Taken together, a thesis statement explains your subject or position in a sentence (or a couple of sentences). Depending on the kind of essay you’re writing, you’ll need to make sure that your thesis statement states your subject or position clearly.
As an example of how to use these sentence starters, we’ve put together some examples using the first prompt: Write about your favorite sports team.
Now comes the good stuff: the breakdown of how to write a good thesis statement for an informational essay and then for an argumentative essay (Yes, there are different types of thesis statements: check them all out here). While the approach is similar for each, they require slightly different statements.
Before we get into the specifics, let’s review the basics: what thesis statement means. Thesis is a fancy word for “the subject of an essay” or “a position in a debate.” And a statement, simply, is a sentence (or a couple of sentences).
Informational essay thesis statements
Prompt: What are the three branches of government, and what do each of them do?
Bad thesis statement: There are many branches of government that do many different things.
Good thesis statement: Each of the three branches of government—the executive, the legislative, and the judicial—have different primary responsibilities. However, these roles frequently overlap.
If you aren’t given a specific question to respond to, it can be a little more difficult to decide on a thesis statement. However, there are some tricks you can use to make it easier.
You can use some of the same vocabulary and structure from the questions to create a thesis statement. Drop the question words (like who, what, when, where, and why). Then, use the keywords in the question or prompt to start your thesis statement. Be sure to include because if the question asks “why?”
Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.
Particularly in an argumentative essay, your thesis statement should be something that others might question or disagree with.
You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis, early in the writing process. As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic, you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.
A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay. It usually comes near the end of your introduction.
Table of contents
- It gives your writing direction and focus.
- It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.
A good thesis statement is short and sweet—don’t use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
The best thesis statements are concise, contentious and coherent.
The appendices
Write your thesis from the inside out. Begin with the chapters on your own experimental work. You will develop confidence in writing them because you know your own work better than anyone else. Once you have overcome the initial inertia, move on to the other chapters.
“No man is an Island”. The critical review of the literature places your work in context. Usually, one third of the PhD thesis is about others’ work
The methodology: The third section is a discussion of the research methodology adopted in the thesis and touches on aspects such as the research design, the area, population and sample that will be considered for the study as well as the sampling procedure. These aspects are discussed in terms of choice, method and rationale. This section also covers the sub- section of data collection, data analysis and measures of ensuring validity of study. It is the chapter 3. This chapter explains the method used in data collection and data analysis. It explains the methodology adopted and why it is the best method to be used, it also explains every step of data collection and analysis. The data used could be primary data or secondary data. While analysing the data, proper statistical tool should be used in order to fit the stated objectives of the thesis. The statistical tool could be
Structure of a Thesis
The findings and discussion of result: The next section is a discussion of findings based on the data collection instrumentation used and the objectives or hypotheses of study if any. It is the chapter 4. It is research results. This is the part that describes the research. It shows the result gotten from data that is collected and analysed. It discusses the result and how it relates to your profession.
Preliminaries Pages: The preliminaries are the cover page, the title page, the table of contents page, and the abstract.
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A thesis is a statement, theory, argument, proposal or proposition, which is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved. It explains the stand someone takes on an issue and how the person intends to justify the stand. It is always better to pick a topic that will be able to render professional help, a topic that you will be happy to talk about with anybody, a topic you have personal interest and passion for, because when writing a thesis gets frustrating personal interest, happiness and passion coupled with the professional help it will be easier to write a great thesis (see you through the thesis). One has to source for a lot of information concerning the topic one is writing a thesis on in order to know the important question, because for you to take a good stand on an issue you have to study the evidence first.
At the doctoral level, writing a dissertation is a serious undertaking done in stages throughout the program. You may even be asked to identify tentative topics for a dissertation at the time of application to the doctoral program. Graduate faculty look for students who share their particular research interests. Similarly, you will likely apply to schools conducting the type of research you hope to experience. You will also need to ask qualified instructors and professionals to serve on your thesis committee to monitor and evaluate your progress on the dissertation.
A thesis is the main idea of an academic paper that expresses the writer’s position on a topic. In other words, if you are writing about the death penalty, you would state your viewpoint upfront and introduce the arguments you will be presenting in defense of your stance. Having a clear, unmistakable thesis shows strength and confidence in your beliefs.
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Controversial subjects can be very interesting to research, but you must keep your emotions in check and objectively assess the credibility of sources. Academic research is scholarly and rational in tone and style. A thesis statement that is bombastic or judgmental is difficult to prove or disprove. For example, a thesis statement asserting that human genetic modification is evil and morally wrong is a matter of somebody’s emotional opinion that may or may not be swayed by facts. A better approach to such a topic would be to make the claim that further study is needed on the ethics and health implications of human genetic engineering.
Dissertation vs. Thesis
You may want to choose a topic related to your career goals to help you develop skills and competencies that will be advantageous in a job search. Conduct exploratory research to see how much has been written about your topic already. Ask faculty for suggestions. Avoid longitudinal studies unless you are sure you can collect and analyze data without having to extend your intended graduation date.
When crafting a thesis statement, you must honestly ask yourself if your research findings would matter to anyone. Your research will be dismissed or even ridiculed if professionals in your field do not care what your findings might show. The introduction of your paper should pique the reader’s curiosity and reinforce a desire to read your thesis paper in its entirety. Place the thesis statement in the last paragraph of the introduction. People expect to find it there.
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If we were to write the rest of the essay based on this thesis statement, the outline would look something like this:
- State the topic or present your argument.
- Summarize the main idea of each of your details and/or body paragraphs.
- Keep your statement to one to two sentences.
Prompt 2: What is the best way to cook a turkey?
Bad thesis statement: The best way to cook a turkey is the way my grandma does it.
Good thesis statement: The best way to cook a turkey is using my grandmother’s recipe: brining the turkey beforehand, using a dry rub, and cooking at a low temperature.
Often, you will be provided with a question to respond to in informational essay form. For example:
Essays that are responding to a question
- Write about your favorite sports team.
- Describe how a motor works.
- Pick a famous scientist and write about their life.
- Compare and contrast the themes of a poem and a short story.
For these, we recommend using one of the following sentence starters to write your thesis with:
A thesis statement is the foundation of your essay. However, sometimes as you’re writing, you find that you’ve deviated from your original statement. Once you’ve finished writing your essay, go back and read your thesis statement. Ask yourself: