At the core of a research paper is an overarching claim. It is the debatable aspect of the research paper that guides the reader through the central theme. A strong thesis statement encourages critical thinking by forcing the author to articulate their point and support it with evidence.
A strong thesis statement is, therefore, specific, arguable, and creates the direction of the paper.
Below are examples of weak and strong thesis statements surrounding a topic on the role of technology in the modern business environment:
Weak thesis statement: Technology has become an important tool of business in the modern business world.
Strong thesis statement: Technology has become an important tool of business in the modern business environment, streamlining operations, fostering global trade through enhanced communication channels, and enhancing data-driven decision-making
Weak thesis statement: Colonization of India by the British was bad.” Why is this a weak thesis statement? It makes a general claim that is not supported by further ideas.
A bad thesis does not provide supporting evidence.
Strong thesis statement: The colonization of India by the British is considered bad as it had detrimental effects on the country including its contribution to economic instability, exacerbating ethnic rivalries, and facilitating the spread of diseases to leave a legacy of lasting harm on the nation’s socio-economic fabric.
What Goes into Writing a Strong Thesis Statement?
1. Understand the topic
The starting point of writing a strong thesis statement is understanding the topic. This involves knowing your audience to tailor your language and depth of analysis according to their needs. Furthermore, for a good thesis statement, the topic needs to be specific. For example, a specific topic about climate change could be ‘The Impact of Climate Change on the UK Agricultural Sector’. A particular topic increases the depth of your thesis statement as you can focus on a specific scope.
2. Formulate a Question
After you’ve identified the topic, formulate the main question of the argument. For instance, as per our previous example, the main question guiding the argument would be, “How does climate change affect agricultural productivity in the UK?”. Formulating a question helps you determine the information you want to provide through your paper. For instance, the main aim of research is to explore an unexplored area or add to a pool of knowledge around a particular topic.
3. Provide an initial answer
After creating the main question, provide a general answer to it that reflects a general focus. For example, in our case, a general answer would be, “Climate Change reduces agricultural productivity in the UK due to unpredictable weather patterns.”
4. Refine the answer
Improve your initial answer by providing more information that adds to the argument. For example, “Climate change has led to a decline in agricultural productivity in the UK due to adverse weather events like storms and floods that lead to crop failure and soil erosion and unpredictable weather patterns that disrupt harvesting schedules.”
5. Make it specific and debatable
Finally, in order to create a persuasive thesis, it must be debatable. This suggests that the assertion isn’t self-evident, and it’s not an argument that everyone agrees on.
To create more engagement, one can make the thesis statement arguable. This makes the readers curious about your stance and they read wanting to prove you wrong or looking to support your argument. For example, “While some argue that governments’ efforts to combat climate change are useful, the increased unpredictability of the weather patterns will require more effort to restore and maintain agricultural productivity in developing countries.
6. Position the thesis statement appropriately
A great thesis statement should always appear at the opening paragraph of an essay. This is due to the fact that it is a sentence that informs the reader of what the writer is about to address. Instructors will have varied preferences for where the thesis should be placed, but a reasonable rule of thumb is within final two sentences of that paragraph.
When writing a thesis, you need to consider several things apart from the format. Other factors such as length, your position in the paper, and the strength of the argument matter too.
7. Consider length
A good thesis statement might be quite short or long but it all depends on he points you list. However, it is usually only one short sentence. A thesis statement cannot be two sentences long. You should strive for a single sentence that go at least two lines in length, or an estimated 30-40 words.
21 Thesis Statement Examples
Below is a list of good thesis statement examples to inspire your next research paper:
- Local municipalities should allocate more funds to public libraries because they are essential resources for improving literacy levels.
- Companies should be forced to offer their employees more work-from-home opportunities it increases job satisfaction, increases productivity, and improves work-life balance.
- Beauty pageants should not be televised because are the modern-day cruelty to women that involves making them wear strange outfits, putting them on a stage and judging them at the same time for the amusement of others.
- Studying abroad should be encouraged because it is a cultural valuable experience to create a more accommodating workforce.
- Parents should take the leading role in reducing cyberbullying among young people because they have the resources to monitor their children’s online activities.
- Although school uniforms are seen as an upfront cost for parents, they should be encouraged because they eliminate the visual differences in the wealth status of students and create a more egalitarian learning environment at school.
- Schools should provide educational resources to all students from low-income communities during summer holidays because it helps them remember what they have learned throughout their year in school.
- The recent rise in populism in the world’s political stage is in response to growing globalization, declining jobs in the manufacturing sector, and poor world leadership.
- The government should legalize marijuana medicinal use because studies have shown that medicinal marijuana can be helpful in managing mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Parents should teach their kids about consensual sex from a young age because they have better understanding of their children’s behaviors and it could supplement the current weak sex education.
- Not every high school student should join universities because college degrees are too expensive, some students achieve successful in other fields, university studies do not always lead to employment, and some students even drop out.
- Magazines should be blamed for increased depression rates among teenage girls because they collectively promote unrealistic women’s body image.
- Governments should stop heavy taxation of cigarettes because the tax is essentially a burden to the poor and it never reduces their purchasing intent.
- A vegan diet is not the best option for those who love traveling because it inhibits individuals from experiencing foods from other cultures.
- Colleges should pay student athletes because if forces the learners to hold other jobs in addition to their busy academic and athletic lives, which can become overbearing.
- Even though Sheryl Sandberg effectively presents great ideas in her book “Lean In,” she only focusses on privileged working women rather than speak for all women including those holding low-earning jobs.
- Physician-assisted suicide should be legalized because it gives patients the right to choose their end-of-life care, which promotes the principle of autonomy in medicine.
- Taylor Swift should stop focusing more on feminism but put more effort on political activism because she can use her popularity to talk about issues that could improve the society at large.
- Countries should begin re-training their populations in jobs coal and other susceptible industries because technology sector is rapidly changing and there is a widespread shift to renewable energy sources.
- Diversity in the workplace sets the foundation for rich ideas, better cooperation, and higher productivity in organizations that embrace it.
- In today’s digital world, universities and colleges should begin to train students to be capable of examining and determining the accuracy of materials they read because it helps prevent proliferation of harmful propaganda and false information.
