Thesis

WHAT’S YOUR POINT??? – Developing A Thesis Statement

Projects should do far more than just share facts.  Your project needs to tell a story and prove a point.  To do this, you need to develop your own argument about the historical impact of your topic.  The point that you are trying to make is also called a thesis statement.  This statement is not the same as your topic; its much more.  Researchers start out with a topic, narrow it down, then develop the thesis statement as they learn more about their topic, and make judgments about the evidence they find.  The development of your thesis statement will help you turn your project from just a pile of facts into an argument about your topic’s importance/significance to history.

Thesis statements must do these three things:

- Address a narrow topic         - Express an opinion  take a position                 - Evaluate significance or summarize argument or change