How to Write a Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is the distillation of your central argument into one or two concise sentences. If you must write a paper on a topic of your choice, follow these steps to create a strong thesis statement:

1. Choose a topic. When you get to select your own topic, take advantage of the opportunity to write about something that genuinely interests you. You will have more energy and motivation to work if you are investigating a subject about which you are truly curious. For example, one of my students was assigned a persuasive essay on the topic of his choice. He is an avid follower of financial and investment news, particularly as these pertain to politics and the economy. His topic:

The Recent Credit Crisis

This is not yet a thesis statement. It is a topic.


2. Narrow and focus the topic. For a thesis statement to be both (a) strong and (b) manageable within the scope of your assignment, it is usually necessary to take your general topic and make it more specific. This student decided to consider the relationship between the financial industry and the credit crisis:

Financial Institutions & The Credit Crisis

Looking good. The credit crisis as a whole is probably too large and complex a topic to treat adequately in a brief paper. So this student made his topic more specific by identifying what aspect of the credit crisis he wants to focus on. However, this is still just a topic, not a thesis statement.


3. Assert a position in the topic that you can support with evidence. The next step is to take a stand. Your thesis statement must present your central argument. My student's move from topic to statement looked like this:

Changes in legislation governing financial institutions greatly contributed to the recent credit crisis, and were it not for specific provisions in the legislation, the crisis would have been less severe.

Now, we have a statement that the author can support with evidence. His task will be to persuade readers to adopt his position. However, this statement contains some vague language. Thus, the next step is to...


4. Specify vague terms. The more concrete and specific you can be, the better. In this student's case, his first attempt at making a statement begs at least a couple of questions: What legislation? Which credit crisis? He made his argument more specific with the following revisions:

Provisions in the Financial Services Modernization Act
of 1999 contributed greatly to both the financial credit
crisis of 2000-2001and current recession and were it not
for specific provisions in the legislation, the crisis
would have been less severe.

5. Provide a road map. The thesis statement is improving, but it lacks a critical element. Strong thesis statements give readers a clear sense of not only what you will argue, but how you will support your position. Accordingly, I urged this student to enumerate his main points of support. He responded with the following revision:

Provisions in the Financial Services Modernization Act
of 1999 contributed greatly to both the financial credit
crisis of 2000-2001 and current recession because U.S.
lawmakers ignored the lessons from the Great Depression,
failed to promote a competitive business environment,
and allowed several institutions to become too large to fail.

Through a series of thoughtful revisions, this student developed a thesis statement that is focused and specific. The statement takes a clear position and provides the major points of support that will be developed in the essay that follows.

By following these simple steps, you too can write great thesis statements!

Many thanks to Mike for permitting me to use his excellent work as an example in this post.

Parsing a Prompt

Having a hard time starting that paper? You're not alone. Many students have difficulty beginning an assignment, often because they do not fully understand what they are expected to accomplish. Here's how to figure it out:

1. Your instructor has probably given you an assignment sheet - a prompt - that describes what you are supposed to do. If you don't remember receiving this, look for a description of the assignment in your syllabus, or ask your teacher, professor, or TA if such a document is available. Assignment prompts provide detailed instructions about the requirements. Sometimes these prompts also include a grading rubric with specific information about how your paper will be evaluated.

2. Once you have a copy of the prompt, read it carefully. Ideally, read it through more than once!

3. Next, analyze the assignment prompt by asking yourself questions such as:

• What is the purpose? (What am I supposed to learn or accomplish in writing this piece?)
• What are the stated substantive requirements?
• Who is the audience?
• How does the context influence the assignment? (How does this assignment connect to course content? How does it fit into my professional training in this discipline?)
  
• What is the scope of the assignment? (How many sources? How many examples? How broad or specific should my topic or argument be?)
• What style is appropriate? (Formal? Informal? What discipline-specific style conventions am I expected to observe?)
• What format is expected? (Citation format, length, margins, headers, etc.)

If you can answer these questions, you'll have a much stronger sense of how to approach your paper.

4. If you are uncertain about any of the requirements, ask your instructor for clarification. Once you know exactly what you are expected to do, you will be able to meet the objectives of your assignment more effectively, efficiently, and confidently.

Before you write, WRITE!

One of the most important steps in the writing process is also one of the most overlooked. I'm talking about PREWRITING, people.

Before committing yourself to sentences and paragraphs, get into the habit of simply playing with ideas for approaching your assignment. Prewriting allows you to generate content, develop ways to assert authorship (the expression of your own unique intellectual contributions!), and think about your assignment at a global, "big-picture" level.

A few ways to play:

LISTING
Create an unstructured list of ideas that come to mind as you think about your assignment. Just brainstorm. Let one idea lead to another. Jot down all your ideas, even those that seem half-baked or disorganized.

TALKING
Sometimes just chatting is a great way to get your ideas flowing. Talk about your assignment with someone who is willing to listen attentively, ask questions, and be encouraging. Talk to colleagues, friends, advisors, professors, etc., to get comfortable with the practice of thinking through your ideas out loud. After a good conversation, be sure to take a few minutes to write down the great ideas it yielded!

TURNING TO KEY TEXTS FOR INSPIRATION
Flip through key texts to get ideas for approaching your assignment. Do these texts contain problems, controversies, or unsolved puzzles that would be interesting to address? Closely review a portion of the text that you found particularly compelling, confusing, or complex. Consider the arguments in the text: how are they supported? Do you find the evidence convincing? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments? What counter arguments can you pose?

FREE WRITING
For five or ten minutes, simply write anything and everything you can think of in connection with an assignment. Anything goes. Just keep writing! After you’ve written for the allotted amount of time, go back through your writing with a highlighter or color pen/pencil and underline the best and/or most interesting ideas you generated.

CLUSTERING
Also known as webbing or mapping, clustering can help you move from a general idea to a nascent structure for your paper. Put the main idea in the middle of a piece of paper. Draw lines out from the center to possible subheadings. Draw lines out from those subheading notes out to subheadings at the next possible level.


Adapted from Hendengren, Beth Finch. 2004. A TA's Guide to Teaching Writing in All Disciplines. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. pp. 29-32.