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General Thesis Statement Tips

· 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.

· A thesis statement is a very specific statement -- it should cover only what you want to discuss in your paper, and be supported with specific evidence. The scope of your paper will be determined by the length of your paper and any other requirements that might be in place.

· Generally, a thesis statement appears toward the beginning of the essay.

· You can think of your thesis as a map or a guide both for yourself and your audience, so it might be helpful to draw a chart or picture of your ideas and how they're connected to help you get started.

· As you write and revise your paper, it's okay to change your thesis statement -- sometimes you don't discover what you really want to say about a topic until you've started (or finished) writing! Just make sure that your "final" thesis statement accurately shows what will happen in your paper.

Expository (Explanatory/Informative) Thesis Statements

In an expository paper, you are explaining something to your audience. An expository thesis statement will tell your audience:

· what you are going to explain to them

· the categories you are using to organize your explanation

· the order in which you will be presenting your categories

Example: The lifestyles of barn owls include hunting for insects and animals, building nests, and raising their young.

A reader who encountered that thesis would expect the paper to explain how barn owls hunt for insects, build nests, and raise young.

Questions to ask yourself when writing an expository thesis statement:

· What am I trying to explain?

· How can I categorize my explanation into different parts?

· In what order should I present the different parts of my explanation?

Argumentative Thesis Statements

In an argumentative paper, you are making a claim about a topic and justifying this claim with reasons and evidence. This claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. However, this claim must be a statement that people could possibly disagree with, because the goal of your paper is to convince your audience that your claim is true based on your presentation of your reasons and evidence. An argumentative thesis statement will tell your audience:

· your claim or assertion

· the reasons/evidence that support this claim

· the order in which you will be presenting your reasons and evidence

Example: Barn owls' nests should not be eliminated from barns because barn owls help farmers by eliminating insect and rodent pests.

A reader who encountered this thesis would expect to be presented with an argument and evidence that farmers should not get rid of barn owls when they find them nesting in their barns.

Questions to ask yourself when writing an argumentative thesis statement:

· What is my claim or assertion?

· What are the reasons I have to support my claim or assertion?

· In what order should I present my reasons?

Thesis statements can also include a “call to action”, in which the writer makes an argument that something ought to be done to resolve a particular situation. Call to action thesis statements can occur on their own, or together with more general argumentative thesis statements.

Example: In order to maintain barn owl nests in barns, state governments should restrict the use of potentially toxic pesticides which lead to the death of dozens of owls each year.

Common problems with argumentative thesis statements:

· State a fact rather than make an argument

· Too broad

After you develop your thesis statement, ask yourself:

· Is my thesis statement specific enough? Thesis statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains words like "good" or "successful," see if you could be more specific: why is something "good"; what specifically makes something "successful"?

· Does my thesis pass the "So what?" test? If a reader's first response is, "So what?" then you need to clarify, or to connect to a larger issue.

· Does my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. It's o.k. to change your working thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.

· Does my thesis pass the "how and why?" test? If a reader's first response is "how?" or "why?" your thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. Try to think of what you can add to help your reader understand your thesis statement right from the beginning.