How to Write a Thesis

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social topic or for a professional document. Let’s take a look at what you need to do.

What is the Purpose of a Thesis?

Whether or not you realize it, readers always look in the first few paragraphs for a short summary of what the rest of the document is going to be about. A thesis statement sets up what the entire paper will be about and poises the reader to be ready for your side of the argument. If you’re writing about the ineffectiveness of the bus schedules in your area, a good thesis should address not only your position, which is obviously opposing the current bus system, but also your complaints. Something along the lines of “The current bus schedule in Miami-Dade County fails to meet the standards of its passengers because of their tardiness, rude staff, and overall uncleanliness onboard the majority of the buses” would work as a thesis for the paper.

The thesis clearly points out the writer’s purpose of the work and addresses the points that will be covered in the following paragraphs. So, now you know what a thesis, but how do you write a good one?

How to Write Your Thesis

Before you take the steps towards formulating a thesis statement, it’s important to fully understand what it is you’re going to be talking about. Formulate a general idea about what may the problem or cause of the problem for the issue at hand. No online document will be able to generate an idea for you, so you’re going to have to decide what your topic is about. One example that you could consider if you’re struggling to find a general argument idea is this…

Let’s say you’re to write a paper on the decline of intelligence over the past decade among older women over 50s. You have to first understand what you’re trying to prove in your paper. You’re going to either argue that this statement about intelligence is true or false. Assuming you choose to argue that this statement is true, you must formulate a reason as to why the statement is false. One such reason could be that the amount of television that’s consumed by people every day. You now have a basis for your argument. You’ll be arguing that television consumption is the cause of the decline in intelligence. But unfortunately, that’s not enough.

Next, refine your idea into something a little more specific. You have to figure out why TV has aided the decline of intelligence among the middle class. For the sake of the argument, let’s assume that it’s because the prime time hours that were once reserved for things like the news and informative shows are now open to reality shows and degrading television. With these arguments established, you can go on to push your argument further into a thesis statement.

Your final thesis statement would read something like, “The decline of intelligence within the middle class can be attributed to the rise of prominence of reality television shows during prime time television hours in the past decade.” This thesis statement clearly addresses your position for the argument as well as what points you will raise to prove your point.