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.. state the general topic of your essay state the specific point, claim, or area of investigation that you will be arguing or examining in your essay indicate the reasons that you will give to support your argument or develop your point. indicate the subdivisions or general method of organisation used in your essay be the last sentence of your introduction

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 its difficult to discuss all relevant information Only present one specific idea; not multiple ideas Not contain two conflicting ideas . Do not use I in delivering.

How to write a thesis statement

To create a thesis statement simply follow this formula: TOPIC + OPINION = THESIS STATEMENT Examples:

TOPIC Animals Movies and emotions Gangs and identity in the story

OPINION Dogs make better pets than + cats Titanic ignited many + emotions + The boy lost his personal identity and was only seen as a gang member.

THESIS STATEMENT When it comes to animals, dogs make better = pets than cats. The movie "Titanic" ignited many emotions = in an audience. = In the story "On the Sidewalk Bleeding", the boy loses his identity and is only recognized as a gang member.
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"On the Sidewalk Bleeding".

ACTIVITY Now rewrite each of the thesis statements below, turning each into an effective thesis statement for a 250 page essay. You must think carefully about what would be an appropriate topic for an essay of this length - be careful not to choose a topic that is either too broad or too narrow. 1. Choosing a career is very difficult. 2. It is important to visit foreign countries.
3. In this essay I am going to talk about social problems in Malaysia.

4. Humans are inflicting more and more damage on the environment. 5. The nuclear family is a thing of the past. Exercise 2 Complete the following thesis statements by adding the specific points, claims or areas of investigation that you think should feature in the essay. 1. The life expectancy of the average person is increasing because of ... 2. Technology is changing our lives in three important areas: ... 3. A teacher must have the following qualities: ... 4. The purpose of this paper is to examine... 5. Owning an automobile is a necessity both... 6. Poverty has numerous negative consequences for society, including... 7. The main difficulties affecting foreign students at university are...

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8. Living together before marriage is becoming increasingly popular for three main reasons: ...

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