Video Summary
From Purdue OWL: this video helps you consider the form and function of thesis statements and give you tips for writing statements that are specific to your text's rhetorical situation.
Video Summary
This fun and thorough video tutorial provides a step-by-step explanation of what a good academic thesis statement looks like and how to begin creating them in your own academic writing.
Almost all assignments, no matter how complicated, can be reduced to a single question. Your first step, then, is to distill the assignment into a specific question.
For example, if your assignment is, “Write a report to the local school board explaining the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class,” turn the request into a question like, “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?”
After you’ve chosen the question your essay will answer, compose one or two complete sentences answering that question.
Q: "What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?"
A: "The potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class are..."
OR
A: "Using computers in a fourth-grade class to improve..."
The answer to the question is the thesis statement for the essay.
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Even if your assignment doesn’t ask a specific question, your thesis statement still needs to answer a question about the issue you’d like to explore. In this situation, your job is to figure out what question you’d like to write about.
A good thesis statement will usually include the following four attributes:
Example
| Start out with a subject or topic | sugar consumption |
| Narrow the topic | reducing sugar consumption by elementary school children |
| Take a position on the topic | More attention should be paid to the food and beverage choices available to elementary school children. |
| Use specific language | Experts estimate that half of elementary school children consume nine times the recommended daily allowance of sugar. |
| Make an assertion based on clearly stated support | Because half of all American elementary school children consume nine times the recommended daily allowance of sugar, schools should be required to replace the beverages in soda machines with healthy alternatives. |
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