TranscriptionwaveDefining a thesis statement
Almost everyone looks consciously or subconsciously into the first sentences of an essay to find a condensation of the analysis or argument that will follow into the main article. This condensation is refereed to as a thesis statement.
- Why do essays have thesis statements?
- To test the ideas by condensing them into a single or two sentences
- For better organization and development of the argument
- To provide the readers with a guide in regards to your argument
In general, the thesis statement usually accomplishes the above goals if it answers the questions that the paper will explore.
How do you write a great thesis statement?
Some of the hints that you many find useful for this include:
How to generate a thesis statement when you have been assigned a topic
How to generate a thesis statement when the topic has not been assigned
How to differentiate a strong thesis statement from a weak one
Generating a thesis statement when the topic has been assigned
No matter how complicated an assignment is it is possible to reduce it to one question. The first step is to find a way to distill the assignment so that it becomes a specific question. E.g. an assignment can read: “write a report to the local school board explaining the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth grade class”. The request can be turned into a question that will read; “what are the potential benefits of using computers in the fourth grade class”. Once you have selected the question that the essay will answer, compose a sentence or two that answer the question.
Q. “What are the potential benefits of using computers in the fourth grade class?”
A. “The potential benefits of using computers in the fourth grade class are …”
Or
A: “using computers in a fourth grade class promises to improve…”
The thesis statement that will be used for the essay is the answer to the question.
Generating a thesis statement when the topic has not been assigned
Even when the assignment does not have a specific question, the thesis statement has to answer one. This will include
- A reasonable subject that might have controversy
- A subject that can be treated adequately
- Expresses the main idea
- Asserts the conclusions
Differentiating a strong thesis from a weak one
Features of a strong thesis include:
- It has a stand
- It justifies the discussion
- It expresses the main idea
- It is specific
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