PORTFOLIO #7: THESIS STATEMENT

PORTFOLIO #7: THESIS STATEMENT

Thesis Statement

A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment. Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence, look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the significance of these relationships. Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a “working thesis” that presents a basic or main idea and an argument that you think you can support with evidence. Both the argument and your thesis are likely to need adjustment along the way.

It is consisted of three parts: the subject (what your topic will deal with), the precise opinion (what is your opinion of the topic) and the blueprint of reasons (the reasons the writer provide to reinforce the topic)

Some things that you have to take into account when you are composing a thesis

1. Your TOPIC (what you are going to write about)
2. Your CLAIM (what you think about the topic)
3. REASONS that support your claim (points that will persuade your readers to believe your claim)

Tips for Writing Thesis Statements

1.Determine what kind of paper you are writing:

An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience. 

An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience. 

An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. 

The claim could be

an opinion

a policy proposal

an evaluation

a cause-and-effect statement

an interpretation. 

1. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided. If you are writing a text that does not fall under these three categories (e.g., a narrative), a thesis statement somewhere in the first paragraph could still be helpful to your reader.

2. Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence.

3. The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper.

4. Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.

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