Difference between concept, idea, theme?

[morning Glory]

I don't really understand the difference between these three terms. I get that a concept is the broadest out of the three but what is it exactly? Is every sentence in the rubric part of a concept or a concept itself? Are thesis statements kind of concepts in themselves? How I think of ideas is like they're branches of a concept, but I'm not sure if this is correct. Am I correct in think of themes as recurring ideas throughout a text? It would be much appreciated if you give examples illustrating the differences. Sorry for all the questions, haha

[elysepopplewell]

I don't really understand the difference between these three terms. I get that a concept is the broadest out of the three but what is it exactly? Is every sentence in the rubric part of a concept or a concept itself? Are thesis statements kind of concepts in themselves? How I think of ideas is like they're branches of a concept, but I'm not sure if this is correct. Am I correct in think of themes as recurring ideas throughout a text? It would be much appreciated if you give examples illustrating the differences. Sorry for all the questions, haha

Hey there! You certainly aren't the first student to be confused by all of this!

Thesis statements (idea statements) and concept statements are likely interchangeable terms in most circumstances. In an essay, it's likely that you have one big overarching idea, or argument, that you'll thread through all of the essay. Let's call this a concept statement. Then, each paragraph is directed by a particular angle of that concept, lets call these thesis statements. So you have one big overarching statement, and several smaller ones in an essay that give you scope, it richens your response.

A theme is something that doesn't just belong in our essays - themes exist within the texts themselves. "Themes" seem to be most prevalently discussed in Module A for Advanced English. Themes might include: romance, sanctity of life, justice... they're almost like sub genres.

So, I think that my understanding of concepts, themes and thesis (ideas) are pretty similar to your understanding!

Some people will call thesis statements concept statements, or motherhood statements, or overarching statements...it doesn't really matter. As long as you can visualise an overarching idea and then smaller ideas shooting off that - that is how most essay structures work