What Is a Thesis Statement?
If you have ever worked in an office with computers, your computer was probably connected to a network. In a network, there is one main computer to which all the other computers send and receive information. If that base computer shuts down, all the other computers shut down-everything centers on that one computer. In the same way, every word, sentence, and paragraph in an essay must relate to or center on the thesis statement. A thesis statement concisely informs readers of your intention in writing the paper.
No matter what type of paper you write-expository, argumentation, compare or contrast, or research-the center of your paper is always your thesis statement. From now through the rest of your academic career, instructors will expect your essays to contain a well-developed thesis. For this reason, it is important that you learn to write effective thesis statements.
While writing your paper, you have a tentative or working thesis, which most likely changes as you find support and write your paper. You may write and rewrite a thesis several times while developing an essay.
The concept of the thesis statement may be difficult for beginning writers to understand. The following are some characteristics of an effective thesis statement:
A thesis statement is only one sentence consisting of 25 words or fewer.
A thesis statement makes an assertion related to the topic of the essay-what you want to prove.
The thesis statement should be located near the end of your introduction.
Everything in your paper must support, be related to, or point back to your thesis statement.
A thesis statement answers the questions "How?" or "Why?"
A thesis statement passes the "So what?" test-what does this topic have to do with anything? Why should I care? Why should others care?
Equation for Developing a Thesis Statement
A standard equation used to create a thesis statement:
Limited Topic Controlling Idea Thesis
Eating a well-balanced diet Lose weight, live longer, and feel better Eating a well-balanced diet may help you lose weight, live longer, and feel better.
To adapt this equation to better suit a compare-and-contrast essay, you may consider using the following:
Subject 1 + Subject 2 Indication of similarity, difference, or both as pertains to the controlling idea Thesis
Eating a well-balanced diet and exercise Similar positive results emotionally, physically, and psychologically Eating a well-balanced diet and exercising can have positive results emotionally, physically, and psychologically.
Aerobic and anaerobic Differ in their physiology, energy expenditure, and physical impact on the body While all forms of exercise can be beneficial, aerobic and anaerobic differ in their physiology, energy expenditure, and physical impact on the body.
Wrap-Up
Analytical thinking and hard work are involved when writing a thesis statement, so beginning writers can easily become frustrated trying to incorporate all the characteristics of an effective thesis. For this reason, you may rewrite your thesis statement several times; however, in the end, you have a specific and focused thesis that is easier to develop and support.