every college writing assignment will require a thesis statement

Developing a Thesis Statement

Many papers you write require developing a thesis statement. In this section you’ll learn what a thesis statement is and how to write one.

Keep in mind that not all papers require thesis statements . If in doubt, please consult your instructor for assistance.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement . . .

• Makes an argumentative assertion about a topic; it states the conclusions that you have reached about your topic.
• Makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of your paper.
• Is focused and specific enough to be “proven” within the boundaries of your paper.
• Is generally located near the end of the introduction ; sometimes, in a long paper, the thesis will be expressed in several sentences or in an entire paragraph.
• Identifies the relationships between the pieces of evidence that you are using to support your argument.

Not all papers require thesis statements! Ask your instructor if you’re in doubt whether you need one.

Identify a topic

Your topic is the subject about which you will write. Your assignment may suggest several ways of looking at a topic; or it may name a fairly general concept that you will explore or analyze in your paper.

Consider what your assignment asks you to do

Inform yourself about your topic, focus on one aspect of your topic, ask yourself whether your topic is worthy of your efforts, generate a topic from an assignment.

Below are some possible topics based on sample assignments.

Sample assignment 1

Analyze Spain’s neutrality in World War II.

Identified topic

Franco’s role in the diplomatic relationships between the Allies and the Axis

This topic avoids generalities such as “Spain” and “World War II,” addressing instead on Franco’s role (a specific aspect of “Spain”) and the diplomatic relations between the Allies and Axis (a specific aspect of World War II).

Sample assignment 2

Analyze one of Homer’s epic similes in the Iliad.

The relationship between the portrayal of warfare and the epic simile about Simoisius at 4.547-64.

This topic focuses on a single simile and relates it to a single aspect of the Iliad ( warfare being a major theme in that work).

Developing a Thesis Statement–Additional information

Your assignment may suggest several ways of looking at a topic, or it may name a fairly general concept that you will explore or analyze in your paper. You’ll want to read your assignment carefully, looking for key terms that you can use to focus your topic.

Sample assignment: Analyze Spain’s neutrality in World War II Key terms: analyze, Spain’s neutrality, World War II

After you’ve identified the key words in your topic, the next step is to read about them in several sources, or generate as much information as possible through an analysis of your topic. Obviously, the more material or knowledge you have, the more possibilities will be available for a strong argument. For the sample assignment above, you’ll want to look at books and articles on World War II in general, and Spain’s neutrality in particular.

As you consider your options, you must decide to focus on one aspect of your topic. This means that you cannot include everything you’ve learned about your topic, nor should you go off in several directions. If you end up covering too many different aspects of a topic, your paper will sprawl and be unconvincing in its argument, and it most likely will not fulfull the assignment requirements.

For the sample assignment above, both Spain’s neutrality and World War II are topics far too broad to explore in a paper. You may instead decide to focus on Franco’s role in the diplomatic relationships between the Allies and the Axis , which narrows down what aspects of Spain’s neutrality and World War II you want to discuss, as well as establishes a specific link between those two aspects.

Before you go too far, however, ask yourself whether your topic is worthy of your efforts. Try to avoid topics that already have too much written about them (i.e., “eating disorders and body image among adolescent women”) or that simply are not important (i.e. “why I like ice cream”). These topics may lead to a thesis that is either dry fact or a weird claim that cannot be supported. A good thesis falls somewhere between the two extremes. To arrive at this point, ask yourself what is new, interesting, contestable, or controversial about your topic.

As you work on your thesis, remember to keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times . Sometimes your thesis needs to evolve as you develop new insights, find new evidence, or take a different approach to your topic.

Derive a main point from topic

Once you have a topic, you will have to decide what the main point of your paper will be. This point, the “controlling idea,” becomes the core of your argument (thesis statement) and it is the unifying idea to which you will relate all your sub-theses. You can then turn this “controlling idea” into a purpose statement about what you intend to do in your paper.

Look for patterns in your evidence

Compose a purpose statement.

Consult the examples below for suggestions on how to look for patterns in your evidence and construct a purpose statement.

• Franco first tried to negotiate with the Axis
• Franco turned to the Allies when he couldn’t get some concessions that he wanted from the Axis

Possible conclusion:

Spain’s neutrality in WWII occurred for an entirely personal reason: Franco’s desire to preserve his own (and Spain’s) power.

Purpose statement

This paper will analyze Franco’s diplomacy during World War II to see how it contributed to Spain’s neutrality.

• The simile compares Simoisius to a tree, which is a peaceful, natural image.
• The tree in the simile is chopped down to make wheels for a chariot, which is an object used in warfare.

At first, the simile seems to take the reader away from the world of warfare, but we end up back in that world by the end.

This paper will analyze the way the simile about Simoisius at 4.547-64 moves in and out of the world of warfare.

Derive purpose statement from topic

To find out what your “controlling idea” is, you have to examine and evaluate your evidence . As you consider your evidence, you may notice patterns emerging, data repeated in more than one source, or facts that favor one view more than another. These patterns or data may then lead you to some conclusions about your topic and suggest that you can successfully argue for one idea better than another.

For instance, you might find out that Franco first tried to negotiate with the Axis, but when he couldn’t get some concessions that he wanted from them, he turned to the Allies. As you read more about Franco’s decisions, you may conclude that Spain’s neutrality in WWII occurred for an entirely personal reason: his desire to preserve his own (and Spain’s) power. Based on this conclusion, you can then write a trial thesis statement to help you decide what material belongs in your paper.

Sometimes you won’t be able to find a focus or identify your “spin” or specific argument immediately. Like some writers, you might begin with a purpose statement just to get yourself going. A purpose statement is one or more sentences that announce your topic and indicate the structure of the paper but do not state the conclusions you have drawn . Thus, you might begin with something like this:

• This paper will look at modern language to see if it reflects male dominance or female oppression.
• I plan to analyze anger and derision in offensive language to see if they represent a challenge of society’s authority.

At some point, you can turn a purpose statement into a thesis statement. As you think and write about your topic, you can restrict, clarify, and refine your argument, crafting your thesis statement to reflect your thinking.

As you work on your thesis, remember to keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Sometimes your thesis needs to evolve as you develop new insights, find new evidence, or take a different approach to your topic.

Compose a draft thesis statement

If you are writing a paper that will have an argumentative thesis and are having trouble getting started, the techniques in the table below may help you develop a temporary or “working” thesis statement.

Begin with a purpose statement that you will later turn into a thesis statement.

Assignment: Discuss the history of the Reform Party and explain its influence on the 1990 presidential and Congressional election.

Purpose Statement: This paper briefly sketches the history of the grassroots, conservative, Perot-led Reform Party and analyzes how it influenced the economic and social ideologies of the two mainstream parties.

Question-to-Assertion

If your assignment asks a specific question(s), turn the question(s) into an assertion and give reasons why it is true or reasons for your opinion.

Assignment : What do Aylmer and Rappaccini have to be proud of? Why aren’t they satisfied with these things? How does pride, as demonstrated in “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” lead to unexpected problems?

Beginning thesis statement: Alymer and Rappaccinni are proud of their great knowledge; however, they are also very greedy and are driven to use their knowledge to alter some aspect of nature as a test of their ability. Evil results when they try to “play God.”

Write a sentence that summarizes the main idea of the essay you plan to write.

Main idea: The reason some toys succeed in the market is that they appeal to the consumers’ sense of the ridiculous and their basic desire to laugh at themselves.

Make a list of the ideas that you want to include; consider the ideas and try to group them.

• nature = peaceful
• war matériel = violent (competes with 1?)
• need for time and space to mourn the dead
• war is inescapable (competes with 3?)

Use a formula to arrive at a working thesis statement (you will revise this later).

• although most readers of _______ have argued that _______, closer examination shows that _______.
• _______ uses _______ and _____ to prove that ________.
• phenomenon x is a result of the combination of __________, __________, and _________.

What to keep in mind as you draft an initial thesis statement

Beginning statements obtained through the methods illustrated above can serve as a framework for planning or drafting your paper, but remember they’re not yet the specific, argumentative thesis you want for the final version of your paper. In fact, in its first stages, a thesis statement usually is ill-formed or rough and serves only as a planning tool.

As you write, you may discover evidence that does not fit your temporary or “working” thesis. Or you may reach deeper insights about your topic as you do more research, and you will find that your thesis statement has to be more complicated to match the evidence that you want to use.

You must be willing to reject or omit some evidence in order to keep your paper cohesive and your reader focused. Or you may have to revise your thesis to match the evidence and insights that you want to discuss. Read your draft carefully, noting the conclusions you have drawn and the major ideas which support or prove those conclusions. These will be the elements of your final thesis statement.

Sometimes you will not be able to identify these elements in your early drafts, but as you consider how your argument is developing and how your evidence supports your main idea, ask yourself, “ What is the main point that I want to prove/discuss? ” and “ How will I convince the reader that this is true? ” When you can answer these questions, then you can begin to refine the thesis statement.

Refine and polish the thesis statement

To get to your final thesis, you’ll need to refine your draft thesis so that it’s specific and arguable.

• Ask if your draft thesis addresses the assignment
• Question each part of your draft thesis
• Clarify vague phrases and assertions
• Investigate alternatives to your draft thesis

Consult the example below for suggestions on how to refine your draft thesis statement.

Sample Assignment

Choose an activity and define it as a symbol of American culture. Your essay should cause the reader to think critically about the society which produces and enjoys that activity.

• Ask The phenomenon of drive-in facilities is an interesting symbol of american culture, and these facilities demonstrate significant characteristics of our society.This statement does not fulfill the assignment because it does not require the reader to think critically about society.

Drive-ins are an interesting symbol of American culture because they represent Americans’ significant creativity and business ingenuity.

Among the types of drive-in facilities familiar during the twentieth century, drive-in movie theaters best represent American creativity, not merely because they were the forerunner of later drive-ins and drive-throughs, but because of their impact on our culture: they changed our relationship to the automobile, changed the way people experienced movies, and changed movie-going into a family activity.

While drive-in facilities such as those at fast-food establishments, banks, pharmacies, and dry cleaners symbolize America’s economic ingenuity, they also have affected our personal standards.

While drive-in facilities such as those at fast- food restaurants, banks, pharmacies, and dry cleaners symbolize (1) Americans’ business ingenuity, they also have contributed (2) to an increasing homogenization of our culture, (3) a willingness to depersonalize relationships with others, and (4) a tendency to sacrifice quality for convenience.

This statement is now specific and fulfills all parts of the assignment. This version, like any good thesis, is not self-evident; its points, 1-4, will have to be proven with evidence in the body of the paper. The numbers in this statement indicate the order in which the points will be presented. Depending on the length of the paper, there could be one paragraph for each numbered item or there could be blocks of paragraph for even pages for each one.

Complete the final thesis statement

The bottom line.

As you move through the process of crafting a thesis, you’ll need to remember four things:

• Context matters! Think about your course materials and lectures. Try to relate your thesis to the ideas your instructor is discussing.
• As you go through the process described in this section, always keep your assignment in mind . You will be more successful when your thesis (and paper) responds to the assignment than if it argues a semi-related idea.
• Your thesis statement should be precise, focused, and contestable ; it should predict the sub-theses or blocks of information that you will use to prove your argument.
• Make sure that you keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Change your thesis as your paper evolves, because you do not want your thesis to promise more than your paper actually delivers.

In the beginning, the thesis statement was a tool to help you sharpen your focus, limit material and establish the paper’s purpose. When your paper is finished, however, the thesis statement becomes a tool for your reader. It tells the reader what you have learned about your topic and what evidence led you to your conclusion. It keeps the reader on track–well able to understand and appreciate your argument.

Writing Process and Structure

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Getting Started with Your Paper

Interpreting Writing Assignments from Your Courses

Generating Ideas for

Creating an Argument

Thesis vs. Purpose Statements

Architecture of Arguments

Working with Sources

Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources

Using Literary Quotations

Citing Sources in Your Paper

Drafting Your Paper

Generating Ideas for Your Paper

Introductions

Paragraphing

Developing Strategic Transitions

Conclusions

Revising Your Paper

Peer Reviews

Reverse Outlines

Revising an Argumentative Paper

Revision Strategies for Longer Projects

Finishing Your Paper

Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

How to Proofread your Paper

Writing Collaboratively

Collaborative and Group Writing

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• How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on January 11, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on August 15, 2023 by Eoghan Ryan.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . It usually comes near the end of your introduction .

Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.

You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps:

• Start with a question
• Write your initial answer
• Develop your answer
• Refine your thesis statement

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Table of contents

What is a thesis statement, placement of the thesis statement, step 1: start with a question, step 2: write your initial answer, step 3: develop your answer, step 4: refine your thesis statement, types of thesis statements, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis statements.

A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay. It is a signpost telling the reader what the essay will argue and why.

The best thesis statements are:

• Concise: A good thesis statement is short and sweet—don’t use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
• Contentious: Your thesis shouldn’t be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis statement is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to back it up.
• Coherent: Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the rest of your paper.

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The thesis statement generally appears at the end of your essay introduction or research paper introduction .

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts and among young people more generally is hotly debated. For many who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education: the internet facilitates easier access to information, exposure to different perspectives, and a flexible learning environment for both students and teachers.

You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis , early in the writing process . As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic , you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.

You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your own. What would you like to find out or decide about your topic?

For example, you might ask:

After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process .

Now you need to consider why this is your answer and how you will convince your reader to agree with you. As you read more about your topic and begin writing, your answer should get more detailed.

In your essay about the internet and education, the thesis states your position and sketches out the key arguments you’ll use to support it.

The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education because it facilitates easier access to information.

In your essay about braille, the thesis statement summarizes the key historical development that you’ll explain.

The invention of braille in the 19th century transformed the lives of blind people, allowing them to participate more actively in public life.

A strong thesis statement should tell the reader:

• Why you hold this position
• What they’ll learn from your essay
• The key points of your argument or narrative

The final thesis statement doesn’t just state your position, but summarizes your overall argument or the entire topic you’re going to explain. To strengthen a weak thesis statement, it can help to consider the broader context of your topic.

These examples are more specific and show that you’ll explore your topic in depth.

Your thesis statement should match the goals of your essay, which vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing:

• In an argumentative essay , your thesis statement should take a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
• In an expository essay , you’ll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis statement doesn’t have to include a strong opinion in this case, but it should clearly state the central point you want to make, and mention the key elements you’ll explain.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

• Ask a question about your topic .
• Write your initial answer.
• Develop your answer by including reasons.
• Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

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Tips on writing a thesis statement: composing compelling thesis statements.

College-level courses demand a solid grasp of writing concepts, and some students arrive at Intro to Composition unprepared to write a high-quality essay. Teachers tend to give a bit more slack at the high school level, but college professors are often much more exacting. That’s why excellent writing skills are crucial to the majority of college courses — even outside the English department. 

One of the most important elements to master is the thesis statement. A strong thesis statement is at the root of all writing, from op-eds to research papers. It’s an essential element of any persuasive piece; something we look for without even thinking about it. A convincing, attention-grabbing thesis statement keeps the reader engaged — and lets them know where the piece is headed. 

Having a few tips and tricks in your toolbox can help you to make a convincing academic argument every time.

What is a Thesis Statement?

First, the basics. A thesis statement is a sentence or two that states the main idea of a writing assignment. It also helps to control the ideas presented within the paper. However, it is not merely a topic. It often reflects a claim or judgment that a writer has made about a reading or personal experience. For instance: Tocqueville believed that the domestic role most women held in America was the role that gave them the most power, an idea that many would hotly dispute today. 

Every assignment has a question or prompt. It’s important that your thesis statement answers the question. For the above thesis statement, the question being answered might be something like this: Why was Tocqueville wrong about women? If your thesis statement doesn’t answer a question, you’ll need to rework your statement.

Where Will I Use Thesis Statements?

Writing an exceptional thesis statement is a skill you’ll need both now and in the future, so you’ll want to be confident in your ability to create a great one. Whether in academic, professional, or personal writing, a strong thesis statement enhances the clarity, effectiveness, and impact of the overall message. Here are some real-world examples that demonstrate the importance of composing an outstanding thesis statement:

• Academic writing. The success of academic research papers depends on an exceptional thesis statement. Along with establishing the focus of the paper, it also provides you with direction in terms of research. The thesis sets a clear intention for your essay, helping the reader understand the argument you’re presenting and why the evidence and analysis support it.
• Persuasive writing. Persuasive writing depends on an excellent thesis statement that clearly defines the author’s position. Your goal is to persuade the audience to agree with your thesis. Setting an explicit stance also provides you with a foundation on which to build convincing arguments with relevant evidence.
• Professional writing. In the business and marketing world, a sound thesis statement is required to communicate a project’s purpose. Thesis statements not only outline a project’s unique goals but can also guide the marketing team in creating targeted promotional strategies.

Where Do Thesis Statements Go? 

A good practice is to put the thesis statement at the end of your introduction so you can use it to lead into the body of your paper. This allows you, as the writer, to lead up to the thesis statement instead of diving directly into the topic. Placing your thesis here also sets you up for a brief mention of the evidence you have to support your thesis, allowing readers a preview of what’s to come.

A good introduction conceptualizes and anticipates the thesis statement, so ending your intro with your thesis makes the most sense. If you place the thesis statement at the beginning, your reader may forget or be confused about the main idea by the time they reach the end of the introduction. 

What Makes a Strong Thesis Statement?

A quality thesis statement is designed to both inform and compel. Your thesis acts as an introduction to the argument you’ll be making in your paper, and it also acts as the “hook”. Your thesis should be clear and concise, and you should be ready with enough evidence to support your argument. 

There are several qualities that make for a powerful thesis statement, and drafting a great one means considering all of them: 

A strong thesis makes a clear argument .

A thesis statement is not intended to be a statement of fact, nor should it be an opinion statement. Making an observation is not sufficient — you should provide the reader with a clear argument that cohesively summarizes the intention of your paper.

Originality is important when possible, but stick with your own convictions. Taking your paper in an already agreed-upon direction doesn’t necessarily make for compelling reading. Writing a thesis statement that presents a unique argument opens up the opportunity to discuss an issue in a new way and helps readers to get a new perspective on the topic in question. Again, don’t force it. You’ll have a harder time trying to support an argument you don’t believe yourself.

A strong thesis statement gives direction .

If you lack a specific direction for your paper, you’ll likely find it difficult to make a solid argument for anything. Your thesis statement should state precisely what your paper will be about, as a statement that’s overly general or makes more than one main point can confuse your audience. 

A specific thesis statement also helps you focus your argument — you should be able to discuss your thesis thoroughly in the allotted word count. A thesis that’s too broad won’t allow you to make a strong case for anything.

A strong thesis statement provides proof.

Since thesis statements present an argument, they require support. All paragraphs of the essay should explain, support, or argue with your thesis. You should support your thesis statement with detailed evidence that will interest your readers and motivate them to continue reading the paper.

Sometimes it is useful to mention your supporting points in your thesis. An example of this could be: John Updike's Trust Me is a valuable novel for a college syllabus because it allows the reader to become familiar with his writing and provides themes that are easily connected to other works. In the body of your paper, you could write a paragraph or two about each supporting idea. If you write a thesis statement like this, it will often help you to keep control of your ideas.

A strong thesis statement prompts discussion .

Your thesis statement should stimulate the reader to continue reading your paper. Many writers choose to illustrate that the chosen topic is controversial in one way or another, which is an effective way to pull in readers who might agree with you and those who don’t! 

The ultimate point of a thesis statement is to spark interest in your argument. This is your chance to grab (and keep) your reader’s attention, and hopefully, inspire them to continue learning about the topic.

Testing Your Thesis Statement

Because your thesis statement is vital to the quality of your paper, you need to ensure that your thesis statement posits a cohesive argument. Once you’ve come up with a working thesis statement, ask yourself these questions to further refine your statement: 

• Is it interesting ? If your thesis is dull, consider clarifying your argument or revising it to make a connection to a relatable issue. Again, your thesis statement should draw the reader into the paper.
• Is it specific enough ? If your thesis statement is too broad, you won’t be able to make a persuasive argument. If your thesis contains words like “positive” or “effective”, narrow it down. Tell the reader why something is “positive”. What in particular makes something “effective”?
• Does it answer the question ? Review the prompt or question once you’ve written your working thesis and be sure that your thesis statement directly addresses the given question.
• Does my paper successfully support my thesis statement ? If you find that your thesis statement and the body of your paper don’t mesh well, you’re going to have to change one of them. But don’t worry too much if this is the case — writing is intended to be revised and reworked.
• Does my thesis statement present the reader with a new perspective? Is it a fresh take on an old idea? Will my reader learn something from my paper? If your thesis statement has already been widely discussed, consider if there’s a fresh angle to take before settling.
• Finally, am I happy with my thesis ? If not, you may have difficulty writing your paper. Composing an essay about an argument you don’t believe in can be more difficult than taking a stand for something you believe in.

Quick Tips for Writing Thesis Statements

If you’re struggling to come up with a thesis statement, here are a few tips you can use to help:

• Know the topic. The topic should be something you know or can learn about. It is difficult to write a thesis statement, let alone a paper, on a topic that you know nothing about. Reflecting on personal experience and/or researching your thesis topic thoroughly will help you present more convincing information about your statement.
• Brainstorm. If you are having trouble beginning your paper or writing your thesis, take a piece of paper and write down everything that comes to mind about your topic. Did you discover any new ideas or connections? Can you separate any of the things you jotted down into categories? Do you notice any themes? Think about using ideas generated during this process to shape your thesis statement and your paper.
• Phrase the topic as a question. If your topic is presented as a statement, rephrasing it as a question can make it easier to develop a thesis statement.
• Limit your topic. Based on what you know and the required length of your final paper, limit your topic to a specific area. A broad scope will generally require a longer paper, while a narrow scope can be sufficiently proven by a shorter paper.

Writing Thesis Statements: Final Thoughts

The ability to compose a strong thesis statement is a skill you’ll use over and over again during your college days and beyond. Compelling persuasive writing is important, whether you’re writing an academic essay or putting together a professional pitch. 

If your thesis statement-writing skills aren’t already strong, be sure to practice before diving into college-level courses that will test your skills. If you’re currently looking into colleges, Gustavus Adolphus offers you the opportunity to refine your writing skills in our English courses and degree program . Explore Gustavus Adolphus’ undergraduate majors here .

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Writing a Paper: Thesis Statements

Basics of thesis statements.

The thesis statement is the brief articulation of your paper's central argument and purpose. You might hear it referred to as simply a "thesis." Every scholarly paper should have a thesis statement, and strong thesis statements are concise, specific, and arguable. Concise means the thesis is short: perhaps one or two sentences for a shorter paper. Specific means the thesis deals with a narrow and focused topic, appropriate to the paper's length. Arguable means that a scholar in your field could disagree (or perhaps already has!).

Strong thesis statements address specific intellectual questions, have clear positions, and use a structure that reflects the overall structure of the paper. Read on to learn more about constructing a strong thesis statement.

Being Specific

This thesis statement has no specific argument:

Needs Improvement: In this essay, I will examine two scholarly articles to find similarities and differences.

This statement is concise, but it is neither specific nor arguable—a reader might wonder, "Which scholarly articles? What is the topic of this paper? What field is the author writing in?" Additionally, the purpose of the paper—to "examine…to find similarities and differences" is not of a scholarly level. Identifying similarities and differences is a good first step, but strong academic argument goes further, analyzing what those similarities and differences might mean or imply.

Better: In this essay, I will argue that Bowler's (2003) autocratic management style, when coupled with Smith's (2007) theory of social cognition, can reduce the expenses associated with employee turnover.

The new revision here is still concise, as well as specific and arguable.  We can see that it is specific because the writer is mentioning (a) concrete ideas and (b) exact authors.  We can also gather the field (business) and the topic (management and employee turnover). The statement is arguable because the student goes beyond merely comparing; he or she draws conclusions from that comparison ("can reduce the expenses associated with employee turnover").

Making a Unique Argument

This thesis draft repeats the language of the writing prompt without making a unique argument:

Needs Improvement: The purpose of this essay is to monitor, assess, and evaluate an educational program for its strengths and weaknesses. Then, I will provide suggestions for improvement.

You can see here that the student has simply stated the paper's assignment, without articulating specifically how he or she will address it. The student can correct this error simply by phrasing the thesis statement as a specific answer to the assignment prompt.

Better: Through a series of student interviews, I found that Kennedy High School's antibullying program was ineffective. In order to address issues of conflict between students, I argue that Kennedy High School should embrace policies outlined by the California Department of Education (2010).

Words like "ineffective" and "argue" show here that the student has clearly thought through the assignment and analyzed the material; he or she is putting forth a specific and debatable position. The concrete information ("student interviews," "antibullying") further prepares the reader for the body of the paper and demonstrates how the student has addressed the assignment prompt without just restating that language.

Creating a Debate

This thesis statement includes only obvious fact or plot summary instead of argument:

Needs Improvement: Leadership is an important quality in nurse educators.

A good strategy to determine if your thesis statement is too broad (and therefore, not arguable) is to ask yourself, "Would a scholar in my field disagree with this point?" Here, we can see easily that no scholar is likely to argue that leadership is an unimportant quality in nurse educators.  The student needs to come up with a more arguable claim, and probably a narrower one; remember that a short paper needs a more focused topic than a dissertation.

Better: Roderick's (2009) theory of participatory leadership  is particularly appropriate to nurse educators working within the emergency medicine field, where students benefit most from collegial and kinesthetic learning.

Here, the student has identified a particular type of leadership ("participatory leadership"), narrowing the topic, and has made an arguable claim (this type of leadership is "appropriate" to a specific type of nurse educator). Conceivably, a scholar in the nursing field might disagree with this approach. The student's paper can now proceed, providing specific pieces of evidence to support the arguable central claim.

Choosing the Right Words

This thesis statement uses large or scholarly-sounding words that have no real substance:

Needs Improvement: Scholars should work to seize metacognitive outcomes by harnessing discipline-based networks to empower collaborative infrastructures.

There are many words in this sentence that may be buzzwords in the student's field or key terms taken from other texts, but together they do not communicate a clear, specific meaning. Sometimes students think scholarly writing means constructing complex sentences using special language, but actually it's usually a stronger choice to write clear, simple sentences. When in doubt, remember that your ideas should be complex, not your sentence structure.

Better: Ecologists should work to educate the U.S. public on conservation methods by making use of local and national green organizations to create a widespread communication plan.

Notice in the revision that the field is now clear (ecology), and the language has been made much more field-specific ("conservation methods," "green organizations"), so the reader is able to see concretely the ideas the student is communicating.

Leaving Room for Discussion

This thesis statement is not capable of development or advancement in the paper:

Needs Improvement: There are always alternatives to illegal drug use.

This sample thesis statement makes a claim, but it is not a claim that will sustain extended discussion. This claim is the type of claim that might be appropriate for the conclusion of a paper, but in the beginning of the paper, the student is left with nowhere to go. What further points can be made? If there are "always alternatives" to the problem the student is identifying, then why bother developing a paper around that claim? Ideally, a thesis statement should be complex enough to explore over the length of the entire paper.

Better: The most effective treatment plan for methamphetamine addiction may be a combination of pharmacological and cognitive therapy, as argued by Baker (2008), Smith (2009), and Xavier (2011).

In the revised thesis, you can see the student make a specific, debatable claim that has the potential to generate several pages' worth of discussion. When drafting a thesis statement, think about the questions your thesis statement will generate: What follow-up inquiries might a reader have? In the first example, there are almost no additional questions implied, but the revised example allows for a good deal more exploration.

Thesis Mad Libs

If you are having trouble getting started, try using the models below to generate a rough model of a thesis statement! These models are intended for drafting purposes only and should not appear in your final work.

• In this essay, I argue ____, using ______ to assert _____.
• While scholars have often argued ______, I argue______, because_______.
• Through an analysis of ______, I argue ______, which is important because_______.

Words to Avoid and to Embrace

When drafting your thesis statement, avoid words like explore, investigate, learn, compile, summarize , and explain to describe the main purpose of your paper. These words imply a paper that summarizes or "reports," rather than synthesizing and analyzing.

Instead of the terms above, try words like argue, critique, question , and interrogate . These more analytical words may help you begin strongly, by articulating a specific, critical, scholarly position.

Read Kayla's blog post for tips on taking a stand in a well-crafted thesis statement.

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Tips and Examples for Writing Thesis Statements

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Tips for Writing Your Thesis Statement

1. Determine what kind of paper you are writing:

• An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience.
• An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience.
• An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided.

If you are writing a text that does not fall under these three categories (e.g., a narrative), a thesis statement somewhere in the first paragraph could still be helpful to your reader.

2. Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence.

3. The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper.

4. Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.

Thesis Statement Examples

Example of an analytical thesis statement:

The paper that follows should:

• Explain the analysis of the college admission process
• Explain the challenge facing admissions counselors

Example of an expository (explanatory) thesis statement:

• Explain how students spend their time studying, attending class, and socializing with peers

Example of an argumentative thesis statement:

• Present an argument and give evidence to support the claim that students should pursue community projects before entering college

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A thesis statement guides your essay by identifying both your subject and your attitude toward it. A thesis statement:

• is potentially interesting to the intended reader.
• is specific .
• limits the topic so that it is manageable .
• evolves as your thinking about the subject evolves.

Construct a working thesis.

Test the working thesis.

• Try substituting other words—if the same statement can be made about another subject, the thesis needs to be more specific.
• Ask “so what?”
• Ask “why?” and “how?” 
• Try filling in the “Magic Thesis Sentence” :

By looking at __________________, we can see ____________________, which most readers/viewers/observers don’t see; this is important because ___________________.

Revise the working thesis.

• Add information that responds to the “so what?” question to explain relevance.
• in order to
• Use active verbs
• Avoid abstract terms (e.g.  issue, aspect, society,  etc.)
• Avoid empty modifiers ( very, important,  etc.)

Use a Seed Sentence

Another way to construct a working thesis  is to start with a paradigm in the form of a “seed sentence.” These are patterns that reflect common ways of thinking about topics that are open to different perspectives. While anything constructed using one of these seeds will almost certainly need to be revised before the paper’s final version, they can provide a helpful starting point. If you choose to use sentence-paradigms to help you construct a thesis, try out several to find the best fit for your topic, idea, and assignment.

“Once I was _______________, but now I am _______________.”

“They say that _____________, but my experience [or closer examination] shows that ____________.”

Once I thought vulgar language was unforgivable, but now I feel sorry for those who express hatred by using it.

They say that people can learn from their mistakes, but my experience shows that once they learn prejudice, few people change their behavior.

“When I saw ____________, I saw ____________ instead of ______________.”

When I saw that I could fight the bullies or ignore them, I saw that fighting would be degrading while nonviolence would maintain my self-respect.

Cause and Effect:

“If _________________, then ________________."

“Because ______________, ________________." 

If we look at the way teens view bullying, then we see that current interventions devised by adults are not likely to be effective. Because I learned to ignore bullies when I was young, I can now find ways to encourage people with differing points of view to work together.

Compare/Contrast:

“Because of ____________similarities [or differences], ___________.”

Because adults and teenagers define bullying differently, the typical adult approaches to combatting the behaviors will not be effective.

Difference/Likeness (or Likeness/Difference):

“However ______________, ______________.”

However much both adults and teenagers agree that bullying behaviors damage relationships, this problem will persist until both groups begin using the same language to label the undesirable actions.

“Not only ___________________, but also _________________.”

Not only do adults want to blame technology for the problem of bullying, but they also tend to rely on ineffective solutions such as school assemblies.

Shift of Focus:

“Instead of [even though, because, etc.] _______________, we should direct attention to ________________.”

Even though these attempts to stop bullying are well-meaning, they will not be effective until they address the roots of the problem: lack of empathy and the desire for attention. 

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How to Write a Strong Thesis Statement: 4 Steps + Examples

What’s Covered:

What is the purpose of a thesis statement, writing a good thesis statement: 4 steps, common pitfalls to avoid, where to get your essay edited for free.

When you set out to write an essay, there has to be some kind of point to it, right? Otherwise, your essay would just be a big jumble of word salad that makes absolutely no sense. An essay needs a central point that ties into everything else. That main point is called a thesis statement, and it’s the core of any essay or research paper.

You may hear about Master degree candidates writing a thesis, and that is an entire paper–not to be confused with the thesis statement, which is typically one sentence that contains your paper’s focus. 

Read on to learn more about thesis statements and how to write them. We’ve also included some solid examples for you to reference.

Typically the last sentence of your introductory paragraph, the thesis statement serves as the roadmap for your essay. When your reader gets to the thesis statement, they should have a clear outline of your main point, as well as the information you’ll be presenting in order to either prove or support your point. 

The thesis statement should not be confused for a topic sentence , which is the first sentence of every paragraph in your essay. If you need help writing topic sentences, numerous resources are available. Topic sentences should go along with your thesis statement, though.

Since the thesis statement is the most important sentence of your entire essay or paper, it’s imperative that you get this part right. Otherwise, your paper will not have a good flow and will seem disjointed. That’s why it’s vital not to rush through developing one. It’s a methodical process with steps that you need to follow in order to create the best thesis statement possible.

Step 1: Decide what kind of paper you’re writing

When you’re assigned an essay, there are several different types you may get. Argumentative essays are designed to get the reader to agree with you on a topic. Informative or expository essays present information to the reader. Analytical essays offer up a point and then expand on it by analyzing relevant information. Thesis statements can look and sound different based on the type of paper you’re writing. For example:

• Argumentative: The United States needs a viable third political party to decrease bipartisanship, increase options, and help reduce corruption in government.
• Informative: The Libertarian party has thrown off elections before by gaining enough support in states to get on the ballot and by taking away crucial votes from candidates.
• Analytical: An analysis of past presidential elections shows that while third party votes may have been the minority, they did affect the outcome of the elections in 2020, 2016, and beyond.

Step 2: Figure out what point you want to make

Once you know what type of paper you’re writing, you then need to figure out the point you want to make with your thesis statement, and subsequently, your paper. In other words, you need to decide to answer a question about something, such as:

• What impact did reality TV have on American society?
• How has the musical Hamilton affected perception of American history?
• Why do I want to major in [chosen major here]?

If you have an argumentative essay, then you will be writing about an opinion. To make it easier, you may want to choose an opinion that you feel passionate about so that you’re writing about something that interests you. For example, if you have an interest in preserving the environment, you may want to choose a topic that relates to that. 

If you’re writing your college essay and they ask why you want to attend that school, you may want to have a main point and back it up with information, something along the lines of:

“Attending Harvard University would benefit me both academically and professionally, as it would give me a strong knowledge base upon which to build my career, develop my network, and hopefully give me an advantage in my chosen field.”

Step 3: Determine what information you’ll use to back up your point

Once you have the point you want to make, you need to figure out how you plan to back it up throughout the rest of your essay. Without this information, it will be hard to either prove or argue the main point of your thesis statement. If you decide to write about the Hamilton example, you may decide to address any falsehoods that the writer put into the musical, such as:

“The musical Hamilton, while accurate in many ways, leaves out key parts of American history, presents a nationalist view of founding fathers, and downplays the racism of the times.”

Once you’ve written your initial working thesis statement, you’ll then need to get information to back that up. For example, the musical completely leaves out Benjamin Franklin, portrays the founding fathers in a nationalist way that is too complimentary, and shows Hamilton as a staunch abolitionist despite the fact that his family likely did own slaves. 

Step 4: Revise and refine your thesis statement before you start writing

Read through your thesis statement several times before you begin to compose your full essay. You need to make sure the statement is ironclad, since it is the foundation of the entire paper. Edit it or have a peer review it for you to make sure everything makes sense and that you feel like you can truly write a paper on the topic. Once you’ve done that, you can then begin writing your paper.

When writing a thesis statement, there are some common pitfalls you should avoid so that your paper can be as solid as possible. Make sure you always edit the thesis statement before you do anything else. You also want to ensure that the thesis statement is clear and concise. Don’t make your reader hunt for your point. Finally, put your thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph and have your introduction flow toward that statement. Your reader will expect to find your statement in its traditional spot.

If you’re having trouble getting started, or need some guidance on your essay, there are tools available that can help you. CollegeVine offers a free peer essay review tool where one of your peers can read through your essay and provide you with valuable feedback. Getting essay feedback from a peer can help you wow your instructor or college admissions officer with an impactful essay that effectively illustrates your point.

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The textbook way students tend to approach thesis statements is to say, “this paper will be about,” without saying it quite so crudely. But when papers lack aim, or arguments get disorganized in the body paragraph, a poorly formed thesis statement is often to blame. While the thesis statement provides the overall topic for a paper, without creating an arguable position to support the observations and facts on the subject, writing content for an essay becomes increasingly harder.

Creating a thesis statement PRIOR to drafting is essential to determining the essay’s real focus. Thesis statements guide the writer through the paper’s development. While different areas of study require thesis statements to work in different ways, approaching it in an analytical statement can help you begin to organize it into a beginning draft.

In general, a thesis statement follows the structure of an analytical statement,

There are two parts to an analytical statement:

• Fact (or facts) about X, where X is whatever topic you’re discussing.
• Your claim (or claims) based on the fact(s).

Let’s imagine you’re writing an argumentative thesis statement about The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Example: During the reaping, Katniss takes her little sister’s place in the games, which symbolizes the types of sacrifices that older sisters must make for their younger siblings.

Part one is inarguable and part two (italicized) is arguable. Throughout the essay, it is your job to prove the argumentative claim using evidence from the primary source, your own analysis, and in some cases research.

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How to write a thesis statement

Published March 20, 2021. Updated May 1, 2022.

Thesis Statement Definition

A thesis statement is the main claim that you are making in your paper.

Overview of Thesis Statement

The thesis statement is usually one sentence and is located near the beginning of your paper, usually at the end of your introduction paragraph. It tells your readers what stance you take on an issue. Most of the time, when you are writing a paper, you will be responding to a prompt. Analyzing the prompt is essential in making sure your thesis statement actually addresses the question you are trying to answer. The thesis statement needs to directly answer this prompt in a focused and specific way. Some thesis statements also acts as a guide for your paper by telling readers the order in which premises will appear in the paper. This can help the reader be prepared for what you are going to say and to anticipate some of the ideas that you may write about.

Worried about your writing? Submit your paper for a Chegg Writing essay check , or for an Expert Check proofreading . Both can help you find and fix potential writing issues.

Steps in Writing a Strong Thesis Statement

Writing a thesis statement can feel overwhelming at first, but by following these steps, you can make the process less daunting.

Step 1: Analyze the Assignment Prompt

While it seems simple, analyzing the prompt is essential in making sure your thesis statement actually supports the question you are trying to answer. If you are given a prompt by your instructor, read it carefully several times. You may want to underline or circle key action words like “claim” or “analyze” and key terms from your class. Then, try to rewrite it in your own words. Even if it doesn’t sound perfect, putting it your own words will ensure that you really understand what it is asking.

Example assignment prompt: In a well-developed essay, explain how writers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as well as Enlightenment ideas, sparked the French Revolution.

Rewritten in your own words: Write a clear, well supported essay. This essay will not only be about HOW the French Revolution started, but it will be on ideas and writings (not events), specifically those of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Be sure to include other ideas from the Enlightenment.

At this point you will hopefully have a basic answer to the question presented in the prompt. It is okay if you don’t know exactly how to answer it, but you should jot down a simple answer to help you begin your writing.

Step 2: Do Your Research

A strong thesis statement will be clear and specific, and it will be later supported by evidence from your research. You won’t be able to write a statement like this until you do your research.

The research will look different depending on your task. If you are writing a literary analysis essay, you may need to search the text and identify important plot events, character changes, and quotations. This research may feel a lot like brainstorming. If you are writing an argumentative essay, you may need to find articles and books in the library or in databases.

While researching your topic, keep the assignment prompt and your general answer in mind. Try to see if your research supports your initial idea or if you will need to revise your idea based on the information you find.

Step 3: Narrow Your Focus

Chances are, after you complete your research, you will have more information than you need. Now is the time to look at all of the evidence, data, and sources you collected, and determine what relates specifically to your assignment prompt and your general answer and what does not. If you have irrelevant information, put it to the side and save it in case it becomes relevant later.

Next, try to categorize the research you have into a few distinct groups. If your prompt asks you to compare and contrast, you may sort based on similarities or differences. If your prompt asks you to analyze the character development of a character in a novel, you might create your categories based on changes in that character.

Step 4: Write the “Working Thesis”

Now that you understand the prompt and have completed thorough research, draft a version of your thesis. This statement is often called a “working thesis” because you will likely revise it several times throughout the writing process. Try to be clear and specific, answer the prompt directly, and state a claim you will prove in the rest of your writing.

Revising Your Thesis Statement

After you have written the first draft of your essay, it is time to go back and make sure your thesis statement still matches what you actually wrote about. Reread your thesis statement and the topic sentence of each paragraph. Make sure that all of the topic sentences directly support the thesis and that the thesis statement encompasses the ideas you presented in your body paragraphs. If you find that they don’t perfectly align, you may need to revise your thesis statement to match what you wrote.

Now is also a good time to make sure your thesis statement uses effective language. Make sure you have used active verbs instead of passive and that your tone is professional and academic. If you have words like “very” or “extremely,” you could replace them with stronger and more specific options like “significant” or “acutely.”

Examples of Working Thesis Statements and Thesis Statements

Let’s take a look at a few examples of working thesis statements and thesis statements. For this first example, your assignment prompt asked you to discuss the impact of reading on children. After a bit of research, you may land on the following idea:

It is important for children to read often when they are in early elementary school.

This statement is a good working thesis, but it is not strong enough to be your final draft. It does make a claim, but it is vague and does not provide a roadmap for the reader. It also does not discuss the impact of reading. Why is it important for children to read? What are the benefits of children reading? A stronger thesis statement might say:

Children who read often in early elementary school develop strong vocabularies and improve their reading comprehension skills, increasing their confidence in reading increasingly complex texts.

This revised thesis is more focused, is likely based on research, and helps readers see the key ideas you will discuss in the paper.

Now imagine that your professor has asked you to write an essay on the role of language in George Orwell’s 1984. After you have read through your notes, read the novel, and brainstormed ideas, you may decide on the following working thesis:

Control of language is used as a source of power in 1984.

This working thesis is a good start for your brainstorming and your outline. From here, you would want to consider how language is used as a source of power and why it is used that way. A revised thesis might read:

In George Orwell’s 1984 , the Party manipulates citizens into total submission to the Party’s ideals through Newspeak, propaganda, and altered history.

This thesis statement provides a clear guide to writing. It uses active verbs (e.g., “the Party manipulates”) and clear details of language (e.g., Newspeak, propaganda, altered history) from the novel.

Before you turn in that paper, don’t forget to cite your sources in APA format , MLA format , or a style of your choice.

Key Takeaways

• The purpose of a thesis statement is to tell your readers what claim you will be proving in your paper.
• To write a thesis statement, first analyze your prompt or identify a topic, then do your research, and finally write a “working thesis.”
• Be sure your thesis is clear, is direct, and makes a claim that you can support throughout your paper.
• Revise your thesis after you finish your first draft, adding detail to your claim and replacing weaker vocabulary choices with stronger ones.

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What is a Thesis Statement?

A thesis statement usually appears at the end of the introductory paragraph of an essay. 

The thesis statement summarizes the main argument or conclusion of the paper in a single sentence.

Good thesis statements are:

• Concise : Briefly summarize the main point of the paper
• Clear : Avoid vague, abstract or overly technical language
• Specific : Covers only what is discussed and is supported by evidence presented in the paper

Writing Thesis Statements

A good thesis statement is the foundation of your essay. These resources will help you:

• Humber College: Thesis Statement for a College Paper PDF document from the Writing Centre at Humber College
• OWL at Purdue: Tips for Writing Thesis Statements
• How to Write a Thesis Statement Presentation from the Writing Centre at Humber College
• Developing a Working Thesis (York University)

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Writing an Effective Thesis Statement

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An Overview of the Writing Process

Thesis statements, what this handout is about.

This handout describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your writing, and how you can discover or refine one for your draft.

Introduction

Writing in college often takes the form of persuasion—convincing others that you have an interesting, logical point of view on the subject you are studying. Persuasion is a skill you practice regularly in your daily life. You persuade your roommate to clean up, your parents to let you borrow the car, your friend to vote for your favorite candidate or policy. In college, course assignments often ask you to make a persuasive case in writing. You are asked to convince your reader of your point of view. This form of persuasion, often called academic argument, follows a predictable pattern in writing. After a brief introduction of your topic, you state your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you’ll make in the rest of your paper .

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement:.

• tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
• is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
• directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
• makes a claim that others might dispute.
• is usually a single sentence somewhere in your first paragraph that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

If your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you may need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. The assignment may not explicitly state that you need a thesis statement because your  instructor may assume you will include one. When in doubt, ask your instructor if the assignment requires a thesis statement. When an assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively. (Check out our handout on understanding assignments for more information.)

How do I get a thesis?

A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment. Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence, look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the significance of these relationships. Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a “working thesis,” a basic or main idea, an argument that you think you can support with evidence but that may need adjustment along the way.

Writers use all kinds of techniques to stimulate their thinking and to help them clarify relationships or comprehend the broader significance of a topic and arrive at a thesis statement. For more ideas on how to get started, see our handout on brainstorming .

How do I know if my thesis is strong?

If there’s time, run it by your instructor or make an appointment at the Writing Center to get some feedback. Even if you do not have time to get advice elsewhere, you can do some thesis evaluation of your own. When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following:

• Do I answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the question.
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? If your thesis simply states facts that no one would, or even could, disagree with, it’s possible that you are simply providing a summary, rather than making an argument.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough?

Thesis statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains words like “good” or “successful,” see if you could be more specific: why is something “good”; what specifically makes something “successful”?

• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? If a reader’s first response is, “So what?” then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger issue.
• Does my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. It’s o.k. to change your working thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? If a reader’s first response is “how?” or “why?” your thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. See what you can add to give the reader a better take on your position right from the beginning.

Suppose you are taking a course on 19th-century America, and the instructor hands out the following essay assignment: Compare and contrast the reasons why the North and South fought the Civil War. You turn on the computer and type out the following:

The North and South fought the Civil War for many reasons, some of which were the same and some different.

This weak thesis restates the question without providing any additional information. You will expand on this new information in the body of the essay, but it is important that the reader know where you are heading. A reader of this weak thesis might think, “What reasons? How are they the same? How are they different?” Ask yourself these same questions and begin to compare Northern and Southern attitudes (perhaps you first think, “The South believed slavery was right, and the North thought slavery was wrong”). Now, push your comparison toward an interpretation—why did one side think slavery was right and the other side think it was wrong? You look again at the evidence, and you decide that you are going to argue that the North believed slavery was immoral while the South believed it upheld the Southern way of life. You write:

While both sides fought the Civil War over the issue of slavery, the North fought for moral reasons while the South fought to preserve its own institutions.

Now you have a working thesis! Included in this working thesis is a reason for the war and some idea of how the two sides disagreed over this reason. As you write the essay, you will probably begin to characterize these differences more precisely, and your working thesis may start to seem too vague. Maybe you decide that both sides fought for moral reasons, and that they just focused on different moral issues. You end up revising the working thesis into a final thesis that really captures the argument in your paper:

While both Northerners and Southerners believed they fought against tyranny and oppression, Northerners focused on the oppression of slaves while Southerners defended their own right to self-government.

Compare this to the original weak thesis. This final thesis presents a way of interpreting evidence that illuminates the significance of the question. Keep in mind that this is one of many possible interpretations of the Civil War—it is not the one and only right answer to the question . There isn’t one right answer; there are only strong and weak thesis statements and strong and weak uses of evidence.

Let’s look at another example. Suppose your literature professor hands out the following  assignment in a class on the American novel: Write an analysis of some aspect of Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn. “This will be easy,” you think. “I loved Huckleberry Finn!” You grab a pad of paper and write:

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.

Why is this thesis weak? Think about what the reader would expect from the essay that follows: you will most likely provide a general, appreciative summary of Twain’s novel. The question did not ask you to summarize; it asked you to analyze. Your professor is probably not interested in your opinion of the novel; instead, she wants you to think about why it’s such a great novel— what do Huck’s adventures tell us about life, about America, about coming of age, about race relations, etc.? First, the question asks you to pick an aspect of the novel that you think is important to its structure or meaning—for example, the role of storytelling, the contrasting scenes between the shore and the river, or the relationships between adults and children. Now you write:

In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.

Here’s a working thesis with potential: you have highlighted an important aspect of the novel for investigation; however, it’s still not clear what your analysis will reveal. Your reader is intrigued, but is still thinking, “So what? What’s the point of this contrast? What does it signify?” Perhaps you are not sure yet, either. That’s fine—begin to work on comparing scenes from the book and see what you discover. Free write, make lists, jot down Huck’s actions and reactions. Eventually you will be able to clarify for yourself, and then for the reader, why this contrast matters. After examining the evidence and considering your own insights, you write:

Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave “civilized” society and go back to nature.

This final thesis statement presents an interpretation of a literary work based on an analysis of its content. Of course, for the essay itself to be successful, you must now present evidence from the novel that will convince the reader of your interpretation.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing the original version of this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find the latest publications on this topic. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

Anson, Chris M. and Robert A. Schwegler. The Longman Handbook for Writers. 2nd ed. New York: Longman, 2000.

Hairston, Maxine and John J. Ruszkiewicz. The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers. 4th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1996.

Lunsford, Andrea and Robert Connors. The St. Martin’s Handbook. 3rd ed. New York: St. Martin’s, 1995.

Rosen, Leonard J. and Laurence Behrens. The Allyn & Bacon Handbook. 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1997.

• Thesis Statements. Provided by : The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Located at : http://writingcenter.unc.edu/ . License : CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives

Writing Center

Completing an Academic Writing Project

Step by Step

UNDERSTANDING AN ASSIGNMENT

Before getting started, it's usually a good idea to consider where you want to go and how you want to get there. Consider these questions before you continue to step two.

A. Do you know when your assignment is due, and do you understand the basic guidelines of the assignment?

B. Do you understand the purpose or goals of the assignment?

C. Do you understand who the audience of this assignment is, and do you know how to appropriately address them?

A. Understanding the Basic Guidelines of an Assignment

Read your assignment and class notes carefully and see if you can answer these questions:

• When is my assignment due?
• What is the word or page requirement?
• Do I need to do any research for this assignment? If so, how many sources are required and what type of sources must they be? For example, some instructors will only accept research taken from peer-reviewed journals, while others may have certain restrictions concerning Internet sources. (If this is all sounding very mysterious to you, stay tuned; you'll find more help with research in Step 4: Research. )
• Do I need to use specific style guidelines, such as MLA, APA, or Chicago?

Return to the Step One Questions

B. understanding the purpose or goals of an assignment.

Reading Assignments for Keywords

Once you understand the basic requirements of an assignment, the next step is to carefully and critically reread the assignment sheet and circle key words that will help you understand the instructor's expectations. It's especially helpful to circle key ideas from the course, or verbs like analyze , compare , interpret , evaluate , or explain . The circled ideas should help you understand what concepts from the course are particularly important, and the circled verbs will help clarify what you are supposed to do with those concepts.

Does the assignment call for a discipline-specific form? Does it ask for material to be addressed in a certain order, i.e. a lab report, literature review, position paper, or an essay with an intro, body, and conclusion?

Talking With Instructors About Assignments

If there are any terms or ideas in your assignment that are unfamiliar or confusing to you, don't be afraid to ask your instructor for help. Most instructors are happy to help you out, especially if you come to them well ahead of any deadlines. Professors keep office hours for a reason—use them!

C. Understanding and Addressing Audience

Before you get started on your paper, make sure you understand who your audience is, and consider what type of "voice" and evidence you should use to address that audience. This is not as daunting a process as it may seem. All writers make decisions about what written voice is appropriate for a particular piece of writing; in an email to your BFF (or best friend), you would most likely use different vocabulary, discuss different topics, and maybe even construct your sentences differently than you would in a letter to your granny.

Rather than making an abstract decision about what constitutes a "correct voice," it will often be easier for you to consider what you know about the intended audience, and then write accordingly. What does the audience care about? What are they are familiar with? What kind of language do they use? And what is your purpose in communicating with them? Is it to show you read the text, can apply a concept to a real-life situation, or to convince them of something?

If you were to write an email to a friend about a movie you'd recently seen, called "Night of the Kilbot" for instance, it's appropriate to use a casual tone and your personal opinion to persuade her she ought to see the movie. When you are writing a formal paper in a university setting, the written voice shifts again. Your immediate reader will obviously be your instructor, but references to a specific reader in a personal or casual voice ("I don't know if you know what the KilBots did next, Prof. Smith, but it was so awesome that the scientific community could only say, 'Oh, snap!'") sound odd and aren't appropriate. This is because the assumed audience for college writing isn't a single person, but really a larger body of educated readers—people who know enough about your topic to grasp your thesis and evidence. And this educated audience values evidence over opinion (examples, statistics, logical lines of reasoning). The written voice that results from assuming this audience is what most people call "academic voice."

A university paper about a film, then, might be expected to include discussion of visual composition, use of terms like "mise-en-scene," or thoughtful analysis of artificial intelligence. The voice might sound something like:

The robots' search for acceptance on an unfamiliar planet creates a sense of pathos in the viewer, though the surprising complexity of the film's androids stands in direct contrast to the one-dimensional performances of the human players.

Writing for an academic audience might require some extra attention at first, and small adjustments might need to be made based on what field you're writing about. (Some fields are okay with the use of "I" in a formal paper, for instance, but others aren't.) In time, however, writing in an appropriate academic voice becomes more natural, and an ability to analyze what's appropriate for your audience can often help you figure out how to phrase thoughts clearly and effectively in any piece of writing.

Return to the List of Steps

FINDING A TOPIC

Once you understand your assignment, the next step is finding a strong topic. Make sure these statements about your topic are true before you continue to step three.

A. I know what I want to write about.

B. My idea fits the assignment.

C. My idea interests me.

A. Coming Up With a Topic You Want to Write About

Before you begin writing your first draft, you have to have an idea, right? This work you do before the rough draft is called "pre-writing," and it helps you find ideas you didn't even know you had. Here are a few brainstorming/pre-writing techniques :

Listing is… making a list. It's worth your time to spend 15 minutes making a list of ideas at the very beginning of your writing process. Think about how many brands of cold cereal supermarkets have. Try to get that many ideas out on paper before you even think about narrowing your topic down. After you've printed your list, circle the 3-5 most interesting or important ones. Use those ideas you've circled with the following tactics.

If you're a visual person, try clustering . It's like free association. Write your main idea down in the center of your paper, then draw a circle around it. That's like your solar system's sun. Now, write your topics around it, like planets. Each of these topics can have things related to them—your own opinions, interesting points, whatever—so write those little things around the planets. Those little things are the moons and satellites. Now, stand back and look at your paper's solar system. Whichever planet looks the most interesting to you (it might be the one with the most moons and satellites) could be your topic.

Freewriting

Once you have an idea or two, start freewriting . Don't worry about logic, grammar, or spelling; just get your ideas out on paper. Give yourself a goal, like "fill one page," and stop when you've reached it. Finally: read your work, and decide which of the things you wrote interest you most.

After a ten-minute freewrite, circle the most important or interesting sentence you've written. Copy this sentence at the top of a new sheet of paper, and freewrite again based on that sentence. This is kind of like zooming in on one neighborhood using Google Maps, and it lets you get into depth and detail before you even start working on your rough draft. Repeat as many times as you like.

Focused Surfing

Unlike regular Web surfing, which is a way to waste time while procrastinating, focused surfing is early research. The trick is to keep a word processing document open while you're surfing. That way, you can write down your reactions to things you read on the Web. Be careful if you do this, because sometimes people copy ideas they've seen online without even realizing that they're doing it, and this can lead to unintentional plagiarism . To avoid this, don't cut-and-paste text from the sites you're visiting. Make yourself summarize, in your own words, what is important or useful about this site. Also: keep a list in your new document of the sites you visit. You'll need the accurate site name and online address later, so you might as well note it now.

Talking About It

When you're at work or hanging out, talk about the things you're studying in class. Don't talk about the other students or the teacher or your grade; talk about the things you're reading and studying. Maybe the person you're talking to will have some strong opinions about them. If you agree or disagree with whomever you're talking with, that might be a good topic to write about. After all, if you get stuck or bored, you can always just call your friend up and start the conversation again.

Return to the Step Two Questions

B. making sure your topic fits the assignment.

If you're not sure your topic fits the assignment, the best way to confirm this is to check the tips in Step One: Understanding an Assignment .

C. Using Class Notes and Readings to Come Up With Topics That Interest You

When surfing the Web for school, remember your general subject. This sounds obvious, but the Internet has a way of getting people off track. Here's a trick: Write your general subject area, like "nurses in the US Civil War" on a sticky note, and attach that note to the frame of your computer screen. Looking at that note occasionally will help keep you on track. In addition, keep a word-processing file open on your computer while you surf, and note interesting sites on a new document. That way, you'll remember where you found everything interesting.

Using a Reading Journal

If you've taken notes during any classes, or written any response papers, or taken any reading quizzes, or written anything in the margins of your class readings… this is a great time to look over those things. If you've kept notes on your class readings in a separate notebook (a reading journal), check that too. If you see anything in there that interests you—anything that doesn't make sense, or that really makes sense, or that touches on something you think you might want to do if you ever get out of college—write that down on a fresh sheet of paper. Now try the brainstorming topics listed above.

Developing Your Argument

If you know what your assignment requires and you know what topic you'd like to write about, your next step is to develop your argument. You might start by writing a "working thesis statement" that you can adjust or change as you research and write. It’s sort of like making a plan for the weekend on Tuesday night: you know the plan will probably be modified, but it’s a good place to start. Make sure you can confidently respond to each of these statements before moving on to step four.

A. My assignment requires an argument or thesis statement.

B. My argument includes a clear topic and an assertion about that topic.

C. My argument or thesis statement is a debatable claim.

D. My argument can be supported with logic and evidence.

A. Figuring Out if Your Assignment Requires an Argument or Thesis Statement

Not all writing assignments require a formal thesis statement, but most do. It is important to read over your assignment carefully to determine if your assignment would benefit from having one. Remember, a thesis statement is just a fancy phrase for the main point of your paper. Nearly all types of academic writing need a central direction or point. Even if you plan on using many different kinds of examples, anecdotes, or pieces of evidence, you will want to make sure to bring them together under a clearly stated thesis statement somewhere in the beginning of your paper. There are some foreseeable projects that might not require a formal thesis statement—such as an informal reflection essay or a piece of fiction writing—but it is very likely that even the most informal of writings would do better in having at least a topic sentence outlining or hinting at the main direction of the paper.

Return to the Step Three Questions

B. what makes for a good working thesis or provisional argument, the idea of a working thesis.

A thesis statement is the main point or assertion of your paper. A working thesis is just a thesis that isn't quite sure of itself yet. You, the author, are still working out where you want your paper to go. You might be perfectly confident about your topic—that is, generally you know what you want to write about—but you still might not be sure how you want to deal with it or what direction you want to take that topic. A working thesis is just a thesis in a sort of rough draft form. It's not final or complete. It may be lacking focus or a debatable claim, or a combination of both.

Should I worry about only having a working thesis?

No, not necessarily. Often, it can be useful to have a general thesis to start out with simply so you can feel free to charge ahead and begin writing on your topic. An unrefined thesis usually occurs when you haven't spent enough time exploring the complexities of your topic. Simply writing about your topic can help determine the main focus of your paper.

How can I tell if my thesis is in good shape or is still in the working stages?

The best way to know if your thesis is still in the working stage is to "grill it," that is, interrogate or question every single word of the thesis and determine if each word is sufficiently specific and meaningful. Assault your thesis with a barrage of questions, asking what , who , where , when , and why . To some degree, your thesis should answer all of these questions. If you find it doesn't, then you know you still have some work to do. Don't worry; many writers do not discover their true, final thesis until after finishing their first full draft.

The importance of a thesis containing both a topic and an assertion

As mentioned, for your working thesis to attain the status of a thesis statement, it must possess both a topic and an assertion about that topic. In other words, you must put forth a debatable argument about your topic.

For example, an incomplete thesis might look something like this:

A wolverine's claws are useful in defending themselves.

That statement might make for a good starting topic but it does not really assert anything that is debatable or interesting. Turning that topic into a thesis could look like this:

A wolverine's claws are quite sharp and consequently help the animal defend itself from predators.

Here, the writer mentions both a topic (a wolverine's claws and self-defense against predators) and an assertion (a wolverine's claws are quite sharp and help defend it from predators). However, as we will see in part three, the above thesis could be stronger with a more debatable assertion or claim.

C. The Importance of a Thesis Making a Debatable Claim

A truly debatable assertion makes for a stronger argument.

A thesis must not only make an assertion about the topic; it must make a debatable or controversial claim about the topic. The example in the previous detail section (What is a working thesis?) about wolverines possesses the two key ingredients of a thesis, but its assertion is boring and rather obvious. A stronger thesis might state:

Not only are a wolverine's claws the sharpest and most deadly of any species classified within the Mustelidae family, they use these claws in self-defense against a dozen various predators found in its home ecosystem.

This thesis statement makes a much more debatable claim—"the wolverine's claws are the sharpest and most deadly of any species classified within the Mustelidea family."

Arousing suspicion or intellectual interest in the reader

If an assertion is debatable enough, a reader might question its accuracy. A strong thesis should arouse at least a little of this skepticism in its reader, which in turn might be proof that the thesis author is claiming something interesting and worth debating. Regarding our example, a reader might wonder: Even if a wolverine's claws are somehow the sharpest, does that make them automatically the deadliest?

D. A Thesis Must be Supportable with Logic and Evidence

The paragraphs that follow your thesis should be full of support, e.g. examples, anecdotes, or evidence. Additionally, each paragraph should link back up to your thesis statement in a logical way. If after examining your working thesis you find that evidence or logic can't be used to support it, then your thesis is probably too opinion based.

Now that you have a topic and an argument or a working thesis, you'll want to do some research to find out what others have said or written about your topic. There are many approaches to research, and a vast number of methods for finding information. You should also keep in mind any requirements or expectations your instructor has for the research part of your assignment. Consider these statements about research before moving to the next step.

A. I have familiarized myself with my topic in general, noting helpful resources.

B. I have found a sufficient number of sources that deal specifically with my topic.

C. My sources fit my instructor's guidelines.

D. My sources do not all hold exactly the same opinion, or repeat the same information.

E. I have explored sources that do not agree with my argument.

  A. Familiarizing Yourself With Your Topic

Familiarizing yourself with doing research and learning the basics of your topic can be a great place to start. Need to review how to begin researching? Check out the PSU Library’s DIY Research Guide .

Backgrounding

Look through more general sources such as encyclopedias or articles giving subject overviews. You can turn to the web for basic information on sites like Wikipedia, but be sure you use those kinds of sites primarily as starting points that lead to more specific sources.

Keeping Track of Sources

Make it easier on yourself later by keeping a running log of materials you have looked through (including websites). If you do this ahead of time, you will not be scrambling backwards to create your Works Cited/References/Bibliography page. Nobody wants to be accused of plagiarism (see item E in Step 9: Checking Your Use of Research ). For help with proper citation, drop by the Writing Center or schedule an appointment with a tutor.

Stay Organized

Some folks prefer a more organized approach to research using notecards while others work best by highlighting texts or dog-earing helpful pages. However you do your research, make sure you know what information you want to use from each source and where to locate it.

Return to the Step Four Questions

B. locating a diverse array of sources.

Locating a good number of sources can be one of the toughest parts of doing research, but also one of the most fun and interesting. Try following the steps outlined below:

Spread Your Reach

Look to source lists from your background materials. These may point to important work in the field. Or, talk to someone in the know. This may be your instructor or classmates, or it may mean contacting a professional in the field. Try to do some brainstorming on your own:

• Ask the Journalist's Questions (who, what, where, when, how, and why) to better orient yourself within your topic; this will help you determine where to look.
• Using basic internet search engines ( Google , Bing , Yahoo , etc.), you may be able to discover additional avenues to go down. In the process, you may come across references to sources to track down in the library.

Research at the Library

Though we live in an increasingly electronic world, in which research is done on Internet databases and the results are kept in electronic form, a good university library is still the primary site for doing effective research:

• The PSU Library offers many services to students looking to survive the world of academia. Plus, utilizing library resources proves an invaluable element of varying sources.
• Communicate with librarians directly over the phone or internet with Ask Us! .
• You can also walk over to the 2nd floor of Millar Library and talk to the helpful folks at the Research Desk.
• Or schedule a one-on-one meeting with a librarian familiar with your subject area.
• Surf to the library's Where to Search page for information on different resources.
• Browse pages tailored for specific classes listed at Course Guides .

C. Paying Attention to Specific Guidelines

Specific guidelines or requirements from your instructor can be used to direct your research, saving you time while helping you fulfill the assignment. In evaluating sources, you must be critical in discerning the credibility, reliability, accuracy of any given source. Ask basic questions of a source:

• What type of source is it (print, database, electronic media, etc.)?
• Who is the author? What credentials do they have? Where have they been published? Are they a scholar or professor associated with a respected, reputable institution?
• How current is the source? When was it published, and where?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the source primary or secondary? Is it current in the field or discipline?
• Does it suit your needs? Will it lend support and credence to your own project (essay, thesis, dissertation, freelance article, etc.)?

Use reliable resources by asking these questions when choosing where to turn for information:

• Is it current? Publication dates of quality sources are easily identifiable, and as a general rule, you want to look at the most recent articles available. These are often journal articles.
• Is it relevant? All information should support your thesis and assertions.
• Is it biased? Web sites, journals and writers also have affiliations with certain organizations and philosophies; these affiliations can affect bias. Before you incorporate a source into your written work, you need to know what its affiliations are and how those affiliations may create bias.
• Is it specific? Sweeping generalizations are to be avoided. Secondary sources using vague language and broad generalizations will adversely affect your arguments and your entire essay. Essays and sources should offer specific evidence and a lot of it.
• Is it authoritative? Reliable sources always have an author and clearly identify an author's experience and education. Many offer a way to contact the author. If you use a source without an author (heaven forbid), the web site or journal should make clear its reasons for publishing the work, as well as a way to contact the author or editor. When you use secondary sources in your essays (1) they should have expertise in their field; (2) their area of expertise should be a legitimate field of study; (3) they should only make claims within the area of their expertise; (4) there should be an adequate degree of agreement among experts; (5) the author should be identified.

D. Varying Sources

Varying sources ensures you produce a paper that stands on more than one leg. In general, try not to rely too heavily on any one source; rather, use the means at your disposal to find an array of strong supports in different areas.

Searching for Books and Materials

In the digital age, every library is actually multiple libraries. If a library doesn't have a book or other source immediately on hand, the item can often be easily borrowed, in physical or electronic form, from another library. A wider selection of materials can be found using Interlibrary Loan resources or through the WorldCat database.

• The Summit Regional Catalog
• ILLiad , or Inter-Library Loan
• The WorldCat Worldwide Database

Browsing Databases for Academic Journals

The library provides access to over 200 premier databases and full-text resources . Google Scholar allows users to use a myriad of search functions while displaying links to comparable or related works. However, you may have to return to the library's databases for full access to some articles found through this site.

Working with the Internet

Beware of online sources. With the onslaught of electronic media, and the Internet in particular, everyone is a pundit, expert, or sudden scholar. Remember that anyone can post online, or put up their own website. Online material is especially mutable and ever-changing. Evaluation of such sources is scant at best. If a source seems suspect or of questionable credibility, confirm the source or information yourself. Using the internet alone in a paper can signal a lack of effort to some instructors. If you are unsure about expectations for your assignment, check with your instructor via a question after class, a quick e-mail, or a phone call. Consider your use of popular sources versus scholarly or academic sources. You may be able to find information comparable to a site of questionable authorship through the library's resources.

Supporting Your Assertions with Data

From time to time it will be necessary to use quantitative data in your papers. After you have collected your data you will need to communicate it to your readers. Below are some tips for making that communication effective:

• Be selective —choose carefully how to display quantitative data and where in your paper it is appropriate to include the information.
• Be clear —provide enough information in a chart, graph, or table that it can be read and understood on its own. When including multiple pieces of data in visual form be consistent in your presentation.
• Discuss —refer to your data in the text of your paper, but don’t just repeat the facts and figures. In the text, your job is to expand on the information, put it in context, and support the claims you are making in your paper.
• Look again —review the work you have done with quantitative data.

Using Non-Print Sources

Interacting with non-print sources can be as daunting as it may be intriguing. Interviews may be useful and appropriate for some assignments. If so, ask pertinent, probing questions. Keep good notes or use a recorder to ensure you present your contact’s sentiments honestly. Audio/Visual sources open a whole new can of worms for good…or evil. Be careful when working with films, podcasts, recordings, and the like that may be interesting, but may not be appropriate for your piece. If you end up using an A/V source, refresh yourself on the ways to incorporate such quotes in your paper.

E. Exploring Contrary or Differing Ideas

Exploring contrary or differing ideas generally makes your paper stronger. Showing you have considered alternatives to your own point of view, just like varying sources , indicates a higher level of critical thinking to your reader(s). Speculating about how others may view your ideas or issues will improve your ability to prepare for any questions or objections that may enter the reader's mind.

When dealing with texts and sources, never forget to ask critical questions of your resources. A few moments analyzing an issue can lead you to that next brilliant point in your research and writing. While managing differing viewpoints may seem overwhelming, do not be afraid to dig into your topic and find a niche, a home for your idea. Addressing the ideas of readers who disagree with your approach builds another line of defense for your convincing argument. Also, consider other approaches to your specific supports. You may find stronger sources or simply more diverse ideas that improve the soundness of your work.

Organizational Planning

After generating ideas, developing a working thesis, and doing some research, most writers come up with some kind of organizational plan before they write a draft. The plan can be modified, but without at least some sense of organization, starting can be difficult. Have you organized your ideas and research into an organizational plan? Check to see if these statements are true for you.

A. I have finished my research, but can’t decide where to begin.

B. I have created an effective organizational plan for my first draft.

C. I have double-checked my organizational plan, and it is comprehensive.

D. My organizational plan is complete. I'm ready to create a draft.

A. Using an Organizational Plan or Outline to Get Started

Making an organizational plan or outline can help you organize your ideas before you start writing.

What is an outline?

An outline is a tool writers use to organize and examine their thoughts prior to writing them in draft form. Think of it as a map or blueprint for your paper.

How do outlines work?

Outlines work for writers the same way budgets do for entrepreneurs. When looking at a budget an entrepreneur is able to take a step back and see how much money is being spent on each section of their business. A close look at a budget often reveals where a business is losing or making money. Writers design outlines to have the same perspective.

By taking a step back and viewing their ideas in outline form, writers are able to save time by seeing (prior to writing the draft) whether or not their thoughts flow in a clear, logical order and draw the reader to a logical conclusion. A close look at an outline can also help writers catch mistakes such as deviation from the thesis, the addition of unnecessary topics and lack of support.

Outlines are easier to manipulate than drafts and allow writers the ability to shuffle their ideas around until they find the perfect structure for their project or assignment.

Return to the Step Five Questions

B. tips for using outlines effectively.

Outlines come in all shapes and sizes. Choose the structure that works best for you or feel free to make one up on your own. The only rule to remember when writing an outline is to write your thesis at the top so that you can be sure you don't deviate from it.

The nesting method of outlining, which is probably the most traditional, involves putting main ideas, or "headings," in a I, II, III… order with supporting ideas, or "subheads," beneath in an indented i, ii, iii…list. Two popular ways to organize a nest-style outline are by topic and sentence.

Topic Outlines

In a topic outline, the headings are given in single words or brief phrases. Consider the following example:

Thesis: The tradition of bride-kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan has created a culture of fear for the young village women there .

• New York Times story of Jyldyz' escape.
• Statistics of women kidnapped during the day vs. at night.
• Statistics of women polled about being scared of traveling after dark.

Sentence Outlines

In a sentence outline, all the headings are expressed in complete sentences. For example…

• The New York Times ran a story about a sixteen year-old girl named Jyldyz who, after a violent confrontation, narrowly escaped being bride kidnapped while walking home from a neighbor's house at night
• In Kyrgyzstan women are seventy-five percent more likely to be bride kidnapped at night than during the day.
• In a 2003 pew research poll teenage Kyrgyz women said that they were one hundred percent more scared about traveling out at night than during the day because of the potential of being bride kidnapped.

Get Creative with Your Outline

There are as many ways to outline as there are writers. Feel free to be creative. For example you might put all of your topics and pieces of supporting evidence onto notecards, then spread them on the floor and arrange them. Or you might try the clustering method, where you jot down ideas as they come to you and watch for ways to draw them together.

Some writers like the idea tree, where you place a topic at the head of your page and begin "branching" off with supporting ideas and materials then expanding these "limbs" by branching off again and again with more details.

The point of making an outline is to help you organize and structure your thoughts, not hold you to a rigid standard.

C. Double-checking Your Outline for Comprehensiveness

Before you go on to write your draft, recheck your outline one last time:

• Do all of your headings (primary topics/ideas) directly support your thesis?
• Do all of your subheads (topic/idea supports) directly support your heads?
• Try to visualize your outline as a finished paper. Is your information and research presented in the most logical, natural way for your reader to approach? Remember, it is easier to rearrange things now than when you are at the draft stage.
• Did you include any extraneous information that doesn't seem to fit the scope of the project or assignment? If so, lose it now before it derails your paper.

D. Finishing Your Outline: Next Steps

Congratulations on finishing your outline!

When you are writing your draft remember that your outline is malleable—you are not married to it. If something happens during the writing of your paper that makes you break the structure of the outline don't be afraid to go with it. An outline should only be used as a guide, not a law.

Writing a First Draft

In this step we explore how to get words on paper and feel good about them. Though the process of actually composing sentences and paragraphs into a full draft is often shrouded in mystery (or at least not discussed in much detail), most writers keep guidelines like these in mind as they compose a first draft.

A. I have started composing paragraphs with confidence, and I am not hesitating or feeling uncertain about my plan.

B. I am still confident that my topic is a strong one and fits the assignment.

C. I have considered my audience while composing my first draft.

A. Avoiding the Permanent Pause: Thoughts on "Writer's Block"

Many writers suffer at the mercy of the great myth of "getting it right the first time." This myth tells us that the best way to write is "all at once," and ideally (according to this myth), a writer opens a new computer document, composes an introduction, and begins to type one paragraph after the next in an orderly fashion until, upon approaching the length requirement, the writer composes a nice conclusion that ties everything together, hits print, and is done.

This rarely happens. Our thoughts do not often spontaneously spool out in well-stated grammatical sentences arranged in a logical and effective order. The mind associates freely: a thought about computers leads to a thought about a music playlist on your computer, which leads to a thought about a band, which leads to a thought about a concert, which leads to a thought about money, which leads to a thought about things you don’t have, which leads to a thought, strangely, about moon rocks. Or something like that.

Thought may proceed this way, but an essay cannot. So writers often find themselves in a deadlock with that heartless little cursor, struggling to type the next line and feeling that they are lacking direction. If you feel every written word is permanent, it makes sense to pause before writing the next word. And before the next sentence. And, again, before the next paragraph. It becomes dangerously easy, in that frame of mind, to become permanently paused.

But fear not. There is hope.

The next time you begin a new writing project, try thinking about the project as a series of steps that you can start and stop several times, as opposed to completing all of them at once. Knowing that you’re going to let yourself go back and fix things later will keep you from having that "every word I write is set in stone" feeling. Most people write much faster and produce better material when they give themselves the freedom to write a first draft with a few rough edges. A writing project that includes some pre-writing brainstorming, the composition of a draft, some reorganization and fixing, and strategies for straightening things up when you’re done will usually help you write faster, make your writing time feel more productive, and strengthen the quality of your final product.

"Re-visioning" your essay: how writing a rough draft often changes your ideas and focus

The mind associates freely, but an essay cannot. It is true that a final product should not feel like a string of loosely connected combinations of words. But during the writing process itself, this kind of loose connectivity of ideas is perfectly permissible because writing is more than just writing, it is also thinking . Some people even claim that they must write in order to truly understand what they think.

You may start a rough draft with the feeling that you know exactly what you will say in the essay. You may even have a handy outline in which you've detailed all the pertinent points you want to make. An outline is an excellent tool for preparing to draft, and you should use it if it suits your process. But as you start to write, you may find new ideas popping into your mind asking to be heard, ideas that may differ from your original, neatly mapped-out ideas. Since you now know that every word you write is not set in stone, you can be kind to your new ideas, giving them space in your draft and revisiting them with curiosity as you start to revise. Being open to new thoughts that emerge as you write is particularly important because they will often be even better, more precise, analytical or fresh—than any ideas you could have come up with before you started drafting. This is because writing begets deeper thinking, which begets deeper writing, which begets yet deeper thinking…and on and on while serious smartness accumulates.

Practice letting new ideas into your draft, no matter how random or weird they may seem to you at first and no matter how they may deviate from your outline. When it's time to start looking over what you've written, highlight ideas that emerged during the drafting process itself, overlooking (for the moment) ideas that you mapped-out before hand. Can one of your new ideas provide a more fruitful and interesting focus for your essay? Let yourself "re-vision" the possibilities. In your next draft, if you wish, explore them. This step is part of the process we call "Global Revision" because it involves totally re-seeing your essay from the inside out.

Thoughts about why you became disenchanted with your topic

Boredom sets in when we don't give attention to our new ideas. Think about it: new ideas give us a sense of exhilaration, a feeling that our brains are changing and growing. The mind takes pleasure in real learning when surprising connections are made, but it will fall into torpor when it is forced to simply plug data into pre-crafted formulas or to regurgitate existing information. Even when it is difficult, the writing process can be a pleasurable experience because it is a great way to engage in real learning, to alight on new ideas and to stimulate the mind. If you are disenchanted, give yourself the opportunity to create new ideas by revisiting generative invention strategies (do we still have this one?) , or by paying attention to how writing a rough draft often changes your ideas and focus (resource for this?) . Most importantly, keep your mind open to sparks of imagination and creative connections that may help inject excitement into your writing process.

Return to the Step Six Questions

B. thoughts about why your topic might not fit the assignment.

Essays whose topics fail to fit the assignment are usually the victims of misunderstanding. For instance, an instructor may want you to analyze a film, but you take analyze to mean "summarize," and give a detailed plot summary rather than an in-depth interpretation of the film's meanings and messages. Or, you might believe that a research paper should simply report on a topic, rather than also take a position and develop that position through the use of different kinds of evidence. On the other hand, instructors have been known to write confusing or cryptic assignments that simply cannot be understood, not even by other instructors.

The best thing you can do is talk to your instructor, ask questions, and make sure you both have the same ideas about what the assignment should accomplish. If you've already chosen a topic, but aren't sure if it's appropriate, talk to your instructor as soon as possible.

Keep in mind that different disciplines adhere to different writing styles and rules. Misunderstandings might arise if, for instance, you are asked to write a 12-page paper on David Copperfield but only have experience writing plans, memos, and analyses for your business and economics classes. Think of this as an opportunity to practice gaining flexibility in your writing. For example, in this instance you could take the time to look at sample literature essays or to seek out other resources for writing about literature. Also remember to talk to your instructor and visit the Writing Center for guidance.

In each case, understanding the assignment as your instructor intended it to be understood is essential for choosing an appropriate topic. Make sure you have a firm grasp on this part of the writing process before you invest too heavily in any topic.

C. Thinking About Audience While Composing a Rough Draft

Many writers run into problems in their rough drafting process when they try to force their writing to sound "academic" right off the bat. If you worry excessively about sounding academic you might find yourself too intimidated to write, and/or too beholden to "academese," a kind of stilted, overly-formal writing that is neither clear nor easy to read. In a rough draft of an academic essay it's not necessary to write in an academic voice, even if the final draft will strive for it. Instead, in a rough draft, try writing in whatever voice makes it easiest for you to get your ideas onto paper. Then, as you revise, you can adjust your voice.

For instance, if you are writing a film analysis and you are having trouble conveying your ideas in a sophisticated way, you might first try writing it as if you were addressing a friend in an email:

So like a million people, I went and saw "Night of the KilBot" last weekend. The alien robots were awesome!!! But the acting was ridiculous, and there's no way Scarlett Johansson could conquer a Bone-Krushing KilBot using only a re-wired curling iron. Whatever!

The voice there is perfectly appropriate for a casual email to a friend, and the opinions are clear. When you begin the global revision process, highlight and then transform these kinds of phrases to address your intended audience.

For a formal paper in a university setting, your immediate reader will obviously be your instructor, but the assumed audience for college writing is really a larger body of educated readers—people who know enough about your topic to grasp your thesis and evidence. The written voice that results from assuming this audience is what most people call "academic voice."

For revision, you might transform your previously informal phrase about Night of the KilBot into something that sounds more academic, like this:

Expanding and Improving Ideas

There are few things in the world that can be done perfectly on the first try. It's normal, and probably good, for the first draft of a piece of writing to have elements that can be worked on, and successful writers craft strong pieces of writing by revising many, if not all, aspects of their first drafts. Looking at your own draft, check for these elements.

A. My rough draft includes a strong introduction.

B. My paragraphs have a clear focus, adequate development, and specific purpose.

C. The ideas in my draft are fully developed and don’t need to be expanded or refined.

D. My rough draft includes a strong conclusion.

A. Writing a Strong Introduction

Introductions are a lot like first impressions: terribly important and fairly irrevocable. A good introduction will set the tone of your piece and help the readers know what to expect in the coming pages.

A strong introduction should:

• Grab and engage the reader
• Act as a map for the reader by letting them know the direction the paper will take
• Establish the tone of the paper

If you have already written a draft introduction but find that you are bored, frustrated, or confused by it, try taking one of the following approaches:

Direct Statement of Fact

Often, writers spend too much time in their introductions "warming up." Beginning your paper with a direct statement of fact is helpful because it requires you to be short and to the point, which is often what readers are looking for.

The Surprising Statement

Sometimes simply using the direct statement of fact method can be boring. If you really want to grab a reader's attention you can try hooking them with a surprising statement.

The Anecdote

An anecdote is a short, interesting story. Beginning your paper with an anecdote that is relevant to your topic is another interesting way to lead your reader in.

A humorous quote or statement can liven up an introduction and get the reader excited about reading your piece. Remember, always be aware of your audience and subject matter when choosing what tone to use in your paper. Some readers expect serious writing and some subjects aren't laughing matters.

Reflection/Questions

Writing, particularly the type you will see in college, generally seeks to answer a question of some kind. Many writers find it effective to simply pose the question in their introduction.

Return to the Step Seven Questions

B. sharpening paragraphs.

In refining your essay, it is important to pay attention to what work each paragraph is doing for your paper and how you've broken up your paragraphs. Take a closer look at each of your paragraphs and make sure they all have a clear focus or main idea, as well as a specific purpose in your paper.

How to organize a paragraph

First of all, a paragraph should usually be about one thing. The easiest way to make sure your paragraph has a clear, single focus is to include a topic sentence at the beginning of the paragraph that states the main idea. The rest of the sentences in the paragraph should develop, support, or elaborate upon the main idea stated in the topic sentence. This might involve:

• Discussing examples, details, facts, or statistics
• Using quotes and paraphrased material from sources
• Examining and evaluating causes and effects
• Defining or describing terms

When to start a new paragraph

Just as a speaker who rambles for a long time without pausing soon becomes difficult to follow, if your whole paper is one long paragraph, your reader might get confused or give up. Some reasons to begin a new paragraph include:

• To show you're switching to a new idea
• To signal a change in time or place
• To move to the next step in the process
• To introduce a new source or alternate opinion

When each paragraph focuses on one thing, the content becomes easier for the audience to read, follow, and understand.

The purpose of a paragraph

The basic purpose of each paragraph in your paper is to support your thesis. No matter how beautifully written and logically constructed, a paragraph that does not in some way help you defend the main assertion of your paper probably does not belong. If it doesn't fit, you must omit.

Look closely at each paragraph in your essay and ask yourself, "What does this paragraph do for my paper?" You should be able to sum up the purpose of each paragraph in a single sentence, such as "Gives a specific example of the problem," "Addresses an opposing viewpoint," or "Presents statistics that support my thesis." If you can't describe what a paragraph does, or if a paragraph does something that may not be relevant to your thesis, you need to consider whether or not that paragraph truly belongs in your paper.

C. Getting More From Existing Ideas: Expanding and Refining

At this point, you have a complete or nearly complete rough draft. Congratulations! The temptation now may be to print out your draft, set it aside, and get back to that America's Nex t Top Model marathon. First, though, it's important to read through your paper carefully and ask yourself how you can get more from what's already there. The challenge is to find and develop new material that will strengthen your paper.

Using Complexity to Refine and Expand

One way to refine and expand your ideas is by checking your paper for instances of binary thinking: the belief that something is either black or white, good or bad. If you're writing about Gandhi, for instance, and you engage in binary thinking, then it's hard to write, because you think, "Well, Gandhi was good. Everyone knows that. What else is there to say?" A more complex consideration might describe Gandhi's beliefs and actions, interpret how he came to those beliefs, discuss why he took those actions, describe the effects of various events, explain how and why he changed over the years, and so forth. You can write a much longer paper on Gandhi that way than you can if you interpret your topic as "Gandhi: Good or Bad?"

Using Questions to Refine and Expand

A second strategy is to pretend you're a devil's advocate. Read each of your paragraphs as a skeptic, finding every opportunity you can to ask who , what , when , why , or how . See if you can find a paradox, a contradiction, or a controversy related to your topic. For example:

How much electricity—a major contributor to global warming—had to be used to put on the "Live Earth" concerts?

Write your questions in the margins or on a separate piece of paper, and then go back and answer them. Ask yourself where and how you can use examples to show the reader your points. Anticipate and address as many of the reader's questions as possible.

Using Research to Refine and Expand

Another thing to check is that wherever you've quoted or paraphrased a source, you've also written something about that source. Think of your paper as a call-in radio show where you're the host: each time someone new is speaking, the host has to introduce who is talking and what makes him an expert, clarify what's just been said, and remind the person just tuning in what they've been talking about. A strong paper introduces sources, interprets what they've said, and explains how those ideas relate to what the paper just said and is going to say next.

D. Writing a Strong Conclusion

Many writers believe that "conclusion" is synonymous with "summary". This, however, is not always true.

A strong conclusion should:

• Lend your paper a sense of closure
• Suggest possibilities beyond the scope of what you just presented and drive home to the reader why they should care
• Leave the reader with a convincing and memorable final word

As with introductions, there's more than one way to approach your conclusion. Here are a few suggestions:

Simple Summary

The main points of the essay are restated. This is effective for longer essays with complex concepts. This approach is pointless for shorter essays because there’s no need to remind people of what they read one minute ago.

Pan To A Larger Landscape

The significance of the topic is revealed and its broader implications are clearly shown. If analogy is used or a larger topic introduced, the connection to the paper's thesis must be apparent.

Suggest further action or study.

Analogy/Comparison

These can be useful in setting up a parallel that illustrates to the reader the import and mechanics of your main topic.

Speculation

Indicate to the reader the future implications of your discussion.

Play around with some of the ideas above and see which one leaves the strongest impression while fulfilling all the necessary functions of a conclusion. Remember, it's important to find the approach best suited to your paper topic and writing style.

Refining Organization

If you've improved your introduction and conclusion by making some changes, or if you've expanded and refined sections in the body of your paper, it's a good idea to consider whether the changes you've made might require some slight reorganization of the paper. Re-organization as a result of revision is almost always a good sign--it means you've created a superior draft of your paper, in which you are expressing your ideas with greater depth and clarity. Looking through your paper, considering these statements.

A. Throughout my essay, similar ideas are grouped together.

B. My paragraphs transition well from one to the next.

C. My paragraphs are in the best possible order, one that logically develops the exploration of my topic (sometimes referred to as "having good flow").

A. Using a Reverse Outline to Bring Similar Ideas Together

Once you have a rough or first draft, use the reverse outline to find and bring similar ideas together that are separated from one another.

What is a reverse outline and how do I use it to bring similar ideas together?

First, go through your essay and number each paragraph. On a separate sheet of paper, write "1" in the margin for the first paragraph of your essay. Then, list that paragraph's main purposes, each in one phrase or sentence. It is important to understand that "purpose" here doesn't mean what the paragraph literally "says." It means what it "does," or why you are including it at all. One purpose sentence per paragraph is completely acceptable, but there shouldn't be more than two or three. Take a look at paragraph 1 and its reverse outline for the following student essay:

Essay (Paragraph 1):

The problem with regulating cell-phone use while driving is that no evidence exists that says that it actually causes accidents. As Phillip Fresh of the Queensburg Chronicle assures us, "There has been no legitimate study conducted on the scene of accidents that suggests that cell phones are causing them. Clearly, there is no reason to believe that they are the cause of accidents at all" (A2). While Fresh's point about the lack of empirical evidence is well taken, doesn't his comment ignore common experience? How many times have you been driving and seen a near accident caused by someone driving one-handed with a cell phone pressed against his head with the other hand? Though it is true that there have not been significant studies conducted at the scenes of accidents to determine if the driver-at-fault was on a cell phone, this doesn't mean that cell phones aren't causing multiple hundreds of accidents every day. Moreover, if an on-scene study was conducted, how many people would freely admit that they were blabbing on the phone anyway? Most would undoubtedly feel compelled to hide it. Fresh is wrong; the study wouldn't even work if it were conducted, and therefore, we shouldn't base our theories of cell phone-caused accidents on these study's existence or non-existence.

So far, this student's reverse outline looks like this:

Paragraph #1

• Establish the case against cell-phone regulation: there is no proof
• Emphasize common experience, I see people talk on the cell and drive all the time
• Bring up problems with studies (if conducted)

And here is the second paragraph of the essay:

Whether Phillip Fresh's concerns should be taken seriously or not is not at all crucial to the debate over whether or not cell-phone use while driving should be regulated. Mohammad Breeze, a respected reporter for the Clarktown Gazette, reports that 39 of 50 people surveyed in the greater Clarktown area report having seen an accident or near-accident caused by someone talking on a cell-phone (4). Unlike the problematic "on-scene" study that Phillip Fresh proposes, Breeze’s survey appeals to common sense. People are far more likely to report someone who nearly caused an accident than to admit that they themselves had nearly caused one.

Now this student’s reverse outline looks like this:

• Bring Up Problems with studies, (if conducted)

Paragraph #2

• Argue for Fresh’s irrelevance in context of debate
• Use Breeze to emphasize common experience
• Suggest that Breeze’s survey is relevant

Now that we have a reverse outline of these two paragraphs, how might we revise this piece in order to bring similar ideas together? Looking over the reverse outline, one purpose common to both paragraphs jumps out: each paragraph emphasizes the common experience of seeing people talking on cell phones who nearly cause car accidents. This purpose is shared by both paragraphs and can therefore be consolidated into the same paragraph. Have a look at the two paragraphs after the student combined these ideas:

The problem with regulating cell-phone use while driving is that no evidence exists that says that it actually causes accidents. Phillip Fresh of the Queensburg Chronicle assures us of this: "There has been no legitimate study conducted on the scene of actual accidents that suggests that cell-phones are causing them. Clearly, there is no reason to believe that they are the cause of accidents at all" (A2). While Fresh's point about the lack of empirical evidence is well taken, doesn't his comment ignore common experience?

Though it is true that there have not been any significant studies conducted on the scene of accidents to determine if the driver-at-fault was on a cell phone, this doesn't mean that cell phones aren't causing multiple hundreds of accidents every day. Mohammad Breeze, a respected reporter for the Clarktown Gazette, reports that 39 of 50 people surveyed in the greater Clarktown area report having seen an accident or near-accident caused by someone talking on a cell-phone (4). Unlike the problematic "on-scene" study that Phillip Fresh proposes, Breeze's survey appeals to common sense. People are far more likely to report someone who nearly caused an accident then to admit that they themselves have nearly caused one. Fresh is wrong; his study probably wouldn't work if it were conducted; therefore, we shouldn't base our theories of cell phone caused accidents on these study's existence or non-existence.

Now, the purpose of "emphasizing common experience" is discussed only in the second paragraph, rather than being separated into two paragraphs as it was before. But that's not all. Bringing together similar purposes in this way calls attention to the wordiness of the previous version because the same purpose was unnecessarily spread across two paragraphs. Therefore, by consolidating shared purposes you not only strengthen the organization of your essay, you also make your language more succinct and direct.

Return to the Step Eight Questions

B. transitioning between paragraphs.

Paragraphs are temperamental creatures. As writers, we want them all to communicate well, but paragraphs frequently ignore neighboring paragraphs. It is important to coax each one into communicating with its neighboring paragraphs; otherwise, your essay will be a collection of isolated paragraphs that refuse to "speak" to one another. This will cause your readers to have a hard time relating one paragraph to the next. One way to encourage communication between paragraphs is to concentrate on transitions.

This sentence is an example of a good transition; it makes the relationship between this new paragraph and the one before it clear by picking up where the previous paragraph left off; it even uses a key word, "transition," in the last sentence of the previous paragraph, and the first sentence of this one. The paragraph above concentrated on the importance of communication between paragraphs, and then built up to the idea that transitions are a good way to encourage this communication. This leaves a reader waiting to hear more about transitions, and this paragraph is now discussing them. These two paragraphs are clearly speaking to one another; the first one sets something up, and this (second) one explains that something.

Picking up directly from the previous paragraphs' last sentence is an effective way of transitioning, but it is not the only one. Unlike the last paragraph, this newest one doesn't speak to the ones before it by taking its lead directly from the last sentence of the preceding paragraph. Instead, it acknowledges the previous paragraph's main idea then looks forward by indicating, in its first sentence, that there are more ways to build effective transitions than by picking up exactly where the previous paragraph left off. In this way, this paragraph speaks to the one before it by saying it will add a new type of transition to our repertoire. The conversation between this paragraph and the one before it is therefore something like:

Paragraph Two:

Hey paragraph three, I bet you don't know how to create a really good transition by picking up directly from my last sentence, do you?

Paragraph Three:

I don't need to. I'll ingeniously indicate that I am going to add something completely new to the main idea of the essay.

We have discussed two valuable methods of transitioning in this entry, yet the key to smooth, interesting transitions is ultimately to ask yourself as you write:

• How do I want this first (or last) sentence to relate to its neighboring paragraph?
• How can I make it relevant to my main ideas?

Both of the transition methods discussed thus far are a result of asking both of these questions. To illustrate, let's ask these two questions to the final paragraph (beginning with "We have discussed") in this entry.

Say, final paragraph, how does your first sentence relate to your neighboring paragraph, and how is it relevant to the main idea of this entry?

Final Paragraph:

Well now, my first sentence clearly summarizes the main points addressed in previous paragraphs, and usefully complicates them by suggesting that there is something that they have in common. Moreover, my first sentence is relevant to this entry's main idea because it provides specific questions that writers can ask in order to better understand the purpose of this entry.

Well said. You see, even though paragraphs can be testy and reclusive at times, a little critical thought and patience on the writer's part can help them get along with one another. Not only will your paragraphs thank you, so will your readers.

On a final note, never underestimate the power of a well-placed transition word or phrase. Words such as however, as a result, in addition, in fact, conversely, similarly, finally, and many more, will help your readers see the relationship between your ideas.

C. Reverse Outlining for Paragraph Order: Feeling and Figuring Out "Flow"

Once you have a rough or first draft, use the reverse outline to improve your essay's flow.

What is a reverse outline and how do I use it to improve flow?

First, go through your essay and number each paragraph. On a separate sheet of paper, write "1" in the margin for the first paragraph of your essay. Then, list that paragraph's main purposes, each in one phrase or sentence. It is important to understand that "purpose" here doesn't mean what the paragraph literally "says." It means what it "does," or why you are including it at all. One purpose sentence per paragraph is completely acceptable, but there shouldn't be more than two or three.

Look over your reverse outline, and get enough distance from it so that you can picture your entire essay. Observe the outline in its entirety; let your eyes jump around from one paragraph's purpose(s) to the next—skim the surface and see if you get any initial feelings that something is misplaced: follow your guts. Go ahead and revise the outline, strike things out, add things. When adding things, don't write full paragraphs; write only condensed versions of the main ideas you wish to add. After you have given the outline this type of examination, you can return to your actual draft to delete portions, add portions, and re-arrange the order of paragraphs.

Following your guts is one way to know how to reorder things, and it's a very good way, but it won't do everything for you. So, when you feel like your essay is in need of organizational help and don't have any gut feelings to follow, use your head instead.

When you can't feel what order things should be in, perhaps you can figure it out . To do this, take out a piece of paper and cover up your completed reverse outline. Then, reveal one paragraph's main idea at a time, asking yourself each time you do so "does it make sense that this part follows the last part? Why or why not?" By moving gradually through each paragraph's main idea(s) in this way, you are emulating, in simplified form, the mental process that your readers will go through as they read your paper. However, by constructing a reverse outline, you have an intellectual edge; a writer that takes the time to move through the logical development of her paper's main ideas can gain clear insight into its underlying framework and principles of organization. We use these frameworks and organizational principles all the time without knowing it; the reverse outline is a practice that will reveal them to you.

If you go through your outline carefully and slowly in this way, you can easily detect paragraphs and main ideas that are out of place and move them to a better spot. This might require you to split up a paragraph and move only part of it, and sometimes you'll see an opportunity to move an entire paragraph and its main ideas to a new spot.

Once you've both felt and figured out your paper’s organization, as well as moved, added, and taken away what you need to, it only remains to fill in the gaps that are left by these changes. When you move stuff around, sometimes connections between thoughts are lost, and the new order of ideas may need to be tied together again in a new way. To do this final step, read through your revised essay with an eye for disruptions in flow, and insert sentences, or even short paragraphs that help your ideas relate to each other. The truly ambitious have been known to reverse outline their revision, and go through the steps above a second, or even third time in order to be sure that they have really achieved good organizational flow.

Checking Your Research

If you've done a good job of finding a variety of strong sources and you've incorporated them into your paper through an effective organization, you've done well! Now is a good time, though, to double-check the individual instances in which you've used thoughts from outside sources within your own argument.

A. My paper uses quotes, paraphrases, and summaries effectively and is no more than 1/3 quotes.

B. My quotes, paraphrases, and summaries of outside sources are introduced and/or followed by my own sentences that explain my use of the sources.

C. My in-text citations are clear and correct.

D. I have correctly written my "Works Cited" or "Bibliography" page(s).

E. I have not used anyone else’s words or ideas without giving them credit. (I have not plagiarized.)

A. Quotes, Paraphrases, and Summaries: What They Are and How to Use Them

What is "quoting".

Quoting a source brings the exact words of the source into your paper and encloses them in quotation marks.

When should I use a quote?

Though there are many reasons you might want to use direct quotes in your essay, in most instances you should use them to:

• Argue with and/or extend an argument – use a direct quote when you have already laid out an argument but need an outside voice to push against or to help you take the argument to a new place.
• Lend authoritative support to your own argument – use a direct quote when you want to bolster your claim with the aid of an authoritative voice. Bringing in the voices of experts to corroborate your claims shows that your claim is sound and can be trusted.
• Add eloquence or power – use an eloquent or powerful direct quote when you need to paint a vivid picture, make a lucid point, or provide stunning punctuation to an idea.

Whatever the reason you choose to use a direct quote, it should be distinctive enough that it would lose something essential if it was paraphrased or summarized.

What should I keep in mind when I use quotes in my essay?

Because quotes highlight outside voices, they should be used sparingly to prevent your voice from getting lost. Ideally, your essay should never consist of more than 1/3 quotes. Beware, too, of exceedingly long quotations. In general, try to keep your direct quotes to 3 or fewer lines of text at a time. If your quote exceeds three lines, you will need to block it – that is, you will need to set it off from the flow of the main text by indenting the entire quote 1 inch (or ten spaces). Use blocked quotes only when you must.

PARAPHRASES

What is “paraphrasing”?

Paraphrasing is restating a source's ideas in your own words. Paraphrased material tends to be roughly the same length as the passage being paraphrased and does not use quotation marks.

When should I use a paraphrase?

Paraphrase a source when a good chunk of information is needed, but you want to limit your quotes and maintain your own voice in the essay. 

What does a paraphrase look like?

Compare the original and paraphrased passages below:

Original Passage:

Once the food industry saw there was a profit to be made, 'organic' stopped being a guarantee of attention to flavor or individual care.   —Corby Kummer’s “Back to Grass"

Paraphrased Passage:

Unfortunately, when big business realized how much interest was developing in "organic" beef, the emphasis turned away from health and reverted back to making a profit (123).

The paraphrased passage contains none of the exact language of the original passage, yet manages to convey the same information in roughly the same space and maintains the writer’s own voice.

How do I make sure I’m not plagiarizing when I paraphrase a source?

Even though the language in a paraphrase may be your own, you should take special care to ensure that the style of the paraphrase is also your own.  In other words, do not attempt to simply reproduce the original passage by plugging different words into an existing framework.  For example, notice how the passage below bears too similar a resemblance to the original passage:

Whatever the current troubles of McDonald's and other burger purveyors, beef remains America's most popular meat.

Faulty Paraphrase:

Despite the recent problems of McDonald’s and other fast-food sellers, beef is still America's favorite meat.

To avoid a faulty paraphrase which veers too close to plagiarism, try reading through the passage twice, setting it aside so it is completely out of your line of vision, and writing it in your own words as if you were explaining it to a friend. You might also try this same strategy by first explaining the information to yourself verbally before you write it down. In either case, do not look at the original passage when you are trying to paraphrase it, no matter how tempting it might be to do so.

What is "summarizing"?

Summarizing is condensing a source's main ideas into your own words. Summarized material is shorter than the passage being summarized and does not use quotation marks. 

When should I use summary?

Summarize a source when readers need to know the essential details, but not all the details. 

What does a summary look like?

Compare the original with the summarized passage below:

Whatever the current troubles of McDonald's and other burger purveyors, beef remains America's most popular meat. Many meat lovers…have decided to go organic—a choice always to be applauded, for the benefits that chemical-free farming brings to the environment and the health of farm workers, and a choice made easier by the adoption last October of a national organic standard. But organic, vexingly, will not necessarily satisfy people who care about flavor and freshness. Once the food industry saw there was a profit to be made, "organic" stopped being a guarantee of attention to flavor or individual care.  --Corby Kummer's "Back to Grass."

Summarized Passage:

In his essay, "Back to Grass," Corby Kummer comments on the demise of the organic beef ranching industry, painting a picture of how organic farming has been corrupted by the never-ending search for profit (123).

Return to the Step Nine Questions

B. introducing and following up on quotes, paraphrases, and summaries: the "quote sandwich", what does it mean, this “quote sandwich” of which you speak.

In your essay, your words directly preceding and following your source’s serve to show the source’s purpose . Here at the Writing Center we call this the Quote Sandwich , because each quote (and often paraphrases and summaries, too) should be sandwiched between your introduction and interpretation of the quote.  Sources don’t speak for themselves; it is up to you, the writer, to clarify for your audience why you have included a source and how it strengthens your thesis.

What does it look like to “introduce, interpret and contextualize” a source?

Consider how this student writer introduces, contextualizes and interprets ideas from a source to strengthen his essay:

However, Psychologist Thomas Brown, who avidly supports Ritalin use, puts it this way:

“…there is research evidence supporting the idea that a structured program of consistent behavior modification can be affective in getting most young children, including many with ADHD, to refrain from being disruptive in classrooms and at home. But it is difficult to see how even the best behavioral treatment program can modify an individual’s impairment of ADD syndrome […].” (248-249).

This student tells us first who is talking  (Thomas Brown) who Brown is and why we should listen to him (because he’s a psychologist) and his position/context in the discussion (he’s an avid supporter of Ritalin use).

But the student doesn’t just let the quote speak for itself.  He goes on to tell us what we’re supposed to understand from Brown’s quote, and then he argues with it, points out the flaws in the Brown’s point of view, and uses Brown’s ideas to extend his own argument:

Here’s the student again:

Simply put, Brown is suggesting that the outward behavior is improved, but the actual inward cognitive ability to retain information still lacks with such treatment programs. He goes on to describe how Ritalin (and other ADHD drugs) is a tool that allows children to be put in a more teachable mode. With medication, children can sustain focus, which in turn, gives teachers and parents the opportunity to teach. Children can then “…use their learning in ways that were never possible for them while their ADD symptoms were untreated [with medication]” (248).

Brown suggests that it is best to use a combination of both drugs and alternative treatment. In fact, his claims tend to point out that a strictly non-medication approach, actually allows parents and doctors to shape children into a forced social mold. On the contrary, it is for this very reason that I oppose seemingly hasty diagnoses and over-use of psychotropic drugs.

Material that has been introduced, interpreted, and contextualized has greater clarity for readers, and serves as stronger support for a writer's argument.

C. Giving Credit Within Paragraphs (In-Text Citations)

What is an in-text citation.

An in-text citation gives the reader enough information within the essay to find the full source citation in the list of works cited at the end of the essay.  Use in-text citations for all quotes, paraphrases, and summaries. The two most common systems used for making in-text citations in college papers are the systems developed by the Modern Language Association (MLA) or the American Psychological Association (APA), though some disciplines use other systems.

What information do I need for an in-text citation?

In-text citations always require a parenthetical citation – that is, information contained in parentheses at the end of a sentence or passage obtained from a source. In-text citations often need a signal phrase as well.  On the most basic level, if the author is named in a signal phrase, the parenthetical citation does not need to include their name. In contrast, if the author is not named in the signal phrase, their name should be included in the parenthetical citation.  Compare the following passages that use MLA format:

In-text citation with signal phrase:

In his essay, “Back to Grass,” Corby Kummer comments on the demise of the organic beef ranching industry, painting a picture of how organic farming has been corrupted by the never-ending search for profit (123).

In-text citation without signal phrase:

As experts make clear, the organic beef ranching industry, as well as other organic farming ventures, have been corrupted by the never-ending search for profit (Kummer 123).

Why are there differences between APA and MLA styles for in-text citations?

APA, or the American Psychological Association, has different citation rules than does the MLA, or Modern Language Association. These rules may seem random, but they are actually meant to help readers and researchers quickly find the most important information about a source that they will need in their field of study. 

What does an APA in-text citation look like and why does it look this way?

Because APA is used in the sciences, which rely on scientific studies as source material, the most important information a reader will need to know is who authored study and the date it was conducted.  These are important issues in the sciences because subsequent studies and theories – including yours – change often and rely on the accumulated information from previous studies.  As a result, in-text citations for APA format favor the author and date.  Below is an example of an in-text citation in APA format:

Schuller (2005) found that children who watched more than five hours of television a day before the age of three were twice as likely to show signs of ADD and ADHD in their adolescent and teen years, a finding that “places serious health burdens on the television industry” (26).

Notice that the passage gives precedence to the author and date of the study by locating them at the beginning of the passage in the signal phrase.  The page number is not as important, but because the passage includes a direct quote, the page number is included parenthetically.

What does an MLA in-text citation look like and why does it look this way?

As you might imagine, publishing dates matter less to folks working in fields such as Literature, Art, or Philosophy.  What matters more to readers, writers and researchers in these fields are ideas and arguments about pieces of art, works of literature, or patterns of thought. As a result, MLA in-text citations highlight author’s names and page numbers.  Below is an example of an in-text citation in MLA format:

Though Pauline Kael found Julie Andrews to be “annoyingly fresh-faced” in her exuberant performance as Maria in The Sound of Music , it is, in fact, this cherubic, scrubbed-clean quality that gives the film its contagious power (36).

Aren’t there more rules about how to cite sources in the text than you’ve shown me here?

Yes. Problems always arise in the citation process (i.e. what to do if there are multiple authors, how to cite web sources with no author, what to do if there are no page numbers, etc.), but solutions to those problems do exist. Make sure you consult a writing handbook or style manual when you cite sources.

D. Giving Credit at the End (The List of Works Cited)

What is a list of works cited.

At the end of an essay that includes sources, you should always have a separate sheet (or sheets) of paper with a list of the sources you cited within the essay. 

What should I include in my list of works cited?

You should consult many more sources than you end up quoting, paraphrasing or summarizing, but on your works cited pages, list only those sources you actually ended up using in the essay. Both APA and MLA require the same information in an entry, but it will be in a different order according to which style you use. Make sure to include the following relevant information in your entries, but please consult a style manual or writing handbook in order to put the information in the correct order:

• The last name of the author of the essay, book, or web document should appear first in the entry
• date of publication
• titles (i.e. of essay, journal, web site, and/or book)
• publication location
• page numbers for articles and essays
• For web documents you will also need to include the date you accessed the information and the URL. 

How should I format my list of works cited?

As with in-text citations, in the list of works cited it matters which citation style you use.  However, both APA and MLA styles adhere to a few of the same basic rules:

• Center the title of the page at the top – for MLA it is called Works Cited; for APA, it is called References
• Entries should be alphabetized according to the last name of the author.  If there is no author, alphabetize according to the first word of the title of the essay, book or web site.
• For entries that exceed one line, indent all subsequent lines so that only the last name of the author hangs out at the left margin.
• Keep your list of works cited double spaced with no extra spaces between entries
• Do not number your entries

What does a list of works cited look like when it’s all put together?

See a short example below, in MLA format:

Works Cited

Abbot, James D. “Pinning Down a Cloud: Solving the Problem of Maria.” Film Talk 11.4 (2002): 245-267.

DeVane, Jessica. American Musicals of the Sixties . New York: Harcourt, 1995.

Kael, Pauline. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang . London: Little, Brown. 1968.

Patterson, Jeremy. “Art That Puts a Shine on War.” Looking Lives 42.5 (1999): 92-102. 7 Feb. 2008 <http://lookinglivesonline.org/art_war.html>.

E. Plagiarism

What is plagiarism.

Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s words or ideas without properly attributing them to their original source. Acknowledging the original source when borrowing ideas or words from others is called “citing sources.” Whether you work with sources or not, you should be aware of the following forms of plagiarism, all of which carry serious consequences in academic and professional settings:

• Quoting, paraphrasing or summarizing without giving the author credit.
• Copying word for word whole pieces of writing and passing them off as your own.
• Mixing your own writing with segments of word for word copying that is unquoted and uncited.  This is known as Mosaic Plagiarism.
• Having another person, such as a friend or family member, write a paper for which you claim credit.
• Turning in a paper for an assignment in one class that was originally written for a different class.  It is possible to do this, but you must first obtain the consent of both instructors; otherwise it is considered plagiarism.

What is considered “common knowledge” and should it be cited?

When a piece of information is considered common knowledge it does not need to be cited. However, it’s not always easy to determine what common knowledge actually is. Especially in the areas of history and science, there is a wide range of facts that could be considered common knowledge. “George Washington was the first president of the United States of America” is common knowledge. If, however, you read somewhere that Washington’s favorite writer was William Shakespeare, this idea would need to be cited. Similarly, in science, a statement such as, “Hydrogen is an element which, combined with two molecules of oxygen, produces water,” is common knowledge, but if you were discussing postulations about hydrogen that you found in someone else’s research, you would need to cite the information. When in doubt, use citation.

What if I don’t know I’m plagiarizing?

Not all plagiarism is an intentional act of direct copying.  Quite often, it is an unintentional mistake. Differing cultural norms for composition can sometimes account for unintentional plagiarism. Different cultures have different ideas about the proper documentation of sources. In any culture, people sometimes assume that ideas concerning intellectual property are world-wide, when, in fact, attitudes about using source material vary widely. Rigidly upheld notions of plagiarism are actually new even in Western culture and only began to blossom with the invention of the printing press a few hundred years ago. Western ideas about intellectual property are already changing as a result of information disseminated via the Internet. Even in light of these varied norms, plagiarism is still considered a serious offense.

What do instructors know?

Plagiarism is generally extremely easy for instructors to spot. Instructors develop a sense of their student’s written voices, and when plagiarism is attempted – whether intentionally or not – it is easy to see the difference between the writer’s own voice and the voice of copied material. If instructors suspect a case of plagiarism, they can turn to the Internet, which has equipped instructors with highly effective tools for discovering plagiarism. Do not assume that your instructor will not notice your plagiarized material.

What are the consequences of plagiarism?

The Western perspective is that plagiarism is no different than stealing. Each institution has its own protocol for dealing with cases of plagiarism, so it is in your best interest to familiarize yourself with the plagiarism rules at your university. PSU dictates its policy on plagiarism and academic dishonesty in the student code of conduct. Generally, cases of plagiarism can be expected to result in anything from a failing grade to academic suspension. A scholar accused of plagiarism may lose his or her job and will certainly lose the respect of other scholars in the community. In short, it is not acceptable to remain ignorant of the possibility of plagiarism in your own writing or to attempt to consciously deceive your reader about the source of your material – it is simply not worth it.

Checking Final Details

The process of crafting a strong piece of writing is often extended and complex. You may have written many drafts of individual paragraphs or of the whole paper—drafts in which you adjusted overall organization, the development of specific ideas, or the composition of individual sentences. It's easy, amid all of this good work, to overlook some last mismatches or errors. Consider these final details.

A. My introduction and conclusion still match.

B. My works cited page or bibliography is correct.

C. My paper is formatted correctly.

D. I have proofread my draft.

  A. Maintaining Consistency in Your Introduction and Conclusion

Remember that introduction you wrote two weeks ago, when you were still fuzzy about exactly what your topic was and hadn’t yet come up with a thesis statement?  It’s common for the focus, ideas, or even the main assertion of your paper to change during the writing process. Now that you have a completed draft, it’s important to return to the beginning of your paper and make sure it reflects the main body of the essay and matches your conclusion.

An introduction should generally introduce the topic of your essay, give some background information about the topic, and include a thesis statement. Reread your introduction carefully, and ask yourself these questions:

• Does the topic you introduce in your intro still accurately reflect what you talk about in the rest of your paper?
• Do you provide your readers with enough background information, and is there any background information that is no longer relevant to what you discuss in the rest of the paper?
• Is the assertion you make in your thesis statement the same point that you argue in the main body of the essay?

Providing a sense of continuity between your intro and your conclusion doesn’t just mean that you should restate your thesis statement at the end of your paper, although it is important to remind your readers of your main assertion. A strong conclusion might also pick up on some element from your introduction and add some final reflection to it, or perhaps even put a slightly new twist on it. For example, if the intro asks a provocative question, the conclusion might provide an answer to that question. Or if your introduction begins with an anecdote, you might reflect on that anecdote in your conclusion. Making sure that your introduction and conclusion match will give your paper a nice feeling of wholeness or coming full circle.

Return to the Step Ten Questions

B. correctly formatting your works cited page or bibliography.

Formatting your works cited page or bibliography is usually one of the last steps you must take to produce a polished final draft. Clearly citing sources will lend you credibility by showing that you consulted other experts, and gave credit to those who first developed specific ideas or published certain information.

Two major systems for citing sources are used in undergraduate courses: MLA (Modern Language Association) and APA (American Psychological Association). Every field uses the citation style that best suits its interests and values, so it’s a good idea to check with your professor to make sure you know which citation style he or she expects you to use.

Once you know which style your instructor wants you to use, it’s easy to find places to look to make sure you are citing your sources clearly. Three resources are:

• A writing handbook or style manual. Good writing handbooks have basic information on MLA, APA, and other formats. For more extensive information, the organizations themselves put out their own highly detailed books about their citation systems.
• Online resources: There is a wealth of citation help online. Typing the name of the citation format you are using into a good search engine should turn up various guides.
• The staff at the Writing Center is happy to help you find resources on any citation style.

C. Making Sure Your Paper is Formatted Correctly

There are few quicker ways to annoy a professor than using funky formatting. Likewise, making sure your paper is properly formatted is a simple way to help show your instructor that you put a serious amount of time and effort into your paper.

Your instructors may give you a style guide telling you exactly what your paper should look like, or they may direct you to a style manual such as MLA, APA, or Chicago. In that case you should follow the instructions precisely. If you don’t get direction from your instructor, follow the general guidelines below.

• Top of the page: At the top of the first page include the following information, in order: Your name, your instructor’s title and last name (“Prof. Smith”), the course title and number, and the date.
• Title: The title belongs below the things listed above, and above the main body of your paper. Unless your style guide suggests differently, center your title, but don’t underline or bold it.
• Font: use a standard font. Times New Roman is the most universal. Use 12pt type. Italicizing and underlining text should only be used in places where a style guide or manual instructs you to do so.
• Margins: Set all margins (top, bottom, left, and right) to 1”. Don’t play around with this. Instructors have read hundreds of papers, and they will immediately notice if you’ve messed with your margins to increase your page count.
• Spacing: Double-space everything. This includes the information at the top of the page, the title, the body of the text, the bibliography, and the transitions between paragraphs.
• Indenting: Indent the first line of new paragraphs. On the Internet and in handbooks, unindented paragraphs are used for readability. In college papers, the first line of a new paragraph is always indented.

One last thing: papers should always be typed. Any hand-written work (like in-class essays or exercises) should be written as neatly as you are able, in blue or black ink.

D. Proofreading Strategies

Proofreading—finding and fixing errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation—is really the last step in writing something. It’s like that last look in the mirror to check for scary hair or stuff in your teeth: you wouldn’t want to check before you showered and brushed, but you wouldn’t want to skip it, either. It’s the small details that make your appearance and your writing seem polished.

When you read your own work your eye often runs ahead, causing you to miss some mistakes. This is especially true if you’re reading on a computer screen. The key to catching errors is to  s l o w  d o w n. Read your draft sentence by sentence, backwards, or read line-by-line using a ruler or piece of paper to cover the rest of the text as you go.

Another way to catch errors is to listen. Read your piece out loud. Better yet, have someone else read it out loud to you exactly as you’ve written it, typos and all. You’ll be able to hear awkward sentence constructions, redundancies, and odd transitions.

Maybe you have some old papers lying around with marks your professor made. Look at your misspelled words or any comments about your sentences, and make a list of errors you might search for in your current paper.

Use your computer’s spell check, but don’t rely on it completely:

Their are dimes when they won’t catch errors because the wrong word is spilt write.