Thesis Statement in Writing: What Why How?

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement is one sentence that describes what the whole writing is about or informs readers what they are going to read in the following paragraphs. Thesis statement is always located in introductory paragraph and usually stays at the end of the paragraph. It should be concise, clear, short and reflective to the whole writing.

Why is a thesis statement important?

A thesis statement is one of the key elements making a complete essay better quality. Therefore, it is essential in both paper and essay writing. It not only tells the readers what the whole writing is about, but it also serve as a guide what readers can expect from the paper. Thesis statements reflect the scope, purpose or direction of the paper. Meanwhile, writers also find a thesis statement useful because it serves as a direction for them to write so that they can avoid getting out of topic as well. Writing a thesis statement is not easy because of the fact that the writers basically have to summarize the whole paper or essays in just one sentence.  The following sections will tell you how to write a thesis statement for different types of writing.

How to Write a Thesis Statement?

• Persuasive Writing

Persuasive writing aims to persuade readers to believe in certain opinions. In other words, the authors usually want to convince the readers to agree with their point of view. It usually presents with emotional appeals and feelings in an attempt to convince the readers or audience to accept the request or buy the idea. The purpose in persuasive writing is to get what the writer wants; therefore, thesis statements focus on one-sided argument. For example, “all children from the age of three years old should receive traditional education.”

• Narrative Writing

Narrative writing can refer to story writing. It can be a story of an historical event, story of someone’s biography, story of someone or even a story of the author. Sometimes, narrative writing presents in non-fiction story as well. There is a variety of ways to start a narrative writing. One of them to is start with  important anecdotes to grab the readers’ attention. For this reason, your thesis statement should be the main points you want your readers to know. For instance, “this article will briefly tell you how Dale Black survive from the airplane crash.” Or, ” After dad left us,  I had to bear all the family burden to ensure that our family can make ends meet and that my sister can go to school”.

• Argumentative Writing

Thesis statements in argumentative writing are usually statements that express your stance or opinions to a certain thing or situation. Mostly, topics of persuasive writing is very controversial, there is no right or wrong answer as long as you provide your own reasons to support your stance. It typically presents with facts and reasons and tend to open for discussion and debate.

For instance, the topic is “ Should students be allowed to use phones at school?”.  In this case, you should state clearly your own opinion/stance in your thesis statement. It can be ” In my opinion, students should not be allowed to use phones at school for three main reasons“.  Then, you can write three reasons to support your stance in separate paragraphs.

Alternatively, you also can say ” I think students should only be allowed to use phones at school for learning purpose and emergency call”, Or “Students should be allowed to use phones at school to a certain extent.”  similarly, you have to provide the reasons why using phones at school is bad despite some of its advantages.

• Expository Writing

Last but not least, readers can get factual information from expository writing. Expository writing includes cause and effect essay, compare and contrast essay, descriptive essay, scientific report and other types of academic essays. The idea is to explain, describe or elaborate something with fact.  Thesis statement in expository writing depends on actual topics.

For instance, if your topic asks you to compare your personalities with your best friend. Then, your thesis statement can be “Despite some differences, I have a lot in common with my best friend.” However, if you have to write cause and effect essay,  then your thesis statement can be “Because of my perseverance and hard work, I have managed to get a scholarship to study at my dream university.”