Home > Introduction > Central Argument: Thesis Statment

The essay is the product of a process which normally begins with repsondning to a particular question or devising a topic to write about. Both of these tasks necessitate the formulation of a good, precise and solid thesis statement which pulls the essay together from its beginning. It is also necessary that the topic of the essay be conspicuously placed as it serves different functions for the author and the evaluator. It helps the author to focus and quickly acquaints the evaluator of the essay's substance.

However, rather than a simple topic declaration, a thesis statement is most often defined as being sentence making an outright assertion about a specific topic, while simultaneously giving some indication of the methodology used to develop the topic over the course of the essay. Not only that, but it also informs the evaluator of the depth and scope of the essay with respect to the topic being tackled.

Academic essays will almost always have an explicitly stated thesis, or an argument that the author is trying to either prove or disprove.  In the introductory section of the essay, recommended to be no more than a single paragraph, the thesis statement is normally found somewhere near the end of the paragraph. For more elaborate discussions, the thesis may extend beyond a single sentence.

The University of Wisconsin's handbook states that: "A thesis statement is focused and specific enough to be proven within the boundaries of the paper. Key words (nouns and verbs) should be specific, accurate, and indicative of the range of research, thrust of the argument or analysis, and the organization of supporting information." Thus, is sums of the author's position and alludes to the proofs for that.

The thesis statement can be used by authors to keep themselves focused upon the issue they have chosen to deal with, and it can be used by evaluators to get an idea of what is to take place in the essay. It also gives the evaluator an impression of the argument, and gives them cues as to what important information to look out for as they proceed. The remainder of the essay's introduction would round out the evaluator's perspective of what awaits them in the essay body.