thesis definition for elementary students

How to Teach Children to Write a Thesis Statement

Shandi stevenson.

By helping students to understand the purpose of a thesis statement, how it is put together and where it belongs in a composition, you can equip them with a skill that will make writing faster and easier. The ability to write an effective thesis statement makes it easier for students to write good papers and develops skills such as summary, organization and argumentation that will be valuable for the rest of their lives.

Explore this article

• Purpose of a Thesis Statement
• Good and Bad Thesis Statements
• Methods for Writing the Statement
• Practice Writing Thesis Statements

1 Purpose of a Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is usually the last sentence of the first paragraph of a composition. It states the topic of the paper and the argument the author will make about the topic . It also outlines, in order, the points the paper will make to construct that argument. The first paragraph of the composition should provide an introduction to the paper's topic and its importance. The thesis statement then provides the specific approach to the topic the author will take. The succeeding body paragraphs refer back to and develop the points mentioned in the thesis statement. For example, the thesis statement, "School lunch reform is important, because it makes students healthier, helps students learn better and saves schools money," should be followed by one body paragraph discussing the health benefits of lunch reform, one discussing the academic benefits and one discussing the financial benefits.

2 Good and Bad Thesis Statements

Once students understand what a thesis statement's basic function is, it is helpful to have students practice recognizing effective and ineffective thesis statements. Use a page of thesis statements, some of which are correct and others which are not, have students practice recognizing which sentences meet the requirements of a good thesis statement and which do not. Students can then explain and discuss their reasoning. Allowing students to work on this in small groups can be a helpful way for them to grasp the skill quickly. Have students work individually or in groups to rewrite and improve poor thesis statements. The two most important concepts for students to grasp about the thesis statement are that it must state an opinion or an argument , rather than a fact and that it must be as specific as possible . Most students begin by writing thesis statements that are much too broad and must learn to narrow the focus.

3 Methods for Writing the Statement

Students may find it helpful to first write thesis statements for existing compositions, of which only the thesis statement has been left out or covered up. Students identify the essay's argument and its main points and draft a thesis statement to reflect them. This allows students to practice writing a thesis statement without having to plan and organize an argument at the same time. Students can also compare their thesis statements with other students', and with the original; this allows them to recognize that there is no one right way to phrase a thesis statement, yet every thesis statement must include certain elements.

Some students may then find it helpful to practice writing their own thesis statements using a fill-in "template," such as: " ** is important because of ** , ** and ** __," or "Martin Luther King Jr. changed America in three important ways: _, _ and ____." This exercise helps students make the transition to generating and organization their own arguments, while still getting a little help structuring and wording the thesis statement.

4 Practice Writing Thesis Statements

Once they have mastered the basic concept and structure of the thesis statement, students will benefit from practicing the skill as often as possible, and from plenty of feedback on how they can improve their thesis statements. It can take a long time for the skill to become second nature. In addition to requiring students to include thesis statements in all their compositions, consider using other games and activities for extra practice, such as letting students submit thesis statements to a contest and vote on the winner, working as a class to write a "thesis statement" for a math, science or social studies lesson on the board and letting students write thesis statements about things that interest them.

• 1 Indiana University Writing Center: Thesis Statements
• 2 Slide Share: Thesis Statement Power Point
• 3 University of Michigan: Templates
• 4 Teachers Net: Using Spongebob to Teach Thesis Statement
• 5 Gustavus Adolphus College: Tips on Writing a Thesis Statement

About the Author

Shandi Stevenson is a teacher, tutor and author whose work has appeared in national and international publications including "Shibboleths," "Homeschooling Today," and "Resort Living." She holds a Bachelor of Arts in literature in English and a Master of Arts in humanities.

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Why Thesis Statements Are Important for Kids

Should you teach thesis statements? If so, in what grade should you teach thesis statements? Hey, are thesis statements even important?

Most people don’t really understand what a thesis statement is, and even the people who do understand what a thesis statement is don’t really understand why it is important. Until a few years ago, I didn’t really get them. I didn’t think they were important. I always thought a thesis statement was just a word that English majors liked to use.

When getting my teaching credential I did get straight A’s, and I can honestly say that I never once thought about the term thesis statement . When getting my undergraduate degree, getting good grades was just one of my many interests, so I am quite sure that I cared even less about thesis statements back then. Don’t worry—I did just fine. So, how important are thesis statements if all of this is possible? Do thesis statements really help create good writing? Are thesis statements really an essential element of good writing?

Do We Really Need to Teach Thesis Statements in Elementary School and Middle School?

The California State Writing Standards for 5th grade states this:

Grade 5 Writing Strategies 1.0 – Students write clear, coherent, and focused essays.

Technically, and by definition, an essay has a thesis statement. Okay, so thesis statements may be important. However, when elementary and middle school students are struggling with paragraphs and grammar, thesis statements can SEEM quite unimportant.

In fact, when one considers Piaget’s constructivist learning theory , thesis statements can seem like a waste of time for students who still struggle with a variety of simple writing concepts. Do you want to spend valuable class time teaching students concepts that may not help them just yet? And surely you don’t want students to become so overwhelmed with writing that they think, “Okay, I admit it—I don’t understand writing… and I never will.” Thesis statements can have that effect. So should you or shouldn’t you teach them?

THESIS THINKING: The Real Reason Thesis Statements are Important

What I have now come to see is that you can use thesis statements as a tool for achieving many different writing and reading comprehension results.

Thesis statements have become a coat rack on which I hang many concepts. I’ve come to the conclusion that the most important thing about thesis statements is the THESIS THINKING that goes along with them.

John Truby, a screenwriting teacher, had this to say about story premises. The way he uses the term premise is what I have learned to teach my students about thesis statements.

The very first step in creating a good script is to figure out a great premise. Your premise is your story stated in a single line. It’s probably the most important element in any script, because if it’s not a good premise, there is very little that you can do to make the overall script work—make the overall script something that people will want to read. So it’s very important that you start with a good core idea. –– John Truby –– Screenwriting Teacher

Thesis is very closely related to premise. Let’s substitute thesis for premise and essay for script and see how it reads.

The very first step in creating a good essay is to figure out a great thesis. Your thesis is your essay stated in a single line. It’s probably the most important element in any essay, because if it’s not a good thesis, there is very little that you can do to make the overall essay work—make the overall essay something that people will want to read. So it’s very important that you start with a good core idea.

Put simply, THESIS THINKING is important in all kinds of writing. THESIS THINKING also helps with reading comprehension. In fact, thesis statements and THESIS THINKING help students in all these areas:

•     Write powerful topic sentences that put forth important main ideas. •     Find main ideas in text. •     Write whole compositions with a purpose. •     Master the different modes of writing. •     Summarize a text. •     Narrow or broaden a topic. •     Develop clear and concise thinking and clear and concise writing. •     Understand the purpose behind each of the different types of essays. •     Write and read stories that contain a larger meaning and that communicate a larger message—i.e., stories that have a premise. •     And many more!

Back to Piaget—Do Students Really Need to Understand Thesis Statements?

Beginning writers and struggling writers do need to understand thesis statements. However, they are not going to really understand them until they master a variety of foundational skills—skills that will make the concept of thesis statements have real meaning. Piaget certainly would not approve of demanding that students include thesis statements when students don’t understand the following basic concepts and when students don’t possess the following foundational writing skills:

Writing Foundation A: Students must understand and internalize two levels of beginning, middle, and ending:

1.     Beginning, middle, and ending in paragraphs. 2.     Beginning, middle, and ending in whole compositions.

Writing Foundation B: Students must be able to write basic whole compositions (essays, reports, narratives etc.) quickly and easily. They must own a method for breaking down writing topics and writing prompts and for organizing their thoughts. They must have a method for getting to work and finishing their work.

Writing Foundation C: Students must be in complete control over the paragraph and how paragraphs connect together within an essay. Students must also to be in complete control over the relationship that paragraphs have with the introduction and conclusion.

Parts to Whole: Create a True Foundation for Thesis Statements

As discussed before, thesis statements are, in one sense, the entire essay stated in a single sentence. The thesis statement represents the whole .

Unfortunately, students are taught parts—parts, parts, parts.  Students learn that they must be able to write just one good sentence—then just one good paragraph. Then all of a sudden, completely out of the blue, some teacher jumps to the top-down approach. This teacher starts with the whole—i.e., thesis statements.

Students learn parts—and then students learn wholes. But they never have the entire process constructed for them in a way that makes sense. Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay is the foundation that makes sense. You will create Writing Foundation A, B, and C, all of them, quickly and easily.

One homeschooling parent had this to say when she found the Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay program:

A kind lady on this board put me on the trail of a writing program that I downloaded last night and I think it is revolutionary – I finally ‘get’ it.

A 7th grade teacher had this to say:

I was describing it to a colleague a little while ago as, ‘the basics made clearer.’  I have taught many of these ideas but not as an organized structure. I had no formal way of getting the ideas to be part of my students’ natural writing process. Thank you for this opportunity to enjoy teaching my students writing.

Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay is the only writing program I know of that is truly constructivist parts-to-whole essay teaching. That’s why it works! That’s why it makes sense to students, parents, and teachers! If you teach elementary school, or if you have a few struggling middle school writers, be sure to take a serious look at the program on the homepage!

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Forming a Thesis Statement

Minilesson print.

The whole purpose of writing is to transfer an idea from your head into someone else's. If you can state your idea in a single, clear sentence, your reader can easily grasp it.

Use this simple formula to craft an effective thesis statement (for an essay) or topic sentence (for a paragraph).

Topic (who or what am I writing about? )

+ Focus (what specific thought or feeling do I have about my topic?)

_________________________________

= Thesis Statement (or Topic Sentence)

Here are some examples of the formula in action with different forms of writing.

Explanatory

Antibiotic resistance (topic) creates superbugs through the misuse of modern medicine (focus).

Sex and gender (topic) are related but different, one defined by biology and the other by culture (focus).

Narrative Writing

My hectic senior year of high school (topic) embodied the word overcommitment (focus) .

Your Turn Use the formula to create thesis statements for the following topics. Note: The focus is up to you.

• Career opportunities
• Community involvement
• Generational differences
• The search for colleges
• Lasting lessons of high school

From 30 in Write for College

Teacher Support:

Click to find out more about this resource.

Answers will vary.

Standards Correlations:

The State Standards provide a way to evaluate your students' performance.

• 110.38.c.10.C
• 110.39.c.10.C
• 110.38.c.5.J
• 110.39.c.5.J
• LAFS.1112.W.1.1
• LA 12.2.1.b
• LA 12.2.2.a
• LAFS.1112.W.1.2
• 110.38.c.10.A
• 110.39.c.10.A
• LAFS.1112.W.1.3

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Teaching Thesis Statements with Lesson Ideas

Teaching thesis statements made easy.

Essays without thesis statements are easy to grade: simply write an ‘F’ at the top of the paper, laugh, and shuffle up the next paper. Unfortunately, not teaching thesis statements is the sign of a really bad English teacher.

A Thesis Statement Tale of Woe

On my way out the door, I noticed all the English teachers were busily grading essays. “Hey, Bob,” I shouted as I stumbled into his classroom, “Not done with those essays yet? I finished mine an hour ago.”

“How’d you grade them so fast?” he asked.

“It’s simple,” I responded, “I didn’t teach my students about writing thesis statements, so grading their essays was easy. I just gave them all F’s. While you guys waste your time teaching thesis statements and then having to actually grade their essays, we watch movies.”

“So, none of your students know anything about writing a thesis statement?”

“Nope.”

“You’re a disgrace!” Bob shouted. He moved toward me, stapler in hand.

Next thing I remember, I was surrounded by angry tax-payers. Angry tax-payer #1 shouted, “Get up you thief! Our tax dollars pay your salary and you’re supposed to teach the children of this great state how to write a thesis statement. I suggest you start teaching thesis statements tomorrow morning, or you’ll pay dearly!” The angry tax-payer clubbed me with a ruler and knocked me out again. When I awoke, I saw lesson ideas on my desk titled “Writing a Thesis Statement.”

I share it with you

Common Core Standards

Teaching thesis statements satisfies the following common core standards and establishes the basis for teaching all the common core standards in writing for all grade levels.

• W.9-10.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• W.9-10.1a Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
• W.9-10.2a  Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions; include formatting (e.g., headings); graphics (e.g., figures, tables); and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
• W.9-10.4   Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Ideas for Teaching Thesis Statements

• A quick review of how to write a thesis statement may help.
• Have students create thesis statements on a slice of paper. Collect the paper and read them to the class. Have the class vote on them.
• Do the same activity, but use individualized white boards to record judgments.
• Read thesis statements anonymously. The ones that do not qualify get tossed in the garbage (visualizing what happens to bad thesis statements is powerful). Give students chances to rewrite the thesis statement until they get it right.
• Write random topics on the board and have groups of students brainstorm good thesis statements.
• Require students get thesis statements approved before writing an essay.

Evaluating Thesis Statements

1. Have you answered the question or merely restated it? The following examples are based on this question: Does Romeo’s prior feelings for Rosaline diminish the credibility of his love for Juliet?

• Good example: Romeo’s prior feelings for Rosaline diminish the credibility of his love for Juliet.
• Bad example: This essay examines whether or not Romeo’s prior feelings for Rosaline diminishes his love for Juliet.

2.  Have you tried to argue both sides of the case? It is important to acknowledge the other side and address the other position. That does not, however, excuse you from choosing a side.

• Good example: Juliet was not the first woman to capture Romeo’s fancy; she was, however, the one who affected him the most.
• Bad example: Romeo loved Juliet with all his heart, but he loved Rosaline too; It could be argued they were both his favorite.

3.  Have you prejudged the issue by using loaded language? Immature writers manipulate readers through emotionally-charged language.

• Bad example: Immature, whiny, male-pig Romeo, a male harlot, ruins precious Juliet whom he loved no more than Rosaline.

I’ve taken these lesson plans and added notes, graphic organizers, and more lesson options to create what I consider an invaluable resource for middle school and high school teachers. It’s only $5.95.

It includes 10 lesson plans aligned to common core standards, notes, and over 15 assignments with answer keys. All you need to do is print out each assignment, make copies, and pass them out. Here’s a Free Topic Sentence Sample Plan to give you an idea of what the paragraph teaching guide has to offer.

Of course, you’re more than welcome to make your own handouts and assignments that took me weeks to make and years to perfect.

Last Updated on October 20, 2017 by Trenton Lorcher

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Multiple Choice Test Taking Strategies

Writing a Thesis Statement

• By Gay Miller in Writing

January 11, 2021

Writing a thesis statement is an extremely difficult skill for some students. This post provides step-by-step instructions. Student-friendly language helps students understand the concepts. To learn the rules, students watch a Google Slide presentation. While watching, they complete organizers. The printable organizers may be placed in an interactive notebook. Digital organizers are also provided. They may be housed on Google Drive. Students may use these organizers as reference tools any time they write essays.

So where to begin…

The Teaching Standards

Common Core State Standards do not include the words thesis statements. CCSS state essays should introduce the topic and state an opinion. (Sounds like a thesis statement to me?!?!) Before Common Core, this skill was included in the 6th grade Tennessee Standards. Depending on the level of your students, I recommend including thesis statements beginning in 5th or 6th grades. Find more information on Why Thesis Statements are Important for Kids here.  

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.1.A Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer’s purpose.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.1.A Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.1.A Introduce claim(s) and organize the reasons and evidence clearly.

Thesis Statement Google Slides

This lesson includes a Google Slide Presentation that goes over rules and examples. The presentation also includes a section with examples for students to evaluate. Students rate examples as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and discuss why.  All the text in these presentations is editable. Therefore, you can change sentences to topics that interest your students. 

Download these free resources to use with your students.

Foldable Organizers

To make learning the information a little easier, three foldable graphic organizers go over the information. These organizers need no cutting. Just print and fold.

For Organizers #1 and #2, check out these 3 versions:

• Version 1 contains blanks for students to write their own definitions.
• The next version contains sentences with blank spaces for students to write in keywords.
• Version 3 is fully completed.

Use the third version as an answer key. Use different versions to differentiate instruction. Give absent students the completed organizer to use as a guide to complete their organizer.

For Organizer #3, students write example thesis statements. Because of this, only one version of the organizer is provided.

The Content

Organizer 1 – what is a thesis statement.

A thesis statement is the main idea of an essay.

It is often a point you want to argue or support in an essay.

The thesis statement explains to a reader the main idea of the essay and the writer’s opinion on that idea.

 A thesis statement is usually one sentence .

 It is often placed in the introductory paragraph of an essay.

A thesis statement is a claim that could be argued .

The essay will contain evidence and opinions that support the argument.

Organizer 2 – Things Thesis Statements Should Include and Should Avoid

A thesis statement should:

• contain a topic (main idea of what you are writing about)
• contain an opinion about the topic (what your attitude is toward the topic)

Subject + Attitude = Thesis

A thesis statement should avoid:

• the first person (I believe, In my opinion, etc.)
• unclear language (It seems, etc.)
• attempting two topics at once – even if they seem related. Pick one and stick with it.
• just stating a fact – A thesis is something you plan to make an argument about. Facts can’t be argued.

Organizer 3 – Thesis Statement Examples

• A thesis statement should not be too broad .

Mountain City is a great place to live.

Better – One reason to live in Mountain City is access to many wonderful places to fish.

2. A thesis statement should not be too wordy .

Some problems with Mountain City Elementary School are that it needs a larger playground, an air-conditioned gym, an auditorium, restrooms connected to each classroom, running water in the classrooms, and a number of other physical changes to the building.

Better – Mountain City Elementary needs several changes to its facility to make it a better school.

3. A thesis statement should not be a title .

Cost of Living

Better – The cost of living in Mountain City is lower than in most other cities in the United States.

4. A thesis statement should not be too general .

Music makes people happy.

Better – Music therapy is useful in relieving stress and other conditions.  

5. A thesis statement should not be a fact .

The average temperature for Mountain City in winter is 34 and in summer is 75 degrees.

Better – The climate in Mountain City is ideal for outdoor sports.

Important Update

If you are looking for original organizers, don’t worry. They’re still here. I know how frustrating it can be to follow a link from Pinterest, only to not find what you are looking for. Because of this, I included the original organizers in the download.

These organizers contain the exact same information as the new. The difference is they require more time to assemble. A link to the original PowerPoint is also included in the download.

More Activities

• Provide a topic. Tell students to write a  thesis statement on the topic. Collect the sentences. Read these aloud and have students evaluate them.
• Provide thesis statements. Students use different color highlighters to show the parts: subject + attitude.
• Anchor Chart
• Word Map with Facts

• Writing Strategies

Permanent link to this article: https://bookunitsteacher.com/wp/?p=336

10 comments

Skip to comment form

• Theresa on January 25, 2015 at 12:20 pm

BRILLIANT! I will use this for my freshmen who have a tendency to “forget” what the thesis IS and IS NOT!

• anis on June 16, 2015 at 1:32 pm

• sarah egger on September 9, 2015 at 9:02 am

This is wonderful, thanks so much for sharing. I gave it to my fellow English teachers and we all use it and we are raving about how much the students enjoy it and learn from it.

• Beverly on September 9, 2015 at 9:31 am

Thank you so much.

• Louise on October 22, 2015 at 9:31 pm

This is so helpful. Thanks for sharing with us.

• ENRIQUE GUZMÁN CH on November 22, 2015 at 6:22 am

Hi. I´m from Colombia. Thanks a lot for everything.

• Pat on September 26, 2016 at 12:14 am

Thanks for sharing!

• student on September 29, 2016 at 5:25 am

Everything is very open with a really clear description.

It was definitely informative. Your website is very useful. Many thanks for sharing!

• Thesis Generator on January 27, 2017 at 12:30 pm

Most thesis statements are one sentence (Unless you have a really long paper) but if you need to add more info use a semi colon or a coordinating conjunction to add more.

• Homeschool Teacher/Mom on March 22, 2017 at 12:22 pm

Thank you so much! This was very helpful!!

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Writing a Thesis Statement — Definition, Types, and Examples

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement is a single sentence that identifies the topic and purpose of a scholarly research paper or academic writing. A thesis statement directly or indirectly presents the main points of the paper. Information presented in the essay should tie directly back to the thesis.

Overall, a good thesis statement accomplishes the following:

Identifies the purpose of the essay

Expresses the writer's position/opinion

Lists the main supports (optional)

Briefly summarizes the writer's conclusion(s)

Establish if the essay is explanatory, argumentative, or analytical

People often confuse thesis statements with topic sentences , which start each body paragraph. Typically, the thesis statement is the final sentence in the introductory paragraph and acts as a “road map” for the rest of the paper.

Types of thesis statements

The three main types of thesis statements are explanatory, argumentative, and analytical.

Explanatory thesis statements are used in expository essays that focus solely on informing the reader. Papers with this type of thesis do not contain the writer's opinion, nor do they try to persuade the reader.

The three main branches of science taught in public schools include biology, chemistry, and physics.

Argumentative thesis statements identify the writer's position or point of view on a given topic. Argumentative essays persuade the reader to agree with the writer's stance. If the reader cannot agree or disagree with the claim in the thesis, then it is not argumentative.

Public schools should place more emphasis on the arts because they encourage creativity, help improve academic development, and provide a beneficial emotional outlet.

Analytical thesis statements are used in papers that analyze how or why something does what it does. These thesis statements identify what the writer is analyzing, the parts of the analysis, and the order of those parts.

An analysis of course requirements in public schools suggests access to more electives can increase graduation rates.

How to write a thesis statement

When writing a thesis, the following guidelines apply:

Step 1: Determine the type of paper (explanatory, argumentative, or analytical).

Step 2: Identify the topic, position/claim, and supports of the essay.

Step 3: Determine if the supports should be included within the thesis. Although they are considered optional, they might be required depending on the audience and purpose of the essay.

Step 4: Compose a sentence that includes the topic, position, and supports (optional). While a thesis statement can be more than one sentence, it should not exceed two.

Step 5: Place the thesis statement at the end of the introductory paragraph(s). Placing it at the end of the introduction and before the supports allows the reader to focus on the paper’s main purpose.

Thesis statement examples

The following examples highlight each type of thesis statement.

Topic: Alternative Energy Sources

Explanatory Thesis: Alternative energy sources that can supplement the use of fossil fuels include solar, wind, and geothermal.

Argumentative Thesis: To combat reliance on foreign sources of fossil fuels, the United States would benefit from focusing on alternative energy options.

Analytical Thesis: Analysis suggests that replacing fossil fuels with alternative energy sources could negatively impact the economy.

Topic: Social Media

Explanatory Thesis: Three of the first platforms that influenced the world of social media include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Argumentative Thesis: Social media negatively influences society as it increases opportunities for cyberbullying, limits face-to-face interactions, and creates unrealistic expectations.

Analytical Thesis: An analysis of the use of social media suggests itis irrevocably harming the development of teenagers.

Topic: Standardized Testing

Explanatory Thesis: Standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT play a limited role in influencing college acceptance.

Argumentative Thesis: Standardized testing should not be required because it increases anxiety, does not measure progress, and cannot predict future success.

Analytical Thesis: Analysis suggests that standardized testing in elementary and high school negatively impacts students' academic success.

Reading Worksheets, Spelling, Grammar, Comprehension, Lesson Plans

How to Write a Thesis Statement

About this worksheet:.

Practice developing thesis statements with this writing introduction worksheet! Students will learn how to improve their writing with a strong, attention grabbing thesis statement. This activity helps build writing skills by asking students to create a statement for the topics provided, such as: “What was the greatest challenge in your life?”.

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• Teaching Guidelines

Teaching the Thesis Sentence

Most writing teachers agree that the thesis occupies a very important position, both in our student papers and in our teaching. We also agree that students tend to "rush" the thesis, and that the dominance (or even the presence) of a thesis (especially a premature thesis) can get in the way of a good paper. Accordingly, most writing instructors have a repertoire of methods to help students find a thesis that will focus and guide an interesting and persuasive academic paper. We offer some of those methods here, with the observation that these instructors in fact teach the thesis in multiple ways in their classrooms.

Tips for Helping Your Students to Write Better Theses

Here, then, are some things to try as you get students to write better theses:

• Respect their opinions (even if you don't agree with them), and show them how to harvest these opinions for academic purposes.
• Ask students to look for parts and patterns in a text and to develop their analysis from these patterns.
• Move your students back and forth, from the particular to the general, until they find the right "fit" between their particular observations and the Big Idea of the text.
• Ask them to develop an "umbrella idea" that synthesizes seemingly disparate observations.
• Instruct your students to look for hidden assumptions, both in the texts they're writing about and in their own work. Present the question: What needs to be true about the world for this claim to be true?
• Help your students expand their thesis sentences by introducing a counter-claim or complicating evidence. Then work with them to consider how to balance these claims in their paper/thesis.
• Debunk the thesis—and then debunk the debunking. Encourage students to keep looking for evidence that challenges their thesis (and not just evidence that supports it).
• Ask students to draw their papers. This frees them from thinking linearly and helps them to consider possibilities that might not have appeared to them otherwise.
• Warn students against common thesis problems, including the One-Size-Fits-All Thesis and the Laundry List Thesis. Encourage them to integrate their ideas rather than list them.
• Finally, remind students that there is no formula for a good thesis: form is dictated by idea, and not vice versa. Understanding the principles of style will help you and your students to create a sentence whose structure reflects the structure of the argument.

Shelby Grantham: Thesis Writing from the Solar Plexus

Professor Grantham's advice, in a nutshell, is "Find a topic that matters to you, and then figure out why it matters to you." This may sound like an obvious place to start, but it's not. Students are generally looking not for topics that interest them, but topics that interest the teacher—not understanding that we find it exciting to discover their arguments, their points of view.

Students often have very good instincts about paper topics, but they don't know what to do with their ideas. The first thing that they are likely to do is to take their good instinct for a paper topic and try to abstract it. Before attempting any abstractions, students should first consider why this topic, in particular, interests them. Professor Grantham has her students freewrite on a topic, asking them to explore their own feelings, experiences, and ideas. Students are not to worry about grammar, nor are they asked to consider structure. Rather, they are asked to respond as honestly and as fully as they can.

The instructor will then use this freewrite as the starting point for a conference about the paper that the student really wants to write. In that conference, Professor Grantham and the student "mine" the freewriting exercise for possible paper topics—not theses, but topics.

Once a topic is selected, students must consider it carefully before proposing a thesis. Professor Grantham will eventually ask students to do the necessary textual analysis or research, but before she does she asks students to unpack their own beliefs on the topic. Professor Grantham proceeds on the assumption that our students have a vast amount of information and opinion stored within, and that they have warrant for the beliefs they carry with them. She asks them to determine where they got the evidence for their beliefs—to trace the source of the belief to family members, friends, television. Once they've found the roots of their beliefs, they are then ready to decide whether they want to hold firm or change their minds.

Finally, students are ready (tentatively) to posit a thesis.

John Donaghy: Finding Patterns, Solving Problems

Professor Donaghy's method is founded on the understanding that analysis is a complicated process that requires us to break down a text (event, object, or phenomenon) into parts, discovering patterns among the parts, and coming up with a theory for why these patterns exist. Donaghy believes that students are initially afraid of analysis, and that their initial attempts at it are either overly simple, or disjointed and disorganized. He's puzzled by this fear, as we are analyzing all the time: life presents us with data that we are continually sorting by finding patterns, creating categories, and making meaning. Analysis is requisite for something as simple as crossing the street. Students can be encouraged to see that they already possess analytical skills that can be transferred to writing papers.

Professor Donaghy suggests three steps regarding a simple analysis of the following Gary Snyder poem, "Pine tree tops:"

In the blue night frost haze, the sky glows with the moon pine tree tops bend snow-blue, fade into sky, frost, starlight. The creak of boots. Rabbit tracks, deer tracks, what do we know.

First, when analyzing, students need to be conscious of examining parts of a text, looking for patterns (or repeating elements). In a short poem, students can make a number of simple observations, including:

• Number of words (34)
• Number of syllables in words (mostly single syllable)
• Parts of speech: mostly nouns; adjectives are scarce; surprisingly few verbs

Second, students need to try to determine how these parts and patterns are speaking to each other. Do these parts and patterns illustrate a similarity? Draw a contrast? Create an emphasis? Together form a new observation or idea? In terms of the poem:

• Nouns: so many nouns emphasizes the "thing-ness" of the poem
• Adjectives: very few; one (blue) is attached to a noun
• Verbs: the verbs (glows, bend, fade) are gentle, yielding verbs

Finally, students can put forward a proposition. For instance: Snyder builds his poem on nouns to give power to the "things" in his scene. OR Snyder chooses verbs that seem to yield to the nouns in order to tell us how to behave in the presence of nature. This proposition, with some tweaking, can become a working thesis.

Karen Gocsik: Finding the Umbrella Idea

Finding the "umbrella idea" requires that students move back and forth between a text's particularities and its big ideas in order to find a suitable "fit" between the two that the students can write about. This fit is summed up in the "umbrella idea," or the big idea that all of their observations can stand under.

Some students begin with a very specific observation about a text—for instance, that on page 264 of Milan Kundera'sImmortality, the heroine of his novel declares that her father was her only love. This observation can't yield a paper. So what does the student do? She generalizes the issue. In other words, she looks not at the individual father-daughter relationship but considers other father-daughter relationships in the novel. But this observation won't yield a paper, either. The student must think in particulars once again, comparing the relationships to find interesting patterns. What she comes up with is that in one relationship, the daughter looks to the father for guidance; in the other she sees that it's quite the opposite: the father believes that his daughter has wisdom and seeks her counsel. Again, still not much going on. It's time to generalize to the novel's big ideas—which include an attack on modernism and a nostalgia for the traditions of Europe. Interestingly, the father daughter relationships can be linked, via textual evidence, to these ideas. The student has discovered a "fit" between the big ideas and her particular observations that can yield a paper.

The key to success in this method rests in four processes:

• Students must move fluidly back and forth between the text and their abstractions/generalizations, ready to adjust their ideas to the new evidence and new abstractions that they encounter.
• Students must sketch their ideas. Drawing their ideas helps students pull their thinking out of linear, two-dimensional modes, enabling them to see multiple possibilities for their essays.
• Students must seek an umbrella idea, under which their ideas can stand. To get to this umbrella idea, they need not only to analyze but to synthesize: they need to bring disparate ideas together, to see if they fit.
• They further need to create this synthesis by playing with language, creating an umbrella sentence that can embrace their ideas. This requires that students write and revise their thesis sentence several times as they write their paper. It also requires that students have a basic understanding of the principles of style, so that they can understand how to place their ideas in appropriate clauses, create the proper emphasis, and so on.

Sara Biggs Chaney: Evolving the Thesis by Unpacking the Assumptions & Making Counter-Claims

Professor Chaney's method asks students to arrive at a thesis by examining their assumptions. She begins her instruction by introducing the student to the enthymeme. Like the syllogism (All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal), the enthymeme has three parts: the major premise, the minor premise, and the conclusion. The difference is that in the case of the syllogism the major premise is based on fact (All men are mortal), while in the enthymeme it's based on a commonly held belief (cheating is unethical, smoking around children is a danger to their health, etc.). As Professor Chaney notes, in many cases the enthymeme is presented with the major premise left unstated: She smokes around her daughter; she endangers her daughter's health. Professor Chaney illustrates the importance in finding the "missing" major premise, arguing that unpacking an argument's unstated assumptions can help students to better analyze the texts they're writing about, and to create better texts of their own.

The key question to ask is: What must be true about the world in order for this statement to be true? Students are asked to put forth all hidden assumptions, large and small. This forces the students to dig beneath the surface of the text, to explore the structure and the nuance of the argument. In the process, ideas for a thesis will present themselves.

Once the students have drafted a thesis, Professor Chaney has a strategy (borrowed from David Rossenwasser and Jill Stephen's Writing Analytically) for evolving the thesis by putting forward counter-claims. She has found Rossenwasser and Stephen's types of weak thesis statements—"Procrustes' Bed" and "The Laundry List"—useful in diagnosing logic problems in student writing. Students tend either to force a diversity of evidence to fit an overly rigid claim, or to present their claim in the form of a list, with few connections between the points. To evolve the thesis, Professor Chaney requires students to begin with their basic claim and then to methodically increase the complexity of that claim through the introduction of complicating evidence. This new evidence forces students to redefine their initial claims and to determine how the counter-claim might or might not be accommodated by their thesis.

For instance, a student may have written the following thesis: "Reported cases of autism in children have increased by almost 200% in the last twenty years because autism has been redefined to include less severe forms of the disorder." Professor Chaney presents them with this complicating evidence: "Some research also suggests that autism may be linked to mercury exposure in childhood vaccines." Students may weigh the evidence to see which has more merit; they might expand their thesis to point to two reasons for rising autism; they might acknowledge the truth in both statements but want to subordinate one argument to the other; they might point out a causal relationship between the two sentences (i.e., has the frequent levels of mercury exposures led to a new definition of autism in the DSM-IV, which in turn has increased the numbers of reported cases of autism?). Using any of these methods, students will have improved their thesis sentences.

Tom Cormen: Debunking (and Re-Debunking) the Thesis

Professor Cormen also recognizes that students are quick to "rush to thesis," and so he created an exercise to show students how additional information (research) can flesh out a thesis sentence. Professor Cormen presents students with a short poem, "Baseball's Sad Lexicon," written in 1908 by Franklin P. Adams, for the New York  Globe . The poem laments how often it seemed that the Chicago Cubs' infield, with Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance, turned double plays to stifle potential rallies by the New York Giants:

These are the saddest of possible words,  Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance.  Trio of Bear Cubs, fleeter than birds,  Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance.  Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,  Making a Giant hit into a double,  Words that are weighty with nothing but trouble,  Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance.

Professor Cormen points out to his students that Tinker, Evers, and Chance are all in the Baseball Hall of Fame. They must have formed one of the greatest double-play combinations ever. Or did they? To debunk the myth of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance, Professor Cormen gives his students another essay, written in 1954 by Warren Brown, called "Don't Believe Everything You Read." This essay challenges the Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance mystique by doing a bit of investigating uncovering that, at the height of their careers (1906 - 1909), the Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance combination turned only 29 double plays. By comparison, a second baseman with the Detroit Tigers participated in 150 double plays in 1950 alone, and a shortstop with the Cleveland Indians figured in 134 double plays in 1944. By demonstrating that players a few decades later were turning many times the double plays in one season that Tinker, Evers, and Chance were turning in four seasons, clearly the writer of this essay has debunked the legend of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance.

Or has he? Professor Cormen asks students to consider the differences between baseball in 1908 and 1950. First, he asks them to consider the conditions of baseball fields in 1908: the fields were pocked and rocky, far from the groomed surfaces that we see today or were the norm by 1950. Second, he asks them to consider the gloves: not the cestas we see on players' hands today, or even the webbed gloves that players wore by the 1940s, but more like the winter gloves that we wear today, without the insulation. Finally, he asks students to consider the ball: it was neither perfectly round (balls were not as hard before the 1920s, and when a batted ball went into the stands, it was thrown back onto the field and continued to be used) nor perfectly white (before the spitball was outlawed in 1920, balls were stained brown with tobacco juice, making them hard to see). Tinker, Evers and Chance were playing on a field like a parking lot, with gloves like a motorman's mitt, and with a ball that more resembled a mini-football than what we think of as today's baseballs. How could anyone expect them to turn 150 double plays per year? Clearly, with this additional evidence, students are moved to compose a more complex thesis.

The moral of the story: as students engage in research, they will encounter evidence that will debunk (or at least challenge) their ideas. Encourage this research, and support students as they work toward better thesis sentences.

Thesis: Definition and Examples in Composition

Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

A thesis ( THEE-ses ) is the main (or controlling) idea of an essay , report , speech , or research paper , sometimes written as a single declarative sentence known as a thesis statement . A thesis may be implied rather than stated directly. Plural: theses . It's also known as a thesis statement, thesis sentence, controlling idea.

In the classical rhetorical exercises known as the  progymnasmata , the  thesis is an exercise that requires a student to argue a case for one side or the other.

Etymology From the Greek, "to put"

Examples and Observations (Definition #1)

• "My thesis is simple: in the next century mankind must harness the nuclear genie if our energy needs are to be met and our security preserved." (John B. Ritch, "Nuclear Green," Prospect Magazine , March 1999)
• "We watch baseball: it's what we have always imagined life should be like. We play softball. It's sloppy--the way life really is." (from the introduction to Watching Baseball, Playing Softball)
• "Through Mansfield's skillful handling of point of view, characterization, and plot development, Miss Brill comes across as a convincing character who evokes our sympathy." (thesis statement in Miss Brill's Fragile Fantasy )
• "Suppose there were no critics to tell us how to react to a picture, a play, or a new composition of music. Suppose we wandered innocent as the dawn into an art exhibition of unsigned paintings. By what standards, by what values would we decide whether they were good or bad, talented or untalented, success or failures? How can we ever know that what we think is right?" (Marya Mannes, "How Do You Know It's Good?")
• "I think people are disturbed by the discovery that no longer is a small town autonomous--it is a creature of the state and of the Federal Government. We have accepted money for our schools, our libraries, our hospitals, our winter roads. Now we face the inevitable consequence: the benefactor wants to call the turns." (E.B. White, "Letter from the East")
• "It is possible to stop most drug addiction in the United States within a very short time. Simply make all drugs available and sell them at cost." (Gore Vidal, "Drugs")
• The Two Parts of an Effective Thesis "An effective thesis is generally composed of two parts: a topic and the writer's attitude or opinion about or reaction to that topic." (William J. Kelly, Strategy and Structure . Allyn and Bacon, 1996)
• Drafting and Revising a Thesis "It's a good idea to formulate a thesis early in the writing process , perhaps by jotting it on scratch paper, by putting it at the head of a rough outline , or by attempting to write an introductory paragraph that includes the thesis. Your tentative thesis will probably be less graceful than the thesis you include in the final version of your essay. Here, for example, is one student's early effort: Although they both play percussion instruments, drummers and percussionists are very different. The thesis that appeared in the final draft of the student's paper was more polished: Two types of musicians play percussion instruments--drummers and percussionists--and they are as different as Quiet Riot and the New York Philharmonic. Don't worry too soon about the exact wording of your thesis, however, because your main point may change as you refine your ideas." (Diana Hacker, The Bedford Handbook , 6th ed. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002)
• A Good Thesis - "A good thesis tells the audience exactly what you want them to know, understand, and remember when your speech is done. Write it as a simple, declarative sentence (or two) that restates the speech purpose and states the main points that support the purpose. Although you may formulate a thesis statement early in the speech development process, you may revise and reword it as you research your topic.' (Sherwyn P. Morreale, Brian H. Spitzberg, and J. Kevin Barge, Human Communication: Motivation, Knowledge, and Skills , 2nd ed. Thomson Higher Education, 2007) - "An effective thesis statement singles out some aspect of a subject for attention and clearly defines your approach to it." (David Blakesley and Jeffrey L. Hoogeveen, Writing: A Manual for the Digital Age . Wadsworth, 2011)

Examples and Observations (Definition #2)

" Thesis . This advanced exercise [one of the progymnasmata] asks the student to write an answer to a 'general question' ( quaestio infina )--that is, a question not involving individuals. . . . Quintilian . . . notes that a general question can be made into a persuasive subject if names are added (II.4.25). That is, a Thesis would pose a general question such as 'Should a man marry?' or 'Should one fortify a city?' (A Special Question on the other hand would be 'Should Marcus marry Livia?' or 'Should Athens spend money to build a defensive wall?')" (James J. Murphy, A Short History of Writing Instruction: From Ancient Greece to Modern America , 2nd ed. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001)

• How to Write a Good Thesis Statement
• Definition and Examples of Analysis in Composition
• What an Essay Is and How to Write One
• Definition and Examples of Body Paragraphs in Composition
• An Introduction to Academic Writing
• How to Write a Solid Thesis Statement
• The Ultimate Guide to the 5-Paragraph Essay
• Revising a Paper
• The Introductory Paragraph: Start Your Paper Off Right
• Understanding Organization in Composition and Speech
• What Is a Written Summary?
• An Essay Revision Checklist
• Focusing in Composition
• Topic In Composition and Speech
• Conciseness for Better Composition

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Expository Writing for Elementary School Children

When your children come home from school with an expository writing assignment, your first thought as a parent might be, "Huh?" Expository writing is the moniker given to the kinds of writing assignments that simply used to be known as a report. And as such, expository writing, or writing reports, is simultaneously probably the most straightforward and the most challenging kind of assignments that kids will get in elementary school.

Understanding Expository Writing

The ability to write in an expository manner is a component of many careers, and as such, it's an important skill for your child to master.

Expository writing is used to describe, explain, define, or otherwise inform a reader about a specific subject. It’s devoid of opinion or unnecessary descriptive language.

Young students are typically taught to prepare expository writing by following a five-step model. For children just learning to organize their thoughts and write them down, the steps may consist of sentences. Older children may use paragraphs.

The first sentence or paragraph of an expository writing assignment will convey the main idea of the piece. If it's a paragraph, it should include a topic sentence that conveys the thesis clearly, without taking a position or resorting to opinion. The following three sentences or paragraphs will contain supporting details to buttress the main idea. The fifth sentence or paragraph will provide a summary of the piece, or conclusion, often restating the thesis or main idea.

Why It's a Challenge for Students

Unlike other writing assignments that children may get in school, which are designed to inspire them to use words and grammar in a proper fashion, the expository writing assignment has an overarching goal in addition to correct grammar and spelling.

Expository writing provides a challenge to the student because they must be able to organize their thoughts, follow a plan, and in higher grades, conduct research to support their thesis. Fulfilling these kinds of goals, in addition to spelling and using grammar correctly, asks children to think on multiple levels.

In particular, children who may be adept at grammar and spelling may struggle with conveying their thoughts in an organized fashion.

Younger children can be introduced to expository writing simply by having them write journalistically without forming opinions. The teacher might bring in a box of unfamiliar objects and ask students to describe them in writing. Descriptive writing is a great way to start students writing in a neutral tone. Children could compare opposites in writing , describing a summer day's activities versus a winter day's.

For older children, the time-honored book report is a classic exercise in expository writing. Students choose a book and craft a thesis about or a position on it. A topic sentence might identify what kind of book it is, or the kinds of readers for whom the book may be of interest and why. Subsequent sentences back up this assertion.

One good way to help older kids in their use of expository writing is to remind them to address the who, what, when, where, and why of the topic they've chosen. All five components may not always apply, but remembering to think about each of these aspects can help students write a compelling report.

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Definition of thesis

Did you know.

In high school, college, or graduate school, students often have to write a thesis on a topic in their major field of study. In many fields, a final thesis is the biggest challenge involved in getting a master's degree, and the same is true for students studying for a Ph.D. (a Ph.D. thesis is often called a dissertation ). But a thesis may also be an idea; so in the course of the paper the student may put forth several theses (notice the plural form) and attempt to prove them.

Examples of thesis in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thesis.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

in sense 3, Middle English, lowering of the voice, from Late Latin & Greek; Late Latin, from Greek, downbeat, more important part of a foot, literally, act of laying down; in other senses, Latin, from Greek, literally, act of laying down, from tithenai to put, lay down — more at do

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3a(1)

Dictionary Entries Near thesis

the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children

thesis novel

Cite this Entry

“Thesis.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thesis. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of thesis, more from merriam-webster on thesis.

Nglish: Translation of thesis for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of thesis for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about thesis

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