5.5: Composing a Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement is the overall main idea of your essay; it shows readers your opinion about the topic as well as previews what you’re going to talk about. A reader should be able to point to this one sentence in your essay and know exactly what you’re going to discuss as well as how your essay is going to be organized.

There are five characteristics of a good thesis statement:

1. Most importantly, it answers your research question by including the essay’s topic and organizational focus.
2. It provides a preview of the essay’s supporting points, in the same order as previewed in the thesis; these points are logically connected to the organizational focus.
3. It is general enough to encompass the whole essay but specific enough without going into too much detail.
4. It uses effective vocabulary and parallel structure.
5. It is one (grammatically accurate) sentence.

Basically, follow this equation:

Topic + Organizational Focus + 3 Supporting Points

There is a difference between a topic and a thesis statement. As stated before, a topic is general usually a word or phrase - while a thesis statement is a complete sentence.

Example Thesis Statement
    Research Question: Why does climate change occur?
    Topic: Climate change
    Thesis statement: A lack of governmental policies, municipal recycling programs, and
    corporate accountability are all reasons why climate change is increasing.

A. Parallel Structure in Thesis Statements

The supporting points previewed in your thesis need to be parallel or have parallel structure, which means that each preview follows the same grammar rules. For example, if one supporting point is listed as a noun phrase (such as WH-word + noun + verb), then all others previewed must follow that same grammar. Structuring your thesis in this way makes your writing easier to understand.

Here are some examples below. On the left, you have examples of thesis statements that are not parallel, and on the right, you can see a corrected version.

|l|l| &

Claudio’s favorite things are playing

soccer with friends, to read manga, and

his pet birds.

&

Claudio’s favorite things are playing soccer with

friends, reading manga, and feeding his pet birds.

(The supporting points are all verbs +

complements)

&

The reporter wants to know what the cost of the

new policy would be and what its popularity was.

The reporter wants to know what the

cost of the new policy would be and its

popularity.

&

(The supporting points are both noun clauses)

The teacher wanted to know the cost of the new

policy and its popularity.

Chicago is known for its food,

architecture, and being diverse.

&

Chicago is known for its food, architecture, and

diversity.

(The supporting points are all nouns) &

PRACTICE 1: Identifying Parallel Structures

Underline or highlight the points in each sentence that are in parallel form.

1. The best friends are the ones who listen to you without judgment, support your decisions, and bring you food when you feel sad.
2. Succeeding in their courses, understanding a new culture, and making new friends are the goals of all international students.
3. If I had spent as much time procrastinating as I did studying for the test, I would have passed.
4. Not only can you take a Chicago architecture tour this weekend, but you can also explore the neighborhood around UIC.
5. The new TV show Tanya is watching is both dramatic and thrilling.

PRACTICE 2: Improving Parallelism

Underline or highlight the part of each sentence that is not parallel. Then rewrite the sentence in parallel form.

1. International politics is difficult to navigate because leaders change all the time, value differences, and changes happen slowly.
   Your sentence:

2. Being able to secure a loan from a bank depends on your income and how much debt you have.
   Your sentence:

3. Good, well-draining soil and having enough light are both necessary if you want to make your plants happy.
   Your sentence:

B. Overview of Supporting Points

The third component in your thesis statement is the three supporting points you plan on developing in your essay. They should explain three ways that the argument expressed in your thesis is correct. Think of them as chair legs propping up the seat of your thesis. Because the thesis is typically the first step in the research process, brainstorming answers to the research question is an effective way to gather the best of your ideas and craft a solid, logical argument.

Here are some examples of a student’s brainstorming process and their rough outline followed by the first draft of their thesis statement.

|l|l| Research Question: &

Compare the effectiveness of nuclear energy and

renewable energy sources.

Organizational Focus of

Research Question:

& Compare/contrast
&

1. Reliability

2. Waste

Brainstormed Answers to

Research Question:

&

3. Energy output

4. Safety

5. Storage

Thesis Statement: &

Renewable energy sources are more effective than

nuclear energy in terms of their waste, safety, and

storage.

|l|l| Research Question: &

Why do some animal species become endangered or

extinct?

Organizational Focus of

Research Question:

& Cause/Effect
Brainstormed Answers to &

1. Deforestation

Research Question:

3. Ovess of habitat &
Thesis Statement: & 4. Pollution

A reader would expect the writer to discuss these supporting points in the same order as previewed in the thesis.

Additionally, these supporting points may change once you start interacting with sources, talking with classmates, and thinking more critically about the topic, and changing them is okay! For example, you may decide to rearrange the order to make more logical sense or you may decide to entirely replace a point because it’s not sufficiently supported by your sources or personal experience. Just make sure you remember to change your thesis as well.

PRACTICE 1: Analyzing Thesis Statements

Analyze each rough outline and research question and decide whether each thesis statement is a good answer to the research question, i.e. does it include an appropriate organizational focus? Does it include an overview of supporting points? Explain your answer.

Rough Outline 1

|l|l| Research Question: & Should higher education be free for everyone?

Organizational Focus of

Research Question:

& Argument

Brainstormed/Possible

Answers to Research

Question:

&

1. Decreases the amount of debt students graduate with

2. Increases spending power of a key demographic

Thesis Statement: &

3. Decreases stress that students feel

4. Students can focus on their academics

5. Increases racial equality

|l|l|l| & \(\square\) NOT OKAY &
& B. Higher education should be free for everyone. &

\(\square\) OK

\(\square\) NOT OKAY

&

C. Being able to focus on schoolwork, decreasing

the amount of student debt, and increasing

racial equality are three reasons why higher

education should be free.

&

\(\square\) OK

\(\square\) NOT OKAY

Explain your choices:

Rough Outline 2

|c|c|c| Research Question: &
Organizational Focus of Research Question: &
Brainstormed/Possible Answers to Research Question: &

1. Less confusion

2. Policies would be more widespread

3. Policies would be more consistent

4. Policies would be more effective

5. Citizens can more effectively hold politicians accountable for their policy votes than other entities

& A. More widespread, consistent, and effective policies are three advantages of the U.S. federal government setting climate change policies instead of others. & OK NOT OKAY
& B. Climate change is a threat to everyone in the U.S. & OK NOT OKAY
& C. The U.S. government should be responsible for setting climate change policy because there would be less confusion and the policies would be more consistent. & OK NOT OKAY

Explain your choices:

PRACTICE 2: Responding to the Research Question

Copy/paste your research question below. Then brainstorm answers to the research question that you could possibly use as supporting points in your thesis. Use words and phrases instead of full sentences.

Research question:	Possible answers:
	\(\bullet\)

C. Just Enough Information

A good thesis statement gives just enough information to let the reader know the key points you will make about your topic. After reading your thesis statement, your reader should be able to answer the questions: what is this paper going to tell me, and how is this paper going to be organized?

Example: Too Little Information

Bystander intervention can prevent crimes.

What problems do you see with this thesis statement? Write your answer here:

Example: Too Much Information

There are many reasons that bystanders don’t intervene in conflicts such as they don’t know the best methods to intervene and don’t know how to get involved, they think someone else is going to intervene instead and therefore they don’t have the responsibility to take action, and they believe they are going to get hurt in some way, either on purpose or on accident, and they don’t want to get hurt.

What’s wrong with this one? Write your answer here:

PRACTICE 1: Analyzing Thesis Statements

These three thesis statements all answer the same research question. Evaluate each and choose which has too much information, too little information, or enough information but not too much.

Research Question: What are some possible factors that could affect supply and demand of goods?

|l|l|l|

Thesis

Statement 1:

&

Supply and demand have a causal relationship, and

therefore what affects one will affect the other, so some

ideas that could affect this relationship are material costs

such as the raw materials needed to make the goods; a

country’s economy: for example, if the country is in a

recession, citizens are less likely to buy for pleasure; and

a market that has too many items that are too similar will

drive down supply for a given company’s goods.

&

Thesis

Statement 2:

&

Companies have to pay attention to the supply of and

demand for their products.

&

Thesis

Statement 3:

&

Material costs, the country’s economy, and a saturated

market are three factors that could possibly affect goods’

supply and demand.

&

PRACTICE 2: Composing Thesis Statements

Write a thesis statement (including 3 supporting points) for the previously-discussed research questions.

1. How do expectations about studying abroad differ from reality?

Thesis:
2. What effect does meditation have on a student’s mental health?

Thesis:
3. Should governments provide a Universal Basic Income (a salary for all citizens, even those who do not work) for all of its citizens?

Thesis:

Assignment: Write your thesis statement/answer to your research question in your Outline. Additionally, label each supporting point (Column 1) with its preview from the thesis statement.

FOCUS ON COHESION

See the section on Cohesion. Which cohesion strategies would be the most effective to connect the thesis statement and the research question? List them below.

Copy your research question and thesis statement below. Using some of the strategies that you listed, revise the thesis statement so that it demonstrates cohesion with the research question. Remember to paste your revised thesis statement into your outline.

Research Question:
Thesis statement: