A thesis statement is the single, specific claim that your essay supports. A strong thesis answers the question you want to raise; it does so by presenting a topic, your precise opinion on the topic, and a reasoning blueprint that sketches out the organization for the rest of the paper. A good thesis is not merely a factual statement, an observation, a personal opinion or preference, or the question you plan to answer.
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Black Elk Speaks accurately represents Indian lifestyle through its attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotes from Black Elk. |
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Note about “accurately represents”: After I started assigning this handout, I started seeing the phrase “accurately represents” in a large proportion of student papers. You might try to argue that some text “borrows ineffectively from” or “forces us to question our assumptions about” or “provides a more expensive but more ethical solution than” or “challenges Jim Smith’s observation that ‘blah blah’” instead.
For a short paper (1-2 pages), the thesis statement is often the first sentence. A complex thesis statement for a long paper may be part of a thesis paragraph. But it’s hard to go wrong if you put your thesis first.
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Is Black Elks Speaks an accurate representation of Indian lifestyle? |
| This is a question, not a statement. It’s fine to sit down at the keyboard with the intention of writing a paper to answer this question, but before you start churning out the sentences, you should have a clear idea of what answer you’re trying to support. | |
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This paper will look at the book’s attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotations from Black Elk, in order to determine whether Black Elk Speaks accurately represents Indian lifestyle. |
| The above sample is slightly better because it offers more detail, but it still doesn’t say whether the author plans to argue for or againt the book’s accuracy. | |
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Because the events in the story emphasize Black Elk’s role as a Sioux Warrior, and do not describe his eventual conversion to Catholicism and membership in the Society of St. Joseph, Black Elk Speaks presents a skewed and simplified view of the complex history of Native Americans. |
| Note that the above sample contains a topic (the accuracy of Black Elk Speaks), opinion (it is skewed and simplified), and reasoning (because the book only tells part of the story). You don’t need to present those three parts in that exact order every time; furthermore, your instructor may have a good reason to ask you for a different organization. But most of the time, including these three parts will help your reader to follow your ideas much more closely. | |
Useful Formulae for Thesis Statements
If you’re not sure whether you have a good thesis statement, see whether you can fit your ideas into one of these basic patterns.
- [Something] [does something] because [reason(s)].
- Because [reason(s)], [something] [does something].
- Although [opposing evidence], [reasons] show [something] [does something].
For longer papers, thesis statements can be very complex.
While [a specific, named person] says [a direct quote or paraphrase from the source], [a different, named person] says [something else]. While the two authors disagree over [a minor point], they both share a deep concern over [the topic of your paper]. [Person one's] refusal to accept [a particular point made by person two]suggests that [person one] is [your thesis -- stating the real reason why person one won't agree with person two].
Parts of a Thesis Statement
The thesis statement has 3 main parts: the limited subject, the precise opinion, and the blueprint of reasons.
1. Limited Subject
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Black Elk Speaks accurately represents Indian lifestyle through its attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotes from Black Elk. |
| The limited subject tells the reader exactly on what, or whom the article focuses. The book title (Black Elk Speaks), from the example, is the limited subject of the thesis statement: | |
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Biographies of all types can teach us many things about the past. What was the culture like? What was the language like? And what did the people say? One such book is Black Elk Speaks, which tells the story of a Sioux warrior in the late 1800s. How accurate is this book? This paper will investigate the cultural details, the language, and what Black Elk actually said, in order to determine the answer. |
| The above sample starts off with a wordy, general statement about biographies. But the main topic isn’t about biographies of all types, it’s specifically about one book, Black Elk Speaks. | |
2. Precise Opinion
The precise opinion gives your answer to a question about the subject. A good precise opinion is vital to the reader’s comprehension of the goal of the essay.
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Black Elk Speaks accurately represents Indian lifestyle by its attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotes from Black Elk. |
| In order to demonstrate college-level thinking, your opinion should be non-obvious, and it should be possible for a reasonable person to disagree with you. There aren’t many reasonable counter-arguments for claims like “Drug abuse is bad” or “The Nazi regime’s execution of 6 million innocent Jews was horrible.” That’s because it’s always wrong to “abuse” anything, and it’s always wrong to execute the innocent. | |
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Does Black Elk Speaks accurately represent Indian lifestyle? |
| A question is not an opinion. You may, of course, wish to argue that a particular question is unanswerable, or not even worth asking — but that would still be an opinion that you would have to back up just like any other opinion. | |
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Black Elk Speaks fails to represent Indian lifestyle by its lack of attention to cultural detail, its misunderstanding of Indian words, and its lack of quotes from Black Elk himself. |
| This precise opinion also tells how the author feels, yet it is completely opposite from the original example. Either is acceptable,as long as the rest of the essay supports the opinion. | |
3. Blueprint of Reasons
A blueprint is a plan. It lets the builder know that the foyer will be here, the living room will be to the east, the dining room to the west, and the family room will be north.
The blueprint of an essay permits you to see the whole shape of your ideas before you start churning out whole paragraphs.
While it’s okay for you to start writing down your ideas before you have a clear sense of your blueprint, your reader should never encounter a list of details without being told exactly what point these details are supposed to support. (For more details on the reasoning blueprint, see Blueprinting.)
Black Elk Speaks accurately represents Indian lifestyle by its attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotes from Black Elk.
In the blueprint, the author signals an intention to support the precise opinion. The author of the example above introduces three different kinds of evidence:
- cultural details
- Indian words
- quotes from Black Elk.
Informed by this blueprint, the reader expects to encounter one section (a paragraph or more) devoted to each subtopic.
The blueprint determines the shape of your paper.
If your thesis statement introduces three reasons, the reader will expect a section on reason 1, a section on reason 2, and a section on reason 3. For a single paragraph, you might only spend one sentence on each reason. For a 2-3 page paper, each reason might get its own paragraph. For a 10-page paper, each reason might contain its own local thesis statement, with its own list of reasons, so that each section involves several paragraphs.
To emphasize the structure of your essay, repeat keywords or paraphrased ideas from the blueprint as you introduce the sections in which you expand on each point. Crafting good transitions is a skill that takes time and practice. (See Transitions and Reminders of Thesis).
Note: If you repeat your blueprint phrases and your thesis statement robotically (“The third point I want to talk about is how Black Elk Speaks accurately represents the Indian lifestyle through its direct quotes from Black Elk.”), your writing will be rather dry and lifeless. Dull writing is probably better than aimless rambling, although neither is terribly effective. |
Note: A thesis statement amounts to nothing if the paper is not completely focused on that main point. Blueprinting helps create the coherency of the thesis throughout the entire essay, which makes it a necessary part of the thesis statement.
17 Oct 2000 — originally posted by Nicci Jordan, UWEC Junior
08 Dec 2000 — first posted here. Maintained by Prof. Jerz.
13 Dec 2003 — links updated
22 Sep 2006 — moderate revisions by Jerz
29 Oct 2011 — updated by Jerz
| Related Links |
| Nicci Jordan Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay A blueprint is a rough but specific plan, or outline, which defines the structure of your whole essay. The blueprint, usually located within the thesis statement, is a brief list of the points you plan to make, compressed into just a few words each, in the same order in which they appear in the body of your paper.Hochstein, Jordan, and Jerz Thesis Reminders A thesis reminder is a direct echo of the thesis statement. In a short paper, the topic sentence of each paragraph should repeat words or phrases from the thesis statement.Dennis G. Jerz Timed Essays: Planning and Organizing in a Crunch |
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I feel that Online courses are better than traditional classes due to you get to make your own schedule. this is my thesis any suggestions?
Drop the “I feel.” Your feelings aren’t a matter open for intellectual debate — either you feel that way or you don’t.
Are there other reasons besides just the schedule? What about an opposing view? “Although online classes have drawbacks A and B, students who have qualities P and Q will be able to keep A and B in check, and are thus ready to benefit from the X, Y, and Z that make online classes a better choice.”
The word “better” is vague. So what if the class is more convenient if it’s so easy to cheat that students don’t actually learn, or it’s so easy to fall behind (because you set your own schedule that involves planning to do 15 weeks of work in the last 5 days of the semester), or you live in a part of the world that doesn’t have access to technology, etc. etc.
thank u vry much goooooooooooooooooooooooooood but i dont ungerstang the kind of introduction in essay .. final ………………………..
topic;Should citizens under the age of 21 be required to pass a driving education course before receiving a license?
Thesis:Citizens under the age of 21 should be required to pass a driving education course before receiving a license to drive because they would learn the proper way to drive,there would be fewer accidents, and the new rule would create jobs.
Looks very clear. Are there opposing arguments? Is this debatable? Good start.
Cons:where would the funding come from,there would be more accidents,and im stuck on the third reason
Author Khaled Hosseini uses both euphemism and conflict to represent the redemption Amir seeks for the wrong doings thought his childhood.
So this is a thesis statement that I’m using for my Analytic essay writing about a theme and two literary devices he used to get his point across. Is it good?
Very clear and focused. Does the assignment expect you to make a debatable claim, exploring opposing/alternative views? Could a rational person find credible evidence against your claim, or is the claim so obviously “correct” that nobody would doubt it? Is your claim too obvious? I haven’t read the work you mention, so you’ll have to answer that yourself.
I have to write a 7-10 page paper comparing and contrasting Egyptian culture with american culture. I have no idea how to even make a thesis statement for this paper. Please help!
Your instructor is the best resource you can use, but if you read this page and post a few ideas, I don’t mind giving you a quick opinion.
how can i be a good research if i have no yet orientation.this is my first time to teach research.
Can you find mentors among the people who have taught in your organization before you?
Hi Amanda
I assume that you already know American culture. If you don’t know anything about Egyptian culture, you should do little research but If you do know both American and Egyptian cultures, you should outline the similarities and differences in two cultures then compare two similar or different viewpoints. You should start writing the body first before writing the introduction and the conclusion.
Thesis statement:
Disasters and Traumatic events effect a child’s psychological, cognitive, physical and social development because of their developmental stage, parental reactions,and resiliency during the event.
I have to write a 10-15 page paper on any topic in child development so i chose disasters and traumatic events, i found it effects a childs psych., cognitive, physical, and social developments. I also wanted to include that the way a parent is effected also matters on the childs development, and the childs resiliency, and the childs developmental stage at the time of the incidents.
That’s a very clear start, showing that you understand the concept.
disasters and traumatic events the same thing, or different? If they are the same, do you need to use both terms? If they are different, do you need to explain the difference?
If your assignment is to persuade, or explore a controversial topic and cite vidence to explain why you choose one side over another, then I’m not sure that this thesis makes a claim that is worth arguing about. Are you supposed to explain why one particular author is better than a different author at helping readers understand this difference? Are you explaining how the profession’s understanding of this concept has changed in the last few decades? Are you arguing for against some specific controversial therapy? But that depends on what your instructor wants you to write.
You might want to look up the definition of “effect.”
You are right i think they are the same so i could just use one instead of both. Were supposed to support our topic with 10 empirical journal articles. So i guess i’m trying to support that disasters effect a child’s development using 10 different researchers evidence. so, children’s development is effected by disasters because these 10 researchers have found that it does.
Are there any sources that say disasters DON’T have any impact on kids? If not, then what will the last 9 sources prove that the first one didn’t prove? What is an opposing view that a rational person could defend with evidence, but that your research tells you is incorrect? At this point I’d say you should start looking for and reading those 10 sources. (And don’t forget to look up the proper use of “effect”.)
The introduction of a new religion in umuofia changes the traditional ibo culture and saves the umuofia generation.
i am writing a thesis for things fall apart. topic religious conclict
That depends on your assignment. If you are being asked to demonstrate that you understand the plot, then it’s probably fine.
If you are asked to interpret an ambiguous passage, to identify a debatable claim that a reasonable person could find evidence for and against, and explain why the evidence in favor of your interpretation outweighs the evidence against it, then your thesis (which seems too obviously “correct” to demonstrate your ability to interpret a complex and multi-sided issue) may be a little thin.
is it a good thesis. i need to write a 7-10 page essay
i have to revise the title of my research “English Proficiency: It’s Effectiveness Towards Adequate Communication among graduating students of College of arts and Sciences”. Any revisions please… i really need it your advice. thank!
Someone who has read your paper is best prepared to give you feedback on your title, but it could use some proofreading. Proficiency and adequacy mean different things… someone who is proficient in English means they are much better than adequate, so its possible to have adequacy without proficiency, but the title seems to suggest you are studying whether proficient English leads to adequate communication. “It’s” means “it is.” I’m not sure what “effectiveness towards” means — there should probably be a word ending in -ing there… But as I don’t understand the content of the title, I can’t help you there. Standardize the capitalization, and check subject-verb agreement and articles. (Do you mean “a college” or “colleges”?)
I have to write a history paper that outlines from where we as the back of where we went, where are or where we are going. The paper must address the “where we went” portion by addressing Crossing the Line of Departure ends as Corps/Division task organization fell into uEx and UEy on the cusp of OEF/OIF beginning. I must address emerging technologies and their application to Signal support to Mission Command in future operation basically what is the future of ‘Battle Command on the Move as a secondary means to Crossing the Line of Departure’.
im writing a thesis on Law and security, i dont know where to start from. please help
Lola, I am sure your instructor has given you an assignment description, with the learning goal, how your work will be evaluated, and what reading to do before you try writing your thesis statement. So your instructor is really the best resource for you right now.
can a thesis statement be phrased as a question
You would have to check with your teacher, but statements and questions are different things, so I would say no.
i am writing about marital relationships in a selection of Neil Simon’s plays
thesis statement: though the family institution and marriages are considered the most resistant institutions in the American society, these institutions faced sever changes; in their roles, construction, functions, and emotional aspects. these institutions also affected by the Great Depression, the Jazz Age and World War II, which in another consequence caused Simon to write about marital relationships and emphasize in his plays the need to choose the right person to marry and the importance of family since he grow up in a fragmented family during the depression and experienced 5 marriages of his own……………… So does my thesis statement seems clear and good?
You’ve certainly hit on an important theme in Simon, and in American drama in general — the nuclear family. Your plan to analyze 4 different aspects of marriage and cover 3 different historical time periods is ambitious — but that plan would be a paper all by itself, even if you never brought up Neil Simon.
Without knowing the full details about what level class you’re taking, whether this is supposed to be a 3-page practice paper or a 50-page thesis, etc., I’ll just offer some quick responses to what I see.
You say “the family institution and marriages are considered” — but who does the considering? Neil Simon? His critics? People completely unrelated to the question of what Neil Simon is doing in his plays? (This clutters up your thesis statement — focus on Simon’s plays, rather than the environment in which the author grew up.)
The term “family institution and marriage” is pretty vague — it almost sounds as if you’re not sure you can go into sufficient depth about marriage, so you’ve slipped in “family institution” so you can talk about anything family related. There’s nothing really wrong with that, but once you’ve got your paper finished, make sure you go back and take out any references to topics that you didn’t have time to address. (I think you’ll find plenty on marriage.)
Is there any evidence to support the counter-argument that the family does NOT change, or that the family is NOT affected by the eras you mention? How important is it, then, for you to PROVE these general statements about how marriage is affected by social forces? You could probably churn out several paragraphs on how the family unit changed over time, but those paragraphs wouldn’t demonstrate your ability to analyze a work of literature, so your literature instructor would probably not find those paragraphs very valuable.
I often point out to my students that describing what it was like back in the day, looking for parallels between an author’s life and the lives of the characters, and pointing to the fact that a work explores a certain theme are all habits we fall back on to churn out paragraphs, but in a literature class your instructor wants you to analyze the literature, rather than do all those other things.
Simon’s career spans decades, so it might be a good idea to take some specific plays he wrote early in his career, and some specific plays he wrote late in his career, and just focus on one, very narrow theme — how spouses use their children in battles against each other, or standing up to an abusive spouse, or the limits of forgiveness. Then, use differences between the early and late plays to support some claim about Simon’s dramatic technique, rather than using history and biography (with intermittent references to Simon’s plays) to support your claims about something that exists in the real world (marriage).
So, instead of saying “This detail from the play illustrates this fact from the the real world” or “This thing that happens in the play is sort of like this thing that happened to Simon in real life,” try instead to say things like, “In his later plays, Simon’s mastery of dialogue allows him to invoke a more powerful, more complex mixture of bitterness and love in confrontations scenes between married couples, wheres in his earlier plays the marital relationships tend to be shallower because spousal confrontation scenes are undermined by dark humor and the threat of violence.”
By the way, I have no idea if that’s true — I just made up a thesis that makes a strong claim about Simon’s plays, rather than a thesis that explores marriage itself.
I’d say at this point that you should pick a small number of plays — maybe two of his first plays and two of his most recent plays, and read them, looking for references to an depictions of marriage. Then, start looking for patterns.
Do all the plays feature overbearing men and silent women? Do the early plays show strong women as nasty and bitter, while the later plays show strong women as noble and generous? Does Simon show only one kind of marriage in the early plays, while in the later plays he has more than one marriage, so that he can explore a wider range of contrasting and conflicting themes?
[...] Thesis Statements [...]
Although college students are choosing safe fields with money-making potential, few or none at all are no longer choosing risky careers that will help society. More college students appear to be focusing on popularity, social power, and the reemerging popularity of fraternities and sororities, instead of focusing on choosing a life-long career. This is my thesis, I have to base it off of three sentences… What do you think?
Is it “few” or “none at all”? Those are very different claims. Who decides whether a career is “risky”? How will you measure whether something will “help society”? Watch out for the double negatives.
Well, I thought that there was 5 parts of a thesis statement for a 5 paragraph essay??
That’s a reasonable way to approach writing a thesis for a five-paragraph essay, but this document is about the thesis statement in general, so it doesn’t go into that kind of detail. Your instructor may have something specific in mind, so it would be best to check with him or her.
I have to write a thesis statement for the poem “Apparently With No Surprise” by Emily Dickinson. Here’s what I have: The poem “Apparently With No Surprise” illustrates Dickinson’s reaction to nature by heavy use of personification.
Any comments on how to make it better?
That depends on the assignment. If you are asked to explain your knowledge of a literary technique, it’s probably fine. If your assignment is to defend a debatable interpretation of what the poem means, your thesis should focus more on what, exactly, is her reaction to nature. See this video on literary close reading: http://jerz.setonhill.edu/blog/2012/08/23/close-reading-introduction-to-a-college-english-skill/
very helpful
Here is my research paper thesis. Tell me what you think.
“Jamaican and Filipino domestic workers in Toronto face discrimination and Human Rights violations in all aspects of their job. Domestic workers are often categorized for duties based on the intersections of their race, class and gender. Domestic workers also face exploitation by their employers while being institutionally discriminated against thus causing them to internalize the stereotypes developed about them”
If you have been asked to demonstrate your knowledge by explaining something, this thesis is probably fine. If your assignment is do demonstrate your ability to defend a debatable position, this thesis is probably too obvious. But really, your instructor would be the best person to ask.
Hello,
My assignment is to write a persuasive essay on a topic of my choice. I decided on the topic should cigarettes be banned? After conducting research, I arrived at my thesis: Cigarettes should be illegal in the United States because they are highly addictive, cause serious health issues and premature death and their use imposes large financial costs to society. I want to make sure I can provide a sufficient argument. Therefore, what do you think of my thesis? Is it focused enough?
A really persuasive paper would also address the opposing view.
rough thesis:
Despite how times have changed, and how mankind has grown as a whole, classism is still a large issue due to the inequality for the working class, the system of values the culture has created, and the levels of prejudice pertaining to race.
do you have any suggestions? I feel like it’s lacking but I don’t know what to change
Do you plan to include sections on how times have changed (over what period, and what sources are providing measurements that help you define the change) or how mankind has grown (same comment)? Large as compared to what? Who defines what “large” means? Does a culture have only one system of values? While race and class often go together, I’m not sure how the reference to race in the third point helps support a main idea about class.
I would tell my own students that they should pick a specific essay (or law, or presidential speech, or court ruling) and focus on that specific text, explaining the three reasons why Jim Smith’s 1960 essay on class is (or is not) more divisive than it is progressive. Without a specific idea to resond to, a paper like this will quickly fill with generalities that don’t actually offer you the opportunity to demonstrate your critical thinking skills.
As I always say in a situation like this, the instructor who created the assignment and will be grading it is the best person to help you — I don’t know how your instructor intends to evaluate your work, so I can only say what I would tell my own students.
My teacher only asked us to write an essay on one of the isms, including some examples from in class (hamlet, one of the short stories and a song he played) and I wanted to talk about how classism and racism connect but, clearly, im not getting it across. Im being too general, right? Do you think I should talk about classism and racism during a certain period of time and then talk about how it is currently?
I find students often start out too vague, so your instinct to get more specific is good. But I won’t be marking your paper, so you really should ask your instructor.
The Engliah Civil War, the French Revolution and the American Revilution have contributed to democratic prinicples. That was my thesis, I need help to improve it thanks!
It really depends upon the kind of paper you been asked to write. If your teacher wants to check your knowledge, this structure will help you display your knowledge.
If your instructor wants you to argue a point of view, this thesis wouldn’t be debatable. It looks fairly easy to prove, as long as you have accurate facts. A paper that provides evidence in favor of this uncontroversial point is less valuable than a paper that a rational person could debate (using evidence).
Poverty has a negative impact on a child’s educational attainment because it causes them to be highly discriminated against and in many cases they end up dropping out of school.
Would any rational person argue that poverty has a positive effect upon a child? If your instructor simply wants you to explain something, this thesis might be fine. If your instructor wants you to argue a point, I don’t see an argument here.
My essay question is, write an essay that summarizes the court case Marbury v Madison and explain the significance of judicial review. Any suggestions on a thesis statement for this?
I’m afraid I’m not familiar with the case you mention, but from the description of the assignment you provide, it appears your instructor wants you to demonstrate your knowledge, rather than come up with a new solution to a problem or defend a debatable claim.
Of course, I won’t be the one evaluating your paper, so you should really check with your instructor, but from what I can tell, your thesis can be as simple as “Marbury v. Madison shows that judicial review is important for reasons A, B, and C.” You’d need to demonstrate that you understand the case and can restate its important points in your own words, you’d need to define judicial review, and you’d need to demonstrate that you understand why M v M has a strong enough connection to judicial review that your instructor is willing to spend the time reading through a stack of student papers on the topic.
Working on my senior thesis, 20-25 pages on climate change. What I have so far is as follows:
“The recent changes in global climate have had a drastic effect on each level of economic development (primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary) of developing and less-developed countries such as China and Thailand as they work to compete with the Core countries of the world. As a whole, the negative effects of climate change, believed to be a result of economic development of the Core, are having an effect that is further challenging their development.”
I would definitely say it is meant to defend a view as many don’t believe in climate change, but at the same time, it is informative (i.e. climate change has lead to a, b and c.) I wont be surprised if you can’t give me alot of information due to some of the terms needing to be defined which I would plan to do in the actual paper, but I feel uncomfortable with some things such as the number of uses of develop in its various forms. I also feel that the second sentence is redundant, but cant work out how to combine the two to get around it.
Is it any surprise that “negative effects” have “an effect that is further challenging” these countries?
Thanks, I was half asleep when working on parts of this so I couldn’t catch some of the common sense stuff like that.
I need to figure out a thesis for my narrative essay. The professor does not want the paper more than 600 words, but I’m finding it difficult to incorporate a thesis statement in the midst of all the details of my first paragraph. Is there a formula I can use for developing a thesis for narration?
In general there is no rule that says the thesis has to be in the first paragraph. Your prof may have a good reason for wanting to put it there, of course.
what are the 4 parts of a thesis
You should check with whoever will be evaluating your thesis, as different academic fields and different instructors will give different answers.
I’m supposed to write a thesis about the false portrayal of Los Angeles in Hollywood movies based on a documentary, “Los Angeles Plays Itself”. I can use parallel structure for the thesis or provide viewpoints where I agree and/or disagree.
I have this so far: Hollywood has at times misrepresented Los Angeles, portraying it through stereotypes and through an overpriviledged viewpoint, such as movies showing urban violence, police brutality, racist stereotypes, and lavish lifestyles. For many decades, Los Angeles has struggled with racial tension, mass transportations issues, decline in housing, and social class disparities, which are exaggerated in films and has shaped some people’s perception of Los Angeles.
If your goal is to explain, you might want to specify instead of use vague phrases like “at times” and “some people.” If your goal is to argue a debatable claim, I’m not sure I see any room for an opposing viewpoint, since “at times” and “some people” are so vague. Does any rational person expect a Hollywood film to portray life accurately? Is it the job of an action movie or a comedy movie to be accurate? Why does it matter that Hollywood films exaggerate L.A.’s problems? Hollywood also exaggerates and distorts its portrayal of New York, the Midwest, the Deep South, etc.
Thank you! I’ll try to narrow it down and not be vague. I agree that Hollywood misrepresents other major cities & parts of the U.S. as well. Thank you, again.
I’d suggest that you start by reading this handout, and then post a few tries. I’ll be happy to give you feedback, but you’ll have to give me something to respond to, first.
The colorado river’s river bed is geting dryer every year and it is cause by geographical reasons.!
is this good.?
help i need a 3 point thesis statement for an argument paper. My points: children are over medicated with ADHD stimulants because (1) the pharmaceuticals are pushing medication (2) medication is being used to control inconvenient personality traits (3) correct poor parenting skills
That depends upon the purpose of the assignment. If your goal is to explain a cause-effect relationship, you are on the right track. If instead your instructor wants you to compare, or persuade the reader, or evaluate different possible solutions to a problem with no obvious right answer, the thesis you propose will need a little more work.
I guess so? Random question?
All 3 points could be true, but does that mean every child who takes ADHD medication is overmedicated?
Who decides how much medication is enough and how much is too much? Maybe your definition of “overmedicated” differs from mine.
How many children are overmedicated — 5? 50,000? If one morning my kid takes one extra pill because he forgot to take a pill last night, does that mean he’s overmedicated? If one doctor says to give him 2 pills a day and a different doctor says three, and I give him 3, then the first doctor will say my kid is overmedicated and the second doctor and I won’t. Who is right? Compared to the total number of children who get ADHD medication, what percentage are over medicated, and who counted? How does this compare to the percentage of children who are overmedicated for other issues? What are the strongest arguments AGAINST the claim you want to make? What us the name of the most crediblt author you found who opposes the claim you are making? What evidence do your opponents cite, and how can you refute their claims?
hello!
i have to write a research paper about bullying but first it has to have a strong good thesis statement! but i really dont know how to start!
need your help ASAP!
thanks
You’ve found the right page, yaswk. I’m not sure how to help you, though, since I’ve already written all my best advice on this page. If you try to follow my advice, and post a few suggestions, I can tell you which one I think is best.