A thesis statement is one of the most important aspects of your essay or research paper. The thesis statement does two very important things. It serves as a summary of the purpose of your paper, and it functions as a simple outline of what you will be discussing.
Make The Thesis Statement Concise And Clear
When devising your thesis statement, you’ll need to be concise but clear. The first part of the thesis statement is the summary aspect. Take a moment to think about what you would say if someone asked you to describe what your paper is about. The broad topic might not necessarily be enough for them to understand. For example, you tell them your paper is about weight loss. Okay, but what about weight loss? A good beginning for a thesis on a paper about weight loss would be the important elements of weight loss.
Thesis Statement As An Outline
Next, it’s time to address the second function of the thesis statement as a simple outline. What are some of the main things you will be bringing up in your paper? A good rule of thumb is to have somewhere between three and five main points. Your paper can work with more or fewer, but it’s not as easy to build. Three to five main points allows you to explore the topic with some depth without overwhelming the reader.
The Main Ideas?
If someone were to ask you to elaborate on the first part of your thesis, what might you say? In the case of the weight loss example, you could indicate three important elements of weight loss. Now obviously there are several elements that make up weight loss, but for the purposes of your thesis, it’s important to condense details into groups and main ideas. Three main ideas could be nutrition, exercise, and mental health. Therefore, a full thesis would be: The important elements of weight loss are nutrition, exercise, and mental health. The sentence creates a very clear picture of what the reader can expect to find out from reading your paper. That’s what the thesis statement is all about.
You may also find useful information on the thesis statement development.