Home » Thesis » Your mind matters thesis writing

Your mind matters thesis writing

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?

  • 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.

Your mind matters thesis writing You can talk to

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 these are likely to need adjustment along the way.

Your mind matters thesis writing will convince

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.
  • 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.

Examples

Suppose you are taking a course on 19th-century America, and the instructor hands out the following essay assignment: Compare and contrast the reasons why the North and South fought the Civil War. You turn on the computer and type out the following:

The North and South fought the Civil War for many reasons, some of which were the same and some different.

This weak thesis restates the question without providing any additional information. It does not tell the reader where you are heading. A reader of this weak thesis might think &”What reasons? How are they the same? How are they different?&” Ask yourself these same questions and begin to compare Northern and Southern attitudes (perhaps you first think &”The South believed slavery was right, and the North thought slavery was wrong&”). Now, push your comparison toward an interpretation—why did one side think slavery was right and the other side think it was wrong? You look again at the evidence, and you decide that you are going to argue that the North believed slavery was immoral while the South believed it upheld the Southern way of life. You write:

While both sides fought the Civil War over the issue of slavery, the North fought for moral reasons while the South fought to preserve its own institutions.

Now you have a working thesis! Included in this working thesis is a reason for the war and some idea of how the two sides disagreed over this reason. As you write the essay, you will probably begin to characterize these differences more precisely, and your working thesis may start to seem too vague. Maybe you decide that both sides fought for moral reasons, and that they just focused on different moral issues. You end up revising the working thesis into a final thesis that really captures the argument in your paper:

While both Northerners and Southerners believed they fought against tyranny and oppression, Northerners focused on the oppression of slaves while Southerners defended their own right to self-government.

Compare this to the original weak thesis. This final thesis presents a way of interpreting evidence that illuminates the significance of the question. Keep in mind that this is one of many possible interpretations of the Civil War—it is not the one and only right answer to the question. There isn’t one right answer; there are only strong and weak thesis statements and strong and weak uses of evidence.

Let’s look at another example. 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.

Why is this thesis weak? Think about what the reader would expect from the essay that follows: most likely a general, appreciative summary of Twain’s novel. But the question did not ask you to summarize; it asked you to analyze. Your professor is probably not interested in your opinion of the novel; instead, she wants you to think about why it’s such a great novel—what do Huck’s adventures tell us about life, about America, about coming of age, about race, etc. First, the question asks you to pick an aspect of the novel that you think is 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.

In Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.

Here’s a working thesis with potential: you have highlighted an important aspect of the novel for investigation. However, it’s still not clear what your analysis will reveal. Your reader is intrigued but is still thinking, &”So what? What’s the point of this contrast? What does it signify?&” Perhaps you are not sure yet, either. That’s fine—begin to work on comparing scenes from the book and see what you discover. Free write, make lists, jot down Huck’s actions and reactions. Eventually you will be able to clarify for yourself, and then for the reader, why this contrast matters. 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 the original version of 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 the latest publications on this topic. 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 .

Anson, Chris M. and Robert A. Schwegler. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers. 6th ed. New York: Longman, 2010.

Ruszkiewicz, John J. et al. The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers. 9th ed. New York: Longman, 2010.

Lunsford, Andrea A. The St. Martin’s Handbook. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011.

Ramage, John D. John C. Bean, and June Johnson. The Allyn Bacon Guide to Writing. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 2014.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License .
You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout (just click print) and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

If you enjoy using our handouts, we appreciate contributions of acknowledgement.

The Writing Center • Campus Box #5137 • SASB North Suite 0127 • UNC-CH • Chapel Hill, NC 27599 • CSSAC Home
phone: (919) 962-7710 • email: writing_center@unc.edu
IF IT’S TIME-SENSITIVE, DON’T EMAIL. CALL US!
2010-2014 by The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill.
Coach login

When you graduate school one of the main things you should work on is your thesis proposal. If you browse the Web, you’ll find a lot of samples available. But in order to get better prepared for writing a thesis proposal, consider the following writing tip: while the thesis is always written in the past tense, your proposal should be written in present and future tenses.

Techniques to Use When Writing a Thesis Proposal

Today we’re going to share with you some super ingredients of a winning thesis proposal. Let’s look through them:

  • Introductory part (usually 1-2 pages)
    • It doesn’t have to be perfect. But it should result in your reader’s interest in the overview.
    • If you like you can write this chapter last. The thing is that you are more likely to have better overview of the project after you’ve written all other chapters of your proposal.
  • Problem statement
    • The first thing you should prepare is the research question. After you’ve done with it, make it a statement noting the adverse consequences of the problem.
    • Your type of study determines the types of questions you have to formulate in your graduate thesis proposal. What do you want to produce or create and what value will it have to you and society?
  • Background
    • As it was suggested earlier, you should capture the reader’s attention and try to show him or her significance of the problem.
    • Provide at least 3 reasons why this specific problem is important for society and specify 2-3 concrete examples of the problem.
  • What is the purpose?
    • It is good to start with “The purpose of my study is…” interpret, change, evaluate, investigate, or analyze the problem.
    • Specify your goal in details. Keep in mind that it should represent an investigative activity.

Some Other Tips for Graduate Thesis Proposal

The other important parts you should include in your thesis proposal outline are: literature review, hypotheses, definition of terms, assumption, scope & limitations, procedure and long-term consequences. Each point has its unique features to mention. Contact us today to find out more.

How to Write Thesis Proposal Outline When You Don’t Have Enough Time or Experience?

If you feel overwhelmed or just don’t have enough time for thesis proposal writing, you might be interested in online writing services offered by experienced writers. Grademiners are happy to write a stunning thesis proposal for you keeping your deadline and saving your nerves. Give us a call today to get an individual consultation about your thesis. We’re ready to deliver high quality work for a reasonable price and keeping your deadline.

Why students like us?

What you get are top-notch works that are always custom and properly researched. Our writers are pros. Thus, all the papers you order from us are always 100% original and peerless. Our team makes sure that everything is done straight to the requirements of your tutor and on time.

Control and transparency

You receive access to your personal cabinet after the order is made. There, just like in a real office, you can control the writing process by exchanging instant messages and upload the paper requirements. When your essay receives the Completed status, you can simply download it. That’s super-easy!

Improving your life 24/7

You can talk to our responsive support representatives who are available day and night. Have questions at 3 a.m. Just contact us. We are always glad to help.

I love this awesome service!

I love this awesome service!

I love this awesome service!

I needed an extra-urgent essay on the Civil War. It was due in like a day. The GradeMiners team reacted fast. I don’t know how, but the writer managed to deliver it in time and it was awesome! Thanks, good job!

A 10-pages social research was almost failed, but you guys did write it really soon! The referencing was good and there were a lot of meaningful examples of gender equality in different spheres of life that was a must for my research. My writer is great!

Please give a bonus to Jack from the support! I asked a million of questions, and he helped me kindly and efficiently. My coursework had to be done in a couple of days and the whole team managed to do it! Will recommend you to my friends.


Share this:
custom writing low cost
Order custom writing

ads