To write a thesis statement, you should read the right source material, understand what you read, and make sure you express yourself clearly and efficiently. Therefore, much care and time should be taken in constructing one for your academic writing.
In the thesis statement, you are essentially summarizing your entire essay argument. It should serve as a kind of roadmap for your whole argument. A reader should be able to read any part of the essay and see how it reflects what was stated in your thesis statement.
Even more importantly, your thesis statement provides a signpost for you the writer. In your process of self-editing and revising, you should continually go back to your thesis statement to ensure that you remain on track. In this article, I provide a process you can follow to do so.
What is a thesis statement?
A thesis statement can be described as a sentence that provides the main point of your essay or research paper. One of the main characteristics of a thesis statement is conciseness. So what does conciseness mean?
It means saying as much as possible in as few words as possible. In the thesis statement, you are summarizing your whole essay in a single sentence. Many sources claim that the thesis statement should be included close to the end of the introduction.
This makes sense. It’s normal and natural to provide context before getting to the main point, especially in daily conversations and speeches. However, academic writing is not “natural.”
The ideal would be to state the thesis statement in the first few sentences of your introductory paragraph. You should prioritize making it clear to your reader what position, stance, or central point in your essay is.
Example of thesis statement in an introductory paragraph |
"Marrysong" by Dennis Scot and “Silver Wedding” by Vernon Scannel both emphasize the frustrations of marriage from a male perspective; however, Marrysong manages to preserve a romantic and even inspiring view of marriage, whereas "Silver Wedding" descends into heavy resignation and even despair.
In this thesis statement, I get straight to the point in the first sentence.
Steps to writing a thesis statement
To write a thesis statement, there are four steps that you should follow. They include 1. Do the reading; 2. Develop your position or thinking of an issue; 3. Write down your thesis statement; and 4. Refine your thesis statement.
Let’s take a look at each of these steps below.
1. Do the reading
A thesis statement is only as good as the reading that inspired it. You need to rely on high-quality sources as inspiration for writing a thesis statement.
This means after confirmation of the topic that you will be writing about, you should locate model sources to get inspiration from. For academic writing at the university level, it hardly makes any sense to rely on your opinions to write an essay.
Instead, you should focus on locating credible sources to support your ideas. An effective strategy is relying on scholarly indexes. This includes Scopus and Google Scholar.
However, if you’re new to academic writing, these indexes can be somewhat complicated and overwhelming. Think of directly asking your course professor for advice on the best source.
This could be a book, a scholarly essay, or an old essay written by a past student of the course. Just remember to properly assimilate the information and express it in your own words. This you can do through properly paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting.
2. Develop your position on an issue
After doing the reading, you need to develop your position on an issue. You need to ensure that your position is supported by evidence and logic. Your thesis statement should be considered in relation to your wider argument.
If possible, compare your central statement or position with the outline of your document. Your thesis statement should be structured and written in such a way that all roads lead back to it.
Your position should have one or more of the following characteristics:
It should be original
It should be interesting
It should be a little controversial
It should be based on evidence and logic
There are several tactics that you could follow to make sure that your position on an issue is interesting and can capture the attention of the reader. You could watch YouTube videos on the issue.
Read a variety of sources, ranging from books, scholarly papers, and news articles. These varying and unconventional sources can lead to interesting and novel perspectives.
3. Write down your thesis statement
After doing the reading and developing your position, you should write down your thesis statement. Remember this is the most important sentence in your essay. Therefore, you should take much care when constructing it.
Pay attention to tehse things when writing your thesis statement:
Make sure its grammatically correct
Make sure its balanced
Make sure its concise
You can use grammar checkers and proofreading software to ensure that your thesis statement is correct in terms of grammar and punctuation. Also, make sure that you consider other alternative perspectives when writing your thesis statement. This is what is meant by being balanced.
4. Refine your thesis statement
After writing your thesis statement, you should give it time to “breathe.” This means waiting before going back to it after a few hours or even days. This will allow you time to read your thesis statement again with a fresh pair of eyes.
Other options include asking a friend to read your thesis statement to make sure that it's properly written or easy to understand. It would be even better if you refine or revise your thesis statement after completing the whole essay.
Make sure that every part of your essay reflects the main point in your thesis statement. If there’s any discrepancy, then you should make the necessary changes.
Final thoughts
Writing your thesis statement is crucial in essay writing or writing your research paper. The ideal thesis statement is:
Balanced
Written in the first few sentences of the introductory paragraph
Slightly controversial
You should spend alot of time and care writing your thesis statement. It serves as a signpost to your reader as it shows how your argument is structured and laid out. In addition, it also provides you with a framework to follow when writing your essay or research paper.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2024, August 20). How to Write a Thesis Statement. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/how-to-write-a-thesis-statement |
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