The Thesis Statement

A thesis statement sums up what the author wants to convey to the reader. Thesis statements are usually only one or two sentences long. Often the thesis is located at the end of the introduction and at the beginning of the conclusion. Every paragraph within the paper relates to the thesis statement. Remember the thesis can contain more than one idea. Below is a diagram showing how the thesis works within a paper. (A sample essay is provided on the opposite side of this handout.)

Introduction

Thesis statement àààààà

Body: this part of the

paper contains the

paragraphs that relate

back to the thesis.

Thesis statement àààààà

Conclusion

Here are some suggestions for introducing the thesis statement:

1 – Begin with a broad, general statement of your topic and narrow it down to your thesis statement.

2 – Start with an idea or situation that is opposite of the one you will develop.

3 – Explain the importance of your topic. Convince your readers that the subject in some way applies to them.

4 – Use an incident or brief story to grab the reader’s attention, then give your thesis at the end of the paragraph.

The following sample essay contains a thesis statement (underlined). The topic sentence in each of the paragraphs clearly relates back to the thesis statement. This sample essay was taken from Evergreen: A Guide to Writing (Fawcett & Sandberg, 1996).

Bottle Watching

(1) Every time I see a beer bottle, I feel grateful. This reaction has nothing to do with beer. The sight reminds me of the year I spent inspecting bottles at a brewery. That was the most boring and painful job I've ever had, but it motivated me to change my life.

(2) My job consisted of sitting on a stool and watching empty bottles pass by. A glaring light behind the conveyor belt helped me to spot cracked bottles or bottles with something extra, a dead grasshopper, for example, or a mouse foot. I was supposed to grab such bottles with my hooked cane and break them before they went into the washer. For eight or nine hours a day that was all I did. I got dizzy and sore in the eyes. I longed to fall asleep. I prayed that the conveyor would break down so the bottles would stop.

(3) After a while, to put some excitement into the job, I began inventing little games. I would count the number of minutes that passed before a broken bottle would come by, and I would compete against my own past record. Or I would see how many broken bottles I could spot in one minutes Once, I organized a contest for all the bottle watchers with a prize for the best dead insect or animal found in a bottle, anything to break the monotony of the job.

(4) After six months at the brewery, I began to think hard about my goals for the future. Did I want to spend the rest of my life looking in beer bottles? I realized that I wanted a job I could believe in. I wanted to use my mind for better things than planning contests for bleary-eyed bottle watchers. I knew I had to hand in my hook and go back to school.

(5) Today I feel grateful to that terrible job because it motivated me to attend college.

-Pat Barnum (Student)

References

Fawcett, S. & Sandberg, A. (1996) Evergreen: A Guide to Writing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.