Every
paper requires one.
Assignments
that ask you to write personal responses or to explore a subject
don't want you to seem to pre-judge the issues. Essays of literary
interpretation often want you to be aware of many effects rather
than seeming to box yourself into one view of the text.
A
thesis statement must come at the end of the first
paragraph.
This is a
natural position for a statement of focus, but it's not the only
one. Some theses can be stated in the opening sentences of an
essay; others need a paragraph or two of introduction; others can't
be fully formulated until the end.
A
thesis statement must be one sentence in length, no matter how many
clauses it contains.
Clear writing
is more important than rules like these. Use two or three sentences
if you need them. A complex argument may require a whole
tightly-knit paragraph to make its initial statement of
position.
You
can't start writing an essay until you have a perfect thesis
statement.
It
may be advisable to draft a hypothesis or tentative thesis
statement near the start of a big project, but changing and
refining a thesis is a main task of thinking your way through your
ideas as you write a paper. And some essay projects need to explore
the question in depth without being locked in before they can
provide even a tentative answer.
A
thesis statement must give three points of
support.
It
should indicate that the essay will explain and give evidence for
its assertion, but points don't need to come in any specific
number.
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