Essay writing guides

How To Write A Thesis Statement

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how to write a thesis statement

There will be many working parts to your essay that make it as good as it can be. One of the most important parts will be your thesis statement. Not sure what that is, or what it should include? Here’s everything that you need to know about writing your thesis statement.

What Is A Thesis Statement?

First, let’s consider what a thesis statement actually is. The statement is designed so it brings your main topic to the reader. It will introduce the overall point of the essay to them, and show the exact scope of your work.

These are used not only to define your ideas in an essay, but to make searching academic works easier. If you have written a good thesis statement, it’s much easier for someone else to search for it and find the information they need.

How To Write Your Thesis Statement

If you want to write the best thesis statement, then you’ll need to take the rights steps to prepare and write your essay as a whole. Here’s how you can be sure you’re writing the best thesis statement possible.

Find a good topic for your essay

The very first thing you need to do if you’re looking to write a good thesis, is find the right topic. In some cases, you may already have a topic provided to you. If not though, then you need to find one that works for your essay.

The best thing to do is find a topic that you’re passionate about. It’s much easier to write a good essay and thesis topic if you truly care about the work you’re doing.

Once you’ve done that, narrow down the scope of that topic. You don’t want your thesis statement to be broad, or it won’t really be saying anything. For example, you wouldn’t be able to write a thesis on the concepts of capitalism and communism as a whole, as it’s too broad. Instead, you’d narrow it down to how the two concepts borrow from one another, so you can compare and contrast them.

Before you start planning any further, start looking for good sources for your essay. You’ll want enough sources to give you plenty of evidence for the point you’re looking to make.

Write your thesis statement as a question

Now you have a topic, so you can start crafting it into a good thesis statement. One of the best ways to do this is to frame it as a question that you can answer. Taking the capitalism vs. communism example from above, you’ll ask a question like, “Do capitalism and communism have any similarities?”

Once you have a question, you can look at answering it. In this case, your answer would be something like, “Capitalism and communism have more similarities than you would think, and in fact borrow a lot of concepts from each other”. Your answer will then be the starting point of your thesis statement.

Polish up your statement

Now you have the beginnings of your thesis statement, so you’ll be able to start polishing it up, making it properly describe what you’re going to do in your essay.

A good thesis statement should use decisive language, and should be around a sentence or two long. It should also strike a good balance of being specific, but not getting bogged down in the details.

Examples Of A Good Thesis Statement

If you want to write the best thesis statement for your paper, it always helps to see some good examples. Here are some ideas of what they can look like.

Exotic pets offer the same kind of benefits as regular pets, so there should be more relaxed laws on what animals can be kept as pets.

Insects are an excellent food source and can be used to avoid food shortages. This is thanks to the protein they provide, and the ease in farming them.

Advertising should not be allowed in schools as it creates several problems, such as distracting from studies and promoting a materialistic culture among students.

With this guide, you should be able to write a top thesis statement that shows readers just what your essay is about. Use these tips to get the most out of your writing.

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Written by Mary Watson editor and tutor, 12 years experience

Mary, our exceptional editor and online tutor, brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. With her extensive expertise in academic writing, she guides and mentors aspiring students, providing them with constructive feedback that propels their essays to the next level.

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