63a. Supporting a thesis
Most research assignments ask you to form a thesis, or main idea, and to support that thesis with well-organized evidence. (See also 1c.)
Forming a working thesis
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR HANDBOOK
It’s helpful to start off with a working thesis and a rough outline—especially when writing from sources.
Draft a working thesis: 1c
Sketch a plan: 1d
Once you have read a variety of sources, considered your issue from different perspectives, and chosen an entry point in the research conversation (see 50b), you are ready to form a working thesis: a one-sentence (or occasionally a two-sentence) statement of your central idea. (See also 1c.) Because it is a working, or tentative, thesis, you can remain flexible and revise it as your ideas develop. Ultimately, the thesis will express not just your opinion but your informed, reasoned answer to your research question (see 50b). Here, for example, are student writer Ned Bishop’s research question and working thesis statement.
research question
To what extent was Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest responsible for the massacre of Union troops at Fort Pillow?
working thesis
By encouraging racism among his troops, Nathan Bedford Forrest was directly responsible for the massacre of Union troops at Fort Pillow.
Notice that the thesis expresses a view on a debatable issue—an issue about which intelligent, well-meaning people might disagree. The writer’s job is to convince such readers that this view is worth taking seriously.
The thesis usually appears at the end of the introductory paragraph. To read Ned Bishop’s thesis in the context of his introduction, see page 1 of his paper.
Organizing your ideas
The body of your paper will consist of evidence in support of your thesis. It will be useful to sketch an informal plan that helps you begin to organize your ideas. Ned Bishop, for example, used a simple outline to structure his ideas. In the paper, the points in the outline became headings that helped readers follow his line of argument.
What happened at Fort Pillow?
Did Forrest order the massacre?
Can Forrest be held responsible for the massacre?
Using sources to inform and support your argument
Used thoughtfully, the source materials you have gathered will make your argument more complex and convincing for readers. Sources can play several different roles as you develop your points.
Providing background information or context You can use facts and statistics to support generalizations or to establish the importance of your topic, as student writer Ned Bishop does early in his paper.
Fort Pillow, Tennessee, which sat on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, had been held by the Union for two years. It was garrisoned by 580 men, 292 of them from United States Colored Heavy and Light Artillery regiments, 285 from the white Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry. Nathan Bedford Forrest commanded about 1,500 troops.1
Explaining terms or concepts If readers are unlikely to be familiar with a word or an idea important to your topic, you must explain it for them. Quoting or paraphrasing a source can help you define terms and concepts clearly and concisely.
The Civil War practice of giving no quarter to an enemy—in other words, “denying [an enemy] the right of survival”—defied Lincoln’s mandate for humane and merciful treatment of prisoners.9
Supporting your claims As you draft, make sure to back up your assertions with facts, examples, and other evidence from your research. (See also 6h.) Ned Bishop, for example, uses an eyewitness report of the racially motivated violence perpetrated by Nathan Bedford Forrest’s troops.
The slaughter at Fort Pillow was no doubt driven in large part by racial hatred. . . . A Southern reporter traveling with Forrest makes clear that the discrimination was deliberate: “Our troops maddened by the excitement, shot down the ret[r]eating Yankees, and not until they had attained t[h]e water’s edge and turned to beg for mercy, did any prisoners fall in[t]o our hands—Thus the whites received quarter, but the negroes were shown no mercy.”19
Lending authority to your argument Expert opinion can give weight to your argument. (See also 6h.) But don’t rely on experts to make your argument for you. Construct your argument in your own words and, when appropriate, cite the judgment of an authority in the field to support your position.
Fort Pillow is not the only instance of a massacre or threatened massacre of black soldiers by troops under Forrest’s command. Biographer Brian Steel Wills points out that at Brice’s Cross Roads in June 1864, “black soldiers suffered inordinately” as Forrest looked the other way and Confederate soldiers deliberately sought out those they termed “the damned negroes.”21
Anticipating and countering alternative interpretations Do not ignore sources that seem contrary to your position or that offer arguments different from your own. Instead, use them to give voice to opposing points of view and alternative interpretations before you counter them (see 6i). Readers often have opposing points of view in mind already, whether or not they agree with you. Ned Bishop, for example, presents conflicting evidence from a biography by Jack Hurst and then counters Hurst’s objection to attempt to persuade readers that Forrest can be held accountable for the massacre.
Hurst suggests that the temperamental Forrest “may have ragingly ordered a massacre and even intended to carry it out—until he rode inside the fort and viewed the horrifying result” and ordered it stopped.15 While this is an intriguing interpretation of events, even Hurst would probably admit that it is merely speculation.
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- Researched writing > Exercises: Chicago papers: 63–1 and 63–2