155 Composing Strong Thesis Statements

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Thesis statements are a central and essential element of academic writing. For some students’ thesis statements can seem sort of nebulous or tricky to get right. But once you have a solid understanding of the purpose and nature of a thesis statement, you can begin to see why and how it can really help you in your writing and communication in composition.

The purpose of the thesis is to clearly state the argument or point to your essay or to the work that you’re engaging in. It lets your audience know what you are going to be discussing, proving, analyzing, and exploring ­– which helps facilitate understanding and context.

If we think about writing academic essays as taking readers on a journey – a walk through the forest, a boat ride, taking a ring to Mordor – with the end result being a reader understanding what you had to say about a certain topic, or perhaps agreeing with you, or being convinced of your argument, or being moved by your words. Your thesis, then, can be that compass that you and your readers can always look back to and see if you are going in the right direction, going true north. Because a strong thesis provides a clear representation of the writer’s stance to readers. It shows them your topic, what you are trying to prove, and/or what you are trying to analyze.

Within that realm, your thesis needs to be investigative, purposeful, and specific.

What do we mean by “investigative?” 

Investigative in the sense that your thesis needs to move beyond being a statement of fact or one-note generalized statement, observation, or an open-ended question or musing. Your thesis lets audiences clearly see your position and the analysis and argument that you are going to be engaging in your essay. It is your overarching analytical claim that you will be unpacking throughout the rest of your paper. It indicates how there can be many opinions and many conversations to be had about a topic.

It needs to be purposeful in the sense that you want to show audiences you have a clear focus and a clear goal in mind beyond a basic summary. Beyond just talking about something off the top of your head.

It is specific in that realm because you don’t want to be vague, you don’t want to generalize within your thesis statement. You want to clearly outline and tap into the main point/s, specifically, that you are going to be discussing in your paper.

Where does it Go?

In a traditional essay, usually, a thesis statement is the last sentence or sentences of your introduction where you indicate to readers what you were going to be trying to say within the following paragraphs and pages and what you’re going to be trying to prove within your essay.

Now this placement at the end of the introduction is not a steadfast rule. Nor is the concept that it has to be just one sentence. Oftentimes, as we grow in our writing we can see our thesis expand in certain ways, in length and location. So depending on what genre you are writing in, your thesis might need to be the first line of your essay, in your conclusion, proven and implied in your body paragraphs, even be multiple sentences in your introduction.

When crafting your thesis statement, try to think about the What and the So What?

The “What” is the concrete and informational part of the thesis. What is your topic? What are the key points that you are going to explore about that topic? What are you going to be unpacking? What pieces of evidence are you pulling from?

But you also need to tap into the So What? What are the implications of your argument, of your topic? What does it reveal about society, and culture, history? Why does your topic and your voice matter? Why should it matter to your audience?

In analysis and argumentation, you can ask:

• ‘What have you got to go on?’ (evidence)
• ‘How did you get there?’ (the principles and reasons that caused you to conclude what you did about the evidence)
• ‘Why does this matter?’ (Who should care and why? What does this reveal about society, history, a person, etc.? What should be fixed?)

Final Thoughts: 

A strong thesis provides a clear representation of the writer’s stance to readers, and it also provides an anchor for the writer while crafting the essay.

It notifies readers of the writer’s topic and prepares readers for the argument to come.

All reasons and evidence within the rest of the paper should support that thesis.

Ultimately, the thesis can help focus the writer since writers can easily stray from their topics during the creation process, especially while researching for their essay; thus, a solid thesis statement also helps a writer maintain focus on the argument at hand. As you write as long as you have a strong thesis statement you always go back and see what you were originally trying to say and prove and explore. This is also helpful if you realize that what you originally wanted to write about isn’t what your paper has become. In writing and research our ideas expand and grow and sometimes shift so if your body paragraphs are exploring something else entirely you can then go back and revise your thesis to better reflect the journey you took readers on.

What is a thesis statement and why is it important?

A strong thesis provides a clear representation of the writer’s stance to readers, and it also provides an anchor for the writer while crafting the essay. All reasons and evidence should support that thesis. A solid thesis statement notifies readers of the writer’s topic and prepares readers for the argument to come. Likewise, a solid thesis statement helps focus the writer since writers can easily stray from their topics during the creation process, especially while researching for their essay; thus, a solid thesis statement also helps a writer maintain focus on the argument at hand.

What does a thesis statement look like?

Thesis statements come with two parts, a concrete and an abstract, and are usually one sentence. More simply, a thesis statement has a subject and opinion about that subject. For academic writing, the subject needs to be one of concern to a larger audience and one on which that audience has many opinions, not just two.  Writers most often place thesis statements in the introductory paragraph; however, thesis statements can be placed anywhere in the essay and can even be implied.

Most Common Errors with Thesis Statements:

Too factual – Dogs have scent glands in the bottom of their paws.

Making announcements – This essay will explain why . . . ; I am going to tell you about why dogs are great pets.

Questions – Why should anyone own a dog?

Too broad – All dogs have particular personalities.

Too narrow – Barking dogs are great security.

Vague – Dogs are unique.