CHAPTER 15
THE THESIS SENTENCE AND WRITING A SHORT ESSAY
Specific instructional aims
Students are able to describe the thesis
sentence and able to make a short composition.
Sub topics
·
the
thesis sentence
·
writing
a short essay
The thesis sentence
In writing a short article or an
essay, one of the basic steps should be understood is the thesis
sentences. Understanding the thesis
sentence is important because it expresses the whole idea contained in the
essay. A thesis sentence indicates the
purpose of the composition and conveys the control idea of the article. Thus, the thesis sentence governs the
contents and structure of a whole composition consisting of two or more
paragraphs. Ideally, it is a
one-sentence summary of the whole essay.
Different from the topic sentence,
i.e. a sentence controlling the idea of a whole paragraph, the thesis sentence
is a sentence controlling or governing the whole essays consisting of several
paragraphs.
The thesis sentence should be
written in the first paragraph of an essay.
It may be the first sentence of the first paragraph, or it may follow an
introductory sentence or two leading to the climax of the first paragraph which
is the thesis sentence. For a beginner,
writing a thesis sentence is a must.
Thesis sentences vary in numerous
ways depending on the content of the subject matter. They also vary in form: it may be a statement
of position, belief, your point of view or other people’s point of point. The form of thesis sentence is important
because of two reasons. First, it
controls or governs the organization of the whole article. Second, it will serve as a guide where the
essay is going to and how to get there.
Thus, much like a good outline, the thesis sentence gives the plans for
the essay.
Before writing an outline for an
essay, it advisable that the thesis of the composition is clearly designed or
jotted down. This means that the writer
must be able to convey an idea or opinion that is to be proved in the article. Sometimes the writer goes on stating facts in
the first paragraph but the writing lacks a thesis or point to be proved. As the consequence, the essay is devoid of
focal point to be proved, because writing everything without a main idea or
opinion to be proved will end up saying nothing.
One good suggestion that will help
making thesis sentence a clear statement and a good plan for the composition is
to divide the thesis sentence into two or three parts. The first part states the subject and the
second or the third part states the supports.
However, the division of the thesis sentence is not limited to two or
three supports. For a long essay, the
part of supports may exceed two or three in number, but keep in mind that the
essay must discuss each part of the thesis sentence in the order in which it
appears in the thesis sentence and each support should be developed
sufficiently.
Please have a look at the following
thesis sentence: The new agricultural graduate working in rural area must
have three admirable qualities: patience, dedication to work, and love for
humanity. This thesis sentence has
three part of supports that can be developed further. The essay should discuss the supporting parts
in the order shown below. However, the
topic sentence in each paragraph may vary.
· Patience with the ignorance
of the unskilled farmers (subject) has made the
new agricultural graduate an admirable person (controlling
idea). … then you should develop the
controlling idea …
· Dedication to his work
(subject) is the outstanding characteristic (controlling idea)
of the new agricultural graduate. ……
then you should develop the controlling idea ……
· Love for humanity (subject)
has made the new agricultural graduate enjoys his job (controlling
idea) in rural area. …… then you
should develop the controlling idea ……
The most common form of the thesis
sentence is that which first states the subject, then indicates the
supports. The subject and the supports
can be separated by a transition expression such as because, due to, by, in
that, etc. or they can be separated by a colon (:). Observe the examples below.
1. His
profession (subject) requires three important qualities: the ability to analyse, an interest in
people, and patience with deals (supports).
2. The
topic of his presentation (subject) covers two strategies in plant
breeding: the in vitro and the in
vivo approaches (supports).
3. Most
of plant physiological disorders (subject) are caused
by nutrient deficiency, high temperature, and low light intensity (supports).
4. TMV
is a dangerous plant virus attacking red peppers (subject) because
they are transmitted systemically within plant
body (supports).
5. Vegetative
plant propagation (subject) can be done by stem cutting,
layerage, and grafting (supports).
Writing a short essay
From the previous lesson, you have
learned the function of a thesis sentence:
· it serves as a guide to the
content and organization of an essay.
· it may be the only sentence
in the introductory paragraph, or it may follow a sentence or two leading to
the climax (the thesis sentence) of the first paragraph of the essay.
· it may be divided into one
subject plus two or three support parts that should be elaborated in the
following paragraphs in the same order it appears in the thesis sentence.
Please have a look at the following
outline of an essay on environmental factors affecting stomatal movements.
Environmental
Effects on Stomates
First paragraph: Thesis sentence: Many factors influence stomatal apertures, and any theory
purporting to explain guard-cell action must account
for this effects: light, CO2 in the leaves, atmospheric humidity, water potential in the leaves and temperature. Of these factors, CO2 is
considered to have the most direct effect on opening and closing of the
stomates.
Second paragraph: Topic sentence: Stomates of most plants open at sunrise and
close at darkness, allowing entry of the CO2 used in photosynthesis during the daytime. Controlling idea: Opening generally requires about one hour,
and closing is often gradual throughout the afternoon. Stomates close faster if plants are suddenly
exposed to darkness. The minimum light level
for the opening of stomates in most plants is about 1/1000 to 1/30 of full
sunlight, just enough to cause some net photosynthesis. High irradiance levels cause wider stomatal apertures.
Third paragraph: Topic sentence: In most plants, low concentrations of CO2
in the leaves also cause stomates to open.
Controlling idea: If CO2-free
air is blown across leaves
even in darkness, then their slightly open stomates open wider. Conversely, high CO2 concentration
in the leaves can cause the stomates to close partially, and this occurs in the
light as well as the dark. When the
stomates are completely closed, which is unusual, external CO2-free
air has no effect. In short, stomates
responds to intercellular CO2 levels but not to the CO2
concentration at the leaf surface and in the stomatal pore. Succulents fix CO2 into organic acids at
night, thus lowering internal CO2 concentration, which causes
stomatal opening.
Fourth paragraph: Topic sentence: Stomatal of many species are highly sensitive
to atmospheric humidity. Controlling
idea: They close when the difference
between the vapour content of the air and that of
the intercellular spaces exceeds a critical
level. A large gradient tends to induce oscillations in opening and
closing with a periodicity of about 30 minutes.
This is probably because, as the steep vapour gradient induces closing,
CO2 in the leaf is depleted, and this in turn leads to opening. The most rapid responses to lowered humidity
occur under low irradiances.
Fifth paragraph: Topic sentence: The water potential within a leaf also has a
powerful effect on stomatal opening and closing. Controlling idea: As water potential decreases (water stress
increase), the stomates close. This
effect can override low CO2 levels and bright light. Its protective value during drought is
obvious.
Sixth paragraph: Topic sentence: High temperatures (30 to 35 oC)
usually cause stomatal closing. Controlling
idea: This might be an indirect
response to water stress, or a rise in respiration rate might cause an increase in CO2
within the leaf. High CO2
concentration in the leaf is probably the correct explanation for high
temperature stomatal closing in some species because it can be prevented by
flushing the leaf continuously with CO2-free air. In some plants, however, high temperatures
cause stomatal opening instead of closing.
This leads to increased transpiration, which removes heat from
the leaf.
Seventh paragraph: Conclusion: It is clear that although many environmental
factors are found to affect
the opening and closing of stomates, CO2 is the key and the most
direct factor in this phenomenon. This
information is important, particularly for those people who are doing research
dealing with stomatal characteristics.
(Source (with
some modifications): Salisbury, F.B.
and C.W. Ross. 1992. Plant Physiology (fourth edition). Wadsworth Publishing Company. Belmont,
California, p. 74-76).
As illustrated in the above
example, the short essay consists of seven paragraphs. The first paragraph contains the thesis
sentence, while the second through to sixth paragraphs comprise the discussion
which includes the five supports of the thesis sentence. The seventh paragraph is the conclusion,
which is a restatement of the thesis sentence.
In a longer essay (consisting of
more than eight paragraphs), each part may be developed into two or more
paragraphs. In the above example, the
title of the essay already suggest that the essay will not be extensive. Therefore, each topic sentence can be just
expanded into one paragraph. In general,
the relationship between the paragraphs containing the supports is direct and
should be clearly shown in the working order of the sentences.
Students’ activity
Assignment 1
In the list below there are
sentences expressing a position, belief, or point of view. These sentences are intended to be thesis
sentences. However, they contain no
proof, evidence, or reasoning to support a thesis. In other words, they are vague and
imprecise. They do not give the essay
any clear direction, besides there is no clear division between the subject and
the supporting parts. Your task is try
to develop these sentences into thesis sentences with two or three
supports. Introduce the supports with
words such as those in the examples already given.
1. There
is an urgent need for good extension services in the newly developed transmigration area in
Jambi.
2. The
plant breeders and plant pathologists are found in every agricultural faculty in certain
universities in Indonesia.
3. Genetic
engineering is a possible method to be
applied in breeding pest and disease resistant plants.
4. The
rising cost of fertilizers and pesticides is a serious problem to horticultural
industry in Indonesia.
5. Vegetable
growers in Pal Merah are facing very serious disease problems attacking their
crops.
Assignment 2
Make an outline of a short essay
based on the following title and thesis sentence.
Title : The Difference between Dicotyledonous and Monocotyledonous Plants.
Thesis sentence : Based on botanical systematic,
plants can be classified into two groups:
monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous.
Support 1 : Monocotyledonous plants are characterized by
…………
Support 2 : Dicotyledonous plants are characterized by
…………
Conclusion : It is clear that ……….
Upon have the outline, try to write
a short essay consisting of four paragraphs.
The first paragraph consists of a short introduction leading to the
thesis sentence. The second paragraph
develops the first support, the third paragraph develops the second support,
and the fourth paragraph is the conclusion.
Vocabulary list
Agricultural
graduate = sarjana pertanian
Atmospheric humidity = kelembaban udara
Botanical systematic = sistematika botani
CO2-free
air = udara bebas CO2
Critical level = level kritis
Dicotyledonous = dikotil
Environmental
factors = faktor-faktor lingkungan
Extension services = layanan penyuluhan
Genetic engineering = rekayasa genetika
Gradient = gradien
Grafting = penyambungan
Guard-cell = sel penjaga
Intercellular spaces = rongga antar sel
Irradiance = iradiasi
Layerage = pencangkokan
Light intensity = intensitas cahaya
Monocotyledonous = monokotil
Nutrient deficiency = defisiensi unsur hara
Photosynthesis = fotosintesis
Physiological
disorders = penyakit-penyakit fisiologis
Plant breeder = pemulia tanaman
Plant pathologist = pakar patologi tanaman
Respiration = respirasi
Respiration rate = laju respirasi
Stem cutting = setek batang
Stomatal apertures = bukaan stomata
Stomatal
characteristics = karakteristik stomata
Stomates = stomata
Succulents = tanaman sukulen
Transmitted = ditransmisikan
Transpiration = transpirasi
Unskilled farmers = petani yang tidak terampil
Vapour content = kandungan uap air
Water potential = potensial air
Water stress = cekaman air
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