Thesis Statements

Your thesis is the main point of your essay or paper. It helps to focus your writing and also inform the reader what the paper is about. What is your central idea and what are you saying about it?

Depending on the type of essay you are working on, the thesis statement may differ.

• Argumentative Essay - What are you arguing for?

• Analysis - What is the main claim you are making about the work or works that you are analyzing? These could be literary or non-literary texts, art, dance, music, or some other topic.

• Narrative Essay - What is the purpose for telling your story?

Your thesis statement usually goes at the end of your first paragraph. Each paragraph has a topic sentence - something that relates back to your main thesis. 

A thesis statement should be narrow, not broad. 

When developing a thesis for an argumentative essay, keep in mind that it needs to be something that can be debated or argued. You must also be able to support your argument with evidence.