Creating Your Thesis Statement

Once you have chosen a topic and generated a list of ideas to discuss in an essay, you
have to create your thesis statement.

What is a Thesis Statement?

A thesis statement expresses your opinion about a topic. It is the basis of the introductory
paragraph of your essay.
· It should be a single complete sentence.
· You must be sure you can support the opinion in your thesis.

Thesis Rules
A thesis statement should:
· Never be an open-ended question
· Be limited to mentioning only those points you plan to discuss in your essay
· Never be so broad that it’s difficult to discuss all relevant information
· Only present one specific idea; not multiple ideas
· Not contain two conflicting ideas

ACTIVITY
Identify the problems in the following thesis statements using these categories:
(a) conflicting ideas (b) open-ended question (c) too broad (d) not limited

1. The World’s Fair in New Orleans was a disaster because of the way the press
criticized the way it was run, but it was exciting for little children and had many good
food booths.

2. TV commercials are obnoxious to the person who is intent on watching a good show;
on the other hand, they provide entertainment in the antics of the performers and they
provide a good opportunity to take a snack break.

3. Since politicians are constantly bombarding each other, how do they expect anyone to
know who is right and who is wrong?

4. Rap music is a popular form of art because it is creative and original and because it
follows the traditions of other spontaneously developed music like jazz.

5. Unless people are conscious of pollution, the world will be destroyed by the year 2050
How to write a thesis statement
To create a thesis statement simply follow this formula:

TOPIC + OPINION = THESIS STATEMENT

Examples:

TOPIC + OPINION = THESIS STATEMENT

Dogs make better pets than When it comes to animals, dogs make
Animals + =
cats better pets than cats.
Movies and Titanic ignited many The movie "Titanic" ignited many
+ =
emotions emotions emotions in an audience.
Gangs and
identity in the
The boy lost his personal In the story "On the Sidewalk Bleeding",
story
+ identity and was only seen = the boy loses his identity and is only
"On the
as a gang member. recognized as a gang member.
Sidewalk
Bleeding".

Other Thesis Pointers

Defining features of thesis statements

Some defining features of a thesis:

• for most student work, it's a one- or two- sentence statement that explicitly
outlines the purpose or point of your paper. A thesis is to a paper what a topic
sentence is to a paragraph
• it should point toward the development or course of argument the reader can
expect your argument to take, but does not have to specifically include 'three
supporting points' as you may have once learned
• because the rest of the paper will support or back up your thesis, a thesis is
normally placed at or near the end of the introductory paragraph.
• it is an assertion that a reasonable person could disagree with if you only gave
the thesis and no other evidence. It is not a fact or casual observation; it must beg
to be proved. And someone should be able to theoretically argue against it (how
successfully will depend of course on how persuasive you are)
 • it takes a side on a topic rather than simply announcing that the paper is about a
topic (the title should have already told your reader your topic). Don't tell a reader
about something; tell them what about something. Answer the questions "how?"
or "why?"
• it is sufficiently narrow and specific that your supporting points are necessary
and sufficient, not arbitrary; paper length and number of supporting points are
good guides here
• it argues one main point and doesn't squeeze three different theses for three
different papers into one sentence
• most importantly, it passes The "So What?" Test

The "So What?" Test

Whenever you plan on writing a research paper, there is an extremely important point
that you must constantly keep in the forefront of your mind--even English teachers
frequently mention it as something students fail to do time and time again. What is it? To
be sure to choose a topic worth arguing about or exploring. This means to construct a
thesis statement or research question about a problem that is still debated, controversial,
up in the air.

So arguing that drinking and driving is dangerous-- while you could find a ton of
evidence to support your view --would be pretty worthless nowadays. Who would want
to read something they already knew? You wouldn't be persuading them of anything and
all your work would be pretty meaningless.

What this means is that during the topic-formulating stage and again now, always keep
asking "SO WHAT?", "WHO CARES?" or to paraphrase the famous Canadian
journalist Barbara Frum: "Tell me something new about something I care about." That
will automatically make your paper significant and interesting both for you to write and
the reader to study.

Now let's apply this test to our music-grades thesis statement:

If you believe there might be evidence to back that argument up, it certainly seems a
worthy thesis considering so many millions of students listen to their stereos while
studying at home. Have parents been wrong all this time to tell their kids to shut off all
distractions and stay on-task? Does a student's happiness, motivation, or alertness during
studying (which now might be directly influenced by radio music) affect the way they
approach school, tests, or even education in general?

Congratulations! You've asked and answered So What? and Who Cares? Whether it's a
thesis or a question that looks at what music could be doing, people would certainly be
interested in following your development on this issue. After all, you're not writing a
paper trying to convince folks that studying results in better grades. Few would be
interested in reading that.