Writing a Solid Thesis Statement
With few exceptions, your thesis statement is the core of your paper. With some academic papers, such as narratives, they are not required but they can still be helpful. In all other cases, however, the success of your paper is dependent on a solid, strong argument.
The first step in writing a concise thesis statement is understanding what kind of paper you are going to be writing. The most common, especially in college, begin with analysis papers, wherein you breakdown and discuss an idea or argument, into its separate parts. After that, you evaluate it and then present the breakdown and argument to the readers. There are also expository papers, which offer an explanation to the reader. Lastly, there are argumentative papers, wherein you pick an argument and then set about justifying what you have claimed. This may be an opinion, a research proposal, an evaluation, or a statement of cause and effect. In theory, it can also represent an opinion.
A dissertation, for example, must especially have a strong, structurally sound thesis. So much literature reviews and any type of proposal, whether it is for research or your dissertation.
It is vitally important that your thesis be specific. It cannot be vague, because vagueness cannot prove or refute a point. A vague thesis simply looks fickle, wishy washy, and finicky. It will suggest to your reader that you did not put in the time and effort necessary to form and then justify a quality argument. You will likely end up with no usable or meaningful conclusion, ultimately to the detriment of your paper.
Structurally speaking and in terms of format, your thesis statement belongs in your first paragraph. Generally, it is placed towards the end because then it can flow right into the body of the paper, where you will begin presenting the facts and sources which support your thesis.
Contextually speaking, your thesis does actually need to be a statement. You are not asking a question, you intend to prove a point or an argument. By asking a question in your statement, you are conveying a sense of uncertainty to the reader. You are, in fact, implying quite clearly that you want your readers to answer the question, which further implies that either you have no intention of doing so or simply were not able to do so. Either way, your paper will suffer for it. To that end, you constantly need to keep reading back over your paper as you are writing it, in order to ensure that the body of your paper and its content are upholding the statements posed by your thesis.
It is also important to remember that no thesis statement is set in stone. What that basically means is that you need to realize that a lot can change during the research and writing processes. If you find that either of these things causes your statement to change and you are not certain how to rephrase it appropriately, do not be afraid to seek dissertation help or help with your thesis writing from a faculty member, professor, advisor, et cetera. Academia-Research offers freelance writing jobs.
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Tags: dissertation, dissertation help, Research proposal, thesis, thesis statement, thesis writing