To: Writing Center Staff
The Dismissal Thesis
What is the dismissal thesis?
This is a kind of thesis statement that allows the writer to “dismiss,” or choose to not develop in the essay’s body paragraphs, one aspect of the subject (or the relationship between two subjects) in order to privilege, or choose to fully develop, another aspect of the subject (or the relationship between two subjects) in the essay’s body paragraphs.
What is the purpose of a dismissal thesis?
Especially when there is limited space available, a dismissal thesis allows the writer to signal to her reader that she is fully aware of the larger scope of the subject or the relationship between two subjects, but she has decided to focus on one particular aspect of that subject or the relationship between two subjects in order to provide an in depth analysis.
What kind of essay does it set up?
Any kind of essay can benefit from a dismissal thesis since it helps limit or narrow the scope of the essay right out the gate; however, certain kinds of academic essays work extremely well with this kind of thesis. For example, in a Comparison or Contrast essay, the dismissal thesis may dismiss the comparisons between two items in order to allow the writer to fully explore the contrasts between those two items in the body paragraphs. A Cause or Effect essay also works well with this kind of thesis statement.
How is it constructed?
Words like despite, though, although, even though, however and but are used in the thesis itself to show that one part is dismissed; the thesis may be simple or very complex, depending on the level of the writing class and assignment. Take, for instance, the following examples for each of the respective writing levels:
51: Assignment—Comparison/Contrast
Poor thesis: Paris and New York have differences and similarities.
Better thesis: As international metropolises, Paris and New York have a lot in
common.
Dismissal Thesis: Despite the fact that Paris and New York are both international metropolises, Paris appeals more to younger people while New York appeals more to older people.
In the dismissal thesis above, the italicized part of the thesis (the comparison) is what is dismissed—therefore, it is not developed in the body of the essay; instead, in bold, we find the focus of the essay (the contrast). From this point forward, the reader will expect the writer only to develop ways in which Paris appeals to younger people and New York appeals to older people.
* * * * *
101: Assignment—Cause/Effect
Poor thesis: Hillary Clinton would make an effective president for many reasons.
Better thesis: Hillary Clinton has the right experience to make her an effective president.
Dismissal thesis: Despite her recent blunder involving Benghazi, Hillary Clinton’s experience as Secretary of State would make her an effective president.
In the dismissal thesis above, the writer has acknowledged that some aspect of Clinton’s political past may be problematic, but this is dismissed so that the body paragraphs may develop only positive examples of Clinton’s time in office. There is no expectation, based on the dismissal thesis, that the writer must provide information about Clinton’s role in the Libya debacle. For an essay like this, the writer may introduce the topic by writing about Benghazi itself, and Clinton’s role in it—but then smoothly move to dismiss her role in Benghazi in order to show in great detail (body) the effectiveness of Clinton in the role of Secretary of State.
* * * * *
301: Assignment—Formal elements in poetry—one poem
Poor thesis: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 uses many formal aspects of poetry in order to show that the speaker loves his lady.
Better thesis: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 uses diction and imagery in order to show that the speaker loves his lady.
Dismissal Thesis: Even though the speaker of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 loves his lady unconditionally, the diction and imagery employed suggest that Shakespeare wanted the Renaissance reader to consider the possibility of enduring commitment between people of different races.
Anyone can identify the ways in which Sonnet 130 professes unconditional love, so that part of the essay is unnecessary to develop; however, how intriguing is that second part? The dismissal thesis above tells the reader that the essay will use a focused analysis of diction and imagery in order to suggest something rather radical; from here, I would imagine that the conclusion of such an essay would either work to promote Shakespeare’s radicalism—or not—depending on how much you know about him as a person and a writer!
301: Assignment—Two Short Stories
Poor thesis: The main characters in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and Kate Chopin’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” both seem insane.
Better thesis: Faulkner’s Emily and Chopin’s Jane kill in order to surive.
Dismissal thesis: Although both Emily and Jane commit acts that empower themselves in their respective texts, Emily’s empowerment comes to her from the way she is perceived by others whereas Jane’s empowerment comes to her from the way she perceives herself.
In the dismissal thesis above, the writer clearly wants to posit the outside/inside contrast—the fact that both characters commit heinous acts is, well, just not important; but to an untrained or unfocused writer (or to one who does not start with a dismissal thesis like this one), it would be easy to spend too much body space developing the plot around the characters or the situation of the heinous acts in each story rather than get quickly and directly to the contrast at hand. In short, a dismissal thesis employed in this fashion helps the writer tell her reader that she knows some of the compelling, wider aspects of the story but she chooses to focus on something either less obvious or more specific—as a result, then, the scope of the essay (and the reader’s expectations of the scope of the essay) is automatically limited/narrowed by the dismissal thesis.
I hope this document helps you to understand better the dismissal thesis and its various uses at different stages in writing. Please feel free to email me anytime with questions or concerns—and try out a dismissal thesis when you have the next opportunity; it never disappoints!
-- Doc Cirrone