Crafting a solid thesis statement is crucial to good writing at all levels.
Learning to write an effective scholarly thesis statement is essential for doing well in writing courses at all levels of education. Outside of the classroom, thesis statements can also be useful in the workplace because they teach you focus your content and organize your thoughts. For a distinct advantage in writing, learn craft a good one.
Thesis Statement Purpose
One way to describe a thesis statement is that it acts like a topic sentence for an entire essay. Just as the topic sentence tells readers what will be discussed in a particular paragraph, the thesis statement alerts readers as to what to expect from the rest of the essay. However, the thesis statement is not only helpful for readers. Writers are assisted by the thesis statement because writing one forces them to give their ideas more focus. For example, if you are writing an essay about the death penalty, you cannot write the thesis statement without determining which side of the issue you're going to take or whether you're going to provide a balanced look at the argument. The thesis statement typically provides the basic skeleton for the organization of the essay as well.
Parts of the Thesis Statement
A good thesis statement is going to contain three parts: the general topic, the attitude towards that topic, and the main points being covered in the essay. Using the death penalty example again, you might write the following thesis statement: The death penalty should be abolished because innocent people are sometimes executed, because the costs are higher than for life imprisonment and because murder is never justifiable. In this example, the general topic would be the death penalty. Your attitude toward that topic would be that it should be abolished. Finally, the main points being covered are listed at the end of the statement.
Essay Organization and the Thesis Statement
The thesis statement will help you give your ideas and research focus and will be useful in organizing the essay. The arrangement of the main points in the thesis statement should reflect the organization of the points covered in your essay. Referring to the previous death penalty thesis statement, the body of the essay would first cover the execution of innocent people, the higher costs of capital punishment, then the wrongness of murder. For this reason, the main points listed in the thesis statement should be arranged carefully. In most cases, the point should be arranged and presented from least to most important. However, sometimes chronological organization is more appropriate.
Generating a Thesis Statement
Brainstorming a thesis statement can be a challenge, especially since it should be the first step of the drafting process. In most cases, you'll already have ideas for two of the three necessary elements--the topic and your attitude toward the topic--but determining the main points can be more difficult. Using pre-writing techniques, such as listing or free writing, to come up with possible essay points is a good idea. From there, you can evaluate the different options. Look for options that can be combined or that are repeated to narrow your list of choices. Then choose the three you find most interesting or important. Number these according to how you want to include them in the essay. Remember that your thesis statement is not carved in stone. As you write, you can always revise your thesis statement to reflect changes in your main points and in your organization.
Common Thesis Statement Problems
One common problem is writing a thesis statement that is too general. For example, you might write "The death penalty is wrong." While this could be the start of a strong thesis statement, the main points are missing, which makes it incomplete. Another problem is not keeping all of the elements in a single sentence. Writers sometimes worry because the thesis statement ends up being very long so they try to break it into multiple sentences. While more experienced writers may be able to get away with this technique, students should keep the thesis statement to a single sentence.
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