Writing Across the Curriculum

The Second-Level Writing Handbook // Creating and Implementing Effective Writing Assignments // Responding to Student Writing // In-Class Writing Activities // Peer Response // Preventing Plagiarism // OSU Resources.

Download Generating Thesis Statements as a Microsoft Word file.

• A thesis or argument is a statement the explicitly identifies the purpose of the paper or previews its main ideas
• A thesis statement is an assertion, not an obvious fact or observation
  • Fact or observation: People use a variety of lawn chemicals
  • Thesis: Excessive use of lawn chemicals is more harmful than helpful
  • Evidence:
    1. poisoning the environment
    2. adverse health effects
  • Counterargument: Chemicals help keep lawns clean
• A thesis statement takes a stand rather than announcing a subject
  • Announcement: This paper discusses the difficulty of solving environmental problems
  • Thesis: Solving environmental problems is more difficult than many environmentalists believe
  • Evidence:
    1. financial constraints
    2. political and legislative factors
  • Counterargument: Active environmental awareness
• A thesis is a main idea or focus, not the title. A thesis must explain in some detail what you expect to write about
  • Title: Social Security and Old Age
  • Thesis: Continuing changes in the Social Security system hinder the elderly from making sound decisions about their retirement
• A thesis statement is more focused, rather than broad.
  • Broad: The American Steel Industry has many problems
  • Focused: Lack of resources to renovate outdated plants and equipment is a primary problem that the American Steel industry faces
• A thesis statement is more specific, rather than general
  • General: Hemingway's war stories are very good
  • Specific: Hemingway's stories helped create a new prose style by employing extensive dialogue, shorter sentences, and strong Anglo-Saxon words
• A thesis statement has one main point rather than several points. Often it is possible to revise a thesis by identifying and clarifying the relationship between two ideas.
  • Multiple points: Stephen Hawkin's physical disability did not prevent him from becoming a physicist, and his book is the subject movie, which made him world famous
  • Single point: Despite physical disabilities, Stephen Hawkins succeeded to be a world renowned physicist

You can revise your thesis statement while you are writing your essay. Writers often discover their main point and purpose during the writing process. Allow your theses to evolve.