A Good Example of a Thesis Statement

Writing a thesis statement is daunting. Everyone thinks it is tough, and nearly anyone who has ever written one feels apprehension about doing it until they learn how. But they are easy. You’ll see!

The first thing you should do is write your paragraphs. Let’s say that you want to have three body paragraphs. So write them before you write the thesis. The reason you want to do this is because you need to really know what it is that you want your paper to be. You want the topics already decided, so you write them first.

Let’s say that you want to write a paper on reasons that seniors should be able to leave campus at lunch.

1. The first thing that you want to say is that it is unfair that students cannot leave campus during lunch.

You write that paragraph, then you look carefully at the topic sentence (that’s the first sentence). It contains a phrase that explains what the entire paragraph is about, and you underline it. So let’s say that you begin by saying, Seniors should be allowed to leave campus because they are either adults or nearly adults, and they will act in an adult way by returning to school before the next class. Your point is that seniors will return before the next bell because they act like adults. Underline that part so that you can keep it clearly in mind.

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2. In your second paragraph, you want to say that seniors need to graduate so they will not jeopardize their graduation by missing a class.

So you write: Seniors realize that not returning to class could result in a failing grade, and they will return on time so as not to jeopardize their passing which could destroy their chance to graduate. You wrote about how seniors do not want to hurt their chances of graduating so will not be late to class. Underline that part so that you can keep it clearly in mind.

3. In your third paragraph, you want to say that seniors should have a chance to socialize with their peers as much as possible, and they should have the right to spend the last year with other students they might not see again for many years.

You write: Seniors will be leaving the school at the end of the year, and they want the chance to spend their last few months with their high school friends. You wrote about how seniors should be given a chance to spend time with their classmates since they will not be seeing them for a long time again. Underline that part so that you can keep it clearly in mind.

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So now you have three topics. You will combine those into a final statement that shows the direction that you wrote your three body paragraphs. You choose the one to go first that has the strongest ideas the most convincing. Then you add the worst argument, and finally the second best argument.

  1. seniors will return before the next bell because they act like adults
  2. seniors do not want to hurt their chances of graduating so will not be late to class
  3. seniors should be given the chance to spend time with their classmates since they will not be seeing them for a long time again

Now you’re going to want to put that into one sentence. The topic of the entire paper is why seniors should be allowed to leave campus at lunch. So you write a thesis statement like this:

Seniors should be allowed to leave campus at lunch because they act like adults and will return, they want to graduate and cannot afford to fail a class, and they deserve to spend time with their classmates this last year of their high school experience.

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The thesis sentence should be placed as the last sentence of your first paragraph unless your teacher tells you otherwise. If you have more paragraphs, then you just add those to your thesis statement exactly like you added the three above. Have fun, and best of writing!