what are the 3 parts in a thesis statement

Developing a Thesis Statement

Many papers you write require developing a thesis statement. In this section you’ll learn what a thesis statement is and how to write one.

Keep in mind that not all papers require thesis statements . If in doubt, please consult your instructor for assistance.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement . . .

• Makes an argumentative assertion about a topic; it states the conclusions that you have reached about your topic.
• Makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of your paper.
• Is focused and specific enough to be “proven” within the boundaries of your paper.
• Is generally located near the end of the introduction ; sometimes, in a long paper, the thesis will be expressed in several sentences or in an entire paragraph.
• Identifies the relationships between the pieces of evidence that you are using to support your argument.

Not all papers require thesis statements! Ask your instructor if you’re in doubt whether you need one.

Identify a topic

Your topic is the subject about which you will write. Your assignment may suggest several ways of looking at a topic; or it may name a fairly general concept that you will explore or analyze in your paper.

Consider what your assignment asks you to do

Inform yourself about your topic, focus on one aspect of your topic, ask yourself whether your topic is worthy of your efforts, generate a topic from an assignment.

Below are some possible topics based on sample assignments.

Sample assignment 1

Analyze Spain’s neutrality in World War II.

Identified topic

Franco’s role in the diplomatic relationships between the Allies and the Axis

This topic avoids generalities such as “Spain” and “World War II,” addressing instead on Franco’s role (a specific aspect of “Spain”) and the diplomatic relations between the Allies and Axis (a specific aspect of World War II).

Sample assignment 2

Analyze one of Homer’s epic similes in the Iliad.

The relationship between the portrayal of warfare and the epic simile about Simoisius at 4.547-64.

This topic focuses on a single simile and relates it to a single aspect of the Iliad ( warfare being a major theme in that work).

Developing a Thesis Statement–Additional information

Your assignment may suggest several ways of looking at a topic, or it may name a fairly general concept that you will explore or analyze in your paper. You’ll want to read your assignment carefully, looking for key terms that you can use to focus your topic.

Sample assignment: Analyze Spain’s neutrality in World War II Key terms: analyze, Spain’s neutrality, World War II

After you’ve identified the key words in your topic, the next step is to read about them in several sources, or generate as much information as possible through an analysis of your topic. Obviously, the more material or knowledge you have, the more possibilities will be available for a strong argument. For the sample assignment above, you’ll want to look at books and articles on World War II in general, and Spain’s neutrality in particular.

As you consider your options, you must decide to focus on one aspect of your topic. This means that you cannot include everything you’ve learned about your topic, nor should you go off in several directions. If you end up covering too many different aspects of a topic, your paper will sprawl and be unconvincing in its argument, and it most likely will not fulfull the assignment requirements.

For the sample assignment above, both Spain’s neutrality and World War II are topics far too broad to explore in a paper. You may instead decide to focus on Franco’s role in the diplomatic relationships between the Allies and the Axis , which narrows down what aspects of Spain’s neutrality and World War II you want to discuss, as well as establishes a specific link between those two aspects.

Before you go too far, however, ask yourself whether your topic is worthy of your efforts. Try to avoid topics that already have too much written about them (i.e., “eating disorders and body image among adolescent women”) or that simply are not important (i.e. “why I like ice cream”). These topics may lead to a thesis that is either dry fact or a weird claim that cannot be supported. A good thesis falls somewhere between the two extremes. To arrive at this point, ask yourself what is new, interesting, contestable, or controversial about your topic.

As you work on your thesis, remember to keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times . Sometimes your thesis needs to evolve as you develop new insights, find new evidence, or take a different approach to your topic.

Derive a main point from topic

Once you have a topic, you will have to decide what the main point of your paper will be. This point, the “controlling idea,” becomes the core of your argument (thesis statement) and it is the unifying idea to which you will relate all your sub-theses. You can then turn this “controlling idea” into a purpose statement about what you intend to do in your paper.

Look for patterns in your evidence

Compose a purpose statement.

Consult the examples below for suggestions on how to look for patterns in your evidence and construct a purpose statement.

• Franco first tried to negotiate with the Axis
• Franco turned to the Allies when he couldn’t get some concessions that he wanted from the Axis

Possible conclusion:

Spain’s neutrality in WWII occurred for an entirely personal reason: Franco’s desire to preserve his own (and Spain’s) power.

Purpose statement

This paper will analyze Franco’s diplomacy during World War II to see how it contributed to Spain’s neutrality.

• The simile compares Simoisius to a tree, which is a peaceful, natural image.
• The tree in the simile is chopped down to make wheels for a chariot, which is an object used in warfare.

At first, the simile seems to take the reader away from the world of warfare, but we end up back in that world by the end.

This paper will analyze the way the simile about Simoisius at 4.547-64 moves in and out of the world of warfare.

Derive purpose statement from topic

To find out what your “controlling idea” is, you have to examine and evaluate your evidence . As you consider your evidence, you may notice patterns emerging, data repeated in more than one source, or facts that favor one view more than another. These patterns or data may then lead you to some conclusions about your topic and suggest that you can successfully argue for one idea better than another.

For instance, you might find out that Franco first tried to negotiate with the Axis, but when he couldn’t get some concessions that he wanted from them, he turned to the Allies. As you read more about Franco’s decisions, you may conclude that Spain’s neutrality in WWII occurred for an entirely personal reason: his desire to preserve his own (and Spain’s) power. Based on this conclusion, you can then write a trial thesis statement to help you decide what material belongs in your paper.

Sometimes you won’t be able to find a focus or identify your “spin” or specific argument immediately. Like some writers, you might begin with a purpose statement just to get yourself going. A purpose statement is one or more sentences that announce your topic and indicate the structure of the paper but do not state the conclusions you have drawn . Thus, you might begin with something like this:

• This paper will look at modern language to see if it reflects male dominance or female oppression.
• I plan to analyze anger and derision in offensive language to see if they represent a challenge of society’s authority.

At some point, you can turn a purpose statement into a thesis statement. As you think and write about your topic, you can restrict, clarify, and refine your argument, crafting your thesis statement to reflect your thinking.

As you work on your thesis, remember to keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Sometimes your thesis needs to evolve as you develop new insights, find new evidence, or take a different approach to your topic.

Compose a draft thesis statement

If you are writing a paper that will have an argumentative thesis and are having trouble getting started, the techniques in the table below may help you develop a temporary or “working” thesis statement.

Begin with a purpose statement that you will later turn into a thesis statement.

Assignment: Discuss the history of the Reform Party and explain its influence on the 1990 presidential and Congressional election.

Purpose Statement: This paper briefly sketches the history of the grassroots, conservative, Perot-led Reform Party and analyzes how it influenced the economic and social ideologies of the two mainstream parties.

Question-to-Assertion

If your assignment asks a specific question(s), turn the question(s) into an assertion and give reasons why it is true or reasons for your opinion.

Assignment : What do Aylmer and Rappaccini have to be proud of? Why aren’t they satisfied with these things? How does pride, as demonstrated in “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” lead to unexpected problems?

Beginning thesis statement: Alymer and Rappaccinni are proud of their great knowledge; however, they are also very greedy and are driven to use their knowledge to alter some aspect of nature as a test of their ability. Evil results when they try to “play God.”

Write a sentence that summarizes the main idea of the essay you plan to write.

Main idea: The reason some toys succeed in the market is that they appeal to the consumers’ sense of the ridiculous and their basic desire to laugh at themselves.

Make a list of the ideas that you want to include; consider the ideas and try to group them.

• nature = peaceful
• war matériel = violent (competes with 1?)
• need for time and space to mourn the dead
• war is inescapable (competes with 3?)

Use a formula to arrive at a working thesis statement (you will revise this later).

• although most readers of _______ have argued that _______, closer examination shows that _______.
• _______ uses _______ and _____ to prove that ________.
• phenomenon x is a result of the combination of __________, __________, and _________.

What to keep in mind as you draft an initial thesis statement

Beginning statements obtained through the methods illustrated above can serve as a framework for planning or drafting your paper, but remember they’re not yet the specific, argumentative thesis you want for the final version of your paper. In fact, in its first stages, a thesis statement usually is ill-formed or rough and serves only as a planning tool.

As you write, you may discover evidence that does not fit your temporary or “working” thesis. Or you may reach deeper insights about your topic as you do more research, and you will find that your thesis statement has to be more complicated to match the evidence that you want to use.

You must be willing to reject or omit some evidence in order to keep your paper cohesive and your reader focused. Or you may have to revise your thesis to match the evidence and insights that you want to discuss. Read your draft carefully, noting the conclusions you have drawn and the major ideas which support or prove those conclusions. These will be the elements of your final thesis statement.

Sometimes you will not be able to identify these elements in your early drafts, but as you consider how your argument is developing and how your evidence supports your main idea, ask yourself, “ What is the main point that I want to prove/discuss? ” and “ How will I convince the reader that this is true? ” When you can answer these questions, then you can begin to refine the thesis statement.

Refine and polish the thesis statement

To get to your final thesis, you’ll need to refine your draft thesis so that it’s specific and arguable.

• Ask if your draft thesis addresses the assignment
• Question each part of your draft thesis
• Clarify vague phrases and assertions
• Investigate alternatives to your draft thesis

Consult the example below for suggestions on how to refine your draft thesis statement.

Sample Assignment

Choose an activity and define it as a symbol of American culture. Your essay should cause the reader to think critically about the society which produces and enjoys that activity.

• Ask The phenomenon of drive-in facilities is an interesting symbol of american culture, and these facilities demonstrate significant characteristics of our society.This statement does not fulfill the assignment because it does not require the reader to think critically about society.

Drive-ins are an interesting symbol of American culture because they represent Americans’ significant creativity and business ingenuity.

Among the types of drive-in facilities familiar during the twentieth century, drive-in movie theaters best represent American creativity, not merely because they were the forerunner of later drive-ins and drive-throughs, but because of their impact on our culture: they changed our relationship to the automobile, changed the way people experienced movies, and changed movie-going into a family activity.

While drive-in facilities such as those at fast-food establishments, banks, pharmacies, and dry cleaners symbolize America’s economic ingenuity, they also have affected our personal standards.

While drive-in facilities such as those at fast- food restaurants, banks, pharmacies, and dry cleaners symbolize (1) Americans’ business ingenuity, they also have contributed (2) to an increasing homogenization of our culture, (3) a willingness to depersonalize relationships with others, and (4) a tendency to sacrifice quality for convenience.

This statement is now specific and fulfills all parts of the assignment. This version, like any good thesis, is not self-evident; its points, 1-4, will have to be proven with evidence in the body of the paper. The numbers in this statement indicate the order in which the points will be presented. Depending on the length of the paper, there could be one paragraph for each numbered item or there could be blocks of paragraph for even pages for each one.

Complete the final thesis statement

The bottom line.

As you move through the process of crafting a thesis, you’ll need to remember four things:

• Context matters! Think about your course materials and lectures. Try to relate your thesis to the ideas your instructor is discussing.
• As you go through the process described in this section, always keep your assignment in mind . You will be more successful when your thesis (and paper) responds to the assignment than if it argues a semi-related idea.
• Your thesis statement should be precise, focused, and contestable ; it should predict the sub-theses or blocks of information that you will use to prove your argument.
• Make sure that you keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Change your thesis as your paper evolves, because you do not want your thesis to promise more than your paper actually delivers.

In the beginning, the thesis statement was a tool to help you sharpen your focus, limit material and establish the paper’s purpose. When your paper is finished, however, the thesis statement becomes a tool for your reader. It tells the reader what you have learned about your topic and what evidence led you to your conclusion. It keeps the reader on track–well able to understand and appreciate your argument.

Writing Process and Structure

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

Getting Started with Your Paper

Interpreting Writing Assignments from Your Courses

Generating Ideas for

Creating an Argument

Thesis vs. Purpose Statements

Architecture of Arguments

Working with Sources

Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources

Using Literary Quotations

Citing Sources in Your Paper

Drafting Your Paper

Generating Ideas for Your Paper

Introductions

Paragraphing

Developing Strategic Transitions

Conclusions

Revising Your Paper

Peer Reviews

Reverse Outlines

Revising an Argumentative Paper

Revision Strategies for Longer Projects

Finishing Your Paper

Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

How to Proofread your Paper

Writing Collaboratively

Collaborative and Group Writing

Thesis Statements

What this handout is about.

This handout describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your writing, and how you can craft or refine one for your draft.

Introduction

Writing in college often takes the form of persuasion—convincing others that you have an interesting, logical point of view on the subject you are studying. Persuasion is a skill you practice regularly in your daily life. You persuade your roommate to clean up, your parents to let you borrow the car, your friend to vote for your favorite candidate or policy. In college, course assignments often ask you to make a persuasive case in writing. You are asked to convince your reader of your point of view. This form of persuasion, often called academic argument, follows a predictable pattern in writing. After a brief introduction of your topic, you state your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you’ll make in the rest of your paper.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement:

• tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
• is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
• directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
• makes a claim that others might dispute.
• is usually a single sentence near the beginning of your paper (most often, at the end of the first paragraph) that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

If your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you may need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. The assignment may not explicitly state that you need a thesis statement because your instructor may assume you will include one. When in doubt, ask your instructor if the assignment requires a thesis statement. When an assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively. (Check out our handout on understanding assignments for more information.)

How do I create a thesis?

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.

Writers use all kinds of techniques to stimulate their thinking and to help them clarify relationships or comprehend the broader significance of a topic and arrive at a thesis statement. For more ideas on how to get started, see our handout on brainstorming .

How do I know if my thesis is strong?

If there’s time, run it by your instructor or make an appointment at the Writing Center to get some feedback. Even if you do not have time to get advice elsewhere, you can do some thesis evaluation of your own. When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following :

• Do I answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the question. If the prompt isn’t phrased as a question, try to rephrase it. For example, “Discuss the effect of X on Y” can be rephrased as “What is the effect of X on Y?”
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? If your thesis simply states facts that no one would, or even could, disagree with, it’s possible that you are simply providing a summary, rather than making an argument.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? Thesis statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains words like “good” or “successful,” see if you could be more specific: why is something “good”; what specifically makes something “successful”?
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? If a reader’s first response is likely to  be “So what?” then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger issue.
• Does my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. It’s okay to change your working thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? If a reader’s first response is “how?” or “why?” your thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. See what you can add to give the reader a better take on your position right from the beginning.

Suppose you are taking a course on contemporary communication, and the instructor hands out the following essay assignment: “Discuss the impact of social media on public awareness.” Looking back at your notes, you might start with this working thesis:

Social media impacts public awareness in both positive and negative ways.

You can use the questions above to help you revise this general statement into a stronger thesis.

• Do I answer the question? You can analyze this if you rephrase “discuss the impact” as “what is the impact?” This way, you can see that you’ve answered the question only very generally with the vague “positive and negative ways.”
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not likely. Only people who maintain that social media has a solely positive or solely negative impact could disagree.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? No. What are the positive effects? What are the negative effects?
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? No. Why are they positive? How are they positive? What are their causes? Why are they negative? How are they negative? What are their causes?
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? No. Why should anyone care about the positive and/or negative impact of social media?

After thinking about your answers to these questions, you decide to focus on the one impact you feel strongly about and have strong evidence for:

Because not every voice on social media is reliable, people have become much more critical consumers of information, and thus, more informed voters.

This version is a much stronger thesis! It answers the question, takes a specific position that others can challenge, and it gives a sense of why it matters.

Let’s try another. Suppose your literature professor hands out the following assignment in a class on the American novel: Write an analysis of some aspect of Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn. “This will be easy,” you think. “I loved Huckleberry Finn!” You grab a pad of paper and write:

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.

You begin to analyze your thesis:

• Do I answer the question? No. The prompt asks you to analyze some aspect of the novel. Your working thesis is a statement of general appreciation for the entire novel.

Think about aspects of the novel that are important to its structure or meaning—for example, the role of storytelling, the contrasting scenes between the shore and the river, or the relationships between adults and children. Now you write:

In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.

• Do I answer the question? Yes!
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not really. This contrast is well-known and accepted.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? It’s getting there–you have highlighted an important aspect of the novel for investigation. However, it’s still not clear what your analysis will reveal.
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? Not yet. Compare scenes from the book and see what you discover. Free write, make lists, jot down Huck’s actions and reactions and anything else that seems interesting.
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? What’s the point of this contrast? What does it signify?”

After examining the evidence and considering your own insights, you write:

Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave “civilized” society and go back to nature.

This final thesis statement presents an interpretation of a literary work based on an analysis of its content. Of course, for the essay itself to be successful, you must now present evidence from the novel that will convince the reader of your interpretation.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers , 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Lunsford, Andrea A. 2015. The St. Martin’s Handbook , 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Ramage, John D., John C. Bean, and June Johnson. 2018. The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing , 8th ed. New York: Pearson.

Ruszkiewicz, John J., Christy Friend, Daniel Seward, and Maxine Hairston. 2010. The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers , 9th ed. Boston: Pearson Education.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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The Three-Part Thesis

• A set-up that draws attention to your analytical focus, or the context for your analysis.
• An intervention, in which you draw attention to the way or ways in which the text warrants closer inspection (in the intervention you may want to provide some or all of the evidence topics you will use in the rest of your paper).
• An argument, in which you state clearly why the evidence you will focus on reflects a significant claim you wish to make about the text (and, if you have not already done so, the argumentative statement should make note of the evidence topics you will use in the rest of your paper).

Building a Better Thesis Statement Copyright © by Neta Gordon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to write a thesis statement + examples

What is a thesis statement?

Is a thesis statement a question, how do you write a good thesis statement, how do i know if my thesis statement is good, examples of thesis statements, helpful resources on how to write a thesis statement, frequently asked questions about writing a thesis statement, related articles.

A thesis statement is the main argument of your paper or thesis.

The thesis statement is one of the most important elements of any piece of academic writing . It is a brief statement of your paper’s main argument. Essentially, you are stating what you will be writing about.

You can see your thesis statement as an answer to a question. While it also contains the question, it should really give an answer to the question with new information and not just restate or reiterate it.

Your thesis statement is part of your introduction. Learn more about how to write a good thesis introduction in our introduction guide .

A thesis statement is not a question. A statement must be arguable and provable through evidence and analysis. While your thesis might stem from a research question, it should be in the form of a statement.

Tip: A thesis statement is typically 1-2 sentences. For a longer project like a thesis, the statement may be several sentences or a paragraph.

A good thesis statement needs to do the following:

• Condense the main idea of your thesis into one or two sentences.
• Answer your project’s main research question.
• Clearly state your position in relation to the topic .
• Make an argument that requires support or evidence.

Once you have written down a thesis statement, check if it fulfills the following criteria:

• Your statement needs to be provable by evidence. As an argument, a thesis statement needs to be debatable.
• Your statement needs to be precise. Do not give away too much information in the thesis statement and do not load it with unnecessary information.
• Your statement cannot say that one solution is simply right or simply wrong as a matter of fact. You should draw upon verified facts to persuade the reader of your solution, but you cannot just declare something as right or wrong.

As previously mentioned, your thesis statement should answer a question.

If the question is:

What do you think the City of New York should do to reduce traffic congestion?

A good thesis statement restates the question and answers it:

In this paper, I will argue that the City of New York should focus on providing exclusive lanes for public transport and adaptive traffic signals to reduce traffic congestion by the year 2035.

Here is another example. If the question is:

How can we end poverty?

A good thesis statement should give more than one solution to the problem in question:

In this paper, I will argue that introducing universal basic income can help reduce poverty and positively impact the way we work.

• The Writing Center of the University of North Carolina has a list of questions to ask to see if your thesis is strong .

A thesis statement is part of the introduction of your paper. It is usually found in the first or second paragraph to let the reader know your research purpose from the beginning.

In general, a thesis statement should have one or two sentences. But the length really depends on the overall length of your project. Take a look at our guide about the length of thesis statements for more insight on this topic.

Here is a list of Thesis Statement Examples that will help you understand better how to write them.

Every good essay should include a thesis statement as part of its introduction, no matter the academic level. Of course, if you are a high school student you are not expected to have the same type of thesis as a PhD student.

Here is a great YouTube tutorial showing How To Write An Essay: Thesis Statements .

• Walden University
• Faculty Portal

Writing a Paper: Thesis Statements

Basics of thesis statements.

The thesis statement is the brief articulation of your paper's central argument and purpose. You might hear it referred to as simply a "thesis." Every scholarly paper should have a thesis statement, and strong thesis statements are concise, specific, and arguable. Concise means the thesis is short: perhaps one or two sentences for a shorter paper. Specific means the thesis deals with a narrow and focused topic, appropriate to the paper's length. Arguable means that a scholar in your field could disagree (or perhaps already has!).

Strong thesis statements address specific intellectual questions, have clear positions, and use a structure that reflects the overall structure of the paper. Read on to learn more about constructing a strong thesis statement.

Being Specific

This thesis statement has no specific argument:

Needs Improvement: In this essay, I will examine two scholarly articles to find similarities and differences.

This statement is concise, but it is neither specific nor arguable—a reader might wonder, "Which scholarly articles? What is the topic of this paper? What field is the author writing in?" Additionally, the purpose of the paper—to "examine…to find similarities and differences" is not of a scholarly level. Identifying similarities and differences is a good first step, but strong academic argument goes further, analyzing what those similarities and differences might mean or imply.

Better: In this essay, I will argue that Bowler's (2003) autocratic management style, when coupled with Smith's (2007) theory of social cognition, can reduce the expenses associated with employee turnover.

The new revision here is still concise, as well as specific and arguable.  We can see that it is specific because the writer is mentioning (a) concrete ideas and (b) exact authors.  We can also gather the field (business) and the topic (management and employee turnover). The statement is arguable because the student goes beyond merely comparing; he or she draws conclusions from that comparison ("can reduce the expenses associated with employee turnover").

Making a Unique Argument

This thesis draft repeats the language of the writing prompt without making a unique argument:

Needs Improvement: The purpose of this essay is to monitor, assess, and evaluate an educational program for its strengths and weaknesses. Then, I will provide suggestions for improvement.

You can see here that the student has simply stated the paper's assignment, without articulating specifically how he or she will address it. The student can correct this error simply by phrasing the thesis statement as a specific answer to the assignment prompt.

Better: Through a series of student interviews, I found that Kennedy High School's antibullying program was ineffective. In order to address issues of conflict between students, I argue that Kennedy High School should embrace policies outlined by the California Department of Education (2010).

Words like "ineffective" and "argue" show here that the student has clearly thought through the assignment and analyzed the material; he or she is putting forth a specific and debatable position. The concrete information ("student interviews," "antibullying") further prepares the reader for the body of the paper and demonstrates how the student has addressed the assignment prompt without just restating that language.

Creating a Debate

This thesis statement includes only obvious fact or plot summary instead of argument:

Needs Improvement: Leadership is an important quality in nurse educators.

A good strategy to determine if your thesis statement is too broad (and therefore, not arguable) is to ask yourself, "Would a scholar in my field disagree with this point?" Here, we can see easily that no scholar is likely to argue that leadership is an unimportant quality in nurse educators.  The student needs to come up with a more arguable claim, and probably a narrower one; remember that a short paper needs a more focused topic than a dissertation.

Better: Roderick's (2009) theory of participatory leadership  is particularly appropriate to nurse educators working within the emergency medicine field, where students benefit most from collegial and kinesthetic learning.

Here, the student has identified a particular type of leadership ("participatory leadership"), narrowing the topic, and has made an arguable claim (this type of leadership is "appropriate" to a specific type of nurse educator). Conceivably, a scholar in the nursing field might disagree with this approach. The student's paper can now proceed, providing specific pieces of evidence to support the arguable central claim.

Choosing the Right Words

This thesis statement uses large or scholarly-sounding words that have no real substance:

Needs Improvement: Scholars should work to seize metacognitive outcomes by harnessing discipline-based networks to empower collaborative infrastructures.

There are many words in this sentence that may be buzzwords in the student's field or key terms taken from other texts, but together they do not communicate a clear, specific meaning. Sometimes students think scholarly writing means constructing complex sentences using special language, but actually it's usually a stronger choice to write clear, simple sentences. When in doubt, remember that your ideas should be complex, not your sentence structure.

Better: Ecologists should work to educate the U.S. public on conservation methods by making use of local and national green organizations to create a widespread communication plan.

Notice in the revision that the field is now clear (ecology), and the language has been made much more field-specific ("conservation methods," "green organizations"), so the reader is able to see concretely the ideas the student is communicating.

Leaving Room for Discussion

This thesis statement is not capable of development or advancement in the paper:

Needs Improvement: There are always alternatives to illegal drug use.

This sample thesis statement makes a claim, but it is not a claim that will sustain extended discussion. This claim is the type of claim that might be appropriate for the conclusion of a paper, but in the beginning of the paper, the student is left with nowhere to go. What further points can be made? If there are "always alternatives" to the problem the student is identifying, then why bother developing a paper around that claim? Ideally, a thesis statement should be complex enough to explore over the length of the entire paper.

Better: The most effective treatment plan for methamphetamine addiction may be a combination of pharmacological and cognitive therapy, as argued by Baker (2008), Smith (2009), and Xavier (2011).

In the revised thesis, you can see the student make a specific, debatable claim that has the potential to generate several pages' worth of discussion. When drafting a thesis statement, think about the questions your thesis statement will generate: What follow-up inquiries might a reader have? In the first example, there are almost no additional questions implied, but the revised example allows for a good deal more exploration.

Thesis Mad Libs

If you are having trouble getting started, try using the models below to generate a rough model of a thesis statement! These models are intended for drafting purposes only and should not appear in your final work.

• In this essay, I argue ____, using ______ to assert _____.
• While scholars have often argued ______, I argue______, because_______.
• Through an analysis of ______, I argue ______, which is important because_______.

Words to Avoid and to Embrace

When drafting your thesis statement, avoid words like explore, investigate, learn, compile, summarize , and explain to describe the main purpose of your paper. These words imply a paper that summarizes or "reports," rather than synthesizing and analyzing.

Instead of the terms above, try words like argue, critique, question , and interrogate . These more analytical words may help you begin strongly, by articulating a specific, critical, scholarly position.

Read Kayla's blog post for tips on taking a stand in a well-crafted thesis statement.

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Didn't find what you need? Email us at [email protected] .

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• Topic Sentences

Thesis Statements

A thesis statement is a sentence (sometimes more than one sentence) in the introduction that tells the reader the following information:

• What the topic of the paper is
• How the writer intends to discuss that topic
•  It gives a blueprint for how the essay will be structured
•  How the writer intends to prove or demonstrate his or her main points.

Think of your paper as a human body, and your thesis statement as the spinal cord. Without it, there is no structure.

For you as the writer, the thesis statement:

Develops through the interrelationship of thinking, reading, and writing;

Limits your research by providing you with one controlling main idea that intrigues you;

Narrows your writing to one specific claim that you can develop or prove;

Organizes your ideas so you know the important points you want to make in your paper; and

Clarifies your writing by keeping you on target to fulfill your proposed purpose.

For your readers, the thesis statement:

 Identifies the main point and sub-points of your essay clearly and quickly;

Functions as a road map so your readers can easily follow your ideas; and

Gives satisfaction at the conclusion of the paper when your readers discover you have fulfilled your promise by proving or developing your main point.

Characteristics of Effective Thesis Statements

An effective thesis statement must be  factual and narrow.

An effective thesis statement prepares readers for facts and details, but it cannot itself be a fact. It must always be an inference that demands proof or further development. These proofs come from the literature. 

UNT Dallas campus has two buildings.

Not factual enough: The UNT Dallas campus is the perfect size.

Just Right:  While some might see small universities as a disadvantage, the small campus of UNT Dallas holds many advantages for students, including a close-knit campus community, smaller class sizes, and better support from professors.

2. Narrow Topic

A good thesis should be narrow, and not too broad or too vague. If the topic is too broad, you won’t be able to cover the entire topic in your paper.  If it’s too narrow, you might not be able to find research, and your paper probably won’t be long enough. 

Too Broad: College students have a lot of responsibilities.

Too Narrow: Student workers in the Learning Commons at UNT Dallas have many responsibilities in their course work and tutoring. 

Just Right: College students who are financially independent have many responsibilities as they must maintain good grades, pay living expenses, and balance work and school.

Remember, a thesis statement is not: 

• Instead , you should argue, based on facts and literature, why or why not NASA should receive more funding.  
• Ask yourself--can I find anything in literature to prove this point, or is this MY opinion? 
• Instead, you should argue why or why not people like chocolate OR why or why not chocolate is healthy for you based on facts and literature findings. 
• Similar to the subjective opinion, ask yourself is this statement is based on facts and literature findings or if this is YOUR opinion. Although it is ok to have your own opinion, professors usually do not like to read articles about beliefs (students have been writing about these for years and years). 
• Instead, you could discuss theories about politics or religions and use literature to prove or disprove those theories.
• This is too factual (the Himalayas WERE formed from a collision of tectonic plates), and there is nothing to discuss because this IS a fact in itself. 
• Instead, you could compare and contrast the tectonic plate formation of different mountains. 

Examples of Thesis Statements

A thesis statement f or a 5 paragraph essay conta ins three parts:.

1. A Topic: the main idea of the essay

2. The Controlling Idea: what you want to say about the topic

3. The subtopics: usually 3 examples/reasons you will discuss in your paper

Here is an example  of a thesis statement.

Ex: Regularly visiting the Writing Center at UNT Dallas will help you become the best writer on the planet because it offers superhero tutors, current technology, and fantastic handouts.

The main topic explores the idea that regularly vsiting the writing center will help you become the best writer on the planet, and the subtopics further expand this opinion with three distinct examples: 1) tutors, 2) technology, and 3) the handouts.

Outline Example

The paper should be organized around the subtopics.  For example, for the thesis written above, the writer would write one body paragraph about the tutors, one about technology, and one about the handouts. 

Here is a sample essay outline based on this thesis:

• Introduce the topic of tutoring
• Thesis (last sentence of intro): Regularly visiting the Writing Center at UNT Dallas will help you become the best writer on the planet because it offers superhero tutors, current technology, and fantastic handouts.
• topic sentence
• Restate thesis
• Concluding remarks

For further assistance with the structure, see our handouts on Introductions and Conclusions and Topic Sentences.

A thesis statement for a LONG ESSAY contains two parts: A Topic: the main idea of the essay The Controlling Idea: what you want to say about the topic 

Throughout the paper, your thesis promises your readers that you will prove specific facts or develop certain ideas ; therefore, every paragraph, sentence, and word in your paper must relate to this controlling idea.

Here are some examples of thesis statements.

• Baseball, once a national pastime and even an addiction, has lost its popularity because of the new interest in more violent sports.
• Since the space program has yet to provide the American people with any substantial, practical returns, it is a waste of money and should be dissolved.
• To stop the alarming rise in the number of violent crimes committed every year, our courts must hand out tougher sentences.
• Detective stories appeal to the basic human desire for thrills.
• Hemingway's war stories helped to create a new prose style.
• Bronte utilizes light and fire to symbolize the emotional expressions of the characters.

Here is a suggested outline for a long essay and how that would look in terms of your thesis statement, topic, and controlling ideas:

• Introduce the novel Jane Eyre and the topic of symbolism
• Thesis (last sentence of intro): Bronte utilizes light and fire to symbolize the emotional expressions of the characters.
• textual examples and elaboration

While Sandel argues that pursuing perfection through genetic engineering would decrease our sense of humility, he claims that the sense of solidarity we would lose is also important.

This thesis summarizes several points in Sandel’s argument, but it does not make a claim about how we should understand his argument. A reader who read Sandel’s argument would not also need to read an essay based on this descriptive thesis.  

Broad thesis (arguable, but difficult to support with evidence) 

Michael Sandel’s arguments about genetic engineering do not take into consideration all the relevant issues.

This is an arguable claim because it would be possible to argue against it by saying that Michael Sandel’s arguments do take all of the relevant issues into consideration. But the claim is too broad. Because the thesis does not specify which “issues” it is focused on—or why it matters if they are considered—readers won’t know what the rest of the essay will argue, and the writer won’t know what to focus on. If there is a particular issue that Sandel does not address, then a more specific version of the thesis would include that issue—hand an explanation of why it is important.  

Arguable thesis with analytical claim 

While Sandel argues persuasively that our instinct to “remake” (54) ourselves into something ever more perfect is a problem, his belief that we can always draw a line between what is medically necessary and what makes us simply “better than well” (51) is less convincing.

This is an arguable analytical claim. To argue for this claim, the essay writer will need to show how evidence from the article itself points to this interpretation. It’s also a reasonable scope for a thesis because it can be supported with evidence available in the text and is neither too broad nor too narrow.  

Arguable thesis with normative claim 

Given Sandel’s argument against genetic enhancement, we should not allow parents to decide on using Human Growth Hormone for their children.

This thesis tells us what we should do about a particular issue discussed in Sandel’s article, but it does not tell us how we should understand Sandel’s argument.  

Questions to ask about your thesis 

• Is the thesis truly arguable? Does it speak to a genuine dilemma in the source, or would most readers automatically agree with it?  
• Is the thesis too obvious? Again, would most or all readers agree with it without needing to see your argument?  
• Is the thesis complex enough to require a whole essay's worth of argument?  
• Is the thesis supportable with evidence from the text rather than with generalizations or outside research?  
• Would anyone want to read a paper in which this thesis was developed? That is, can you explain what this paper is adding to our understanding of a problem, question, or topic?
• picture_as_pdf Thesis

How to Write a Three Point Thesis Statement

What Is a Thesis Statement?

How to develop three points for a thesis statement, what are characteristics of a strong thesis statement.

Some aspects of writing are more challenging than others. Most high school and college students tasked with writing a thesis statement understand that it generally falls into the more challenging camp. Whether you are a skilled writer who approaches writing assignments with enthusiasm or a struggling writer who dreads them, knowing how to craft a quality thesis statement is the key to writing an effective essay or research paper.

A thesis statement is the core of an essay. It is usually one sentence, which is often placed at the end of the introduction, and lets the reader know what the essay will be about. A proper thesis will present your argument in an intriguing and confident manner.

If done properly, your thesis statement should read much like an outline in sentence form. To do this, it might preview multiple aspects of the argument that will be in your body paragraphs. Essays that are missing a thesis statement or have one that is inadequate will be harder for the writer to write and more challenging for the reader to follow and understand.

A standard thesis statement has three main components: ​ a narrowly defined topic, a claim and reasons that support the claim. ​ If you want a strong thesis statement, you need to make sure that all three of these points are included in it.

First, identify your topic and narrow it down as much as possible. Clothing, for example, is too broad of a topic for a thesis statement. You could narrow it down to uniforms, but that is still too vague to truly know what type of uniforms the essay will explore. School uniforms is an example of a narrowly defined topic for a thesis statement.

Next, make a specific claim about the topic. Your claim is basically an assertion or opinion about the topic, but it needs to be debatable rather than obvious and socially relevant rather than personal. I like school uniforms because they make me feel proud of my school, for example, is not debatable and is only relevant to you. School uniforms should be required is a better claim because it is debatable and socially relevant.

Finally, include reasons that will support the claim you made, which are basically the “because” part of your thesis statement. Most essays require ​ at least three reasons ​ to properly support a claim. The reasons should be specifically mentioned without going into further detail at the moment. The details and examples belong in your body paragraphs, not your thesis statement.

To figure out which reasons to include, identify the three main points you would like to make about your claim. These three main points essentially outline how the rest of your essay will be organized. The first reason will be the sole focus of your first body paragraph where you will use evidence and examples to support that reason. The second reason will be the sole focus of your second body paragraph, and the third reason will be the focus of your third body paragraph.

So, an example three-point thesis statement (if you were making an argument about school uniforms) would be: School uniforms should be required because they make school safer, promote school spirit and save parents money.

A strong thesis statement is one that includes all three essential components of a narrowly defined topic, debatable and socially relevant claim and reasons to support the claim. To develop a strong thesis statement, consider what you want your readers to know and why it is important.

“Zoos are bad” is an example of an incomplete and inadequate thesis statement because the claim is not very debatable and does not include any supporting reasons. It is not developed and presents no arguments.

A stronger thesis statement would be more like: “Zoos should be banned because they are unethical, they change natural animal behavior, and they pose unnecessary risks to the animals in their care.” This thesis statement includes all of the necessary components and tells the reader exactly what points will be explored and supported in the essay.

Related Articles

How to Write an Introduction to a Reflective Essay

How to Write an Essay on Transportation Problems

A Good Thesis Topic

How to write a rebuttal speech.

Informative Writing Techniques

The Parts of an Argument

How to Set Up a Rhetorical Analysis

How to Write a Controlling Idea Essay

Kristina Barroso earned a B.A. in Psychology from Florida International University and works full-time as a classroom teacher in a public school. She teaches middle school English to a wide range of students from struggling readers to advanced and gifted populations. In her spare time, she loves writing articles about education for TheClassroom.com, WorkingMother and other education sites.

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How to Write a Strong Thesis Statement: 4 Steps + Examples

What’s Covered:

What is the purpose of a thesis statement, writing a good thesis statement: 4 steps, common pitfalls to avoid, where to get your essay edited for free.

When you set out to write an essay, there has to be some kind of point to it, right? Otherwise, your essay would just be a big jumble of word salad that makes absolutely no sense. An essay needs a central point that ties into everything else. That main point is called a thesis statement, and it’s the core of any essay or research paper.

You may hear about Master degree candidates writing a thesis, and that is an entire paper–not to be confused with the thesis statement, which is typically one sentence that contains your paper’s focus. 

Read on to learn more about thesis statements and how to write them. We’ve also included some solid examples for you to reference.

Typically the last sentence of your introductory paragraph, the thesis statement serves as the roadmap for your essay. When your reader gets to the thesis statement, they should have a clear outline of your main point, as well as the information you’ll be presenting in order to either prove or support your point. 

The thesis statement should not be confused for a topic sentence , which is the first sentence of every paragraph in your essay. If you need help writing topic sentences, numerous resources are available. Topic sentences should go along with your thesis statement, though.

Since the thesis statement is the most important sentence of your entire essay or paper, it’s imperative that you get this part right. Otherwise, your paper will not have a good flow and will seem disjointed. That’s why it’s vital not to rush through developing one. It’s a methodical process with steps that you need to follow in order to create the best thesis statement possible.

Step 1: Decide what kind of paper you’re writing

When you’re assigned an essay, there are several different types you may get. Argumentative essays are designed to get the reader to agree with you on a topic. Informative or expository essays present information to the reader. Analytical essays offer up a point and then expand on it by analyzing relevant information. Thesis statements can look and sound different based on the type of paper you’re writing. For example:

• Argumentative: The United States needs a viable third political party to decrease bipartisanship, increase options, and help reduce corruption in government.
• Informative: The Libertarian party has thrown off elections before by gaining enough support in states to get on the ballot and by taking away crucial votes from candidates.
• Analytical: An analysis of past presidential elections shows that while third party votes may have been the minority, they did affect the outcome of the elections in 2020, 2016, and beyond.

Step 2: Figure out what point you want to make

Once you know what type of paper you’re writing, you then need to figure out the point you want to make with your thesis statement, and subsequently, your paper. In other words, you need to decide to answer a question about something, such as:

• What impact did reality TV have on American society?
• How has the musical Hamilton affected perception of American history?
• Why do I want to major in [chosen major here]?

If you have an argumentative essay, then you will be writing about an opinion. To make it easier, you may want to choose an opinion that you feel passionate about so that you’re writing about something that interests you. For example, if you have an interest in preserving the environment, you may want to choose a topic that relates to that. 

If you’re writing your college essay and they ask why you want to attend that school, you may want to have a main point and back it up with information, something along the lines of:

“Attending Harvard University would benefit me both academically and professionally, as it would give me a strong knowledge base upon which to build my career, develop my network, and hopefully give me an advantage in my chosen field.”

Step 3: Determine what information you’ll use to back up your point

Once you have the point you want to make, you need to figure out how you plan to back it up throughout the rest of your essay. Without this information, it will be hard to either prove or argue the main point of your thesis statement. If you decide to write about the Hamilton example, you may decide to address any falsehoods that the writer put into the musical, such as:

“The musical Hamilton, while accurate in many ways, leaves out key parts of American history, presents a nationalist view of founding fathers, and downplays the racism of the times.”

Once you’ve written your initial working thesis statement, you’ll then need to get information to back that up. For example, the musical completely leaves out Benjamin Franklin, portrays the founding fathers in a nationalist way that is too complimentary, and shows Hamilton as a staunch abolitionist despite the fact that his family likely did own slaves. 

Step 4: Revise and refine your thesis statement before you start writing

Read through your thesis statement several times before you begin to compose your full essay. You need to make sure the statement is ironclad, since it is the foundation of the entire paper. Edit it or have a peer review it for you to make sure everything makes sense and that you feel like you can truly write a paper on the topic. Once you’ve done that, you can then begin writing your paper.

When writing a thesis statement, there are some common pitfalls you should avoid so that your paper can be as solid as possible. Make sure you always edit the thesis statement before you do anything else. You also want to ensure that the thesis statement is clear and concise. Don’t make your reader hunt for your point. Finally, put your thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph and have your introduction flow toward that statement. Your reader will expect to find your statement in its traditional spot.

If you’re having trouble getting started, or need some guidance on your essay, there are tools available that can help you. CollegeVine offers a free peer essay review tool where one of your peers can read through your essay and provide you with valuable feedback. Getting essay feedback from a peer can help you wow your instructor or college admissions officer with an impactful essay that effectively illustrates your point.

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Tips and Examples for Writing Thesis Statements

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Tips for Writing Your Thesis Statement

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, or an interpretation. 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.

Thesis Statement Examples

Example of an analytical thesis statement:

The paper that follows should:

• Explain the analysis of the college admission process
• Explain the challenge facing admissions counselors

Example of an expository (explanatory) thesis statement:

• Explain how students spend their time studying, attending class, and socializing with peers

Example of an argumentative thesis statement:

• Present an argument and give evidence to support the claim that students should pursue community projects before entering college

How to Write a Perfect 3-Point Thesis Statement With Samples and Tips

11 December 2023

last updated

A 3-point thesis statement is a coherent statement that integrates the three essential components of a standard thesis statement, which include a topic, an assertion, and reasons justifying the claim. Basically, the topic should narrowly define the subject. In this case, defending the claim requires writers to highlight a number of reasons. It is possible through the application of conjunctions. While formulating a working 3-point thesis statement, it is crucial to ensure that this sentence is question-focused, debatable, precise, and concise. Using non-technical language, concrete, and transpicuous words can help to improve its clarity. To make it stand out, a perfect 3-point thesis statement should be an original, specific, justifiable, and socially relevant idea derived from facts.

Description of a 3-Point Thesis Statement

A thesis statement, usually placed in the introduction paragraph, is a single statement (or two) that acts as the core of an essay. Besides, this sentence acts as a guide to readers on what essays entail, including the arrangement of ideas adopted. In this case, a strong thesis statement should precisely define the essay topic by considering a definition of the main claim, have an applicable case, and cover motivations to back up the case. Therefore, in order to answer what is a 3-point thesis statement, this sentence consolidates the three key segments, which include a subject, an assertion, and pertinent reasons to support the main claim.

Formulating a 3-Point Thesis Statement

Topic selection.

Generally, the question prompt in schools, colleges, and universities states the essay topic, and, at times, the writer is required to present a single sentence. Also, it is prudent to brainstorm on a few topics before selecting a particular theme. Basically, each argument made in an academic paper requires feasible proof. Rather than writing “democracy,” it would be wise to write “the American democracy.” Thus, the topic selected ought to be a narrow description of the essay subject.

Making an Assertion

The process of developing a strong claim begins by identifying the relationship between your idea and available information. For instance, integrating ideas, the subject, and known facts will help in formulating a viable argument. Rather than developing a personal claim, writers should make an argument that is socially relevant and easily contestable. In this case, each piece of evidence stated will aid in developing a topic sentence in the body of an academic essay. Moreover, the reasons highlighted in the paper and the order of ideas adopted in segments determine the number and arrangement of the body paragraphs.

Support Inclusion

The last part of a 3-point thesis statement involves providing reasons to back up your opinion. In particular, the application of conjunctions, such as “because,” “as,” “due,” “although,” and “since,” helps in integrating a claim and justification. Then, highlighting shreds of evidence can be helpful, especially in determining the extent to which writers will expound their claims. In this case, this attitude determines the length of a final paper. However, the process of developing a 3-point thesis statement ought to remain adaptable until authors complete writing papers. Basically, writers may discover vital information, such as new evidence that needs relevant to the essay topic. Hence, after completing the paper, it is necessary to go through the essay and identify the information that needs to be included or eliminated from a 3-point thesis statement.  

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A Working 3-Point Thesis Statement

Usually, the question prompt guides writers during the formulation of a 3-point thesis statement by presenting the topic. For instance, a relevant 3-point thesis statement must be present at the beginning of the paper, usually in the first paragraph. In this case, formulating a debatable and question-focused argument, followed by supporting statements or phrases, is the first step towards having 3-point thesis statement examples. However, this sentence should be precise and concise. In turn, specificity can be achieved by revising an argument several times. Also, students can select the most specific idea from a few formulated arguments to answer the same question. Hence, before presenting the essay, writers should answer the following questions:

• Does the thesis statement at the beginning of my essay have the three key elements?
• Is it question-focused?
• Is it precise and concise?

How Clear Is a 3-Point Thesis Statement?

A vague thesis statement is incomprehensible to readers rendering the essay unclear. Being part of a final paper, writers must follow all the instructions regarding academic writing . In this case, writing a strong 3-point thesis statement requires writers to adopt non-technical language and eliminate vague and abstract words. The only secret to ensuring clarity of a 3-point statement is by revising it as many times as possible. Accordingly, writers should not assume that readers understand technical language unless the question prompt instructs otherwise.

Making a Thesis Statement Outstanding

A well-formulated 3-point thesis statement shows the writer’s ability to comprehend and analyze the topic successfully. Rather than simply stating a general fact and providing common reasons, writers ought to show their position by coming up with an informed argument justifiable upon reviewing the available information. In this case, the clarity of a statement is one way of making it non-biased if you want to know how do you write a 3-point thesis statement. By taking a specific approach, writers eliminate the need to announce the subject, which needs to weaken it. Secondly, writers should make a reasonable premise that neither under simplify nor overcomplicate the argument. Furthermore, it is advisable to make ideas rather than adopt formula statements or general ideas. Therefore, a good 3-point thesis statement is an original, specific, justifiable, and socially relevant idea derived from facts.

A Perfect Example of a Three-Point Thesis Statement

Sample Thesis: People cannot achieve the American Dream due to the continual racial discrimination, corrupt justice system, and ineffective education policies across many states.

Step 1 – Topic: “The American Dream.”

Comment: It is a socially relevant topic.

Step 2 – Assertion : “People cannot achieve.”

Comment: The writer’s position is that the American Dream is unrealizable, a claim that will act as the essay basis.

Step 3 – Support With Three Points :

• Continual racial discrimination.
• Corrupt justice system.
• Ineffective education policies across many states.

Comment: There are three reasons justifying the writer’s claim.

This is a perfect example of a thesis statement incorporating the three key elements. Basically, every American citizen yearns for an ideal America where equality of opportunity is available for all people. Hence, the “American dream” is a feasible topic. While some individuals may oppose this statement by highlighting the reasons why it is possible to have a perfect America, this essay will focus on the impossibility by having three body paragraphs based on the three reasons.

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Thesis statement tips: helpful hacks for how to write a thesis for academic essays.

Jerz >  Writing > Academic     [ Argument | Title  | Thesis |  Blueprint  | Pro/Con | Quoting |  MLA Format ]

• Precise Opinion : the book challenges a stereotype (a good thesis is debatable, so a good paper would also cover ways that this book perpetuates this same stereotype)
• A strong blueprint would hint at why these three details add up to support the thesis statement.
• A less impressive blueprint might simply list the main points the essay will cover.

There is nothing magically “correct” about a thesis on challenging a cultural stereotype. Instead of claiming that a book “ challenges a genre’s stereotypes ,” you might instead argue that some text “ provides a more expensive but more ethical solution than X ” or “ undermines Jim Smith’s observation that ‘[some quote from Smith here]’ ”. (Don’t automatically use “challenges a genre’s stereotype” in the hopes of coming up with the “correct” thesis.)

A more complicated thesis statement for a paper that asks you to demonstrate your ability engage with someone else’s ideas (rather than simply summarize or react to someone else’s ideas) might follow a formula like this:

For a short paper (1-2 pages), the thesis statement is often the first sentence. A complex thesis statement for a long paper may be part of a thesis paragraph. But it’s hard to go wrong if you put your thesis first.

Useful Formulae for Thesis Statements

If you’re not sure whether you have a good thesis statement, see whether you can fit your ideas into one of these basic patterns.

If you are just starting out, and you are still developing an original, evidence-based claim to defend, a simpler formula is probably best. Once you have done the research, and you understand the subject, then a formula like the following won’t look like random words; it will suggest a way to frame a nuanced, complex argument that goes beyond making non-controversial factual statements.

Academic Argument: Evidence-based Defense of a Non-obvious Position

• Unlike a personal essay , which can rely on personal experience and general observations, a research paper must draw on evidence — usually in the form of direct quotations or statistics from peer-reviewed academic journals .
• You have no reason to “defend” a position unless some expert has presented credible evidence that challenges  a claim you want to make. (Finding, quoting, and engaging with that evidence is part of your task as an academic writer.)
• An academic argument is not a squabble, a difference of opinions, or an attorney’s courtroom statement. The author of an academic argument is more like the judge, who, after hearing out the best arguments in favor of various possible solutions, supports the best one. An academic argument is part of a discussion that respects multiple viewpoints (as long as those viewpoints are backed by credible evidence).

Parts of a Thesis Statement

The thesis statement has 3 main parts : the limited subject , the precise opinion , and the blueprint of reasons .

1. Limited Subject

Make sure you’ve chosen a subject that meets your instructor’s requirements for the assignment. (It never hurts to ask.)

2. Precise Opinion

The precise opinion gives your answer to a question about the subject. A good precise opinion is vital to the reader’s comprehension of the goal of the essay .

3. Blueprint of Reasons

A blueprint is a plan. It lets the builder know that the foyer will be here, the living room will be to the east, the dining room to the west, and the family room will be north.The blueprint of an essay permits you to see the whole shape of your ideas before you start churning out whole paragraphs.While it’s okay for you to start writing down your ideas before you have a clear sense of your blueprint, your reader should never encounter a list of details without being told exactly what point these details are supposed to support. (For more details on the reasoning blueprint, see Blueprinting .)

If your thesis statement introduces three reasons A, B and C, the reader will expect a section on reason A, a section on reason B, and a section on reason C.

For a single paragraph, you might only spend one sentence on each reason. For a 2-3 page paper, each reason might get its own paragraph. For a 10-page paper, each reason might contain its own local thesis statement, with its own list of reasons, so that each section involves several paragraphs.To emphasize the structure of your essay, repeat keywords or paraphrased ideas from the blueprint as you introduce the sections in which you expand on each point. Crafting good transitions is a skill that takes time and practice. ( See Transitions and Reminders of Thesis ).

Note : If you repeat your blueprint phrases and your thesis statement robotically (“The third point I want to talk about is how Black Elk Speaks accurately represents the Indian lifestyle through its direct quotes from Black Elk.”), your writing will be rather dry and lifeless. Dull writing is probably better than aimless rambling, although neither is terribly effective. |

Note : A thesis statement amounts to nothing if the paper is not completely focused on that main point . Blueprinting helps create the coherency of the thesis throughout the entire essay, which makes it a necessary part of the thesis statement.

17 Oct 2000 — originally posted by Nicci Jordan, UWEC Junior 08 Dec 2000 — first posted here. Maintained by Prof. Jerz. 13 Dec 2003 — links updated 22 Sep 2006 — moderate revisions by Jerz 29 Oct 2011 — updated by Jerz 14 June 2015 — minor adjustments

Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay A blueprint is a rough but specific  plan , or outline, which defines the structure of your whole essay. The blueprint, usually located within the thesis statement, is a brief list of the points you plan to make, compressed into just a few words each, in the same order in which they appear in the body of your paper.

Hochstein, Jordan, and Jerz Thesis Reminders A thesis reminder is a direct  echo of the thesis statement . In a short paper, the topic sentence of each paragraph should repeat words or phrases from the thesis statement.

Dennis G. Jerz Timed Essays: Planning and Organizing in a Crunch

222 thoughts on “ Thesis Statement Tips: Helpful Hacks for How to Write a Thesis for Academic Essays ”

this did not help at all

I can’t win them all.

Gibberish person may be skimming too fast. This always helps. I’m in the middle of replying to a student email on how to rework her thesis statement and I use your explanation as a clear explanation.

This has helped a lot, thank you.

I find this page helpful. Thank you!

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please I want some more examples of how to construct a very good acedamic essays

From this class，I kind of know what is thesis statement.It is a strong support of a whole passage，it can inform people of what the passage is telling，only by using a few words .It should have the keywords and a good organization to make itself brief but rich.After learning this class，I think I will be better at writing the thesis statement.Thanks

I am doing a project for my MST…but iam finding it difficult in putting up my paragraphs which needs to include my subject and limited subject…..pliz advice me on how to put up my paragraph

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I am doing preparation of ielts exam . but I faface difficulty in grammar and especially in thesis line which I confuse that what should i write in thesis line among all kinds of essay …plz tell me but should I do to improve it.

I think you should read more and write more.After writing,you can ask someone that is good at English learning to help you know what your mistakes are.

Vehicles has become a essential part of human being life. People used to bicycle but by the time mode of commute has been replaced by car .however, still in some cities people prefer to ride bicycle for travelling.

Plz tell me how can I impressive to my intro and how can I improve my writing skill

Jonu, I’d say the most important helpful thing you can do is expose yourself to English as spoken by native English speakers, talking with people who know the language well enough that they can correct you immediately, in casual conversation, when you make one of the word-level errors that only an expert user of the language would spot. There is no shortcut — exposing yourself to a language is the only way to learn it.

I happened to come across this video, which is geared towards a young audience, but is written for English language learners. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqxuNrhKhMc

Hi i am doing the preparation of competitive exam , i have to write an Essay of 2500-2800 words, data should be critical and researched base, for example there is Essay on Climate change , then please tell me how i develop a thesis statement, and how we write thesis statement, is it is written in the start of Essay or in the end of introduction, some people said that thesis satement should be written in start other say that this written in end of introductory paragraph. please help me with example thanks

Rab, if you are looking for my advice on thesis statements, you have found the right page. If you have any specific questions or comments about the content of this page, I’d be happy to address them. I’ve already put lots of time into this page, and at the moment I can’t think of a way to present my advice any more clearly.

Although you did say “please,” even so, “tell me how I develop a thesis statement” is asking for quite a lot.

What is your college major or your area of professonal expertise? If I asked you to tell me, right here on my blog, what I need to know in order to succeed in a competitive exam in your field, what would you say?

If I went to a doctor and said “Tell me how to diagnose a patient,” or I went to a judge and said “Tell me how to interpret the law,” or I went to an artist and said “Tell me how to be creative,” do you think they would be able give me a few sentences that completely answer my question and prepare me for professional work as a doctor, judge, or artist? If they had spent years as students learning their subject matter, and additional years teaching or writing a textbook on their specialty, they might be very good in their professions but I’d bet they’d all find it tough to answer such a question in any meaningful way.

I won’t be evaluating your submission, so my opinion on debatable topics such as where the thesis should go won’t be of any specific use to you.

thesis statement should be the last statement in your introductory paragraph, it will consist of a short explanation as to why you are writing the essay and what is involved.

That’s certainly a valid place to put a thesis statement, jentar. If your instructor tells you to put a thesis statement in a certain place, then putting it anywhere else is risky. But it’s also possible to start with a paragraph that grabs the reader’s attention with a gripping example that illustrates what’s at stake, and then give the thesis statement in the second paragraph.

This is great stuff. I wonder if you didn’t mean expansive rather than expensive in the following sentence. “Instead of claiming that a book “challenges a genre’s stereotypes,” you might instead argue that some text “provides a more expensive but more ethical solution than X” or “challenges Jim Smith’s observation that ‘[some quote from Smith here]’” instead.

Thanks for your feedback. I’m glad you found the page useful. I really did mean “expensive” in that example, though I am simply suggesting that considering cost is worth exploring in an argument, depending on the kind of argument you are making.

I found the information to be very informative and easy to understand. Thank you

Hi. I began an essay on the topic ; reasons why pursuing college education is important. I had it started off this way… Aristotle said it best when he stated, “Education is the best provision for life’s journey.” Pursuing a college education provides individuals with career pportunities, higher income and experiences necessary in the journey of life. Please do you think I started off good or too weak? I need your help as this is a great assignment for me to make up for my mid semester examination which I was unable to attend!

Your instructor is the one who will grade the assignment, so he or she is the best source of feedback. Without knowing what grade/level you are, or what kind of class you are taking, I can’t really advise you. However, unless you have read Aristotle’s works yourself and can place that quote in its context, I would not recommend pulling a random quote from a website and using it to start a paper. The complete quote is “Education is the best provision for the journey to old age,” but what does that mean?

The word “best” means there is at least a “good” and a “better,” and that by some measurement or judgement, a third thing is “best.” What are the two other sayings (at least) that you have compared to Aristotle, and what are the two other things (at least) that Aristotle thinks are not as good provision for life’s journey to old age? Why does your opinion (on at least three different sayings, of which the best is Aristotle’s), and at least three different provisions for old age (of which the best is education) help you to answer your instructor’s prompt about the reasons for pursing a college education?

What we think of as “college” is very different from the education that Aristotle would have received (or provided). I suggest you look into ways that a college education encourages critical thinking, which is a different way of thinking than “Did I get the right answer? Will my teacher approve? What’s the secret ‘correct’ answer in the back of my instructor’s book that I should memorize and spit back?” Maybe your instructor wants you to determine for yourself whether you feel gaining a college education is worth the intellectual effort.

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16.4: The Three-Story Thesis

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You have no doubt been drilled on the need for a thesis statement and its proper location at the end of the introduction. And you also know that all of the key points of the paper should clearly support the central driving thesis. Indeed, the whole model of the five-paragraph theme hinges on a clearly stated and consistent thesis. However, some students are surprised—and dismayed—when some of their early college papers are criticized for not having a good thesis. Their professor might even claim that the paper doesn’t have a thesis when, in the author’s view it clearly does. So, what makes a good thesis in college?

• A good thesis is non-obvious . High school teachers needed to make sure that you and all your classmates mastered the basic form of the academic essay. Thus, they  were mostly concerned that you had a clear and consistent thesis, even if it was something obvious like “sustainability is important.” A thesis statement like that has a wide-enough scope to incorporate several supporting points and concurring evidence, enabling the writer to demonstrate his or her mastery of the five-paragraph form. Good enough! When they can, high school teachers nudge students to develop arguments that are less obvious and more engaging. College instructors, though, fully expect you to produce something more developed.
• A good thesis is arguable . In everyday life, “arguable” is often used as a synonym for “doubtful.” For a thesis, though, “arguable” means that it’s worth arguing: it’s something with which a reasonable person might disagree. This arguability criterion dovetails with the non-obvious one: it shows that the author has deeply explored a problem and arrived at an argument that legitimately needs 3, 5, 10, or 20 pages to explain and justify. In that way, a good thesis sets an ambitious agenda for a paper. A thesis like “sustainability is important” isn’t at all difficult to argue for, and the reader would have little intrinsic motivation to read the rest of the paper. However, an arguable thesis like “sustainability policies will inevitably fail if they do not incorporate social justice,” brings up some healthy skepticism. Thus, the arguable thesis makes the reader want to keep reading.
• A good thesis is well specified . Some student writers fear that they’re giving away the game if they specify their thesis up front; they think that a purposefully vague thesis might be more intriguing to the reader. However, consider movie trailers: they always include the most exciting and poignant moments from the film to attract an audience. In academic papers, too, a well specified thesis indicates that the author has thought rigorously about an issue and done thorough research, which makes the reader want to keep reading. Don’t just say that a particular policy is effective or fair; say what makes it is so. If you want to argue that a particular claim is dubious or incomplete, say why in your thesis.
• A good thesis includes implications . Suppose your assignment is to write a paper about some aspect of the history of linen production and trade, a topic that may seem exceedingly arcane. And suppose you have constructed a well supported and creative argument that linen was so widely traded in the ancient Mediterranean that it actually served as a kind of currency. [1]   That’s a strong, insightful, arguable, well specified thesis. But which of these thesis statements do you find more engaging?

Linen served as a form of currency in the ancient Mediterranean world, connecting rival empires through circuits of trade.

Linen served as a form of currency in the ancient Mediterranean world, connecting rival empires through circuits of trade. The economic role of linen raises important questions about how shifting environmental conditions can influence economic relationships and, by extension, political conflicts.

Putting your claims in their broader context makes them more interesting to your reader and more impressive to your professors who, after all, assign topics that they think have enduring significance. Finding that significance for yourself makes the most of both your paper and your learning.

How do you produce a good, strong thesis? And how do you know when you’ve gotten there? Many instructors and writers find useful a metaphor based on this passage by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. [2] :

There are one-story intellects, two-story intellects, and three-story intellects with skylights. All fact collectors who have no aim beyond their facts are one-story men. Two-story men compare, reason, generalize using the labor of fact collectors as their own. Three-story men idealize, imagine, predict—their best illumination comes from above the skylight.

The biggest benefit of the three-story metaphor is that it describes a process for building a thesis. To build the first story, you first have to get familiar with the complex, relevant facts surrounding the problem or question. You have to be able to describe the situation thoroughly and accurately. Then, with that first story built, you can layer on the second story by formulating the insightful, arguable point that animates the analysis. That’s often the most effortful part: brainstorming, elaborating and comparing alternative ideas, finalizing your point. With that specified, you can frame up the third story by articulating why the point you make matters beyond its particular topic or case.

For example, imagine you have been assigned a paper about the impact of online learning in higher education. You would first construct an account of the origins and multiple forms of online learning and assess research findings about its use and effectiveness. If you’ve done that well, you’ll probably come up with a well considered opinion that wouldn’t be obvious to readers who haven’t looked at the issue in depth. Maybe you’ll want to argue that online  learning is a threat to the academic community. Or perhaps you’ll want to make the case that online learning opens up pathways to college degrees that traditional campus-based learning does not. In the course of developing your central, argumentative point, you’ll come to recognize its larger context; in this example, you may claim that online learning can serve to better integrate higher education with the rest of society, as online learners bring their educational and career experiences together.

To outline this example:

• First story : Online learning is becoming more prevalent and takes many different forms.
• Second story : While most observers see it as a transformation of higher education, online learning is better thought of an extension of higher education in that it reaches learners who aren’t disposed to participate in traditional campus-based education.
• Third story : Online learning appears to be a promising way to better integrate higher education with other institutions in society, as online learners integrate their educational experiences with the other realms of their life, promoting the freer flow of ideas between the academy and the rest of society.

Here’s another example of a three-story thesis: [4]  

• First story : Edith Wharton did not consider herself a modernist writer, and she didn’t write like her modernist contemporaries.
• Second story : However, in her work we can see her grappling with both the questions and literary forms that fascinated modernist writers of her era. While not an avowed modernist, she did engage with modernist themes and questions.
• Third story : Thus, it is more revealing to think of modernism as a conversation rather than a category or practice.

Here’s one more example:

• First story : Scientists disagree about the likely impact in the U.S. of the light brown apple moth (LBAM) , an agricultural pest native to Australia.
• Second story : Research findings to date suggest that the decision to spray pheromones over the skies of several southern Californian counties to combat the LBAM was poorly thought out.
• Third story : Together, the scientific ambiguities and the controversial response strengthen the claim that industrial-style approaches to pest management are inherently unsustainable.

A thesis statement that stops at the first story isn’t usually considered a thesis. A two-story thesis is usually considered competent, though some two-story theses are more intriguing and ambitious than others. A thoughtfully crafted and well informed three-story thesis puts the author on a smooth path toward an excellent paper.

• For more see Fabio Lopez-Lazaro “Linen.” In Encyclopedia of World Trade from Ancient Times to the Present . Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 2005. ↵
• Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Poet at the Breakfast Table (New York: Houghton & Mifflin, 1892) ↵
• The metaphor is extraordinarily useful even though the passage is annoying. Beyond the sexist language of the time, it displays condescension toward “fact-collectors” which reflects a general modernist tendency to elevate the abstract and denigrate the concrete. In reality, data-collection is a creative and demanding craft, arguably more important than theorizing. ↵
• Drawn from Jennifer Haytock, Edith Wharton and the Conversations of Literary Modernism (New York: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2008). ↵
• Revision and Adaptation. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• The three-story thesis: from the ground up. Authored by : Amy Guptill. Provided by : The College at Brockport, SUNY. Located at : http://textbooks.opensuny.org/writing-in-college-from-competence-to-excellence/ . Project : Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Image of pagoda corner. Authored by : Takashi Hososhima. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/gGhtya . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

"I’m part of the problem": Male reporter apologizes to WNBA's Caitlin Clark after awkward exchange

At a press conference, gregg doyel approached the no. 1 draft pick with a familiarity many deemed inappropriate, by nardos haile.

Newly minted No. 1 WNBA draft pick Caitlin Clark is on top of the world right now with a surprise appearance on "Saturday Night Live," lucrative new sponsorship deals and drawing the nation's eyes to women's basketball.

On April 15, the former University of Iowa point guard and current NCAA's all-time top scorer was drafted to The Indiana Fever. At a press conference to introduce the new member of the Fever to the team and sports world on Wednesday, the star athlete was met with a room full of press, including columnist Gregg Doyel of The Indianapolis Star. The interaction has caught steam online for its awkwardness but most importantly, it has received criticism from sports journalists for unprofessionalism directed towards female athletes. 

As a young, female athlete with a growing fanbase in a male-dominated sport, there are bound to be awkward interactions with the press, especially male reporters. High-profile athletes like Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka are examples of women in sports who have faced this type of uncomfortable interaction with the press.

When it was Doyel's turn to pose a question to Clark, he first made a heart gesture with his hands. Clark's fans know the gesture because she flashes it to her family at every one of her games. The heart gesture – often used by music stans and Asian media stars and their fans – is now synonymous with Clark and has even been featured in a State Farm commercial she was in. However, when Doyle made the gesture, Clark said, "You like that?"

Doyle responded, "I like that you're here."

Clark clarified why she does the gesture, telling him, "Yeah, I do that at my family after every game.”

Then Doyle said, "Start doing it to me, and we'll get along just fine."

A clip of the short interaction has amassed 41.6 million views on X, leading to online criticism from journalists like Dana O'Neil at the Athletic, posting , "Sometimes life isn't hard. If, for example, as a professional, ethical, impartial reporter it would not occur to you make a heart at, say, Victor Wembanyama, don't make one at Caitlin Clark."

Another sports journalist, Shireen Ahmed who works for CBC Sports said , "Almost every one of my women colleagues & students in sport media and sports journalism are sharing that clip of Gregg Doyel and Caitlin Clark with disgust. We are rightly furious and fed up. His creds should be revoked and offered to an unentitled journalist who respects women."

Howard Megdal, an independent sports journalist also said , "I am angered and sickened by this. It is incumbent upon reporters to come to press conferences with knowledge and respect. And players cannot, and should not, be treated this way. This is a problem well beyond this specific dynamic. So many of us work every second to build trust."

After the incident created uproar among fans and sports journalists, Doyle took to X on Wednesday evening to address his actions.

"Today in my uniquely oafish way, while welcoming  @CaitlinClark22  to Indy, I formed my hands into her signature [heart]. My comment afterward was clumsy and awkward. I sincerely apologize. Please know my heart (literally and figuratively) was well-intentioned. I will do better," he said .

Late in the evening, the columnist wrote a piece at the Indy Star expressing guilt and remorse. He opened the column, "I’m devastated to realize I’m part of the problem. I screwed up Wednesday during my first interaction with No. 1 overall draft pick Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever."

He continued to mention he's known locally for "awkward conversations with people"  before "asking brashly conversational questions." Doyle said he has done this with plenty of male athletes — not female athletes. He added, "Male and female athletes should be treated the same," listing gendered issues in women's sports like fair and equal coverage, respect, compensation and terminology.

We need your help to stay independent

Doyle shared that stories are usually written about viral insensitive men, "I decided to write about  that  idiot. Me." 

Further into the column, Doyle explained that he did not understand where he took a misstep in the interaction until "a woman I deeply respect told me, 'But Caitlin Clark is a young woman, and you don’t talk to a young woman the same as you would a young man.'”

Nonetheless, Doyle noted he felt like he offended Clark and her family. He continued, "After going through denial, and then anger – I’m on the wrong side of this? Me??? – I now realize what I said and how I said it was wrong, wrong, wrong. I mean it was just  wrong . Caitlin Clark, I’m so sorry."

As of Thursday, Clark has not responded to the apology. The rising WNBA star has been at the center of multiple conversations around WNBA athlete salaries as President Joe Biden has stated , "Women are not paid their fair share." Reportedly , Clark is also on the verge of accepting a lucrative, eight-figure endorsement deal with Nike.

about women's sports

• Jill Biden owes the LSU women a full apology
• Our endless demands on Simone Biles
• The world only has ugliness for black women. That's why Serena Williams is so important

Nardos Haile is a staff writer at Salon covering culture. She’s previously covered all things entertainment, music, fashion and celebrity culture at The Associated Press. She resides in Brooklyn, NY.

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Iran launches retaliatory attack on Israel that risks sparking regional war

Iran launched a retaliatory attack against Israel on Saturday that risks sparking a regional conflict involving U.S. military forces. The operation, which Israeli officials said included more than 300 missiles and drones, marked the first time that Iran has launched a direct military attack on the Jewish state. 

Of some 30 cruise missiles launched toward Israel, 25 were intercepted by Israeli fighter jets and none managed to enter the country, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson, said early Sunday. A "few" of the nearly 120 ballistic missiles fired toward Israel fell inside the country, he said, causing slight damage to infrastructure on the Nevatim Air Force Base but leaving it fully operational.

The assault severely injured a 10-year-old girl, but otherwise caused no casualties, Hagari said. About 31 people were treated for anxiety or injuries they sustained while heading to a protected area when sirens sounded, Israel’s first responder service said.

Follow live updates on Israel’s reported strike on Iran

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement late Saturday that the U.S. military shot down “dozens” of missiles and drones en route to Israel from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, calling Iran's assault "unprecedented."

“We condemn these reckless and unprecedented attacks by Iran and its proxies, and we call on Iran to immediately halt any further attacks, including from its proxy forces, and to deescalate tensions,” Austin said in the statement. “We do not seek conflict with Iran, but we will not hesitate to act to protect our forces and support the defense of Israel.”

Iran’s U.N. Mission issued a statement on X saying that Iran’s military action was in response to Israel’s attack on an Iranian diplomatic facility in Syria, an apparent reference to the April 1 bombing of an Iranian consular building in Damascus that killed two generals and five officers in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The statement said that Iran considered the matter “concluded” after the missile and drone strikes. But it warned that if Israel makes “another mistake,” Iran would deliver “a considerably more severe“ response. 

President Joe Biden said he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu overnight and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to the security of Israel. He also praised the country’s ability to fend off attacks as a sign to others who threaten the security of Israel.

“Tomorrow, I will convene my fellow G7 leaders to coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack,” Biden said. “My team will engage with their counterparts across the region. And we will stay in close touch with Israel’s leaders.”

U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, as well as American warships in the region, were part of the effort to counter the Iranian attack, U.S. officials said. They include the USS Carney, a destroyer that has been involved in knocking out missiles and drones in the Red Sea fired by Iranian-backed Houthi forces from Yemen.

Through decades of tensions with Israel, Iran has previously avoided a direct conflict with the Jewish state, instead opting to damage its adversary through armed proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and elsewhere.

In back-channel communications with the U.S. over the past two weeks, Iran indicated it would retaliate against Israel but wanted to avoid an escalation that would lead to all-out war, U.S. officials said.

The question now is whether Iran’s attack will be interpreted in the way Tehran has planned, or trigger an unintended reaction from Israel that could escalate into an uncontrollable cycle of violence, analysts said.

Growing tensions

Tensions in the region have been at boiling point since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 terror attack and mass hostage taking and Israel’s subsequent full-scale assault on the Gaza Strip, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 33,000 and pushed the population to the brink of starvation.

The blast at the Iranian consular building in Damascus killed two of Iran’s top commanders, including Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior member of the Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ’ elite foreign espionage group.

His death marked the killing of the most senior Iranian official since Gen. Qassem Soleimani was targeted by an American airstrike in 2020.

Zahedi was a key figure in coordinating the so-called Axis of Resistance — the anti-Israel, anti-Western network of Iran-backed groups that operate with militants from across the Arab world . Tehran currently backs Hamas , Hezbollah and the Houthis — all of which in recent months have either attacked Israel directly or conducted attacks citing resistance to Israel.

How will Netanyahu respond?

There is concern among top U.S. officials that Israel could quickly respond to Iran’s attacks without thinking through the potential fallout, according to a senior administration official and a senior defense official. 

Those concerns stem in part from the Biden administration’s views of the approach Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have taken to Israel's war against Hamas, as well as the attack in Damascus. 

U.S. officials have privately expressed frustration with Israel’s decision to strike the Iranian consulate in Syria, saying Israeli leaders did not think through the timing and implications of the attack, including how it might affect negotiations over the release of hostages held by Hamas. 

“I don’t think they had a strategy,” the senior administration official said. “The Israelis don’t always make the best strategic decisions.” 

Senior leaders at the Pentagon also have privately expressed frustration at the timing of the Damascus strike, according to the senior defense official, because it had the potential to be “catastrophically escalatory.”

In the days leading up to Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel, U.S. intelligence showed that Iran’s leaders felt the need to respond to Israel’s strike in Damascus due to concern of domestic blowback if the strike went unanswered, according to the senior administration official.

Biden has privately expressed concern that Netanyahu is trying to drag the U.S. more deeply into a broader conflict, according to three people familiar with his comments.  

While the White House believes the Israelis are not looking for a wider war or a direct war with Iran, particularly given the resources they have fighting the war in Gaza, U.S. officials can’t be certain, the senior administration official said.

The official described Israel’s approach to military operations as “frenetic.” 

“There’s this urgency to act,” the official said, “and that’s what happened in Damascus.” The official said it’s the same frustration U.S. officials have with the way Israel is operating in Gaza. 

The defense official echoed that sentiment, saying the Israelis have shown they are much better at operations than they are at planning. “They have surprised us with their really short-sided planning for the past few months so in that way Damascus isn’t as surprising,” the defense official said.

Now, the U.S. is contending with a potential war between rival nation states, the senior administration official said. That would be a dramatic and dangerous expansion of the long-simmering conflict between Iran and Israel that could further destabilize the Middle East.

Courtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Carol E. Lee is the Washington managing editor.

Dan De Luce is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. 

Aurora Almendral is a London-based editor with NBC News Digital.

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End of jury selection in Trump trial caps frenetic first week as case enters new phase

By Graham Kates , Katrina Kaufman

Updated on: April 19, 2024 / 7:44 PM EDT / CBS News

The jury selection process in former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York came to a close on Friday, part of a flurry of activity that marked the end of a dizzying first week in the historic proceedings.

The trial will enter a new phase on Monday with the beginning of opening statements, the first chance that prosecutors and defense attorneys will have to make their case before the complete jury.

Friday saw the selection of the final five of six alternate jurors, who would step in for the 12 main jurors if needed during the trial. Elsewhere, a different judge denied a last-ditch effort by Trump to halt the proceedings and get the trial moved out of Manhattan.

But the events inside the courtroom were briefly overshadowed by a shocking turn of events outside, where a man lit himself on fire at a park across the street shortly after the jury was finalized. 

Police officials said the man, later identified as Max Azzarello , walked into the park, opened a backpack and scattered papers and pamphlets on the ground. He then poured what appeared to be a liquid accelerant on his head and ignited himself. Footage from the scene showed flames shooting high in the air before emergency personnel extinguished the blaze. He was rushed away on a stretcher and taken to a nearby hospital, where officials said he was in critical condition.

An account on the platform Substack that appeared to belong to Azzarello posted a rambling statement regarding a wide range of conspiracy theories before Azzarello set himself ablaze. The pamphlets Azzarello dropped on the ground were unrelated to Trump or his criminal case.

The incident cast a sobering pall over the rest of the day's proceedings, which saw prosecutors and attorneys for Trump argued over what the former president could be asked about if he chooses to take the stand in his own defense.

Day 4 of the Trump trial

Friday got underway with both sides resuming questioning of potential alternates who said they could remain impartial. Several were dismissed after saying they were suffering from anxiety or no longer believed they could judge the case fairly.

Those concerns arose one day after two jurors who had previously been seated were excused. One said she became concerned about her ability to be impartial after people in her life figured out she was a juror based on details reported about her in the press. Another was dismissed after prosecutors discovered legal issues that hadn't been disclosed.

Questioning of the remaining potential alternates continued into Friday afternoon until all five seats were filled.

The court then proceeded to a pretrial hearing to discuss the topics prosecutors would be allowed to broach if Trump decides to take the stand. 

Prosecutors indicated in a filing made public Wednesday that they want to question Trump about a host of high-profile legal defeats to attack his credibility. The list includes an almost half-billion-dollar civil fraud judgment recently handed down in another New York court, a pair of unanimous civil federal jury verdicts finding him liable for defamation and sexual abuse of the writer E. Jean Carroll, gag order violations, and sanctions for what a judge concluded was a "frivolous, bad faith lawsuit" against Hillary Clinton.

Trump's attorneys believe all those topics should be out of bounds in this case, which revolves around reimbursements to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen for a "hush money" payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors say Trump covered up the reimbursements in order to distance himself from the payment, days before the 2016 presidential election, which temporarily bought Daniels' silence about an alleged affair. He has also denied having the affair.

Trump has entered a not guilty plea to 34 felony counts of falsification of business records. He has denied all allegations in the case.

The judge delayed a ruling on what topics Trump could be asked about, saying he would make a decision on Monday.

11th-hour appeal

As Merchan weighed that issue, Trump attorney Clifford Robert was at a different New York courthouse, arguing to a mid-level appeals court judge that the jury selection process revealed that Manhattan is too biased to host a fair trial, and that the process was conducted too quickly.

"I think to state the obvious, to think that a jury could be selected in three days, even in what I'd call a garden-variety felony case in New York, would be unusual," said Robert, who also represents Trump's sons in a separate civil fraud case.

Robert called Trump's New York criminal case "one of the most consequential cases in, if not New York, this country's history" and asked the judge to pause the case while Trump pursues a change of venue. 

The effort was the second time in two weeks that Trump had gone to the Appellate Division, First Department to seek a stay. Steven Wu, a lawyer for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, said that was reason enough to reject the effort, since defendants are only allowed to make that request once.

Robert noted that more than two-thirds of potential jurors said they could not be impartial and were dismissed. Wu countered, saying the dismissal rate was proof the system was weeding out people who shouldn't serve on the jury.

"What it is showing is jury selection works," Wu said.

Wu also defended the pace of the process, noting the potential jurors answered a 42-prompt questionnaire that was "much longer than the usual questionnaire given." He said the 30 minutes given to each side to question potential jurors was also much longer than the norm.

Robert cited one of the seated jurors who asked to be excused Thursday, the woman who expressed concerns about being identified through media reports. He said it was more proof Manhattan was the wrong venue.

Wu said Trump himself "amplified and stoked the very press coverage" that led to her departure. He pointed to a social media post by Trump that he said was a veiled reference to that juror.

The judge, Marsha Michael, quickly denied the stay request, without explanation.

• Donald Trump

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at [email protected] or [email protected]

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In a first, EPA sets limit for ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water

Agency officials estimate the rule will reduce pfas exposure for about 100 million americans.

The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized the nation’s first drinking water standard for “forever chemicals,” a group of persistent human-made chemicals that can pose a health risk to people at even the smallest detectable levels of exposure.

The new rules are part of the Biden administration’s efforts to limit pollution from these per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which can persist in the environment for centuries. Exposure to PFAS has been linked to an increased risk of certain types of cancer, low birth weights, high cholesterol, and negative effects on the liver, thyroid and immune system.

EPA officials estimate that the federal rule will reduce PFAS exposure in drinking water for about 100 million people.

This is the first time the EPA has set a drinking water standard for a new contaminant since 1996. Some states — including Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington — have already passed drinking water standards for certain PFAS.

“Everyone should be able to turn on the tap and know that the glass of water they fill is safe to drink and free of pollutants,” Brenda Mallory, the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said on a call with reporters Tuesday.

Robert Bilott, a Cincinnati environmental attorney whose fight against forever chemicals has led to major class-action settlements against DuPont and 3M, said in a statement that the EPA’s drinking water standard is “the culmination of decades of work” to raise awareness about the risks of these chemicals.

PFAS are “the most toxic, persistent, and bioaccumulative chemicals ever found in our nation’s drinking water supply,” Bilott said.

Reducing chemicals in drinking water

Nearly every American has measurable amounts of PFAS in their blood , and close to half of the nation’s tap water has one or more types of PFAS, according to an estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey.

“We’ve been waiting for federal regulation of these chemicals for a long time,” said Linda Birnbaum , the former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and a scholar in residence at Duke University. “We know that drinking water is a very significant source of the contamination.”

The federal drinking water standard will require water utilities to test for and reduce levels of some of the most concerning forms of PFAS — which are called PFOA and PFOS — to 4 parts per trillion or less. Agency officials have said the limit is the lowest level that can be feasibly measured.

But the EPA has previously reported that a lifetime exposure of even 0.004 and 0.02 parts per trillion of the two forever chemicals could compromise a person’s immune and cardiovascular systems. The rule also sets additional limits for other individual PFAS as well as mixtures of the compounds.

“There’s no doubt that these chemicals have been important for certain industries and consumer uses,” Michael Regan , the administrator of the EPA, said Tuesday. “But there’s also no doubt that many of these chemicals can be harmful to our health and environment.”

Pushback from the water industry

The federal regulation applies to 66,000 public water systems in the United States. Agency officials say most utilities will need to conduct more monitoring, but only about six to 10 percent of the utilities will need to “take action” to meet the federal standard. Water utilities will have three years to “complete their initial monitoring” for PFAS and will need to comply with the drinking water regulations starting in 2029.

Agency officials estimate that the drinking water standard will cost water utilities around $1.5 billion per year. But officials also said the health benefits from the new rule — reducing the incidence of cancer, heart attacks and strokes — will exceed projected costs.

The Biden administration has dedicated $9 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure package to fund efforts to mitigate PFAS in water systems. And an additional $12 billion from the package are for general improvements to drinking water infrastructure.

Robert Powelson, the president and chief executive of the National Association of Water Companies (NAWC), a trade group that represents private utilities, said in a statement that the costs of the federal regulation “will disproportionately fall on water and wastewater customers.”

“Water utilities do not create or produce PFAS chemicals,” Powelson said. “Yet water systems and their customers are on the front lines of paying for the cleanup of this contamination.”

The American Water Works Association (AWWA), a trade group, said in a statement that it estimates the cost could be “more than three times higher than the agency’s calculations.”

"The best way to keep our drinking water free from PFAS is to protect our precious source waters,” the group said. “AWWA continues to encourage EPA to follow through on its commitments to address harmful PFAS manufacturing, uses and releases to the environment.”

Environmental groups praised the action.

“I think a lot of us that have worked in this field for a long time wondered if the EPA would ever be able to get this rolled out,” said Erik Olson , the senior strategic director for health at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “I think the agency, frankly, should be commended for getting this thing out despite all the very strong headwinds of opposition from industry."

An alphabet soup of forever chemicals

PFAS are a broad class of thousands of carbon-fluorine bonded compounds that have been used since the 1940s to provide repellant and resistant properties to materials. The characteristics that make PFAS so effective are also why these chemicals can persist in nature for years. PFAS can be found in a range of products, including stain-resistant carpet, non-stick cookware, solar panels and artificial turf .

“Personally, I think this is a class of chemicals that is very useful but not always necessary,” Birnbaum said. “It’s really important as we go forward that we start saying: Is this absolutely essential?”

Although there are thousands of PFAS compounds, the new rules focus on limits for an alphabet soup of six specific PFAS chemicals. They include PFOA, a known human carcinogen and PFOS, a likely carcinogen, which are limited to 4 parts per trillion. Three other compounds — PFHxS, PFNA, GenX — will have individual limits of 10 parts per trillion.

The EPA will also require water systems to measure for a mixture of at least two of these four chemicals — PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and PFBS — using a hazard index, a tool to measure “the cumulative risk of a mixture of chemicals,” said Melanie Benesh , the vice president of government affairs at Environmental Working Group.

Although the new rules only target six chemicals, the additional efforts by water utilities to filter out these specific PFAS will probably “significantly reduce” other PFAS in the water supply, as well, said David Andrews , the deputy director of investigations and a senior scientist at Environmental Working Group.

Beginning in 2027, water systems will need to tell customers if the utility detects certain PFAS listed in the federal regulation. Then, by 2029, the utilities will need to notify the public of a violation to one of the PFAS limits no later than 30 days after the water system learns of it.

Maxine Joselow contributed to this report.

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• International

Trump hush money trial

Middle East conflict

Israel launches strike on Iran, US official says

By Kathleen Magramo, Elizabeth Wolfe and Aditi Sangal, CNN

Catch up on the latest developments as tensions simmer in the Middle East

From CNN staff

The aftermath of the Israeli strikes in Iran left the world on edge as concerns of a potentially dangerous escalation of a fast-widening Middle East conflict continue to rise.

Here's the immediate response almost 24 hours after the strikes:

• The Biden administration has been tight-lipped following the Israeli strikes in Iran .
• Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart on Friday, according to a readout from the Pentagon, but it makes no mention of the Israeli strikes.
• Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also declined to weigh in Friday, telling reporters during the White House press briefing the Biden administration was going to avoid commenting on the subject altogether.
• Iraq expressed "deep concern" over the strikes and the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Friday warned of the risks of military escalation that "now threaten the security and stability of the region as a whole." Its statement emphasized that the Israeli-Iranian escalation should not "divert attention" from the ongoing destruction and loss of innocent lives in the Gaza Strip.
• Jordanian deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi told CNN that escalation "serves nobody," and that Jordan will not "be a battleground for Israel and Iran and neither of them should violate our airspace, endanger our security and our people." He also urged all involved partied to focus on ending the "catastrophe that continues to unfold in Gaza."

Here's what else happened:

• US secures key agreement for aid distribution in Gaza: The Biden administration has  secured an agreement  with a major United Nations agency to distribute aid from the pier the  US military is constructing off the coast of Gaza , two senior US officials told CNN — a key development as the US and its allies have rushed to finalize plans for how desperately needed humanitarian aid will be distributed inside the war-torn strip. The US military is expected to finish constructing the pier early next month. The World Food Programme (WFP) will support distribution of aid from the pier following weeks of diplomatic wrangling, multiple officials familiar with the matter told CNN.
• Blinken defends US veto on Palestinian statehood: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the US veto of a UN Security Council resolution for Palestinian statehood at the UN. “The United States is committed to achieving a Palestinian state,” the top US diplomat said, “but getting to that, achieving that state, has to be done through diplomacy, not through imposition.”

Source describes "huge explosion" south of Baghdad at pro-Iran military base

From Aqeel Najim and Hamdi Alkhshali  

An Iraqi security source told CNN on Saturday (local time) that a "huge explosion" took place at a military base belonging to Iraq's Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Babylon Governorate south of Baghdad.

The explosions took place at an ammunition depot at a PMF military base, the source said, but didn't provide further details or elaborate on a cause.

US Defense Secretary speaks with Israeli counterpart again following strikes in Iran

From CNN's Oren Liebermann

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart on Friday, according to a readout from the Pentagon.

This comes one day after Israel carried out strikes in Iran . The readout makes no mention of the Israeli strikes, and the Biden administration has been tight-lipped following the actions. 

Austin and Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant discussed “regional stability,” as well as the ongoing war in Gaza, according to the Pentagon.

Austin also spoke with Gallant on Thursday before the strikes took place. The readout of the earlier call had slightly more information, saying the two discussed “Iran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East.”

In a previous call, Austin had asked Gallant for Israel to notify the US before taking any action in retaliation for a massive Iranian barrage fired at Israel last weekend.

Analysis: Iran and Israel have averted an all-out war – for now

Analysis from CNN's Tamara Qiblawi in Beirut, Lebanon

The scope of Israel’s military response to Iran’s first-ever direct attack on the country remains murky. Israeli officials have yet to publicly acknowledge responsibility for reported overnight explosions in parts of Iran on Friday. Tehran has dismissed these as attacks by “tiny drones” that were shot down by its air defense systems.

Iran may be downplaying what was likely to have been a significant but limited Israeli attack, but that seems to be secondary to the larger forces at play. What is plain to see is that both  Iran and Israel are keen to wrap up the most dangerous escalation between the two regional powerhouses to date.

This month’s dramatic escalation, which kicked off with an apparent  Israeli airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus , followed by a largely foiled  Iranian attack of over 300 airborne weapons on Israel, seems to have given way to a rapid climbdown. Shortly after the Friday morning attack in Iran, a regional intelligence source told CNN that Iran was not expected to respond further, and that the direct state-to-state strikes between the two enemy states were over.

The latest flare-up brought the stakes into sharp focus, but it also exposed the limits of a direct confrontation between Iran and Israel.

Remember: What happens between Iran and Israel rarely stays between Iran and Israel. The region is deeply intertwined. That heightens the risks of military action, but it also acts as guardrails against a potential conflagration. So when US officials said last weekend that Washington would not participate in an Israeli response to Iran’s attack on Israel, that seemed to immediately take the wind out of the sails of a potential escalation.

EU sanctions "extremist settlers" in occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem

From CNN’s Catherine Nicholls and Benjamin Brown in London

The European Union has imposed sanctions on “extremist settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem,” the European Council announced on Friday, listing four people and two entities.

According to the statement, the entities Lehava, a “radical right-wing Jewish supremacist group,” and Hilltop Youth, a “radical youth group consisting of members known for violent acts against Palestinians and their villages in the West Bank,” were added to the EU sanctions regime alongside two leading figures of Hilltop Youth, Meir Ettinger and Elisha Yered.

Neria Ben Pazi, who the EU's governing body said has been “accused of repeatedly attacking Palestinians,” and Yinon Levi, who the council said has “taken part in multiple violent acts against neighbouring villages,” were also added to the listing.

The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said in a  post on X  that “the EU has decided to sanction extremist settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem for serious human rights abuses against Palestinians. We strongly condemn extremist settler violence: perpetrators must be held to account.”

Belgium’s Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said that she  “welcomes” the sanctions , adding that the “recent escalation of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop; these settlers must be held accountable.”

Yered responded later Friday, saying he was “honored to be included in this respected list” and that “we shall continue holding onto the land of our forefathers — until the victory.”

This post has been updated with comment from Elisha Yered.

Exclusive: No extensive damage seen at Isfahan air base in satellite images

From CNN's Paul P. Murphy

There does not appear to be any extensive damage at an air base purportedly targeted by an Israeli military strike, according to exclusive satellite images obtained by CNN from Umbra Space. 

The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite images were taken around 10:18 a.m. local time. 

There does not appear to be any large craters in the ground and there are no apparent destroyed buildings. Additional visual satellite imagery will be needed to check for burn scars – which cannot be seen by SAR images -- around the complex.

SAR images are not like normal satellite images. 

The SAR images are created by a satellite transmitting radar beams capable of passing through clouds, like the ones currently preventing satellites from imaging the area. Those radar beams bounce off objects on the ground, and echo back to the satellite.

Iranian news agency FARS said that an army radar at the Isfahan province military base was one of the possible targets, and that the only damage from the attack was broken windows on several office buildings.

The images also show that the Iranian F-14 Tomcats that have been stationed at the air base in the past are not there at the moment. Additional archival satellite imagery reviewed by CNN shows that those F-14 Tomcats have not been there for some time.

UN secretary-general pushes for end to retaliation in the Middle East

From CNN's Richard Roth

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged both sides to cease retaliating after Israel carried out a military strike on Iran, a spokesperson said in a statement on Friday. 

"The Secretary-General reiterates that it is high time to stop the dangerous cycle of retaliation in the Middle East," the statement read. "The Secretary-General condemns any act of retaliation and appeals to the international community to work together to prevent any further development that could lead to devastating consequences for the entire region and beyond," it continued. 

Treasury department imposes sanctions on two groups for fundraising for Israeli extremists in West Bank

From CNN’s Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood and Alex Marquardt 

The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on two organizations on Friday for fundraising on behalf of two violent Israeli extremists in the West Bank.

The two groups -- Mount Hebron Fund and Shlom Asiraich – established crowdfunding campaigns to raise thousands of dollars for Yinon Levi and David Chai Chasdai respectively. Both of those men were sanctioned by the US in February under a new executive order targeting those perpetrating violence in the West Bank. 

At the same time, the State Department on Friday sanctioned Ben-Zion Gopstein, “the founder and leader of Lehava, an organization whose members have engaged in violence, including assaults on Palestinian civilians,” the Treasury Department said in a statement Friday.

The executive order, issued by President Joe Biden in early February, came amid increased violence in the occupied West Bank in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack. That violence has only continued in subsequent months.

The order angered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who complained to the administration, calling it “inappropriate” and “highly problematic,” according to Axios.

Gopstein responded later on Friday, saying: “We overcame Pharaoh; we shall overcome Biden too,” which is his rephrasing of the commonly used expression said during Israel at Passover: "We overcame Pharaoh; we shall overcome this."

This post has been updated with comment from Ben-Zion Gopstein.

Gaza death toll surpasses 34,000, Ministry of Health says

From CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman and Eyad Kourdi

The death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to at least 34,012, following more than six months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Friday.

In the last 24 hours, 42 Palestinians had died following Israeli attacks, the ministry reported.

A further 63 people had been injured over the same time period, taking the overall number of wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began to 76,833, it said.

CNN cannot independently verify the ministry's casualty figures.

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