Imagining Claims and Counterclaims

This chapter walks you through the process of drafting a possible thesis statement. It usually requires a few false starts before you get a sense that it is coming together. I offer some warnings about logical fallacies and other ways that a would-be thesis statement can misfire. There is a separate section dealing with claims about causation and contingency, which are particularly tricky territory. I also provide some advice about reappraising and re-evaluating. Until you have really explored the likely counterclaims and critiques, you don’t know your own thesis very well at all.