Thesis Statements

What is a thesis statement? It is the guiding focus for your entire essay. It is the main or controlling point for your whole paper. Everything in your essay should support your thesis.

Thesis Continued The thesis appears early on to help guide your reader through the points you will be making. Nothing should appear in the body of the paper that does not directly connect to the thesis statement. Your thesis can be explicit or implicit.

ExplicitImplicit The thesis is directly stated and can be physically underlined and identified clearly by any one reading the essay. All of your thesis statements will need to be explicit. The thesis is “hinted at” or implied. The reader will understand the main point by the time they are finished reading the essay. These are often used in personal narratives

A Good Thesis Statement… Includes your opinion (but stated as a fact) Contains only one main idea States something worthwhile—not obvious Has an argument built into it Is specific It is narrow enough to fit the assignment It is easily recognized as the main idea It appears as the last sentence or two of your introduction

Thesis Statement Mistakes to Avoid Don’t just announce your subject matter. Don’t state a fact or statistic—a thesis must be debatable. Don’t use “in my opinion” or “I think”; this creates a non-debatable thesis. Don’t form your thesis as a question.

Which is a Thesis? In my opinion, Animal Farm, by George Orwell, expresses the theme of corruption prevails when power is unchecked. Animal Farm, by George Orwell, expresses the theme of corruption prevails when power is unchecked.

Which is a Thesis? In the year 1987, 500,000 high school students died from extreme exhaustion resulting from annotating required texts. In order to improve the quality of health for students, the annotating of required course texts should be banned in high schools.

Which is a thesis? The use of journaling and free-writing in the high school classroom, contributes to the delinquency of minors. Could the extended use of journaling and free-writing in the high school classroom, contribute to the delinquency of minors?

Remember… A thesis statement may need to be split between two sentences, but should be as concise as possible. The thesis statement may go through many revisions by the time you finish your essay. Writing is discovery. All points in the essay must fit under the thesis, so be prepared to make revisions as you go.