Definition: a thesis statement tells the reader 1) your stance, or what you will be arguing, and 2) forecasts how you will make that argument. It's basically a super-condensed version of your paper.
Imagine that you are working on a research project and you have to read a lot of these essays. The function of the thesis statement is to give you a snapshot of the whole piece so that you can determine (quickly) if you need to read it or what parts of it you need to read. It very clearly tells your reader exactly what this essay is about.
Remember, academic writing is not Harry Potter. We're not trying to hide the twist or avoid spoilers. Academic writing is functional. We want to know exactly what we are about to read.
A signpost: a signpost phrase tells the audience "hey! this is the thesis statement!" The goal is to make the thesis identifiable. Signposts may look like, "In this essay, I will..." "This paper will..." "In this document, I will..." etc.
An action verb: Think about what you are trying to do and put it in the verb. "In this essay, I will....": Argue, discuss, contend, evaluate, analyze, consider, claim, etc.
Your stake: you need to state your stake in the argument or controversy.
Roadmap: Forecast how you make this argument. Your paragraphs or sections should align with your roadmap.
The why or the significance: give your audience a sense of why you are making this argument.
*Important note: The order of 4 and 5 can be reversed.
Sample Thesis Statements:
In this essay, I will argue that President Kennedy uses metaphors to persuade the American people to go to the moon in his speech "We Go to the Moon" by analyzing the war, sea exploration, and theater metaphors.
"In this paper, I will argue that women's safety should be taught in schools from grades 3-12 to all students by assessing rates of instances of reported and unreported domestic violence in America, comparing pregnancy rates of schools with and without sex education, and discussing men's knowledge of women's safety issues.
The So-What lives in the conclusion of your paper.
Often, students are taught to restate the thesis or the main points of the paper in the conclusion. This can be a good strategy if you have a vary long essay, but it does work well for short papers and it doesn't give the reader much to hold on to. Think about writing writing more strategically. readers often remember the first thing and the last thing you told them. So, the last thing you tell them should tie everything together and give your reader something to hold in to.
Imagine you reader puts your paper down and asks, "okay, so what? why do I care about this?" Your conclusion is a great place to tell you reader the significance of your essay. (Hence the name, the so-what statement).
Arrangement is one on the canons of rhetoric and refers to how the rhetor structures their argument. Think about it like you're asking your parents to go to a party. Are you going to start with "its a party in some guy's basement with a bunch of people I don't know" or are you going to start with asking to "hang out with some friends" and then add on "Some friends of joe may be there, I've seen then around and they seem really nice." The second option is more approachable and persuasive.
You may also need to structure your arguments to lead up to a larger point. If am arguing that a hotdog is a sandwich, I may start by defining a sandwich, then introduce examples of hot-dog-like sandwiches, then address counterpoints. This structure makes it easier to accept the rhetor's main point.
Review: arrangement is about 1) organizing the arguments in the most persuasive way, and 2) organizing them to maximize clarity and understanding for your audience/readers.
Paragraphs are used for two reasons: 1) studies show that the brain experiences fatigue when confronted with a large block of text. Not only does it just look challenging, but the brain has to do more work to organize the text when it is a block. 2) paragraphing helps the reader organize the information by breaking it into smaller, more manageable pieces. (This is way entertainment platforms like Buzzfeed use short paragraphs or break up the text with numbers or images.)
What makes a paragraph? Paragraphs contain one idea. This means that you may have several paragraphs for one argument. Trying to do too much in one paragraph may have the opposite effect.
This brings us to internal structure, or the structure (arrangement of the ideas in the paragraph). Often, we tell the reader what the paragraph is about in the topic sentence. If a paragraph holds one idea, you tell them that idea in the topic sentence. Next, you must decide how you want to organize that idea in the paragraph. Last, you want to consider how you connect this idea to the others in the paper. You may think of this as a transition, but it can be expanded to linking ideas that came before this paragraph or to the overall argument of the paper.
You may consider using sections to group your paragraphs, instead of only using paragraphs. Sections can help rhetors organize larger ideas across multiple paragraphs.