Thesis Statements | Example | Generator | Worksheet | Template
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The thesis statement distills the primary claim of your paper or work. Thus, it is important to work on this statement so it is clear, specific, and suggests you have authoritative evidence to support the claim.
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How to Write a Thesis Statement
The thesis should be one sentence in length in the first paragraph, and it must argue a point. This means it cannot merely state a well-known fact, such as “Excessive eating causes weight gain.” The thesis must be debatable, but most people wouldn’t seriously argue that excessive eating does not cause weight gain.
As the overall purpose of the paper is to persuade the reader, you should also include causality in your statement, provide a solution to a problem, or offer an interpretation of events so that the thesis is not a bare opinion. Thinking about these different ways to frame your thesis can help you create one and make you think about the evidence you have in a new way that benefits your paper. A strong thesis statement will summarize evidence that supports the claim (evidence that is briefly elaborated upon in the paragraph and at length in the rest of the paper) as well as making the claim.
If your assignment includes a question that you must answer, then the thesis should answer this question directly. Even if the assignment seems more complicated than answering one question, it likely is possible to distill it to one question, which will focus your effort in formulating a thesis.
Your statement should also be narrow enough so that you can prove it given the length your entire argument may be. For example, the thesis “Pollution has numerous causes and ill effects on society” is too broad because it could potentially include hundreds of pages worth of discussion given the myriad ways industries and everyday domestic life affect the environment and the countless ways our world is affected by pollution. A better statement would discuss only one type of pollution, only a small number of causes, or only a small number of effects. Specificity is also critical in any type of writing because if your terms are too vague, you could confuse the reader.
Essential elements of a thesis statement:
- Directly states the primary claim of your paper
- Makes a claim that reasonable people could dispute
- Makes a narrow claim with specific terms
- Answers a question
- Is in the first paragraph of your paper
Here are examples of thesis statements:
- Through its use of contrasting, dystopian visual elements, Blade Runner presents a haunting picture of the modern human condition.
- East and West Germany appropriated and rejected various aspects of American culture to shape their post-WWII national identities.
- According to EPA reports and National Park studies, the use of SUVs and other large automobiles has not hurt the environment any more than the use of compact cars does.
Video How to Write a Thesis Statement for Beginners
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