thesis definition in language arts

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Definition of thesis

Did you know.

In high school, college, or graduate school, students often have to write a thesis on a topic in their major field of study. In many fields, a final thesis is the biggest challenge involved in getting a master's degree, and the same is true for students studying for a Ph.D. (a Ph.D. thesis is often called a dissertation ). But a thesis may also be an idea; so in the course of the paper the student may put forth several theses (notice the plural form) and attempt to prove them.

Examples of thesis in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thesis.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

in sense 3, Middle English, lowering of the voice, from Late Latin & Greek; Late Latin, from Greek, downbeat, more important part of a foot, literally, act of laying down; in other senses, Latin, from Greek, literally, act of laying down, from tithenai to put, lay down — more at do

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3a(1)

Dictionary Entries Near thesis

the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children

thesis novel

Cite this Entry

“Thesis.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thesis. Accessed 21 May. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of thesis, more from merriam-webster on thesis.

Nglish: Translation of thesis for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of thesis for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about thesis

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Thesis Definition

A thesis is a statement in a non- fiction or a fiction work that a writer intends to support and prove. One can find examples of thesis statement at the beginning of literary pieces. These thesis statements are of utmost importance, as they provide clear indicators as to which direction the writer will follow in their work.

A thesis statement is carefully crafted by a writer, and is marked by vigilant selection of words that will never miss its target. Generally, such a statement shows up in the first paragraph, or what is called an introduction . Despite writers’ efforts to prove their thesis statements, not all of these statements can be verified for their exactness. Nevertheless, they do develop an argument .

Importance of a Thesis Statement

In writing an essay , a thesis statement determines the worth of the essay by its capacity to stay focused on its thesis statement. For instance, if a writer fails to clearly mention or define a solid thesis statement in his or her essay, it will be difficult for readers to track the issue the writer plans to discuss and explain. Suppose a writer wants to write an essay on how to make a perfect fruit salad, the quality of his or her writing will exceedingly improve if he or she lets the readers know the subject matter at the start of the essay, for example:

“In this essay, I will tell you how to make the perfect fruit salad. Not only will it be tasty, but also healthy for your body.”

Narrative Thesis

In a narrative essay, or narrative section of a piece of literature, a thesis statement is called a “narrative thesis.” A narrative thesis can be an apparent one or a hidden or implied one. In both cases, such a statement is a powerful, propelling force behind an entire work, that guides it toward its ultimate purpose and the lesson it intends to instruct.

Narrative Thesis Examples

Below is a list of a few narrative thesis examples – opening lines that determine the entire course of the narratives.

Example #1: Pride and Prejudice (By Jane Austen)

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

Example #2: One Hundred Years of Solitude (By Gabriel García Márquez)

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”

Example #3: Lolita (By Vladimir Nabokov)

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.”

Example #4: Anna Karenina (By Leo Tolstoy)

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Example #5: 1984 (By George Orwell)

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

Example #6: A Tale of Two Cities (By Charles Dickens)

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness , it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

Example #7: The Catcher in the Rye (By J. D. Salinger)

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

Example #8: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (By James Joyce)

“Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo.”

Function of Thesis

The above arguments clearly reveal the function of a thesis statements or a narrative thesis as a driving force behind a literary composition. It guides the narrative toward its ultimate purpose, which is the moral lesson it aims to inculcate.

Related posts:

• Thesis Statement

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Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources.  Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down.  There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction.  A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counterarguments.  Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible counterarguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence below.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question.  Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water.

A thesis is never a list.  "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational.  An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim.  "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible.  Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

Copyright 1999, Maxine Rodburg and The Tutors of the Writing Center at Harvard University

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Thesis Statements

A thesis statement establishes your purpose and point of view in argumentative or persuasive writing. It focuses the reader’s attention before the rest of the paper leads them step-by-step through the analysis and evidence. 

In a finished paper, a thesis statement sakes your opinion concisely, sometimes in a single sentence, usually within the first paragraph of the essay. But this clarity of argument takes time to develop and refine. 

Pushing an idea toward a thesis statement

Once you have made observations and considered their significance, look for similarities, common themes, and surprising contrasts. Explore some of your best, most intriguing ideas to get closer to a claim. Which ideas relate to one another? What do they add up to?

Here are two strategies for pushing your thinking toward an interesting and significant claim. The examples are about Lynda Benglis’s sculpture, Zita , part of her Sparkle Knot series.

Seems X, Really Y Look beyond the obvious and find larger implications. Apply the same format to each new statement until you reach a more interesting claim.

The Sparkle Knot shape seems to be free-flowing, but is actually static and limp.

The shape seems to be static and limp, but is actually constrained and in pain. 

The sculpture seems to demonstrate boundless possibilities, but it actually represents constraints. 

The sculpture seems to demonstrate the boundless possibilities of art, but it actually represents the constraints and stigmatization applied to women artists. 

So What? Challenge your ideas by asking yourself why they matter. This will help you move from simply stating your conclusions to asserting their impact and relevance. 

“The use of glitter in the Sparkle Knot sculpture is interesting because of all the social attachments to it: glitter is pretty, messy, ‘girly,’ a craft supply,party decor, and drag queen makeup.” 

“The glitter probably represents all these things at once, rather than adding one simple meaning to the piece.”

“The use of glitter, among other materials in the Sparkle Knot series, calls up the multiplicity of identities and possibilities for women artists.” 

Forming a Thesis Statement

Give yourself time to develop it. Thesis statements often grow and change as you research and write. When you get to your final statement, include:

the subject under discussion

your claim about it

the types of evidence or the logic you will use to prove it

how or why it matters

Strengthen your thesis statement by making it specific , arguable , narrow , defensible , original , and significant . See below for more details, including an example statement, a critique of it, and a revised statement for each quality.

Particular subject(s), details, types of evidence. 

What content can we expect from this writing? 

Ex: “This paper will address the characteristics of a responsible art museum.”

Which characteristics? Why are they being addressed, and how?

Revision: “Ethical procurement practices and community engagement instill trust in an art museum and improve its patronage.”

Your claim; open to disagreement; needs explanation, proof. 

What will I learn from you?

Ex: “Great Smoky Mountains is America’s most beautiful and most visited National Park.”

Is this only an opinion? Why does it matter that it’s the most visited?

Revision: “Great Smoky Mountins’ effective publicity, maintenance, and crowd management could improve other National Parks’ tourism while protecting their landscapes.”

Limited content; precise areas of concern (population, time period, . . . ).  

What can you accomplish in this piece?

Ex: “Art is essential to society.”

How can you cover this vast topic? What is at stake in this idea?  

Revision: “Federal government should increase art funding even in hard economic times.”

Defensible  

Within the means of your research and support materials.  

Do you have enough convincing evidence for all these claims?

Ex: “Life for humans, animals, and plant life would be better in a colony on Mars.”

How do you know? What evidence could you provide for this?  

Revision: “Human impact on Earth’s ecosystems has made survival difficult for all living species on the planet, making it our responsibility to counter climate change.”

A new idea; something distinct from all other claims on the topic. 

What new perspective or connections can you bring to the discussion?

Ex: “As Hannah Gadsby argues, Picaso’s misogyny cannot be overlooked in assessing his contributions to the art world.”

How is your argument different? What’s your fresh take?

Revision: “America’s obsession with celebrity makes it impossible to separate the art from even the most revered artist, leading to complication, but not cancellation.”

Significant  

Impacting discourse within the topic, the genre, the field, etc.

Why does your claim matter outside this paper? this class? academia? 

Ex: “Henry James’s Daisy Miller shows us that there really is no place like home.”

Anything more compelling to say? Something valuable to a broader context?

Revision: “In Daisy Miller , Daisy stands in both ignorance of and opposition to the European elite, who represent traditional rules of decorum.”

< Back to Quick Guides

Related Resources Academic Paper Overview Writing in the Disciplines Rhetoric Academic Essay Skills Checklist Pre-writing The Research Process

Center for Arts & Language / Ming-Yi Wong / Jennifer Cawley / Jennifer Liese, April 2023; sources: Purdue OWL, “Developing Strong Thesis Statements,” Daniela Sandler, “Evaluation Criteria,” Portland State University Writing Center video tutorials.

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An argument or proposition, which may be opposed by an antithesis; or a scholarly essay defending some proposition, usually a dissertation submitted for an academic degree. The thesis of a literary work is its abstract doctrinal content, that is, a proposition for which it argues. For ‘thesis novel’, see roman à thèse; for ‘thesis play’, see problem play.

From:   thesis   in  The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms »

Subjects: Linguistics

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[ thee -sis ]

He vigorously defended his thesis on the causes of war.

Synonyms: proposal , contention , theory

• a subject for a composition or essay.
• a dissertation on a particular subject in which one has done original research, as one presented by a candidate for a diploma or degree.
• Music. the downward stroke in conducting; downbeat. Compare arsis ( def 1 ) .
• a part of a metrical foot that does not bear the ictus or stress.
• (less commonly) the part of a metrical foot that bears the ictus. Compare arsis ( def 2 ) .
• Philosophy. Hegelian dialectic

/ ˈθiːsɪs /

• a dissertation resulting from original research, esp when submitted by a candidate for a degree or diploma
• a doctrine maintained or promoted in argument
• a subject for a discussion or essay
• an unproved statement, esp one put forward as a premise in an argument
• music the downbeat of a bar, as indicated in conducting
• (in classical prosody) the syllable or part of a metrical foot not receiving the ictus Compare arsis
• philosophy the first stage in the Hegelian dialectic, that is challenged by the antithesis
• The central idea in a piece of writing, sometimes contained in a topic sentence .

Discover More

Word history and origins.

Origin of thesis 1

Example Sentences

“The Saudis have been proving the thesis of the film — they do in fact have an army,” said Thor Halvorssen, founder and chief executive of the nonprofit Human Rights Foundation, which funded the movie.

It’s a hypothesis that Bush pursued in her master’s thesis, and last year she began attending virtual Goth parties in a final round of field work before defending her doctoral thesis later this year.

While this partnership was planned prior to the coronavirus outbreak, co-founder Jordana Kier said the pandemic instantly proved out the expansion thesis.

They’ve had to defend that thesis for a very, very long time in front of a variety of different customers and different people.

Over the past decade, In-Q-Tel has been one of the most active investors in the commercial space sector, with a broad investment thesis that touches many aspects of the sector.

In “Back Home,” Gil also revisits the nostalgia for the South explored in his Johns Hopkins thesis, “Circle of Stone.”

At least father and son were in alignment on this central thesis: acting “gay”—bad; being thought of as gay—bad.

Her doctoral thesis, says Ramin Takloo at the University of Illinois, was simply outstanding.

Marshall McLuhan long ago argued the now accepted thesis that different mediums have different influences on thinking.

He wrote his Master's thesis on the underrepresentation of young people in Congress.

And indeed for most young men a college thesis is but an exercise for sharpening the wits, rarely dangerous in its later effects.

It will be for the reader to determine whether the main thesis of the book has gained or lost by the new evidence.

But the word thesis, when applied to Systems, does not mean the 'position' of single notes, but of groups of notes.

This conclusion, it need hardly be said, is in entire agreement with the main thesis of the preceding pages.

Sundry outlying Indians, with ammunition to waste, took belly and knee rests and strengthened the thesis to the contrary.

Related Words

• proposition
• supposition

What Is The Plural Of Thesis?

Plural word for  thesis.

The plural form of thesis is theses , pronounced [ thee -seez ]. The plurals of several other singular words that end in -is are also formed in this way, including hypothesis / hypotheses , crisis / crises , and axis / axes . A similar change is made when pluralizing appendix as appendices . 

Irregular plurals that are formed like theses derive directly from their original pluralization in Latin and Greek.

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Definition of thesis noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• Students must submit a thesis on an agreed subject within four years.
• He presented this thesis for his PhD.
• a thesis for a master's degree
• He's doing a doctoral thesis on the early works of Shostakovich.
• Many departments require their students to do a thesis defense.
• She completed an MSc by thesis.
• her thesis adviser at MIT
• in a/​the thesis
• thesis about

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Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms - Definition and Examples

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Definitions

(1) In literature and composition , a  theme is the main idea of a text , expressed directly or indirectly. Adjective: thematic .

(2) In composition studies , a theme is a short essay or  composition assigned as a writing exercise. See also:

• "Composing My First College Essay," by Sandy Klem
• Five-Paragraph Essay
• Models of Composition
• Theme Writing
• What's Wrong With the Five-Paragraph Essay?

See Examples and Observations below. Also, see:

From the Greek, "placed" or "laid down"

Examples and Observations (definition #1):

• "Simply put, a story's theme is its idea or point (formulated as a generalization). The theme of a fable is its moral; the theme of a parable is its teaching; the theme of a short story is its implied view of life and conduct. Unlike the fable and parable, however, most fiction is not designed primarily to teach or preach. Its theme, thus, is more obliquely presented. In fact, theme in fiction is rarely presented at all; readers abstract it from the details of characters and action that compose the story." (Robert DiYanni, Literature . McGraw-Hill, 2002)
• Orwell's Theme(s) in the Essay "A Hanging" - " ' A Hanging ' is [George] Orwell's first distinctive work. It gives an apparently objective account of a ritualistic execution--from fixed bayonets to a bag over the head of the condemned--in which the narrator officially and actively participates. . . . At this halfway point Orwell states his theme : 'till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide.' Instead of invoking religion, he asserts a quasi-religious sense of life's sacredness--the first expression of the instinctive humanism that characterizes all his work." (Jeffrey Meyers, Orwell: Wintry Conscience of a Generation . Norton, 2000) - "A variation on this theme occurs in several of Orwell's most famous texts containing epiphanies , moments of illumination in which the humanity of people he has hitherto viewed in terms of dehumanizing generalizations suddenly breaks through, and Orwell's perception is jarred as he understands, with a shock, that these are people like himself. . . . In the early sketch entitled ' A Hanging' (1931), Orwell describes how his idea of what it means to kill a man is altered by the Hindu prisoner's gesture of stepping aside to avoid a puddle on the way to the gallows. What the text reveals, however, is that the prisoner at first looks to Orwell like a mere insignificant object. Into this scene, well defined in terms of the prisoner's already marginal existence, breaks the unexpected gesture, making Orwell (or the Orwellian narrative persona ) realize that the prisoner is alive, just as he is . . . . This chronicle is generally interpreted along the lines Orwell lays down, as the revelation of the barbarity of execution, but its primary meaning, I believe, is another. An inferiorized human being has for an instant become a genuine person in the eyes of one of the masters." (Daphne Patai, The Orwell Mystique: A Study in Male Ideology . University of Massachusetts Press, 1984)
• The Themes of the Novel Charlotte's Web - " Themes are subject to readers' interpretation, so different individuals may identify different themes in the same book; the dominant idea or theme, however, should be apparent to readers. " Charlotte's Web offers many layers of meaning to readers. Younger children are apt to understand this book as an animal fantasy. Older children are ready to apprehend the cycle of life and death, while adults recognize the irony in a situation that gives one character credit for the creativity of another. This is why we recommend using Charlotte's Web in the third or fourth grade, when children are ready to understand its major theme ." (Barbara Stoodt et al., Children's Literature:Discovery for a Lifetime . Macmillan, 1996) - "Identifying theme is typically a bit more difficult perhaps because theme is often confused with plot summary or motif . . . . ' Charlotte's Web (White, 1952) is a story about a pig whose life is saved by a spider' is not a theme statement! It is a plot statement. ' Charlotte's Web is a story about friendship' is also not a theme statement! Rather, it is a statement identifying one of the most important motifs in the story--friendship. 'A theme in Charlotte's Web is that true friendship involves responsibilities as well as privileges' is a theme statement!" (R. Craig Roney, The Story Performance Handbook . Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001) - "Besides mortality itself, throughout many idyllic scenes [in Charlotte's Web ] Andy [White] dabbed colorful spots of melancholy. He translated the song sparrow's aria as 'sweet, sweet, sweet interlude' and informed the reader that it referred to life's brevity. Crickets harped on the same theme . But overall Andy's theme was the joy of being alive, of reveling in the moment with visceral attention. What seemed like two themes were really one." (Michael Sims, The Story of Charlotte's Web . Walker, 2011)
• The Difference Between Plot and Theme "If you sometimes confuse plot with theme , keep the two elements separate by thinking of theme as what the story is about, and plot as the situation that brings it into focus. You might think of theme as the message of the story--the lesson to be learned, the question that is asked, or what it is the author is trying to tell us about life and the human condition. Plot is the action by which this truth will be demonstrated." (Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, quoted by Kenneth John Atchity and Chi-Li Wong in Writing Treatments That Sell , rev. ed. Henry Holt, 2003)
• Thesis and Theme "The thesis is the main point you are trying to argue [in a composition ]: for instance, that abortion is every woman's right or that housing discrimination is wrong. The theme , on the other hand, is a motif established by orchestrated connotative language that reinforces the thesis. Theme differs from thesis in that theme relies on inference and suggested meaning rather than on direct statement." (Kristin R. Woolever, About Writing: A Rhetoric for Advanced Writers . Wadsworth, 1991)

Pronunciation: THEEM

• 'Charlotte's Web' Summary
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• E.B. White's "Charlotte's Web"
• The Ultimate Guide to the 5-Paragraph Essay
• Supporting Detail in Composition and Speech
• Motifs in Fiction and Nonfiction
• Definition and Examples of Analysis in Composition
• How to Find the Theme of a Book or Short Story
• Allegory: Definition and Examples
• A Critical Analysis of George Orwell's 'A Hanging'
• How to Summarize a Plot
• Definition and Examples of Narratives in Writing
• Conclusion in Compositions
• Symbols and Motifs in Literature
• What Are the Different Types and Characteristics of Essays?
• Examples of Epigraphs in English

Ethos Definition

What is ethos? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Ethos , along with logos and pathos , is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Ethos is an argument that appeals to the audience by emphasizing the speaker's credibility and authority. If the speaker has a high-ranking position, is an expert in his or her field, or has had life experience relevant to a particular topic, anything the speaker says or does to ensure that the audience knows about and remembers these qualifications is an example of ethos .

Some additional key details about ethos:

• Ethos shares a root with the word "ethics ." This is helpful to remember because speakers often try to establish their own strong moral character by using ethos.
• The word "ethos" is also often used to refer to a community or organization's characteristic belief or spirit, as in the sentence, "We will not give you a larger bonus than your coworkers: that is against our company's ethos of fairness." However, this guide focuses specifically on the rhetorical technique of ethos used in literature and public speaking.
• The three "modes of persuasion"— pathos , logos , and ethos —were originally defined by Aristotle.
• While ethos appeals to an audience's instinctive respect for authority, logos appeals to the audience's sense of reason, and pathos appeals to the audience's emotions.
• Ethos is used in advertising just as often as it is used in public speaking and literature. Any commercial in which a celebrity endorses a product, for example, hopes to persuade its target audience by cultivating an aura of authority or expertise through its association with the celebrity—and is therefore an example of ethos.

How to Pronounce Ethos

Here's how to pronounce ethos: ee -thos

Ethos Explained

Aristotle (the ancient Greek philosopher and scientist) first defined e thos , along with logos and pathos , in his treatise on rhetoric, Ars Rhetorica. Together, he referred to e thos , logos , and pathos as the three modes of persuasion, or sometimes simply as "the appeals." Aristotle believed that in order to have ethos a good speaker must demonstrate three things:

• Phronesis : Sound reasoning, and relevant experience or expertise.
• Arete : Moral character.
• Eunoia : Good intentions towards the audience.

Aristotle argued that a speaker in possession of these three attributes will naturally impress the audience with his or her ethos , and as a result will be better able to influence that audience. Over time, however, the definition of ethos has broadened, and the significance of the three qualities Aristotle named is now lost on anyone who hasn't studied classical Greek. So it may give more insight into the meaning of ethos to translate Aristotle's three categories into a new set of categories that make more sense in the modern era. A speaker or writer's credibility can be said to rely on each of the following:

• Within literature, it's interesting to notice when characters attempt to invoke their own authority and enhance their ethos by reminding other characters of the titles they possess. Often, this can be an indication that the character citing his or her own credentials actually feels his or her authority being threatened or challenged.
• In literature, this form of ethos is particularly relevant with respect to narrators. Authors often have their narrators profess impartiality or objectivity at the outset of a book in order to earn the reader's trust in the narrator's reliability regarding the story he or she is about to tell.
• This type of ethos translates into literature quite easily, in the sense that characters' opinions are often evaluated within the framework of their professions.
• Literary characters often use ethos to communicate similarity or likemindedness to other characters, and you can detect this by certain changes in their speech. In these situations, characters (as well as real-life speakers) often use a shibboleth— a specialized term or word used by a specific group of people—to show that they belong. For example, if you knew the name of a special chemical used to make jello, and you wanted to impress the head of a jello company, the name of that chemical would count as a shibboleth and saying it would help you show the jello executive that you're "in the know."

The Stagecraft of Ethos

In order to impress their positive personal qualities upon audiences, public speakers can use certain techniques that aren't available to writers. These include:

• Speaking in a certain manner or even with a certain accent.
• Demonstrating confident stage presence.
• Having reputable people to introduce the speaker in a positive light.
• Listing their credentials and achievements.

Put another way, the ethos of a speech can be heavily impacted by the speaker's confidence and manner of presenting him or herself.

Ethos and Ad Hominem

An ad hominem argument is a specific type of argument which involves attacking someone else's character or ethos, rather than attacking that person's position or point of view on the subject being discussed. Ad hominem attacks usually have the goal of swaying an audience away from an opponent's views and towards one's own by degrading the audience's perception of the opponent's character. For instance, if one politician attacks another as being "elite," the attacker may be seeking to make voters question whether the other politician is trustworthy or actually has the public's interest at heart. But the first politician is not in any way attacking their opponent's positions on matters of policy.

An ad hominem argument is not necessarily "wrong" or even a bad strategy, but it's generally seen as more dignified (another component of ethos ) for speakers to focus on strengthening their own ethos, and to debate their opponents based on the substance of the opposition's counterarguments. When a literary character uses an ad hominem argument, this can sometimes indicate that he or she is insecure about his or her own position regarding a certain issue.

Ethos Examples

Examples of ethos in literature.

Characters in novels often use ethos , as well as logos and pathos , to convince one another of certain arguments in the same way that a speaker in reality might use these techniques. In addition, authors often use a subtler form of ethos when establishing a narrator's reliability at the outset of a novel.

Ethos in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

In Atlas Shrugged, a group of pioneering American industrialists, financiers, and artists go on strike against a corrupt government. As the strike nears its end, its leader—John Galt—delivers a speech to the nation about his ideals. He promises that the strike will end only if Americans allow him to remake the country according to his moral code, which he explains in the following lines:

Just as I support my life, neither by robbery nor alms, but by my own effort, so I do not seek to derive my happiness from the injury or the favor of others, but earn it by my own achievement. Just as I do not consider the pleasure of others as the goal of my life, so I do not consider my pleasure as the goal of the lives of others. Just as there are no contradictions in my values and no conflicts among my desires—so there are no victims and no conflicts of interest among rational men, men who do not desire the unearned and do not view one another with a cannibal's lust, men who neither make sacrifices nor accept them.

Galt not only creates an impression of moral rectitude, but also emphasizes his own self-sufficiency. He assures his audience that he expects nothing in return from them for sharing his personal views. In this way, his ability to cultivate an aura of impartiality and objectivity enhances his ethos.

Ethos in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter opens with a chapter called "The Custom-House," in which the unnamed narrator—who has a similar biography to Hawthorne—describes his job in a Custom House, a place where taxes were paid on imports in 18th century Massachusetts. The narrator's stories about his job have no relation to the actual narrative of The Scarlet Letter, except that he finds the scarlet letter of the title in the Custom House attic. This discovery inspired him to research the life of the woman who wore the embroidered letter, and to tell her story. By presenting himself as someone who merely discovered, researched, and "edited" the story the reader is about to begin, the narrator effectively creates the impression that his is a reliable historical account, thereby strengthening his ethos.

It will be seen, likewise, that this Custom-House sketch has a certain propriety, of a kind always recognised in literature, as explaining how a large portion of the following pages came into my possession, and as offering proofs of the authenticity of a narrative therein contained. This, in fact—a desire to put myself in my true position as editor, or very little more, of the most prolix among the tales that make up my volume—this, and no other, is my true reason for assuming a personal relation with the public.

Ethos in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

In the opening lines of The Great Gatsby , the narrator, Nick Carraway, claims that he has followed one piece of his father's advice throughout his life:

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. 'Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,' he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.'... In consequence I'm inclined to reserve all judgements, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person, and so it came about that in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician, because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men...

Nick's tendency to reserve judgement makes him an ideal, objective narrator, while his awareness of his own economic and social advantages makes him a perfect guide to the privileged world of The Great Gatsby. Though he describes his non-judgmental, "neutral" affect with self-deprecating humor, it's a subtle way of strengthening his ethos as a narrator, and of causing the reader to eagerly anticipate hearing the stories that "wild, unknown men" have shared with him.

Examples of Ethos in Political Speeches

Every politician recognizes that a speaker must earn an audience's respect and trust if he or she expects to be listened to. As a result, it's difficult to find a political speech that doesn't contain an example of ethos. It's particularly easy to spot ethos in action when listening to speeches by candidates for office.

Ethos in Mitt Romney's Acceptance Speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention

When he accepted the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, Romney pointed to his business success as relevant experience that would serve him well if he were to take office:

I learned the real lessons about how America works from experience. When I was 37, I helped start a small company. My partners and I had been working for a company that was in the business of helping other businesses. So some of us had this idea that if we really believed our advice was helping companies, we should invest in companies. We should bet on ourselves and on our advice. So we started a new business called Bain Capital...That business we started with 10 people has now grown into a great American success story. Some of the companies we helped start are names you know. An office supply company called Staples – where I'm pleased to see the Obama campaign has been shopping; The Sports Authority, which became a favorite of my sons. We started an early childhood learning center called Bright Horizons that First Lady Michelle Obama rightly praised.

In addition to strengthening his ethos by pointing to his past achievements, Romney also hopes to portray himself as principled, rational, and daring when he explains how his company decided to "bet on ourselves and on our advice."

Ethos in John Kasich's 2016 Ohio Primary Victory Speech

After winning his first campaign victory, 2016 presidential candidate John Kasich told his supporters about his disadvantaged yet hardworking relatives to contextualize his own rise to success:

And you know, ladies and gentlemen, my whole life has been about trying to create a climate of opportunity for people. You know, as my father carried that mail on his back and his father was a coal miner, and you know, I was just told by my cousin—I didn't realize this—that my mother, one of four [children]‚ was the only one to graduate from high school. The other three barely made it out of the eighth grade because they were poor... And you know, as I've traveled the country and I look into your eyes... You want to believe that your children are going to have ultimately a better America than what we got from our mothers and fathers. That's the great American legacy: that our kids will be better than we are.

By saying that he comes from a modest background, Kasich hopes to convey that he is "just a regular American" and that he will advocate for other hard working Americans.

Ethos in Winston Churchill's 1941 Address to Joint Session of the US Congress

In this speech to the US Congress during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill enhances the ethos of his speech by emphasizing both the qualities he shares in common with the American people and the American Democratic values instilled in him by his parents:

I am a child of the House of Commons. I was brought up in my father's house to believe in democracy. "Trust the people." That was his message. I used to see him cheered at meetings and in the streets by crowds of workingmen way back in those aristocratic Victorian days when as Disraeli said "the world was for the few, and for the very few." Therefore I have been in full harmony all my life with the tides which have flowed on both sides of the Atlantic against privilege and monopoly and I have steered confidently towards the Gettysburg ideal of government of the people, by the people, for the people.

Examples of Ethos in Advertisements

Advertisers often attempt to use ethos to influence people to buy their product. Dressing up an actor as a doctor who then extols the benefits a medication is a way that advertisers used to try to gin up a little ethos , but such obvious practices of what might be called "fake ethos" are now regularly mocked. However, any celebrity endorsement or testimonial from an expert are also attempts to build up ethos around a product's endorsement. For instance, here's a Prudential Financial commercial that ups its ethos with an appearance by Harvard social psychologist Dan Gilbert.

Why Do Writers Use Ethos?

Politicians, activists, and advertisers use ethos because they recognize that it is impossible to convince an audience of anything if its members do not believe in the speaker's credibility, morality, or authority.

The use of e thos in fiction is often different from real-world examples. Authors are not usually trying to directly influence their audience in the way politicians or advertisers are. Rather, authors often show one of their characters making use of ethos . In doing so, the author gives insight into characters' perceptions of one another, their values, and their motives.

In addition, e thos is an especially useful tool for authors looking to establish a narrator's credibility. Having a credible narrator is hugely important to the success of a literary work. Books with narrators that never establish a reasonable claim to an objective viewpoint are nearly impossible to read because everything they say is cast in doubt, so that readers come to feel like they're being lied to or "jerked around," which is fatiguing. Although often enough readers simply assume that a narrator has credibility , if you've ever read a book where you felt you simply didn't like the narrator very much—or watched a television show where you felt that none of the characters were likable or believable—that might be another sign that the writer has failed to establish a character's ethos . There are circumstances in which a writer creates an unreliable narrator —a narrator who is either purposefully or subconsciously offering a slanted narrative—but ethos is just as crucial in creating such a narrator: the author must first establish the narrator's ethos and then slowly undermine it over the course of the book.

Other Helpful Ethos Resources

• The Wikipedia Page on Ethos: An in-depth explanation of ethos , and how the concept has changed over time.
• The Dictionary Definition of Ethos: A definition and etymology of the term, which comes from the Greek ethos meaning "character, custom, or habit."
• Ethos on Youtube: An excellent video from TED-Ed about the three modes of persuasion.

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'A small seed of curiosity can grow and mature into a full-fledged thesis project'

Valerie Hu: Biology & Society

A&S Communications

Biology & Society Sunnyvale, Calif.

What is your main extracurricular activity and why is it important to you? 

When I came to Cornell, I knew I wanted to get involved in initiatives that aligned with my personal values of justice and mercy and served a community beyond the one on campus. I joined the Parole Preparation Project (now Cornell University Parole Initiative) and began working with an incarcerated person in preparation for a Parole Board hearing that determines whether he can be released on parole. Along with two other student volunteers, I liaised with community partners to establish a plan for re-entry, gathered various legal and medical documents for the parole packet, and met regularly with the parole applicant in a maximum-security correctional facility to practice for his hearing. Three and a half years later, I now consider the incarcerated applicant I work with not only a teammate and coworker, but also a friend. Through working together, we have found common ground in the pursuit of justice, the importance of family and the role of faith and prayer in guiding our lives. This year, I became a teaching assistant for the Cornell Prison Education Program, going to Auburn Correctional Facility once a week to teach incarcerated students within a French club and an anthropology course, which has allowed me to explore my interests in the intersection of education and incarceration. Due to Cornell’s resources and investment in community engagement, I had the unique opportunity to work within facilities that reveal the immense inequalities in America’s criminal legal system and to play a role in working toward a more equitable world.

What Cornell memory do you treasure the most?         

The Cornell memories I treasure the most are the evenings I’ve hosted potlucks or dinners with large groups of people at my apartment because they embody the best parts of my time at Cornell: community and bringing people together. I’ve invited close friends and acquaintances from my classes, faith community, work and clubs, many of whom do not know each other and otherwise wouldn’t cross paths, and new friendships have been formed. On these evenings, my kitchen and living room are full of conversations and laughter, and the area sometimes gets so warm because of the number of people that we have to open a window even in the winter, while we share food and discover unlikely common ground.

What are the most valuable skills you gained from your Arts & Sciences education?     

I learned how to critically examine the things I see and learn, rather than take them at face value and accept the status quo. I came into college accustomed to the type of learning that consisted of knowing facts and successfully regurgitating them on a test or essay. My eyes were opened to the beauty of academic discourse and debate in one of my first classes at Cornell. For each class topic, we read multiple scientific articles that built upon each other or disagreed with one another. As we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each scientist’s research findings, I developed critical thinking and analysis skills. I learned not to take at face value every piece of information I am given within the context of a classroom, but gained the courage and confidence to challenge and critique other viewpoints while developing my own.    

What have you accomplished as a Cornell student that you are most proud of?

While working as an investigator at the public defender’s office in D.C., I wondered about a paradoxical observation I made: that people who have had negative experiences with the police seem to call the police a lot. At the beginning of my junior year, I had the opportunity to turn that curiosity into a semester-long research paper for Professor Joseph Margulies’ Crime and Punishment class. I began interviewing young people who have had negative encounters with law enforcement about times they have called the police. The class project evolved beyond the semester into an independent study, and eventually into my senior honors thesis. I’m most proud of my research because I learned that a small seed of curiosity can grow and mature into a full-fledged thesis project. Through my thesis, I’ve been able to combine my interests in social justice with academic pursuits, and I learned how to conduct research that has implications for public policy and social change.

Who or what influenced your Cornell education the most?     

Cru has undoubtedly influenced my Cornell education more than anything else. I came into college with an abundance of questions about meaning and purpose, both generally and personally. Through the Cru community, I have become close friends with people from so many more backgrounds, cultures, and life experiences than I thought possible. Together, we have wrestled with difficult and existential questions. The diverse set of friends offering input and encouragement has been invaluable to my growth, as I figure out who I am and why I’m here. We have also supported each other through some of the most challenging times of sorrow and loss that tested the strength and genuineness of our beliefs. The Cru community has taught me to be resilient in the face of difficulties and to find hope in something bigger than myself. I learned how to allow my personal values to fuel every pursuit —academic, extracurricular, spiritual and personal — and every moment of my life, from the biggest highlights to the utterly mundane.

Every year, our faculty nominate graduating Arts & Sciences students to be featured as part of our Extraordinary Journeys series.  Read more about the Class of 202 4.

More News from A&S

Mothers live longer as child mortality declines

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Extraordinary Journeys: The Class of 2024

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Trump Posts, Then Takes Down, Video Online With Headlines About a ‘Unified Reich’

The 30-second video shared from Donald Trump’s Truth Social account, which included references to “the creation of a unified Reich” was denounced by President Biden as using “Hitler’s language.”

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By Chris Cameron

• Published May 20, 2024 Updated May 21, 2024, 7:42 p.m. ET

Former President Donald J. Trump posted a video on Monday afternoon that features images of hypothetical newspaper articles celebrating a 2024 victory for him and referring to “the creation of a unified Reich” under the headline “What’s next for America?”

The 30-second video, which Mr. Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social, features several articles styled like newspapers from the early 1900s — and apparently recycling text from reports on World War I, including references to “German industrial strength” and “peace through strength.” One article in the video asserts that Mr. Trump would deport 15 million migrants in a second term, while text onscreen lists the start and end days of World War I.

Another headline in the video suggests that Mr. Trump in a second term would reject “globalists,” using a term that has been widely adopted on the far right and that scholars say can be used as a signal of antisemitism .

The Trump campaign said in a statement that the video had been posted by a staff member while Mr. Trump was in his criminal trial in Manhattan . The video was still up on his account early Tuesday, and his campaign did not respond to a question late Monday about why it had not been taken down. It was then deleted sometime Tuesday morning.

“This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the President was in court,” Karoline Leavitt, a campaign spokeswoman, said in a statement. “The real extremist is Joe Biden.”

President Biden’s campaign denounced the video soon after it was first reported by The Associated Press late Monday. Mr. Biden then personally addressed the matter in his own video response on Tuesday, which was posted on social media.

“A unified Reich? That’s Hitler’s language, that’s not America’s,” Mr. Biden said, who also expressed disbelief that the video was posted on Mr. Trump’s “official account.”

The clip was originally posted early Monday morning by a member of a group of video producers who call themselves the Dilley Meme Team , after its founder, Brenden Dilley. The group has close ties to Mr. Trump, who frequently reposts their content and has praised their efforts on numerous occasions.

It is not the first time that a video created by the meme team and used by Mr. Trump has stirred up controversy. In the lead-up to the Iowa caucuses in January, Mr. Trump posted a video called “God Made Trump” and then played it at several campaign rallies. Some religious leaders found the video, which depicted the candidate as a messianic figure , to be offensive.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly denounced Jews who vote for Democrats , accusing them of hating their religion and Israel . In one video this month, he said that “if Jewish people are going to vote for Joe Biden, they have to have their head examined.”

Mr. Trump, whose advisers have been crafting plans for a second term that would be more radical than his first , has also drawn criticism during this campaign for echoing the language of past authoritarian leaders , dehumanizing his political opponents as “vermin” and promising that he would not be a dictator “ except for Day 1 .”

In November 2022, Mr. Trump had dinner with Nick Fuentes , an outspoken antisemite who is one of the country’s most prominent white supremacists. He has also tried to downplay the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, describing the episode as “a big hoax.” One woman was killed and nearly 40 people were injured when an avowed neo-Nazi plowed his car into a crowd .

Mr. Biden’s campaign also accused Mr. Trump of echoing Nazi Germany by posting the clip, saying in a statement on social media that the video was “foreshadowing a second Trump term.”

On his podcast on Tuesday, Mr. Dilley, a former congressional candidate and life coach, laughed off the matter, saying Democrats were “trying to stir up controversy.” He added that “there is nothing scary or racist about what is there. You can imagine that until you’re blue in the face.”

The term “Reich” is often associated with Germany’s Nazi government under Adolf Hitler, who established a “Third Reich” that succeeded its first two counterparts, the medieval Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire of 1871-1918 , which lost World War I to the Allied powers .

The sentence referring to “the creation of a unified Reich” is used three times in the video. It reads, in full, “German industrial strength significantly increased after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified Reich.” In the beginning of the video, as an announcer asks, “What’s next for America,” the text is partly visible, including the words “the creation of a unified Reich.”

The German Empire that fought in World War I was founded when many different German-speaking states and regions were unified — some by force — into a single, powerful nation in 1871. That empire was dismantled at the end of World War I, and Hitler stoked resentment against the loss of former German territories, and against the Jewish people, as he rose to power in the lead-up to World War II.

The anonymous person who made the clip, who uses the handle @ramble_rants, has since posted multiple times that the background imagery came from a template they did not create and was “not a secret hidden message.” Other members of the meme team have noted the template came from a company, Envato, that offers dozens of downloadable templates with images of newspapers that can be used as video backgrounds.

The template in the video made by the meme team appears to be one that comes with headlines such as “Man Arrested,” “World War II Begins” and “Cold War Over?” Those headlines, and accompanying photos, can be changed by the person who downloads the template, but most of the background — including the “unified Reich” language — is not customizable.

Maggie Astor and Ken Bensinger contributed reporting.

Chris Cameron covers politics for The Times, focusing on breaking news and the 2024 campaign. More about Chris Cameron

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Presidential Race: News and Analysis

Donald Trump and the Republican Party out-raised President Biden and the Democrats in April  for the first time in this election cycle, according to campaign officials. But Biden still has far more cash on hand.

Trump posted a video online that features images of hypothetical newspaper articles celebrating a 2024 victory for him and referring to “the creation of a unified Reich”  under the headline “What’s next for America?”

Early in his term, Biden seemed to have struck an uneasy truce with the oil and gas industry. But the president’s decision to pause permits for gas export terminals has whipped up industry support for Trump .

Georgia’s Changed Landscape:  Biden’s narrow win in Georgia in 2020 was seen as a sign of the state’s emergence as a battleground. This year could be different .

A Candidate Like Few Others:  Maggie Tamposi Goodlander, the wife of the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, is navigating a personal landscape with little precedent  in her run for Congress in New Hampshire.

Political Violence:  Public officials from Congress to City Hall are now regularly subjected to threats of violence. It’s changing how they do their jobs .

Trump’s Running Mate:  Trump’s V.P. search is still in its early stages, but he is said to be leaning toward more experienced options  who can help the ticket without seizing his precious spotlight.