After a brief introduction of your topic, you state your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you’ll make in the rest of your paper Jan 11, · Coming up with a thesis Step 1: Start with a question You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your Step 2: Write your initial answer After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At Step 3: Develop your answerReviews: 2 How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Assigned. Almost all assignments, no matter how complicated, can be reduced to a single question. Your first step, then, is to distill the assignment into a specific question. For example, if your assignment is, “Write a report to the local school board explaining the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class,” turn the request into a question like,
How to Write a Thesis Statement | 3 Steps & Examples
Last Updated: May 6, This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD. Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in This article has been viewedtimes.
All students, help coming up with a thesis statement, whether in high school or college, need to write standard expository explanatory or persuasive essays. Each essay must include a thesis statement. A thesis statement is your main point and is presented as an argument. Writing a thesis statement involves answering the main question and doing a bit of research to make sure your thesis can be backed up.
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Download Help coming up with a thesis statement Explore this Article parts. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles, help coming up with a thesis statement. Co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD Last Updated: May 6, Part 1. Determine the assignment or task the teacher has given.
Be sure help coming up with a thesis statement know the type of essay, its length, format, topic, purpose, parameters, and structure. Whether you have an assigned topic or a more general topic, your first step is to distill the assignment topic into one question which your thesis statement can answer. Think about your assignment topic. What are you expected to write about?
Then take this topic and make it a question you can answer. Focus on the topic to be developed. A good thesis provides a concise and arguable point of view that is relevant to your subject matter. Make sure your thesis takes a clear and defendable position on your topic.
Is your topic an argument, an explanation, a personal description, a contrastive analysis, or a book analysis? Though you may be writing a paper about World War II or The Great Gatsby, your statement should contain similar attributes. A good thesis statement answers the question asked of you. It should aim to make a claim that others can dispute. Your thesis should also express one main idea that can be developed enough to cover all parts of the assignment. Consider what you want to say about the topic.
Do some preliminary research about the topic to help develop your point of view. Choose something about your topic that interests you. Break down your topic into help coming up with a thesis statement argument that you can adequately speak about. For example, if your topic is about the benefits of seatbelts, you have many points of view to explore. You can take a broader route and decide to talk about the decrease in fatal accidents since seatbelts became required. Or, you can get more specific and discuss the laws about wearing your seatbelt in the back seat.
Your argument right now is that seatbelts save lives. Consider a variety of viewpoints before settling on your thesis. This side may be harder to argue in such a broad area, however. Because there may be a lot of information against you, you may consider getting more specific. You may find that there is more information on the advancement of other vehicle safety measures which has progressed much farther than seatbelts. If your topic is even broader, like a report on The Great Gatsby, you have to find an angle that you can argue about or what intrigues you about the book.
Perhaps after reading the book, you became interested in how American consumerism and monetary pride led to the Great Depression. Tailor how specific your topic is based on the required length of your paper. If you have a longer paper, you may want to explore a topic broadly, but for a shorter paper, you may need to be very specific.
Come up with your own question to answer for this topic. A great way to come up with a solid thesis statement is to ask a question. Remember that you want to take a stance that reasonable people could argue. Think of how to express your point in a single, complete sentence. If you had to state your idea "in a nutshell", what would you say? You have already begun to do this by finding your point of view.
After you come up with your idea, do a little research to see if you have enough credible information to back it up. While researching, you read about front seat seatbelts and rear seat seatbelts. You then decide your argument is that backseat passengers should be required to wear seatbelts.
Seatbelts are not always required to be worn in the back seat depending on the region. You find this topic has enough information to explore. Now write down a few different sentence options that argue your point of view.
Try to make a slightly different point in each sentence. Further research is required to support or change your argument.
Part 2. Compile a few sources to back up your argument. Before you waste time writing your thesis statement and then struggling to fill a paper backing up your point, gather some sources that provide you with enough information to write about. If you decide to argue that seatbelts should be worn in the back seat, find sources that give you crash and safety statistics.
Look for articles and facts that argue both sides of the argument. Do further research to see if other people help coming up with a thesis statement a similar argument to yours. See how other similar topics and articles go about relating the actual story in The Great Gatsby to the Great Depression. Write a "scratch" sentence. Make sure it's a complete sentence with a subject and verb.
It cannot be a question, or an announcement of your purpose "In this essay, I'm going to Perhaps your research gave you a new angle to include. Look through your research to find some specific stats to back up your statement. It cannot be solely a statement of fact, help coming up with a thesis statement, but must include evidence that backs up your opinion. If someone read your sentence, you want it to elicit a response. The same applies to your potential book report.
Read over your sentence one more time and see if it answers your question. Getting more specific in your thesis is good, but it can sometimes cause you to wander as you try to incorporate everything you want to say. Remember, help coming up with a thesis statement, your thesis is a one-sentence introduction that gives an outline for the body of your paper.
It should provide a well-structured overview. Part 3. Make sure your thesis has an arguable point, that is not too general a fact or solely a personal opinion. Though your thesis is essentially your personal opinion, it needs to be presented as a structured argument.
And which you will develop in your essay to show why you have this point of view. Check to make sure your thesis contains an argument that hits on the focus of your question.
Strike a balance between being too vague and too specific in your thesis. A very vague, large statement will require many pages for you to support adequately.
How to write an effective THESIS STATEMENT for research paper
, time: 11:58How to Come up With a Thesis: 13 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow
After a brief introduction of your topic, you state your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you’ll make in the rest of your paper Jan 11, · Coming up with a thesis Step 1: Start with a question You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your Step 2: Write your initial answer After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At Step 3: Develop your answerReviews: 2 How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Assigned. Almost all assignments, no matter how complicated, can be reduced to a single question. Your first step, then, is to distill the assignment into a specific question. For example, if your assignment is, “Write a report to the local school board explaining the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class,” turn the request into a question like,
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