Whether one is writing a historical essay, submitting a paper for college admittance, or composing a business proposal, knowing how to write a thesis statement is crucial. The mechanics of a thesis statement are identical in any type of writing. Understanding how to write a thesis statement will immensely increase the quality of an essay or composition. The key elements of the ideal thesis statement are diction, structure, tone, and placement.
Diction
Diction is critical when learning how to write a thesis statement. A thesis statement should be terse. The words chosen for the thesis statement must be simple, yet specific. For example, let’s assume we are writing an essay that evaluates the impact video games generate on society. A thesis statement that is not specific or simple would be:
“In general, most video games bestow the flaming desire upon young adults to consistently remain implanted in front of a television set, and that therefore deteriorates the quality of society.”
In that sample thesis statement, the diction was not simple as illustrated by the use of words such as “bestow,” “flaming desire,” and so on. While descriptive words such as “flaming desire” work well in creative writing, they are not appropriate in a thesis statement. Furthermore, the thesis statement was not specific, as evident with the first two words “In general.” Let’s clean up that thesis statement:
“Young adults spend more time in front of the television and computers to play games, so video games are most likely harming society.”
While that thesis statement is far from perfect, the words are simple and specific.
Structure
Now that the words are appropriate, let’s examine how to put them together to form a strong thesis statement. In any form of writing, various sentence structures exist, and good practice dictates one should mix them to prevent a dry taste in the reader’s mind. However, a thesis statement is strongest when its structure resembles that of a simple or complex sentence. Let’s take a look at our revised thesis statement. We have a compound sentence with two subjects: young adults and video games. Since we should only be using a simple or complex sentence, we should only have one primary subject. We must decide which is more applicable to the topic. The topic is how video games impact society. The thesis statement being the backbone of the paper, its primary subject should reflect the topic. Thus, “video games” should be the subject of the thesis statement. Following this structure, we revise it again:
“Video games are most likely harming society because they glue young adults to the television and computer to play games.”
Again, this thesis statement is not fully polished. However, the thesis statement is now a simple sentence.
In addition to having the correct sentence structure, a thesis statement should list specifically what topics will be discussed on the paper. Our current statement is extremely vague and offers no specific topics of discussion. Depending on the scope of the project, the amount of topics varies. For a typical college or high school essay, two to five topics work well. Furthermore, the topics chosen to include in the thesis should serve as a skeleton for the entire body of the paper-each topic should refer to at least one paragraph in the body. After considering the topic, let’s come up with three topics and include them in the thesis statement:
“Video games are most likely harming society because they glue young adults to the television, may give them poor moral values, and somewhat harm their vision.”
The modified sentence now embodies the vital structural elements of a thesis statement as well as incorporating proper diction. Without even knowing every facet of how to write a thesis statement, we already have witnessed a remarkable improvement.
Tone
The final ingredient for learning how to write a thesis statement is tone. When one writes a paper, he or she is always trying to persuade the reader, whether trying to get a budget approved or convincing a college to grant a scholarship. As in sales, a strong, confident tone of voice is imperative for success. A thesis statement should only include firm, empowering words that edifies the reader without a doubt what the author is conveying. The phrase “most likely” is weak and unsure. Because of that simple two-word phrase present in the thesis statement, the reader will not be persuaded to agree with the author’s point of view. In our sample essay, we decided video games are bad. We should make our thesis statement confident with succinct topics that prove our point:
“Video games are harming society because they glue young adults to the television, instill them with poor moral values, and injure their vision.”
Simply by altering a few words, our thesis statement now stands out powerful and confident. The reader knows exactly what stance we take and how we are going to back up our belief. Our thesis statement is now complete! Now that we know how to write a thesis statement, the next challenge is determining where to put it.
Placement
Knowing how to write a thesis statement is not the only skill necessary to bolster the quality of a paper. A five-star thesis statement placed in the wrong area of the paper does nothing. A common layout for informational writing is: Introduction à Body à Conclusion. The last sentence in the introduction is the thesis. The body should consist of paragraphs representing the topics included in the thesis. And the first sentence of the conclusion should restate the thesis in different terms (so the thesis statement really is found twice). In our conclusion, we could begin by writing:
“Because video games glue young adults to the television, instill them with poor moral values, and injure their vision, they are harming society.”
It is alright to use nearly the exact same words, just rearrange it slightly differently. This serves to wrap up the main points and bring closure to the paper. My English teacher in 11th grade once said that when writing an essay, you must “Tell them what you are about to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you’ve told them.” I know it sounds redundant, but that is the best way to firmly get your point across. Here’s how the layout would look for our essay:
Introduction: Provide background information. “Video games are harming society because they glue young adults to the television, instill them with poor moral values, and injure their vision.”
First paragraph: “Video games wrap young adults close to the television.” Provide supporting information
Second paragraph: “In addition, video games introduce poor moral values to young adults.” Provide supporting information.
Third paragraph: “Finally, video games can harm the vision of young adults.” Provide supporting information
Conclusion: “Because video games glue young adults to the television, instill them with poor moral values, and injure their vision, they are harming society.” Wrap up any loose ends.
Diction, structure, tone, and placement are the essential components of a striking thesis statement. In our sample thesis statement, we took the rough draft (before we knew how to write a thesis statement) and made the diction concise, ensured the structure was proper, applied a confident tone, and placed the thesis statement in the ideal place in the paper. Learning how to write a thesis statement is like learning how to tie a shoe: once you learn once, you’ll never forget. After one discovers how to write a thesis statement, he or she will consistently produce impressive work because the thesis statement marks the muscle for any paper. Make the thesis statement flawless, and the power of your paper will be maximized.
