A thesis statement for an argumentative essay is found in the first paragraph and consists of the main point followed by several supporting points.
I’m Tutor Phil, and in this tutorial, I’ll guide you through writing a thesis statement for your essay – step by step.
Thesis vs Thesis Statement
First, I should explain the difference between a Thesis and a Thesis Statement. Let me give my simple definitions.
A Thesis is your main point. It can usually be expressed in one sentence.
Example of a Thesis:
“College life is hard.”
A really complex main point can sometimes take up more than a sentence. But this only happens in advanced papers where the ideas are really complex.
A Thesis Statement is a complete statement of your main point AND your supporting points put together into one paragraph.
It’s easy to remember it this way:
Thesis Statement = Thesis + Statement of evidence
Here is an example of a Thesis Statement:
“College life is hard. Homework is difficult, professors are strict, and cafeteria food is bad.”
As you’ll see in a moment, your thesis statement can have more than just two sentences. But this is an example of a very brief but clear and complete thesis statement.
A long, complex paper can have a thesis statement that takes up two or more paragraphs. But again, don’t worry about it unless you are writing a PhD dissertation or some other advanced paper.
Now that we’re done with definitions, let’s dive into our step-by-step process. I’ll teach you the steps, and then I’ll give you additional examples.
Writing a thesis statement is a 3-step process.
Step 1. Decide on your main point and write it down.
In this first step, you need to simply state what it is that you are trying to say in your essay. In other words, you must state your main point.
That’s how you start your thesis statement – with the thesis.
Your thesis (main point) consists of these parts:
Subject + Verb (+ Object)
The Subject is the thing, person, or idea that you are discussing in your essay. It’s what or whom your essay is about.
The Verb explains what you are trying to say about your Subject in a nutshell. Very often one word explains it all.
Example:
“College life stinks.”
I don’t think an explanation is necessary. The subject is clear – it’s college life. What about it? It stinks – that’s the verb.
The Object is optional but is often present.
Example:
“I love college life.”
Here, “I” is the subject, “love” is the verb, and “college life” is the object.
Your task is to write a statement in the Subject + Verb (+Object) format.
Thesis Example – About Exercise
Let’s say that you need to write an essay about exercise or fitness. In Step 1, you simply need to decide on what position you take about exercise.
So, just make a simple statement in this format:
Exercise + Verb (+ Object)
Example:
"Exercise can be positively addictive."
Great!
This thesis (main point) tells me exactly what this essay is about and what you want to say about it.
And guess what – we’re done with Step 1. Now we need some supporting ideas, and so it’s time for Step 2.
Step 2. Come up with three supporting ideas.
You only need three good supporting ideas to show that your main point is true or valid. This is why I teach the Power of Three.
You see, when it comes to numbers, the human brain thinks like this: “One, two, three, many…” 🙂
Any more than three, and the human mind starts to forget what this is all about.
This makes three the ideal number of supporting ideas. It is very easy to deal with and helps you structure a great thesis statement and a well-written essay.
Let’s first state our complete thesis, given that we know we will have three supporting points:
“Exercise can be positively addictive because of three processes.“
And now our job is to come up with those three supporting points. One thing to keep in mind is that the supporting points must be different from one another.
Let’s take a stab at it:
First, I’m thinking that exercise stimulates the release of endorphins which are addictive.
Second, exercise is known to produce muscle tone which is an addictive sensation.
Third… Hmm… what now?
Yes, you’ll find that the first two points are usually easy to find. But the third one takes a little more time and brain power. But we can do it:
Third, regular exercise creates a biological rhythm that leads to ritualized behavior.
Note that all three of these supporting points are very different from one another.
- Endorphins have to do with endocrinology and hormones.
- Muscle tone is a physical sensation.
- And ritualized behavior is about behavior, which is different from both hormones and physical sensation.
A common mistake is to come up with supporting points that are too similar to one another. The problem with this is that when you start writing the body of the essay, you can easily get stuck.
So, make sure to keep your supporting points distinct enough from one another.
Guess what – we’re done with Step 2!
Now we have everything we need to do the next step where we write out the entire thesis statement as a complete paragraph.
Step 3. Write your main point and the supporting ideas into one paragraph.
We wrote our thesis and supporting points very succinctly. In other words, we just wrote down the bare bones of what we wanted to say.
Now, as we write out the complete thesis statement, we will expand slightly on our ideas. This way we can write a nice, juicy paragraph that is easy to read. We also tell the reader in some detail what to expect in the body of the essay.
Based on our thesis and supporting points, here is our complete thesis statement.
Complete Thesis Statement Example
“Exercise can be positively addictive because of three processes. First, some forms of exercise stimulate the release of endorphins which are addictive. Second, exercise can give the person a feeling of muscle tone which, when exercising discontinues, fades and makes the person crave exercise to regain it. Finally, exercising regularly creates a new rhythm within the person’s physiology that makes the person wake up at the same time and just head straight to the gym without thinking about it.”
And as soon as we finish that last sentence of the thesis statement, we should start a new paragraph and begin supporting the thesis. We should start with the first supporting point – that exercise can produce the addictive endorphins.
How many sections will the body of the essay have? You already know the answer – it’s three: about endorphins, about muscle tone, and about ritualized behavior. See how this works?
Note that your thesis statement is also your outline of the essay. It tells you exactly how many sections you have and what to write in each section.
You can use these three easy steps to write a great thesis statement on any topic.
Now, let’s take a look at additional examples of how to write a thesis statement from scratch.
More Examples of Thesis Statements
Let me walk you through the creation of several more thesis statements. This will help you get a firmer grasp of how to start a thesis statement and how to complete it.
Thesis Statement Example: “City schools vs village schools”
This essay topic came right out of a real-life assignment one subscriber sent me.
I actually created a video based on it, and you can watch it below:
Let’s tackle this topic.
Step 1. Decide on your main point and write it down
When my subscriber sent it to me, she included the main point. Here is the actual sentence she sent me:
“City schools are more advantageous than village schools.”
So, we have Step 1 completed for us here. The author took a stand and wrote a clear, complete sentence that is our thesis.
Step 2 – Come up with three supporting points
We’ll use the Power of Three here. All we need to do is find three ways in which city schools are better than village schools. So let’s think of them one by one.
- First, I’m thinking that city schools would probably have better technology, such as smart boards, the internet, and so on.
- Second, I’m thinking that city schools may have better libraries – for example – why not?
- And finally, city schools may have more teachers.
And we have our structure. We have the thesis. And we have our three ways in which city schools are supposedly better or more advantageous.
And now we have everything we need to do Step 3 and write out the complete thesis statement.
Step 3. Write the complete thesis statement in one paragraph
City schools are more advantageous than village schools, in three ways. City schools have access to more advanced technology, such as the internet and smart boards. They usually boast more extensive libraries. And they often have more teachers who specialize in different subjects.
Note that this is a comparative essay. We are comparing city schools with village schools. How do we structure such an essay?
The easiest way to do it is to keep our three main sections and divide each section into two subsections. Look at this diagram:
We should first discuss city schools and then village schools in each section. We must make sure that we present city schools as better in each section. And the contrast will be clear.
See, when you’re clear about your main and supporting points, everything else becomes a lot easier.
Thesis Statement Example: “Health vs Wealth”
Step 1. Decide on your main point and write it down.
This topic was also sent to me by the same person. And this time she also wrote the actual main point, having completed Step 1:
“Health is more important than wealth.”
This is a complete thesis. So, we are ready to move on to Step 2.
Step 2 – Come up with three supporting points
Again, let’s use the Power of Three and divide this topic into three subtopics. With a little practice, you can start doing it very quickly.
We need three reasons why health is better than wealth. So, let’s think them up.
Reason 1. Health is not as easy to earn as wealth.
Right? Because you can earn money much more easily than regain lost health.
Reason 2. The quality of life does not suffer as much when a person loses money than when he gets sick.
This one is different from Reason 1 because it’s not about earning health or wealth but it is about the quality of life when you lose one of them.
Reason 3. (I’m thinking, I’m thinking…)
Again, you will find that it’s always harder to come up with the third supporting point than it is with the first two. But you’ll also discover that you can always find it.
I got it!
Reason 3. Good health is much more important for happiness than wealth is.
In other words, it is much easier to be happy when you don’t have a lot of money than when you have health issues. Do you agree?
And this is our structure:
Step 3. Write out the entire thesis statement
Health is more important than wealth for three reasons. First, health is not as easy to earn as wealth. Second, the quality of life does not suffer as much with the loss of wealth than it does with the loss of health. And finally, good health is much more important for happiness than wealth is.
Just like in the previous example, this essay is also comparative. We are contrasting health and wealth in each of the three main sections, as the diagram shows.
Example: “My daily life”
The difference with this topic is that it’s not a complete sentence. So, let’s do Step 1 and turn it into a full main point.
Step 1. Decide on your main point and write it down
Let’s do it:
“My daily life is boring.”
Hey – I’m not insinuating anything here 🙂 Just saying that – hey, a person’s daily life could be quite boring, couldn’t it? But this is how you start a thesis statement.
Step 2. Come up with three supporting points
Let’s use the Power of Three and find three reasons why the author’s life is boring.
To do this, I’m thinking about the different aspects of human life. What are three domains of human activities I can use as categories?
I think I got it:
- At home
- At school
- At work
Great! Can my life be boring in each of these settings? Definitely.
And now let’s turn each of these supporting points into a complete sentence.
- My daily life at home consists of very mundane activities, such as watching TV or taking a nap.
- All I do at the university is attend lectures and study in the library.
- And my work is just a series of repetitive tasks I do every day.
Here is our structure:
And we’re ready to write our thesis statement.
Step 3. Write out the complete thesis paragraph
My daily life is boring. At home it consists of a bunch of very mundane activities, such as watching TV or taking a nap. All I do at the university is attend lectures and study in the library. And my work is just a series of repetitive tasks I do every day.
And so we have ourselves a nice little introductory paragraph, which is a thesis statement. And was that quick or what!
A Note on Introductions
You can start your essay by getting straight to the point, just like you learned here.
You also have an option of adding a sentence or two that introduce your topic. You can learn how to do this in this article I wrote.
Both ways are fine.
Hope this was helpful. Now go ahead and write your own great thesis statement!
Tutor Phil
Hi Phil,
This was an informative post with elaborate example. I wish I would utilize this technique in my essays. However i have one question regarding it. Won’t it get too repetitive ( stating thesis first and then elaborating the same points) ?
Hi, Sumant.
I’m glad you liked the post.
And you’re asking a great question, because it indeed may seem repetitious to state a bunch of points and then to elaborate on them. Here’s a good way to think about it.
Writing your thesis statement like this accomplishes at least three things:
1. It helps you the writer to see what exactly your essay will look like in the end. This helps you keep focused and write only the relevant material in each section. It kind of functions like an outline.
2. It helps your reader understand your essay because by the time he is finished reading the opening paragraph, he has “allotted space in his brain,” so to speak, for your argument. And then all you have to do is fill in that space with relevant material – and your reader can’t help but be convinced.
3. When a college professor or instructor reads an essay written this way, it’s like a breath of fresh air to him. You see, most of the time, students don’t write like this. And this is not because they don’t want to be repetitious. It is usually because they can’t quite see the structure of their own argument. When you do write out a full thesis statement the way I teach you to, it becomes clear to the instructor that you’ve actually thought about it instead of just winging it last minute before the hour the paper is due.
Also, this is really a classic way to write – it goes back to Aristotle. And he was one smart guy.
And, trust me, I’m against being repetitive in expository essays probably more than anyone else (check out this post: How to Improve Your Sentences).
So, I hope you are convinced. If not, let me know – I love a challenge. And stop by again.
Cheers…
Hi Phil!
I see your point about repetative sentences in the thesis section. It is crucial to write an impressive thesis statement at the beginning to get the attention of the readers. Moreover you explain it in a very clear way.
I’m glad you agree.
Next time, you could post just a thesis statement here for us to look at before you even write the rest of the essay. We’ll work on it, and then you’ll try to see if it makes your job of writing the rest of the essay easier.
Plz give a thesis statement on Democracy
Hello Nadir,
I just created a video to answer your question. You can watch it here:
https://www.tutorphil.com/blog/qa-how-do-i-write-a-thesis-on-democracy/
Take care…
TP
Hello,
just to let you know that your works are really helpful.
Thank you, Moji.
thanx for ur advice…i understood what point u tried to illustrate.. ..i m enclosing a different essay now in which the upront example is just to begin an essay in a story mode and then drive the point….pls check this out and let me know ur suggestions on it…..
Is India fit for democracy?
Having walked all way through the bridge, I saw an old man sitting at the end and babbling with himself. I confronted him and asked,” Baba why are you sitting here?” He looked at me with his clumsy eyes and perplexed expression and said,” I am wondering what will I say when the National Population Statisticians will ask me my ‘caste’, I never thought myself to be something other than an Indian”.
I was awestricken by his answer and realized how ill equipped our democracy was. Our country has been developing rapidly economically but it still lags behind in the Social developments. When China started its economic reforms, India was a larger democracy. But now we are far behind the Chinese in almost every aspect of development. Despite china being the most populated country in the world, it has soared to the second fastest growing economy in the world behind Japan just on the model of export oriented growth. It has yet to tap its huge potential in the domestic market which is estimated to increase its GDP by a quarter percent of the present growth.
In the paradigm of recent times, we generally come across different facets of our country with every passing hour. From having the first mover advantage to being a laggard, we have redefined our democracy in a more subtle way.
Now the thing to ponder is what is that they have done right and we have not? Despite being a communist ruled country till date, their growth and advancement has been phenomenal. Most importantly I would say the lack of conviction on the part of the politicians have led to the downfall of India. The division on the basis of Cast, Creed and Sex has inherently made this country a hollow dump of false hopes and promises. The most devastating and the prominent cause of this downfall of democracy has been corruption which is so widely spread across the sectors in India. From the Ministers to the Peons, everybody has in some way or the other shown the signs of corruption which has stalled the progress of this nation. Now even the people of the country have lost faith in its leaders which can be accounted by low turnover of votes during the Elections. Nobody wants to get into Politics thinking it to be a manhole in which one who falls gets corrupted. The tonnes of Food Grains that are being left to rot in the stores depict the condition of democracy in India
A Communist or Military dominance would have augured well for the country seeing the present State of Affairs. The richer are becoming more rich and the Poorer and getting more poor. Is this the justice of a democracy? My view says it’s certainly not. It’s a strangulation of the core basis of democracy which is equality of rights and freedom. The government should have certain consideration towards the lower section of the society to make this country a successful democracy. Just running the various incentive schemes won’t change the situation unless they are monitored and guided well. The infrastructure planning and execution should be on par with the proposal of the Planning Commission for a rapid growth. A change in the attitude and a more concrete way of taking responsibility and handling issues can take this country to a higher level of democracy otherwise it will soon turn into a curse.
Dear Phil,
May I assess this essay of Tusheet. First of all let me make it clear that the story type of debating essays are certainly interesting. I feel that we can influence the reader better through this type than the fact and figure method which is quite traditional. Don’t you agree, Phil?
Now let me suggest the obvious. As Phil advised later in this entry, (Pl. see below.) give some points of the other side of argument. So that you should not sound quite biased. It is easy to find fault with a system. But it is difficult to provide a solution. Rules are quite strict in China unlike India, where we have democracy. It will be like comparing the actions of US and India as far as attacking a foreign country is concerned. India is not US to launch an attack on Pakistan as did in case of Afghanistan to set right the terrorists there.
Tutor Phil, Thanks a million for your answer to my question. Now I would like to know how to write argumentative or debate type of essays effectively. I have tried out a method practically in classes which is quite effective. I write the topic on the board and ask the students to give me some points FOR and AGAINST the topic. Once I get about five points on both sides, I ask the students to write their essays.
I have question here. While writing an essay, is it necessary to to stick to one oint only or we can have an opposite!!
Dear Sanjay,
Sorry about the belated reply – blame it on the efforts towards my new book that’s coming out soon.
With regards to your method – it’s a great method. It makes your students THINK, which is a key human activity. Great job there.
And as for your question – it’s a great question. I’ll give you my honest answer, and please don’t feel like I’m lecturing you. 🙂 I’m simply telling it as it is.
The answer is that you may write either a completely one-sided argument, or a perfectly balanced argument. There is also a third kind of an argument which I call one-sided with a small objection. You may use one of these three according to your needs and your conscience.
1. If one of your students writes that chocolate ice-cream is the best in the world and the rest of the flavors are junk, and gives you a very well-written argument to support that thought, will you downgrade him just because you like vanilla? It may seem that the student is inconsiderate of the opinions of others. But if he truly believes that, and hates vanilla, how can he write that vanilla is good as well? In short, there is nothing wrong with a one-sided argument. Write it, but remember that a good chunk of your audience may disagree.
2. If you write a very balanced perspective, it is best to sway a little towards one side or the other, so that it appears that you have an opinion.
3. The one method that most readers will appreciate is to write a one-sided argument with a little counterargument. It’s like saying: I love almost everything about a Toyota. It’s fast, reliable, and inexpensive. Unfortunately, it’s not good-looking enough, but that’s nothing in view of all the benefits.
This way, your argument is strongly one-sided. But your reader also gets a sense that you’re not biased.
Hope this helps,
Phil
what is a good thesis statement for my first college essay that I’m writing in class. I also don’t know how to start it
Nayeli,
I would advise to watch the videos on this website if you need to learn how to get started.
Writing a good thesis statement is your first step. But it also consists of several steps. So, the best first step is to watch the videos on my blog – they all contain advice on how to get started.
Best…
TP
How would I write a thesis for a year 8 essay??
What is year 8 essay? Year 8 of grade school?
Hi! Phil
can you help me to make a thesis statement about in corruption 🙂 Thank you
Sure,
Try to write one yourself according to the instructions here, and I’ll look at it.
TP
I really like the idea of your explainations thanks
You’re welcome!
TP
How to start an thesis statement about corruption.
Very nice and informative blog.
Thank you!
Hello I’m still a student and I am planning my thesis ahead of time so that it won’t be too hard for me. Can you check if my thesis statement is good alread? By the way I love how you elaborated well those steps I hope I am making my work right.
*Fear and hesitation hinders the students to ask for help or clarification from their teachers regarding on their academics for three reasons. Some find it difficult to construct/formulate questions. Teacher’s appeal is very intimidating that made the student feel uncomfortable. At the same time, students are conscious about their peers and themselves looking dumb.