Thesis Statement

Hints for writing and using a thesis statement

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is a lot like a topic sentence. There are few differences, however. One difference you will notice right away is that a thesis statement appears as the last sentence of your first paragraph, whereas a topic sentence usually appears as the first sentence of the first paragraph. When writing research papers, you will use a thesis statement rather than a topic sentence.

Thesis statement

Where does a thesis statement appear?A. First sentence of the paperB. Last sentence of the first paragraph.

Thesis Statement

If you answered B—You are right! The thesis statement appears as the last sentence of the first paragraph! You don’t use a topic sentence in a research paper. You use a thesis statement instead.

Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement is developed from the information you have gathered.

Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement should be limited in topic. You must prove your thesis statement by the end of your paper. You don’ want to try to prove something too big or too vague.

Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement should reflect your purpose for writing. For example, if you are trying to argue that you believe smoking is harmful, and yet teens are targeted by tobacco companies, this should be clear in your thesis statement. An example of a simple thesis statement follows.Even though smoking is extremely detrimental to a teenager’s health, tobacco companies are targeting teens.

Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement should keep you focused as you outline, draft and revise your paper. For each paragraph you write, you can check your thesis statement to see if the information in the paragraph helps prove the thesis statement.

Thesis Statement

Let’s take the thesis statement about smoking for example –Even though smoking is extremely detrimental to a teenager’s health, tobacco companies are targeting teens. Which of the following paragraphs would work in the paper? A paragraph outlining how a teenage athlete is effected if he/she smokes. A paragraph on the advertisements used by tobacco companies.A paragraph mortality rates for adult smokers that started smoking in their teens. A paragraph on cocaine usage

Thesis Statement

If you said all the paragraphs except the one on cocaine would work, you are right. Give yourself a big pat on the back!As you write your own paper, use your thesis statement to keep you on course. You want everything you say in your paper to relate in some way to your thesis statement!

Thesis Statement

Make sure that your thesis statement can stand alone. If someone reads JUST your thesis statement, they should be able to tell what your paper is about.This would not work:Even though it is extremely detrimental to a teenager’s health, they are targeting teens(Be Specific—what is it? Smoking and tobacco companies.)

Thesis Statement

Also, don’t use “I”, “you” or “paper” anywhere in your thesis statement—or your entire research paper for that matter.This wouldn’t work:I am going to tell you in this paper about how research indicates that smoking is extremely detrimental to a person’s heath, and smoking should be avoided.The thesis statement is much better if that part is left out!