 You may have heard your teacher referring to thesis statements. The might have said, what's your thesis statement within your essay that you've submitted or make sure you include a thesis statement. And this term is a little bit elusive. What's a thesis? Why must you make a statement? So what I wanted to do within this video is to show you how to craft a thesis statement to explain to you literally what a thesis statement means, but equally to present you a framework that you can use for every single essay when it comes to thesis statements. So let's first begin by talking about what exactly is a thesis statement. Now, remember that a thesis statement is something very, very basic and it comes in your introduction. A thesis statement essentially sums up your main points within your essay. Now remember, when it comes to thesis statements, these apply to literature set text as opposed to language, okay? So when you're writing about a literature text, you basically begin by summing up your main points within your introduction. And then your thesis statement then comes in at the end of the introduction, where you basically sum up exactly what you're going to discuss. Now, one of the reasons why thesis statements are really important, especially within your essay where you're summing up from your introduction and from the outset of your essay, exactly what you're going to discuss is firstly because it means that your essay starts off really, really, really strong, okay? Now, remember, first impressions really count even with essays, okay? We think about first impressions when we meet people, but equally when your teacher or your examiner is reading your essay from the opening and from the introduction, if you show that you have a very strong grasp of exactly what you're going to talk about in relation to the question, that means that they already are on your side. You're already winning them over from the introduction because they can see, okay, this person has a really strong handle and a strong grasp of what they're talking about. However, the second reason why you want to use a thesis statement in your literature essay is it also makes your arguments quite clear because you're basically summing up your main points in a really concise introduction. This is what I'm going to talk about. This is the key themes and the context that I'm going to bring up within the body of the essay. And of course, to do this, you need to have planned a little bit in advance to know exactly what you're going to talk about, okay? So it makes your points quite clear both to your teacher and your examiner, but equally to yourself. Now, what I want to present to you is literally the perfect template you can use when writing any thesis statement, okay? So as I've mentioned, this is the template that I'd like to present to you to use in your thesis statement. And I'm going to show you how to apply this template when writing about a text called Macbeth for William Shakespeare. But to be honest, this template can be used for any text. So let's first have a look at this template, okay? So a thesis statement, you can write it in exactly this way. In name of the text, we're invited to see keywords from the question as throughout the text, include your perspective and ideas. Arguably, author's name's intention was to then you finish off with your view, context and theme. So I'm going to go over the framework one last time. In text, we're invited to see keywords as throughout the text, your perspective and ideas. Arguably, author's name's intention was to your view, context and or theme, okay? So that's basically the template when it comes to writing out your thesis statement. Now, as I mentioned, I'm going to give you an example taken from a question on Macbeth. But honestly, as long as you know the keywords within the question and the text that you're answering, you can literally apply this framework to any text. So let's have a look at this example that I've taken from Macbeth by Shakespeare. So the question asks, how does Shakespeare present Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's relationship? So of course, when I'm looking at this question, firstly, what I need to do is to firstly be clear on the keywords. What are the keywords? What is the central focus of this question? There are three keywords within this question. The first keyword is Macbeth. So I need to make sure I'm talking about Macbeth. The second keyword is Lady Macbeth. So of course, I'm equally need to make sure that I'm talking about Lady Macbeth. And the final keyword is their relationship. That's the third keyword, which will of course go in this part of my thesis statement. So as I mentioned, as you can see here, I have crafted a response applying this question and also applying this thesis statement framework to this particular question. OK, so I'm going to read you through it and then I'll break it down how I have included all these different elements from my thesis statement template. OK, so let's have a look. How does Shakespeare present Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's relationship? In Macbeth, we are invited to see Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's relationship evolve as throughout the text, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's relationship shifts from being intimate and trusting to distant and detached. That's the opening part of my thesis statement. Where am I? Arguably, Shakespeare's intention was to illustrate how corrupting their ambition was, given the both conspired to violate divine right of kings by committing regicide. Shakespeare wanted to use the breakdown of their relationship to reveal the corrupting effects of ambition, which wreaked havoc and chaos in their marriage, as well as Scotland. OK, so that's my thesis statement relating to my introduction. If I were to write about how Shakespeare presents the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in brief, what I've basically said in lots of words in terms of my main points is that Shakespeare uses their relationship to represent how terrible ambition is. The relationship goes from being really close to being distant because what this is illustrating is firstly contextually the violated divine right of kings and caused chaos, but their ambition theme caused them not only to cause chaos in Scotland, but equally this wreaked chaos in their own relationship. That's how it changed. OK, so let's quickly dissect how I've included the different bits in my thesis statement. So I've began by in Macbeth in this name of the text. We are invited to see. So now these are the keywords from my question. We're invited to see Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's relationship evolve. So I'm saying that it changes, it evolves, right? So that's my keywords. And throughout the text, next part, which is my perspective and ideas where I sum it up really quickly, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's relationship shifts from being intimate and trusting to distant and detached. That's my general and overall perspective and ideas. However, I'm still not done with my thesis statement because I still need to include these other elements. Arguably. Author's name, Shakespeare's intention was to illustrate. And now here I'm going to add my view and context and theme. And you're going to see that this is what takes up the bulk of your thesis statement. OK, so your view, your context and your theme point is now what's going to take up the latter half of your thesis statement, which is towards the end of your introduction. OK, so Shakespeare's intention was to illustrate how corrupting the ambition was, given the both conspired to violate divine right of kings, which is context. OK, the commitment of Regicide is divine right of kings by committing Regicide. Shakespeare wanted to use the breakdown of their relationship to reveal the corrupting effects of ambition. So now this is theme that I'm relating to, which wreaked havoc and chaos in the marriage, as well as Scotland. OK, so obviously this is a fairly wordy introduction. And of course, remember, your thesis statement does need to be a little bit wordy. However, it usually tends to come at the end of your introduction. So your opening introduction is where you generally broadly open up what you're going to discuss. However, it's more towards the end of the introduction. That's where you really delve into your viewpoints, your context and themes, meaning that you start off quite strong. And most importantly, you make your arguments quite clear within your answer from the opening of your essay to both yourself and also your teachers and examiners. So that's really it when it comes to thesis statement. I would like to suggest literally just use this framework and use it to apply to other essays as part of your approach to thesis statements. Thanks so much for listening.