1. Writing Thesis Statement

2. Begin with a Point, or Thesis
Your first step in writing is to discover what point you want to make and to write that point as a single sentence.
Use the thesis as a guide while writing your essay. At any stage you can ask yourself, “does this support my thesis?” with the thesis as a guide, the danger of drifting away from the point of the essay is greatly reduced.

3. Narrow down Your Topic
To write a good thesis, you must begin with a subject that is neither too broad nor too narrow. Narrow down your topic until you have a thesis that you can deal with specifically in about two hundred words.

4. General
Subject
Limited
Thesis
Marriage
Honeymoon
A honeymoon is perhaps the worst way to begin a marriage.
Children
Disciplining of children
my husband and I have several effective ways of disciplining our children.
Sports
Player’s salaries
Player’s high salaries are bad for the game, for the fans, and for the values our children are developing.

5. What is a thesis?
A thesis is the core of an introduction, which is like an umbrella, which spans your essays. A thesis statement is a sentence (or sentences) that expresses the main ideas of your paper and answers the question or questions posed by your paper. It offers your readers a quick and easy way to follow what the paper will be discussing and what you as a writer are setting out to tell them.

6. Thesis Statement: an Example
Try to Find the Thesis Statement in the Following Passage
I recently read about an area of the former Soviet Union where many people live to be well over a hundred years old. Being 115 or even 125 isn’t considered unusual there, and these old people continued to do productive work right up until they die. The United States, however, isn’t such a healthy place for older people. Since I retired from my job, I’ve had to cope with the physical, mental, and emotional stresses of being “old”.

7. Functions of the thesis statement
The thesis statement narrows down your subject to a single central idea that you want your readers to gain from your essay.
It claims something specific and significant about your subject, a claim that requires support.
It conveys your purpose, your reason for writing.
It often concisely previews the arrangement of ideas.

8. Strong or weak thesis? A strong thesis takes some sort of stand.
A strong thesis expresses one main idea.
A strong thesis statement is specific.
A strong thesis statement should not be too narrow.

9. Evaluating Thesis Statements
Because I was late for work yesterday, I lost an hour’s pay and was called in to see the boss.
My first job taught me that I had several bad work habits.
Learning new skills can be difficult and frustrating.
Learning to write takes work, patience, and a sense of humor.

10. The new architecture on this campus is very unpleasant, although the expansion was desperately needed.
Our new college library building is ugly, intimidating, and inefficient.

11. Completing Thesis statements
Complete the following thesis statements by adding a third supporting point that will parallel the two already provided.
Getting married too young was a mistake because we hadn’t finished our education, we weren’t ready for children and __________________________________.
During my first semester at college, I had to learn how to manage my time, my diet, and ______________________________.

12. Writing a Thesis Statement
First, I tried simply avoiding the snacks aisle of the supermarket.
Then I stated limiting myself to only five units of any given snack.
Finally, in desperation, I began keeping the cellophane bags of snacks in a padlocked cupboard.

13. Thesis Statement: Location
Some want to buy new houses.
General background information
People are thinking of ways to enjoy their lives after becoming rich.
More specific
Others would like to have their private cars.
Still more specific
I choose to travel.
Thesis statement

14. Traveling abroad benefits me a lot in
Foreign travel helps me to learn about
cultures of different nations.
Thesis statement
Traveling abroad benefits me a lot in
enriching knowledge and making friends.
Topic sentence of the 1st body paragraph.
Topic sentence of the 2nd body paragraph
I can make friends all over the world in traveling.
Foreign travel makes me happy because of the
benefits in learning something new
and making friends in different countries.
Concluding paragraph