Thesis With Tension

While you will not be required to use a thesis with tension in the final draft of your paper, it is a good way of making your introduction more dynamic and interesting- remember, the element of surprise at your opinion will make your reader more interested in your position/paper. However, a thesis that is nothing more than a statement of your opinion is perfectly valid, so long as it is clear.

There is a benefit to working with a thesis with tension, even if you do not end up using it. Remember, a thesis with tension is subverting what is likely the most general assumption on the topic. By attempting to write a thesis with tension, you are considering what other opinions on the topic might be, and these are the opinions you will later need to disprove in your paper. So, a thesis with tension makes you consider alternative viewpoints, and reminds you of the opinions you need to prove incorrect. While you may not use it in your paper, it is still a useful exercise when starting to think about your topic and the outline and content of your paper.

Another way you can do this is to write a list of all the opinions you discover that people hold of your topic, mark the one you agree with, and mark the one that you see coming up most often that argues with you. This will also help you keep your focus.