Writing strong thesis statements.

In looking over your drafts, I've noticed many of you need to spend some more time on your thesis statement. Here's a compilation of the advice of several web sources on how to develop and judge a thesis statement.

What is a good thesis statement?

The most important sentence in any academic paper is the thesis sentence. Thesis statements do three things: 1) they identify the topic of your essay; 2) they make a specific claim about your topic, which you will then develop in the paper; 3) they indicate how you will organize your paper; and, 4) they let your reader decide if reading your paper is worthwhile. Thesis statements do a lot of work. They are the most difficult sentence to write in your paper. Since they are so essential to the success of your paper, thesis statements deserve whatever time it takes to develop them. In fact, don't start drafting your paper until you have developed a working thesis statement. As you write, you may well discover a new take on your topic, so don't be afraid to go back and change it.

A strong thesis statement:

• Should never be longer than a sentence or two.
• Should identify a topic about which people could disagree.
• Should address a topic which can be fully developed in the length of your paper.
• Should take a clear stand on your topic.
• Should express one main idea.
• Should assert your claims or conclusions about your topic.
• Should be specific and avoid--at all costs--vague language.
• Should avoid language like "it seems," "some people," "many believe," "different people," and "various."
• Should avoid saying things like "I believe" or "In my opinion" or "I propose."
• Should indicate why your subject and position warrant discussion.
• Should provide a map to guide your reader through your paper.

How to develop a good thesis statement:

1) Begin with your topic. Write it down.
2) Narrow your topic by focusing on one aspect of your topic. This aspect should be debatable, warrant discussion, and not be too broad to treat in the length of your paper.

Thinking about these questions may help you narrow your topic:

What are the major aspects of your topic on which reasonable people disagree?
What position do you take in these disagreements?
What has your experience, reading and thinking about the topic led you to conclude or believe? Why?

Write the answers to these questions down.

3) Now take your work above and develop one or two sentences which include:

A specific topic + your attitude/angle/argument. OR What you plan to argue + how you plan to argue it.


Here are some strong thesis statements:

• Although both chefs and cooks can prepare fine meals, chefs differ from cooks in education, profession commitment, and artistry.
• Steroids are addictive and should be banned from sports.
• Though many people dismiss hip hop as offensive, hip hop music offers urban youth an important opportunity for artistic expression, and it allows them to articulate the poetry of the street.
• Hemingway's stories helped create a new prose style by employing extensive dialogue, shorter sentences, and strong Anglo-Saxon words.
• While both Northerners and Southerners believed they fought against tyranny and oppression, Northerners focused on oppression of slaves while Southerners defended their own right to self-government.
• Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain's Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave "civilized" society and go back to nature.
• Young people in the Middle Ages, who were considered young but responsible adults by the age of sixteen, had fewer social choices when compared to modern American teenagers. Unless they followed a religious calling, medieval teenagers had to contend with an arranged marriage and bearing children while living without what we would consider personal privacy or freedom.