Writing and Effective Thesis
Thesis Statements
What is a Thesis Statement?
If you have ever worked in an office with computers, your computer was probably connected to a network. In a network, there is one main computer to which all the other computers send and receive information. If that base computer shuts down, all the other computers shut down—everything centers on that one computer. In the same way, every word, sentence, and paragraph in an essay must relate to or center on the thesis statement. A thesis statement informs readers in a concise manner regarding your intention in writing the paper.
No matter what type of paper you write—expository, argumentation, or research—the center of your paper is always your thesis statement. From now through the rest of your educational courses, instructors will want you to have a well-developed thesis in your essays. For this reason, it is important that you learn to write effective thesis statements.
While writing your paper, you will have a tentative, or working, thesis, which will most likely change as you find support and write your paper. You may write and rewrite a thesis several times while developing an essay.
The concept of the thesis statement can be difficult for beginning writers to understand. The following are some characteristics of an effective thesis statement:
• A thesis is only one sentence. One of the most common mistakes students make is to write a number of sentences and call it a thesis. A thesis statement, however, is singular and should be only one sentence consisting of 25 words or fewer.
• A thesis makes an assertion (your opinion) related to the topic of the essay. It is what you want to prove in your essay.
• The thesis should always be located near the end of your introduction.
• Everything in your paper must support, be related to, or point back to your thesis statement.
• Although a thesis is an opinion, that opinion must be one a reasonable person could
What is a Thesis Statement?
If you have ever worked in an office with computers, your computer was probably connected to a network. In a network, there is one main computer to which all the other computers send and receive information. If that base computer shuts down, all the other computers shut down—everything centers on that one computer. In the same way, every word, sentence, and paragraph in an essay must relate to or center on the thesis statement. A thesis statement informs readers in a concise manner regarding your intention in writing the paper.
No matter what type of paper you write—expository, argumentation, or research—the center of your paper is always your thesis statement. From now through the rest of your educational courses, instructors will want you to have a well-developed thesis in your essays. For this reason, it is important that you learn to write effective thesis statements.
While writing your paper, you will have a tentative, or working, thesis, which will most likely change as you find support and write your paper. You may write and rewrite a thesis several times while developing an essay.
The concept of the thesis statement can be difficult for beginning writers to understand. The following are some characteristics of an effective thesis statement:
• A thesis is only one sentence. One of the most common mistakes students make is to write a number of sentences and call it a thesis. A thesis statement, however, is singular and should be only one sentence consisting of 25 words or fewer.
• A thesis makes an assertion (your opinion) related to the topic of the essay. It is what you want to prove in your essay.
• The thesis should always be located near the end of your introduction.
• Everything in your paper must support, be related to, or point back to your thesis statement.
• Although a thesis is an opinion, that opinion must be one a reasonable person could