it evolve into a more sophisticated and audaciously enterprising thesis!!

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Here are some examples of strong thesis statements in student reading responses:

1) Here is a more implicit, subtle thesis:
I think Sylvia Plath [in "Admonition"] does a very good job of creating something that's not created to be beautiful or meaningful or deep - it's created to be.
-Sammie Jo Concillo

2) Here are explicit, very specific thesis statements:
I can relate to Percy Jackson for three main reasons. The first is the fact that our mothers are very alike. Another is that we have similar relationships with our friends. The third is I can relate to Percy because he has powers that I envy.
-Casey Gallagher

What I noticed about [Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban] is how the issues this book deals with like conformity, bullying and self esteem are the same as issues I deal with and a lot of people in the world deal with.
-Gabriel Eng

[In "My Papa's Waltz"], the son may be getting hurt, but he calls [the drunken stumbling] a waltz because it is hard for people to see the bad in their parents.
-Tulah Fuchs

Shakespeare's writing [in Hamlet] sounds beautiful, but the words are hard to understand.
-Sadie Grant

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After you have written your thesis statement, plan out the rest of your essay.

Refer to the following post for an outline format: http://msgalangenglish.blogspot.com/2011/03/process-for-writing-rad-reading.html

Questions to consider while planning your reading response:

* What are the most important supporting ideas/reasons that I need to explain to prove my focus?
* What is the main idea of each body paragraph? What quotes support each main idea?
* What is the best way to order/organize my body paragraphs?
* What is an interesting way to write my introduction? Conclusion?
* What other creative features do I want to incorporate: poem, letter, song, video, film, photograph, painting, etc.?


Finally, please review these past posts:

See Basic Elements of a Reading Response: http://msgalangenglish.blogspot.com/2011/03/revisiting-reading-responses.html

Review guidelines and rubric for reading responses: http://msgalangenglish.blogspot.com/2011/10/writing-your-first-blog-post.html

To review how to incorporate quotations, see: http://msgalangenglish.blogspot.com/2011/12/incorporating-sources.html