When you write an essay, your thesis statement is what draws the reader in and makes them want to keep reading. Your thesis statement, which typically appears in your introduction, tells your reader the main point of your essay. While the type or style of your thesis statement may vary a bit depending on the type of essay you’re writing, it serves as a guide to your reader, introducing them to the argument you will defend.
What is the Purpose of a Thesis Statement?
A thesis statement encapsulates the argument you’re making or the viewpoint you’re expressing in your essay. It provides direction to your essay while also setting limits regarding what you’re writing about. That direction helps you organize your paper, and it helps the reader follow your reasoning throughout your essay.
Your thesis statement also prepares the reader to understand what arguments you’re going to make through the course of your essay. All the following paragraphs of your essay should develop the ideas introduced in the thesis statement and provide evidence to back up the claims you make. Without a clear thesis statement, your reader can’t tell what you’re going to discuss, leaving them without motivation to continue reading your essay.
What Does a Thesis Statement Look Like?
A thesis statement typically takes the form of a single sentence that summarizes the main idea of your essay. Your thesis statement should state boldly and clearly the most important claim of your paper or the question you intend to answer. It is more than just a statement of the topic of the paper (e.g., “This paper is about the themes of music and food in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night“). Rather, it states an argument, a question or an interpretation that the rest of your essay will defend.
Your thesis statement should be clear regarding the issue under discussion, and it should contain a premise that forms the basis for an argument or a position that you will defend in the paper. A thesis statement must be specific, requiring development and support, rather than being a vague pronouncement that can’t be empirically supported (e.g., “I like Shakespeare’s plays.”).
Examples of a Thesis Statement for a Narrative Essay
A narrative essay is an essay that draws on your own personal experience. You might write a narrative essay, for instance, when applying to college, telling the story of a moment in your life that help set your direction going forward. When writing a narrative essay, you focus on how an experience changed you or helped you achieve a goal.
To write a thesis statement for a narrative essay, try to link the beginning of your journey or experience with the endpoint or lesson that you learned. You might want to say something like, “When I fell in love for the first time, I learned that the person I needed to love the most was myself,” or “The first time I set foot on a movie set, I realized that this was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”
Examples of a Thesis Statement for an Argumentative or Persuasive Essay
If you’re writing a thesis statement for an argumentative or persuasive essay, you need to make sure that your statement is something that can actually be debated or argued. A statement isn’t debatable if it’s too vague or if it’s something that almost everyone agrees on. For example, “Pollution is bad” is a weak thesis statement because there’s not much to debate. It’s very vague, and few people would disagree with it.
To write a thesis statement for an argumentative or persuasive essay, do the research needed to understand the pros and cons surrounding your position. You’ll want to have a handle on the logical and factual points you need to make before you compose your thesis statement. Avoid strawman arguments and other fallacies, and make sure to address multiple sides of the issue you’re discussing.
As you formulate your thesis statement, make it as specific and precise as possible. Instead of “Pollution is bad,” you might create a more specific thesis statement such as “Water pollution, which has irreversible effects on ocean ecosystems, can be controlled through national and international regulations.” This statement is specific and debatable, and it’s narrow enough for you to be able to write a cogent essay that makes a clear, focused point.
Examples of a Thesis Statement for an Analytical Essay
The key to writing a thesis statement for an analytical essay is, not surprisingly, the analysis you’ve done on a topic, such as a social issue or a work of art or literature. Your thesis statement will be based on the deep understanding you’ve gained by diving deep into the meaning and interpretation of your topic.
An example of a thesis statement for an analytical essay might be, “The metaphors of music and food in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night contribute to the play’s juxtaposition of love as something to be cynical about and something to desire.” From this thesis statement, you can go on to break down the elements of your analysis, citing examples of metaphors from the play and pointing out evidence that supports your claim.
An analytical essay about a social issue might begin, “School shootings and climate change are among the key factors contributing to the rise of anxiety in high school students.” From here, you can present analytical data that supports your claim.
Examples of a Thesis Statement for a Research Paper
The thesis statement for a research paper is similar to that for an analytical essay, with the research paper focusing on the results of a specific study. A research paper’s thesis statement should refer to the hypothesis that drove you to conduct the research in the first place, with the paper providing the evidence that proves or disproves the hypothesis.
A research paper’s thesis statement might read, “College football players suffer traumatic brain injury more often than do athletes in other sports.” Typically, a research paper’s thesis is directly provable by evidence. A research paper in the sciences, for instance, might start, “Measles outbreaks are more common in areas where parents don’t vaccinate their children.”
General Tips for Writing a Thesis Statement
When writing a thesis statement, keep these tips in mind:
- Make sure you understand the assignment so you can formulate a specific and focused thesis statement.
- Brainstorm or freewrite to get down ideas before you try to express them formally.
- Create an outline for your essay to make sure your thesis statement accurately reflects your ideas and the structure of your paper.
- Complete your research before crafting your thesis statement — but avoid the need for perfectionism or the “paralysis of analysis.”
- Revise your thesis statement if need be as you right, adjusting and changing as needed.
- Seek feedback from writing center tutors, teaching assistants, and peer review sources as you craft your statement.
When to Use a Three-point Thesis Statement and When Not to Use One
Your professor or instructor may require that you use a three-point thesis statement, which includes a topic, an assertion about that topic, and justification for the claim made. In some cases, your essay topic may make this technique a good choice. However, some professors ask students to avoid these types of thesis statements. You can look at examples of essays on similar topics to see what types of thesis statements are preferred. When in doubt, always check with the professor regarding their preferences.
Other Useful Web Resources on How to Write a Thesis Statement
You can find several valuable resources that will help you even further with writing your thesis statements, including the following:
- The University of Arizona Global Center Thesis Generator. This template takes your input regarding your topic and ideas to generate thesis statements for argumentative essays.
- Purdue Online Writing Lab’s Tips and Examples for Writing Thesis Statements. This site provides clear steps and tips for writing thesis statements for several types of essays.
- Indiana University Bloomington Writing Tutorial Services. This guide breaks down the differences of writing thesis statements on an assigned topic versus writing them when you can choose your own topic.