Example of an expository (explanatory) thesis statement:
Second, ask yourself a question about your topic, one that you are personally interested in or one that you think your readers might find relevant or interesting. Here, you have to consider whether you are going to explain something to the reader (expository essay) or if you want to put out your own, potentially controversial, opinion and then argue for it in the rest of your (argumentative) essay.
Third, answer the question you raised for yourself, based on the material you have already sifted through and are planning to present to the reader or the opinion you have already formed on the topic. If your opinion changes while working on your essay, which happens quite often, then make sure you come back to this process and adapt your statement.
For example, with an informative essay, you should compose an informative thesis (rather than argumentative). You want to declare your intentions in this essay and guide the reader to the conclusion that you reach.
Example of an argumentative thesis statement:
A working thesis is often different from a final thesis. A working thesis will help you get started writing by keeping you focused on the general sense of what you wish to argue, even if you don’t have all the details in place; those details will usually work themselves out in the writing. Often after you’ve finished writing a complete draft, you will realize that you’ve actually argued something more interesting and complex than your working thesis could express. At that point, you should revise your working thesis into a final thesis that accurately expresses your argument.
Fourth and last, reword the answer to your question into a concise statement. You want the reader to know exactly what is coming, and you also want to make it sound as interesting as possible so that they decide to keep reading.
Let’s look at this example process to give you a better idea of how to get from your topic to your statement. Note that this is the development of a thesis statement for an argumentative essay.
Instead, we’re talking about a single sentence that ties together the main idea of any argument. In the context of student essays, it’s a statement that summarizes your topic and declares your position on it. This sentence can tell a reader whether your essay is something they want to read.
To write a thesis statement, follow these guidelines:
Thesis statements that are too broad often could be transplanted from one paper (even one subject!) to the next without anyone noticing. If what you claim in your thesis could work equally well for an essay on and an essay on the virtues of capitalism, you have more focusing and tightening to do.
Here's an example to illustrate these points:
Most other types of essays, whether compare/contrast, argumentative, or narrative, have thesis statements that take a position and argue it. In other words, unless your purpose is simply to inform, your thesis is considered persuasive. A persuasive thesis usually contains an opinion and the reason why your opinion is true.
Below are examples of thesis statements in several types of essays:
First, you will have to select a topic. This might have been done for you already if you are writing an essay as part of a class. If not, then make sure you don’t start too general—narrow the subject down to a specific aspect that you can cover in an essay.
Find more resources for thesis statements below:
On occasion, writers will be hindered early on by statements that seem like they will make a good basis for arguments, while in actuality they prevent an argument from being strong. For that reason, it’s good to know what separates a strong thesis from a weak one.
Owl Purdue Writing Lab: Creating a Thesis Statement
For most college essays, you need a thesis statement that captures the argument, or central claim, of the essay. It will usually appear at the end of the first or second paragraph of the essay and will include the basic argument and its implications. Your thesis will often change from early thinking (to accommodate your evolution in thinking as you write) once you’ve got a whole draft, and a strong working thesis will adapt into a well-considered, well-supported articulation of your ultimate argument. The takeaway? Creating a strong thesis goes hand-in-hand with creating a strong argument in the overall essay.
A thesis statement is the main argument of your paper or thesis.
A strong thesis needs to make a complex argument, meaning it needs to show that the or of the issue have been taken into account in the essay and that the —or that there are to the argument. The complexity of the argument, and therefore the thesis, can be explored in various ways that can help evolve the working thesis into a complex thesis.