How to write a

thesis statement to
start a writing task
 What’s a thesis statement?

 It’s the single, specific claim that your writing/essay supports.

 A good thesis statement is not simply an observation, a question, or a promise.

It includes a topic, a precise opinion, and reasoning. (but REMEMBER! There’s
no need to say: “I think or in my opinion”
 It is an assertion, not a fact or observation.[Facts are used within the paper to
support your thesis.
 It announces your position towards a particular topic
 It is the main idea and explains what you intend to discuss.
 Answers a specific question and explains how you plan to support your
argument.
 Is debatable. Someone should be able to argue or support your claims.
Parts of a thesis
statement
Three parts to every thesis
statement:

 1) The subject

 2) The precise opinion

 The outline of reasons

 What exactly are those things?

The subject:

It’s basically the topic of your

writing!
The precise opinion:
Your opinion on the topic of your
essay/writing. What’s your opinion on that
matter?
(try to avoid: “I think” and all that stuff)
The outline of reasons:
This is where you show the reader HOW you plan to
argue and prove your opinion.
Typically, you should have 3 strong pieces of
evidence/arguments to support your opinion. Later, you
will expand on each detail in the body of the
writing/essay.
 Time to practise!

You will need:

1)A topic
2)Your opinion on it
3)Reasons/evidence to back up your opinion
 Let’s say the topic is MUSIC

Well, that’s too broad, so let’s narrow it down a

bit.

Let’s select a particular kind of music, like

country, pop, hip-hop
 “Hip-hop music”

What comes next?............Yes, that’s right!

Write your opinion on the topic. Research is crucial to help

you formulate your opinion, so make sure you do the
readings on the different topics we have dealt with along the
school year. If it is possible, extend your reading using other
resources apart from the textbook: magazines, websites, etc
The more you read, the better.
 Your opinion

Let’s say that your opinion on hip-hop is that it is not

offensive and positively influences urban youth.

Does that sound arguable?

Will others disagree with that statement?
Yes?..... Good!
A thesis statement is an argueable statement!
 Support your opinion!

Now you need to support your opinion!

How?

Again, research is very important. So, well in

advance, in the readings, look for evidence that
supports this opinion.
 Outline of reasons

Example based on the topic chosen: hip-hop music

1)Gives urban youth a chance for artistic expression.

2)It’s a form of street poetry
3)Inspires younsters to overcome challenges

You could think of others to practise!

 Polished thesis statement

“Though many people dismiss/reject hip-hop as/for

(being) offensive, this kind of music inspires urban
youth to overcome challenges, it offers an
important opportunity for artistic expression and
allows youngsters to articulate/put into
words/express the poetry of the street.”
 Effective pieces of evidence

Those pieces of evidence are only effective if:

You explain what you mean about each point
later on, in the body paragraphs.
You provide detailed eamples for each point,
or at least for two.
 Some more notes and examples:

Say, for example, that you are going to argue that

"American fearfulness expresses itself in three curious
ways: A, B, and C."
In this case, the reader understands that you are going to have
three important points to cover, and that these points will
appear in a certain order. If you suggest a particular ordering
principle and then abandon it, the reader will feel confused.
 Or…have a look at this:

 Question: "Why do people seem to get angry at vegans,

feminists, and other "morally righteous" subgroups?"

Thesis: "Through careful sociological study, we've found that

people naturally assume that "morally righteous" people
look down on them as "inferior," causing anger and conflict
where there is none.”
*righteous: justo, honesto
Alternatives to the thesis
sentence

Sometimes, the purpose of a piece of writing is not

to make a claim but to raise questions. In this case,
the thesis sentence might take other forms: the
thesis question.
Ex: If your purpose is to explore, for instance, the
reasons for the 9/11 attacks (a topic for which you
are not prepared to make a claim), your thesis
might be: "What forces conspired to bring
these men to crash four jetliners into
American soil?"
 To recap

The thesis statement tells your reader:

1)Where you are going in your essay

2)How you plan to get there
Also consider:
1)What’s your opinion about the topic? If you don’t know,
perhaps you should re-read some of the texts in your textbook
or do extra reading.
2)Once you have formed your opinion, list 3 reasons/evidence to
support it.
The evidence and
how to support it
You could support this thesis with any combination of the following
types of evidence:
Reasons are just one option.

To develop and support your thesis, you might also include:

 examples, facts, details, statistics, personal observation or
experience, anecdotes, and expert opinions and quotations (gathered
from books, articles, interviews, documentaries, and the like).
 Supporting evidence: Example

Imagine you’re writing an essay with the thesis,

“People normally unconcerned about the
environment can be moved to constructive
action if they feel personally affected by
an environmental problem.” You could
support this thesis with any combination of the
following types of evidence:
 Reasons why people become involved in the
environmental movement: they believe the
situation endangers the health of their families;
they fear the value of their homes will fall, etc;
 Examples of neighborhood recycling efforts
that succeeded in communities that have had
trash-disposal problems.
 Detailsabout the specific steps that the
average person can take to get involved in
environmental issues.
 Facts about residents’ efforts to preserve the
quality of well water, for example, in a com-
munity undergoing industrial development.
 Comparison/Similarity
A personal experience telling about the
way you became involved in an effort to stop
a local business from dumping waste into a
neighborhood.
 An anecdote, A quotation, etc
 How do you find evidence?

 Where do you find the examples, anecdotes, details, and

other types of evidence needed to support your thesis?

A good deal of information is generated during the prewriting

stage, when you read about a specific topic, when you speak
about it in class, personal experiences, other people’s
observations, the library and the Internet, with their endless
material, are another rich source of supporting evidence

Gather this material for an essay

 Knowing your essay’s focus will also help you to avoid introducing new
information or topics in your conclusion. It’s not the time to introduce new
ideas or content. That takes the focus off your original argument and
could confuse readers.
 Avoid summarizing your points exactly as you wrote them. Your readers
have already read your essay. They don’t have to be reminded of every
single point you just made.
 Your conclusion should be anywhere from 3 to 6 sentences long
 Highlight the most important aspect of the argument
 It is where you can state your opinion trying to make a reference to your
thesis statement: EX. “ That’s why I think…..

Or if you think you are able to, end with irony,appeal to emotions or call to action.
 What should you avoid?

 Beginning with an unnecessary, overused phrase such

as “in conclusion,” “in summary,” or “in closing.”
Although these phrases can work in speeches, they
come across as wooden and trite in writing.

 Including
evidence (quotations, statistics, etc.) that
should be in the body of the paper.