Writing a good thesis

Writing a good thesis

A good thesis statement acknowledges that there is always another side to the argument. So, include an opposing viewpoint (a counterargument) to your opinion. Basically, write down what a person who disagrees with your position might say about your topic A thesis statement should show exactly what your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a manageable topic. For example, if you're writing a seven-to-ten page paper on hunger, you might say: World hunger has many causes and effects. This is a weak thesis statement for two major reasons A thesis statement should be the back bone around which you construct the rest of your thesis paper. The thesis statement declares what you believe and what you intent to prove in the paper. A good thesis statement makes the difference between a thoughtful research project and a

Developing a Thesis Statement – The Writing Center – UW–Madison

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, writing a good thesis, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use. An argumentative or persuasive piece of writing must begin with a debatable thesis or claim. In other words, the thesis must be something that people could reasonably have differing opinions on.

If your thesis is something that is generally agreed upon or accepted as fact then there is no reason to try to persuade people.

This thesis statement is not debatable. First, writing a good thesis, the word pollution implies that something is bad or negative in some way. Furthermore, all studies agree that pollution is a problem; they simply disagree on the impact it will have or the scope of the problem.

No one could reasonably argue that pollution is unambiguously good. This is an example of a debatable thesis because reasonable people could disagree with it. Some people might think that this is how we should spend the nation's money. Others might feel that we should be spending more money on education. Still others could argue that corporations, not the government, should be paying to limit pollution. In this example there is also room for disagreement between rational individuals.

Some citizens might think focusing on recycling programs rather than private automobiles is the most effective strategy. Although the scope of your paper might seem overwhelming at the start, generally the narrower the thesis the more effective your argument will be.

Your thesis or claim must be supported by evidence. The broader your claim is, writing a good thesis, the more evidence you will need to convince readers that your position writing a good thesis right, writing a good thesis. There are several reasons this statement is too broad to argue.

First, what is included in the category "drugs"? Is the author talking about illegal drug use, recreational drug use which might include alcohol and cigarettesor all uses of medication in general? Second, in what ways are drugs detrimental? Is drug use causing deaths and is the author equating deaths from overdoses and deaths from drug related violence? Is drug use changing the moral climate or causing the economy to decline? Finally, what does the author mean by "society"?

Is the author referring only to America or to the global population? Does the author make any distinction between the effects on children and adults? There are just too many questions that the claim leaves open. The author could not cover all of the topics listed above, yet the generality of the claim leaves all of these possibilities open to debate, writing a good thesis. In this example the topic of drugs has been narrowed down to illegal drugs and the detriment has been narrowed down to gang violence.

This is a much more manageable topic. This thesis narrows the scope of the argument by specifying not just the amount of money used but also how the money could actually help to control pollution. This thesis narrows the scope of the argument by specifying not just what the focus of a national anti-pollution campaign should be but also why this is the appropriate focus.

Qualifiers such as " typically ," " generally ," " usually ," or " on average " also help to limit the scope of your claim by allowing for the almost inevitable exception to the rule. Claims typically fall writing a good thesis one of four categories.

Thinking about how you want to approach your topic, or, in other words, what type of claim you want to make, is one way to focus your thesis on one particular aspect of your broader topic. Claims of fact or definition: These claims argue about what the definition of something is or whether something is a settled fact. Claims of cause and effect: These claims argue that one person, thing, or event caused another thing or event to occur, writing a good thesis.

Claims about value: These are claims made of what something is worth, whether we value it or not, how we would rate or categorize something. Claims about solutions or policies: These are claims that argue for or against a certain solution or policy approach to a problem. Which type of claim is right for your argument?

Which type of thesis or claim you use for your argument will depend on your position and knowledge of the topic, your audience, and the context of your paper. You might want to think about where you imagine your audience to be on this topic and pinpoint where you think the biggest difference in viewpoints might be.

Even if you start with one type of claim you probably will be using several within the paper. Regardless of the type of claim you choose to utilize it is key to identify the controversy or debate you are addressing and to define your position early on in the paper. Find Info For Find Info For Academics Admissions Current Students Athletics About Careers Prospective Students Research and Partnerships Quick Links Apply News President Shop Visit Give Emergency.

Purdue Online Writing Lab College of Liberal Arts. Writing Lab Purdue OWL Research Contact Site Map. General Writing Academic Writing Establishing Arguments. Welcome to the Purdue OWL This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. Developing Strong Thesis Statements Summary: These OWL resources will help you develop and refine the arguments in your writing. At least 25 percent of the federal budget should be spent on limiting pollution.

At least 25 percent of the federal budget should be spent on helping upgrade business to clean technologies, researching renewable energy sources, and planting more trees in order to control or eliminate pollution. America's anti-pollution efforts should focus on privately owned cars because it would allow most citizens to contribute to national efforts and care about the outcome.

While some pundits have framed a four-year college education as something necessary for adult success, this notion should not be treated as a given, writing a good thesis. Federal student loan policies have contributed to widespread growth in college tuition. Writing a good thesis student debt crisis is one of the most serious problems facing the country today. Rather than encouraging writing a good thesis students to attend four-year colleges, we should instead emphasize the validity of two-year colleges, technical schools, and trade schools as well.

How To Write A Strong Research Proposal - Thesis or Dissertation

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Thesis Statements – The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Essays Writing Assistance is best known because of its outstanding custom written essays that are written by expert essay authors. We are premiere writing company with qualified writers that are Masters and PhD education holders; they will have what it takes to write you a highly effective essay The thesis statement or main claim must be debatable. An argumentative or persuasive piece of writing must begin with a debatable thesis or claim. In other words, the thesis must be something that people could reasonably have differing opinions on A thesis statement should show exactly what your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a manageable topic. For example, if you're writing a seven-to-ten page paper on hunger, you might say: World hunger has many causes and effects. This is a weak thesis statement for two major reasons