religion thesis statement examples

Sample Student Theses

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Below are downloads (PDF format) of the M.A. (Religion) theses of some of our graduates to date.

Note: Certain requirements for current thesis students have changed since earlier theses were completed.

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Arts and Sciences > Religious Studies > Theses and Dissertations

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2022 2022.

Interpreting 9/11: Religious or Political Event? , Fadime Apaydin

The need to address religious diversity at work: an all-inclusive model of spirituality at work , Ivonne Valero Cázares

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

The Mass is the Medium: Marshall McLuhan and Roman Catholic Liturgical Change , Ashil D. Manohar

White Too Long: Christianity or Nationalism? , Rachel E. Osborne

"Theology" in the Public University , Sarah T. White

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Warfare in Christianity and Islam: Unveiling Secular Justifications and Motivations Behind So-Called Religious Violence , Onur Korkmaz

Legitimizing Violence: Functional Similarities of the Religious and the Secular Violence , Tahir Topal

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

“Living Creatures of Every Kind:” An Ecofeminist Reading of Genesis 1-3 , T. G. Barkasy

Three Theorists on Religious Violence in an Islamic Context: Karen Armstrong, Mark Juergensmeyer, and William T. Cavanaugh , Ayse Camur

Complex Tripartite Hydro Politics of River Ganges , Muttaki Bin Kamal

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Solid Metaphor and Sacred Space: Interpreting the Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Relations Found at Beth Alpha Synagogue , Evan Carter

Growth, and Development of Care for Leprosy Sufferers Provided by Religious Institutions from the First Century AD to the Middle Ages , Philippa Juliet Meek

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Altering Tian: Spirituality in Early Confucianism , Jacob Thomas Atkinson

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

The U.S. Department of State Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives: What does the U.S. engage when they engage `religion'? , Belgica Marisol Cucalon

Rising Above a Crippling Hermeneutic , Luke Steven, Carlos, Armando Thompson

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

From Cosmogony to Anthropogony: Inscribing Bodies in Vedic Cosmogony and Samskara Rituals , Christine Boulos

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

Gadamer and Nāgārjuna in Play: Providing a New Anti-Objectivist Foundation for Gadamer’s Interpretive Pluralism with Nāgārjuna’s Help , Nicholas Byle

Shamanism, Spiritual Transformation and the Ethical Obligations of the Dying Person: A Narrative Approach , Ellen W. Klein

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Finding Confucianism in Scientology: A comparative analysis , John Albert Kieffer

Sympathy for the devil: A character analysis of Gibreel Farishta in Salman Rushdie's The satanic verses , Catherine Mary Lafuente

The Babel paradox , Michel Machado

Theology, Spirituality, and the Academic Study of Religion in Public Universities , Don Saunders

Broadening the Spectrum: The Religious Dimensions of the Rainbow Gatherings , Seth M. Walker

Theses/Dissertations from 2008 2008

Poetry and Ritual: The Physical Expression of Homoerotic Imagery in sama , Zachary Holladay

Religious Exiles And Emigrants: The Changing Face Of Zoroastrianism , Tara Angelique Migliore

Metropolitan Community Church: A Perfectly Queer Reading Of The Bible , Matthew D. Stewart

Theses/Dissertations from 2007 2007

(Dis)continuity between Sikhism and Islam: The development of hukam across religions , Mark Horowitz

Natural Law Ethics: A Comparison of the Theravāda and Thomistic Traditions , David Lantigua

An analysis Of Origen's charismatic ideology in his Commentary on the Gospel of John , Kimberly W. Logan-Hudson

The proliferating sacred: Secularization and postmodernity , Donald Surrency

Theses/Dissertations from 2006 2006

The commodification of yoga in contemporary U.S. culture , Michelle E. Demeter

The Middle-Class Religious Ideology and the Underclass Struggle: A Growing Divide in Black Religion , Franklin Hills Jr.

The ethics of the spirit in Galatians: Considering Paul's paranesis in the interpretation of his theology , Steven Douglas Meigs

Cicero and St. Augustine's Just War Theory: Classical Influences on a Christian Idea , Berit Van Neste

Theses/Dissertations from 2005 2005

The Origins of Jewish Apocalyptic Literature: Prophecy, Babylon, and 1 Enoch , Sarah Robinson

Theses/Dissertations from 2004 2004

Sports and the American Sacred: What are the Limits of Civil Religion? , Frank Ferreri

Radical Religious Groups and Government Policy: A Critical Evaluation , Tori Chambers Lockler

“Symbolism of Language: A Study in the Dialogue of Power Between the Imperial Cult and the Synoptic Gospels” , Sharon Matlock-Marsh

Near-Death Experiences, Religion, and Life After Death , Holly Wallace

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Writing Papers that Develop a Thesis

Here are two short pieces about writing papers that develop a thesis rather than simply summarize information. They were written individually by two faculty members, but both pieces reflect the basic approach of the religious studies faculty. Being able to write a paper that makes a point is a valuable skill.

Writing an Analytical Paper that Develops a Thesis

Judith C. Fagan

Selecting a Topic. The paper should show that you are able to synthesize material (able to bring different ideas and readings together) and that you are learning analytical skills from the field of the study of religion (able to make comparisons and critical distinctions). Focus attention on the readings and the class discussions. Look over the notes that you have taken. Reread any weekly assignment papers that you have already written. What are the main issues that are raised by the texts you have read? Is there one of these issues that you would like to think about further? Are there issues that are troubling, that is, not easily resolved? Do you see connections among the readings? At this point write down your ideas without worrying about style or conclusions. This is just to get the ideas and associations flowing, as you try to identify what it is you may wish to write.

Thesis. Formulate a thesis statement. A good essay will address one (and only one) precisely defined issue, main point, or question. What question will you address in your paper, or, what one main point would you like to make? You should link everything else in your paper to this one main issue. A way to identify your thesis is to complete the following sentence “In this essay I argue that….” You do not need to put this sentence exactly this way in your paper, but you do need to write your thesis or argument in such a way that the main point you are making is very clear to your reader. Your thesis/argument should show some specific insight and not be self-evident. Put another way, the thesis should not consist of something almost everyone knows. Beginning your first paragraph with a sentence like “Many people all over the world practice religion” or “Ritual is an important aspect of religion” is too broad and self-evident.

Note: A paper that just restates facts and statistics does not have a thesis. A paper that simply states that you feel this way or that way does not have a thesis.

To test the validity of your thesis, consider possible counter-evidence and objections to your thesis and respond to them in advance. Imagine what an intelligent and informed classmate might say to challenge your argument.

Express your argument or thesis right at the beginning of your paper in a powerful first paragraph. This grabs your reader’s attention, makes it immediately clear to your reader the main point you wish to communicate in your writing, and sets the tone for the rest of the paper. (As you write your paper, you may need to revise your first paragraph because the process of writing itself may bring new ideas to mind. So begin with a thesis, then write, then re-write your thesis after you have written a draft of your paper.)

What to Include and Not Include. A good way to begin to think about what to write about is to imagine that you are having a conversation with another member of this class or another student who has some superficial knowledge of the material, but who wants to know more and needs to have it further explained. Or, imagine that you are the teacher and your reader is the student.

Examples and Evidence. Back up any claims you make with concrete examples. A good paper moves between general claims and very specific information, concrete examples, and evidence for any general claim. Avoid unwarranted generalizations. You will not be able to supply evidence for an overly general statement such as “All Hindus practice puja.”

No Padding. Keep summaries and quotations to a minimum. (Since your readers know about the material, all you need to do is remind them of what is there). Your task is to analyze, not summarize. Convince your reader about something that you have noticed in the texts we’ve read.

Don’t include irrelevant material that does not support your argument or the main point of your paper (your thesis). Every single sentence in your paper should be in support of your thesis.

Note: Some students find it helpful to include more tangentially related material to their topic in a footnote. This is a good way to let the instructor know that you know more than you can include in the body of your paper, and it is an acceptable practice in the field of religious studies.

Critical Analysis. You may be critical of any given approach to the material that has been read or discussed, as long as you show that you have a good grasp of, and are being fair to, the argument that you are criticizing. A rule of thumb: when you criticize a viewpoint, give enough accurate information so the author of that viewpoint would agree that you have indeed presented what he or she said. Remember, you are writing as a scholar of religion, so keep in mind the comparative and theoretical frame of the field.

Title. Develop a title that provides a clue to your reader about the point you are trying to make.

Style. Make your writing “reader friendly.” Don’t try to sound like a textbook. Use action verbs, and avoid passive verbs and the verb “to be.”

Proofread. Re-read your paper looking for logical development. Does every sentence make sense? Did you jump from one topic to another without preparing your reader for the change? Are all your sentences complete sentences? Correct your typos and misspelled words.

A Brief Guide To Writing Papers

Joanne M. Maguire

Writing well is hard work. Written work has to be clearer and better organized than speech because nuances of tone and gesture are unavailable to the writer or reader. Your words are all you have. If your writing is not clear, your message will be lost.

Be aware of (and avoid) the three most common pitfalls:

• Overlooking the importance of reading the sources closely and thoughtfully. The task of writing becomes easier when you have a grasp of what you are writing about.
• Failing to develop a single, clear, coherent thesis that is supported by the source(s) you are considering.
• Relying too much on summarizing the text(s) in question. Try to go beyond the evidence of the text to say something more. It may take some work to get to that stage: you may have to invent a problem or question to pursue by re-reading a passage or by bringing in a compelling comparison.

You can avoid these problems by spending more time reading and reflecting on what you want to say and how you want to say it. The very first step is reading, and reading well. Primary sources take more time and thought than newspaper articles or textbook chapters, which you read primarily for information or basic comprehension. A good strategy for reading more difficult material is to read a passage or full text through without notation, and then read with a pencil or pen in hand, marking the margins or making notes as you read. Your notes will guide you to evidence you’ll need when writing and will shorten the process considerably. In general, there are no “right” passages to mark when reading: the right marks for you are those that you need to prove your point.

Your thesis statement will set the tone for your entire paper, yet do not feel that you must have a fully formed thesis even before you begin to write. Students often write papers in order to find out what they’ve learned and then offer as a “conclusion” what actually should have been a thesis statement. This is an acceptable and often efficient method of drafting a paper, but it should be edited out of the final version. If you discover your thesis when you are “finished” writing, take the time to move the thesis to the beginning of the paper and revise accordingly. A paper can be a journey to understanding, and you want to make sure that your readers know precisely where the journey will end. The clear and fully developed thesis statement does that.

The body of your paper should demonstrate, through the analysis of specific bits of evidence, how your thesis defines an appropriate and productive analytical approach to the material under consideration. In other words, the body of the paper offers a detailed map of the material. Think of your paper as a guide for others; you want to show them the quickest, simplest, and most rewarding way to learn what you have learned. You will probably encounter detours, blind alleys, and attractive tangents in writing your paper, but do not reproduce that work in the paper. The most common and effective design for both paragraphs and entire papers is as follows: thesis statement, evidence, analysis of evidence, conclusion. As a rule of thumb, 1/6 of your paper should be devoted to the introduction and statement of thesis, 2/3 to the body, and 1/6 to the conclusion. In a shorter (1-2 page) paper, the thesis should be one sentence, the conclusion one to three, and the evidence and analysis the remainder.

The demonstration of the thesis in the body of the paper leads directly to your conclusions. Once the readers have reached their destination, you’ll need to remind them of what they have learned. Unfortunately, many student papers suddenly stop, some end less abruptly, but very few have conclusions. A conclusion is a summary of the major points that you have made in the body of the paper and an indication of how they lend persuasiveness to your thesis. It is not a word-for-word restatement of the thesis. A conclusion can also extend the reach of what you have demonstrated in the paper, seek out its further implications, and set it in more general contexts.

Pay careful attention to the following points while writing and editing your papers.

Relations of summary and analysis. The proportion of analysis to summary should be at least 50:50; that is, if you include a quotation that is four or five lines long, you will need to provide four or five lines of commentary and explanation. Never let the quotation alone carry your argument. Always show why you have included a bit of evidence and describe how it supports and advances your argument. Avoid the trap of assuming that the evidence you introduce is unambiguous in its meaning. Avoid beginning sentences with “clearly,” “undoubtedly,” and the like: assume nothing is clear until you’ve made it clear.

Evidence. Avoid making very broad generalizations that can’t be backed up with solid evidence. For instance, statement such as “All dog owners believe X” is absurd if it stands alone. Evidence gives your paper its force; remember, however, to interpret any evidence you choose (and, if you have space, to show how or why other interpretations are less persuasive).

Concise wording. The comment “wordy” from a professor means just that: your sentence or paragraph conveys too little information with too many words. Be as direct and succinct as possible. One simple step to avoiding wordiness is eliminating the phrase “there is”; for instance, the phrase “There is a statement in the book ‘Y’ by X that says that . . .” would be stronger as “In ‘Y’, X states that . . .”

Complete sentences. All sentences must have at least a subject and a verb. Avoid sentence fragments, even if they are frequently used in conversation and on the radio and TV.

Praise and condemnation. Avoid congratulating either the authors you cite or yourself. Avoid observing that someone makes a “very important” point: show it instead by using it. Finally, avoid putting yourself down: “A lowly freshman could never comprehend the thought of X . . .” Become an expert on your topic and stand by your (well-supported) assertions.

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Writing your thesis statement

A thesis statement clearly identifies the topic being discussed, includes the points discussed in the paper, and is written for a specific audience. Your thesis statement belongs at the end of your first paragraph, also known as your introduction. Use it to generate interest in your topic and encourage your audience to continue reading. 

A strong thesis statement is refutable and specific. It makes a new point about theory or examines how two ideas relate in a new way. I adapts or critiques someone else's argument. Strong research thesis statements are:

• Specific : talk about a specific idea rather than a broad theme, the more concrete the better. 
• Text-based : your argument should arise from the text, your interview, or ethnographic research; it should not be an imposition of your own personal moral or ethical views. Don't cast judgment on the social actors.
• Unified : be sure that you're arguing one thing, and avoid bifurcated thesis statements.
• Not too obvious:  your paper should point out something that isn't immediately obvious to someone without a close examination of the texts or ethnographic data. Make sure that what you're writing about demands that a paper be written about it.
• Refutable : it should be possible to come up with a reasonable and valid counter argument to your thesis statement.
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REL C402 Religion Illness and Healing

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• Scholarly vs Popular
• Thesis Statements

What Is a Thesis?

A  thesis  is the main point or argument of an information source. (Many, but not all, writing assignments, require a thesis.)

A strong thesis is:  

• Arguable:  Can be supported by evidence and analysis, and can be disagreed with.

•  Unique:  Says something new and interesting.

•  Concise and clear:  Explained as simply as possible, but not at the expense of clarity.

•  Unified:  All parts are clearly connected. •  Focused and specific:  Can be adequately and convincingly argued within the the paper, scope is not overly broad.

•  Significant:  Has importance to readers, answers the question "so what?"

Crafting a Thesis

Research is usually vital to developing a strong thesis. Exploring sources can help you develop and refine your central point.

1. Conduct Background Research.

A strong thesis is specific and unique, so you first need knowledge of the general research topic. Background research will help you narrow your research focus and contextualize your argument in relation to other research. 

2. Narrow the Research Topic. 

Ask questions as you review sources:

• What aspect(s) of the topic interest you most?
• What questions or concerns does the topic raise for you?   Example of a general research topic:  Climate change and carbon emissions Example of more narrow topic:  U.S. government policies on carbon emissions

3. Formulate and explore a relevant research question.  

Before committing yourself to a single viewpoint, formulate a specific question to explore.  Consider different perspectives on the issue, and find sources that represent these varying views. Reflect on strengths and weaknesses in the sources' arguments. Consider sources that challenge these viewpoints.

Example:  What role does and should the U.S. government play in regulating carbon emissions?

4. Develop a working thesis. 

• A working thesis has a clear focus but is not yet be fully formed. It is a good foundation for further developing a more refined argument.   Example:  The U.S. government has the responsibility to help reduce carbon emissions through public policy and regulation.  This thesis has a clear focus but leaves some major questions unanswered. For example, why is regulation of carbon emissions important? Why should the government be held accountable for such regulation?

5. Continue research on the more focused topic.

Is the topic:

• broad enough to yield sufficient sources and supporting evidence?
• narrow enough for in-depth and focused research?
• original enough to offer a new and meaningful perspective that will interest readers? 

6. Fine-tune the thesis.

Your thesis will probably evolve as you gather sources and ideas. If your research focus changes, you may need to re-evaluate your search strategy and to conduct additional research. This is usually a good sign of the careful thought you are putting into your work!

Example:   Because climate change, which is exacerbated by high carbon emissions, adversely affects almost all citizens, the U.S. government has the responsibility to help reduce carbon emissions through public policy and regulation. 

More Resources

• How to Write a Thesis Statement IU Writing Tutorial Services
• Tips and Examples for Writing Thesis Statements Purdue OWL
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How to Write Religion Papers

Not all religion papers will be written exactly the same. 

The three primary styles of religion papers that will be encountered are: 

• Doctrinal/Theological
• Hermeneutical/Exegetical

Religion courses commonly use Turabian style for source citation.

The course outline and class description will determine the style. 

Systematic Theology :   Coherent, topical examination regarding issues pertaining to the Christian faith.

Examples: 

• Justification, Predestination, Atonement

Historical Theology :   Examination of the formation and articulation of the theological ideas of a historical person or group. 

• Augustine's view of the Church

Biblical Theology :   Comprehensive examination of the theology articulated in the Bible. 

• Sin in Genesis 3, Jeremiah 2, Romans 1

Comparative Theology : Examination of the theological positions of two or more opposing groups.

Christian v. Muslim view of God

According to the requirements of the class, determine a topic.

• Trinity, Attributes of God (Love, Justice, Sovereignty, Omniscience, Perfection, Holy Spirit, Communion)

Determine a thesis or argument based upon the chosen topic.

• In Communion, the body and blood of Jesus Christ are present in, with, and under the bread and the wine.

Searching Resources

• Possible resources: Computer Databases, Internet, Books, Journals, Ecumenical Councils, Creeds, Confessions

Printing/Making Copies

• After printing, highlight the relevant information.
• Paraphrase important information in the margins.

Cite each resource in a bibliography (most likely in Turabian format)

Introduce  the paper with a bold, broad, interesting, universal statement and move toward a narrow, identifiable statement of the argument. This statement of the argument is called a thesis. 

Prove  the thesis with Scripture, sources, and reason. 

Provide  viable answers for conceivable arguments against the thesis. 

Conclude  the paper with a short restatement of the thesis and identify its broader applications and implications.

• Discover events of interest.
• Learn what scholars say pertaining to these events.
• Analyze their observations and develop a thesis or argument. 
• Possible resources; books, journals, Interent, databases.
• Introduce the paper with a broad sweep of the event or person researched. 
• Determine an argument based upon the sources.
• Prove the argument from sources. 
• Conclude the paper with a restatement of the thesis of the paper and perhaps briefly discuss the present application. 

"Exegesis" comes from the Greek word for "to lead out". The purpose of an exegesis paper is to "lead out" the original meaning of a biblical text. 

Pick a section of verses in Scripture that is connotatively ambiguous. (Most of the Bible fits this parameter.)

Possible sources include: 

• Commentaries (Word Biblical and New American are great)
• Greek/English Lexicons (NT), Hebrew/English Lexicons (OT)
• Word Studies
• Confessions

With reference to the format of a paper, a professor's word is the law. However, if no format is specified, organizing the paper into subcategories is remarkably helpful.

• Introduction : Introduce the text and briefly explicate the obscurities of the selected text. 
• Setting : Date/Authorship/Recipients/Occasion/Surrounding Culture
• Structure : Genre/Form (Diatribe, Epistle, Gospel/Linear, Rhetorical)
• Syntax : The way the sentences are put together. This is where one would go through the text and grammatically diagram the parts of speech and determine the modifiers. 
• Semantics : The meanings of the individual words in the sentences. Identify the words which create interpretive difficulty and study them. How many times are they used in the Bible? How are the words in question used in other contexts?
• Summation : Based on the information gathered above, what did the text originally mean?
• Significance : Given the original meaning, how might one apply this text today?
• Conclusion : What was discovered concerning this text by means of exegesis?
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So you have to write a thesis...

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The number one rule for writing your thesis is  be organized .  This may be different for everyone, but here is the basic structure (see red slides below) on what your masters thesis or dissertation should include. Also included are videos, books, writing tips, websites, and articles that may assist you.  

Your specific discipline may have specific requirements for you to follow. Please consult with your thesis advisor whenever you have questions.

If you are having trouble with research please do not hesitate to reach out to a librarian (see the Stuck? page for contact information).

This video was created by Lund University in Sweden and is a great resource.  Please keep in mind that they use slightly different words for their sections such as "summary" instead of "conclusion", but the content that should be included is the same and the way they explain it is succinct and accurate. 

This video by Massey University (New Zealand) is a recorded lecture on how to write a thesis with several examples and good advice throughout. Please keep in mind that here too, some of the vocabulary is different but the content is useful. 

• Basic Thesis Guide by Dr. Kendra Gaines, University of Arizona
• Guidelines for Writing a Thesis or Dissertaion
• If you're in the humanities this would be the heart of your research. For example if you were comparing Game of Thrones  to Shakespeare, instead of beginning with an introduction, you would jump into where you are comparing them. 
• Instead of sitting in front of your computer every day for 2 hours with writer's block, try to write daily with well defined writing goals - I'm going to write 2 pages, or create a table, etc. 
• If you miss a day, do not try to make up for it the next day. Just keep going and don't burn yourself out. Keep yourself to reasonable, realistic goals and make sure to keep a work-life balance.
• Don't worry about perfect grammar when you're doing your first draft(s).  That's easy to edit, generating new content with perfect style? Not as easy. 
• Try to keep some kind of memo pad with you at all times - on your phone, on paper, however works for you for those flashes of brilliance when you're not near your document.
• Make sure you communicate with your supervisor - do not be afraid to reach out!  Make sure you're on the right track.
• If you're research based make sure you have a clearly defined question your thesis will answer, including milestones. 
• Make and outline, including bullet points for your data/arguments in each section. This may change over time but it will help you keep track of what data needs to be collected and what information needs to be included in each chapters .
• Include all your results, not just the results that support your hypothesis - this is called cherry picking.  Be transparent. 
• Read and look at other theses in your field - this can help inspire you and answer questions as you go along. You can do this in the library, or online by visiting our dissertation databases . You can also check out Google Scholar to see what's available there. 
• How to Write a Thesis Without Losing Your Mind - Risto Sarvas

Thesis Structure

Overview of General Thesis Structure

What's in the body of my thesis?

Writethatphd.

I highly recommend the resources from @WriteThatPhD - there's great advice and frameworks shared here.

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Theological Research and Writing: Research Question and Thesis

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Research is:

Research Questions

You can develop a research question by applying these interrogatives:

A Good Thesis Statement:

A good thesis statement accomplishes the following:

• Expresses a main idea.
• Warrants discussion (the paragraphs of the paper).
• Specifically states what the paper will discuss.
• States the writer’s conclusions.

Developing a Research Question

S cholarship is all about reaching new conclusions.  A paper that simply describes the events of the Protestant Reformation is not a work of scholarship.  A paper that presents conclusions regarding the cause or the outcomes of the Reformation, on the other hand, is scholarship.  Such a paper will certainly contain a description of the events of the Protestant Reformation, but asking and answering questions involves critical thinking about a topic and the conclusions of other scholars.

Once you have the right topic nailed down, you can turn that topic into a question with ease.  A research question will give you a starting point and a finish line.  You will know where to start looking for information and you will know when you are done.

You have finished your paper when you have answered your research question!

T opic:   "Jesus’ fulfillment of Messianic Prophecies according to the Gospel of Matthew"

R esearch Question:   How does the Gospel of Matthew use Messianic prophecies from the Old Testament to show that Jesus is the Messiah?

Short answer:   Your Thesis Statement

Long answer:   Your research paper.

Your Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement is the short answer to your research question!

Topic:   Jesus’ treatment of gentiles in the gospels.

Research Question:   What is Jesus’ attitude toward gentiles according to the gospels?

Thesis Statement:   The gospel writers used the words of Christ and narrative accounts of His deeds to show that Jesus saw gentiles as outsiders who were being drawn near with the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Your thesis statement will vary depending upon the kind of paper you are being asked to write:

Expository:   Generally, you will write expository papers, which means you will be explaining something to your reader, such as when you explain the main message of a book of the Bible. In your thesis be sure  to sum up your paper with one main-idea.  It can be hard to unite the content of an expository paper under one main idea.

Analytical:  examine an issue and determine the cause and effect relationships before presenting evidence for what you discovered. A thesis for this kind of paper will state the results of analysis.

Argumentative: position papers where you  state where you stand on an issue, backing it up with evidence for your claims. A thesis for this paper will specify the position and how the writer will argue in the paper.

A good thesis will do more than simply account for what is in the paper; it will entice the reader to continue reading!

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Libraries & Cultural Resources

Research guides, guide to research and writing for the academic study of religion.

• Topic Pyramids
• Research Assignment Parameters
• Thesis statement
• Identifying Interests
• Controversy
• Availability of Sources
• Preliminary Research
• Developing Your Question and Thesis
• Research Question and Thesis Statement Examples
• Periodicals
• Primary Sources
• Reference Works - Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Biographies etc
• Journal Articles
• Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
• Web Search Engines
• Web Directories
• Invisible Web
• Does the Library hold the article I need?
• Locating resources unavailable at U of C Library
• Content of Databases
• Standardized Terminology
• Review Quiz Databases
• Keyword Searching
• Search Limits
• Phrase Searching
• Truncations and Wildcards
• Boolean Operators
• Proximity Operators
• Natural Language Searching
• Searching Basics Quiz
• Search Overview
• Selecting Records
• Combing Searchers
• General Criteria
• Quoting in text
• in Text Citations
• List of References
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Staying Organized
• Links to Writing Help
• Sources Used in Creating this Workbook

Thesis Statements

Those diverse points of view that signal controversy are expressed in scholarly literature as  thesis statements . To put it simply, a thesis is the answer to a research question which you have arrived at by doing research. You will need a thesis statement for your paper. Once you have a thesis, you will then write your essay with the intention of clearly expressing and supporting that thesis in order to convince your audience of its validity.  You might consider and reject numerous judgments in one paper, but in the end it should be clear how you have answered the question you have posed.

Your answer should be clearly articulated in one concise thesis statement that appears in the introductory section of your essay.

The role of religion in public school systems is a subject of considerable debate and controversy in North America today. Scholarly and public opinion are divided on this issue, with some in favour and others against the curricular inclusion and implementation of religious studies in public classrooms. There are compelling arguments from all sides of the debate, and the issue has received an enormous amount of media attention in recent years.

Becoming familiar with both past and present literature on the subject will help you to develop your own research question and thesis statement on the basis of what you have read. Consider the following journal articles retrieved from  ATLA  Religion Database :

Aberts. Wanda. 2017. "Reconstruction, Critical Accommodation or Business as Usual?: Challenges of Criticisms of he World Religions Paradigm to the Design of Teaching Programmes in the Study of Religions."  Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 29, no.4:443-458

Barnes, Philip L. 2000. “Ninian Smart and the Phenomenological Approach to Religious Education.”   Religion   30, no.4: 315-332.

Boyer, Ernst. 1992.  “Teaching Religion in the Public Schools and Elsewhere.”   Journal of the American Academy of Religion  60, no.3 :515-524.

Fraser, James W.   1999.   Between Church and State: Religion and Public Education in a Multicultural America . New York : St. Martin’s Press.

Gearon, Liam. 2013.  "The King James Bible and the Politics of Religious Education: The Secular State and Sacred Scripture."   Religious Education   108, no. 1 (Jan-Feb): 9-27.

Sweet, Lois. 1997.   God in the Classroom: the Controversial Issue of Religion in Canada's Schools . Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.

Thompson, Penny.  2003.  "Critical Confessionalism for Teaching Religion in Schools: A UK Case Study.”  Journal of Christian Education  46, no. 2: 5-16.

Note: Although it is important to familiarize yourself with both scholarly and non-scholarly discussions on a particular issue, your paper should use  secondary  material only from academic sources (e.g. peer-reviewed journals).

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Libraries & Cultural Resources

• 403.220.8895

Exegetical Papers: 1. Choose a Passage & Create a Thesis Statement

• Introduction & Overview
• 2. Historical, Cultural, and Literary Background
• 3. Perform Exegesis of Each Verse
• 4. Offer an Overall Interpretation
• 5. Provide an Application of the Passage
• 6. Finding Books
• 7. Finding Articles
• Turabian Citation Style
• ATLA Search & Video Tutorials
• Formatting Theses and Dissertations in Word 2010
• Quick Links & Databases
• Web Resources
• Online Reference Sources
• Scholarly vs. Non-scholarly Materials
• Avoid Plagiarism

What is your favorite passage in Luke's Gospel?

Jeremiah by Holly Hayes is licensed under a Creative Commons License .

Luke 4:16-21

• Online Concordance
• Online Bible Concordance Site: Biblegateway.com

WWW Button by Stuart Miles is licensed under a Standard License .

Concordances

A Bible concordance is a verbal index to the Bible. A simple form lists Biblical words alphabetically, with indications to enable the inquirer to find the passages of the Bible where the words occur.

Bible Concordances

Commentaries

I n-depth commentaries that treat a Book of the Bible chapter by chapter, are ideal for research. The only problem: there are so many commentaries! Here are some excellent ones.

• More Good Commentaries

These commentaries are in the RWWL library circulating collections.

• Abingdon New Testament Commentaries
• Calvin's Commentary
• Feminist Companion to the Bible
• Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching
• New Te stament Commentary 
• The New International Commentary on the New Testament
• The New International Commentary on the Old Testament

What's on this page?

• Choosing a Passage
• Creating a Thesis Statement
• Definition of Concordance

One Volume Commentaries

• Bible Concordances - Print
• Recommended Commentaries
• Gospel Parallels

Choose a Passage for Your Exegesis Paper

If your professor has assigned you a specific passage for your paper, you can skip the rest of this page. Otherwise, you need to choose a passage:

• From an appropriate place in an acceptable version of the Bible
• Of reasonable size
• With identifiable boundaries

Your passage would naturally come from the section of the Bible that your class covers. This guide will assume that your class includes the Gospel of Luke and you have decided to choose a passage from there. You can choose a passage you like, or that features a concept in which you are interested.

Suppose you are interested in studying the story of Jesus' Transfiguration. That is in Luke 9:28-36. So you could write your paper on that passage. Alternatively, you could write on a passage that contains a theme you want to study. Suppose you want to learn about Jesus' attitudes towards money, but you do not know where in Luke's Gospel to look for a passage about money. You can solve this by using a concordance.

A concordance is a tool that lets you look up a word, and see that word in its context in every place it occurs in the Bible. Since English versions of the Bible differ sometimes in how they translate words, you need to pick a concordance that matches your Bible version. (This assumes you are not working directly from Hebrew or Greek, which have their own concordances.) So, if you use the New Revised Standard Version , you could use  Concise Concordance to the New Revised Standard Version  (Call Number BS425 C655 1993 ).

Next, you need to determine if the passage is of reasonable size. Suppose you have to write a paper that is ten to twelve pages long. That would be about the right size for a passage that is around eight to fifteen verses long, depending upon the genre of the passage. An argument from Romans would probably take more space to interpret than a story in 1 Samuel, though this may not always be true. If you choose a passage that is too short, your paper will probably be too short, e.g., writing on John 3:16 would be a fairly short paper. On the other hand, Luke 1:1-80 is far too long. You could spend thirty pages on that and not be done. It depends in part upon the complexity of the passage. For this LibGuide, let's choose a simple narrative passage: Luke 1:26-38, the announcement to Mary of the coming birth to her of Jesus while she is a virgin.

In order to decide the number of verses to choose, you need to validate that you are doing a complete passage, not starting or stopping in the middle of a narrative or argument. In the case of Luke 1:26-38, you can tell that v. 26 is an appropriate beginning for this short narrative (called a pericope in biblical studies) because v. 26 provides a statement that indicates a new event is happening at a point later in time than 1:5-25. In Luke 1:26 it is stated that the angel Gabriel, six months after promising Zechariah that John would be born, was sent to Nazareth in Galilee by God. At the beginning of Luke 1:39, we again read about a transition to a new location, as Mary leaves to go visit her cousin Elizabeth. That makes Luke 1:38 the end of the announcement to Mary by Gabriel. This is fifteen verses, which is about the most you should consider doing for a typical exegesis paper. Shifts in time ("and it came to pass"), shifts in location ("went up to Jerusalem"), and shifts in topic ("There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in the Messiah Jesus") all indicate the beginning of a new narrative pericope or a new topic. Look for those as you seek the beginning and end of your passage.

You could verify the boundaries of your passage by finding a Bible that divides the text into paragraphs and seeing how it divides this passage. You should plan, however, to describe why you have chosen a particular set of verses and not more or less. The paragraphs are only the view of one modern editorial team, not part of the Bible itself. The chapters and verses in modern Bibles were put in many centuries after all the books of the Bible were written.

Go to the next tab above to learn how to examine the Historical, Cultural, and Literary Background of your passage.

Create a Thesis Statement

"Defining the Thesis Statement

What is a thesis statement?

Every paper you write should have a main point, a main idea, or central message. The argument(s) you make in your paper should reflect this main idea. The sentence that captures your position on this main idea is what we call a thesis statement.

How long does it need to be?

A thesis statement focuses your ideas into one or two sentences. It should present the topic of your paper and also make a comment about your position in relation to the topic. Your thesis statement should tell your reader what the paper is about and also help guide your writing and keep your argument focused.

Questions to Ask When Formulating Your Thesis

Where is your thesis statement?

You should provide a thesis early in your essay -- in the introduction, or in longer essays in the second paragraph -- in order to establish your position and give your reader a sense of direction.

Tip : In order to write a successful thesis statement:

• Avoid burying a great thesis statement in the middle of a paragraph or late in the paper.
• Be as clear and as specific as possible; avoid vague words.
• Indicate the point of your paper but avoid sentence structures like, “The point of my paper is…”

Is your thesis statement specific?

Your thesis statement should be as clear and specific as possible. Normally you will continue to refine your thesis as you revise your argument(s), so your thesis will evolve and gain definition as you obtain a better sense of where your argument is taking you.

Tip : Check your thesis:

• Are there two large statements connected loosely by a coordinating conjunction (i.e. "and," "but," "or," "for," "nor," "so," "yet")?
• Would a subordinating conjunction help (i.e. "through," "although," "because," "since") to signal a relationship between the two sentences?
• Or do the two statements imply a fuzzy unfocused thesis?
• If so, settle on one single focus and then proceed with further development.

Is your thesis statement too general?

Your thesis should be limited to what can be accomplished in the specified number of pages. Shape your topic so that you can get straight to the "meat" of it. Being specific in your paper will be much more successful than writing about general things that do not say much. Don't settle for three pages of just skimming the surface.

The opposite of a focused, narrow, crisp thesis is a broad, sprawling, superficial thesis. Compare this original thesis (too general) with three possible revisions (more focused, each presenting a different approach to the same topic):

• There are serious objections to today's horror movies.
• Because modern cinematic techniques have allowed filmmakers to get more graphic, horror flicks have desensitized young American viewers to violence.
• The pornographic violence in "bloodbath" slasher movies degrades both men and women.
• Today's slasher movies fail to deliver the emotional catharsis that 1930s horror films did.

Is your thesis statement clear?

Your thesis statement is no exception to your writing: it needs to be as clear as possible. By being as clear as possible in your thesis statement, you will make sure that your reader understands exactly what you mean.

Tip : In order to be as clear as possible in your writing:

• Unless you're writing a technical report, avoid technical language. Always avoid jargon, unless you are confident your audience will be familiar with it.
• Avoid vague words such as "interesting,” "negative," "exciting,” "unusual," and "difficult."
• Avoid abstract words such as "society," “values,” or “culture.”

These words tell the reader next to nothing if you do not carefully explain what you mean by them. Never assume that the meaning of a sentence is obvious. Check to see if you need to define your terms (”socialism," "conventional," "commercialism," "society"), and then decide on the most appropriate place to do so. Do not assume, for example, that you have the same understanding of what “society” means as your reader. To avoid misunderstandings, be as specific as possible.

Compare the original thesis (not specific and clear enough) with the revised version (much more specific and clear):

• Original thesis : Although the timber wolf is a timid and gentle animal, it is being systematically exterminated. [if it's so timid and gentle -- why is it being exterminated?]
• Revised thesis : Although the timber wolf is actually a timid and gentle animal, it is being systematically exterminated because people wrongfully believe it to be a fierce and cold-blooded killer.

Does your thesis include a comment about your position on the issue at hand?

The thesis statement should do more than merely announce the topic; it must reveal what position you will take in relation to that topic, how you plan to analyze/evaluate the subject or the issue. In short, instead of merely stating a general fact or resorting to a simplistic pro/con statement, you must decide what it is you have to say.

• Original thesis : In this paper, I will discuss the relationship between fairy tales and early childhood.
• Revised thesis : Not just empty stories for kids, fairy tales shed light on the psychology of young children.
• Original thesis : We must save the whales.
• Revised thesis : Because our planet's health may depend upon biological diversity, we should save the whales.
• Original thesis : Socialism is the best form of government for Kenya.
• Revised thesis : If the government takes over industry in Kenya, the industry will become more efficient.
• Original thesis : Hoover's administration was rocked by scandal.
• Revised thesis : The many scandals of Hoover's administration revealed basic problems with the Republican Party's nominating process.

Do not expect to come up with a fully formulated thesis statement before you have finished writing the paper. The thesis will inevitably change as you revise and develop your ideas—and that is ok! Start with a tentative thesis and revise as your paper develops.

Is your thesis statement original?

Avoid, avoid, avoid generic arguments and formula statements. They work well to get a rough draft started, but will easily bore a reader. Keep revising until the thesis reflects your real ideas.

Tip : The point you make in the paper should matter:

• Be prepared to answer “So what?” about your thesis statement.
• Be prepared to explain why the point you are making is worthy of a paper. Why should the reader read it?

Compare the following:

• There are advantages and disadvantages to using statistics. (a fill-in-the-blank formula)
• Careful manipulation of data allows a researcher to use statistics to support any claim she desires.
• In order to ensure accurate reporting, journalists must understand the real significance of the statistics they report.
• Because advertisers consciously and unconsciously manipulate data, every consumer should learn how to evaluate statistical claims.

Avoid formula and generic words. Search for concrete subjects and active verbs, revising as many "to be" verbs as possible. A few suggestions below show how specific word choice sharpens and clarifies your meaning.

• Original : “Society is...” [who is this "society" and what exactly is it doing?]
• Revised : "Men and women will learn how to...," "writers can generate...," "television addicts may chip away at...," "American educators must decide...," "taxpayers and legislators alike can help fix..."
• Original : "the media"
• Revised : "the new breed of television reporters," "advertisers," "hard-hitting print journalists," "horror flicks," "TV movies of the week," "sitcoms," "national public radio," "Top 40 bop-til-you-drop..."
• Original : "is, are, was, to be" or "to do, to make"
• Revised : any great action verb you can concoct: "to generate," "to demolish," "to batter," "to revolt," "to discover," "to flip," "to signify," "to endure..."

Use your own words in thesis statements; avoid quoting. Crafting an original, insightful, and memorable thesis makes a distinct impression on a reader. You will lose credibility as a writer if you become only a mouthpiece or a copyist; you will gain credibility by grabbing the reader with your own ideas and words.

A well-crafted thesis statement reflects well-crafted ideas. It signals a writer who has intelligence, commitment, and enthusiasm."

From the Center For Writing Studies

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

There are large numbers of "free standing" commentaries not part of a series. 

• Check the catalog (search for  commentaries  and the  name  of the Book)
• Browse the shelves (BS call numbers)

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Thesis Statements

What this handout is about.

This handout describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your writing, and how you can craft or refine one for your draft.

Introduction

Writing in college often takes the form of persuasion—convincing others that you have an interesting, logical point of view on the subject you are studying. Persuasion is a skill you practice regularly in your daily life. You persuade your roommate to clean up, your parents to let you borrow the car, your friend to vote for your favorite candidate or policy. In college, course assignments often ask you to make a persuasive case in writing. You are asked to convince your reader of your point of view. This form of persuasion, often called academic argument, follows a predictable pattern in writing. After a brief introduction of your topic, you state your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you’ll make in the rest of your paper.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement:

• tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
• is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
• directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
• makes a claim that others might dispute.
• is usually a single sentence near the beginning of your paper (most often, at the end of the first paragraph) that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

If your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you may need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. The assignment may not explicitly state that you need a thesis statement because your instructor may assume you will include one. When in doubt, ask your instructor if the assignment requires a thesis statement. When an assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively. (Check out our handout on understanding assignments for more information.)

How do I create a thesis?

A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment. Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence, look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the significance of these relationships. Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a “working thesis” that presents a basic or main idea and an argument that you think you can support with evidence. Both the argument and your thesis are likely to need adjustment along the way.

Writers use all kinds of techniques to stimulate their thinking and to help them clarify relationships or comprehend the broader significance of a topic and arrive at a thesis statement. For more ideas on how to get started, see our handout on brainstorming .

How do I know if my thesis is strong?

If there’s time, run it by your instructor or make an appointment at the Writing Center to get some feedback. Even if you do not have time to get advice elsewhere, you can do some thesis evaluation of your own. When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following :

• Do I answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the question. If the prompt isn’t phrased as a question, try to rephrase it. For example, “Discuss the effect of X on Y” can be rephrased as “What is the effect of X on Y?”
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? If your thesis simply states facts that no one would, or even could, disagree with, it’s possible that you are simply providing a summary, rather than making an argument.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? Thesis statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains words like “good” or “successful,” see if you could be more specific: why is something “good”; what specifically makes something “successful”?
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? If a reader’s first response is likely to  be “So what?” then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger issue.
• Does my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. It’s okay to change your working thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? If a reader’s first response is “how?” or “why?” your thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. See what you can add to give the reader a better take on your position right from the beginning.

Suppose you are taking a course on contemporary communication, and the instructor hands out the following essay assignment: “Discuss the impact of social media on public awareness.” Looking back at your notes, you might start with this working thesis:

Social media impacts public awareness in both positive and negative ways.

You can use the questions above to help you revise this general statement into a stronger thesis.

• Do I answer the question? You can analyze this if you rephrase “discuss the impact” as “what is the impact?” This way, you can see that you’ve answered the question only very generally with the vague “positive and negative ways.”
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not likely. Only people who maintain that social media has a solely positive or solely negative impact could disagree.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? No. What are the positive effects? What are the negative effects?
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? No. Why are they positive? How are they positive? What are their causes? Why are they negative? How are they negative? What are their causes?
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? No. Why should anyone care about the positive and/or negative impact of social media?

After thinking about your answers to these questions, you decide to focus on the one impact you feel strongly about and have strong evidence for:

Because not every voice on social media is reliable, people have become much more critical consumers of information, and thus, more informed voters.

This version is a much stronger thesis! It answers the question, takes a specific position that others can challenge, and it gives a sense of why it matters.

Let’s try another. Suppose your literature professor hands out the following assignment in a class on the American novel: Write an analysis of some aspect of Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn. “This will be easy,” you think. “I loved Huckleberry Finn!” You grab a pad of paper and write:

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.

You begin to analyze your thesis:

• Do I answer the question? No. The prompt asks you to analyze some aspect of the novel. Your working thesis is a statement of general appreciation for the entire novel.

Think about aspects of the novel that are important to its structure or meaning—for example, the role of storytelling, the contrasting scenes between the shore and the river, or the relationships between adults and children. Now you write:

In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.

• Do I answer the question? Yes!
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not really. This contrast is well-known and accepted.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? It’s getting there–you have highlighted an important aspect of the novel for investigation. However, it’s still not clear what your analysis will reveal.
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? Not yet. Compare scenes from the book and see what you discover. Free write, make lists, jot down Huck’s actions and reactions and anything else that seems interesting.
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? What’s the point of this contrast? What does it signify?”

After examining the evidence and considering your own insights, you write:

Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave “civilized” society and go back to nature.

This final thesis statement presents an interpretation of a literary work based on an analysis of its content. Of course, for the essay itself to be successful, you must now present evidence from the novel that will convince the reader of your interpretation.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers , 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Lunsford, Andrea A. 2015. The St. Martin’s Handbook , 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Ramage, John D., John C. Bean, and June Johnson. 2018. The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing , 8th ed. New York: Pearson.

Ruszkiewicz, John J., Christy Friend, Daniel Seward, and Maxine Hairston. 2010. The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers , 9th ed. Boston: Pearson Education.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Thesis Statements

What is a thesis statement.

Your thesis statement is one of the most important parts of your paper.  It expresses your main argument succinctly and explains why your argument is historically significant.  Think of your thesis as a promise you make to your reader about what your paper will argue.  Then, spend the rest of your paper–each body paragraph–fulfilling that promise.

Your thesis should be between one and three sentences long and is placed at the end of your introduction.  Just because the thesis comes towards the beginning of your paper does not mean you can write it first and then forget about it.  View your thesis as a work in progress while you write your paper.  Once you are satisfied with the overall argument your paper makes, go back to your thesis and see if it captures what you have argued.  If it does not, then revise it.  Crafting a good thesis is one of the most challenging parts of the writing process, so do not expect to perfect it on the first few tries.  Successful writers revise their thesis statements again and again.

A successful thesis statement:

• makes an historical argument
• takes a position that requires defending
• is historically specific
• is focused and precise
• answers the question, “so what?”

How to write a thesis statement:

Suppose you are taking an early American history class and your professor has distributed the following essay prompt:

“Historians have debated the American Revolution’s effect on women.  Some argue that the Revolution had a positive effect because it increased women’s authority in the family.  Others argue that it had a negative effect because it excluded women from politics.  Still others argue that the Revolution changed very little for women, as they remained ensconced in the home.  Write a paper in which you pose your own answer to the question of whether the American Revolution had a positive, negative, or limited effect on women.”

Using this prompt, we will look at both weak and strong thesis statements to see how successful thesis statements work.

While this thesis does take a position, it is problematic because it simply restates the prompt.  It needs to be more specific about how  the Revolution had a limited effect on women and  why it mattered that women remained in the home.

Revised Thesis:  The Revolution wrought little political change in the lives of women because they did not gain the right to vote or run for office.  Instead, women remained firmly in the home, just as they had before the war, making their day-to-day lives look much the same.

This revision is an improvement over the first attempt because it states what standards the writer is using to measure change (the right to vote and run for office) and it shows why women remaining in the home serves as evidence of limited change (because their day-to-day lives looked the same before and after the war).  However, it still relies too heavily on the information given in the prompt, simply saying that women remained in the home.  It needs to make an argument about some element of the war’s limited effect on women.  This thesis requires further revision.

Strong Thesis: While the Revolution presented women unprecedented opportunities to participate in protest movements and manage their family’s farms and businesses, it ultimately did not offer lasting political change, excluding women from the right to vote and serve in office.

Few would argue with the idea that war brings upheaval.  Your thesis needs to be debatable:  it needs to make a claim against which someone could argue.  Your job throughout the paper is to provide evidence in support of your own case.  Here is a revised version:

Strong Thesis: The Revolution caused particular upheaval in the lives of women.  With men away at war, women took on full responsibility for running households, farms, and businesses.  As a result of their increased involvement during the war, many women were reluctant to give up their new-found responsibilities after the fighting ended.

Sexism is a vague word that can mean different things in different times and places.  In order to answer the question and make a compelling argument, this thesis needs to explain exactly what  attitudes toward women were in early America, and  how those attitudes negatively affected women in the Revolutionary period.

Strong Thesis: The Revolution had a negative impact on women because of the belief that women lacked the rational faculties of men. In a nation that was to be guided by reasonable republican citizens, women were imagined to have no place in politics and were thus firmly relegated to the home.

This thesis addresses too large of a topic for an undergraduate paper.  The terms “social,” “political,” and “economic” are too broad and vague for the writer to analyze them thoroughly in a limited number of pages.  The thesis might focus on one of those concepts, or it might narrow the emphasis to some specific features of social, political, and economic change.

Strong Thesis: The Revolution paved the way for important political changes for women.  As “Republican Mothers,” women contributed to the polity by raising future citizens and nurturing virtuous husbands.  Consequently, women played a far more important role in the new nation’s politics than they had under British rule.

This thesis is off to a strong start, but it needs to go one step further by telling the reader why changes in these three areas mattered.  How did the lives of women improve because of developments in education, law, and economics?  What were women able to do with these advantages?  Obviously the rest of the paper will answer these questions, but the thesis statement needs to give some indication of why these particular changes mattered.

Strong Thesis: The Revolution had a positive impact on women because it ushered in improvements in female education, legal standing, and economic opportunity.  Progress in these three areas gave women the tools they needed to carve out lives beyond the home, laying the foundation for the cohesive feminist movement that would emerge in the mid-nineteenth century.

Thesis Checklist

When revising your thesis, check it against the following guidelines:

• Does my thesis make an historical argument?
• Does my thesis take a position that requires defending?
• Is my thesis historically specific?
• Is my thesis focused and precise?
• Does my thesis answer the question, “so what?”

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An thesis examples on religion and theology statement is a prosaic composition of a small volume and free composition, expressing individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or issue and obviously not claiming a definitive or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.

Some signs of religion and theology statement thesis:

• the presence of a specific topic or question. A work devoted to the analysis of a wide range of problems in biology, by definition, cannot be performed in the genre of religion and theology statement thesis topic.
• The thesis expresses individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or issue, in this case, on religion and theology statement and does not knowingly pretend to a definitive or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.
• As a rule, an essay suggests a new, subjectively colored word about something, such a work may have a philosophical, historical, biographical, journalistic, literary, critical, popular scientific or purely fiction character.
• in the content of an thesis samples on religion and theology statement, first of all, the author’s personality is assessed - his worldview, thoughts and feelings.

The goal of an thesis in religion and theology statement is to develop such skills as independent creative thinking and writing out your own thoughts.

Writing an thesis is extremely useful, because it allows the author to learn to clearly and correctly formulate thoughts, structure information, use basic concepts, highlight causal relationships, illustrate experience with relevant examples, and substantiate his conclusions.

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Finding objective ways to talk about religion in the classroom is tough − but the cost of not doing so is clear

Joseph Panzer Chair in Education and Research Professor of Law, University of Dayton

Disclosure statement

Charles J. Russo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Dayton provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.

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Religious strife is common in many places. While the United States has a great deal of litigation and controversy over religion’s place in public life, it has largely avoided violence. Yet our society often seems unprepared to talk constructively about this contentious topic, especially in schools.

According to the IDEALS survey of college students on 122 U.S. campuses, conducted by researchers at North Carolina State University, Ohio State University and the nonprofit Interfaith America, just 32% of students said they had developed the skills “to interact with people of diverse beliefs.” Although almost three-quarters of students spent time learning about people of different races, ethnicities or countries, less than half of them reported learning about various religions. Most students received “C” grades or below on the survey’s religious literacy quiz.

Objective education about the world’s religions has the potential to foster tolerance and understanding , and various research groups provide guidelines for religious literacy education . Yet the study of religion may be hindered by hesitation about what is and isn’t legal in public classrooms – a topic I write about often as a professor of law and education , with a particular interest in these fields’ relationships to religion.

Other countries also face challenges in deciding what kind of religion-related instruction can or can’t be legally taught in public schools, and each deals with the question in different ways.

US legal landscape

Though there have been many Supreme Court cases over issues of church and state in public schools, most deal with the First Amendment freedoms of students, staff and parents rather than what’s officially taught in class.

There has been relatively little litigation about what teachers can and can’t instruct students in matters that touch on religion. Two of the exceptions involved lessons about evolution: one decided in 1968 , the other in 1987 . In both cases, the Supreme Court upheld educators’ right to teach evolution, rather than the biblical accounts of creation, to explain human origins.

Federal trial courts in Mississippi and Florida banned courses in the 1990s that included instruction about the New Testament, ruling that the way they were taught crossed a line and violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution. However, this was because the courts determined instruction was being given from a Christian perspective. The court in Florida did allow teaching about the Hebrew scriptures, because the focus was on the texts’ cultural and literary significance.

In the Supreme Court’s closest response to the question of teaching about religion in public schools, 1963’s School District of Abington Township v. Schempp , eight of the nine justices agreed that state-sponsored prayer and Bible reading in public schools violates the establishment clause. Yet the court recognized that “ the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment.”

The court’s decision “plainly does not foreclose teaching about the Holy Scriptures or about the differences between religious sects in classes in literature or history,” Justice William Brennan added in a concurrence . Thus, consistent with religious literacy programs’ approach, public schools can teach about religion, but not in ways that seek to instill systems of belief.

International perspectives

To place the issue in perspective, it is worth highlighting other countries’ approaches to teaching about religion in the classroom – the focus of a book I recently edited .

At one end of the 18 countries examined in the book , educators in Mexico impose significant restrictions on what can be taught about faith-based beliefs. According to the Mexican Constitution , “State education shall be maintained entirely apart from any religious doctrine.” However, it does allow religious institutions to provide faith-based education through the private schools they sponsor.

Most nations the book analyzes are more open to teaching about religion in public schools as long as instruction remains objective and does not indoctrinate students. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa and Sweden all adopt this approach in varying degrees.

For example, according to the Brazilian Constitution , optional religious education should be offered during the day for elementary students. The country’s National Education Act describes this as a way of “ensuring respect for Brazil’s religious cultural diversity, and any form of proselytism is prohibited.”

Australia allows nondenominational classes about religion to help students understand the “influence of religion in life and society and the variety of beliefs by which people live.” In addition, it permits faith-based student clubs, as well as religious seminars that amount to no more than one half day per term. Parents can ask that their children be excused, or students may participate in ethics courses instead.

At the other end, England, Malaysia and Turkey mandate teaching about religion in public schools, though British parents may exempt their children. England’s Department for Children, Schools and Families strongly encourages that instruction include multiple religious perspectives, while classes in the other two countries are allowed to be more from faith-based perspectives.

Malaysia, which declares Islam the official religion , mandates faith-based instruction on Islam for Muslim students. Non-Muslims must attend moral studies classes. Turkey, meanwhile, requires religious culture and moral knowledge courses for grades 4-12 that focus on Islam. Parents who belong to other religions have the right to exempt their children from these classes.

What happens in public schools in the U.S. today will significantly shape tomorrow’s society. I believe encouraging teaching about religion can help America’s rapidly diversifying population to understand and respect others’ beliefs or lack thereof. Discussing religions in an inclusive, objective and academic way can certainly be challenging in a classroom, as there is a fine line between teaching about it and proselytizing – but not doing so has risks as well.

• US Supreme Court
• Public schools
• First Amendment
• K-12 education
• Education law
• Church and state
• Religious tolerance
• Religion and society
• Religion and education

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