How To Write a Thesis Statement

Almost all of us—even if we don’t do it consciously—look early in an essay for a one- or two-sentence condensation of the argument or analysis that is to follow. We refer to that condensation as a thesis statement.

Why Should Your Essay Contain a Thesis Statement?

• to test your ideas by distilling them into a sentence or two
• to better organize and develop your argument
• to provide your reader with a “guide” to your argument

In general, your thesis statement will accomplish these goals if you think of the thesis as the answer to the question your paper explores.

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How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Assigned

Almost all assignments, no matter how complicated, can be reduced to a single question. Your first step, then, is to distill the assignment into a specific question. For example, if your assignment is, “Write a report to the local school board explaining the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class,” turn the request into a question like, “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?” After you’ve chosen the question your essay will answer, compose one or two complete sentences answering that question.
Q: “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?”
A: “The potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class are . . .”

OR

A: “Using computers in a fourth-grade class promises to improve . . .”
The answer to the question is the thesis statement for the essay.

How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is not Assigned

Even if your assignment doesn’t ask a specific question, your thesis statement still needs to answer a question about the issue you’d like to explore. In this situation, your job is to figure out what question you’d like to write about.
A good thesis statement will usually include the following four attributes:

• take on a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree
• deal with a subject that can be adequately treated given the nature of the assignment
• express one main idea
• assert your conclusions about a subject

Let’s see how to generate a thesis statement for a social policy paper.
Brainstorm the topic.
Let’s say that your class focuses upon the problems posed by changes in the dietary habits of Americans. You find that you are interested in the amount of sugar Americans consume.
You start out with a thesis statement like this:
Sugar consumption.
This fragment isn’t a thesis statement. Instead, it simply indicates a general subject. Furthermore, your reader doesn’t know what you want to say about sugar consumption.
Narrow the topic.
Your readings about the topic, however, have led you to the conclusion that elementary school children are consuming far more sugar than is healthy.
You change your thesis to look like this:
Reducing sugar consumption by elementary school children.
This fragment not only announces your subject, but it focuses on one segment of the population: elementary school children. Furthermore, it raises a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree, because while most people might agree that children consume more sugar than they used to, not everyone would agree on what should be done or who should do it. You should note that this fragment is not a thesis statement because your reader doesn’t know your conclusions on the topic.
Take a position on the topic.
After reflecting on the topic a little while longer, you decide that what you really want to say about this topic is that something should be done to reduce the amount of sugar these children consume.
You revise your thesis statement to look like this:
More attention should be paid to the food and beverage choices available to elementary school children.
This statement asserts your position, but the terms more attention and food and beverage choices are vague.
Use specific language.
You decide to explain what you mean about food and beverage choices, so you write:
Experts estimate that half of elementary school children consume nine times the recommended daily allowance of sugar.
This statement is specific, but it isn’t a thesis. It merely reports a statistic instead of making an assertion.
Make an assertion based on clearly stated support.
You finally revise your thesis statement one more time to look like this:
Because half of all American elementary school children consume nine times the recommended daily allowance of sugar, schools should be required to replace the beverages in soda machines with healthy alternatives.
Notice how the thesis answers the question, “What should be done to reduce sugar consumption by children, and who should do it?” When you started thinking about the paper, you may not have had a specific question in mind, but as you became more involved in the topic, your ideas became more specific. Your thesis changed to reflect your new insights.

How to Tell a Strong Thesis Statement from a Weak One

1. A strong thesis statement takes some sort of stand.

Remember that your thesis needs to show your conclusions about a subject. For example, if you are writing a paper for a class on fitness, you might be asked to choose a popular weight-loss product to evaluate. Here are two thesis statements:
There are some negative and positive aspects to the Banana Herb Tea Supplement.
This is a weak thesis statement. First, it fails to take a stand. Second, the phrase negative and positive aspects is vague.
Because Banana Herb Tea Supplement promotes rapid weight loss that results in the loss of muscle and lean body mass, it poses a potential danger to customers.
This is a strong thesis because it takes a stand, and because it's specific.

2. A strong thesis statement justifies discussion.

Your thesis should indicate the point of the discussion. If your assignment is to write a paper on kinship systems, using your own family as an example, you might come up with either of these two thesis statements:
My family is an extended family.
This is a weak thesis because it merely states an observation. Your reader won’t be able to tell the point of the statement, and will probably stop reading.
While most American families would view consanguineal marriage as a threat to the nuclear family structure, many Iranian families, like my own, believe that these marriages help reinforce kinship ties in an extended family.
This is a strong thesis because it shows how your experience contradicts a widely-accepted view. A good strategy for creating a strong thesis is to show that the topic is controversial. Readers will be interested in reading the rest of the essay to see how you support your point.

3. A strong thesis statement expresses one main idea.

Readers need to be able to see that your paper has one main point. If your thesis statement expresses more than one idea, then you might confuse your readers about the subject of your paper. For example:
Companies need to exploit the marketing potential of the Internet, and Web pages can provide both advertising and customer support.
This is a weak thesis statement because the reader can’t decide whether the paper is about marketing on the Internet or Web pages. To revise the thesis, the relationship between the two ideas needs to become more clear. One way to revise the thesis would be to write:
Because the Internet is filled with tremendous marketing potential, companies should exploit this potential by using Web pages that offer both advertising and customer support.
This is a strong thesis because it shows that the two ideas are related. Hint: a great many clear and engaging thesis statements contain words like because, since, so, although, unless, and however.

4. A strong thesis statement is specific.

A thesis statement should show exactly what your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a manageable topic. For example, if you're writing a seven-to-ten page paper on hunger, you might say:
World hunger has many causes and effects.
This is a weak thesis statement for two major reasons. First, world hunger can’t be discussed thoroughly in seven to ten pages. Second, many causes and effects is vague. You should be able to identify specific causes and effects. A revised thesis might look like this:
Hunger persists in Glandelinia because jobs are scarce and farming in the infertile soil is rarely profitable.
This is a strong thesis statement because it narrows the subject to a more specific and manageable topic, and it also identifies the specific causes for the existence of hunger

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This article is from Indiana University

Developing a Thesis

What is a thesis?

A thesis is the main point of your paper. Everything else in your paper should contribute to explaining and proving the main point. Your thesis may be a single sentence, but it can be much longer. In a large paper, you might need a paragraph or more to state your thesis. A thesis is more specific than either a subject area or a topic. Here are some examples of subjects and topics, and a thesis statement that could be written about one of the topics.

Subject Area	Topic
Homelessness	The causes of homelessness
Northwestern's alcohol policy	Student reactions to NU's alcohol policy
The narrator in Jane Austen's novels	The narrator's stance in Emma

Sample Thesis

Contrary to much public opinion, the growth of the homeless population has not been caused by mass deinstitutionalization of mental patients. Instead, the increase in homelessness has resulted from the combination of two circumstances in the 1980's: the decrease in traditional jobs in industry and destruction of low-income housing.

Why is this a good example of a thesis?

It is specific.

The thesis focuses on two clearly-stated factors of a narrowly defined topic.

It makes an arguable point.

Unless you are writing a factual report, your thesis should make a point that needs to be further proved or explained.

It prepares the reader for more information.

The thesis helps the reader define his or her expectations. From this thesis, a reader could expect to learn more about why these two factors cause homelessness, how they combine, and why the deinstitutionalization of mental patients is not the primary cause.

Does every paper need a thesis?

Yes. Every paper needs a controlling idea that helps you select and organize the details. However, not every paper needs the same kind of thesis. Here is an example of a thesis that summarizes factual information rather than arguing a position:

Users may search the university library's catalog by author, title, subject, or keyword. The keyword function is a new addition to the library catalog that allows the user to search for words or combinations of words appearing anywhere in the book's title. Several specific commands enable users to combine keyword search terms.

This thesis prepares the reader for more information about searching the library catalog using the keyword function. Even though this thesis does not argue a position in the same manner as the previous one, it still organizes and controls the flow of information.

Where does the thesis belong in a paper?

In general, the thesis belongs at the beginning of the paper. If the thesis is at the beginning of a paper, it can set reader expectations and organize the information. Good places for a thesis: the first sentence, the end of the first paragraph, or the end of the opening section.

How do I develop a thesis?

You may find it very valuable to consult with your instructor during the process of formulating a thesis.

1. Choose your subject area (the professor may choose it for you).
2. Select a topic (the professor may ask you to write on a specific topic).
3. Narrow your topic by asking yourself the following questions:
• What questions in class have interested you the most?
• What points has the professor made that you found intriguing?
• Have you uncovered any controversies in the readings?
• What have you found most surprising about the course material?
4. Find a question that you want to answer, or a problem you want to solve. Write down as specific an answer as possible and use that answer as a thesis to organize your details.
5. Assess the thesis you have found:
• Are these questions and answers relevant to the course material?
• Am I interested developing and supporting my answer to this question?
• Will my readers be interested in my answer?
• Can I find appropriate material to support my answer in the amount of time I have to work on this assignment?
• Can I ask and answer my question in the number of pages asked for?

 

From thesis to paper

• Try reading your thesis aloud to a friend.
• If that person understands what you are talking about and why, your thesis probably makes sense.
• Try writing an outline of points that might follow logically from your thesis.
• This may help you figure out how to support the claims or promises of information that you make in your thesis.
• Write a rough draft to test your main idea.
• You may discover that your thesis needs to be changed or replaced.
• If you write an early draft that doesn't stick to the main point you have chosen, it may mean that you really want to write about something else. In that case, change your thesis.
• Revise your draft to support your thesis.
• When you are confident your thesis reflects the point you really want to make, review each paragraph of the paper to see how it relates to the thesis.
• Make an outline of the paper's points and compare it to the thesis. You may decide to add, omit, or rearrange material to make your paper more persuasive and informative.

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This article is from the Northwestern University website.

Thesis Articles

Below are some excerpts from a UNC handout.  Follow the link for the full information.

Introduction

Writing in college often takes the form of persuasion—convincing others that you have an interesting, logical point of view on the subject you are studying. Persuasion is a skill you practice regularly in your daily life. You persuade your roommate to clean up, your parents to let you borrow the car, your friend to vote for your favorite candidate or policy. In college, course assignments often ask you to make a persuasive case in writing. You are asked to convince your reader of your point of view. This form of persuasion, often called academic argument, follows a predictable pattern in writing. After a brief introduction of your topic, you state your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you'll make in the rest of your paper.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement:

• tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
• is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
• directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
• makes a claim that others might dispute.
• is usually a single sentence somewhere in your first paragraph that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

If your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you may need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. The assignment may not explicitly state that you need a thesis statement because your instructor may assume you will include one. When in doubt, ask your instructor if the assignment requires a thesis statement. When an assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively.