13 Analytical Thesis Statements

Many of us have learned, discussed, written, and identified thesis statements in all types of writing. Sometimes, however, thesis statements are described in ways that are generic, as if one type of thesis statement could work in any type of text. Writing is never generic. Instead there are different types of thesis statements for different purposes. In this section, we will discuss and practice what are called analytical thesis statements.

The general guidelines for thesis statements still apply. In the following activity, identify all the advice you’ve received about thesis statements.

Most likely, you have all had similar experiences learning about thesis statements. Now that you are in college, it can be helpful to consider different types of thesis statements. When you are writing to analyze, a certain type of thesis is needed.

Parts of an analytical thesis statement

In an analytical text in particular, your thesis statement will assert a claim (make an argument) about the way something was, is, or will be. For English classes, your thesis might make a claim about a theme in a book. In a business class, your thesis statement might be a claim about data you analyzed. In a history class, your thesis statement might make a claim about the cause of an event.

In each case, there is an OBJECT of study (topic) which you have studied/analyzed enough to assert a CLAIM.

In this example, we get the following:

The topic is “the student loan debt forgiveness” because that is the data that was analyzed. The claim is that “forgiveness will boost the national economy by allowing borrowers to participate more in the economy.” The thesis aligns with what you have been taught in the past. However, we also have a focus here on making claims about the way the something (e.g., forgiveness) is (e.g., a benefit to the economy). These types of thesis statements are different than argument-based thesis statements, which we explain in another chapter.

In the following activity, try identifying the different parts of a thesis statement.

Adding a reason to our analytical thesis statement

While some thesis statements only have a topic and claim, some thesis statements also include a reason, or what some people call the “so what” of a thesis.

You might have been taught to list 3 reasons that you then explore in 3 paragraphs as part of a five-paragraph essay. For college writing and beyond, we encourage you to move beyond this structure to more sophisticated reasons that you then unpack for the reader. Here’s an example of the earlier thesis statement with a reason added:

Rhetorical analysis of two riots shows that news media present black rioters as dangerous, irrational criminals, while white rioters receive a much more sympathetic characterization—a phenomenon that has seemingly been prevalent in American media for at least the past fifty years. Through its different narratives of rioting, this coverage reinforces broader research on race in media that influences readers’ perceptions about race and shapes discussions on how to approach solutions to the problems that rioting presented the cities of Detroit and Kent. (adapted from Yarrish).

In the following activity, try to identify the parts in this analytical thesis statement.

When you are feeling stuck

Sometimes it can be hard to put into words the analytical discovery you have made, while also finding weaving in a reason. While the origin of the “magic thesis statement” is unknown, you will find it on many websites trying to break down the thesis statement. The Magic Thesis Statement sets you up to write an analytical thesis statement:

By looking at _____, we can see _______, which most readers don’t see. This is important because _______ .

The first blank is the topic (what you are analyzing). The second blank is the claim (what you discovered). It adds “most readers don’t see” as a reminder that your claim should be something others might disagree with. It shouldn’t be obvious. The third blank is the reason (why it matters). Here’s how it would work with one of the thesis statements used earlier:

By looking at media coverage of two riots, we can see that the news media presents black rioters as dangerous, irrational criminals, while they are sympathetic to white rioters, which most readers do not see. This is important because this coverage reinforces broader research on race in media that influences readers’ perceptions about race and shapes discussions on how to approach solutions to the problems that rioting presented the cities of Detroit and Kent.

After using the magic thesis, you should then revise it into a sentence or two that does not include all the language from the template.

Embodiment and the Analytical Thesis Statement

With the examples from two students, Hannah Cox and Heather Yarrish, on Alaskan Japanese Internment and racialized representations of Black protests, respectively, we hope you can see that analytical thesis statements offer an opportunity to critically explore an issue that affects any aspect of your identities. When we use our rhetorical analysis abilities to interrogate the corners of the world that seek to define us, destroy us, control us, or celebrate us, we make choices as academics.  We encourage you to connect to the texts you are analyzing and the topics you are exploring.