What Is a Moral Thesis Statement?
CHIKA NWAKA
CLASS
Thesis statements are one of the most difficult aspects of academic writing to master. Yet, without a good thesis, your paper may lack focus, have more than one central claim, or be judged as poorly written by your instructor. Your task may be even more daunting if you have been asked to write a moral thesis. Put simply, a moral thesis is a statement that tells the reader your stance on a moral issue.
1 Formulated on a Moral Issue
A moral thesis statement must be a thesis statement that relates to a moral issue. Moral issues are issues that involve societal moral codes and may focus on issues such as drunk driving, legal fines and penalties, teen pregnancies, smoking in public places or childhood obesity. If you have not been given topics to choose from for your paper, clear your choice with your instructor before you begin writing.
2 Is Declarative
A moral thesis statement is often a declarative sentence. It is a sentence that states what ought to happen or what ought to be treated as a moral standard. It is not interrogative (asking a question and ending with a question mark), exclamatory (showing strong feeling and ending with an exclamation mark) or imperative (giving a command).
3 Likely Contains Moral Terms
A moral thesis statement likely contains moral terms such as "should," "obligation," "ought," "morally permissible," "right" and "appropriate." A moral thesis does not have to be comprised of this language but should be able to if it were to be rewritten.
4 Is Not Religious
A moral thesis statement should not have religious undertones even if various religions may share the same beliefs or organizing principles. This means that your reason for making the statement should be based on standards that everyone in society can aspire to whether they are religious or not.
5 Can Be Qualified
As with other kinds of thesis statements, you can qualify a moral thesis statement so that you are not making a claim that is impossible to defend. For instance, instead of formulating a moral thesis on the entire human race or the entire nation, you could restrict your thesis to people possessing certain characteristics.
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