Creating a Thesis Statement, Thesis Statement Tips Purdue OWL® (2024)

Creating a Thesis Statement, Thesis Statement Tips Purdue OWL® (1)

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Tips for Writing Your Thesis Statement

1. Determine what kind of paper you are writing:

  • An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience.
  • An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience.
  • An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided.

If you are writing a text that does not fall under these three categories (e.g., a narrative), a thesis statement somewhere in the first paragraph could still be helpful to your reader.

2. Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence.

3. The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper.

4. Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.

Thesis Statement Examples

Example of an analytical thesis statement:

An analysis of the college admission process reveals one challenge facing counselors: accepting students with high test scores or students with strong extracurricular backgrounds.

The paper that follows should:

  • Explain the analysis of the college admission process
  • Explain the challenge facing admissions counselors

Example of an expository (explanatory) thesis statement:

The life of the typical college student is characterized by time spent studying, attending class, and socializing with peers.

The paper that follows should:

  • Explain how students spend their time studying, attending class, and socializing with peers

Example of an argumentative thesis statement:

High school graduates should be required to take a year off to pursue community service projects before entering college in order to increase their maturity and global awareness.

The paper that follows should:

  • Present an argument and give evidence to support the claim that students should pursue community projects before entering college
Creating a Thesis Statement, Thesis Statement Tips 
			 Purdue OWL® (2024)

FAQs

Creating a Thesis Statement, Thesis Statement Tips Purdue OWL®? ›

A thesis statement is a sentence (sometimes more than one sentence) in the introduction that tells the reader the following information: What the topic of the paper is. How the writer intends to discuss that topic. It gives a blueprint for how the essay will be structured.

What 3 things must a thesis statement have? ›

A thesis statement is a sentence (sometimes more than one sentence) in the introduction that tells the reader the following information: What the topic of the paper is. How the writer intends to discuss that topic. It gives a blueprint for how the essay will be structured.

What are 3 qualities of a proper thesis statement? ›

A strong thesis is specific, precise, forceful, confident, and is able to be demonstrated. A strong thesis challenges readers with a point of view that can be debated and can be supported with evidence.

What are the 3 C's of a thesis statement? ›

Writing well isn't that difficult if you follow the 3 Cs – Clarity, Conciseness and Consistency. Here are some tips for achieving the 3 Cs.

What is an example of a strong thesis statement? ›

Example thesis statement It is easy to demonstrate that pets help humans in many ways. School uniforms should be required for three reasons. College students should be encouraged to pursue a career in science because of the large number of job options and the higher salaries.

How to write a Killer thesis statement? ›

A thesis statement should: • answer the questions 'how' and/or 'why'; provide the logic of the paper; • cover the entire paper. The rest of the paper should: • echo a thesis statement in every sentence; prove that the thesis statement is correct; • repeat a rephrased thesis statement in the conclusion.

What is the layout of a thesis statement? ›

The thesis statement consists of two sections – a claim and the supporting reasons for that claim. The claim is the part of the thesis that declares the central point of the paper. The supporting ideas introduce new concepts on which the paper's body paragraphs will focus.

What is a thesis template? ›

A thesis sentence template is the basic machinery of a thesis sentence, what makes it work. It is like a car minus the hood, the doors, the en- gine, the side panels, the wheels, and the air conditioner. On that basic structure, thousands of different cars can be built.

What three things are needed in an excellent thesis statement? ›

Avoid general phrasing and/or sweeping words such as “all” or “none” or “every”. Lead the reader toward the topic sentences (the subtopics needed to prove the thesis). Anticipate the counter-arguments. Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it.

What are the two 2 basic parts of any thesis statement? ›

A thesis statement generally consists of two parts: your topic, and then the analysis, explanation(s), or assertion(s) that you're making about the topic. The kind of thesis statement you write will depend on what kind of paper you're writing.

How to formulate a good thesis statement? ›

A strong thesis statement is specific.

A thesis statement should show exactly what your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a manageable topic. For example, if you're writing a seven-to-ten page paper on hunger, you might say: World hunger has many causes and effects.

What is an example of a thesis statement? ›

Example of an argumentative thesis statement: High school graduates should be required to take a year off to pursue community service projects before entering college in order to increase their maturity and global awareness.

What is the best format for a thesis? ›

The text must appear in a single column on each page and be double-spaced throughout the document. Do not arrange chapter text in multiple columns. New paragraphs must be indicated by a consistent tab indentation throughout the entire document. The document text must be left-justified, not centered or right-justified.

Which is the most effective thesis statement? ›

The best thesis statement is a balance of specific details and concise language. Your goal is to articulate an argument in detail without burdening the reader with too much information.

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