A thesis plays an important role in your academic paper because it serves as its basis. You should take only a few simple steps to make a strong statement and submit a perfect piece of writing to instructors.

Your 10-step guide on writing a good thesis

A strong thesis is a foundation of any successful academic paper. It’s a certain claim that controls a content direction. If your paper lacks it, your readers will be unconvinced and confused. A thesis statement captures readers’ attention, establishes your stance, and introduces the purpose of your paper. There are only several effective steps that you should take to write it.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis is a single sentence that presents your major argument to readers at the end of an introductory paragraph. The rest of your paper should gather and organize strong evidence to persuade others of your logic. It serves certain purposes in academic papers, including:

• Telling targeted readers how you interpret the importance of your chosen subject matter;
• Directly answering assignment questions;
• Serving as a road map for your paper or suggesting what to expect from its content;
• Making a claim that readers may dispute.

Steps to write a good thesis

To make stating a thesis an easy task for you, take these steps:

• Choose a good idea that fits your assignment;
• Practice brainstorming;
• Conduct your research;
• Determine your interests;
• Make a strong claim;
• Give a blueprint of your paper to readers;
• Offer convincing evidence;
• Revise your claim;
• Take a break;
• Avoid weak statements.

Read assignment prompts and pick a suitable idea

First, you need to choose a good idea that fits your assignment prompts. Read them attentively to clearly understand all the requirements that you must meet. Find out more about expected outcomes to get useful clues as to:

• What question your thesis statement should answer;
• What kind of research you need to conduct;
• What your paper should accomplish.

If you are unsure if your chosen idea fits your assignment, talk to teachers and ask them for clarifications.

Practice brainstorming

Once you choose a suitable subject for your paper, start brainstorming, which is all about writing down everything you know about it without paying attention to mistakes or organization. This strategy can help you make useful connections and determine existing gaps. There are different brainstorming techniques, such as:

• Mapping or clustering (make a map by jotting down your ideas and linking them visually based on similar traits to see connections clearly);
• Freewriting (give yourself certain time limits and write within them everything that comes to your mind without worrying about punctuation or grammar to start making interesting connections between your ideas).

Conduct your research

Conduct your preliminary research about the chosen topic. Look for reliable and updated sources of information and pay attention to unfamiliar areas. You can easily find many credible sources for your academic writing in articles, scholarly books, etc. Use online databases or go to libraries to find them.

When using the Internet, avoid such sources of information as personal blogs and other non-academic sites. Look at authors’ credentials because they offer a great way to tell whether sources are reliable. Go to https://get-thesis.com/ to get some useful guidance. Visit non-academic websites to learn basic information about your chosen subject or find links to credible sources.

Determine your interests

A good thesis has a number of important characteristics, and being interesting is one of them. For example, if you choose a boring subject, your readers won’t be interested in it. Think about the things you genuinely like and want to discover as this simple strategy can help you write a more engaging academic paper for your readers.

Even if you find a subject that interests you, you may have hard times when looking for useful information about it. If your research doesn’t result in anything valuable or useful, look for other topic ideas.

Make a strong claim

State a topic of your piece of writing and give a personal judgment about it. An introductory paragraph should serve as a preview of the rest of your paper. Make sure that a thesis tells readers what your major argument is and why it really matters. They should be able to comprehend your stance by reading a thesis statement.

Give a blueprint of your paper to readers

One of the basic goals of a thesis is to tell other people where your paper will take them. They should get a clear idea of the following:

• Your major argument;
• Where your paper will start;
• Your conclusions at the end.

Offer convincing evidence

Show your targeted readers that you’re making your claim based on strong facts, not only on your personal emotions or opinions. A thesis should prove that your in-depth research and that your piece of writing is a fair accounting of a given subject. For instance, you can either mention the sub-points that you’ll discuss in your paper or give a broad example of evidence.

Take a break

Revise the claim you want to make to accommodate the evidence that doesn’t fit well. Don’t be afraid to change your thesis statement as you get further into your written assignment. When you find new evidence, your ideas may change so that it’s necessary to adjust your thesis accordingly.

Revise your claim

Take a break from your thesis and revise it later. Once you finish the entire writing process, take some time away from it. Review your work in a few days to look at your paper with fresh eyes. This effective strategy will let you do the following:

• Revise a thesis with clarity;
• Determine whether it represents your claim accurately;
• See if your major argument really works.

There are certain things that you should consider when revising your claim. Make sure that your thesis is reflected in concluding ideas and the rest of your paper supports it. Avoid discussing any topics that don’t fit your claim because staying on topic is crucial for the clarity of your paper.

Avoid weak thesis statements

Don’t just state different facts because your thesis is an arguable idea. It means that other people can potentially argue opposing views. Only this kind of statement results in an interesting and strong piece of writing.

Find a clear line between too narrow and too broad ideas. For many students, writing a strong thesis is a tricky and confusing task. It’s necessary to provide readers with enough background data to guide them without oversharing or giving too many facts in an opening paragraph of your paper.

If your thesis statement is too broad, it will make all of your claims vague, ambiguous, and overreaching. Your paper will attempt to address too many subjects without giving a clear focus. On the other hand, if your thesis is too narrow, it will be single-minded and specific to use for writing a winning and interesting academic paper.

To end up with a strong thesis and high grades, you also need to avoid generalizing. This technique can be dangerous for your writing because it attempts to sum up the entire content of a paper in a single lump sum idea while leaving supporting details without any attention. A generalized thesis statement is weak also because it makes a claim that isn’t supported by any strong evidence. If you follow all the above-mentioned guidelines, you’ll write a strong thesis and impress instructors with the claim you make.

BIO

My name is John Obstander, I am a freelance writer who is fond of practical psychology and motivation tricks. I love finding amazing personality and career boosters! Currently working with  https://get-thesis.com/ to ensure people get help with making their final papers perfect.