Civil Disobedience Group

Question:

angel56
angel56
Student
High School - 12th Grade

What is the thesis statement of the essay "Civil Disobedience"?

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Posted by angel56 on Tuesday February 10, 2009 at 1:58 PM and tagged with authors intent, civil disobedience, thesis statment, topic.

Answers:

  1. mercuria17
    mercuria17 Teacher
    Middle School

    I'm not sure to which essay you are referring, but the thesis statement is the sentence that sums up what your entire essay is about. You usually can find it at the end of the introduction and in the conclusion. For example, in an essay about the American Civil War, the thesis statement could be, "The main cause of the American civil war was the Union's non-recognition of the Southern states right to keep slaves."

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    Posted by mercuria17 on Tuesday February 10, 2009 at 3:57 PM


  2. linda-allen Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    A thesis statement is basically the topic of your paper, a statement of your opinion and what you intend to prove or discuss in the essay. Ordinarily, we're taught that the thesis statement should be the last sentence of the introduce. However, Thoreau did not follow this advice in his essay "Civil Disobedience." You might say that the very first sentence tells us what Thoreau believes and intends to write about. I think, though, that the next to last sentence in the introduction is his thesis:

    ...The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it....

    If I were grading Thoreau's essay, I might write in the margin that his last sentence should begin a new paragraph.

    See the postings in the Essay Lab group for more help with writing a thesis statement.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/essay-lab/group

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    Posted by linda-allen on Thursday February 12, 2009 at 1:50 PM