Does the thought of writing a thesis statement make you feel like this?
Don’t panic!
Your English teacher is here to help.
Professor I. M. Cool
What makes an effective thesis statement?
An effective thesis statement has three characteristics:
It clearly expresses your paper’s main idea.
It communicates your essay’s purpose.
It has clear wording.
What a thesis statement is not
It is not the title of your essay.
It is not an announcement of your intent.
It is not a statement of fact.
It is not a mere description of your subject.
Would these examples make effective thesis statements?
Hybrid Cars: Pro and Con
This paper will discuss George Orwell’s attitude toward the death penalty in his essay “A Hanging.”
I want to tell you about a time I saw someone cheating and did not speak out.
As I look back at the accident I witnessed, I wonder why I kept silent, and now I know that I shoulda done something.
Avoid Simple Statements of Fact
The first polygraph was developed by Dr. John A. Larson in 1921.
Instead, be sure to have a point:
Because the polygraph has not been proved reliable, even under the most controlled conditions, its use by private employers should be banned.
Avoid Simple Statements of Fact
Some college students work while attending classes.
Instead, write something like this:
Working while attending college classes remains necessary for some students, but, unfortunately, several problems result from the difficulties of balancing work and school.
Note: Never use the word many; instead, use the word several.
What Else Do You Need to Know to Be Successful Writing Thesis Statements?
You should focus on writing implicit thesis statements rather than explicit ones.
An implicit thesis statement implies the paper’s main idea. Do not write an “I” statement, which is explicit.
Implicit or Explicit?
Working while attending college classes remains necessary for some students, but, unfortunately, several problems result from the difficulties of balancing work and school.
I will now discuss examples of how going to college and working full time puts pressure on students and results in many dropping out of school.
Implicit or Explicit?
I will examine the pros and cons of hybrid cars that use both gasoline and electricity.
Hybrid cars that use both gasoline and electricity would decrease our country’s dependence on foreign oil.
Implicit or Explicit?
From the misery of the untouchables, the world should learn a lesson: isolating and punishing any group of people is dehumanizing and immoral.
I am going to write about how the untouchables are treated in India.
Note: More than 160 million people in India are considered "Untouchable"—people tainted by their birth into a system that deems them impure, less than human.
One last thing to know: Specific or General?
Specific thesisstatements name what the writer plans to cover in the essay.
General thesisstatements use more general language to focus the discussion and give writers much greater latitude in what they might cover.
You will write a specific thesis statement.
Which one is specific and which one is general?
Global warming will cause ice caps and glaciers to melt, oceans to warm, and sea levels to rise.
Global warming will have negative consequences for the environment.
Let’s Practice!
Rewrite these explicit thesis statements into implicit thesis statements.
In the following paragraphs, I will share with you the traffic problems experienced by drivers in Northwest Florida.
2. In this paper, I will be writing about how the rising cost of energy is causing me serious problems.
