1. How Do I Write A Thesis?
INGL 3201
W. Mercado

2. Study your generation Material
The point you generated most ideas for is not necessarily your best choice. Perhaps you have too much material, or your point is of little interest to the reader. Study your idea generation material with your reader in mind before deciding on your thesis idea.

3. Write a two-part thesis
One part of your thesis should give the topic you are discussing, and the other part should note your assertion about the topic. For example:
The federal government should not outlaw Internet gambling.
Although textbooks cost a great deal of money, they are one of the best bargains in education.

4. Note the main points that will be made in your essay
In addition to your topic and assertion, your thesis can (it is optional) indicate the main points you will cover in your body paragraphs. For example:
Year-round schools are a good idea because children would not forget material over long sumer breaks, child care would not be a problem for working parents, and a greater number of elective courses could be offered.

5. Limit your topic to something manageable
Avoid treating more than one topic or more than one assertion. Avoid single topics that are too broad. These require you to write too much, or it forces you into a very general, superficial treatment of your topic. Examples:
More than one topic: To revitalize the city, tax incentives should be offered to new businesses, and more parking should be offered downtown.

6. More than one assertion:
continued
More than one assertion:
Voters would be less apathetic if campaign finance laws were changed, and if candidates debated more often.
Too broad:
The American political system needs to be restructured.

7. Express you assertion in specific words
Using words like good, bad, nice, awesome, interesting are too vague to give your reader a clear indication of your assertion, so use specific words and phrases instead. Examples:
Hillary Clinton is a good candidate for President.
Hillary Clinton is a qualified candidate for President because of her extensive political background.
Museo de Arte de Ponce is the coolest place ever.
Museo de Arte de Ponce is a national treasure because of its collection of Puerto Rican Art.

8. Avoid factual statements
If your thesis is a statement of indisputable fact, your essay will have nowhere to go.
Example:
Puerto Rico must decide whether to become a state of the Union or independent.
Puerto Rico should decide to become a state of the Union.

9. Avoid Announcing your intentions
Thesis statements that include wordings like: “This essay will show”, “In the following paragraphs I will explain”, and “My purpose is to demonstrate” are best reserved for scientific and technical papers.
Announcement: The purpose of this paper is to show why state lotteries are harmful to the average person.
Better: State lotteries are harmful to the average person.

10. Consider your thesis to be tentative
During drafting and revising, everything is part of a process of discovery and is subject to change. Your thesis, no matter how carefully you crafted it, is tentative and it may change later as new ideas occur to you.

11. Writing Activity
Using the ideas you generated for writing, write two thesis statements:
One that is divided in two parts
Ex: In order to alleviate traffic in Colegio, a multi-level parking lot should be built.
One that states the main points you will write about in your body paragraphs.
Ex: In order to ensure student safety in Colegio, surveillance cameras should be placed, more lampposts should be installed, and trolleys should be running at night.