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• How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on January 11, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on August 15, 2023 by Eoghan Ryan.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . It usually comes near the end of your introduction .

Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.

You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps:

• Start with a question
• Write your initial answer
• Develop your answer
• Refine your thesis statement

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Table of contents

What is a thesis statement, placement of the thesis statement, step 1: start with a question, step 2: write your initial answer, step 3: develop your answer, step 4: refine your thesis statement, types of thesis statements, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis statements.

A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay. It is a signpost telling the reader what the essay will argue and why.

The best thesis statements are:

• Concise: A good thesis statement is short and sweet—don’t use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
• Contentious: Your thesis shouldn’t be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis statement is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to back it up.
• Coherent: Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the rest of your paper.

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The thesis statement generally appears at the end of your essay introduction or research paper introduction .

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts and among young people more generally is hotly debated. For many who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education: the internet facilitates easier access to information, exposure to different perspectives, and a flexible learning environment for both students and teachers.

You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis , early in the writing process . As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic , you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.

You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your own. What would you like to find out or decide about your topic?

For example, you might ask:

After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process .

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Now you need to consider why this is your answer and how you will convince your reader to agree with you. As you read more about your topic and begin writing, your answer should get more detailed.

In your essay about the internet and education, the thesis states your position and sketches out the key arguments you’ll use to support it.

The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education because it facilitates easier access to information.

In your essay about braille, the thesis statement summarizes the key historical development that you’ll explain.

The invention of braille in the 19th century transformed the lives of blind people, allowing them to participate more actively in public life.

A strong thesis statement should tell the reader:

• Why you hold this position
• What they’ll learn from your essay
• The key points of your argument or narrative

The final thesis statement doesn’t just state your position, but summarizes your overall argument or the entire topic you’re going to explain. To strengthen a weak thesis statement, it can help to consider the broader context of your topic.

These examples are more specific and show that you’ll explore your topic in depth.

Your thesis statement should match the goals of your essay, which vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing:

• In an argumentative essay , your thesis statement should take a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
• In an expository essay , you’ll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis statement doesn’t have to include a strong opinion in this case, but it should clearly state the central point you want to make, and mention the key elements you’ll explain.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

• Ask a question about your topic .
• Write your initial answer.
• Develop your answer by including reasons.
• Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

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Complete Essay Writing Guide for International Students

If you are an international student and English is not your first language, academic writing may take extra practice. Learn how to write an essay for your US university classes.

For many international students, learning how to write an essay is essential to a successful college career in the US. (You may be required to write an essay when applying to college, too .) There are many types of essays and, when it comes to essay writing, there is more than one way to share your ideas and communicate well.

Here are some essay writing tips to build strong academic writing skills, even before you arrive at your US university.

Essay Writing Tips for International Students

No matter your major , writing essays is important to getting good grades – and good writing skills will help you succeed in any future internship or job. If you are an undergraduate student , you may also be completely new to writing academic essays for higher education.

Keep reading to learn how international students at United States universities can get comfortable with essay writing, especially understanding an essay outline, thesis statement, and paragraph structure. 

Create an Essay Outline

Working from an outline lets you plan the main points of your international student essay and put them in order. This makes it easier to stay organized once you start writing. 

“I always require my students to work on an outline before they draft their essays,” says Maad El-Gali, ESL instructor at the University of the Pacific . “Regardless of essay formats, an outline generally leads to successful writing because it allows students to picture what their essay would look like. [It also] allows me to give students feedback before they start [the student essay writing process].”

El-Gali teaches his students that every essay outline must have four parts: 

A thesis statement (also known as a central argument)

Topic sentences

Major and minor supporting arguments

A conclusion

Once you have created an essay outline containing these four elements, you are ready to begin the academic writing process.

Do Your Research 

Student essay writing requires research! Brainstorm ideas for your essay’s focus and look into existing material on the topic you’ve selected. Writing down your ideas and thoughts helps you organize them and plan the arguments for your college essay as an international student.

After brainstorming, it is time to dive into your research. Review existing literature on your ideas to find additional concepts and material to support your main points, and remember always to cite sources when you paraphrase or quote ideas that are not your own. Plagiarism is a serious offense in the US educational system, especially in academic writing. Remember to give due credit to the authors of the material you use! 

Form a Thesis

After finishing your research, it is time to formulate a thesis. A thesis statement introduces your academic essay’s main argument and provides a roadmap of the supporting points for your readers. Good thesis statements show your interpretation of the subject, convey the central idea of your argument, and hook readers into learning more. 

There are three types of thesis statements:

Argumentative - presents a disputable claim and defends it.  

Expository - presents a claim and explains what the reader should learn.  

Analytical - compares and contrasts themes. 

To decide which type of thesis statement best fits your academic writing assignment, it is important to learn more about your topic, also known as your essay prompt.

Understanding the Essay Prompt

The first step toward writing your international student essay is making sure you understand your essay prompt. An essay prompt is the topic or subject you need to write your essay on. The prompt you receive can be written in different formats, such as a statement, a question, or a set of data. The following is just one example of an essay prompt: “Reading more books improves your skill as a writer. Explore this statement.” 

With the above example, your next step would be to break down this prompt and understand the different areas involved in the topic. Ask yourself questions about the prompt which helps to define the topic in your essay, for example: How does reading books improve one’s writing skills? Do certain books help improve writing more than others? Is this true for all kinds of writers and writing? 

By asking yourself these types of questions, you can gain a better understanding of which components your college essay should include. As you usually have a limited word count and/or page length for your essay, as well as a specific due date to turn it in, it is important to plan out how you want to structure your essay to make it easy to read while still containing a compelling argument supported by thorough research. 

Intro Paragraph

The introduction is the first paragraph of your international student essay and gives the reader a brief overview of the topic you are writing about. This is one of the most important elements of your essay, as many readers use an introduction to get a first impression of your content. 

Your introduction should immediately get the reader’s attention and encourage them to take an interest in what you have written. The essay introduction should contain a valuable or interesting piece of information to the reader, such as a statistic, an unexpected fact, a relatable scenario, or a compelling quote. 

Additionally, the introduction should have a clear and brief outline of what is discussed in your essay, such as the sections to follow, questions to be answered, and even the intended audience. 

Finally, the introduction to academic essays typically has a clear thesis statement: a central argument to be defended with supporting research in the pages to come. 

How to Write a Strong Thesis

For a typical college essay or academic paper, the first part of writing a strong thesis is to present a clear thesis statement. This statement presents your argument to your reader and gives a glimpse into what you cover over the course of the essay. With your thesis statement, explain how your argument joins the conversation of the overall topic it relates to, and how it contributes to this discussion.

Your thesis should be specific and focused. Avoid deviating too far from your central idea and make sure your supporting evidence is relevant and helps the reader understand your most important points. To better support your argument, your essay should go into deep detail and define what your argument is, the importance of your argument and why you are presenting it, and the approach you have taken to explain it.

A strong thesis is also unique, and your supporting points should emphasize your argument and its validity in larger discussions and contexts. Analyze your argument impartially by exploring multiple angles. By including counterarguments from different perspectives, you can highlight the depth of your research — and better make your case to your reader. 

Body Paragraphs

The body of your essay will have multiple sections which break down your central argument with supporting evidence. Your goal is to present your thesis and research in a way that is easy to understand, while also covering critical information. 

Here is a good sample structure for the body of a college essay:

Begin with a definition—Explain what your topic is and its most important aspects. Give your readers context and the basic knowledge they need to understand the more advanced information that comes next.

Go into detail—As you dive deeper into your topic, describe its simpler components first and move on to more advanced sections as necessary. Make sure each section comes under its own heading and paragraphs are short and easy to read.

Focus your content—Avoid generalized information and make sure all information is relevant. Focus only on one major concept in each paragraph. Your paragraphs should transition naturally and create a logical journey through your essay. This helps the reader understand your main points in a structured way.

Explain your point—After helping the reader learn more about the topic and giving clear context, you can start presenting your thesis statement. Your argument should tie in all the information you presented before and use it as a basis to explain the validity of your argument. Use references, data sources, examples, and other supporting evidence from reputable sources to emphasize your claims and add credibility.

Evaluate counter arguments—If relevant, present the positive and negative sides of the topic you are arguing. This shows you have conducted a deep analysis and you aim to avoid bias, which improves the authority of your essay. You can also use this section to emphasize why the positives of your argument outweigh the negatives.

Once you are satisfied with the content and structure of the body of your essay, it is time to end your essay with a strong conclusion.

Conclusion Paragraph

The conclusion is the final segment of your international student essay and should wrap up your main points. This section should not introduce any new information; instead, it should summarize what you have discussed while emphasizing the importance of your point or argument. 

Your conclusion should connect back to your introduction and how the points you have discussed contribute to your central argument. The challenge in this section is summarizing your most important points without sounding repetitive. 

To present an effective conclusion, rather than repeating your introduction statement, try rephrasing it:  Since your introduction or thesis statement presented the topic before the reader had context, your conclusion should now speak to the reader as one newly informed and familiar with your research and point of view. 

Your conclusion should end with a positive note which promotes your central argument, provides your reader with a sense of closure, and presents broader implications encouraging the reader to learn more, like a final suggestion, course of action, solution, or a question. 

Top 3 Tips for Essay Writing

Become familiar with different citation styles.

The referencing style you use depends on your major, course, and university. Typically, your professor’s preferred citation style will be listed on your syllabus . Understanding different citation styles helps you follow your assignment, correctly attribute your sources, and avoid possible issues with plagiarism. 

Some of the most common referencing styles used in the US are 

American Psychological Association, or APA

Chicago Manual of Style

Council of Science Editors, or CSE (Common for biology, physics, chemistry, and geology)

Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE (Common for engineering, computer science, and information technology majors)

Modern Language Association, or MLA

You will not be expected to get familiar with an entire style guide right away: There are many resources available for academic writing. If you have any questions about using style guides, speak to your professor, university writing center staff, or your Shorelight advisor for citation assistance. 

Utilize Online Writing Resources

Some online guides for specific citation styles include the Purdue Online Writing Lab and the official APA and MLA websites. Many offer subscriptions, where you pay a fee for unlimited access over a specific period of time (e.g., one year).

Using free online tools such as Grammarly and Turnitin can also improve the quality of your writing, catch errors and mistakes, and check for plagiarism. Since most online writing aids are operated by artificial intelligence (AI), use caution: It is important to remember these programs may not pick up on every error and might misunderstand certain sentences, depending on your writing structure and/or tone. While using these tools can be very helpful, try not to rely on them entirely and use them more as tips or clues for areas to improve in your essay.

You may want a peer or advisor to take the last look at your essay before you submit your work. 

Start Early!

Giving yourself plenty of time before your essay deadline takes the stress out of the essay writing process. Don’t rush your brainstorming, researching, writing, or revising. More time means you’ll be more intentional, improving the overall quality of your essay because you won’t need to rush. You will also have more time to ask and integrate any feedback from your friends and mentors into your writing. 

Revise Your First Draft

After completing the conclusion, the first draft of your international student essay is now complete! The first draft of your essay is the first version and contains all your raw ideas and unedited writing. The next step in writing a good essay is to revise your draft to bring it closer to the final version.

Why should you revise your first draft? Think of it as a newly constructed house — with the overall structure completed, it is time for you to do a thorough inspection and spot possible faults or areas for improvements. This can take two or even three more draft revisions, but the most important part is to ensure your essay is improving in quality each time so you can put your best work forward.

During your revisions, you may notice your first draft is very long. As you write down your ideas and research findings, it is very easy to repeat information or get sidetracked into topics outside your focus. As you revise, read each segment carefully to spot any repeated information and excessively long paragraphs or sentences and shorten these as needed.

Remember also to look for areas where you may need to add more detail — a first draft is often written quickly as ideas come to your mind, and some sections could benefit from additional information or evidence you had not initially considered. At the same time, check that your sentences flow in a logical sequence and order: Read paragraphs out loud to see if they sound right to you — if they do not, readers would notice this as well.

As you revise your first draft of your essay, keep the following tips in mind.

Do’s and Don’ts of Essay Writing

1. Don’t write more than you need to. Do make sure your words matter. 

“Multilingual writers (aka international students) tend to be focused more on the quantity rather than the quality of writing,” says El-Gali at the University of the Pacific. “They believe that writing more means having a higher grade on writing assignments, which is not necessarily true.” In fact, adding too many extra words can result in a paragraph structure that is difficult for the reader to follow.

2. Don’t forget about your reader. Do find clear, clever ways to make your point.

Keep your reader in mind as you write and try to make your writing interesting, engaging, and relatable. Remember: Different languages have different writing rules and phrases. While writing, be aware of your readers’ perspectives and always aim to communicate clearly so your words are understood.

3. Don’t just run spell check. Do edit and proofread essays thoroughly.

“This is crucial so that the English-speaking reader will understand the writer’s intention,” El-Gali says.

If you want more advice on improving your writing or general writing tips, reach out to a Shorelight advisor! They are always ready to provide essay tips and academic support for international students . (They also provide dedicated international student services such as helping you improve your English skills, evaluate graduate programs , prepare for visa interviews, and much more.)

Check out Shorelight’s international student guidebook >

Common Mistakes of a First Draft

Your first draft is the blueprint for your final essay and should be considered the first of several drafts. As a blueprint, your first draft should focus on including key information and building the overall structure of your final essay. Some students make the mistake of not revising and turning in their first draft as the final (which is often not their best work and can lead to a lower grade). 

Here are common mistakes of a first draft to watch out for:

Focusing on grammar, style, vocabulary, or particular word choices—In the first draft, ideas come first. (You can worry about style in a later draft!) Your main priority is to ensure all the critical points of your argument are covered.

Adding too many details—Adding too much detail to each of your points in your first draft can make it difficult to effectively structure the essay’s overall flow. Your first draft only needs the most important points determined and mapped out.

Starting late—The earlier you start, the better! You want plenty of time to research, write, and revise. If you are forced to rush, the quality of your essay may not be as high compared to starting early and being able to take your time.

Editing while writing—Since you are likely to go through several drafts before your final essay, it is not important to edit your spelling and sentence structure in these initial stages. You may even replace certain sections as you revise, which makes editing early unnecessary.

Once you have written a well-structured first draft as a guide, you can proceed to your next draft. Refine your research and supporting details, while also addressing grammar and style, as you work toward your final draft.

Finalizing Your Essay

The final draft is what you submit to your professors for grading, so it is important for it to be comprehensive, detailed, and polished. Your final draft is the last one, the product of your many rounds of feedback, changes, and revisions. It should reflect everything you have learned about your essay prompt throughout the time you have spent researching, writing, and revising your essay.

Here are some tips for finalizing your essay:

Final Checks 

Read your essay out loud. It is easy to miss details during multiple revisions. By reading out loud, you can spot errors in both content and grammar. You can also use Text to Speech software to hear your essay out loud.

Check for inconsistencies in logic in your arguments, gaps in knowledge, and anything you might have missed from your outline. Remove or restructure arguments that interrupt your essay’s flow.

Ensure your essay covers the prompt and matches university standards and style guide requirements. This includes checking your document’s margins, heading structure, citation style, and other specific areas your professor has requested. 

Ask a friend or mentor for feedback. A new reader may spot issues you might have missed after working with the essay for a long period of time. 

Essay Writing Help  

For many international students, college-level essay writing is a new skill. If you have outlined, written, and edited your essay and are still not sure whether it is ready to turn in, do not be afraid to ask for help. 

ESL students can get assistance with how to write an essay and receive general writing tips from a writing coach at the writing center on campus, or check with your Shorelight academic advisor to find relevant resources and support services.

Remember, the more college-level essays you write, the more familiar and comfortable you will be with the student essay writing process. 

Follow these essay writing steps to develop strong writing skills. Keep up the good work!

Ask a Shorelight advisor about academic support for international students >

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Subject guide

International Studies: how to write your thesis

This Subject Guide is designed to support students of International Studies with writing their BA thesis and research papers. This guide focuses on the research process, and suggests effective ways to: 1. find a topic and formulate a good research question; 2. search, find and evaluate literature; 3. search, find and organize primary sources; and 4. organize the research and writing process.

A. Getting Started & Staying Organized

Writing a thesis, or a larger research paper, can often be a challenge. It requires not only research skills, but also organizational skills to break down the process in smaller steps and make a realistic planning.

Sage Research Methods is a tool that helps you develop your research from the first to the last step .

B. Finding a good Topic

Leiden University’s library offers a number of tools to help you find a good research topic: Start your thesis .

Portland State University’s library, too, offers a good tool to help you get started: the DIY Library , and Ohio State University offers a handbook .

Three short videos that can help you get started are: Picking a topic IS research (by NC State); Choosing a Research Paper Topic (by University of Minnesota Libraries); How to Develop a Good Research Topic (by Kansas State Libraries).

C. Formulating a Research Question

The instruction page ‘ How to write a research question ’ of George Mason University’s Writing Center can form a good starting point, as well as this handbook .

You can also watch these short videos to help you get started: Developing a Research Question (by Steely Library); and Research Questions tutorial (by George Washington University Library).

D. Finding & Evaluating literature

Leiden University’s library offers help with finding and evaluating literature for your thesis or research paper.

You can find tutorials on searching for literature ; as well as tutorials on evaluating sources , or use this handbook .  

You can also ask for help by asking questions directly to library staff; or by a meeting with a subject librarian .

Two helpful short videos on finding literature include: One perfect source? (by NC State); and Tips & Tricks: Phrase Searching (by NC State).

E. Finding Primary Sources

The library provides access to a large number of digital resources, databases and archives . The Subject Guide for International Studies provides an overview of the various resources. 

Four examples of digital primary sources are  digital & digitised newspapers ; the Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History ; the Economist Intelligence Unit , which provides economic profiles and country reports; and the The Digital National Security Archive , which contains declassified CIA and US government documents.

You can gain an overview of the databases and e-resources offered through the library via this link .

F. Planning your Research Project

Students often struggle with making a realistic time-plan and then sticking with it. The following tools can help:

The Open University’s interactive website Time Management Skills portal helps you to develop your time management skills. See the following links for topics such as: - setting goals , - how to prepare a schedule and -tips for time management .

G. Help & Support

For questions about finding the right literature, you can approach the library, by asking questions directly to library staff; or by requesting a one-on-one meeting with a subject librarian .

For help with writing your thesis or research paper, you can also contact the International Studies Writing Lab .

For help with developing your Study skills & managing your studies (for example help with managing your time or coping with study stress), you can approach the Student Support Services for various workshops and courses .

If you are coping with more serious study-related or mental issues, you contact the study advisers or the university’s student psychologist , or visit the university’s website on well being .

Find a topic, formulate a research question, make a realistic time-plan

As a student you will have to do research assignments, write papers and hand in your final thesis before graduation. In order to succeed in this, you need to choose a good topic, formulate a researchable question, and make a realistic planning.

An effective tool for designing your research process in an effective way, is the SAGE Research Methods website . This website is user-friendly and helps you to break down your research process into smaller blocks. It also provides help with planning your research project.

Tips on how to choose a topic

• Get inspired: Take inspiration from your required readings for a course you like, browse the books in the Wijnhaven Library reading room , explore topics in peer-reviewed international studies journals , or have a look at other theses by former students . Ask yourself: which question has not yet been answered? What information seems to be missing? What can you add to the discussion?
• Brainstorm: Write down possible topic that comes to mind. These tutorials can help you with your brainstorm.
• P ick something you like : If you have little influence over your thesis topic, try and steer your assigned topic in the direction you would like to take it to. This can be a specific discipline (sociology, anthropology, politics, linguistics) era (historical approach) or method (surveys, data sets, newspapers, personal stories etc).
• Make sure you can make it into an academic treatise: A good number of students choose a thesis topic that aligns with their private interests. However, it can be a challenge to turn such topics into an academic treatise, because you may not have enough (1) relevant (2) academic and (3) accessible sources about the topic to base your argument on. Make sure that you choose a topic that you are passionate about, but that also has received scholarly interest, on which there is literature available, as well as other sources. If you start searching for sources in an early stage you can quickly determine whether your topic is in fact viable as a thesis topic or not.
• Mind the size of your topic: it is important to narrow down your topic to a manageable size. Too few sources means you may want to expand your topic a bit. On the other hand, having too many sources on your topic means you need to narrow your topic down further. This is one of the reasons why starting to search for sources early is an important step in pinpointing a research topic that is just the right size for you.
• Use the Sage Project Planner or other tutorials for defining a topic

Tips on how to formulate a good question

• Avoid questions that can be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’
• Have a voice: Ideally you already have a hypothesis, idea or point of view through which you can enter this topic. Often times you will adjust your view on the topic the more you learn about it.
• Formulate a ‘problem’ that you need to answer: Think about the big questions, such as ‘why’, ‘how’, ‘when’, and ‘who’. This will give you an open-ended question through which you can explore your topic.
• Avoid ‘Compare A to B and see what happens’ scenarios: There needs to be a formulation of a ‘problem’ and a point of view.
• Use these tutorials or the Sage project planner to develop a researchable question

Tips on how to meet your deadline

• Start with a general overview of the amount of time you have: When is your deadline? When can (and when should) you get started? How many hours can you realistically spend per week on this project?
• Write down the steps you need to take from start to end: Go through this research guide to get an idea of how much time you need for your research. Don’t forget about things that might not be included here, such as spell checks, format checks, printing and binding etc.
• You can use the Sage project planner to make a planning .
• Be realistic: A realistic planning will help you to set goals and avoid stress by impeding deadlines. Underestimating the amount of work needed to write a well-researched, well-written paper is the number one reason students experience a lot of overwhelm from the research process. Therefore, be realistic about the amount of work you can put in in a day.
• Write down your daily top 3: Write down three achievable things you want to have finished by the time you are done for the day and start with the most important thing.
• Don’t forget to take a break: It is important to put away what you wrote for a bit so you can revisit it later. Oftentimes, when you go back to your text at a later point, you see little inconsistencies that you overlooked earlier; or you have new insights to add to your argument.
• Time Management Skills: Planning your research is about much more than just prioritizing and setting goals. It is also about how you deal with distractions, procrastination, and what to do if you fall behind. Time management skills are essential skills not only for now, but also for when you find employment. Read more about Time Management Skills : - setting goals , - how to prepare a schedule and -tips for time management .

Recommended Books

• Yvonne N. Bui - How to Write a Master’s Thesis
• Umberto Eco - Hoe schrijf ik een scriptie
• Umberto Eco - How to write a thesis (e-book)
• Nel Verhoeven – Doing Research: the hows and whys of applied research
• Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research

A. Finding literature is not like a trip to the supermarket

Some students approach the act of gathering information for their research as if they were taking a trip to the supermarket; they expect to be able to find exactly what they need within a certain set amount of time. Unlike a supermarket trip, however, searching for scholarly information is difficult, and you do not always get the results you want. This is mostly due to the fact that it is easy to (1) overestimate the quality and availability of the sources you need, and (2) underestimate the amount of time and skill needed to find these sources amidst the millions of sources out there.

In other words, some students expect to find ‘perfect sources’ for their thesis topic – meaning; academic sources that ‘tick all the right boxes’ of their thesis topic – fully downloadable, and found with little effort with just a few keywords and clicks. In reality, however, the ‘perfect source’ likely does not exist, many sources you need will not be available digitally, it will take quite some time and effort to find these sources, and you will have to pick up some new search skills along the way. This often causes students to experience the ‘search’ and ‘access’ phase as the most frustrating, unsatisfactory experience in the whole research experience.

Frustration, coupled with a lack of time, makes it tempting for students to turn to less trustworthy or relevant sources because they are more familiar (Google), or more easily available (full-text search only). This, however, leads to an unbalanced and incomplete list of sources. It is therefore important to think about how you search; are your expectations realistic? What are your pitfalls when pressed for time or when something does not work out immediately? How can you avoid them?

The good news is that you don’t need to find a ‘perfect source’, and this brief video shows you why : ‘Good research isn’t about finding the perfect article that makes all the connections for you, it’s about finding information that helps you form your ideas, and tying it together yourself to form a cohesive argument.’

If the perfect source already existed, there would not be a reason for you to write your thesis or paper. As a researcher, your assignment is to get to know the literature on a topic, identify what is missing, and add to the existing knowledge with our own writing. Sage Research Methods helps you to approach your research project in exactly this way.

Second, there are many ways the  library can help you get access to difficult-to-obtain sources and teach you how to search. Third, if you make a project plan early and manage your time, you should have enough time to search for the sources you need, thus avoiding a lot of stress and frustration.

B. First Step: Background Search

The best way to start your search is getting yourself more acquainted with the topic; you know some things about it, but there is a lot that you do not (yet) know. Background search can help you to identify important facts (dates, events, people, terminology) refine your topic (what aspect about this topic is it that truly interests you?), and give you additional information and tips on where to search (dictionaries, encyclopedias, databases). For your background search you can use Google, Wikipedia, your textbooks, bibliographies and encyclopedias .

At this stage of your research, important tools to start with are Google Scholar , which allows you to search and browse journal articles as well as the bibliographies that you can find in this Subject Guide for International Studies . The bibliographies are curated by a specialized staff and are more complete and systematic.

When doing background research you can start with a couple of keywords. You can use keywords from titles or abstracts. Specific keywords can narrow or broaden the amount of information you will find. Try out different (combinations of) keywords/synonyms to see what kind of information you get and which terms are useful. Learn more in these tutorials about keywords.

You can also use the so-called snowball-method to find literature on your topic: simply browse the bibliography at the end of a book or article that you found convincing to see if it contains other titles related to your topic.

C. Searching in the Library Catalogue

Try out different search terms when you start searching in the catalogue. The catalogue automatically searches for all of the entered search terms in one document unless you use OR. You can use NOT if you want specific words to be excluded. If you don’t know how to spell a word or it can be written in different ways, you can use the symbol # or ? (wom#n finds woman and women). When you have found a relevant item, you can also use the references or citations as new sources. It is not recommended to limit yourself to things only available in Leiden University by selecting ‘Leiden Collections’ instead of ‘All content’ in the search screen. See our catalogue tutorial .

D. Find Literature Elsewhere

Though Leiden University provides access to an extensive collection of literature related to International Studies, many more can be found elsewhere.

Recommended Library Catalogues

• Worldcat : is the biggest world-wide search engine for library holdings. You can use it to search information about books, but also to locate the nearest library (inside or outside the library) that holds a copy. If any book or journal you found is unavailable in Leiden, you can either visit the holding library (which is often free for Dutch University Students) or request the item through (International) Inter Library Loan .

Recommended Online Search Engines

• Google Scholar is Google’s search engine for scientific articles and academic books. It is recommended not to limit your search activities to Google, but it does offer a good starting point.

Recommended Bibliographies

• A great number of specialized, academically curated bibliographies on many topics and fields can be found through the Subject Guide for International Studies .

A. Digital and Paper Sources

Tips for accessing digital sources.

• If you have found a digital source in the catalogue that you wish to access from home you need to login via the library catalogue, using your ULCN credentials, and not via a publisher portal. You can also use the Get Access browser extension .
• If you come across a source in the catalogue that is listed as “Online Access” or “Open Access” but you cannot get access, click the ‘report a problem’ option within the record. 

Tips for accessing Paper sources

• You need a valid LU card for access in most buildings.
• Leiden University Libraries consists of several library locations. Depending on your research topic, you may need to access physical books from these different locations.

B. Not available in Leiden?

There are a number of ways in which you can get access to materials that are not available at Leiden University Libraries.

How to get access to materials not available in Leiden

• Look up the book or journal in Worldcat . If you enter your zip code, you can find the library nearest to you that has a copy, such as the Royal Library in the Hague or other University Libraries.
• The Royal Library in the Hague offers a 50% discount for students for a one-year membership. Leiden University Students can apply for a library card free of charge at all Dutch Universities.
• Request the item through Inter Library Loan (ILL ) or through  International ILL .
• Ask Leiden University to acquire the item : You can file a request for the library to purchase a book, access to a journal or database. All requests are considered by the relevant subject librarian, and a decision is made depending on collection policy, available budget and price of the item. Please keep in mind that, in case an item is purchased, it can take several weeks for the item to be shipped and processed.
• Contact your subject librarian . If the above measures did not help, reach out to your subject librarian. It is possible that they know different means and methods within their field of expertise to obtain access to the materials you need.

A. Why do I need to evaluate scholarly publications – wasn´t that evaluated already?

Students are required to be critical of all their sources, including the ones you find in the library catalogue, academic databases, and those quoted in other scholarly publications. In today’s world, publishing and sharing information has become accessible to all, which also has made it easier to publish misinformation.

Academic information, at least, has put up a number of hurdles to tackle misinformation and disinformation from spreading, such as peer review . However, aside from the fact that these measures are far from failsafe , journals, books and authors can certainly be biased or prejudiced while working within the academic framework. It is your job as a scholar to be critical of all sources you use – academic or not – and train yourself in recognizing credible sources and using them in a critical fashion.

B. Popular & Scholarly

At the beginning of your student career at Leiden University, you may sometimes miss the difference between scholarly information and popular sources, and why this difference is important.

Media like YouTube videos, blog posts, or magazine articles can be tempting to use in a paper, because they (1) mainly focus on being entertaining instead of being informative, (2) use clear and easy to understand language, and (3) due to algorithms, are likely to confirm your pre-existing worldview and ideas. The goal of a research project, however, is to approach a certain problem in an open way, and embark on a research as an open-ended process. For such a project, usage of scholarly publications is crucial.

One of the main differences between popular sources and scholarly sources is the scientific rigor that lies at the basis of an analysis and argument, and transparent presentation of the used methods and sources. These are part of the scholarly format of peer-reviewed and annotated texts. Illustrative of the importance of this format is the fact that an op-ed written by a professor is categorized as a popular source, while an article in a scientific journal by the same professor is categorized as a scholarly text.

It is especially tricky when opinions of the author are presented as ‘facts’ that seem correct due to being based on cherry-picked data. If you are not yet confident in discerning between scholarly and popular sources, we recommend you follow a couple of tutorials .

C. Evaluating information

It is important you ask yourself a number of questions while reading a source, such as: Who wrote the information, why did they publish it, is there an agenda and when/where was it published? All of this comes before you can think about the text itself. This follows a technique used by professional factcheckers, called lateral reading , where you first consider the container of the text, before you look at the text itself. 

The above is useful for information found both in print and online. For information found solely online there is an additional method, called the SIFT method . SIFT stands for Stop, Investigate the Source, Find trusted coverage, Trace claims, quotes, and media back to the original context. In many cases it will take about 30 seconds to quickly check whether for example a news report is true once you have trained yourself in the four moves of SIFT.

Take a look at these tutorials about evaluating information.

A. Reading and searching: two sides of the same coin

The most conventional method of discovering relevant authors and publications for your research is discovering them citations and references of other publications. We therefore recommend to make enough time to read your sources, and then do follow-up searches. When reading ask yourself: which authors are talking about my topic, what do they say, what books/articles did they write, which sources do they cite and how was the research conducted?

You may think that reading all the sources you find in order to do follow up search will take too long. However, in this part of the research process, you are only reading your sources to (1) confirm that they match your information need, (2) double-check that they are academic (3) not too old for your topic of choice, and (4) find references to other scholars and publication about your topic.

Tips on strategic reading

• Scan : Quickly go through a text by reading just the titles of chapters, abstracts of papers, paragraph titles, or the first sentence of a new paragraph, and the conclusion. This will help you determine whether or not you want to read the source more in detail, and which parts you can easily skip.
• Reading and Note making: You will have to read, process and remember information from a lot of different sources. To stay organized, it is important to make efficient notes while reading. Look here for a top five of critical reading techniques and a brief course on critical reading .
• Don’t forget to write down where your information comes from ! If you are not sure where the information comes from when you start writing, you are at risk of plagiarism. Tip: The quickest way to make a short note when you are reading is taking the last name of the author  + page. For example: Hall, p. 31. If you use multiple sources by the same author, add the publication year. (Hall, 2005, p. 31)
• For more information see the Critical Reading Techniques .

Rinse and Repeat

At this stage, you have found a good number of sources, read them, took notes, and likely found other publications authors and data that you have not found before. This marks the second round of searching for sources – look up that interesting looking book you found in a citation, find out what else the author of that book wrote, see if you can get it through Leiden University or other means, and... read! By repeating this cycle of read-search-access-read two or three times, you are very likely to find (1) the majority of relevant publications on your topic of choice, (2) the majority of authors writing about your topic of choice, and (3) a good overview of primary sources relating to your topic of choice. Only once you have followed this thorough and deliberate way of locating your sources are you ready to move forward.

B. Refine your topic

This is a good point in your research to revisit your topic and your research question. While reading you may have found that there is much more information available about your topic than you initially thought – or not enough. You may have found that your research question has already been dealt with in length by other scholars, while at the same time, another question that is even more interesting may have come to mind. Perhaps you would like to take your research into a whole different direction after doing some reading and follow up research? When you are refining your topic, allow yourself to be flexible. It is common to modify your topic during the research process.

Take some time to visit the checklist for your topic and research question again, and see if you need to make any chances. If you have already handed in your topic and research question to your supervisor, you should always inform them of any major changes you wish to make. Have a look at this overview of tips for refining your research topic .

In some cases, using primary sources for your research is optional, in other cases it is an obligatory part of your research. Students can use a variety of primary sources for their projects, depending on their topics. Different sources may require different research methodologies.

Central to all primary research projects is, however, that you systematically analyze a well-delineated corpus of sources. The delineation refers both to the source and the time-frame. For example, instead of analyzing how ‘the media’ reported on a topic, choose a specific media outlet (for example one newspaper) or set of media outlets (a well-delineated set of newspaper titles), and research the news reports over a specific time-frame (for example: how did the New York Times report on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program between 2010 and 2020). A similar systematic can be used when analyzing statistical data, CIA reports, the correspondence between Marx and Engels, etc.

Sage Research Methods provides a good overview of the most important primary source research methods , as well as examples and cases.

The library provides access to a large number of digital resources, databases and archives . The Subject Guide for International Studies provides an overview of the various resources.

A. Managing your research project

Once you have found, evaluated, and read all of your literature (for now) it is time to think about what you have read and to organize your findings. This can be a challenging phase in the research project. If you feel overwhelmed by the work you have to do, various actions may help: 1.) break down the project into smaller steps; 2.) make a time plan that enables you to find a good balance between reading, researching, writing, and free time; 3.) break down your thesis or paper into smaller blocks that you can separately work on.

Tools that can help you to break down your project into smaller parts and to manage time-planning are: the Sage project planner ; and the Open University’s Time Management Skills portal. See the following links for topics such as: setting goals , how to prepare a schedule> tips for time management .

For help with developing your study skills & managing your studies (for example help with managing your time or coping with study stress), you can approach the Student Support Services for various workshops and courses .

B. Synthesizing; Interrogating the literature

Your thesis or research paper needs to clearly relate to the existing literature on a topic: you need to show who you (dis)agree with and what you are adding to the existing body of knowledge. This means that you need to identify at least the following three points (1) common themes between sources, (2) points on which the sources/authors (direct or indirect) disagree and (3) gaps in the literature (what is missing?).

This does not mean that you should just give a number of summaries of articles. Instead, it is important to compare and contrast, broaden the argument and give your own thoughts and conclusions. For a more detailed explanation on synthesizing and integrating information, use one of the following sources:

• “Help…I’ve been asked to synthesize!”
• Simply Psychology – how to synthesize written information from multiple sources.

C. Footnotes, Citations and Citation Managers

For your thesis or research paper you are potentially going to refer to a large body of sources. Typing up all the footnotes by hand, and maintaining one consistent reference style is time-consuming. Therefore, it is highly recommended to use an electronic citation manager. Learning how to work with a reference manager is a new skill, but it will save you time in the long run – the more papers you write, the more time you save.

Mendeley, EndNote and Zotero are three of the main refence managers. You can learn more about these programmes on our page about reference managers.

• There are brief introductory videos on Mendeley , Endnote , and Zotero .

There are various citation methods. International Studies theses and papers are to use CMS as their citation style. The most important thing about using a citation style is consistency . Do not mix up the different styles and rules! If you are uncertain which style you should use for your paper or thesis, always consult with your supervisor. See these tutorials and books below that can help you get started with making your own citations below. 

Recommended Books:

• Cite Right : a quick guide to citation styles.
• Doing honest work in college: how to prepare citations, avoid plagiarism and achieve real academic success : deals with today’s issues, like citing podcasts or social media posts, using mobile devices during tests, and the pro-s and cos of reference managers.
• Cite them right : the essential referencing guide.

D. Writing the Report

For the actual writing of your thesis or research paper, structure is important in a double sense of the word. First of all, it is important to structure your thesis into smaller parts that you can write in subsequent order. Secondly, it is important to structure your working day and working week in such a way that you can find a productive balance between working on your thesis and doing other things.

Next to the Sage project planner , the website of the Australian National University can help you to design an effective structure for your thesis.

For structuring your working day and working week, you can take cue from the Open University’s Time Management Skills portal. See the following links for topics such as: setting goals , how to prepare a schedule and tips for time management .

Another helpful website is the Thesis Whisperer , which among other offers advice on How to become a literature searching Ninja , and on How to write 1000 words a day (and not go bat shit crazy) .

Library For questions about finding the right literature, you can approach the library, by asking questions directly to library staff; or by requesting a one-on-one meeting with a subject librarian . If you would like to suggest purchase requests, contact the subject librarian for International Studies, Nathaniël Linssen .

Writing Lab For help with writing your thesis or research paper, you can also contact the International Studies Writing Lab .

Workshops on Managing Time and Coping with Study Stress For help with developing your Study skills & managing your studies (for example help with managing your time or coping with study stress), you can approach the Student Support Services for various workshops and courses.

Study-related and Mental Support If you are coping with more serious study-related or mental issues, you contact the study advisers or the university’s student psychologist , or visit the university’s website . 

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

13 Writing the Thesis and Outline

Learning objectives.

After completing the activities in this chapter, you will be able to:

• Identify three ways to organize your ideas
• Identify the components of a thesis statement
• Evaluate thesis statements
• Identify the steps needed to create an outline
• Create a thesis statement and outline

To write well, you need to understand your audience and purpose. Once you know why you are writing, and to whom, you can start to organize your ideas. One way to get organized is to create an outline before you begin to write. An outline is the blueprint to your finished product.

Research Question

It’s a good idea to start a writing project with a research question. If your instructor has provided you with a broad topic, creating a research question might help you narrow that topic down:

Now you need to do research to determine your answer to the question. Doing some preliminary research will give you a broad understanding of your narrowed topic, which will help you decide your stance and determine how you can support your stance.

Creating a Thesis Statement

You can write a draft thesis statement after you’ve done some preliminary research. You need to do this research first to ensure that you can answer your research question using credible sources. See the Researching chapter of this book for more details.

Your thesis statement is a concise one-sentence answer to your research question.

The thesis statement expresses three things:

• the specific topic of the paper
• your stance (or, “opinion” or “position”) on that topic
• the main reasons for your opinion

The table below shows how a thesis statement evolves from a broad topic.

Can you identify the three necessary components in each of the thesis statements above?  Notice that all of the thesis statements above are for papers that will have three body paragraphs; which one thesis is for an essay that will have only two body paragraphs?

Learning Check

Check your understanding of thesis statements. Consider this example thesis statement and answer the questions below:

Culture shock can negatively affect international students emotionally, physically, and academically.

Parallel Structure in Thesis Statements

Notice that the supporting reasons in each thesis above are given in parallel structure.

Thesis Statement Placement

Your thesis is the single most important sentence in your writing. In academic writing, the thesis statement is placed at the end of the introductory paragraph.

Develop a working thesis statement that states your controlling idea for the piece of writing you are doing. On a sheet of paper, write your working thesis statement.

You will make several attempts before you devise a working thesis statement that you think is effective. Each draft of the thesis statement will bring you closer to the wording that expresses your meaning exactly.

Information in this section has been adapted from Chapter 8.2: Outlining in Writing for Success by University of Minnesota Libraries [1] which is made available by Pressbooks under a CC BY-NC-SA license except where otherwise noted.

For an essay question on a test or a brief oral presentation in class, all you may need to prepare is a short, informal outline in which you jot down key ideas in the order you will present them. This kind of outline reminds you to stay focused in a stressful situation and to include all the good ideas that help you explain or prove your point.

For a longer assignment, like an essay or a research paper, many college instructors require students to submit their outline for approval before writing and submitting the paper for grading. This is a way to be sure you are on the right track and are working in an organized manner.

A formal outline is a detailed guide that shows how all your supporting ideas relate to each other. It helps you distinguish between ideas that are of equal importance and ones that are of lesser importance. You build your paper based on the framework created by the outline. Instructors may also require you to submit an outline with your final draft to check the direction of the assignment and the logic of your final draft. If you must submit an outline with the final draft of a paper, remember to revise the outline to reflect any changes you made while writing the paper.

Here’s an example of a detailed outline for a standard 5-paragraph essay [2] :

Notice that there are three body paragraphs (II, III, and IV). Each body paragraph contains four main ideas (a-d) and each main idea is further supported with a few specific details (i-iii). In a research essay, those specific details should be facts from reliable sources and there should be an APA in-text citation   (Author, year, location) next to each one.

Organizing Ideas

The three common methods of organizing writing are chronological, spatial, and importance.

As you create your outline, be mindful of how you organize your supporting body paragraphs. In the example outline above, the writer has chosen to present ideas in “order of importance” with the last, and most persuasive, reason last. Putting the most important reason at the end is an effective strategy for persuasive writing.

Checklist: Writing an Effective Outline

• Do I have a controlling idea that guides the development of the entire piece of writing?
• Do I have three or more main points that I want to make in this piece of writing? Does each main point connect to my controlling idea?
• Is my outline in the best order—chronological order, spatial order, or order of importance—for me to present my main points? Will this order help me get my main point across?
• Do I have supporting details that will help me inform, explain, or prove my main points?
• Do I need to add more support? If so, where?
• Do I need to make any adjustments in my working thesis statement before I consider it the final version?
• University of Minnesota Libraries. (2015). Writing for success . Pressbooks. https://open.lib.umn.edu/writingforsuccess/ ↵
• Veillieux, H. (2021, April 9). 5 Paragraph Outline Example [Digital Image]. In Writing the thesis and outline . Confederation College. https://bit.ly/36aiBWn . CC BY 4.0 . ↵

a writer's position, or opinion, on their topic

Supporting points are the main reasons that explain your point of view on a topic. In a research paper, support should be facts and opinion of experts that you have located from reliable sources. In reflective writing, support might include your personal experiences.

In grammar, parallelism, also known as parallel structure or parallel construction, is a balance within one or more sentences of similar phrases or clauses that have the same grammatical structure. The application of parallelism affects readability and may make texts easier to process.

Provide an in-text citation (with author and date information) along with a reference entry (containing complete retrieval information) to tell the reader the original source of the information used.

Intercultural Business Communication Copyright © 2021 by Confederation College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources.  Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down.  There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction.  A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counterarguments.  Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible counterarguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence below.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question.  Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water.

A thesis is never a list.  "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational.  An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim.  "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible.  Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

Copyright 1999, Maxine Rodburg and The Tutors of the Writing Center at Harvard University

Unit 4: Fundamentals of Academic Essay Writing

23 Writing a Thesis Statement

Preview Questions:

• What is a thesis statement? How does a thesis statement help you when writing an essay?
• What are some characteristics of a good thesis statement?
• What are some common problems with thesis statements?
• Is it OK to change your thesis statement as you develop your essay?

A thesis statement is usually one sentence long (though you may see longer thesis statements in ESL 118). Think of a thesis statement as a type of “map” which tells the reader where your essay will “go” and what the reader can expect.

Characteristics of an effective thesis statement

• It includes the topic and focus. The thesis statement answers your research question.
• It includes an overview of your supporting points. These points are logically connected to your focus.
• It is not too long or too short; it provides sufficient information.
• A good thesis statement is written in formal, academic style, with appropriate and correct vocabulary and grammar. A good thesis statement is clear.

1 Topic and Focus

The thesis statement is a concise answer to your Research Question. It states the topic of your essay and expresses the focus.

• topic:   social media addiction
• focus:   why young people become addicted (causes)
• thesis:  Young people become addicted to social media because their brain chemistry puts them at risk for addiction, they need personal validation, and they are afraid of being left out.

2 Overview of Supporting Points

Your thesis statement should include a list of your supporting points. This overview shows the reader what you will write about and how those ideas will be organized. The example below illustrates the relationship between the rough outline , supporting points, and thesis statement.

• research question: What are the effects of smart phone addiction?
• focus: Effects
• Back and neck pain
• Shorter attention span
• Damage to eyesight from blue light
• Disrupted sleep
• Source of anxiety and stress
• thesis statement: Smart phone addiction can lead to an increase in anxiety and stress, a decrease in attention span, and physical problems like back and neck pain.

Notice that the writer did not use all five “answers” to their research question, but instead selected the three most important points. In addition, the writer has ordered the points so that there is a logical flow from what the reader perceives to be the most important point to less important point.

3 Provides sufficient information

Express the supporting points as single words or short phrases, but avoid expressing the supporting points as full sentences.

4 Uses academic style

In academic writing, a thesis statement is expressed using formal, academic writing style. Refer to Writing Academic Tips as a reminder of what this means.

5 Uses precise vocabulary

An effective thesis statement will use accurate, appropriate vocabulary. Choose the correct vocabulary to express your focus by consulting a dictionary and thesaurus. Use a corpus for checking collocations (like Skell Sketch Engine ).

6 Supporting points are grammatically parallel

The supporting points should be grammatically parallel. This means each point should be expressed using the same grammatical structure. See the examples below:

• Notice how each supporting point is expressed as a noun phrase.
• Notice how each supporting point is expressed as a verb + ing phrase.
• Notice how each supporting point is expressed as a short clause.

7 Should express a logical relationship among points whenever possible

When there are connections between points, determine the type of relationship between your points (e.g. cause-effect, sequence). Then include language to demonstrate the connections to your reader.

• To this extent, the most critical challenges that international students face include experiencing culture shock in and out of the classroom, overcoming language barriers in their daily life,  and dealing with stress and anxiety.

In the revision, the writer expresses a cause – effec t relationship:

• To this extent, the most critical challenges that international students face include experiencing culture shock in and out of the classroom and overcoming language barriers in their daily life,  consequently leading to stress and anxiety. 
• Therefore, U.S. colleges have strived to accommodate international students by offering professional and peer advising and mentoring, providing ample academic and activity resources,  and helping students meet new academic culture expectations.

In the revision, the writer expresses a cause – effect relationship:

• Therefore, U.S. colleges have strived to accommodate international students by offering professional and peer advising and mentoring, along with ample academic and activity resources,  ultimately helping students meet new academic culture expectations. 

Example 3: This writer has expressed a process along with a cause-effect relationship:

• Universities should combine synchronous and asynchronous techniques to optimize students’ online learning that offers accessible, interactive, and flexible education while keeping up with technology.

Example 4: This writer has expressed a cause – effec t relationship:

• Universities should blend synchronous and asynchronous learning, for the purpose of combining their advantages to offer greater flexibility and efficiency in student learning, ultimately leading to improved learning effectiveness.

Example 5: This writer has expressed a cause – effec t relationship:

• Online classes in higher education institutions should combine different modes of studying and be more affordable, both of which make education increasingly accessible and inclusive for students worldwide.

Problems with thesis statements

Keep the criteria above in mind to avoid these problems:

• A lack of focus
• A lack of supporting points
• Supporting points are not logically connected to the focus
• Contains too much information
• Use inappropriate, imprecise, or ungrammatical language
• Supporting points are not expressed using parallel (similar) grammar

A collocation consists of 2 or more words that are often used together. For example, we say,  "bake a cake," not "cook a cake." "Bake" and "cake" collocate; that is, they "go together."

Academic Writing I Copyright © by UW-Madison ESL Program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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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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II. Getting Started

2.5 Writing Thesis Statements

Kathryn Crowther; Lauren Curtright; Nancy Gilbert; Barbara Hall; Tracienne Ravita; and Kirk Swenson

To be effective, all support in an essay must work together to convey a central point; otherwise, an essay can fall into the trap of being out of order and confusing. Just as a topic sentence focuses and unifies a single paragraph, the thesis statement focuses and unifies an entire essay. This statement is like a signpost that signals the essay’s destination; it tells the reader the point you want to make in your essay, while the essay itself supports that point.

Because writing is not a linear process, you may find that the best thesis statement develops near the end of your first draft. However, creating a draft or working thesis early in the writing project helps give the drafting process clear direction. You should form your thesis before you begin to organize an essay, but you may find that it needs revision as the essay develops.

A thesis is not just a topic, but rather the writer’s comment or interpretation of the question or subject. For whatever topic you select (for example, school uniforms, social networking), you must ask yourself, “What do I want to say about it?” Asking and then answering this question is vital to forming a thesis that is precise, forceful, and confident.

In the majority of essays, a thesis is one sentence long and appears toward the end of the introductory paragraph. It is specific and focuses on one to three points of a single idea—points that are able to be demonstrated in the body paragraphs. It forecasts the content of the essay and suggests how you will organize your information. Remember that a thesis statement does not summarize an issue but rather dissects it.

Working Thesis Statements

A strong thesis statement must have the following qualities:

• It must be arguable.  A thesis statement must state a point of view or judgment about a topic. An established fact is not considered arguable.
• It must be supportable.  The thesis statement must contain a point of view that can be supported with evidence (reasons, facts, examples).
• It must be specific. A thesis statement must be precise enough to allow for a coherent argument and remain focused on the topic.

Examples of Appropriate Thesis Statements

• Closing all American borders for a period of five years is one solution that will tackle illegal immigration.
• Compared to an absolute divorce, no-fault divorce is less expensive, promotes fairer settlements, and reflects a more realistic view of the causes for marital breakdown.
• Exposing children from an early age to the dangers of drug abuse is a sure method of preventing future drug addicts.
• In today’s crumbling job market, a high school diploma is not significant enough education to land a stable, lucrative job.
• The societal and personal struggles of Troy Maxson in the play Fences symbolize the challenges of black males who lived through segregation and integration in the United States.

Pitfalls to Avoid

A thesis is weak when it is simply a declaration of your subject or a description of what you will discuss in your essay.

Weak Thesis Statement Example

My paper will explain why imagination is more important than knowledge.

A thesis is weak when it makes an unreasonable or outrageous claim or insults the opposing side.

Religious radicals across America are trying to legislate their Puritanical beliefs by banning required high school books.

A thesis is weak when it contains an obvious fact or something that no one can disagree with or provides a dead end.

Advertising companies use sex to sell their products.

A thesis is weak when the statement is too broad.

The life of Abraham Lincoln was long and challenging.

Ways to Revise Your Thesis

Your thesis statement begins as a working thesis statement, an indefinite statement that you make about your topic early in the writing process for the purpose of planning and guiding your writing. Working thesis statements often become stronger as you gather information and develop new ideas and reasons for those ideas. Revision helps you strengthen your thesis so that it matches what you have expressed in the body of the paper.

You can cut down on irrelevant aspects and revise your thesis by taking the following steps:

• Pinpoint and replace all non specific words, such as people, everything, society, or life, with more precise words in order to reduce any vagueness.

Pinpoint and Replace Example

Working thesis:  Young people have to work hard to succeed in life.

Revised thesis:  Recent college graduates must have discipline and persistence in order to find and maintain a stable job in which they can use, and be appreciated for, their talents.

Explanation:  The original includes too broad a range of people and does not define exactly what success entails. By replacing those general words like people and work hard , the writer can better focus their research and gain more direction in their writing. The revised thesis makes a more specific statement about success and what it means to work hard.

• Clarify ideas that need explanation by asking yourself questions that narrow your thesis.

Clarify Example

Working thesis:  The welfare system is a joke.

Revised thesis:  The welfare system keeps a socioeconomic class from gaining employment by alluring members of that class with unearned income, instead of programs to improve their education and skill sets.

Explanation:  A joke means many things to many people. Readers bring all sorts of backgrounds and perspectives to the reading process and would need clarification for a word so vague. This expression may also be too informal for the selected audience. By asking questions, the writer can devise a more precise and appropriate explanation for joke and more accurately defines their stance, which will better guide the writing of the essay.

• Replace any linking verbs with action verbs. Linking verbs are forms of the verb to be , a verb that simply states that a situation exists.

Replace with Action Verbs Example

Working thesis:  Kansas City school teachers are not paid enough.

Revised thesis:  The Kansas City legislature cannot afford to pay its educators, resulting in job cuts and resignations in a district that sorely needs highly qualified and dedicated teachers.

Explanation:  The linking verb in this working thesis statement is the word are . Linking verbs often make thesis statements weak because they do not express action. Rather, they connect words and phrases to the second half of the sentence. Readers might wonder, “Why are they not paid enough?” But this statement does not compel them to ask many more questions.

• Who is not paying the teachers enough?
• How much is considered “enough”?
• What is the problem?
• What are the results?
• Omit any general claims that are hard to support.

Omit General Claims Example

Working thesis:  Today’s teenage girls are too sexualized.

Revised thesis: Teenage girls who are captivated by the sexual images on the internet and social media are conditioned to believe that a woman’s worth depends on her sensuality, a feeling that harms their self-esteem and behavior.

Explanation:  It is true that some young women in today’s society are more sexualized than in the past, but that is not true for all girls. Many girls have strict parents, dress appropriately, and do not engage in sexual activity while in middle school and high school. The writer of this thesis should ask the following questions:

• Which teenage girls?
• What constitutes “too” sexualized?
• Why are they behaving that way?
• Where does this behavior show up?
• What are the repercussions?

This section contains material from:

Crowther, Kathryn, Lauren Curtright, Nancy Gilbert, Barbara Hall, Tracienne Ravita, and Kirk Swenson. Successful College Composition . 2nd ed. Book 8. Georgia: English Open Textbooks, 2016. http://oer.galileo.usg.edu/english-textbooks/8 . Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License .

Relating to lines; a way of explaining information logically and/or sequentially; can refer to the chronological relaying of information.

A brief and concise statement or series of statements that outlines the main point(s) of a longer work. To summarize is to create a brief and concise statement or series of statements that outlines the main point(s) of a longer work.

To analyze closely or minutely; to scrutinize every aspect. Unlike the fields of biology, anatomy, or medicine, in rhetoric and writing, dissect does not refer to the cutting apart of a physical body but to the taking apart the body of an argument or idea piece by piece to understand it better.

A logical, rational, lucid, or understandable expression of an idea, concept, or notion; consistent and harmonious explanation.

Assertion or announcement of belief, understanding, or knowledge; a formal statement or proclamation.

Without a defined number or limit; unlimited, infinite, or undetermined.

An altered version of  a written work. Revising means to rewrite in order to improve and make corrections. Unlike editing, which involves minor changes, revisions include major and noticeable changes to a written work.

Not relevant; unimportant; beside the point; not relating to the matter at hand.

Attractive, tempting, or seductive; to have an appealing and charismatic quality.

To influence or convince; to produce a certain or specific result through the use of force.

2.5 Writing Thesis Statements Copyright © 2022 by Kathryn Crowther; Lauren Curtright; Nancy Gilbert; Barbara Hall; Tracienne Ravita; and Kirk Swenson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

The Thesis Statement in a Persuasive Text

Alys Avalos-Rivera

In another chapter, we discussed the features of an informational essay. In this chapter, we will guide you to understand the essential elements of a similar type of academic text: the persuasive essay. Although informational and persuasive writing follow similar principles such as an orderly presentation of ideas that should be supported with evidence (e.g. facts, arguments, or examples), their purposes differ. The objective is written to take a stance (specific point of view) with respect to a controversial topic and persuade the audience to adopt the writer’s position. Because of this difference, the thesis statement of the persuasive essay needs to introduce the writer’s position in the controversy featured in the essay. Also, the preview of the essay’s structure should outline the arguments that the author will use to support his/her stance.

Should the US drinking age be lowered?

In the US, drinking alcoholic beverages is illegal for people under 21 years of age (minimum legal drinking age or MLDA). This law has long caused a great deal of disagreement and debates. While some people think it is paradoxical that young people of 18 cannot enter a bar but still go to war, others believe that the law is the best way to keep youth away from irresponsible and heavy drinking episodes (also called binge drinking). The following texts were written by readers of the New York Times” Room for Debate page to express their opinions about the subject. [1]

• Read the comments and underline the readers’ main arguments (reasons to support one position or the other).
• Identify which readers are against lowering the minimum drinking age (CON) and which are in favor (PRO)?
• Which arguments seem the least convincing? Which are the most persuasive? Why?

Content focus: Rating thesis statements

Considering these features, in the following task you will analyze how six college students drafted their thesis statements for a persuasive essay on the MLDA controversy. In the prompt used by the instructor for this assignment, students were required to address the following purposes:

• Present the PROs and CONs of the MLDA to a group of college students’ parents.
• Persuade the parents to vote in favor of lowering the MLDA to 18 years of age.

In other words, the writers need to take a stance on the issue. Read the Thesis Statement and assess how well each one fulfills the purposes given above and to what extent. Rate the Thesis Statement using a scale from 1 to 6, where 6 will stand for the best Thesis Statement and 1 will be given to the poorest. Be prepared to explain the reasons you have to support your rating.

a. The United States has more accidents caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol than other countries where there is no MLDA (        )

b. Young people should be allowed to drink without legal restrictions based on their age, which is ridiculous (        )

c. Parents should teach their children how to drink alcohol in moderation.  (        )

d. Lowering the MLDA will allow parents to introduce their children to alcohol use under the supervision and reduce the rate of accidents caused by drunken drivers (        )

e. A reduction in the MLDA will help neutralize teenagers’ obsession with drinking, allow parents to monitor their children first encounters with alcohol, and reduce the rate of accidents caused by irresponsible drinking.   (        )

f. Having the MLDA fixed at 21 is only increasing young people’s fascination with drinking in unsafe environments and using false IDs.     (        )

Guidelines for a thesis statement

What should be considered when drafting a thesis statement for an essay that aims to persuade the audience to take a stand in a controversial issue? Think of some possible guidelines to write an effective persuasive TS taking into account the following:

• How should you address your audience?
• Where in your text should you introduce your stance?
• What language features (words, phrases) could be useful?
• How can you connect your TS with the main arguments you will use in your essay?

Write your guidelines below and discuss them with your colleagues and your instructor:

In some of the thesis statements listed above, the writers use modal verbs such as will and should . The first one ( will ) is used to predict the results that could be achieved if the authorities follow a specific course of action regarding the MLDA. The second one ( should ) is used to recommend what should be done with respect to the MLDA. These and other modal verbs that express advice, convey an obligation, or predict an outcome are often used to introduce the writer’s stance because they are useful to express the speaker’s desires, or his/her ideas of how the world should be. Other modal verbs that are also used with these purposes are: must, can, could, ought to, and also the semi-modal have to .

When using modal verbs to compose your thesis statement, however, you should be careful to select the one that best represents your purpose. The meaning of your thesis statement can change a great deal if you use one or the other. Read the following examples and explain how the meaning has changed with each modal (in bold):

*Although ought to and must are accepted as standard forms, they are not used in Academic English very often because they imply a strong and categorical position. Scientists usually abstain from categorical statements because these expressions do not convey that the writer remains open to new possibilities. Scientist prefer to maintain a more open attitude in their writing in case new evidence is discovered in the future that can change their points of view about the world.

Although the participants in the Room for Debate’s and Star Wars pages hold different points of view regarding very different topics, they all engaged in their online discussions with a common purpose: persuading their audience of their point of view. They do so in a succinct fashion because their audience does not usually invest much time in reading blog posts that are too long and complex. Therefore, effective blog/forum posters try to be direct and present one single point per post. On the contrary, academic persuasive writing needs to be more detailed and provide the audience with more than just the author’s point of view.

• https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/02/10/you-must-be-21-to-drink ↵

The Thesis Statement in a Persuasive Text Copyright © 2020 by Alys Avalos-Rivera is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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A strong component of academic writing that all writers must understand is the difference between subject, topic, and thesis. Knowing the difference between these three terms will help you create a strong argument for your paper. This handout is designed to help inform you about these three distinct introductory elements, and it will also help you transition from deciding on a subject you are writing about, to the essay’s topic, and finally to your overall thesis.

The subject of your paper is a broad idea that stands alone. At this point, there is no detailed information associated with it or any kind of argumentation. It serves, in essence, as a launching pad for you to form an idea, or argument, which will eventually become the purpose of your paper.

Example: Women

The topic of your paper is an evolved, narrower version of your subject. Here is where you add a detailed, more conclusive area of focus for your paper so that you can eradicate vagueness.

Example: Women in late 1990s television

The thesis acts as the final idea on which the entirety of your paper will focus. It is the central message that ties the whole paper together into one definitive purpose that prepares readers for what you are arguing.

Example : Although people may argue that television in the late 1990s helped portray women in a more honest and intrepid light, programs including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed , and Sex and the City failed to illustrate the depth and truth of womanhood, choosing to focus heavily on clichéd romantic entanglements, unbecoming pathetic quarrels, and thin temptresses adorned with fashionable costumes and bare midriffs.

Subject to Topic

The following are some suggestions to help you shift from a broad subject area to a narrow, focused topic.

Seek out narrow topics

Inappropriate.

Subject:  Women

Topic:  Women in history

Note:  In this case, the topic is too large to create a complex thesis statement worthy of a paper. The broader the topic, the more difficulty you will have narrowing your argument enough to affect readers.

Appropriate

Topic:  Famous women aviators of WWII

Note:  Here the topic as narrowed down the subject by focusing on women belonging to a specific profession in a particular historical period. It is thorough enough to discover a thesis statement.

Choose arguable topics

Subject:  Toni Morrison

Topic:  Biography

Note:  This idea does not allow for speculation or disagreement, which gives it an underdeveloped quality.

Topic:  Literary merits of the novel Tar Baby

Note:  This idea allows for speculation or disagreement, which gives it a strong, developed quality.

Choose topics within your comfort zone

Subject:  Linguistics

Topic:  OE Northumbrian dialects

Note:  Unless you have studied OE Northumbrian dialects at length, it perhaps poses too high of a research challenge to pursue.

Subject:  College Freshmen

Topic:  The Freshman Fifteen

Note:  This topic is narrow enough and familiar enough to most college students to purse as a topic.

Rules for Thesis Statements

• Needs to correspond to the assignment’s expectations
• Usually, but not always, one sentence
• Typically appears that the end of the introduction
• More often than not, it is explicitly stated
• Establishes an argument
• Establishes the criteria for scrutiny of the topic (previews the structure of the paper)
• Write for an audience. Your paper should be catchy enough to retain readers’ attention.

Determine a "Research Question"

Determining a research question is a crucial aspect of your writing. In order to stay focused on the assignment, you must form a clear and concise argument. Choose one major idea you want to concentrate on, and expand from there.

When your instructor assigns a paper, try and find some angle that makes you inspired to fulfill the assignment to the best of your abilities. For example, if your history professor assigns you to write about a historical figure who changed the world for the better, write about an individual whose work you can relate to. If you are interested in the supernatural, you could write about Joan of Arc, who became a crusader because of the visions she claimed to have had from God.

Next, ask yourself a series of questions to help form your research question. Try to avoid questions you can answer with “yes” or “no” because these will not allow you to explore your topic as thoroughly or as easily as questions that begin with “who,” “what,” “why,” or “how.”

• When did Joan rise to prominence?
• Did she develop a strong following that her enemies felt threatened by?
• How did her gender play a part in her tragic demise?
• What does Joan’s execution say about female leaders of the 15th century?

Once you have developed a series of questions, consider which questions allow you to form an argument that is not too broad that you cannot write a sufficient paper, but not too narrow that it prevents you from crafting an interesting and compelling piece of writing. Decide which question represents this criteria, then you can start researching. In this case, from the above examples, you may select “How did Joan’s gender play a part in her tragic demise?” This question will allow you to develop a complex thesis with argumentative points to pose to readers. Below is a way to develop a thesis statement from the simply worded question that was just brainstormed.

The answer to your research question can become the core of your thesis statement.

Research Question:

How did Joan of Arc’s gender play a part in her tragic demise?

Thesis Statement:

Joan of Arc’s gender played a significant role in her tragic demise because of the laws and social customs concerning women during France’s 15th century, which included social ideals that perceived women as secular citizens; political standards that favored men to hold positions of power over women; as well as religious ideals that perceived Joan’s alleged clairvoyant gifts as a natural trait of witchcraft, a crime of heresy also associated with women.

Note:  Beginning writers are taught to write theses that list and outline the main points of the paper. As college students, professors might expect more descriptive theses. Doing this will illustrate two points: 1) Readers will be able to isolate your argument, which will keep them more inclined to focus on your points and whether or not they agree with you. They may find themselves questioning their own thoughts about your case. 2) A descriptive thesis serves as a way to show your understanding of the topic by providing a substantial claim.

Troubleshooting your Thesis Statement

The following are some suggestions to help you scrutinize your working draft of your thesis statement to develop it through further revisions.

Specify your details

Example:  In today’s society, beauty advertisements are not mere pictures that promote vanity in the public, but instead, they inspire people to make changes so that they can lead better lifestyles.

• Uses cliché phrases like “In today’s society.”
• What kind of beauty advertisements are you referring to? All of them? Or specific kinds?

Note:  Who is this targeting? Women? Men? Adolescents? Being more specific with the targeted audience is going to strengthen your paper.

Example:  Makeup, clothing, and dieting advertisements endorse American ideals of female beauty and show the public that women should possess full ownership of their bodies and fight the stigma of physical and sexual repression which has been placed upon them.

• Identifies specific forms of beauty advertisements for the sake of clearly expressing a strong argument.
• Uses descriptive language.

Note:  By signifying that women’s beauty is the main topic being argued in the paper, this author clearly identifies their main, targeted audience.

Make arguable claims

Undeveloped.

Example:  Social media is not conducive to people’s personal growth because of the distractions, self-doubt, and social anxiety it can cause to its users.

• “Social media” and “personal growth” both encompass a large span of topics and so they leave the reader confused about the particular focus of this paper.

Note:  The thesis is too broad to form a well-constructed argument. It lacks details and specificity about the paper’s points.

Example:  Although Facebook allows people to network personally and professionally, the procrastination and distraction from one’s demanding responsibilities can lead people to invest more time in narcissistic trivialities, resulting in severe cases of anxiety and low self-esteem.

• It alludes to some kind of counterargument in the opening dependent clause.
• The thesis specifies several points that makes a thesis credible. The argument connects all the points (distractions, self-doubt, and social anxiety) together into one linear train of thought, relating the ideas to one another.

Note:  The thesis is more focused. It concentrates on the idea that social media plays up on a person’s self-worth.

Preview the paper’s structure

Example:  College is a crucial stage in one’s life that will help them become more sophisticated individuals upon entering the harsh world as an adult.

Note:  Not only does this statement lack specificity and excitement, but it fails to present an idea of what the paper will look like, and how the argument is set up. As readers, we know this writer believes college is an imperative part of one’s life, but we have no idea how they are going to go about arguing that claim.

Example:  College is a crucial stage in a young adult’s life because it is the time in which they begin to transition from childhood to adulthood, learn to live away from their parents, budget their own finances, and take responsibility for their successes and failures, which will force them to make more responsible decisions about their lives.

Note:  The thesis points to different aspects of college life that help students ease into adulthood, which shows the reader the points the writer will explore throughout the body of the paper.

• transition from childhood to adulthood
• learn to live away from their parents
• budget their own finances
• take responsibility for their successes and failures

Final Thoughts

When you are asked to write a paper in college, there may not be as many detailed descriptions telling you what subject or argument to write about. Remember, the best way to pick your subject is to write about something that interests you. That way, the assignment will be more promising and passionate for you and may help you feel more in control of your writing.

As you venture closer to crafting your thesis, make sure your subject is narrowed down to a specific enough topic so that you can stay focused on the task. If your topic is specific enough, you will be able to create an argument that is concentrated enough for you to provide sufficient argumentative points and commentary.

111 International Studies Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best international studies topic ideas & essay examples, ⭐ simple & easy international studies essay titles, 📝 good research topics about international studies, 🔍 interesting topics to write about international studies, ❓ research questions about international studies.

• International Students Attitudes Towards Online Shopping The researcher strived to answer three key questions, which sought to find out students’ attitudes towards online shopping, the nationality of students who make the largest number of online purchases, and the barriers that prevent […]
• International Student’s Experience in the United States I talked to one of my friends about the decision to go back to my homeland, but he convinced me to stay. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• Consumer Behavior of International Students Foreign students are likely to flood an outlet that is frequented by many locals because that way, they can be sure that they will buy items at the same price with the locals.
• Cultural Assimilation of International Students The problem of assimilation is not new and can be linked to the first travels of folks and populations and their attempts to understand and live by the culture and established rules of the people […]
• Homesickness in International Students Homesickness in international student is caused by culture shock and the failure to meet the high expectations that the international students have about their lives in the new country.
• Fashion Impact on International Students in London The proposal looks at the personal experiences of a small group of international students living and studying in London, utilizing first-hand accounts of how they make sense of their university experiences abroad and integrate them […]
• Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on International Students in Canada It is the responsibility of the relevant stakeholders to implement policies that support preventive mechanism and the welfare of the group due to the profound contribution to the socio-cultural and economic foundations of the nation.
• International Student on Improving Performance in Educational Settings This unique approach to interacting with the learning environment stems from my view of the student learning environment from the outward-in, as opposed to the inwards-out method used by resident students.
• Studying in Paris as an International Student If you choose to immerse in the culture deeper and study in French, it is easy to improve your level of knowledge in one of the language schools.
• Improving the Experiences of International Students: Philippine and US One of the main differences between the state of education in the Philippine and within the U.S. is the fact that plagiarism is treated far more severely here.
• Enhancing Voices of International Students in the UK Stemming from this background, the focus of the proposed study will be on enhancing the voices of international students to improve the quality of educational leadership in the UK.
• Designing a Communication Campaign for Asian International Students In the future, it will be essential to widen the scope of research and analysis in order for a campaign to be fully explicit and factual.
• Local and International Student’s Anxiety In addition to that, international students suffer from anxiety that is caused by the necessity to live in a new environment and culture.
• International Students and Their Challenges in Australia According to the Victorian government statistics, the enrolment rate of international students has been on the rise since 2002 to present.
• International Students Behaviour in KICL College So the main aim of this research was to establish an understanding of the factors that affect the consumption behaviour of the international students in KICL College.
• International Students’ Attitude and Counseling Service For instance the students from Vietnam students are reluctant to seek counseling help due to the stigma associated with mental problems.
• The Difficulties of Being an International Student in the USA According to the statistical data, the number of international students in the United States has significantly increased since the middle of the twentieth century.
• International Studies: The Meaning of Appeasement To get to the root of the reasons that made the appeasement policy so popular in Britain and also making the then prime minister Chamberlain a hero, one must look deeply at the French and […]
• Creating an Educational Agency to Recruit International Students From China Educational agencies serve the purpose of linking students with universities that would help them to achieve their personal and career goals.
• Tourist Destination Role in International Students’ Choice of Academic Centre On the institution versus destination factors question the mainstay of the research the researchers established that the destination factors were superior to the university factors 4.
• Challenges Faced by International Students at the University of Tampa The present research proposal explains the need for studying the challenges faced by international students at the University of Tampa and outlines the research objectives and methodology for the proposed study.
• American Copyright Law Training for International Students However, they later come to discover that this is not so in the United States and that it is criminal not to pay attention to copyright law.
• International Students Problems in Australian Universities These rules can also impact the behavior of female students who may be unwilling to use the services that can promote their sexual and reproductive health.
• Plagiarism Among International Students: Omnibus Report In essence, therefore, the credibility of the whole report is built upon the concise details provided in the cover letter, and which include: identifying what plagiarism constitutes in the context of the United States; providing […]
• Deakin University’s International Student Support The program is supported by the fact that the University operates on a student-focused culture and is a sector leader insofar as student satisfaction is concerned.
• International Students’ Studying in the United States A majority of the students from the Middle East opt to study in the United States. The desire to advance my knowledge in art and design is what forced me to go to the United […]
• International Students and Mobile Services in Australia At this point, we are going to advance a hypothesis that these customers pay most attention to such criteria as the price of international phone calls, the ease of use, the variety of mobile services, […]
• International Students’ Guide for Living in the UK It will highlight some of the content in the magazine and will also address some of the queries that readers have.
• Food’ Role in International Students Interaction One of the greatest challenges to international students is achieving a successful connection to the culture of the country where they are studying.
• On Language Grounds: Discrimination of International Students The need to preserve one’s culture and position though language-based discrimination is likely to persist in the US to show that Americans are in control and foreign students must learn English to coexist with them.
• International Students Discrimination in the USA International students lose their focus having to go through the process of adaptation to the new culture and new society, their lack of social and academic command of the English language is causing a lot […]
• International Students Experience in English Environment Although combining studying and childrearing is especially hard for the students that are not the native speakers of English and, therefore, will have issues with understanding and learning the course material under the pressure of […]
• Admission of International Students to the U.S. Universities All in all, to overcome all these problems a lot of social support, is required from both the lecturers and students themselves.
• Benefits of Attending Churches for International Students This proposal includes several elements: the design of brochures and leaflets about the churches in California; distribution of these leaflets; evaluation of students’ experiences and attitude toward churches.
• International Student Self-Identity and Self-Concept According to Baumeister, due to the continuous evolution of the identity theory, there is no definite concept attached to identity; but the concept can be well understood by dissecting it into three key characteristics which […]
• International Student Recruitment Program The internationalization can significantly improve the practice of teaching and learning in both countries through the implementation of adaptive techniques to communicating with international students.
• Learning Styles in Asian International Students It is important for universities in foreign countries to implement teaching and learning styles and a curriculum that addresses the predicament of such students to promote effective learning.
• Open Ontario: International Students Difficulties in Canada A research on the problems likely to be encountered will assist the government in creating an effective online Ontario institute that addresses the emerging and existing problems of the students.
• Why International Students Find It Hard to Make Friends On the other hand, in societies that promote a high power distance, less powerful individuals accept their position in the chain of command and acknowledge the strengths of their superiors in the hierarchy.
• Coping Strategies for International Students with Language Barriers More importantly, there still exist gaps in knowledge on the most successful coping strategies that international students can adopt to overcome the challenge presented by the problem of language barrier in the pursuit of their […]
• International Students Effective Participation in Host Cultures The theories describe the characteristics of newly formed groups, the search for purpose and position, the place of acting out the group’s purpose, and in some cases, the point where the group disintegrates.
• Exempted From Paying Taxes: International Students Who Are Not Working According to Dwyer, 2009, international students refer to those individuals who are seeking education in other countries and they will stay in that country for the period they will be studying.
• Academic Achievement Among International Students and Associated Issues These include economic conditions, the extent of the students’ success, and the effect of peer programs on International students in terms of their adjustment.
• Trends in the Enrollment of International Students to US Institutions The second section of the research involves the analysis of readily available data and relevant literature to identify international enrollment trends in the US with regard to the countries of origin, target states, major education […]
• International Students Participation in ELICOS Australia The main objective of the report is to examine the factors which can influence the fact of falling of the number of those students from Colombia and Saudi Arabia who attend ELICOS in 2011 and […]
• Exploring the International Students as a Community These challenges are usually the origin of the international student as a community. International students’ community is also present in the social websites such as Facebook and tweeter.
• Scholarship for International Study on Education
• International Education Problem That Affects Chinese Students
• Accounting for Public Expenditures on Education: An International Panel Study
• Agency, Education and Networks: Gender and International Migration From Albania
• International and National Determinants of Change in Education Policy Making
• Private Providers Comparison With Public Providers of International Education
• Business Cycles and Investment in Human Capital: International Evidence on Higher Education
• Relations of Citizenship and International Development Education
• Constitutional Rights and Education: An International Comparative Study
• International Entrepreneurship Education: Issues and Newness
• Demographic Change, International Migration, and Public Education
• Cross-Country Models of Education, Industry and Fertility and International Comparisons
• Economic Growth and Education: A New International Policy
• Education and Health: Insights From International Comparisons
• Enhancing Education for International Students
• International Society for Technology in Education
• European and International Dimensions of Education
• Factors Influencing International Students’ Choice of an Education Destination
• Higher Education Institutions: Satisfaction and Loyalty Among International Students
• Ideal School for International Education
• Income-Contingent Loans for Higher Education: International Reforms
• International Education and Economic Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific
• The Relationships Between International Students and Overseas Higher Education
• International Students, Immigration, and Earnings Growth
• Mass Education, International Travel, and Ideal Ages at Marriage
• The Benefits and Drawbacks of International Education
• The Challenges Facing International Students in Higher Education
• The International Baccalaureate Program Education Overview
• Myth About Universal Higher Education: Russia in the International Context
• Who Chooses Which Private Education? Theory and International Evidence
• Alcohol Consumption Among International Students
• Analysing the Culture Shock for International Students
• Challenges Affecting International Students in Australia
• The Relative Job-Market Performance of Former International Students
• Cross Cultural Integration: International Students and Higher Educational Institutions
• Difficulty That International Students Encounter
• Environmental Factors Influence International Students
• English Language Requirements for International Students
• Essential Life-Hacks for International Students
• What Is the Meaning of International Studies?
• What Are the Benefits of International Studies?
• Where Can International Studies Work?
• Which Country Is Difficult to Study?
• What Are the Top Jobs That International Students Do?
• How Does the International Society for Technology Manifest Itself in Education?
• What Does the Ideal School for International Education Look Like?
• How Can Education Be Improved for International Students?
• Which Country Has the Easiest Study?
• What Is the Relationship Between Citizenship and International Development of Education?
• Which Country Is Best for International Study?
• What Are the Focus of International Studies?
• Why Is International Studies Important?
• What Are the Approaches in Studying International Relations?
• Which Are the Main Theories of International Studies?
• What Are the Main Branches of International Relations?
• What Are Business Cycles and Investment in Human Capital?
• What Are the Levels of International Relations?
• What Is the Importance of Good Relations Between Countries With Respect to the Economy?
• Why Is the Problem of Deterrence Especially Important in International Relations?
• What Are the Subjects in International Relations?
• How Are Demographic Changes, International Migration and Public Education Interrelated?
• What Is the Difference Between Economic Growth and Education in the New International Politics?
• Which Theory in International Relations Provides the Most Compelling Account for World Politics?
• What Resource Has a Significant Effect on International Relations?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Thesis Statements

What is a thesis statement.

Generally, a thesis statement is a sentence that presents the controlling idea of your paper. Thesis statements are often argumentative, meaning you’re seeking to persuade your reader to adopt your viewpoint on a topic. The following handout considers argumentative thesis statements. In academic writing, a thesis statement is often one or two sentences, and it is often included towards the end of the introductory paragraph.

What a Thesis Does

A basic thesis statement will do three things:

• Names the topic
• States an evaluative claim about your topic
• Provides an overview of the reasons that support the claim

For example: The community policing model (1) benefits relations with the public (2) because it improves public trust and police officer safety (3).

1. Topic: This paper is going to be about the community policing model. 2. Argument: This paper is asserting the benefits of that model. 3. Main points: The structure of the paper will cover first, public trust and second, officer safety.

Step One: Brainstorming and Preliminary Research

It’s difficult and inadvisable to generate a thesis if you haven’t first done some preliminary reading and brainstorming about your topic. As you prepare to write your thesis, take some time to do the following:

• Review the purpose of the assignment.
• Understand course concepts.
• Read some general articles on your topic.
• Create a mind-map, or write down some initial thoughts to help you generate ideas for your thesis.
• Generate a working research question to help direct your future research, and ultimately, your thesis statement.

Doing preliminary intellectual work like the steps listed above not only helps you formulate your working thesis, but it also contributes significantly to the body of your paper.

Step Two: Create a Working Thesis Statement

Fill in the following template to help clarify a general direction for your research and writing:

I am studying (name the topic) because I want to find out in order to help my reader understand .

For example: I am studying community policing models because I want to find out how they influence public and police relations in order to help my reader understand how to use different policing models to address modern policing challenges.

Step Three: Revisit Your Thesis After You are Finished Writing the Paper

As you research and write your paper, your main point will become clearer. For this reason, don’t hesitate to revisit your thesis statement after you have finished the first draft of your paper to ensure that the thesis accurately reflects the main points, evidence, and structure you’ve presented.

At this stage, make sure your thesis statement is both explicit and specific:

Uses signaling words that announce the central claim.

In this paper I will argue,

Clarifies vague or unclear terms.

Community policing models play a role partner with key members in the region to improve community health and safety.

Step Four: Finalize Your Thesis Statement

Once you have finished writing your paper and revisited your working thesis, finalize your argumentative thesis by making sure it is debatable, defensible, and focused.

It can be argued.

Note: This effective thesis statement is debatable because a reader could argue for or against this claim.

It can be supported with logical, plausible evidence.

Note: This in-effective thesis statement is not defensible because the statistic of 80% is conjecture and not substantiated in any studies.

It fits the scope of the assignment.

Note: This effective thesis statement is focused because it refines the scope from Canada generally to the province of Ontario.

Learn More About Thesis Statements

The Craft of Research by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. Fitzgerald

They Say/ I Say with Readings by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst

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