How to Support Your Thesis Statement Without Telling the Story Again
A thesis statement is a sentence that sums upward the central point of your paper or essay. It usually comes well-nigh the end of your introduction.
Your thesis volition wait a bit different depending on the type of essay you're writing. Merely the thesis statement should always clearly country the main idea you want to go across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.
Coming upwardly with a thesis
You should come up up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis, early in the writing process. As soon as you've decided on your essay topic, you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will requite your essay management and structure.
Stride one: Start with a question
You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up upward with your own. What would you like to find out or decide most your topic?
Hither's an example of an argumentative essay question that asks y'all to take a side in a debate:
If y'all accept to write an expository essay about an important invention, you lot might inquire:
In a literary analysis essay about the novelFrankenstein, your question could exist:
Step 2: Write your initial answer
After some initial research, you can codify a tentative respond to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the process of researching and writing.
If you're writing an argumentative essay, the answer should pick a side and take a position on the issue.
Step three: Develop your reply
Now you lot demand to consider why this is your respond and how you lot volition convince your reader to agree with you lot.
Equally you read more virtually your topic and brainstorm writing, your answer should become more detailed. The final thesis statement doesn't just country your position, but summarizes your overall statement.
In our essay well-nigh the internet and education, the thesis states our position and sketches out the key arguments we'll use to support information technology.
In our essay about the printing press, the thesis summarizes the key historical development that nosotros'll explain.
In our essay aboutFrankenstein, the thesis maps out our analysis of the novel'due south techniques and effects.
Improving your thesis argument
Take a look at these examples of thesis statements and learn how to improve them.
Case one: Argumentative thesis
In an argumentative essay, your thesis should have a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
Take a look at these 2 versions of a thesis statement in an essay about U.S. ecology policy.
The example in a higher place takes a position, merely information technology doesn't tell the reader annihilation well-nigh why you concord this position.
In this improved thesis argument, yous also land your reasoning and summarize the chief points that you will use to convince your reader of your position. The rest of your essay volition expand and argue for these points.
Example two: Expository thesis
In an expository essay, you'll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis doesn't accept to give a potent opinion, simply it should clearly state the central betoken y'all desire to make about your topic, and mention the central aspects that you'll explain.
Let's accept two versions of a thesis statement from an essay about the invention of Braille (the raised-dot reading system used by blind and visually impaired people).
The example to a higher place makes a factual statement, simply it doesn't tell the reader annihilation near what they'll learn from your essay.
The 2d example is much more specific: information technology shows that you won't only describe facts about Braille, but also explain the social context and consequences of its invention.
Example 3: Analytical thesis
In an essay that involves analyzing a text, your thesis needs to mention the specific attribute that you'll focus on and state what insight it gives us into the text's meaning or purpose.
Here are 2 versions of a thesis about the novel Jekyll & Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
This example tells us which aspect the essay will focus on, but it'due south an obvious statement that only describes the novel'southward surface-level meaning.
The 2nd example tells united states non just what the graphic symbol represents in the novel, but also makes a claim nigh the author'due south broader pregnant and purpose in creating such a character.
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Placement of the thesis statement
The thesis argument more often than not appears at the finish of your essay introduction or research paper introduction.
What makes a adept thesis statement?
The best thesis statements are concise, contentious and coherent.
Concise
A good thesis statement is short and sugariness—don't use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and straight in one or two sentences.
Contentious
Your thesis shouldn't be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis argument is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to dorsum it up.
Particularly in an argumentative essay, your thesis statement should be something that others might question or disagree with.
Coherent
Your thesis statement might mention several aspects of your topic, merely they should all add up to a coherent whole, expressing 1 chief idea.
Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the residual of your paper.
Often asked questions about thesis statements
Source: https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/thesis-statement/